February 22, 2011

Engagement Shoot: Courtney and Shane

I got the opportunity to shoot with Connie Lyu a few weeks ago. She was gracious enough to let me tag along. All of the shots are posed by her, I just stood by, took a few of my own and post-processed them. Let me know what you think!

February 5, 2011

Back to Basics: Santa Monica Pier Ver 2.0

I've been taking a Street Photography class through PCC Extension for the past few weeks and I wanted to show some of my work from our assignments. I hadn't taken a formal class since high school, so has renewed my curiosity and challenged me to do better. Taking this class has helped me realized that had been so dependent on post-processing. Over the years I no longer take the time to actually think about taking the picture in the moment. I always admired film photographers because they only had one chance, one moment, one shot. The most they could do is fix exposure or crop (and some were even too pro to do that!). Why should we spend so much time editing photos when the time should be spent actually taking a good one that doesn't need to be fixed?

In our class, the professor spends most of the class talking about how lazy photographers are, and how they don't exercise their craft and I realized that he's right! It takes a lot of work! This set below took about 2 hours of waiting, walking, meandering, and waiting for, as Captain Jack Sparrow would put it, "the opportune moment."  Even then, I think I was the first one to leave out of our class because I'm such a slacker. Oh well. Hope you enjoy!

By the way, we're only allowed to shoot in manual, black and white, and without cropping.

I have to choose 3 of these photos to submit during the next session, which ones would you vote for?? Thanks!

This man looked so melancholy, but at the same time, it seemed like such a sweet moment
He didn't win
This girl is going to be super competitive when she gets older
In the arcade
This man apparently fought in WWII, shot down 21 German planes and took captive Hitler's personal photographer
A fellow classmate
A little irony
Camping out in the dark
This lady was so joyful feeding the pigeons

February 1, 2011

Best of DC 2007-2008

The year I spent in DC was a trying and challenging time, but one that holds some of my best memories. What made the place great were the friendships developed and deepened, which totally made up for the humidity, lack of sunshine and ethnic foods. Here is a compilation of some old photos that I took during my time there!

This post is dedicated to a most faithful follower: Eileen. Thanks for inspiring me to upload more photos!

View from Diep's apartment during a crazy lightning storm.

Cy at the National Gallery of Art

Peggy and Francis at the National Gallery of Art

One of my favorite pictures of all time

Sunset during Cherry Blossom season

I love the houses in DC

Stephen and I taking a picture of each other

Changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington Cemetery

Arlington Cemetery

U.S. Marine Corps Memorial

DC Metro blastoff!