I think Leanne is absolutely beautiful.  And, she’s an amazing singer!  It was fun shooting her!  We walked to a couple of areas close by Queen Elizabeth Park and then we went to the park to take pictures.  At this time of year, Vancouver’s beautiful because of all of the blossoms, especially the cherry blossoms, that are blooming.  Some streets would be completely pink and it’d look like it’s snowing.  

Shooting Yoshi made me really reassess my shooting skills.  I also learned the importance of planning.  I was painfully unprepared.  I couldn’t think of where to shoot and how to shoot.  My mind was blank.  I’m grateful that I was able to get a few shots that I like out of the very few shots that I actually took.

I will always need to improve my skills in all aspects of photography.  But that’s a good thing.  I refuse to be satisfied with anything I shoot.  If I’m ever satisfied, then my photos will become stagnant, cookie-cutter portraits that anyone would have been able to shoot.  I’ll have to change careers if that day ever came. 

“Maybe I’ll just go back to flipping burgers or something.”

It feels good to go home and know you’ve got some good shots.  That’s how I felt after shooting Sasha.  We shot at Steveston Village in Richmond and the day was beautiful.  A little bright for my camera, but beautiful nonetheless.  It was nice to be out by the water…..waiting for my sister…..to unlock my car……when I forgot to take my keys out of the ignition…….  Yeah…  I’ll have another post up later with the photos I took while waiting for my sister.

Anyways, this post is about my shoot with Sasha.  I learned a lot from Sasha.  I feel inspired and invigorated.  I still have a lot to improve on but I’m starting to feel like I’m on the right path.

Usually when I get a good shot, I know it’s good right when I see it.  Others, I just think they’re okay and will never make it to my small pile of favourites.  I’m always quick to delete what I don’t like or what I think isn’t usable.  But this shot surprised me.  Made me think that we need to give things a second chance because we just don’t know what spectacular thing is hidden when we just disregard it at first look.

Last week, I took this picture with the thought of deleting it because it was way too overexposed.  But, I’m glad I didn’t.  This was taken under the Granville Street Bridge when the sun was setting.  At this specific time of day, the light would spread across murals, bringing life back into the colours.  This was my first shot.  I forgot to check my camera.  Everything was overexposed except for what was in shadow.  When I got home that night and reviewed my shots, I noticed the splashes of colour in this overexposed picture.  I messed with it a bit more and ended up with what you see.  Now, the more I look at it, the more I think it’s my favourite because it’s so different from anything else I have in my portfolio.

Below is the orignal photo, completely unedited.

All the information that you need and my portfolio are now on this website.  I will be regularly updating this blog when pictures come in.  I’ve also added a new page to the website if you saw my site in the trial stages, so please check that out!

Unfortunately, this blog won’t last for too much longer.  I have another one that I’m working on.  Until that blog is up, I will still be posting here.  But once I have my other blog up and running then I’ll officially switch over there.

Check it out.  http://wong3297.clients.cmdwebsites.com/

It’s not live yet but I’ll write up another post when it’s up and official!  Plus, I’ll be making changes to this blog so there won’t be 2 sets of information.  Everything will be on the main site.

My website will be live at the end of the week!  Hopefully with prices too.

So these were taken over the Christmas holiday.  We set up a little “studio” in the Ward kitchen, with me on sitting or standing on their table, or tipping over in a chair.  The “studio” consisted of a couple of flat sheets, my reflector, and multiple light sources… I think 4: kitchen light, 2 tungsten lamps, and my flash.  That’s what you do when you don’t have enough time and money to buy/rent pro equipment, well, that’s what I do.  I was totally stoked to rent equipment, then found out that the rental place was closed till past New Years.  Just my luck.  Anyways, I got some great shots anyways.  I love shooting this family because they have a lot of fun in front of the camera.  There was a series (I’ll put these ones up as soon as I’m done editing) that I couldn’t even look through the eyepiece because I was laughing so hard.

These pictures are at a lower resolution, so let me know if it’s fuzzy and I’ll fix it.  I’m still new at all this so any input would be good.  I still can’t figure out the whole thumbnails thing which is driving me nuts….