Cynthia Chung

Moving Webspace!

2010-12-07T01:14:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone!

Thank you for following me on BLOGSPOT- however I have found a new home on my personal website.

Please follow this link: http://www.cynthiachung.com/blog to see new updates on my photographic adventures!

Thank you so much!

Love,
Cynthia

The Chang Family Portraits!

2010-11-24T00:28:00.016-05:00

Had the pleasure to photograph the Chang's last weekend. It was great fun!! I especially loved getting the chance to play with Joshua all morning! (he IS my favorite nephew of course...) We started the morning at the Chang's place, then mulled over to the park, played and then went over to get some lunch at a local diner. It was a ton of fun, Joshua was the happiest kid in the park. We played a lot of "Catch Mes" and "Red, Yellow, Green, Brown!!"

Artists for Peace and Justice Dinner at Millesime

2010-11-10T11:43:00.014-05:00

Lately it seems that everyone's been getting into doing 'good'. What's up with all these celebrities and mongrels dedicating their time and money into philanthropic work? Well, whatever the reason is, it's great! I hope it continues! I was lucky to be able to photograph the "Artists for Peace and Justice’s ‘Let’s Build a School for Haiti’ fundraising Dinner" at Salon Millesime (inside the Carlton Hotel) last Friday night. It was a great evening, there were a lot of celebrities there, such as Russell Crowe, Susan Sarandon, Gerald Butler, Trudie Styler, Paul Haggis and Philip Seymour Hoffman and many others. They were all fundraising for the development in Haiti.

From what I've heard, they raised over $700,000.00 from the benefit. Courtney Love bid $17,000 for tea with Adrian Brody...

Advocating for a Better Future

2010-10-19T12:35:00.006-04:00

Last week I had the pleasure to photograph at an event, hosted by The Cushman Group at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney called, "The Path from Disaster to Development: Haiti". This event had three speakers, Curtis R. Welling (The CEO of AmeriCares), Ruth W. Messinger (The President of the American Jewish World Service) and Dr. Robert Gore (Emergency Physician and Project Co-Leader of Emedex International).

These three individuals spoke on the development of Haiti, prior to and after the earthquake disaster. Their projects focus on helping Haiti maintain a sustainable plan that will help alleviate the issues and work towards a better future for the country.

Curtis Welling (above right) telling us that billions of dollars go towards the "Relief" of the earthquake, but no one really knows where all that money really goes. If you step into Haiti now and look at it now, it doesn't look any different than it was right after the earthquake that hit in January. 10 months later, and nothing has changed.

Ruth Messinger (above) spoke about her organization. One goal they are working on is currently giving all the women in Haiti flashlights. This will reduce the risks of sexual crimes in Haiti and provide safety. Ruth's organization stresses the promotion of sustainable relief. Relief that will bring about a better future for the Haitian community and also build their economy and focus on parts that will actually make an impact.

Dr. Robert Gore (above), a project leader at Emedex International, tells of how their organization works to train and teach doctors all over Haiti in order to ensure a better future in medics for the country. The lack of doctors in Haiti and the immense need for care is outbalanced, and if they continue to train more and more, the community will be able to help themselves.

There is still much to be done in this developing country. The natural disaster only created a more complicated work space, but hopefully these organizations will create an easier future for Haiti. Hope for the best.

A Portrait of Jeffrey Steingarten

2010-09-16T16:17:00.006-04:00

Was given a great opportunity to photograph Jeffrey Steingarten a few weeks back inside the restaurant PDT. Few of you food-crazed people would recognize him as being a guest judge on Iron Chef and also the column food critic for Vogue Magazine. (personally I had NO idea who he was until I did some wikipedia-ing...haha) Anyway, New York Magazine did a little interview with him, asking him about his diet. Article located here. Personally, I would have picked this image, I feel like it better encapsulates his jaded, dark, passive nature better (image above)

He yelled at me for calling his glass a "cup". Ha ha

Mexico!

2010-08-30T14:08:00.006-04:00

Things have been insane! I just got back from Mexico 2 weeks ago and boy did I have an amazing time. I was in Tijuana, Mexico and I took over 30 gigs of imagery (As usual to every time I go to travel...) and the same part was that I actually LOST one of my 8gig memory cards. I was pretty upset- because MOST of the images I took of the village was on that card. It seemed to be a lost hope.. so I tried to block it out of my memory.

A few days ago I got a call from Mexico, someone had found my card! (I write my name and number on every one of my cards) So they asked me for my address and will be mailing it back to me! Hurray! I haven't received it yet but just the thought was so soothing. Here are some pictures that I salvaged from the other cards I DIDNT lose, from Mexico:

Sunflowers and Sun

2010-08-02T22:17:00.008-04:00

Last week I did a photo shoot with one of my friends, Sook, who is a Wedding/Events Coordinator! She's working on her website as of right now, but if anyone is in need of any coordination- she's one to call! (you can ask me for her info) Anyway, we went on a wild hunt for a Sunflower and took some images at the park. It was a lot of fun and we had a really AWESOME lunch afterwards. Here are some beautiful images we got:

And YES, it feels great to be a kid again...

Photographer's Forum Finalist!

2010-07-26T20:41:00.008-04:00

So the other night, I got home pretty late, and saw a single unopened envelope waiting for me at my table. I picked it up, and looked at the sender's address- "Santa Barbara"? I thought to myself, "Uh, did I apply to another school or something?" and I opened it up and read it. Turns out, I was chosen as a finalist for this contest for the magazine, "Photographer's Forum"- and will be printed in the Hardcover book "Best of Photography 2010" ! Isn't that exciting? I am pretty stoked about it and I hope you guys can all take a peek at it some day! When I get the book (which will be issued in December) I will scan it and show you all :)

Here is the image that will be published:

Also, a few things I have coming up:
1) Prepping for a Movie Project that I will be shooting on my Canon 5D Mk II
2) Going to Mexico and Rwanda in the upcoming months to work on photo projects.

A Small Step

2010-05-11T16:00:00.008-04:00

Shot from Italy

Here's a small little happiness that came upon me. Pictures I scouted for New York Magazine was published on their Grub Street Blog. Check it out here.

Life is getting busy, shooting things here and there. Will update more as time goes by! Also, finally got around to editing my pictures from Italy!! Check it out here!!

Most Random Fashion Shoot

2010-04-20T00:44:00.006-04:00

So I've been shooting freelance, and one of the places that I've ventured to was this store on 7th ave + 42nd st called, "New York Look". I was only suppose to be in there to take a few interior shots and then call it a day, but the owner decided to create his own little fashion show. He took one of his sales associates to model the clothing for us (she is a formal model from LA) and he did this whole show for us. It was pretty fun, I mean I was pretty free that morning, so I humored him. He LOVED it. He told me he hasn't been able to style clothing since 20+years prior! So, I decided to make the old man, a happy man.

I don't like people's heads.

----

Update: I was looking back at my older entries, and I noticed that I typed a lot more back then than I do now. So I decided I would write a little bit about what is going on. Since moving back to New York, I've been having a blast. I meet new people almost every week, I haven't been lacking in exciting things to attend, and life is busy, stressful- yet I love every minute of it. It's funny how much has changed in my life since my first entry in this blog back in 2008! I am now a graduate, doing something that I honestly love- and even though the future is daunting and unknown- I don't seem to be worrying that much at all right now.

So, yeah, that's about it.

Went to go shoot a little event at Smith Barney tonight- I met Leon (??) from the Jets. I don't know, I think I'm just name-dropping to sound cool... but I really am not. Okay good night all!

Styleta Photo-Shoot

2010-04-06T11:43:00.004-04:00

Last weekend I did a photoshoot for a Non-Profit Organization called: Styleta. Basically, what they do is they take donated designer clothing, sell it on their website then send all the proceeds to various charities. We shot the editorial, using all of the clothing that was donated, at an apartment on 3rd ave, then made our way down around to Grammercy Park and Union Square.

Check out some of my favorite shots from the editorial shoots.
(Thanks to my beautiful, lovely, most patient models: Alice, Hayley, Michelle and Ingrid, and Stylist: Miss Iris Lam)

Food Blog on the Rise

2010-03-09T18:13:00.004-05:00

Hey guys,

I am totally loving writing about my foodie adventures and it gives me a great way to keep shooting, editing, and sharpening my photographic skillz. haha,

so if you guys are interested, please take a look at it sometime:

www.fooobie.blogspot.com

Mail Order Happiness

2010-03-02T15:38:00.004-05:00

One night my dad handed me this box of stuff. He was like, "Here, this came for you." I took it and thought for a second. I could have sworn that I already got my shoes that I ordered online. What the hell is this?

Home-Baked cookies! :)

I have some of the best friends ever.

Love, love, love.

2010-02-16T20:55:00.004-05:00

Happy Late Valentine's Day!!!

Such sweet innocent beauty :)
Here's a beautiful snapshot I was able to capture back in Rome. I shot this while my friend was getting an international summons for desecrating an Italian National Monument. All he really wanted to say was "I'm on a boat".

Picadilly Revisited

2010-01-31T23:05:00.008-05:00

I helped a friend, the talented, Jonathan Hsu (Hsubox productions) with a film shoot this weekend. Directed by the artist, Ms Oh Zhang, this was a film to pay tribute to the Chinese-American Actress of the early 1930s named Anna Mae Wong. The film is called "Picadilly Revisited" and will premier in London AND..hopefully it will also premier in the states soon. It was really fun! I love shooting movie sets- their lighting is magnificent for little ol' photographers who are so used to/and sick of strobe lights. WHY oh WHY can't we just ALWAYS have continuous light?

Italia

2010-01-08T17:10:00.011-05:00

Venice, Italy (totally diggin' the star filters)

As most of you know, I went on a backpacking trip to Italy in December..pretty much carryin nothin' but a compass, my PJs, and my friggin Canon 5D Mk II. I also wrote a complete blog of my trip on my blackberry during the horrid nights I'd stay up listening to the sound of snoring.

I'm going to update 1 a day. The pictures that I upload are probably not going to correspond with the blog entry of that day. I'm working on putting together all the images that I took (27 gigs. yes.) and creating a website which is browse=-able by all as soon as I can!

DAY 1 - TRAVELING

We arrived here (ROME) at 8:30 pm due to a whole bunch of travel delays. It was
pretty infuriating. We sat on the plane last night from 10 pm til
about 1 am.. then they kicked us off because there were some plane engine problems. I was pretty worried since our connecting flight was in Madrid, Spain and we only had a 4 hour layover time...and it was already like 3 hours later..we ended up sitting in the terminal for about another hour, then they finally fixed it up, and allowed us back onto the plane, and we took off, after a 4-5 hour delay.

I already assumed that we had missed our flight so that was that. So the plane took off, and seriously, just my luck... the people sitting behind us were noisy and extremely rude. Everyone on the plane spoke Spanish. The stewardesses didn't even speak english!

So, the people sitting behind me.. Ha they are going to be a story. Directly behind me was this old, fat, rude spanish man who was loud and extremely obnoxious.. He got into a huge fight with a stewardess because of the delays. His daughter was also extremely horrific.. So much that Min and I decided to nickname her "man-bear-pig"...because that is what she reminded us of. (It's from a south park episode..if you don't know) Well anyway, they were both nasty. He kept coughing throughout the ride and woke me up more than once with his annoying cough... like, there were times were I was peacefully asleep, and all of a sudden I hear A HUGE "WOOOOF", and I get freaked out, and then I wake up. And what is worse, once he had already woken me up.. the snoring didn't allow me to go back to sleep!! Also, their entire family was on this plane, and they didn't shut up for the entire 8 hour flight. It was pretty horrible.

We got to Madrid and the most interesting thing occurred. Apparently, even when you're transferring flights, you have to freaking CHECK OUT, then RE-CHECK back into the airport. Silly right? Well, we got there late, and missed our flight, so we had to be re-routed to another flight. We ended up getting to Rome only about 3 hours late.

So, fast forward, we finally arrived in Roma, and made our way over to our hostel. Now this was my first time ever being in a hostel so I was preeetty nervous. I entered the room and there was 8 beds and all of them were occupied..except for two.

Anyway I gathered up my stuff and went to take a shower. I realized that every lock in Europe is those old school lock and keys lock and so I clicked it shut and I went to shower. The showers was pretty nasty.. the water wasn't really that hot and it annoyed me that the water didn't drain fast enough so it ended up overflowing.. and I dont like my feet to be soaked in water while I'm showering!

After I finished showering I went and got into bed.. the entire plane trip exhausted me. I was really tired and wanted to just pass out. The next day would be verry busy.. I had tons of places lined up to see.. and I knew it. So here I am, trying to sleep.. in the room was me min and some other dude... I ended up falling asleep but waking back up because the others from our room came back at like 4 am and woke me up... And one of the guys snored like a freaking hog.. and I couldn't sleep through it... so I ended up not really getting much sleep at all.

DAY 2 - ROME

The next morning I woke up and got ready at around 8 AM. Went downstairs to get breakfast- most hostels in Europe will provide breakfast - but it's usually some cheap stuff. This hostel had chocolate rice krispies, milk and bread and jam. After eating, Min and I walked back over to the Roma Termini and took the subway over to Vatican City/Museum. There, we saw the most beautiful sculptures.. And views from the old Vatican. It was good that I bought ticks online because that cut down the wait time from the huge lines. What sucked was that it was a pretty nasty and rainy day... But we spent most of the morning in the museum (when it was raining the most). It was an awesome museum, the artwork inside was everything I learned about in Art History- it was so ridiculous to see it in REAL LIFE, and in it's full glory! I even saw the Sistine Chapel (I took pictures- even though they said we weren't allowed to!! hee hee!) But it was beautiful, everything in there was beautiful.

When we finished, we were starving, so we went over to the first ristorante we saw outside of the Vatican. It sucked. We only ate there because we were pretty desperate for something to eat, our feet were tired, and we just wanted to SIT... so we ate at some super touristy place. Our meal cost us 11 euros (1 euro right now is equivalent to about 1.5 dollars) so...

Yeah...and it wasn't even that good. I had tortellini and a cup of Cappuccino.. Min had lasagna. I never really knew much about the differences in coffee prefer ability. In Europe, everyone love their espressos... It's almost impossible to find a normal American cup of coffee. Hahah and I love how they serve them in little cups.. but oh man, how I missed having a normal cup of coffee..

Anyway, after we finished eating we walked over to st peter's basilica
(the tomb of St Peter). It was grand. I cant even really begin to describe how marvelous it was. It's a church, that gives you a slice of heaven. I loved it. I took a TON of pictures. Min and I even found a confessional booth!! I've always wanted to sit in one of those. I realized that they aren't very comfortable.. haha. Leaving the church, we found a post office and sent out postcards :)

Then as we were heading back to our hostel it was beginning to rain.. and when we got to the metro.. we found out that there was a Metro strike going on!! There were HUGE lines just to get INTO the station and it filled up the streets. The trains weren't working because of a strike. Great start to our vacation, huh? Then it began to rain harder.. and so we wanted to find some shelter inside a coffee shop. Also, I wanted to find a pair of shoes that were a little more waterproof instead of my crappy cloth TOMs shoes ... haha.

We finally found a nice little cafe and sat there for a little while. When we were ready and well rested we decided to go back to rome termini.. And ohhh my goshhhh it was sooo crowded. We had to wait 3 trains to pass until were able to finally STEP onto a train. And, wow, that was how it felt like to be a sardine. Sigh.
For dinner, we found a small little pizzeria near our hostel. The pizza was fresh made by the chef. And so, I didnt know what to choose on the menu, because it was all in Italian, so I asked the chef to recommend me his favorite. I was like, OK I'll take it! When it came out, I was horrified to see MUSHROOMS AND OLIVES!! My two least favorite foods in the world. I ate it, cuz he was staring at me and I didn't want to be rude. dang..

After we ate, we decided that we didn't want to go back to the hostel and deal with our roommates so we decided to go back to St Peters Square to see how it was lit up at night. The fountains and square was awesome!

The 23rd.

2010-01-05T15:20:00.010-05:00

I've decided to finally update my blog. I really should do this more often, since I know most of you people just LOVE reading about the garbage that I write. Right? :)

Anyway, today is; my 23rd birthday. I can't say I'm too happy, nor can I say I'm really depressed. I'm pretty much, just all right.. and I think I'm content...which, actually can be a good thing.

I read a speech this morning, by Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple. Found an extremely interesting line, --

"Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow
connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life."

I found this, interestingly enough, extremely valuable in my life at this EXACT moment. Turning 23 is just another step into the future. At this point in time, things seem very fuzzy, sometimes I feel I don't have a direction, sometimes I feel lost, sometimes I feel as though I am never going to 'follow my dream', become satisfied, or successfully grasp what it is that I'm looking for...

But then I read that line, and I thought- He's right you know;-- you can't possibly KNOW what is going to happen in the future, you can't possibly connect the dots until you look back. Everything that I do, every experience I experience, comes with a price, it will come with a dot, and all these dots will, in fact, line up in my future. The dots will connect, and my future will be made. Until then, I just know I have to keep creating these dots, keep pressing onward, because dots won't get made if I just idle about.

Turning 23 is a new chapter, it's a new dot behind me. I know that I'm not going to succeed in everything I do, but that's just part the refinement process. I am excited, I am energized and I know that the dots WILL connect, and when I see that collection happen- I am going to be in utter awe.

I have also decided, writing will be my new outlet. It will be how I am able to collect and direct my thoughts. It will be a way for me to categorize my thoughts, organize them, and somehow get my own points across to MY self.

Weddings

2009-11-23T12:10:00.007-05:00

This weekend, I was digging around some of the millions of images I have muddled into my harddrives. I love this picture.. and I love weddings.. especially shooting them!

tee hee :)

Papa-papa-Raaaazzi!

2009-11-10T13:42:00.007-05:00

I can finally add "Paparazzi" to my list of occupations...

So my friend Lewis decided to propose to his awesome girlfriend, Julie on Nov 1st, 2009 (her birthday-day!!) For the occasion, he enlisted in my help. He wanted me to capture (on camera) the entire scene of when he would propose to her at "Fort Totten" (which is a beautiful shore area that over looks Throgs Neck Bridge)

Just so you can get an idea of how far I actually was:

Gotta love the fishermen!! :)

So... in preperation, we set up my AWESOME HOT EPSON PHOTO printer (^_^) and workstation at Wing's house. I took at Canon 100-400mm Lens out there with me, crouched behind a car and photographed the entire scene (in freezing weather...) Afterwards, I went back to my workstation and edited/printed the best picture that I was able to get. It was pretty hard since Julie's back was mostly turned toward me and it was really rare that I was able to get a good shot of her face! That night, Lewis planned a surprise dinner with all of his and Julie's friends to celebrate the wonderful occasion... and we surprised her with the printed image of what happened earlier that day =)

It was pretty cool. Congrats guys !!!!

Thursday Nights at the LaundryMat

2009-11-01T16:30:00.004-05:00

Spent last Thursday night at Julian's film shoot. We didn't start until 10:00PM... there was a lot of setting up. It was definitely an interesting experience. I've never actually seen or understood how films were shot. It's COMPLETELY DIFFERENT than a still photo shoot. There is so much more work/crew involved. Something I learned, since, they were using a manual film camera and they had to do something called, "lens rehearsal". I thought this was insane. Basically the lens-guy had to adjust the lens at almost every angle the actor walked in... it's crazy how much has to go into shooting a film. They had to rehearse, over and over again. It really blew my brains because I probably would never be able to have patience for all of that ..

Anyway, me, being me- the photographer- was set there in order to get a good shot for his "movie poster" when he goes to advertise his film. I haven't had the time to actually look through them all and do some real editing, but I did quickly see this image, and buffed it up a little bit.. so you can have a sneak peak. I really like her expression. Since you guys have no idea what the film is about, give it a shot and see if you can figure it out from this shot. Comments please! =)

Upcoming projects!!

2009-10-27T22:07:00.011-04:00

So a friend's friend contacted me the other day. He's shooting his senior thesis film called, "Labels", and he asked me to shoot the still photography on-set. It's basically about a story about two people who do the, "Love at First Sight" deal.. but it's not really the typical story. I'm a huge skeptic when it comes to romantic, typical-like ideas, but I read the screenplay and I must say, it was pretty good. I'm going to shooting the still photos on set on Thursday night for the end product of the movie poster. Exciting ! :)

On another note, my cousin is part of a planning committee, it's pretty much a non-profit organization that helps raise money for different causes. They had a wine-tasting event last Thursday. She asked me to donate some artwork.. so I was like, "why not.. it just sits in my basement collecting dust...". So I donated 3 pieces, and went to the event. It was a really great time. A good number of people showed up too. It was great having people look and study my work again. Getting feedback on my work, meeting with different people, getting different insight on my work... it's all extremely valuable to my process of growth. Hopefully there will be more events to come and more chances to show my work!

project: DRYWALL - DAY 1

2009-10-18T00:55:00.011-04:00

Project DRYWALL went into affect this morning at 8:00AM. (at least that's what time I think my brother got up this morning.. I got up at around 9AM)

So, like I showed you before, this is how the room(s) looked before we began the renovations. A little background information, basically there are two rooms that we have here, we tore down a wall, to combine the two rooms, took out the old wood panels, re-installed good insulation, put up sheet-rock (and will plaster/paint at a later date).

Tools list: Circular saws, saws, measuring tape, rulers. hammers, power drills (so fun), masks, googles, gloves.

TEAM: SUNNY, BRIAN, JUNIOR, ALEX, WING, PHIL, MR. CHUNG, & ME :)

Pre-game: Cleaning, starting the breakdown of the wooden panels and wall.
Alex: Tearing down walls
Cindy: Hammering out unwanted old nails (and taking a million pictures as the day continues on)

Step one: DEMOLITION WALLS !!!
9:30 AM:
First to arrive: Sunny (along with his crazy circular saw, his extra set of tools, and TABLE!)

Sunny and Alex continually tear down the walls as we wait for more help to arrive.
Brian & Wing arrive, and help demolish the walls while Sunny and Alex go back to Home Depot to purchase the sheet rock.

My dad and I are outside, tearing out all the nails from the previous wood panels. Yes... I did do some work too >_>

Brian and Wing continually took down the walls...

until it was all cleared and ready for the addition of new insulation:

Junior came too, and helped with the cutting of the sheet rock:

The first wall went up:

THEN we had a pizza lunch break:
(Mm... cascarino's pizza (peppers/spinach (the BEST!!) and pepperoni and sausage), apple juice & soda..)

Phil then joined us, and we put up most of the sheet rock and worked til night fell...

We finally called it quits at around 8:30 PM and went out to get some dinner. We ended with most of the walls finished except a few little sections! But it was great! Everyone did an amazing job! It was really fun and interesting to see come together !!!!!

Memorable images of the day:

Thank you everyone for their help!!!

PROJECT DRYWALL PT 2 (SUNDAY AFTERNOON)

A few awesome people came by to finish off the rest of the walls: Thank you!!! Jenny, Trust, Wilson, Jason and Winbin! :)

Step two of Project DRYWALL will continue as soon as Alex and I get a chance to stop our oh-so-busy-lives during the week. We will need to plaster & paint the walls next. Stay tuned!

Project: Drywall has Begun!

2009-10-14T22:21:00.002-04:00

Wintertime is near and my workspace is getting colder and colder as the days go by...so..finally my brother and I have decide to drywall and re-insulate the entire basement (aka the first floor). I'm pretty excited about it. The past two nights we've been moving and packing things up so we could store it until the drywall/painting is complete.

I have taken up the task to document our status in images...so.. I present to you, projectDRYWALL part 1:

Haystacks

2009-10-07T13:36:00.005-04:00

Been awhile since I updated with some work. I miss haystacks.

Thanks leo.

Shoes, shoes and more Shoes...

2009-10-01T16:36:00.005-04:00

I suppose my focus for this shoot really wasn't on SHOES per say... but when I looked back at my contact sheets, I realized that it did seem like a good idea.

Well anyway, due to the ghetto-ness of my basement, and my lack of a seamless... I had to tape together some white sheets and just figure something out. I mean, this isn't the best.. but what can I say. Some critiques that I can give myself is, in the left image, I do agree that the hand in the pocket is extremely distracting, however I really love the expression on her face, and the angle of her legs.. and how her shoes look. In the second image, I really love her confused face.. totally makes the image. I liked how we worked with the crappy studio and sort of, just made it part of the image.. talk about making good use of what we got.. I shot a lot more, but these two were my favorites.

I really enjoy working with people and just having fun... and I love it when models are experimental with me too.. they add a different flavor.. and everyone can be a little creative when the time calls for it ^_^ v

Back !!!!

2009-09-30T22:43:00.003-04:00

I'm finally back in action! After 3 months of a super-hiatus from shooting.. I finally got my act together, and shot something tonight. I had one of my friends come over tonight, and we had did a shoot in my "make-shift" studio. It actually came out a lot better than I expected. It was definitely fun.. and I definitely missed shooting! So I'm glad I got to do it. I'll post up pictures when I get to them.. promise by next week.. haha!

Slowly getting back into the grove of being a work-a-holic. Editing into the wee hours of the night. Currently installing some apps back into my super-machine as we speak! :D Hopefully I can stay awake long enough to do a few more things.

As promised (TO MYSELF) I will post a picture a day (or rather, per entry). So here's today's image. The Flat Iron building (I work around there). I thought this image was crazy cool.. menacing.. and I love the little flicker of light in the middle of the building.. I wonder if they did that on purpose?.. haha probably not...

(gosh, i love my blackberry camera.. and all of its 3.2 Megapixels... :B)

The Makings of the Crappiest Studio on Earth!

2009-09-22T23:38:00.009-04:00

Trying to blog everyday is pretty tough. I don't know how people are able to do it so often. Don't get me wrong, I love typing.. and typing.. and talking about absolutely nothing, but I just feel like it's a huge time eater-upperr. HOWEVER, I do think it's a great way to get myself working again. I feel like I've hit a huge brick since I've graduated. I haven't taken any pictures and I feel like TURD for not doing so. My professors warned us about this.. and I don't want to fall back into the pattern. I need to start exploring New York... making it worth while.

Now that I'm so much more used to working, I feel like I can stay up a lot later than I usually do. Hence, I'm still up and its almost midnight ! (I'm MAKING PROGRESS !!) I remember when I used to stay up to like 3-4 AM in the computer labs back in school and not be tired ... where did my energy go? BLAH

Currently working on fixing up my faux-studio in my basement. It's somewhat of a small space.. but maybe if I got RID OF ALL MY JUNK.. it wouldn't be so horrible. And once I finally get my monstrosity of a computer put together and running MAC OS (soon soon!) then I can finally get some WORK done !! Here's my progress as of right now:

Going to be covering up those nasty brown walls with some white seamless paper.. Yes, I'm manually going to put wallpaper on.. hopefully.. and then start cleaning up the floor.. so I can actually WALK around. Hurrah! Will post more images as it
progresses...

Autumn

2009-09-21T17:02:00.004-04:00

Autumn is here! Pretty leaves and the fresh smell of cedar.. mmmhmm..

I miss college so much right now, it's a little bit unbearable. But that's okay, we all go through those changes right? I was reading my old posts and it's just hilarious how stressed out I used to be from schoolwork, projects and drama...

A career-life is very different. Time is of the essence. I can't do the things that I used to love doing as much anymore. There's just really no time for it anymore. I need to have crazy time-management skills .. or I just need to give up a lot more.

I can't take 15 hours of a day to prep a little photo-shoot for my own portfolio, I can't sit around and play guitar for about 2 hours, I can't surf youtube and I can't, absolutely can't take naps during the day anymore!

It's HORRIBLE ~!! ;____;

Funny little note: My coworker walked in and saw me eating out of Joshua's container. I put grapes in it because I couldn't find anything else. >__>

Have you met my friend, Canon 5D MK II?

2009-07-20T21:46:00.007-04:00

This is my friend. I named him Millard. Well, not exactly Millard.. but if he had a name, he would look like a millard =)

I need to go shooting soon. I'm suffering from some kind of inspiration shortage.

Remember Barbie

2009-05-13T15:42:00.010-04:00

I miss barbies a lot. I remember when I used to have a ton back when I was a kid...from the dollhouse, to the car, to the shopping cashier desk! I would love cutting their hair- it was so much fun .. up until you realized there was no more hair to cut.

I went to Wal-mart the other night to purchase some barbies for my next shoot. My professor gave us the title, "Strip Tease". Honestly, I'm not much of the type to shoot nudes- never really found it interesting, so I found a more interesting approach. Barbies. They are so different now a days as compared to when I was a kid.

I love how this image has a sick-reality to it.

Book Making

2009-05-07T15:00:00.003-04:00

image: "Wet"

I'm down to the last 3 projects of my academic career!

So I'm working in Photoshop 4, and I really hate how they created the "tab interface". No joke- I really do NOT like it. It annoys me that when I try to move my windows, they automatically fix in with each other and become tabs. Okay, photoshop isnt firefox okay? I don't need my images tabbed- I want to look at all of my work in different windows that way I can COMPARE THEM. Honestly, if I WANT them tabbed- I should be allowed to turn the setting ON/OFF!

This is my rant for the day.

I really still like Photo-shop 3 a lot... and will tend to use it over photoshop4- at least within my personal workflow.

Another annoyance that I just had. Last night, I got out of work at 11pm, and went to the lab to do MORE work.. at around 1, I was finishing up, and sending my book in to be published at blurb.com. And the first time i published it- it didn't seem to go through because I didnt get a confirmation email and the website just didn't load. So I waited a bit, then i figured okay, i MUST send this out now in order to get it in time of the due date, so again, I published it again...the I received TWO confirmation emails!! Ugh! I had to pay $30 / book.. and for two! I didn't even WANT two!!! And they will not cancel it because of their policy. This annoyed me greatly.

Cars!

2009-05-02T17:35:00.006-04:00

I don't shoot automobiles. I mean, maybe I do- but I never HAVE before until today. My housemate is a mechanical engineer; she and her formula team built this little race-car from scratch. They are going to race it nationally (?) at the end of May. I hope they win! She asked if I could photograph it, and I said sure. It was a fun experience and definitely interesting!

Here are a few of my experimental shots. I guess they came out pretty well =)

"Tweens"

2009-05-01T12:35:00.004-04:00

So I've been watching a lot of SNL lately on Hulu. Hulu is amazing isn't it? I used to love SNL- but I haven't had the time to watch any of it- but I've been catching clips again lately and I realized it's gotten pretty good again. I remember there was a stage of SNL where the writing was horrific and the jokes were trashy and not even remotely intelligent or witty- but I feel like they've gotten back their good writers. Maybe it was the strike- who knows?

I was watching the Zac Efron Monolouge and I learned a new word. (haha)
"Tween"

Wiki describes it word as "the word between–tweens are not quite children, and not quite teenagers. A tween is between 8 and 12 years old, and a tweenager is 10 to 12 years old (under 13 years of age). Regardless of the specific age, though, it is useful to define tweens as being in that awkward stage of pre-puberty and puberty where they’re just beginning to form stronger social bonds with their peers and desiring more independence from their families, usually in the form of wanting to be more “grown up.” It’s the age where adolescent identities are just beginning to be formed under the realization of a bigger, more complex and, notably, cruel, world than anyone had imagined as a child."

Interesting, eh?

On the ends of my photographic adventures- I went to the Met in order to gain some inspiration and to immerse myself once again in the conceptual. Drawing on the work of past artists and present, I think all people- whether they call themselves artists or not- should have some understanding or some exposure to expand their state of mind. Or even to have their concrete thought patterns interrupted. It's just nice to exercise one's brain once in awhile.

Anyway, here's a great shot that I got on the roof of the Met :) I always wanted to go up there, but they always had it closed since 9/11 :T

A week in the City

2009-04-27T14:18:00.003-04:00

I went home to NYC this past week for numerous reasons. I met with people, I explored the city myself, and in turn, I learned a lot about ... a lot of things. I've gotten refreshed and renewed- I've learned a lot more about myself and what I photograph and WHY I even photograph. Being in school for so long, I felt as though I've forgotten some of the things I loved most- and although one fears this- it often happens without being known. The trick is to be jolted back into reality, into truth and into the creative once again. Constant reminders is all that is needed.

I know that whole paragraph was vague and definitely a little deeper than it seems.. but that's all I really need to say right now.

Enjoy an image I have created. I call it, 'The Missing Dress'.

Time is going and going..

2009-04-18T15:22:00.000-04:00

It's 3:30 on a Saturday. Like most people, I should be outside enjoying the beautiful weather; but instead I am inside a lab.. editing and organizing my work. You know, sometimes I wish I could just get a 9-5 job and not worry. Photography is such a 24/7 job- it's so time consuming- but I think it's all worth it in the end. Don't you agree?

Hah..

Here's a few shots I did this week. I really don't have anytime to shoot lately- I've got to get ready for some interviews! :O Graduation is about 1 month away! Scary!!

I was going for a rock-star/damsel in distress type of gear. The rock star who has a woman who loves him way too much, but he just doesn't give a damn. Sigh. lol

What's good in the 50s?

2009-04-14T05:15:00.000-04:00

I'm pretty stressed out right now. I have so much to do before the end of the week...I'm heading back to the city next week to interview at a few places. Today I had a pretty relaxing morning filled with french vanilla and calmness..
Then I had to set up a shoot and now I'm in the computer lab trying to organize all of my images and things together... The lights just turned off. I hate that.. these motion-sensor lights are so unpredictable!

Anyway, my theme was a coco-chanel/50-60s theme. I tried.. really I did..! I am SO tired and my eyeballs hurt from staring at the screen for so long.

Daylight

2009-04-09T18:59:00.000-04:00

I woke up at 8. Had a shoot that began at 10.
Never give up!!!

Here's a quick glance at what happened today in the studios.

Goodness I wish NL was cleaner, that white ground was pretty gross.

Simple and Soft

2009-04-07T21:16:00.000-04:00

I've been flipping through a lot of Vogue lately.

Inspired to do some soft light, european simple- look. Here was my experiment:

(I DID THE MAKE UP AND HAIR & STYLING MYSELF !!! ) - don't ask me why, but I'm really proud of myself for that.. .because I'm not ONLY a photographer.. but I can definitely dress people well!! :)

Honestly.. I loved this shoot. It was a lot of work, it took 2 shots of expresso to wake me up in order to get me in the mind. I had class ALL day, I went to be at 5:30 AM last night.. only to wake up at 8AM this morning, have class from 9-4, took a nap in the lab from 4-5, then set up to shoot at 6. Shot from 6-9, then I just finished editing a little bit.

Red..

2009-04-06T22:58:00.000-04:00

On Sunday, I did a shoot with the TASA dance group for some Jay Chou dance. They all had these golden jackets and I thought it'd be cool to work with them. It's a little harder working with amateur models. Well, just kids who don't really know how to model, and sometimes pose a little "too" much. I only had about 45 minutes to shoot this, and there were 10 people to direct- it was a little complicated.. but I did the best that I could.

Here are a few little views:

Junkyard Photoshoot

2009-04-02T19:06:00.000-04:00

My housemate, Sarah, her friend Sierra and I went over to an alleyway in Downtown Rochester for a shoot. We met up with my other model, Nicole (the blonde) and had a photoshoot for my next assignment: Denim Blues. My concept was rugged fashion. Jeans can be worn for any type of work right? Despite being hollar-ed at about 20 times during the entire shoot- I think it went really well. We were in the back of a dirty abandoned parking lot. There were a lot of vans/cars that kept circling around watching us.. it was pretty creepy. But there were 5 of us girls, and we were pretty scary looking. Some dude had the nerve to stop his car in front of us and say, "Any of you guys want to make a $20?"

On a happier note, I've got a whole bunch of shoots coming up soon and I've gotten back into the grove.. and I love my camera once again :)

Yuck.

Zebra Prints !

2009-03-31T18:21:00.001-04:00

MAJOR Artist block. Need help! Please inspire me somehow.

Anyway, here are some shots I shot last week at my apartment. I love natural lighting. I wish I could just shoot with natural light all my life.. but I need somewhere Sunny.. like California. :T Rochester's been having a few sunny days lately- it makes such a huge difference in my mood.

Weaksauce

2009-03-26T23:41:00.000-04:00

I re-opened my facebook. I am so weak! Hahaha

Anyway, some recent things that have been going on. I'm taking 2 shooting courses this term. Portfolio development and Fashion Photography. Both of them are pretty intense, exciting, interested and challenging. ESPECIALLY the fashion one. It's pretty fast-paced too. I really love the fashion one because of my professor's excitement and energy. He really wants us to work our hardest and to the best of our abilities to really create a portfolio that can knock everyone elses' out of the park. It's a little stressful and tough, but I really do hope to manage to pump out a few awesome pieces to add to my portfolio. Basically our lectures are on Monday, and our crits are on Friday, so we generally have about a week to shoot, edit and process. I also like the fact that he brings in guest lecturers from the field to give us a little taste of the real world. As for portfolio development, basically we gather in groups and help each other pick and choose pieces for our portfolio that we need to have by the end of our college careers. Critique is good, constructive and interesting. I also really like looking at other people's work. It's a great way to develop ideas for myself and a great way to learn from other people's mistakes and achievements. My 3rd class that I'm taking this last term is Image Retouching/Restoration... basically another Photoshop course. It's awesome- I love it, there's a lot to learn.. and I'm willing!

7 weeks til graduation. It's pretty insane how fast it's going.

Some eye candy-
My latest project from my crit in Fashion Photo last week. The assignment was, "Black and White". My concept: shoot for a poster ad for a store named "black and white". The target consumer age group was in the early teens to mid teens. Bright, trendy, fun, crazy colors that were as far away from black and white as possible:

Remember those Gap Ads?

2009-03-19T13:57:00.001-04:00

Yeah, so funny thing happened to me!
I am now a proud winner of a student work Addy's award!

So... What are the addys?

The World's Largest Advertising Competition

With over 60,000 entries annually, the ADDY® Awards are the world's largest and arguably toughest advertising competition. The ADDY® Awards represent the true spirit of creative excellence by recognizing all forms of advertising from media of all types, creative by all sizes and entrants of all levels from anywhere in the world. The American Advertising Federation, a not-for-profit industry association conducts the ADDY® Awards through its 200 member advertising clubs and 15 districts. It is the only creative awards program administered by the advertising industry for the industry. (http://www.aaf.org/)

Anyway, I was rewarded a Student Award for my work on these GAP Sock Ads that I worked back in December of 2008.

You can see it here: (go to page 9!)
http://www.adhub.com/awards/09/rochester1.html

Funny story actually- my partner on this project decided to enter it WITHOUT telling me.. and only after we won, I saw him in one of my classes and he decided to tell me then.
Him: "Hey did you hear? We won an addy!"
Me: "WHAT? For what?!"
Him: "Those Gap ads we did..."
Me: "WHAT?! How come you didnt tell me you entered it?"
Him: "I thought Andy told you." (Andy is our 3rd partner)
Me: "Uh... no.. He never did..."
Him: "Oh..."

I was a little annoyed that they didn't tell me because the Addy's award ceremony was the previous Friday.. which I missed. Oh well, I'm not angry really but just a little disappointed that I didnt get to attend it. ALSO, I am a little annoyed that didn't give me credit for Art Direction -as it was entirely my idea and my photographs! Really now, the guy who submitted it- his part on this project was PURCHASING the socks for the photoshoot. Way to get major creds man...

I'm on a boat!

2009-02-18T09:51:00.000-05:00

All right, not gona lie.. but that song is mad catchy..and has been stuck in my head for the past few hours.. and slowly sinking into my co-worker's head too.. haha. T-pain, you are friggn' awesome.

My term is 1 day from being over! That means, 12 more weeks til graduation :O!

Going to be back in New York.. spending my spring break doing things that I actually can enjoy!

Here's a little something something for you:

Finals Week

2009-02-13T10:02:00.000-05:00

Been extremely swamped with work recently. Non-stop shooting rampage. Experimentation with lights. Finally bought a printer the other day too. :)

Hmm.. here's something that I did awhile back, but I really liked. I present to you, my not-so-innocent model:

(And yes, I had to buy that playboy magazine on my own at the airport. The things I do...!)

S.A.D

2009-02-03T13:58:00.000-05:00

It's true. The season definitely affects people's moods and motivation. I finally saw some grass after 2 months of consistent snowfall! It's amazing to see brown, beautiful, dry, loving GRASS!! :D It also helps to see the Sun out, instead of the dreary bitter cloudy skies! Honestly, they should put windows in the photo labs. (hahaha)

I have been shooting non-stop for the past weeks. Amongst all my own personal projects, I have a ton of assignments for class. Um, I guess I never showed you the rest of the season from my previous project. So here they are:

Spring, Fall and Summer:

Walking In a Winter Wonderland

2009-01-12T02:42:00.000-05:00

Was in a photoshoot all day today.. shot from 3PM - 10:30 PM today with Danielle (Stylist+Makeup Artist) and Cecily (model).

We did the 4 seasons with ridiculous costuming. Here is part 1 of the 4 we did tonight.

I am so beat; I have an exam tomorrow which I need to study all day for tomorrow :(

Happy New Year!!

2009-01-09T11:19:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! Happy new years to all, and happy belated on the holiday greetings!

It's been quite some time since I last updated and have had an amazing winter break back at home in New York City. Celebrated 4 different birthdays (My dad's BIG 60th, my newphew's BIG ONE YEARS OLD ANIMAL-THEMED party, another good friend's birthday, and my own ugly and very-even numbered; 22nd birthday.. along with huge holidays of Christmas and the New Years,.. all within 2 little weeks! Been crazy- but I am happy :)

In terms of work- so I left you guys off with that scarf advertisement, so I decided to grace you guys with a little more eye candy: (click for a better view)

Christmas Time is Near!

2008-12-09T16:38:00.000-05:00

Wow, Christmas is already approaching. This marks the halfway point of my senior year! I'm pretty excited,.. but also pretty stressed out.

New Project:
Ad: Selling SCARVES!
Concept: High Fashion Animal-istic Beauty Head Shots! (With the scarves in there too...) Basically each scarf is going to represent a animal, and the model is going to have her makeup done to successfully represent it. :)

I have this project due by the end of next week...right before Christmas. Things have been crazy, it's been pretty difficult finding models and makeup artists and working out times..but hopefully this shoot's going down this weekend!! I'm pretty excited...

Snow has been falling.. falling falling.. and it's extremely cold up here in Rochester. I realized that I really don't like snow.. at all. It's beautiful and pretty, but only useful for: a) Snowboarding b) Taking Winter Landscapes or c) Making my life difficult.

I hate walking in snow and I hate biking in snow.. but I will admit, it is beautiful.

I had a photoshoot last night from 1PM- 11PM. It was pretty intense. I worked with an amazing make-up artist, B McEntee! And my fellow project partner, Kyle, and three awesome models, Carol, Christine and Stephanie.

I present to you my Snake:

Gallery Opening! - "Changed Perspectives"

2008-11-07T09:47:00.001-05:00

So today.. it's finally here!

My first gallery opening! I'll bring you up to date:
Well, my friend Erin used to work at this gym, and one of her friends there asked if she wanted to showcase her work there. It's basically a huge hallway leading into another room. It's a lot of space, so she asked me and my other friend to showcase with her. Since all three of us studied abroad (they went to Italy while I went to Japan) this Summer, we decided to have our work from abroad showcased .. and our show is titled, "Changed Perspectives"- and it means exactly what it is called. :)

Been really busy trying to print out my images, get everything set, buying the food, and my nerves are just a big wreck because it's week 10, finals is next week and I just had a load of work to do right before this gallery. We spent the last few nights setting up, hanging and just making sure things look all right.

I'm pretty excited for this! My family came up last night to support me. They are so sweet. We had dinner last night and now they are out shopping while I finish getting some more prints out. I'm tired!

Anyway, the last two weekends I went home to New York for a bunch of things. On the professional level, I worked with a makeup/hair stylist and model for a shoot last Saturday. That was really fun and the images came out awesome. Here are some samples:

I Want to Sleep.

2008-10-20T01:11:00.000-04:00

It was SO COLD TONIGHT.
I love how the temperature just dropped about 40 degrees within a few days. It was so nice out a few days ago, 80s even.. but now? It feels like 20!! Gah.

Tonight I was fortunate enough to have Amy Kawabata pose for me as a model. I was suppose to be shooting an "Editorial" Assignment using "Abandoned Houses", but I decided to spice it up a little bit and shoot some modeling type images for my own portfolio. So here are a few of my favorites!

My Sister is Amazing.

2008-10-17T13:51:00.001-04:00

I love my sister so much.
She sent me a sweet care-package of cookies and chocolate! It really brightened up my entire month. It's really amazing how one little act of kindness can really encourage a person. :)

Look! It's Halloween decorated!

I have also realized that, amongst all of the crazy amounts of work that I need to do and get done- it's really nice to take a break and just relax. Yesterday, I decided to take a long break and jam on my guitar for a few hours. It felt so nice.

Well anyway..back to work-related chatter.
I have so much shooting- Er i mean, "Photographing" this weekend. Certain people hate when I say I'm going to shoot; I think it's hilarious. Humprh! I have someone's senior portraits today at 3, then I have a wedding tomorrow morning, then I have to shoot an editorial project on Monday morning ;_____; (GAH!)

Here's a few more pieces from the last project I had:

I really should get back to work and stop being a bum.

:p

Beat Like a Stick

2008-10-14T02:00:00.000-04:00

Shot 3 models today. THREE!

For my next Ad&Design Project, I decided to shoot advertisements for a Record Store by selling the different worlds they put together. For example: Nerds lovin' Hardcore Rap? Biker dudes Listening to Hannah Montana? Girl Scouts and Hard Rock?

Well, anyway,.. I am really excited how some of these came out,. so I'm going to show you guys a few :p Btw, Min is a great model!

Say farewell to Blogger's Upload!

2008-10-10T00:11:00.000-04:00

Blogger seriously needs to learn how to not screw up people's images. I have now switched over to linking from my own ftp and can now bring you high rez, beautiful images! So here are a few more portraits that I shot recently.

So, how am I? Pretty much looking and feeling like a bum everyday, sitting in the lab, headphones on, high volume, eyes glued to the monitors.

Mmmm Stomach Virus.

2008-10-06T14:33:00.000-04:00

Although feeling sick- I still had to shoot. Shot a hottie freelance model named Christine Wang ;) She was amazingly awesome and fun to work with. She was patient with me even through my stupid troubles and my scatterbrained tendencies.

The images came out amazing! I'm still working on them. But here are a few to settle your eyes.

Portraits for a Fine Day

2008-10-01T19:25:00.000-04:00

Blogger does my images no justice whatsoever. The colors are off and the whites are blown out. Sigh.

Been shooting portraits and working with testing different lightings. It's so difficult to find models- definitely my biggest problem. I also am beginning to notice that people love being models and is always up for getting their photo taken. I guess this is something I don't understand because I personally hate getting my photograph taken on a professional level. Maybe that's just me. Special thanks to all my models, friends and helpers.

I need a break so bad...

I still need to shoot 2 more people tomorrow morning. Trying to work on a series of really interesting portraits for my own portfolio that involves make-up artists and hardcore workage.. but I need to see if I can make time for that!

Need to shoot enviromental portraits by Tuesday. Any volunteers?

Hey guys! I have a gallery opening coming up! November 7th, 2008 in Downtown Rochester! Title: "Changed Perspectives". Two of my other friends and I will be showcasing our work from our Summers studying abroad (they went to Italy, whereas I went to Japan) Should be really awesome! I hope everyone can come! I'll keep ya'll posted on where and what time it will be!

One Hell of a Week.

2008-09-23T21:50:00.000-04:00

I am tired.

So what has been happening?

a) I am currently homeless and living like a nomad at my friend's apartment. My room is infested with some type of bug (I think it's spiders) and I have found a new apartment in which I plan to move into this weekend.
b) I have so many photo projects that I have underway and so little time to actual execute them all.
c) So many, many, many things to edit. It's overwhelming and scary.
d) I need to start submitting my resume.
e) I'm not 100% sure what I want to do with my life.

Project: Campaign for Goodwill Benefit.
Title: "Swap"
Idea: to show people struggling to donate furniture for the benefit.
Progress: Test shots

Above are a few images from my [test]shoot from today.

Farelle Wedding of September 5th, 2008!

2008-09-11T21:40:00.000-04:00

So, I shot my first wedding by myself on Friday. It was for the lovely Mr and Mrs. Farelle of Rochester. Just for those that probably don't care very much, my equipment consisted of: a NIkon D3 with a 24-70mm 2.8 Lens, a Nikon D300 with a 35mm 2.8, a Nikon D50 (yes, that's right- old school rules!) with a 10.5mm. A couple of other lenses I brought along were the 55-200mm f4, 18-55mm, 12-24mm, 24-85mm. 2 Nikon SB800s, 1 SB600, 20gigs worth of CF cards and my tons of batteries. (I swear, I really hate technical aspects of Photography- but I must say, sometimes it sounds cool to name all the fancy equipment used :P) From this experience, I learned that I need to start buying some re-chargeable batteries to save some dollars.

I got picked up by the "limo driver", which was actually the brother-in-law to be of the bride. He picked me up in this HUGE gold chevy SUV, and we drove over to the Hotel to where the bride and bridesmaids were getting ready. I got there, entered a messy room where the bride was running around getting ready and the bridesmaids were twittering away about something unimportant. The hotel was pretty classy, the view that the hotel room was overlooking was pretty breathtaking. We left the hotel at around 3:45 and headed over to the church where the ceremony started promptly at 4:00PM. (we actually stopped in the middle of the highway to take some photos near a river so we were a tad late to the ceremony! all for the sake of good photos right?)

During the ceremony I was pretty nervous. It was dead silent when the Priest was speaking-- literally SO quiet that you could actually hear a pin drop- AND ME CHANGING LENSES! How embarrassing! :p I was actually afraid to change lenses or allow the camera to "click" because it would echo throughout the entire church! hahah, call me silly- whatever. But the guest-list was pretty small, maybe about 100 max, and the room was enormous! But it went well. After the ceremony we took some portraits and headed over to the reception hall which took place at Shadow Lake. It was a really nice clubhouse that had a really beautiful lake.

Overall, the couple was amazing to work with and really fun people. I had a ton of fun and it was just sweet. After the whole thing, I felt like I really knew these people within a few short hours. It was awesome.

Here are few sneak peaks of the wedding:

I'm shooting another wedding in October. I really hope that one goes well too.

Back in New York!

2008-08-06T00:53:00.001-04:00

Phew! It has been a long time!

I finally got back to America last night at around 8PM. I left Hong Kong on August 4th in the morning, took a 4 hour plane ride, had a pit stop in Tokyo for a connecting flight, and took another 13 hour ride from Narita to New York. I hate planes so much though. My leg cramped so many times while sitting down. I took the plane with my mom and thankfully I was blessed with some pretty good seats. My first flight I was given a nice window seat and the 2nd ride I had the aisle seat so I was able to stand up whenever I wanted to in order to stretch my legs. All of this information is probably irrelevant but I like to share it anyway.. haha.

So, I stayed in Hong Kong for a grand total of 9 days. Basically I spent the first 6 days meeting up with relatives and having lunches, dinners, house visitations, shopping, and a little bit of sight-seeing. It was pretty interesting. I have a lot of relatives there, my dad has 9 other brothers and sisters, so you can do the math. All except for 2 of his sisters live in Hong Kong, so you can just imagine.. plus my mom's side of the family lives there too..so I had to see them too.

Apparently in Hong Kong, they absolutely LOVE shopping malls. In every subway station, there is a huge shopping mall that comes with it. I guess this is so because it is so hot and humid in Hong Kong all the time that it's impossible to walk outside for very long. There are 2 streets that are outdoor-like flea markets, where everything is bargain-able and really cheap. I liked shopping there. I met up with 3 of my friends from New York in Hong Kong. It just so happened that we went at the same time. I went on that huge cable car ride to the large buddha in Hong Kong, went to Disneyland (which although everyone in HK thinks its terrible- I really liked it a lot!!) and I also went to TST to see the infamous Lightshow and the "peak" to see the skyline of Hong Kong. The view is amazing and Hong Kong has one of the best skylines in the entire world. Honestly, the night view is definitely more colorful and interesting than the New York City one.

Here is the Buddha in Hong Kong:

Here is the Asian-Mickeys that I came across at Disneyland..I think it is very very cute :)!!!

おわりました！ ~fin

2008-07-24T01:00:00.000-04:00

It's over!
We finished up last Thursday in Kanazawa. The IJST class of 2008! The SGE students threw us a farewell party on Saturday and we watched a really cute slideshow of pictures and a video too. It was really sweet! Our host families also came to say goodbye to us. My host family made a photo-album of the pictures we took during the weekend. It made me really happy. During that ceremony, I seriously felt like crying. It made the opening ceremony so much more vivid. During the opening ceremony, when Keiichi said that we were all going to become friends, I was so skeptical. I remember thinking that the language barrier was going to be terrible and that it was impossible to really know people in 6 weeks--but I was so wrong. Everyone ended up really having the best time and getting to know each other so well, and in the end we all became so comfortable around each other.

Nick, Jason, Adam and I took the night bus out of Kanazawa to Tokyo on the 17th. Moromi, Keiichi, Gen and Kohei went with us to the bus stop and stayed with us until we left on the bus. It made me really sad when the bus departed and we saw them waving goodbye to us. However, one thing did really did make me feel comfortable. Before getting on the bus we had an hour to kill, so we all decided to sit in starbucks. All 8 of us sat there, and had the most comfortable silences ever. It made me realize how much we all were okay with each other. It was nice. Then we took some Pikuras (Sticker pictures) and then 4 of us went on our way.

We got to Tokyo at around 630AM tired as hell. We didn't get any sleep on the bus because it was really uncomfortable. So we then decided to spend 30 minutes inside an internet cafe, then we went over to Adam's friend's University and slept in a classroom for 2 hours or so. After wards, we ate lunch and then got on the bus to Shin Fuji. A huge bunch of IJST students had planned to climb Mount Fuji together, and so we had planned to meet at the station at 5pm.

We all met up, and ended up getting up to the halfway point of Mount Fuji by taxi. Since the climbing season does not officially open until the next day, there were no buses that would drive us up. So, when we got to the 5th point, we all got off and there we started our journey up the mountain. Holy crap! It was SO HARD! We started climbing at around 9PM. It was dark, but the moonlight was really bright so we had that as our light. I ended up getting to the top right before the sunrise. In Japan, the sun rises a lot earlier than in America. The sunrise was beautiful! I think we were all really uncomfortable though because a) we all just pulled an all nighter, trying to climb a mountain, and b) it was probably the most grueling activity we had ever done.

Mount Fuji has 10 stations, and we started from 5. Stations 5-7 wasn't so bad.. but after I hit 7, it became really steep and rocky and extremely scary. We all had to get walking sticks in order to maintain balance and seek through rubble and rocks. Not only did it become harder to breathe because of the high altitude but it also became harder to stay warm. I was wearing 3 hoodies and a jacket and still freezing to no end! I seriously thought that I was going to catch Pnemonia (sp?) and die up on that mountain.. but I stuck it through and was able to experience something that not a lot of people on this planet have. I could barely take pictures because of how cold it was. Interesting fact: If one wanted to pee on Fuji, one would have to pay 200 Yen ($2) because your feces has to be transported down the mountain manually. Anyway, it was an amazing view and something I recommend putting on your bucket list :)

The few of us freezing on the top of the mountain:

After the sunrise, we had to climb back down the mountain (which was even harder because all of the rock and dirt is slippery) and got back to the station at about noon time. Nick, Jason, Adam, Keisuke, Trevor, Ted, Amy and I went to an onsen/public bath in order to shower and get all of the nastiness off of ourselves. We then headed back to Tokyo and got some dinner. Have I mentioned I haven't slept at this point for over 24 straight hours?

Well anyway, I passed out at Momo's apartment and the next day we all met up again and had some breakfast and walked around Shinjuku until we had to send Keisuke off back to Kanazawa. It was sad, parting with the 最後の日本人。＠＿＠金沢工業大学校はおても楽しかった。私はも一度金沢に行きたい！

On Sunday night, I left everyone and went to meet with my parents at Hilton Hotel in Narita. I joined a 4 night tour of Tokyo with my parents. Our first day we went to Asakusa, the Imperial Palace and then went to Shinjuku. That night we stayed in the New Akao Plaza in Shinjuku- and it was so amazing. The hotel itself was beautiful and very accomodating! It was right in the heart of Shinjuku and I was able to go shopping :) The next day, we went over to see Kamakura, home of the 2nd largest Buddha statue. (The biggest one is in Nara, which I had already visited earlier in June), and went to this really sweet hotel that was built on the side of the mountain. There we were able to experience a Hot Spring, traditional Japanese cuisine, a really amazing view from our Hotel rooms, and sleep on tatami mats. (Not very new for me, but definitely fun for my parents to experience) I must admit, I have not been this spoiled in a very long time. Most of my travels here in Japan have been at crappy hotels and barely any good food. But traveling with parents have been extremely easy and pampering >_> The last day, we went Hakone, then we went to Ginza.

Kamakura:

the view from the top of the Tokyo Capital Tower:

the view from the hotel on the mountain:

A shot I took in a department store in Ginza:

Right now, I'm currently at a hotel in Kanda, Tokyo. My parents didn't realize that our plane for Hong Kong departed a day after our tour ended. So here I am, using free internet and updating my blog! Today, I took my parents out on our own little tour. We went to Shibuya for some shopping, then I took them over to Tokyo Tower. We went to the Tower right before the sun went down, so we got to see it during sunlight, and during the night. We went up to the top and experienced the view from there also. It was really beautiful. I am going to miss Japan so much when I leave!

Tokyo Tower:

Here is a self-portrait that I attempted at the top of Tokyo Tower:

Overall, this is the last blog I will have of Japan. Here is a checklist of the places that I have already visited in Japan:
1) Kanazawa
2) Osaka
3) Kyoto
4) Nara
5) Tokyo
6) Hakone
7) Shin Fuji (+Fuji-san)
8) Animizu/Wajima

I think my favorite place was Osaka!
私の一番好きな所は大阪ですよ！！

The Final Days of Kanazawa

2008-07-15T12:48:00.000-04:00

Here is the photo of the day:
(taken when my camera club and I went to shoot some night photography on KIT campus)

It is really strange that it's almost over! I have only 2 more days here in Kanazawa and I am really, really sad. These 7 weeks are definitely in the top most memorable experiences of my life. A lot of my views have been changed since coming to Japan. When I applied for this program, I saw it as an opportunity to study abroad for a Summer, then come back to America and never think about a foreign country ever again. I had this 5 year plan all mapped out: graduate college, get a job in new york city, apprentice for a year or two as an assistant then somehow start my own かいしゃ (company). I wanted to own my own company really badly. But so many things have changed! I am now thinking about getting a job in Japan now. We had a speaker come into our Culture class last week, and he was explaining about his life here in Japan. He graduated from UofI Urbana as a Mechanical Engineer and applied to the Japanese Goldman Sachs, and currently works in Tokyo. He made it sound really awesome..but I think I would stay in Japan for a just a little bit. I want to photograph in Japan for a little while. I don't know how I can get into that field..but I am going to check it out when I get back to America. But after that, I definitely am going to start my own company :)

I am going to go to Mount Fuji this Thursday night. We (most of the kids from the program) are going to be climbing it from Friday night, get up there and see the sun rise on Saturday morning. I am SO FREAKING excited!! (とてもわくわくですよ！！）Afterwards, I am going to Tokyo for 5 days and meeting up with my parents. Then I am heading over to Hong Kong for a week and a half. I definitely want to go to Disneyland in Hong Kong :) That is my first stop!

Week 6

2008-07-09T06:19:00.000-04:00

I often go night photographing here in Japan with my Camera club. (I'm the president ^^) Here is a photo I took from my apartment top floor.

Here is an image of a temple near my apartment. We went ghost watching.. but we didnt find any. :p

I`m leaving Kanazawa next Thursday! This is a little weird. I have gotten so used to living here that I am really going to miss being here. The Japanese students here are all really cool and friendly. I cant believe how many friends I ended up making and I actually value these friendships. I came to Japan thinking that I would never come back here again..but so many things have changed. My views have changed so much, I am planning to come back to Japan for a year or two to live sometime in the near future. Perhaps I can do some photoshoots here in Japanese. Its pretty amazing how much better my Japanese has gotten. Honestly, to learn a language all you really need to do is use it, and allow yourself to feel stupid. I sure had a lot of those moments here in Japan- but you know what? Who cares? I learned so much new vocabulary words, slang and my intonations have gotten so, so much better. The classes that we had to take were pretty obnoxious though. We took 4 classes in this past 6 weeks and are all getting 12 credits. We had a language communication class, a culture class, a tech class (where we learn technological vocabulary words, like length, width, and other stupid things like that) and a project class (where we are building Rube Goldberg machines in pairs with a Japanese student). We basically had a quiz/test everyday..tons of homework and a lot of memorizing to do. It kind of sucked because every night we would all just hang out in the lounges and hang out with the Japanese kids...then in the wee hours of the morning, we would all be scrambling to finish our homework. But atleast we suffered together, although we had to sacrifice some sleep.

Our communications and tech classes ended yesterday.. and now we are just finishing up our projects. I went Karaoke last night. Its about $26-30 depending on the night, (and we get a discount because one of our Japanese friends works there!) for all you can drink alcoholic and non-alcoholic! Its a very good deal. And you can stay as long as you want.. they close at 5AM. It is definitely a lot of fun.

The weather here is really weird. I saw a dark cloud fill the sky within 10 minutes, and the temperature dropped about 10 degrees. It was ridiculously cool.

Happy July 4th!

2008-07-05T07:55:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was July 4th! I took my final for Japanese Communications class! We got out at about 3:30 PM. I had made plans the night before with Keiichi, Kohei and Kazuki to do a photoshoot at 4:00, so I met with them and started our shoot. They were really great models! Very ‘cool guys’ and definitely easy to work with. Yeah, I had a bit of trouble trying to communicate because my Japanese isn’t the best and their English isn’t the best- but it was still went really smooth. So where did I even get this inspiration to do a photoshoot? Last night, a few of us were in the lounge, trying to ‘study’, when Keiichi began to make weird poses, and so I was snapping away. Then I figured, Keiichi is a good looking guy, wouldn’t it be pretty sweet for my portfolio to have a few good looking images? So I asked, and he was more than happy to! We all had a lot of fun today, and they are willing to do it again! I am so happy! I really wanted to shoot something. Lately I have been feeling a little unaccomplished.
At 8:30 we all headed out to the beach. The SGE students and the foreign exchange students. Japanese beaches are very different from American ones. There was absolutely NO lights. It was pretty much pitch black, and the fireworks looked amazing. We were all setting off fireworks and sparkles. It was so beautiful and amazing! I have actually never done this before in my entire life.. since it’s illegal in New York State to possess any fireworks at all. A lot of the guys also went swimming in the sea… it was a really nice night. Very calm, sweet, nostalgic and definitely a lot of fun.

Host Family Stay

2008-07-02T11:00:00.001-04:00

Here I am in Japan. I've been here for 5 weeks already.

I stayed with a host family last weekend. They were named the Nakamura Family. It consisted of a mother, 7 year old daughter and a father. They were all really chill and funny people. My host mother picked me up on Saturday and we went to her house. The house was amazing. Considering Japanese standards, it was huge! There were 4 rooms, with 2 of them being guest/empty rooms. All of the lights were automated and motion censored, the bathroom toilet was a budet (the ones that clean your butt and are heated seats), there were 2 floors and the shower room had a huge hot tub and shower. It was just so comfortable and clean.
After dropping off my luggage, we were greeted by my host mother's younger sister and the three of us went out to eat lunch. We went to a resturant that allowed us to make our own okonomiyakis and it was delicious! Afterwards, we went to pick up my host sister at her elementary school. Today was Parent's visiting Day. It is completely different from America. You know how we all have parent-teacher conferences? Well, here its you go to the classroom and you peer through the windows and you watch your children from a distance. Its a itty bit weird, but hey, I am in Japan right?
My host father is the proud owner of the only Onigiri-drive-thru in Japan. Its a pretty famous shop, and has commercials and things like that. I watched one of the promos and then we went to go check out the place. The drive-thru had like a 30 minute wait since it was so popular. It was pretty cool. My host father was really busy because of his shop, but took the time to take us out to dinner. He said he really wanted to drink sake with me. So being the いい学校生 (good student) that I am, i said okay- even though i absolutely hate the taste of Sake.

I was so exausted by the end of the day. It is SO tiring to speak Japanese all the time. My brain is constantly trying to fit together sentences and trying to understand things. It takes a lot out of me.

The next day, we went to the Ninja Temple in Kanazawa. It was pretty cool, it basically was a temple that had a lot of tricks hidden in it. For instance, during that era, buildings were not allowed to be taller than 3 stories high, but this temple had 5 stories, 2 which were half-floors that were hidden. It was pretty cool to take the tour through it. Afterwards, my host family took me to the Gold-Museum. Kanazawa, the town i live in, is translated literally as 'Gold Swamp'. So gold is very popular here. At this museum, we made jewlery boxes that we were able to decorate with gold and then had ice cream that was sprinkled with REAL gold. It was pretty amazing.

Overall, it was a great time. Aside from being tired all the time, it was well worth it.