Eric and Krystals Wedding

I received an email from Eric one day asking me if I would shoot his wedding. His original photographer backed out at the last minute on them. With only two weeks left for the wedding I accepted the invitation. With little preparation time I gathered my stuff and headed to the church. It turned out to be a great wedding and they were a great couple to work with. I'm glad I was able to help them out on such a short notice. Here's their story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9jAD1ZXqHo

My First Engagement, Evan and Karin

A couple of weekends ago I stepped away from my normal routine of shooting fashion and beauty to something rather special. It's very heart warming to see two people share such a tight bond with each other. Love is a beautiful thing. Evan and Karin were a great couple to work with. They were very fun and easy going and really showed their love for one another. That made my job very easy.

Karin approached me wanting to take some photos before she sent her wedding dress away for preservation. She had this idea of shooting by the cliffs in Half Moon Bay. We chose this location for the beauty of the the California coastline and also for the majestic Ritz Carlton Hotel that lies just feet from the ridge! The hotel was off limits for us since they didn't get married there so we had to keep our distance. As a matter of fact they didn't even want the hotel to be in the picture. I think part of being a photographer is knowing how to compromise. We didn't shoot on their ground, well, ok, maybe just a little...LOL..

I had so much fun doing this shoot that I can't wait for more opportunities like this to come my way.

Death Angel

Checked out a hard and heavy metal band a couple months ago in San Francisco called Death Angel. I was turned on to them by my roommate Gerry whom also likes the band and told me that they have Filipino origins. It wasn't easy getting this shot since I was being tossed around in the mosh pit and could barely keep my hands on my camera.

My Quest into High End Retouching

High End Retouching, a new area for me to explore. Up until now I've done extensive retouching on all my images big and small but there's more. A new world out there where most of the trade is kept hush hush. It almost feels like a secret society, most of which are tight lipped as to not unravel what they have taken years to learn. These high end retouchers usually end up working for top agencies who's clients include the biggest names in the fashion industry. So how does one separate themselves from the rest of the boys in the world of retouching? I'm a self taught photographer and retoucher. Most of my learning comes from reading and studying the works of others that I admire. As for now I'm putting most of my concentration on learning how to work with skin. This I feel is the most important area of a retouch. There are so many intricacies when it comes to working with skin. To master it will take lots of practice. I'm taking it one step at a time. I find that it's always best to learn from several sources and come to a happy medium. I have recently studied the work of Gry Garness and Chris Tarantino. In due time this list will continue to grow but I must not get carried away with to must absorption of this fine knowledge as practice is just as important. Find a balance. Learn, practice, then learn some more, and practice more.

My 1st Birthday

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to shoot a 1st birthday for a client. This was my first "kids party" photo shoot done for a client. I was not sure what to expect but quickly learned how fun and rewarding these birthday's are to shoot. My task was to shoot photo-journalistic shots and capture the kids doing what they love doing best, being kids. I was in stealth mode most of the event and occasionally would capture the attention of a kid. One of the more memorable shots was of this little girl that wasn't sure what she was looking at or had never seen a camera that big. Although she looks a bit scared, she had wonderful blue eyes and I couldn;t help myself, I had to capture those big blues. This shot was taken with my 1DS MarkII and a 50mm 1.2L lens. This lens provides a beautiful DOF (Depth of Field) but be careful when using wide open, you need to be spot on!

Hatewear

From time to time I get together with my girlfriend Danielle to shoot some cool stuff for Hatewear clothing. Hatewear is the clothing line for the band HateBreed. We shoot most of this content in our living room. It takes some moving of the furniture and taping a seamless roll of paper to the wall. Once the shoot is done, I pack everything back up and call it a night. This is our latest image for Hatewear which they are proudly displaying.

My first Blog

So I've been told by a few friends of mine that I should start blogging. At first I'm a bit hesitant for various reasons. With all these other social networks and websites who has time for anything more. What do I write about? My life? My work? I'm not sure. I guess I'll just write about whatever comes to mind.

Thanks for stopping by.