i had to say good bye to my friend tiffany on friday as she moved away to start a new chapter in her life in san jose.  i knew tiffany back in college, but only started to hung out more when i moved back to dallas a few years back.  she and her best friend helena is pretty much inseparable.  if you see one, the other isn't too far behind.  together they helped make my transition back to dallas a little easier.  thanks girls! for all the late night clubbing and partying.  and how can i forget about getting me wasted on my last b-day, i just love it when my head throb in the morning. 

we're going to miss you tiffany!

      
BFFL!

tiffany and helena were also my first models when i got my first dslr last fall.  aaaaahhhhh.... good times!
                                      

wow!  this new diana action from Chris Fawke's blog is sooo cool.  check it out and best of all it's still free for another 5 hours.  kudos to Chris for making and sharing.

this is H Middle
      

this is V Middle
       

from a few weeks ago (during my "absent"), shot at Dallas Digital Studios.  this was my first time shooting in a "studio" setting.  normally, i would like to be outside for these, but hey!  part of my education is i have to learn to shoot in all type of condition imaginable. 

setup: rebel xt, tamron 28-75mm f2.8, either a 430ex or 580ex w/ the lightsphere2 along w/ a basic, bare bulb light for the background.  pretty basic stuff here so i didn't get to use my light meter.  instead, i was constantly checking my histogram. 

i normally shoot this shot during the first dance at a wedding... but (no pun intended) this was their idea.

i know.  it's been about a month since my last update.  a lot can change in a month, a lot can change in a day.  

thanks Scott for the swift kick in the butt to get me going again.  have a safe trip back with your new family addition.  

since i'm only doing photography on a part time basis, i sometime shoot for other studios.  Fuqua Photography and Dallas Digital Studios are two places that i shoot for on occassion.  i love both studios and learned a great deal from Winn and Chris about photography, but most importantly, about running a photography business.  i highly valued their opinions, support and friendship. 
 
without further adu, some pics from last weekend wedding with Dallas Digital Studios.  Jessica and Zack is a young and fun couple, together w/ Zack's little girl, Skyler, they make an awesome trio.   it was a small reception, but Jessica's bridemaids and the children were really cool and made my shoot more enjoyable. 
                                                                         

the rest of the weddings party are **HERE** 

it's been awhile since i attended a kid's birthday party, oh wait a minute... maybe b/c i don't have any kids.  my cousin suckered... i mean invited me to her son, Tam's 2nd birthday party over the weekend, for some photo ops.  i guess they all finally realized that i'm really into photography.  i think carrying around the 70-200mm lens (for a kid's party) really help drive that message home.  it was a great party w/ plenty of food, cake and ice cream.  oh yeah, and after swimming, the birthday boy decided he doesn't like his wet clothes so he ran around in his birthday suit. 

any party with you ending up in your birthday suit is a great party in my book.     Happy B-Day little buddy!!!

the party continue over **HERE**

sometime my best shots are from my mistakes.  since i'm fairly new to DSLR or photography in general ( i didn't even own any type of camera about 10 months ago) i make tons of mistakes which gave me plenty of examples of what NOT to do.  in order to salvage some of my mistake, b/c i was tired of throwing away so many photos, i had to learn how to use Photoshop.  two recent examples are these photos that i would normally trashed:

click here to see original

click here to see original

with a little help of PS, they are among my favorites.  i think i'm just at the tip of of this photoshop iceberg but can't wait to see what all it has instore.

Wow!  This was the biggest wedding party I've shot, a
total of 35 people.  Hilary is more of a traditional bride, but her dad
like traditional but with a bit of flair and he is also paying for the wedding.  So
I put on my creativity hat and came up with these.  I had a great time, and it was the first time
I got to use my new 5D at a live event. 
All I can say is… I’ll gladly pay the full price for that camera
again.  Oh… did I mention that Hillary’s bridesmaids’
are HOT!  

This was also my first time working with a new photographer
that I meet (hey!  from my last Casino
Party).  Hopefully, this will be a start of a new business venture for me.  

If they seem a bit on the dark side it’s because since last Saturday,
the Mavericks took two losses and got eliminated from the NBA Finals.  I’m still in denial b/c I still have my DVR
set to record tomorrow game 7. 

        


These are my favorites.  Learned it from Scott's Phototools123 "painting with light" technique.
   


The whole gang... [note to self: when using a wide angle lense, don't put anyone close to the camera or they will looked like GIANTS]

I'm starting to figure this out, don't you just love technology?  If you don't want to install the Photodex plug-in, here is the executable file.  Download it and it should launch w/o any further issue. 

Sorry to all you Mac user.  I think the program only work w/ windows, but I have no way of testing this.  So if you are able to run it on a Mac, let me know. 

This was my first time shooting an engagement session.  So the pressure was on me to direct and setup every shots.  The day started out really overcast and cloudy but cleared up around later morning.  I used to hate shooting out in the daylight b/c it's so difficult to manage the harsh light, but now that I know how to control it better, I really enjoy it.  Also having a friend along to help doesn't hurt, thanks Shell!

Tony's is my older brother and I will be shooting their wedding in July.  So I guess they are my first couple to go through my photography business model.  I thought it would be weird taking pictures of my brother and my future sister in law, but all that went out the window once first click of the shutter began.  I think it made the job easier b/c i know them and they know me so well that they were able to be comfortable and be themself. 

All pictures can be seen here or check out the webstream slideshow.  you will need to install this plug-in if it doesn't ask you.  I'll add the .exe here when i get home. 

   

i had to work fast because this little
guy only cooperated for about 10min then he was crying and being such a
baby. i can't really blame him though, he's only 13 days old.

this
was my first experience working with baby, and i was so happy he didn't
peed or popped during our session. there were a couple of time that i
was scared because i stood downstream from him.

thanks little buddy for not giving my gear an amonia wash.