Michelle + Paul { engagement }

This session was a lot of fun - from planning to executing.  Michelle loves colors and vintage.  Paul loves books and music.  What better place to go than my favorite street, Abbot Kinney?!  The weather was perfect and we met around sunset, so the lighting was gorgeous!

Special thanks to the amazing Kate at Flower Wild for the beautiful flower arrangements.

Michelle and Paul engagement

Michelle and Paul engagement

Michelle and Paul engagement

Special thanks to Equator Books for the space.

Michelle and Paul engagement

Isn't Michelle just gorgeous? The light compliments her perfectly.

Michelle and Paul engagement

Michelle and Paul engagement

Michelle and Paul engagement

Michelle and Paul engagement

Michelle and Paul engagement

Michelle and Paul engagement

Michelle and Paul engagement

During sunset we headed to Venice Broad Walk for some beach photos.

Michelle and Paul engagement

Michelle and Paul engagement

Michelle and Paul engagement

Michelle and Paul engagement

Michelle and Paul engagement

Michelle and Paul engagement

Michelle and Paul engagement

Michelle and Paul, thank you for such a fun filled day!  Looking forward to your wedding at Seven Degrees next month.  :)

Her Smile Melts Me

venise

Sneak Peek

Michelle + Paul { engagement session }

I can't wait to post more from this session!

Michelle and Paul engagement

Brenda + Trent {engagement}

*Trying a new way of posting photos.  What do you think?  Or maybe stick with my old style?*

Brenda and Trent engagement

Brenda and Trent engagement

Brenda and Trent engagement

Brenda and Trent engagement

Brenda and Trent engagement

Brenda and Trent engagement

Brenda and Trent engagement

Brenda and Trent engagement

Brenda and Trent engagement

Brenda and Trent engagement

Brenda and Trent engagement

Brenda and Trent engagement

Brenda and Trent engagement

Brenda and Trent engagement

Brenda and Trent engagement

Big thank you to Brenda and Trent for getting up SUPER early for this sunrise shoot!  I am looking forward to capture your Hawaii wedding next month!

Out of Office . Enjoying Life

I have a special love for lavender, it represents love and romance to me.  :)

ojai farmers market lavender

Happy Spring, My Friend!

flower spring

Sneak Peek

Brenda + Trent { engagement session }

Brenda and Trent engagement

The photo on the right makes me want to title it, "Grow old with me..."

Brenda and Trent engagement

Brenda and Trent engagement

More to come...

Featured!

So excited when I saw the feature at Green Wedding Shoes.  I'll admit that I love all things wedding and Green Wedding Shoes is one of the blogs I visit frequent.

*Thanks, Jen, for the featured!*

Green Wedding Shoes featured

Bonnie at Work

Thanks to Jenny for this shot, I get to see how dorky I look during a shoot.

bonnie tsang

Beginning

This photo has significant meaning to me because this is the very first shot I took *for* someone.  This was back in September 2004, I went on Ebay and bought myself a Canon PowerShot Pro1.  My Mother had this huge interest of hummingburds at the time and she requested that I took some photos for her. 

As you know, hummingbirds are super fast; they come and go in split second!  I was determind to get a shot because I wanted to do something for my Mom, but how?  So I quietly sat on the floor in our backyard, patiently waited for a hummingbird to come.  After, maybe 30 minutes or so, one came by.  I steadily and quietly took a few shots and the bird flew away.  I posted the photo on Flickr (that time they were just a start up!) and, to my surprise, got a lot of positive responses.

Why it was significant?  Because it made me realized how people response to my photos (bad or good) and from then on I started creating images that relate to my feelings.  On top of that, and most importantly, it was an image that I did for someone I cared about.  It didn't matter how long I had to wait to capture a moment.  What matter was... doing something to make someone happy and in return I am happy too.  That mentality has been carried on even til today with my brides.  It's almost impossible for me to go shoot an event without some sort of personal feelings attached and I actually love that because the images are more intimate.

I hope you can see something special in this image too.  :)

 

Birdfeeder and Hummingbird

Distant Memory

I took this set of photos back in 2005 with my Canon PowerShot Pro1 (still in love with that camera!), when I just started being serious about photography.  I still remember how I noticed this surfer who just stood there and looking out to the ocean.  I wonder what he was thinking of?

surfer

surfer