A quiet moment of happy contemplation.

Documenting Bridal Prep is fun. It tends to be relaxed, and at this point of the wedding, things are usually still ahead of schedule so there's no rush. When I first studied wedding photography by looking at other wedding photog's websites, I noted the luxurious bridal rooms, sweeping classic staircases, floor to ceiling windows, lush curtains and vintage furniture. Yeah. An exclusive portion of the population have access to such bridal suites, and most of us get prepped in an ordinary room. The challenge then, is to play down the ordinariness. Here, I tried to do so by cropping out most of the room, and by pulling in a generously sized armchair with classy details. Sat the bride as close to the window as possible. You'd never guess that the window looked out upon a set of apartment buildings, or that behind the chair is a table piled and spilling over with makeup bags and beauty products.

Summer Maternity

Retro Cars

Automobile photography is new to me; this is the third car that has been an essential part of any of my shoots. All three cars were retro in some way. I can't tell you what cars they were - My car ignorance is the most stereotypically female aspect of me. Anyways, owners of these old cars are always very proud to have their car photographed, and the owner of this one (he stood behind me) gave me some tips on angles to try. Now I notice the star-shaped light reflections off particularly shiny parts of the car - next time I will know to look for those shiny opportunities at the time of shoot.

Fun New Backdrop Paper

Hello Baby! In case you're wondering: One main light (4 bulbs) from front/overhead, plus another muted light pointing at the backdrop to get rid of the shadow cast by the baby from the first light. Plus on-camera diffused flash.

New photo supplies: Blue background paper! I had been thinking about background paper for a while, to use in lieu of cloth backdrops. The advantage: No wrinkles, as it comes on a giant roll - and thus even colors, seamlessness between wall and floor, saturated color (as the paper is designed for photography). Disadvantages: it's reusable only to an extent. It can be re-rolled up, but the "floor" portion gets a little wrinkly. I think I can get at least 5 sessions out of a piece before I'll need to cut off the floor portion. It comes in a rainbow of colors, so I think I shall invest in some dark red for holiday photos, and maybe a pink for baby girl pics. And leaf green, because I like green. Maybe dark brown. At $30-ish for a roll of 53" x 12 yards, it's not out of budget, but does require a wide background holder with steady crossbar from which to hang the roll; cheap ones run about $100.

My car trunk, by the way, is jam packed with studio photo equipment. Hauling all of this stuff back and forth between my car and home between shoots would be too much of a hassle, so it just stays in there. Some times things melt, like the padding on the legs of some of my tripods, but no biggie. The rolls are too long for the trunk, and so now the equipment is also taking over the back seat. Just a little dose of photographer reality for you.

Not Unwieldy

I happened to be in the vicinity of a Youth Ultimate Summer Camp so I stopped by to take photos. Of course it was high noon and thus the lighting (direct overhead unforgiving sun; this was San Mateo, not San Francisco, after all) was at its worst. The kids were sent out to chase down curving hucks (long throws) and unfortunately, the curve of the throw was so that the kid faced away from the sun to catch the disc. As a result I have all these dark figures catching frisbees.

Anyways, I stood around in the middle of two side-by-side hucking drills. The great thing about knowing the sport so well is that I know pretty much as soon as the disc is thrown from any distance by any player in any weather, whether the disc is going to come within a 3 ft circumference catching/clobbering distance of me. Thus I could stand very close to the action and not worry about getting my lens smashed. I don't think non-ultimate players realize the accuracy to which discs can be thrown, and that where they land is very predictable (well, "reading" a disc is a learned skill). I remember tossing a disc once with a friend when a woman sitting under a nearby tree told us to move away so that she wouldn't be hit. I was quite insulted, as our throwing was very accurate and the disc wouldn't land anywhere near her. However, I suppose to a non-ultimate player, frisbees are unwieldy and unpredictable, and her bad disc reading meant that every throw threatened her picnic space. The point is, knowing a sport inside out really helps photographing a sport. And in the shutter timing too. And in knowing what's important to document and what's not.

These kids were really good already. Age 8-14 maybe? And playing better than a lot of grown-ups I see in SF leagues. At this rate, they'll easily be college champs.

All things Apples

 Don't get much more down-homey-all-American than at a Apple Fair! Sebastopol, THE world capitol of the Gravenstein apple, hosted the 100 anniversary Gravenstein Apple Fair. Apple pie, tarts, fritters, cider, juice, vinegar and of the caramel dipped variety. Plus the usual fair fare - lemonade, fries, funnel cake, BBQ. Live bluegrass and folk music, and a caramel apple eating contest! I realized quickly by observation, that eating a caramel apple really fast is really hard. One has to have high confidence in their teeth, and strong jaw muscles. There was an exhibit of historic mechanical farm equipment, including machinery by familiar names such as Maytag. Likely the same machines were at the early Gravenstein Apple Fairs, and touted as the latest in cutting edge farming technology. Hee hee!

Many reasons why I like to photograph here.

One of my favorite family photo locations is the San Mateo Central Park Japanese Tea Gardens. Many factors makes this a great spot: (1) easy, free parking, (2) gardeners are excellent at maintaining the place so I'm guaranteed to have lovely backgrounds, (3) shady and sunny options, (4) greenery and human-made features, (5) variety of greenery, (6) never crowded, (7) no entrance fee, (8) giant koi pond makes everyone happy, (9) I know the place so well I can stride around tour-guide like and lead my clients to picturesque spots, (10) is outside of SF and is thus most often SUNNY, (11) too pretty to be bored here, (12) surrounding high wood walls shelter from wind (13) small enough not to get exhausted walking around and (14) proximity of snack/lunch potential for post-shoot munchies.

Of course there are seasonal changes, which affects the light and the shrubbery, but surprises are kept within a familiar range, unlike locations such as in the Golden Gate Park. I've learned to keep track of festivals and such at the GGP, because post say, Outside Lands music fest, the grass will be trampled to an unattractive muddy pulp, with a generous sprinkling of litter.

Eleven Months

Sibs - eleven months apart! Consequently, they're very close. Usually sibs this age - especially if they are a boy and a girl- don't want to be near each other for photos, or very grudgingly sit together for just a moment. These two however, made life very easy for me. They even very nicely shared bubbles, and took turns (without being told to!) making bubbles/ chasing bubbles. Impressive.

It was a cold blah day. Oh San Francisco. When will summer come? Anyways, I tried to take the blue-ness out of the photos, and to make the colors more vibrant to counteract the weather. These two didn't seem affected by the gray day at all.

On A Brief Foray Into Chinese Medicine

Much like Bodyshop or McD's, one can smell a Chinese Herb Shop long before you see it. I'd passed many of these in my Hong Kong youth (20+ years ago), and always peered in the windows to try to spot the weirdest ingredient - usually this was the dried seahorses. However in all this time I'd never considered trying Chinese medicine myself. It wasn't that I rejected it; it just didn't occur to me. And I'm Chinese.

Now I live in an area of San Francisco which is in an odd way, more Chinesey than Hong Kong. Much of contemporary Hong Kong is modern, with shiny supermarkets and imported foods from all over the world, speed walking suited persons, high end designer stores. I'm sure there are still herb shops, acupuncturists, tea shops - but they are all tucked away from mainstream city life. Here in SF, I can walk one block and find acupuncturists, reflexologists, herb shops, and little markets that sell funky smelling Chinese ointments.

I decided to give acupuncture a try when I sprained my ankle over a month ago. Mostly because I was immobile and miserable for 3 days, and then someone had insisted acupuncture would be effective.  It was. Swelling was down immediately, and I went from crutches to hobbling without help.

Apparently, people often consider acupuncture as a last resort, instead of a first option. My acupuncturist wishes eastern medicine were more integrated in hospitals and such, so access would be easier. Some MDs do get a certificate in acupuncture; however, this is a two month course as opposed to the years an acupuncturist spends studying the art. And though acupuncture is an ancient medicine form, its techniques constantly evolving, even employing some modern technologies, while the principles remain the same. Like linking the needle (which incidentally, are not so bad - I barely noticed them) to a light electrical current.

What are the principles? Hmm - this is my interpretation, which may or may not be accurate - but acupuncture medicine is based on a person's natural energy flow within the body - known as "Chi". It's not just circulation, or nerve connections. Chi is not quantifiable by scientific equipment at the moment.

Acupuncture comes with being an herbalist (Herbology? Like at Hogwarts - But not?) - which means putting together packets of dried herbs to treat conditions. For reducing abdominal muscle pains (digestive or lady cramps), fresh ginger in hot water. It worked for me. With a red date thrown in for good measure. No longer need the Tylenol.

For other issues, it gets more complicated. Above is a simmering pot of some 16 ingredients. As far as I can tell, they are all plant based. It is alarming how pungent smelling plant bits can wind up smelling, and how startlingly bad the resulting "tea" can taste. So bad, that to be honest, I only managed to consume half of my 3 cup presciption on my first day.

I wonder how the first person to stew up a particular root or branch decided to consume the resulting liquid - s/he must have been lacking in smell cells and taste buds. It seems that most Chinese (and maybe even Korean) people have at some point in their lives been subject to (by their parents, or acupuncturists) drinking Really Awful Tasting concoctions for good health. The worse tasting, the better for you, naturally. No you can't dilute it, or sweeten with honey...

Happy Trails

He followed pill bugs along in the dirt, ate blackberries off of bramble plants, had endless fun with a stick, and gazed patiently out at ducks on the water. Documenting a family walk along a trail sounded ideal, but I did not realize the trickiness of family-on-trail photography - I can only either shoot from behind or in front - very little flexibility for different angleage. Top it off with uneven speckled shade, and much of the time spent looking at the ground for insects (not me, I mean, the little boy).

I did appreciate the nature-friendly parenting style; instilling a gentle curiosity for things living under logs, being unafraid of dirt and scratchy bark, the encouragement to clamber over tree roots, and complete enjoyment and entertainment from being outside and away from things human-made.

Viking Bride-To-Be

With sun coming directly into camera, I'm never sure what will happen, but always: the effects are fun. I wish her face and jewelry were better resolved (maybe with a little photoshop work), but I do like the tendrils of hair, like white pencil lines.

Square Newbie

Why, it seems I have a continuous supply of newborn photos to share! And another photo to demonstrate that props are not necessary for newborn portraits. The original photo did not have all that negative space. With a plain background, I can make space around the subject by enlarging the canvas. Gives it a whole different feeling than a closely cropped rectangle. I would try wider crops while taking the images with my camera, but given my set focal distance portrait lens (50mm), camera crop factor (at 1.6, as opposed to full sensor; maybe I will attempt to explain this another day), and height (I can only hover so high above a baby), I usually wind up cropping close. This is a part of my aesthetic as well, to get intrusively close to faces.

Perplexing

How perplexing it must be to a newborn, to be placed in an unusual position with headgear and then stared at by the giant glassy black eye of a camera.