What I've been up to?

Ok folks, I'm back!  Here's what I've been up to lately:

• I went to Hong Kong for a couple of weeks, had 1 engagement session, 1 wedding session, and 1 family portrait session, and some quality time catching up with family which hasn't happened for many good years. It's really been long due. =)
• My cat, CC, has been diagnosed with cancer about 4 months ago. Her conditions deteriorated rapidly while I was away from home, but she hung in there like a warrior and waited for me to come home. We spent the final moments together as family, and words cannot express the pain I've gone through. Life never means so much to me, and I'm beginning to discover new meanings to photographs I treasure.
  
• Work is piled up, and I'm doing my absolute best to get things done. I managed to lock myself in front of my computer and came up with about 70 album layouts that will help speed up the album design process hereafter.
• I'm preparing for an entirely new website for the year 2010. I know, the last major changes haven't even been 2 months and I'm already working on the new.
• New Blog! Yep, I finally decided to move this blog in the first quarter of 2010 to WordPress. I migrated from my PC to my iMac 6 months ago and I simply hate using my PC... sorry folks, "I was a PC"! WordPress will make the blogging less painful to do especially the picture posting part which I had trouble with over the past few months. Moving large number of pictures back and forth the Mac and PC isn't the most enjoyable part of my job!
• I attended a Joe McNally's Location Lighting Technique Workshop early November, and it's really an eye opener to see the Master of Nikon CLS work his magic. It's absolutely inspiring and it is opening new doors to how I shoot with my Nikon SB Speedlights. It's also inspired me to go back to my experimental phase again with small objects and multiple flash units to get creative with lighting; eventually this all will contribute to new ways of how I shoot. Photography has always been exciting and fascinating for me, and it always seem to find new ways to keep me going forward!
• Must be that time of the year... I've been on a spending spree lately with photography related items. One of the new toys (haven't used this term for my camera stuff for a long while!) is the PC-Nikkor 35mm F/2.8 shift lens seen below, and I have a tilt adapter coming in to help me explore new boundaries of the land of tilt-shift. =) Stay tuned, you'll see me using them on the field in no time...
• I hope my new Panasonic DMC-TS1 is truly waterproof, 'cause I'll be testing it in Maui after X'mas. Can't wait!

This is it folks, time to post some pictures to share!!!

 

Goodbye CC, you’ll forever be missed

 
Herman Au is a Wedding Photographer located in Los Angeles, California
Service area includes LA, Orange County, and San Francisco Bay Area
Will also travel worldwide for destination weddings
http://www.hermanau.com

Engagement: Ling & Huenjin @ Caltech

Two Caltech faculties heading to Caltech for an engagement shoot, that’s gotta be fun. :-) They know exactly where they could get a sip of water, how the shortest route from point A to B to C, and Ling’s sister could come back with soda in matter of minutes (which I’m sure I’d be lost in there struggling to find my way back)!

We started off the day taking a few shots on Mount Wilson, which is literally on fire at the moment. I hope they have it under containment soon… we then grabbed a quick bite from the Mediterranean Cafe, which was awesome by the way!

Then we went all around Caltech and found some amazingly beautiful light and settings, and these two love birds seem to be having a little too much fun. =)

The very awesome lamb kebob from the Mediterranean Cafe. Thanks Ling and Huenjin!

Herman Au is a Wedding Photographer located in Los Angeles, California
Service area includes LA, Orange County, and San Francisco Bay Area
Will also travel worldwide for destination weddings
http://www.hermanau.com

Engagement: Becky & Ben – continued

This is one of the most memorable photo sessions for me thus far this year. I’ve been away from home 70% of the time over a span of 2 weeks on several mini trips, and honestly I was a little home sick. But then again Becky and Ben really made it worthwhile for me rewarding me with some images I personally really enjoy.

As I mentioned before, we travelled to the Central Coast around Solvang, Buellton, Lompoc area in June, and it was glooooooomy… It really got us worried the day we arrived before the photo session because we couldn’t see the sun at all. Luckily the weather opened up in the afternoon on both days, and gosh it was indeed a lovely day when we finally got our cameras out! :-)

This one above is one of my favorites that day where we just busted our ways into a wild flower field. Becky and Ben looks so sweet in this picture even thou they thought they looked nervous. :)

This is another one of my favorites in the bunch. Becky’s eyes really speaks to you telling you that she’s in love in Ben’s arm in this picture. This was shot outside of that same cute green barn house that is… a wine shop (I think?).

Towards the end of the late afternoon after our short break at Solvang, we stopped over a few wineries to take pictures to try to get the shots that I believe Becky and Ben envisions.

By now the love birds really warmed up and I really love their natural interactions and their smile.

An abandoned rusty truck we found along the way heading out from Solvang provided a slightly different look that you would rarely find in LA.. ;-) Their outfits and the bouquet works pretty well in my opinion.

and of course… I have to spice things up a little with my vibrant colors… trying not to overdo this… ;-)

and finally we wrapped up the day at Alma Rosa winery with some beautiful flowers, a cute house, beautiful sunlight, a cute and very fat kitty who scared Becky twice, and we headed home with memory cards full of pretty pictures to show off. ;-)

Again, thanks Becky! thanks Ben! Thanks wifey for assisting me, and I look forward to your wedding in September! ;-)

Engagement: Becky & Ben - Central Coast

And so I haven't been in my office for the most part recently... I was working on my birthday a couple weeks ago, and then my wife took me out to Las Vegas for a short break. I had to catch up with work once we got back, and then we're off to Santa Barbara, Buellton, Solevang area for an engagement shoot. I'm still out of town at the time being, and I seriously miss working on my pictures on my beloved Apple iMac... Working on my pictures on this little netbook I have is frankly a little difficult. :-)

Anyway, I've been making changes my packages lately to provide a little more freedom for the brides for them to order their prints online and choose the sizes they want a little easier with Pictage. Hopefully I can have everything ready by the end of June and I can start focusing on other things.

Back to Central Coast... It's really nice to have a little getaway like this once in a while. I think I've gotten a little tired of seeing the freeways and traffic in LA. Vineyard, wild flowers alongside the freeway, ranch, llama, ostrich, and so on are actually quite refreshing for my eyes. I have Becky and Ben to thank for getting us out here for their engagement session. =)

The e-session has been an absolute blast last Sunday, and I finally got to shoot some images that I’ve always wanted to capture. Becky and Ben are just awesome to work with, and we’re so thankful that the gloomy weather cleared up in the afternoon. Anyway, back to work… and here are a few teaser shots.

Wish you were there!

Engagement: Helen & Alex

Ahh… the weather has been very unstable lately, one day we have a heat wave and then the next day we’re hit with a cold front. I don’t even remember when’s the last time I dressed properly for the weather. Helen and I probably just picked the hottest day this year for their e-session, but nonetheless we had a great day of photographing. We originally wanted to start around 1pm, but ended up waiting a little until we started because of the heat.

We started off taking shooting in South Pasadena at a cute and quiet commercial district:

I gave them a blank canvas in the background and asked them to do their thing. Helen was presently surprised by Alex’s dance moves. =)

We headed over to these cute phone booths and let them have a little fun inside.. =P

I really like how these B/W pictures turned out. The reflection on the glass gives it a rather abstract and timeless feeling.

The shot above is the next shot right after I asked Helen to kick her fiancé… and look at her confident look and how Alex reacted to it. *grin*

We wrapped up the day at a nearby neighborhood harnessing the beautiful sunlight. I love how the bokeh in the background turned out and how natural the two of them look in their pictures after the first couple of hours of my dry humor. :P

That’s it folks, I really look forward to Helen and Alex’s wedding this week. I have a feeling this will be something special. Congrats again you two! ;-)

Herman Au is a Wedding Photographer located in Los Angeles, California
http://www.hermanau.com