Browse Category: photos

My First Photoshoot

A coule weeks ago, Michelle emailed me to see if I was interested in taking some family portraits for her dad’s 60th birthday. At first I didn’t know what to say since I had never done it before but agreed since it would be good experience and there was no real pressure.

So, yesterday, we all went to the park across from her parents’ house in Fountain Valley and took some shots. It was about 3:00 pm in the afternoon (DST) and there were plenty of trees, rocks, hills, and a lake. It was actually pretty fun but a little challenging trying to keep both Ryan and Michelle’s brother, Eric, in line. It was either Ryan making faces or Eric giving us the “Chandler smile” in every photo. We ended up with a few good shots with good lighting but the deciding factor for whether a photo turned out right was the look on Eric’s face. Were his eyes open? Did he have a squint? Does he look like he’s in pain? It was pretty funny.

Here are some for you to see…

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Cole’s 2nd Birthday BBQ Bash

DSC_4733a.jpgOur little Taku-chan is a whoppin’ two years old today! To celebrate, we had a BBQ at my house complete with my mom’s Thai BBQ chicken, Auntie Kiyomi’s chicken salad, and Jesse’s teriyaki steak. Yum.  The weather was especially warm today but made it great for firing up the grill and hanging out in the patio.

Cole got a bling shirt with gold chains and gold pacifier from his uncle Kenneth that made him look like one hard dude. Marie brought an ice cream birthday cake with Cars on it and Cole actually seemed to relish in his birthday moment. He even blew out his own candles after about the seventh attempt.

It was a nice family lunch with everyone together in one place. Happy Birthday Lil C!

Here are the photos.

outside all day

DSC_4610.jpgToday was such a nice sunny day. Luckily, I got to spend most of it outside. At 11:00 am, I met up with Sandy for brunch. We went to a place called Rockwell’s Bakery and Cafe in Orange (Villa Park) and I had some of their corned beef hash and eggs. Mmm…

Afterwards, I drove up to Santa Monica to pick up Brother and we went to The Getty Villa with some tickets that Ben gave him. Ben and his girlfriend Tiffany were working there today and we wandered around looking at the Roman and Greek art. We spent probably a good 30 minutes there before heading out. Last time I was there was about 10 years ago and I don’t think I’ll need to go back for another 10 years.

For dinner, we drove up PCH towards Ventura and ate at Neptune’s Net. I’d heard about it and seen in featured on the Food Network but never thought I’d have the opportunity to go there. Well, today was the day and the drive was totally worth it. When you first walk in, it’s a little intimidating with all the bikers hanging out in the front with their hogs and crotch rockets. But when you go inside, it’s your average order and pick-up kind of joint. We ordered from both the boiled side and the fried side. The first round was the 1/2 pound of peel-and-eat shrimp. It was so tasty and almost didn’t need the the lemon, butter, and cocktail sauce on the side. We then waited another 20 minutes for the fried round to come out. We had a plate of battered fish, fried shrimp, and fries with a side of tartar sauce and more cocktail sauce. With some Coors Light to go with it all made it simply perfect. After our meal, we Froggered across the street to check out the beach. The water was pretty flat but there were quite a few surfers out still. We took a few photos and headed back to Santa Monica.

After I dropped Brother off, I drove up to Hollywood to meet up with our wedding photographer. He emailed me yesterday offering to sell me my negatives at a discounted price. His business partner died in a terrible car accident a few years ago and he had been running the business ever since. I guess it was time for him to call it quits and move on to other things so he contacted me. So, now I own my wedding negatives and I can do whatever I want with them. Seems silly in way considering everyone shoots digital now.

So that was my Saturday in a nutshell. Here are the photos from today. And here are Brother’s photos.

The first assignment is complete…

…and voting has started! Brother and I started a Flickr group called “isofosho“. It’s comprised of our friends, family, and friends of friends (16 total members). Every two weeks, we post an assignment related to a specific theme or subject and it has a due date. Once the the due date has passed, we all vote on our two favorites. The winner gets a little badge posted beneath their photo and it gets added to the group’s pool of photos. It’s fun, interactive, and a good way to practice and share what we’ve got.
Last night, the assignment of “Sho’ Me Yo’ Crib” ended and we got quite a number of submissions. If you’d like to join, vote, or just see what’s going on, you’ll need a Flickr account (log in with your Yahoo ID) and then you can request to join the group. Come play with us!!

Another 100 bucks!

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Woo Hoo!!  I’ve reached my second $100!!  That’s $100.25 to be exact.  My “Lift to the Top” photo was downloaded today and now I get to cash out.  It was almost exactly a year ago when I reached my first $100.  I guess $100/year is not bad for sitting on my ass doing nothing.

By the way, that’s Kelly, Patty, and Johnny on the lift.  Hee hee…

my dog, my buddy

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I was taking some more random photos around the house over the weekend and shot this funny one. Some would consider this a crappy photo but I think it really captures a typical day at home in a nutshell.  With a little work on Photoshop, I modified it a bit to give it a vintage touch.