Linda and Dong's wedding

This weekend, we had the pleasure of shooting our very first wedding! Although Leric has had numerous years of experience being behind the video camera filming weddings, this was his opportunity to venture out and truly explore his passion for photography. We were invited to the wedding of Linda and Dong as guests, but ended up at the very last minute to help them photograph their beautiful wedding. Linda could not have seem more stressed out than any other bride on her wedding day, but she held her composure down to perfection.

The ceremony and reception took place in Mill Valley, a small town right across the water that's known for it's seaside leisure and upscale accommodations. The Mill Valley Community Center was beautifully decorated, and although there were no ray of sunshine that late afternoon, everything still turned out almost perfect. Here are some images from that evening of Remy rain and all night open bar!!

Cathy and Kiem's babyshower

Sunday was a day filled with joy as Cathy Ramos and Kiem Nguyen got together with their friends and family at Little Saigon Restaurant ( owned and operated by Kiem Nguyen himself ), for their very first babyshower. The not so little restaurant quickly filled up with families from all over; everyone all there for one purpose.

Guests kindly made an early contribution to unborn baby Kayla's college fund and were given hand-made bamboo plants as thank you gifts. What better way to collect money for college than from your friends and family! The mama-to-be looked radiantly beautiful while sticking it out all day on her feet as she greeted guests, posed for pictures, and made sure everyone was comfortable. Here are some wonderful images of the day and for full gallery please see here.

Alyssa's 1st birthday

This past Saturday, baby Alyssa turned one years old. Even though it was a scorching hot day, Alyssa was surrounded by friends and family who came out and made her 1st birthday very memorable. Both kids and adults alike enjoyed themselves by getting temporary tattoos and cute balloon animals made courtesy of Mellissa from BalloonStar. Games were played; pin the nose on Elmo was filled with laughter and a pinata of Elmo was swung around underneath the warm glow of the heat. Cake was served while the sun begin to set just in time for the kids to start jumping around in the Sesame Street jumper. Here are some images from baby Alyssa's big day and for full gallery please see here. Enjoy!

Outside of the photography...

To some people, work may be boring but for me, I am surrounded by great people. Besides doing photography on the weekends, I am usually on the 9-5 grind. Sometimes work and photography aren't enough that I have to do more!! Usually during lunch breaks I am usually attempting to shoot hoops with the co-workers. Games can be intense, but we all know that the games are for fun. These are some of the guys I play with during lunch, but today decided to be behind the camera.

Basketball, photography, and work may seem like a lot, but I've also added company softball. Who the heck can say NO to softball?!? The never ending tailgate filled with all the alcohol you can drink and endless hamburgers and sausages. That's only the beginning!! As a team we all get to come together, practice, and win!!! Here are some images of week 1 of 10. GO TEAM!!

94.9 Wild Jam

So last Thursday I tagged along with mellange in San Jose to take some photos at Wild 94.9's Wild Jam. The concert consisted of many head liners like Colby O'Donis, Jesse McCartney, The Bayliens, Flo Rida, Ray J, Pitbull, Sean Kingston, Danity Kane, and Lil Wayne. The night started around 7:30 and went on until 1:30 in the morning. Throughout the night and with each act the intensity of the crowd grew with anticipation of the performance of Lil Wayne. As the night closed, 94.9 and boost mobile put together a fantastic show and did a great job making sure it ran so smoothly. Big thanks to Mellange, Wild 94.9, and Boost Mobile in creating some of these terrific images. Please enjoy!!!

New Additions to the Family

So the months of April and May were all about upgrades! Basically we added two Canon 40D's, Canon 70-200 f/2.8 IS, and radio poppers. With these new pieces of equipment they should bring most of our images to the next level!!

Canon 40D's - The reason why I upgraded my XTI/400D camera was because of the noise ratio that the images displayed at high ISO.  For the price of the 40D's, it was the most "bang" for the buck.  I have only done one photo shoot so far with the new camera's, but the images will speak for themselves in the next post.  I am quite impressed with all the options of the camera and making it user friendly for the end user.  

Canon 70-200 f/2.8 IS - This lens is my first L series lens!!  For people who don't know the L line, it basically is the Canon's professional series of lenses.  It is a extremely fast lens, performs perfectly in low light conditions, and amazingly sharp.  I use this lens mainly for candid moments, which really set the mood of the event.  I am very impressed with the lens performance and it was worth every penny.  

Radio Popper - Well these little devices are basically gifts from heaven.  The purpose of these devices are to read the light in the room and correctly use the flash with just enough output.  With these all images can use fill flash or create amazing shadows across a subjects face.  For more about these items see  here.

Judy Phetdaravanh - 28th Pool Party Birthday Bash

After a week of somewhat chilly weather, we were all blessed with some true summer weather. Thank god, cause it was just in time for Judy Phetdaravanh birthday party. The bash took place in sunny Danville, CA where the temperature reached close to 90 degrees. It was the perfect day to take a dip in the pool, get a tan, eat BBQ, and be surrounded by friends and family. The event was a great way to kick off the summer!! Cheers for Judy as she continues to celebrate her birthday and we hope she has a fantastic 28th birthday, with many more to come!! Please enjoy some of the images from the event!

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