ES-Sense Photography - International Wedding Photographer - Ako'y Iglesia Ni Cristo! Based in Southern California, City of Long Beach » photographers http://blog.es-sense.com Thoughts of a Wedding Photographer Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:55:22 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Baby Portraits : Ina http://blog.es-sense.com/2012/01/23/baby-portraits-ina/ http://blog.es-sense.com/2012/01/23/baby-portraits-ina/#comments Tue, 24 Jan 2012 06:32:00 +0000 Joan http://blog.es-sense.com/?p=5098 It’s been awhile, yes I know.  A lot has happened these past months and I hope to share them on my blog pretty soon, but I will probably do that when Ryan and I are all settled in our new place.

For now, here’s a new blog post and what better topic than posting baby photos!!  Ina turned 3 months here and I am finally able to share it on my site.  Shey and Kuya Ed, sorry for the delay!! I hope you enjoy these photos of your little princess :D

]]> http://blog.es-sense.com/2012/01/23/baby-portraits-ina/feed/ 0 My New Years Resolution for 2012! http://blog.es-sense.com/2011/12/07/my-new-years-resolution-for-2012/ http://blog.es-sense.com/2011/12/07/my-new-years-resolution-for-2012/#comments Thu, 08 Dec 2011 06:33:56 +0000 Joan http://blog.es-sense.com/?p=5053 In a month, Ryan and I will be celebrating our 9th Year Anniversary. We don’t have any plans yet, but no matter where we will be and what we plan to do, I know its going to be a day to remember because we’ll be together. Time just seem to fly by nowadays and I realize that although we take photographs of people, we hardly take any photographs of one another.  So my new years resolution for this coming year is to photograph me and Ryan more often.  I don’t think I can do that 365 photos for 365 days project that other people do, but yes, for 2012 I’ll be taking more photos of me and my husband!!

My excuse for the past nine years for not being in photos is, “I belong behind the camera”.  Well, this year will be different because I plan to take more photos of us wherever and doing whatever! Then, when the next nine years of marriage comes along, we’ll have ton of photos and memories to reminisce on…

I also realize that Ryan and I never really had an “engagement session” done. I think it’s because we’re just not used to cameras being pointed at us.  Maybe after a year of practicing how to “be” in front of the camera, we’ll be able to get a photographer to take portraits of me and Ryan (which I know will be an interesting session) on our 10th year wedding anniversary!

I have to admit that after reviewing photographs that we take of our brides, grooms, family, and friends, I have this wish that one day, Ryan and I will have cool photos to share on this blog!  Until then, here’s a teaser for my friends Aldrin and Meghan! Here’s a photo taken during their engagement session a few weeks ago!  Argghhh… i’m so jealous how gorgeous they look!!!  ;-)

]]> http://blog.es-sense.com/2011/12/07/my-new-years-resolution-for-2012/feed/ 3 Teaser – Long Beach, CA Family Portraits : Maranan Family http://blog.es-sense.com/2011/11/30/teaser-long-beach-ca-family-portraits-maranan-family/ http://blog.es-sense.com/2011/11/30/teaser-long-beach-ca-family-portraits-maranan-family/#comments Wed, 30 Nov 2011 16:31:49 +0000 Joan http://blog.es-sense.com/?p=5033 Happy Tuesday morning to all! I just wanted to share another family photo session that I had the pleasure of doing a few weeks ago.  This is just a teaser for my friends because I know they’ve been waiting for so long and I haven’t posted anything up! Thank you guys for being so patient with me!! I am truly thankful for having awesome friends like you guys and for all your support!!

]]> http://blog.es-sense.com/2011/11/30/teaser-long-beach-ca-family-portraits-maranan-family/feed/ 2 Anaheim Hills, CA – Hernandez Family Portraits http://blog.es-sense.com/2011/11/29/anaheim-hills-ca-hernandez-family-portraits/ http://blog.es-sense.com/2011/11/29/anaheim-hills-ca-hernandez-family-portraits/#comments Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:01:04 +0000 essense http://blog.es-sense.com/?p=5019 Last month, Ryan and I got to meet with my friend Yvonne and her family.  It was then she introduced me to her baby girl, Sofia! I love being able to see how her family has grown from 2 to 3 and now they’re a family of 4!

Yvonne and Daniel: Thank you both for always thinking of me and Ryan to do your family portraits! You two make beautiful babies, so make more ;).  We hope you enjoy these photos of your growing family!

The girls were still getting ready, so I decided to take a few shots of the boys first :D

The Hernandez Family :)

Some of the most nicest people you could ever meet! The left photo is taken with Yvonne’s parents. The photo on the right is with Daniel’s parents.

Group shot!

A Father and Son moment

A Mother and Daughter moment.

Danielito :)

Last but not the least, Sofia :)

]]> http://blog.es-sense.com/2011/11/29/anaheim-hills-ca-hernandez-family-portraits/feed/ 1 Apology :) http://blog.es-sense.com/2011/11/10/apology/ http://blog.es-sense.com/2011/11/10/apology/#comments Thu, 10 Nov 2011 08:14:00 +0000 Joan http://blog.es-sense.com/?p=4976 I want to apologize for not blogging as much as before. It’s been a crazy couple months for me, especially after changing jobs. I work full time for Jones Lang LaSalle and photography is just my part time thing… for now :).  However, I’m going to try my best to blog more for my memory’s sake :) I started this blog to help me remember important events and I need to keep at it! Thank you to those who continues to encourage me to do what I enjoy doing and for being so supportive!

I am currently finishing up Marissa and Mida’s wedding. Next, I’ll be working on two of my friends’ family sessions: The Hernandez Family and the Maranan Family! :)  This weekend, I’m praying for good weather, because I have another family shoot with the Maranan Family as well as an engagement shoot! It’s going to be a busy weekend, but that’s okay :) I’m thankful!

Tomorrow, my church (Iglesia Ni Cristo) in the local congregation of Long Beach will be holding a Winter Wear Clothing drive! It’s going to be so awesome and I am excited for this event! More on that later.

I think this post is long enough as it is… but before I sign off for the night, I just wanted to post up a teaser photo for my friend Yvonne! I miss her and even though we haven’t worked together for the past 6 years… she always keeps in touch with me! I love that about her! :)  Happy Thursday everyone! The weekend is almost upon us!!!

]]> http://blog.es-sense.com/2011/11/10/apology/feed/ 1 Congratulations Barrientos Family! http://blog.es-sense.com/2011/09/18/congratulations-barrientos-family/ http://blog.es-sense.com/2011/09/18/congratulations-barrientos-family/#comments Sun, 18 Sep 2011 19:05:10 +0000 Joan http://blog.es-sense.com/?p=4797 Ina was offered this morning during the worship service. I wanted to be sure to post up a blog to congratulate Shey, kuya Ed, and Ina :)

Dear Ina, you are such a beautiful baby! When you grow up to read this one day, I hope you always remember how much you mean so much to your parents! We hope and pray that you grow up to be a strong and active member in the church! I look forward to seeing you grow up and take more photos of you  of course! :)

Love,

Aunty Joan and Uncle Ryan :D

]]> http://blog.es-sense.com/2011/09/18/congratulations-barrientos-family/feed/ 1 Congratulations: Chief Petty Officer Philip Nacionales http://blog.es-sense.com/2011/09/16/congratulations-chief-petty-officer-philip-nacionales/ http://blog.es-sense.com/2011/09/16/congratulations-chief-petty-officer-philip-nacionales/#comments Sat, 17 Sep 2011 00:04:18 +0000 Joan http://blog.es-sense.com/?p=4758 Ryan and I had the honor of photographing our friend’s Chief Induction Ceremony and wanted to post up a teaser for Phil and his family! Thank you Nacionales family for letting us be a part of this memorable event in your lives :) Congratulations Phil on your promotion!! We’re so very happy for you all!

P.S. Special Thanks to Ryan for taking me to the base this morning.  I love you very much!

]]> http://blog.es-sense.com/2011/09/16/congratulations-chief-petty-officer-philip-nacionales/feed/ 0 My Family’s Photos http://blog.es-sense.com/2011/08/23/my-familys-photos/ http://blog.es-sense.com/2011/08/23/my-familys-photos/#comments Wed, 24 Aug 2011 06:18:00 +0000 Joan http://blog.es-sense.com/?p=4738 Ryan had suggested it, maybe about, 2 years ago (or more). “You should take family photos of “the family”.  I agreed but our schedules just wouldn’t click and my sister, Janice and brother-in-law, Benson lived in Arizona. Then when Janice and Benson moved to California a few months ago, I realized it was time to schedule a family photo session. Still, our schedules conflicted and I so I just kept the idea in the back of my head. Only recently did it occur to me that if I don’t schedule a time with my family, I’ll never have time to take our family photos! So on Friday evening, I asked my mom if we could take family photos. She asked me when, and I told her that we can take it the following day. My mom was okay with the schedule so I announced it to the rest of the family (not knowing their schedule) that on Saturday, at 5:30PM, we all needed to be dressed and ready to take family pictures. I was actually happy that there was no major conflict with anyones schedules and that everyone agreed to the idea. Thank God for giving us this opportunity!

Here’s a picture of my dad (Johnny) and mom (Cleotilde).  They have taught me the most important thing in this world which is to always put God first before anyone or anything. I’m thankful to God for giving me parents who always supported me when it came to any church functions in the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church of Christ). I remember one time, I signed up for the football toss during our District Track & Field competition. The event was held in Oxnard, CA and my dad drove me a total of 3 hours that day just so I can throw a football as far as I could. I got second place for throwing the farthest, but my dad got a first place medal in my heart for supporting me that day.

My mom reminded us that it had been 30 years now since this last August 19 that we moved to the USA. YUP! It’s been 30 years ago since we left the Philippines! I MISS THE COUNTRY SO MUCH and always wonder how it would have been to grow up there, but I truly believe that we are where we are because it is God’s will. What has my mom taught me besides to love God more than anything in this world? She has taught me how to be compassionate and loving not only to our immediate family, but to our relatives, extended families, and friends. My mom has a beautiful heart and I hope and pray that my heart can be as beautiful as hers…

This is my sister Janice and her husband Benson. Janice was THE middle child for 15 years until Jordan showed up. Then she had to share the middle child position with Johnson. :)  Janice and I are complete opposites! She’s so fun to be with, she’s hilarious and is the nicest between the two of us. She says that’s why my parents named her, JaNICE because she’s nice :P. Sometimes I wish I had her confidence because she totally isn’t shy like me.  Then there’s her better half, Benson. If you think Janice is nice, Benson is even NICER!. He should have been named, BensoNICER. :P Yah Corny. But seriously, I don’t know how he has patience with a loud crazy family like the Endique’s.

Then there’s my brothers, Johnson and Jordan John.  Yes, I know that Johnson is a “last name” but his name is Johnson because my dad’s name is Johnny and when Johnson was born, my dad wanted the world to know that the baby boy was, “Johnny’s Son” shortened to “John’s Son” which then became, “Johnson”. :P I told you my family was weird!!  Then Jordan John’s name came to be because we wanted to get then name from the bible. At first my mom wanted to name Jordan after her dad, Bartholomew, but you know what happens in school when your named Bartholomew, it get’s shortened to Bart.. and you know what happens after that! The kids start to chant, Bart-Fart..etc…etc…etc.. We didn’t want Jordan to get traumatized, so we decided to go with Jordan from the “Jordan River”. We added the John part to his name so he wouldn’t feel left out.. you know.. the whole Johnny’s son story I mentioned previously…. Anyways.. my brothers…. they irritate me… but I love them and they are just sooooo awesome!!! They are seriously talented guys that never ceases to amaze me!

Then there’s us. Me and Ryan. All I can say about  MY portrait is, “YUCK!” Seriously, what is going on with my fake smile??? I’ve told this to so many people before, I belong BEHIND the camera. :P  Oh well…. It’s a good thing Ryan’s handsome photo is next to mine to balance it all out. Gosh I really need to start wearing make-up :P.. No need to talk about us because you can just go through the previous posts to get to know us.


Here’s a group photo of all of us! I don’t know what it was about this tree, but my dad just really wanted to take a picture by this tree. I’m not into taking photos next to trees like this, but I’m glad we listened to my dad because it actually..kinda… worked….

Afterwards, we decided to have dinner together at LV’s Seafood Restaurant to enjoy each other’s company and to celebrate our 30th Anniversary in the USA. :)

Hope you all enjoyed this post about my family and hopefully it didn’t scare you away to never visit our blog site ever again!! :P

]]> http://blog.es-sense.com/2011/08/23/my-familys-photos/feed/ 6 Memorable Moments : Seal Beach, INCGiving, Family Photos http://blog.es-sense.com/2011/08/23/memorable-moments-seal-beach-incgiving-family-photos/ http://blog.es-sense.com/2011/08/23/memorable-moments-seal-beach-incgiving-family-photos/#comments Tue, 23 Aug 2011 14:43:45 +0000 Joan http://blog.es-sense.com/?p=4726 Happy Tuesday!! Congratulations to all of us for surviving Monday! Also, I hope everyone had a great weekend. Ours was quite busy, but worth every minute. It pretty much started on Friday evening after work when Ryan and I decided to spend our Friday Date Night at Seal Beach Pier and have dinner at Ruby’s Diner. It was my first time every eating there so it was a memorable thing for me :).  I’ve always wanted to eat at a 50′s themed diner and share a milkshake with my better half :), and that’s exactly what we did. Here’s a collage of a few photos from that evening. I didn’t have my camera with me, but glad we were able to document that night with’s Ryan’s camera phone.

On Saturday, our local held another INC Giving activity and this time it was for sports mentoring and we focused on Basketball. Approximately ___ children participated. They were taught how to dribble, how to pass the basketball, and they also got into teams and played a game. A couple of bystanders watched and asked what was going on, so it was explained to them what the activity was about and they were given information about our church :) I’m looking forward to next year’s Sports Mentoring because the kids were soooooooooo cute! My favorite player that day was this little guy (and yes, he made the basket).

Lastly, I wanted to share our family photo! Yes, I finally got to take photos of MY family. I’ll post up more photos later, but for now, here’s one for my mom who keeps asking to see the photos :)

OH and before I forget. I need to post up one more picture (or group of pictures) that was taken when our friend Grace came to visit :) It looks weird, but it was so much fun! Our uncle Norman was so determined to spell Grace’s name :)

]]> http://blog.es-sense.com/2011/08/23/memorable-moments-seal-beach-incgiving-family-photos/feed/ 3 Long Beach, CA Portrait Teaser: Chanelle http://blog.es-sense.com/2011/08/15/long-beach-ca-portrait-teaser-chanelle/ http://blog.es-sense.com/2011/08/15/long-beach-ca-portrait-teaser-chanelle/#comments Mon, 15 Aug 2011 14:30:50 +0000 Joan http://blog.es-sense.com/?p=4693 There’s a lot of reminiscing going on lately :) I few days ago, ate Sherry had created a Facebook page that got a lot of our friends that we have grown up with to post about their fondest memories with one another. It has truly taken me back to the “good old days” and like what I have posted, I’m glad that I grew up with the those I grew up with and I wouldn’t change it to be any other way.  Each and everyone one of them have shaped me to be the person I am today and I think I grew up to be a pretty decent person :).

On Saturday, I pretty much spent a whole day with Chanelle (who again brought me back to the past) and made me realize how much time is whizzing by! I’ve known her since she was born and I am very honored to be documenting her Debut in September! Here are a few teasers from her portrait session. I’ll be posting up more soon :)

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