A whole new world
Don't you dare close your eyes
A hundred thousand things to see
Hold your breath - it gets better
I'm like a shooting star
I've come so far
I can't go back to where I used to be

Krystal's inspiration for her 18th birthday party, or "Debut", the Filipino version of the Quincineras or the Sweet 16 coming of age party was from the movie Aladin. The ladies from her entourage wore Belle-esque long ball gowns and the gentlemen wore sharp pintstripe suits. Krystal also incorporated her favorite color which is orange and it really turned out beautifully. It was such a grand affair that if you were in the hotel, you could have easily mistaken the event as a wedding.

Well, it was definitely a grand welcome to a new chapter in her life...womanhood, adulthood...she goes to a private college this fall after attending Moreau Catholic High School for years. I wish you all the best Krystal and thank you for the opportunity to be a part of your memorable day :)

Here are a few photos but will add some more later:

Krystal's Shoes


Krystal's Dress


Her accessories and the custom invitaton I made in the background :)


The debutante is ready


Looking so regal


Whew! One dance down


Beautiful


Just graceful


Oh so Cute!

If you are like me who prefers to watch on the internet, here's the link to view the Christian and Angel's episode in the reality show Engaged and Underage:

See glimpses of me and my camera as well as the shots I took:

http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?name=shows&id=1562993&vid=158783
Episode 22

Just a quick post before I make dinner -- I was just informed that Christian and Angel's wedding starts airing tonight! They have three different versions of the show....but I think the one tonight will show my photos....if you have tivo...pls tivo it for me...coz I don't have one....

Thanks!

Owen

Last year, I travelled to Pennsylvania with a couple of photographers and met with Skye Hardwick, owner and photographer for Work of Heart Photo. I went home with a lot of really cool photographs from the weekend as we had some great models with us and the weather was awesome. I was really excited to get back on building my portfolio as I lost most of my work when my external hard drive "BROKE" during a backup (strange, weird, long story, but it happened!). But guess what - it got worse... two months later, I woke up turned on my PC and I have a blue screen staring back at me - a hard drive failure for no apparent reason. So can you imagine the nightmare and depression I went through? I did try to get the data recovered and that cost me some money but most of the data I wanted was corrupted. This was all that was left from that shoot....and that's why this photo is sooo memorable to me. Thank goodness at that time, I was not doing any paid shooting yet - whew! But it certainly made me pause, review my workflow and taught me a good lesson on the importance of backing up data.





Early this month, HP introduced its online back up storage service. And guess what? I did not hesitate to pick up the phone. Turns out that I was the first one to call and sign up. They even congratulated me for being the first customer in the United States to sign up for the service...cool! Do I get incentives for that - I ask :) Anyway, I want to share some of their tips on how to back up data including their affordable online backup service should something happen to your PC, external hard drives, or heaven forbid, there is fire, theft in the house, your data is secured and stored elsewhere.

1) GET ORGANIZED FIRST
Get your computer organized first. An organized PC makes backup easier. Music, photos, financial documents and more should be clearly labeled and easily located.

2)BACKUP ON A REGULAR SCHEDULE
How often do you generate new files? Daily? Weekly? Whether at home or in business, your file activity should dictate how often you make backup copies. If it's your business, think daily or weekly. Alternatively, a home machine could be backed up weekly or monthly. Either way, pick a regular interval and stick to it.

3) USE AUTOMATED BACKUP SOFTWARE
It's difficult to remember to copy any new files on a regular basis. Instead, utilize backup software that automatically runs on a schedule.

4)BACKUP ONCE ON HARDWARE
Use one of the devices above to copy your crucial files.

5)BACKUP TWICE OVER THE INTERNET
You've backed up on an external hard drive and it's sitting next to your computer. It's still vulnerable to fire or other natural disasters. If you copy your data a second time, to a backup storage service on the internet, you'll be truly covered. HP Online Backup powered by Spare Backup provides storage for a monthly fee. You can try it for a 45 day trial period for only $6.95, plus a small processing fee. Your service can be set to backup automatically. You can call 1-866-234-1377 to sign up today and mention promotion code 50000-50000.

So now, even though I have DVD copies, external hard drive duplicates and data stored in my hard drive, in the event that any of these devices fail, I know that my photographs and those of my clients are safe and secured in HP's servers....whew!!!! and I can sleep through the night now

My first introduction to the Trash the Dress movement was through Dane Sander's Simplephotominute's blog site. I thought it was so cool for them to share this video of how they TTD of this wonderful bride
in the Mayan jungle.



I have enjoyed Dave's simplephotominute and simplephototv and I want to just help him out a bit by passing along his new links if you already have them bookmarked, and if not,go check them out :)

What used to be simplephotominute is now http://danesanders.net
What used to be simplephoto.tv is now http://cutframetv.com
What used to be simplephotobooth is now http://fotocabina.com
What used to be danesanders.com is still http://danesanders.com

Just thought I'd share some more photos from Angel and Christian's wedding. I was already nervous about doing my first wedding shoot and when Suzy (Angel's mom) told me that MTV will be there too and will use my photos...I freaked out!

But its done and I was very happy with it and it was not that scary after all. In fact, I really had a great time and I look forward to doing many more weddings...
And working with MTV was such a treat!

I have just recently discovered adding textures to my photos and although I have no plans to texturize every single one of my exposures, you will surely be seeing more of these effects. They are just fun to use and in some cases, just adds that extra dimension to the work. I love it. Here's an example:



Also, I want to let you know that if you are interested in having your photos framed with some of the most yummy, colorful, dreamy or dramatic colors from the exclusive frames from Wild Sorbet, just let me know. Not only can you view the frames or combination of trims from the website, I have the actual wood samples in all the colors so we can exactly match the perfect frame for your portraits.

I am admittedly the world's slowest blogger. Well, as you know things are very hectic lately from both a personal and professional standpoint:( But a couple of weeks ago, I had the priviledge of taking Krishna's maternity photos in her beautiful appartment in Pacific Heights in San Francisco. I'd like to share a few of them with you..well, a few because the others are strictly for her eyes and a select few only (if you know what I mean :) They are beautiful indeed and very different from the other nude maternity photos I've seen. But that's because Krishna is special. Her personality is so vibrant and very sophisticated that it just calls for something unique. Hint: cowboy hat, turquoise stone necklace, white skirt plus pregnant mom! But here's the one I can share:

Wow! Just amazing....watch and see how technology will change the way we will view our photos in the near future....tagging our photos with metadata and we transform the world of digital photography. Unbelievable!!!...Check out Photosynth.



or if the video does not load for you: you can view it here: http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/129