Derek.
I was the first to see him after he was born (other than his parents, of course). I loved holding him when he was a baby and was always thrilled to babysit him.
He is my nephew, and he turned 7 years old today! WOW. Seven!
Here are a few photos from his party today…
Derek’s Interview
My sister-in-law Jenny was interviewing him with her camcorder when he was in the jumpy house. (The fuzzy thing on the right is from her hair/head.)
I love the look on his face in the camcorder’s LCD screen. And you can really see that Pokemon ring. It’s pretty funny!
Cake Time!
If you’re gonna get one shot at a birthday party, it is of the birthday person blowing out the candles!
Now hand over a piece of cake please! =:P
Frosting Only
My kids, like most kids I suppose, prefer to eat the frosting over the cake. Alas, I cannot do a thing about it. *sigh*
Hmmmm… and he finds it funny!
Sydney and her Giant Bows
My sweet lil’ niece (Derek’s 3 1/2 year old sister) wore her giant pink bows for me! Tee hee.
Happy Birthday, Derek!
And here’s a funny face one of the group…
I like the one where the boy is almost gauging his eye out! OMG, it’s so funny!
Deloitte held its annual “Toast of the Town” event last night at the acclaimed 5A5 Steak Lounge in San Francisco.
The people, the speeches, the venue and the food were all fantastic. It was a privilege to shoot this event!
Here are a few images to share from last night. Enjoy!
Standing Cocktail Party
Oh, the Food!
I’ll have to return to 5A5 to actually eat there some time. Doesn’t that look delicious?!!
Mixed Light
The windows were at the front of the restaurant, and they let in the most perfect light. The rain had finally stopped and left clouds scattered across the sky, so the sunlight was bright, but soft.
The interior lights were orange, which is why you see the people standing closer to me with orange skin.
(FYI to Photographers: I could have used my flash as filler light, and that would have diluted the orange color on their faces, but I turned off the flash to capture the soft window light on that man’s face. I did this throughout the entire night based on what kind of light I wanted for the image. Turn on the flash, turn off the flash. Repeat.)
More images by the window…
I love the editorial nature of this photo. You can tell the server is describing the food to this gentleman. You can almost hear them talking!
Half -n- Half
I wanted to take a photo of these two handsome men, but I also love the pattern of the tiles, so I composed the image with half pattern, half people.
(FYI to Photographers: Mix it up. Don’t always put your subjects in the center — but make sure there is a reason for them being off-center! This is also true with holding the camera askew. Don’t take photos that way unless you have a reason; otherwise it just looks like bad photography. Shoot with a purpose.)
High Contrast
I love-love-love how the light outlined this man’s face.
(FYI to Photographers: I didn’t turn up the contrast; this was straight-out-of-the-camera. I just made it BxW in post-processing. Most of the image was dark already because it was in shadow, so it almost looked BxW. Actually changing it to BxW just makes this image cleaner.)
Vertical Half -n- Half
(FYI to Photographers: I composed the shot so the subjects — men and bottles — sit in the lower half of the image. This creates a visual line that is appealing to the eye. Also, having the men in the corner makes them stand out more than if they were centered.)
By the Entrance
The orange tile decor surrounded the main area of the restaurant and created a pretty backdrop.
Type of Function
When I saw all these men in suits, I knew immediately that I wanted to take a shot of just their pants and shoes.
You can tell it’s a corporate event held on a weekday! Love it.
(FYI to Photographers: This is another good example of when I turned off my flash. I didn’t want to see everything; I just wanted to capture a feeling of a lot of people and get glimpses of what they were wearing. The natural light from the window was all I needed to accomplish this. So I bumped up my ISO, had my aperture wide open and a fast shutter.)
Some Speakers
Prizes
Video games from EA, a Deloitte client, were given out as prizes.
These winners were looking at what game they won. They were also probably wondering why I was crouching to take a photo!
Posed versus Editorial
For event photography, I don’t ask people to “look at me & smile”, but if they do it themselves, then great! Lemme at ‘em!
Peeking into the Kitchen
Hey, I walked straight into the kitchen and took some shots of the food dressed to perfection. However, I still chose to take a few shots from outside the kitchen!
I love finding natural frames when I’m on a shoot. This frame is made out of the orange tiles you saw in a previous image.
End of the Event
As always, I still shoot even when I’m leaving! I was getting my bag from the coat check area when this man came to retrieve his hat.
Isn’t he suave with his hat and bow tie?!! I just had to take a photo of him!
So in my “extra time” (whatever that means), I did an experiment with my rings. Please disregard how they haven’t been cleaned in about a year and the table I placed them on is scratched up & dusty! Who has time to dust?!!
My experiment consisted of shooting my rings in terrible light and seeing what kind of difference a little flashlight could make. No fancy professional lighting equipment. No reflectors, no strobes, no tripod, nothing. Just me, my camera, my rings…and a flashlight.
In addition to no extra equipment and icky light, I wanted to see what I could produce in a short amount of time. That is what’s realistic anyway! Whether for wedding photography or product photography, I don’t always have time to walk around to find the best location for shooting one image, like rings at a wedding. So I intentionally shot my rings on an old table.
The results were drastic!
IMAGE 1: LOW LIGHT = NICE, BUT BORING
To shoot in extreme lighting conditions, I used a lens suited for this. A lens that goes down to f/1.8 or 1.4 is perfect. But since I was shooting tiny rings, I chose my macro lens, which goes to f/2.8. That works great too, plus I can get super close to the rings.
So even though it was indoors at 7pm, I was able to produce a nice shot with my macro lens.
However, the soft, even lighting is a tad BO-RING for me. My bling-bling has no zing!
IMAGE 2: USE A $5 FLASHLIGHT = ZING ON MY BLING!
This time, it was the same dusty old table, the same uncleaned rings, the same lens, the same time of day…
But I added the light from a small flashlight that you can find in any house or car.
The result is staggering! WOW!
Here is another set of images, so you can see the difference side-by-side. Again, the only difference is that I held a simple flashlight with my left hand while I shot Image 2 (below right).
IMAGE 1 vs IMAGE 2
With the use of a simple flashlight and no extra ‘product fluffing time’ or special equipment, the rings look more expensive! Even the table looks better. A nice bonus!
Just do me a favor and pretend you don’t see the lint and dust on the rings! <:)
JEWELRY IN COLOR vs BxW
I also did a comparison between a color image vs. a BxW image of jewelry. I never see BxW photos of jewelry, especially diamond jewelry.
I know it is because the color images show off the beauty of diamonds, but I wanted to test this out.
In the color image, I couldn’t get the table to look as reddish-brown like the images above, but I did get a rainbow sparkly reflection from angling the flashlight just right.
Here is the same image in BxW…
I actually like the BxW version of the rings! I think a jewelry booklet with mostly color images and a few BxW would look pretty sleek.
But that’s just me. I love the timeless feel of BxW. What do you think?
Two years.
That’s how long Melia waited to have a Princess Party!
Yep, she started asking for a princess party since she was 3 years old. I had an art themed party planned for her 3 year old birthday, and then we skipped the big party thing last year as part of my parent strategy of raising humble kids by not throwing big parties every year.
So, even though there are times she demands to have things right away, I must say that she has also shown that she possesses a great deal of patience for her age!
Here are some photos from today’s long-awaited party…
Pre-Party Jitters
The Set-Up
The party was at Super Franks. I love this place! The service was top-notch and there were so many great details to admire.
Princess Dress & Princess Hair
Cinderella, Melia’s favorite princess of all-time, helped her pick out a dress from the castle’s closet and styled her hair.
Thanks, Cinderella, for making my little princess feel so special!
Party Like It’s 1999!
Barbie Cake
Melia picked out her own cake this year. She decided on a Barbie-themed cake before even stepping foot in the store. Heck, she decided months before her birthday! I had to bite my tongue.
When I taught 7th Grade Math years ago, I had a Barbie project where my students had to measure and draw Barbie to life-size while keeping the same proportions as the doll.
The result: Barbie was staggeringly Amazonian and, if alive, wouldn’t be able to stand up because of the small size of her feet and disproportionately small waist and oversized chest! I won’t get into it, but puh-leez — what kind of message about body image does that send to our young children? Ahh, another blog, another time. 
Party Favors
Handmade invitations and favor tags by Melia and Melia’s mom.
So Was the Two Years of Waiting Worth It?
You Decide!
Awwww… I am so touched. The moms in my son’s playgroup threw me a baby shower!
Since I move as smooth as a Weeble Wobble (do those toys even exist anymore?), I brought my camera, but only goofed around for a few minutes…
Strawberry Cheesecake
Bagels and Cream Cheese
The kids loved the bagels, especially the chocolate chip ones!
Big Brother T-Shirt
Ian attempted to put on his big brother t-shirt that he got from his playgroup buddies.
I love the blurry image of the shirt on top of Ian’s head!
Josh
Josh stood right in front of me when I had my camera, so I couldn’t resist taking a few portraits of this little cutie. I love his baby locks!
Thank you for my wonderful baby shower, Mommies! And I love the gifts: Ian’s t-shirt and my spa certificate!!!
This past weekend was my FIRST time away from my kids! And of all places, I went to Vegas!
I went with my good friend Brenda, whom I’ve known since we were at Cal. We went to Vegas to celebrate several friends’ 40th birthday.
There, Brenda and I got to do things we — as parents of young children — rarely get to do: nap, go to swanky places, and have uninterrupted adult conversations!
I did miss my monkeys and called them at least twice per day. I know, I’m pathetic. What can I say? As corny as this sounds, my monkeys (and the big monkey — my hubs) are my life.
I have one photo to share with you from the 40th birthday party. It is non-incriminating, yet makes you wonder!
National bestselling author Mia King just came out with her 3rd novel, Table Manners, which hit the stores last week! (Click here to get it on Amazon!)
I had the pleasure of taking photos of her at a book signing at Barnes & Noble in Dublin, CA as well as shooting her headshots for upcoming books.
Book Signing
Mia King teamed up with friend and fellow author, Jessica Barksdale Inclan, for this book signing. The duo made quite a team and engaged the audience as well as made them laugh.
Reading an excerpt from her new book.
Headshots at Home
Mia King wanted an indoor home setting for her new headshots.
Me and My Visions
Prior to our photoshoot, I envisioned Mia King sitting behind a stack of her books while having her eyes peek out from above her latest book, Table Manners.
Mia King is one of those people with “smiling eyes”, so that’s where the inspiration of this shot came from. The shot is fun and whimsical with the perfectly balanced composition and bright colors.
She was great for entertaining me with this shot. I am not sure where she’d use this photo, but I love it!
Ryan turned 5 years old this week and today he celebrated his birthday with some of his close friends.
No More Beating Pinatas
Thank goodness pinatas have ribbons to pull now. I always thought it was wrong to beat your favorite character with a stick!
I like this photo because it captures the determination and anticipation on their faces!
Baby Brother Evan
Ryan also recently became a big brother to baby Evan, who is 7 weeks old.
Tired of Fighting
It was Dads versus Sons in a water gun fight. Dads had teeny tiny guns (see photo below – ha!) and the boys had those 3 ft long super guns.
Luca was tired at the end and held on to his dad’s arm for support. I love the way his back is arched and his head is nestled under his dad’s arm. This is one of my favorite shots from today.
Younger Siblings
The Grill
Vince (Ryan’s dad) told me how he makes slow-cooked pork in here… something like 10 hours on the grill. Mmmmm.
The Eyes Have It
Ryan was actually making funny faces, so I purposely focused only on his eyes and got the top of his fuzzy head, which I find irresistible to touch.
I think this composition makes the photo much more interesting… though I do like photos of kids making funny faces!
I love the warm glow of the sunset. The light even illuminated his lashes!
Happy birthday, Ryan!
I shot another evening event last night, but this time, they were of adults only! I know, shocking! 
Judy and Craig got engaged, and some of Craig’s friends threw them a party at the chic Paragon Restaurant in San Francisco.
I didn’t know how long it’d take to drive into SF with the usual Friday Bay Bridge traffic, so I left early and, well… arrived 40 minutes early! The benefits of arriving early were: less stress, time to go pee (was that TMI?), and rock star parking!
During that time, I also took preliminary location shots and made friends with a bartender who wanted to give me a shot of Bourbon! (That would’ve guaranteed some creative shots, eh?!!)
Craig and Judy arrived later than planned and the guests arrived earlier than expected, so our original plan of leaving the restaurant to take engagement portraits was cut down to about 10 minutes! It all worked out for the best. Instead of walking to the waterfront, we just strolled around the block! The result was more urban… classic San Francisco!
Here are some of my favorites from the evening…
Judy and Craig
Inside The Paragon Restaurant
This couple was so sweet. They sat here for most of the night, just smiling and focused on one another. Awww…
Fun Shots of the Night
I gave this guy grief for spilling mustard on his shirt (tee hee). I told him this was the biggest ‘drama’ of the night, so I had to take a photo of it. He was hilarious and even pointed it out for my photo!
Favorite Couple Shot
I admired this large wall mirror that sat over the bar all night and found the perfect opportunity at the end of the event…
During the party, it was hard to get Judy and Craig together for couple shots — even candid ones — since there were so many guests at the party, and Judy and Craig were busy entertaining their friends as all good hosts do. So when I pulled them away to do one final photo of them with the party hosts at the end of the night, I had them to myself for a minute. The result is… my favorite couple shot of the night!
The bottles below the mirror give this photo vivid colors and shape, and the white shirts that Judy and Craig wore made them stand out in the dark room. It was almost 10pm at this time.
(FYI for photographers: To get this shot in the mirror, I avoided flash. In fact, most of the night I didn’t use flash because I think flash makes photos look artificial, even with my new Gary Fong diffuser. It’s my preference and style to use the available light rather than impose flash. I used a fast lens and bumped up my ISO for some grainy, but artsy shots in an extreme low light situation. I also saturated the photo a tad bit to accentuate the bottles and burned the edges to make my subjects stand out even more in post-processing.)
Last night, I went to the prom. Well, okay… I was the photographer at a prom.
It was a Father-Daughter Prom for Cornerstone Fellowship in Livermore. The event was held at Super Franks in Pleasanton — a kid-centric entertainment center. I was blown away by how fancy it looked because it was all decked out. Everything about it brought me back to my good ol’ prom days… back to nineteen *cough cough*. (I’m not revealing my age!)
My evening started with, what was suppose to be 45 minutes of formal portraits in the Princess Room. But instead, there were so many people in line and everyone had several shots (which I enjoyed), but I ended up being in that room from 6pm to about 7:40pm — almost an hour longer than I intended. The event was scheduled to end at 8pm. I had almost missed the entire editorial part of my photoshoot!
During the “formal portraits”, I had the father-daughter couples take a serious portrait, then let them have more fun with it, if they wanted. Some people really let loose! I loved it!
Here are some of the UNEXPECTED shots I captured yesterday evening…
This pose is so dear. You can tell this is something special and meaningful that they do together.
When I told them they could do whatever they wanted, the daughter jumped onto her dad!
I could tell they had a tight bond… one that makes me want to tear up when I think about it! It is the kind of comfort and bond I want to have with both of my kids when they are older.
Those are some silly faces!
Some of my favorite daughter portraits were taken outside the normal Princess castle doors backdrop.
I only got to do this when there wasn’t a line, so there aren’t many that are out of the ordinary like this. But I love them and wish I could’ve spent more time with everyone. All the girls were so darling!
One of my favorites. I love that you only see part of her face and love the way she pulled the sheer curtain to cover up. I can imagine her doing this on her wedding day many years from now…
What a tender father-daughter moment caught on camera! I like that the girl just happened to look up too.
The decadent table of strawberries, marshmallows and chocolate fountain. By the time I made it here, this was all that was left!
The Sports Room was converted into a dance floor. This room was the most exciting, but also a Photographer’s nightmare to shoot.
There were no lights, except some whirling colored ones and flashing raindrop-sized ones! I took all of these with no flash, so you can see more colors and motion.
You can almost feel the energy by looking at these photos!
At the end of the event, it was like the strike of midnight on New Year’s Day! Confetti, music blasting and a DJ revving up the guests! It was awesome.
(FYI, it was actually dark in here! My wide angle lens let in lots of light and not turning on my flash preserved the spirited colors of the dance room.)
One of the funniest sights that evening for me was seeing the dads — who were dressed up in suits and some even in tuxedos — ride these small plasma cars!
I love the motion blur and the funky colors in this photo.
The colors and lights make this almost look like the inside of a nightclub, except for the suit on a plasma car.
Here are some of the greatest editorial shots of the dads that evening…
Dads racing each other on plasma cars!
What makes this particular photo hilarious, other than the dads riding the tiny plasma cars, is that you see the little girls behind them happily gliding along. The contrast is hysterical.
Around the corner and the winner is clear…
WIPE OUT!
The big ticket winners.
This dad and daughter duo were truly elated, so these large smiles were 100% authentic!
If you are a Cornerstone Fellowship member and would like to see more photos from this event, you will need a password to enter the full gallery. Either I or Frank will email you the password once the gallery is ready for viewing. Thank you!
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