Baby Ian

I never used to be scared to be a parent. But as the thought of having kids becomes more real over the next year or two, I've quickly realized how terrifying it could be. But if you're parents like Catherine and Russell, with a little guy like their son, Ian, well... it doesn't seem so bad. They make it look easy.

Catherine (Cat) and Russell have been dear friends to my wife since college, and friends of mine since before my wife and I got married. It was my absolute pleasure to snap some photos of them with their baby boy, Ian, over the weekend. He is very animated and extremely well behaved. The best part about it though, at least for me, was being able to capture the joy they have as being parents.

Something else they made easy - my job. They're very photogenic, and Ian was a pleasure to shoot. I also learned making the noise "weep weep weep" seems to invoke laughter in small children... something I will have to remember for future shoots. :-)

Oye! I've been busy!

Well, for starters - the wife and I officially got the keys to our new house last week. After termite work, more termite work (welcome to California), demoing both bathrooms, picking out tile, fixtures, and quickly realizing that we'll be using old appliances that are full of energy suck for a while, we're starting to get ready to paint and move in.

I've also managed to line up a possible wedding for September, as well as get asked to do head shots for my cousin, possibly for my other cousin as well, and I've been asked for "my card" (I suppose it's about time to get some cards) because people have expressed interest. I'm also supposed to do some family portraits sometime in May or June. WOW. What a God thing. Seems to me that this was all planned out. I haven't even been pushing my photography. Things just seem to continue to fall into place. Now I just need to get out there and shoot more biking. Man... I miss shooting biking.

In the midst of all of that is my dad's birthday tomorrow and my wife's birthday was yesterday. For her birthday I surprised her with a new iPhone as she'd been hinting at one for months. We also went to a restaurant called Sent Sovi in Saratoga. It was frickin' amazing. So amazing my stomach got upset, most likely due to the fact that I haven't had food that good made from scratch in MONTHS.

While I have hundreds of shots from other family events, my brother's ordination, and another walk around downtown San Jose, here's just a few quick shots from dinner last night. The one of the salad and the one of me are ones that my wife took. I keep telling her that she has an eye for photography, but she'd rather be crafty and design her own greeting cards and scrap book. To each his/her own.





Just testing manual operation with a little TTL flash. Background is good. I should have toned down the manually powered down the flash a tad, but hindsight is 20/20. She still looks beautiful.

Obsession with film - having never shot film!?!?

Poser. That's the word the comes to mind when I look at myself in the mirror. I now own an old Minolta from my grandmother with the serial numbers scratched into the lenses (that's some sweet history) AND a Nikon FG. Why? Because I'm a poser.

...or is it something more? A love for all things photography that I simply cannot explain. I find myself carrying my D300 almost everywhere I go, despite it being a large camera. (What I wouldn't give for a D40 or a D50... yes, a D50 with the AF motor and LCD display.) But, yes, something smaller and lighter would be nice.

Why the Nikon FG? Because I got a killer deal on it. I almost bought an Ai-S 50mm f/1.8 a yesterday for $50. Why? Because Lindsey from www.bellaluphotography.com encouraged me to look into manual focus lenses and learn my system. And I chose to do so. Not because I'm a follower who does what better photographers tell me to do, but because it was a great idea - something I'd never thought of. Oh sure, I'd manual focused some stuff in the past, but forcing myself to manual focus on a somewhat regular basis will teach me some classic photography skills. And so instead of just an Ai-S 50mm, I picked up an old Nikon 50mm f/1.8, along with a Nikon FG, some Vivitar gear, filters, instruction manuals, old Kodak photography books - all for $80.

Man... I always felt like I was the guy who got the short end of the stick. Almost a day late on a "killer deal" on Craigslist. But yesterday I found one, and the seller was actually a great guy!

-Nikon FG
-Nikon MD-E Battery Grip (Motor Drive)
-Nikon 50mm f/1.8
-Nikon SB-E flash w/ SS-10 case
-Vivitar 28-85mm f/3.5 - f/4.5
-Vivitar 75-300mm f4.5-f5.6
-Vivitar75-205mm f/3.5-f/f4.5 multiplier
-Tons of filters
-Instruction books
-Cleaning kit

Here's some photos:

A walk around downtown and Orly...

I had the chance to walk around downtown with a friend of mine and a fellow photographer who I admire, Ben Quesinberry. He may or may not know it, but he's been a huge help to me in with figuring out lighting, as well as off camera flash and sports stuff. We found a few cool things to shoot, and while these edits are rough and nothing spectacular, it's the first time I've found myself wandering downtown and actually enjoying taking pictures of walls and buildings.



Ben Q.:


Onto Orly. I love my dog. When I put my first dog Coco down at the beginning of 2007, I genuinely thought I'd never love another dog as much as I loved her. She was the best. Hands down - the best...

...but then Orly came along in the spring of 2009, and I fell in love instantly. He's rotten, he gets into things, but he is so loyal and he loves me. Even when he eats my glasses, my slippers, bites my wife's hand, eats the remote, steals my dinner off the table, eats sticks and sniffs another dog's butt just enough to piss them off... he loves me.

Here are a few of him in a rare state: Sleeping/kinda'-sorta' sleeping.

Weddings and Vendors...

So, not that I plan on shooting weddings exclusively (unless I somehow become a millionaire at it in the next few weeks), but I wanted to mention a fantastic wedding vendor to anyone who is curious: Courtney Marie Floral. You can track here down here: http://www.wix.com/courtneymariefloral/courtneymariefloral

Fantastic floral arrangements of all sorts, professional attitude and work ethic, and possibly one of the hardest working vendors I've ever met.