Terry Chan Photography

I Moved My Blog to TerryChanPhoto.com/blog

2008-10-01T23:44:00.000-07:00

As of today October 1, 2008, a new quarter, I moved my blog to the following location.

I decided to host my own blog rather than hosting on Blogger. There are many advantages to having it on my own web server. I have more control, I can upload more images, my slideshows will run faster, I can add plugins for special effects, etc. Essentially, I have outgrown Blogger and I am ready to move onto another level.

I want to thank Blogger for hosting my blog for the past 3 years. I totally recommend Blogger over any other free blog services out there as it served me well, served me consistently without down time, and most of all... it's free. I would definitely recommend Blogger to anyone who wants a quick turn-key solution.

I look forward to your comments and your continuing support. Drop me a line anytime. I also want to thank Jeff Revell who helped me make the transition to my own blog. He did it without any expectation of benefits of any kind. Basically, Jeff did it out of the kindness of his heart. I have to say I only met Jeff once at Photoshop World in Orlando, and he's been a big help and resource to me. Thank you Jeff. You can read Jeff's Photowalk Pro blog by clicking here. He's a fantastic photographer and his posts share many of his insights and tips on photography.

Truckin' for Kids 2008

2008-09-28T23:52:00.000-07:00

Tiamo was “Blinded by the Shine!” These are no ordinary truckers, but rather men, and even ladies, who not only know the value of a great cause like Juvenile Diabetes, but also take immense pride in their trucks. Tiamo Photography once again had the privilege of photographing the Truckin’ for Kids Truck Show and Races. Those astounding semis began arriving on Saturday morning out at the Irwindale Speedway and out came the polish and rags. It is chrome so shiny, that you can see your reflection (just check out the photos for the proof)!

Some of the real magic happens on Saturday night when the lot turns into a light spectacular courtesy of the thousands of lights coming off the trucks and trailers. As photographers, it’s magic to see what we see traveling around the states delivering goods and produce become a piece of art. Sunday the gates open to the public and they are treated to the sights of these hard-working folks as they are given the opportunity of getting up close and personal with the trucks and drivers. Of course, they are treated to the sounds as well when the racing begins on the drag strip in Irwindale. The crowds fill the stands to watch the rubber being laid down and the smoke off the tires as the trucks compete for top speed.

Tiamo photographers truly appreciate being a part of an event that year after year does so much to benefit the children they represent and the hard work on their behalf. Diabetes hits close to my heart because my Mom has been living with this disease for the past 35 years. It's difficult to see my mom take insulin shots every day. The add bonuses are the meeting of new friends and the renewing of old ones, and of seeing trucks we’ve enjoyed photographing before and discovering new favorites. We will see you all next year!

(We invite you to take the time to visit our online proofing to see for yourself just how fantastic these trucks are, and ordering images for yourself is also available.)

World Team Tennis Sectionals

2008-09-28T12:18:00.000-07:00

These guys met up against a very tough team this morning playing last year's National 8.0 WTT Champions. They fought hard and provided the spectators with thrilling tennis that equal to the professional level. I'm so proud of all of them. It was a long journey for them this season and unfortunately it ends here this year. Well, there's always next year. :-)

"Window in Arizona"

2008-09-26T22:47:00.000-07:00

I photographed this picture exactly 10 years ago today when I traveled to my first Arizona camping trip. This brick window was at the visitor center by Meteor Crater exhibit. It intriqued me because it looks like we're peeking into the great southwest of this great country. I remember reading many details about Arizona when I was in the 4th grade. Now that I was there 10 years ago, I thought it would be so cool to capture it and bring it back home with me.

I photographed this picture with my first Sony Mavica digital camera. That camera used floppy disks as storage media and each picture is less than a megapixel. But it did the job for me back then when I primarily photographed everything on film... from 35mm, 6x6cm medium format, to 4x6 large format plate film. *Sigh* I haven't looked at this picture for almost 10 years.

Edna and Paul Driving to the Petroleum Club

2008-09-20T16:20:00.000-07:00

I've been tailing Edna and Paul for the past 15 minutes waiting for the perfect moment to photograph their wedding day while driving from one venue to the next. They looked so cool in their vintage Mustang convertible. Everyone was driving by and honking at them as a way to congratulate their recent nuptial. This is such a Southern California Style Wedding. :-) I'm glad to be part of their special day.

Edna and Paul Ramirez Wedding

2008-09-20T16:05:00.000-07:00

This is a picture I took with my iPhone right before the lovely couple exchange their vows. The St. James Church in Redondo Beach is gorgeous add to the perfect afternoon lighting. I rate this church as one of the best churches to get married.

Amanda & Cris Montoya Wedding

2008-09-19T23:37:00.000-07:00

I wasn't feeling well today so our associate photographer Jennifer "pinched-hit" for me working side by side with Brian. I came by later in the afternoon to join the dynamic duo in photographing Amanda and Cris's wedding. Their wedding coordinator Helen Wu did a fantastic job in assisting the lovely couple with their choice of venue at the Church of Our Saviour in San Gabriel, CA. This church had the right amount of ambiance to make their wedding ceremony extra special.

We then headed out to LA River Center and Garden for their reception. This place is magnificent as it's decorated with beautiful greeneries. We couldn't be happier to be part of Amanda and Cris's special day . Here's a sneak peek of their wedding images. Enjoy and turn up the volume. :-)

Here's what Amanda and Cris have to say about Tiamo Photography, LLC.

Amanda & Cris Montoya Wedding from Terry Chan on Vimeo.

Titanic Exhibit at the Tropicana Hotel

2008-09-07T18:59:00.000-07:00

My high school buddies and I spent a day touring Las Vegas. We ventured into the Titanic Exhibit at the Tropicana Hotel. We were not allow to take any photos inside the exhibit. However, we did take a photo by the house photographer in front of a green screen. She then superimposed us in front of the grand staircase of the Titanic. By the way, this is a real set. They did a great job replicating the grand staircase. The tour was relatively short because we read every entry and looked at every artifact carefully. And still, the whole tour took less than 1 hour even though we spent 15 min at the gift shop. Fortunately, we got half price tickets at the Tuscany Suites Hotel where we stayed last night. I believe the exhibit will be moving to the Luxor Hotel next month. All in all, it was facinating looking at the artifacts that are almost 100 years old and how well it was restored from the bottom of the ocean. Definitely a must see but leave the kids home as it is a somber exhibit.

Photoshop World Star Trek Spoof Blooper Reel

2008-09-06T17:00:00.000-07:00

This is the Star Trek Spoof Blooper Reel at Photoshop World Las Vegas 2008... ahem the G version. There's a R rated version as well. :-)

Photoshop World Las Vegas Star Trek Spoof Blooper Reel from Terry Chan on Vimeo.

Please Say a Prayer for Jasmine Star's Mom

2008-09-05T15:18:00.000-07:00

I met Jasmine Star briefly in the past and most recently at David Jay's Freedom to Succeed Tour. She's a wonderful and gifted photographer. In fact, I have seriously considered to hire her as my wedding photographer if and when I get married.

On her post today, she spoke of her Mom's illness. Click here to read Jasmine's blogpost and say a prayer for her and her mom. Jasmine's mom produced such a talented and gifted child, she deserves to win this battle against cancer.

Adobe Announced Photoshop CS4

2008-09-04T22:13:00.000-07:00

Adobe announced Photoshop CS4 Launch Date today. I signed up for the webcast on 9/23 at 9AM. You can also sign up by clicking here. Johnny L gave us a sneak peek of CS4 at the Photoshop World Keynote this morning.

Photoshop World Las Vegas 2008

2008-09-04T08:33:00.000-07:00

Well boys and girls, I'm heading down to the Mandalay Bay Convention Hall to attend the Keynote Address and other entertainment by Scott Kelby and his crew of Photoshop Instructors. I've been looking forward to this convention for several months now because it is a fun place to learn a very difficult graphic program... Photoshop CS3. I get a good bang for my bucks because for $399 I get 3 days full of instructions from the nation's best instructors. Can't beat that! Stay tune, I will update what I learn from some of the classes this week. By the way, you can download your own hi-res version of the poster above by clicking here.

Afternoon at the Beach

2008-09-03T17:28:00.000-07:00

Finally, kicking back taking a little R&R at the Mandalay Bay wavepool beach. Tomorrow will be hectic running around at Photoshop World Expo and Convention.

World Team Tennis 3.5 Division

2008-08-31T16:05:00.000-07:00

Ditto, my WTT 3.5 team remains undefeated the whole season after we won our final match today. We're heading to Las Vegas as well in April. I'll be having both of my teams competing in UNLV. I'm hoping that there will be no schedule conflicts (like I did at Mixed Sectionals earlier this year). Stay tune for more info and progress. :-)

World Team Tennis 4.0 Division

2008-08-30T18:54:00.000-07:00

Yay, it's official, my WTT 4.0 team made it to sectionals. We will be competing with other WTT 4.0 teams around the nation in April of 2009. It was a tough season but we managed to stay undefeated and therefore clinching the local title without even have to win the last match of the season. We played our final match today and even though we lost to the 2nd place team, we are still the local champs because every team as lost at least twice. SO, stay tuned and I will update our progress at Sectionals next April at UNLV!

Photoshop World Las Vegas in a Week!

2008-08-28T00:31:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's that time of the year again. PhotoshopWorld Las Vegas in a week!! I usually learn so much during 3 days of conference. It's well worth the registration fee because I end up using what I learn and apply it to my photography business. It has brought back the registration fee many times over. Besides, I enjoy networking with other Photoshop users in the world. You know how the NBA claims they are World Championship when it's just teams within the US. Well, PhotoshopWorld attendees are actually from all over the world. Scott Kelby and his elite team of instructors draw attendance from all over. In fact, NAPP has reached new heights in membership back in April at 700,000! I'm sure it's much higher by now. Also this year, the theme is my favorite television show... Star Trek TNG. Yes, I'm such a geek. :-) So, you folks who have not joined NAPP ($99 annual membership), just come to the PhotoshopWorld in Las Vegas, and they will even throw in 1 year NAPP membership. Members has their privileges as they say in AMEX commercial. You get full access to PhotoshopUser website which is filled with tutorials, and an annual subscription the Photoshop User magazine. In addition, you get discounts on all Kelby Training materials, DVDs, books, etc. Oh, I forgot you also get discounts from AVIS rental car, hotels, and B&H Photo to name a few. I really learned a great deal about Photoshop since I joined 7 years ago and I encourage all of you to join. It will be the best investment you would make in your photography business.

Jennifer and Michael Macaranas Wedding

2008-08-23T23:31:00.000-07:00

It's a beautiful sunny Southern California day today and why not? It's Jennifer and Michael's big day. Allen and I have been looking forward to photography our lovely couple for more than a year now. We did their engagement photos last year at our favorite beach location. We had many awesome images. Today is no exception as we capture our lovely couples' special day. Here's a sneak peek of their wedding images.

Here's a brief comment from Jennifer and Michael about their wedding photographers.

Jennifer and Michael Macaranas Wedding from Terry Chan on Vimeo.

Tacoma WA: Glass Museum

2008-08-17T17:41:00.000-07:00

This afternoon after visiting Museum of Flight, I ventured 27 miles south to Tacoma and visited the Museum of Glass. I didn't get a chance to walk into the museum because it closed 5 minutes (5PM) before I arrived. However, as most of you know, I'm intrigued about photographing stairs and this place is paradise for me. :-) The outside structure is so interesting that I spent over 30 minutes photographing it. Here's a slideshow of some of the images I photographed today.

REI in Seattle WA

2008-08-17T11:51:00.000-07:00

I woke up kinda late this morning from the early flight to Seattle, and working all day yesterday. But, I managed to stop by the REI store in Seattle WA. I believe this is the original REI store. I remember making my first mail order purchase when I was 18 years old. REI is now a large chain store covering the entire US.

It's the biggest REI store I've ever been to. It consists of 4 stories, and an outdoor waterfall...in the middle of the city!! I was also intrigued with the giant compass embedded on the floor on the second level. You can see right through to the ground floor. I actually compared the compass heading with my trusty Tissot Multi-Touch watch. Surprisingly, they both point to the same direction. ;-) LOL

REI in Seattle WA from Terry Chan on Vimeo.

Michael Phelps: The Most Decorated Olympian in History of the Olympics Games

2008-08-16T23:16:00.000-07:00

Well, I got back to my hotel after dinner and a long day photographing a wedding in Seattle WA. I washed up and got ready for bed. It was a good thing I turned on the TV and sure enough it was Micheal Phelps winning his 8th Gold medal in one Olympics. What a feat! I ranke this way up there with Pete Sampras winning 14 grand slam titles. The only other athlete to do so is Mark Spitz and he only won 7 gold medals... back in 1972... 36 years ago?!?! Now Phelps has raised the bar to another level, a level which no human can attain any time soon. Perhaps another 36 years?!?

Let me put it in perspective for you... I was living in Hong Kong at the time when Mark Spitz won 7 gold medals in one Olympics. Now, I want to remind you that it was 1972 and broadcasting was at its infancy... no Internet, no WWW, no nothing. We didn't even know the sport of competitive swimming but we all knew who Mark Spitz was. He was a household name! Thirty-Six years later finally another American not only matched Spitz record but surpassed it a day later. Michael Phelps' performance is not human as he had to swim 17 races, setting 7 world records, winning 8 gold medals with one winning only by a mere 0.01 seconds... in 8 days. By the way, this makes 16 medals, 14 of them gold...WOW!

Anyway, I'm glad that I watched it tonight. It's inspiring to know that with a little talent, a lot of hard work, plenty of self-discipline, and undying competitive will, one can achieve greatness. This is a recipe of being successful and achieve anything we set our minds to. It's an inspiring lesson. I hope all of you enjoyed this Olympics as much as I do.

Huimin Zhang and Shawn Call Wedding

2008-08-16T12:15:00.000-07:00

I flew into SeaTac Airport early this morning from Ontario Airport. I'm not usually a morning person, but today it was different. I was looking forward to photograph Huimin and Shawn for a number of weeks now. It was a beautiful day with blue sunny skies and warm comfortable temperature. Bascially, a recipe of a perfect day. And why not, it's Huimin and Shawn's wedding day. :-)

Here's a sneak peak of some of their wedding images.
And here's what the lovely couple have to say about me at the end of the day. Turn up the volume for this one. :-)

Huimin & Shawn Call Wedding by Terry Chan from Terry Chan on Vimeo.

Celebration Dinner for Christopher, Tiffany, and Stephanie

2008-08-10T23:38:00.000-07:00

Tonight, my whole family drove all the way to Beverly Hills at the famous Mastro Restaurant to celebrate Christopher, Tiffany, and Stephanie's venture into undergraduate studies at UTI, UCI, and USC respectively. In addition, it was a welcome back event for my niece Briana's recent travel to Europe. It was a festive event as we dined at Mastro's famous Napa room surrounded by many expensive bottles of wine (as you can see in the photo on the left).

The food was superb as well as opulent because it was served to us in astronomical portions. We first started with the crab cakes which is basically, biteful after biteful of crabs. Then came their famous "Seafood Tower" appetizer which includes lobster cocktail, shrimp cocktail, king crab legs, roar oysters, and crab cocktail. I was 75% full after the appetizers. Then came the bone-in fillet which was big enough to serve 3 people. The sides were family style size which includes saute mushrooms, lobster mash potatoes, wasabi potatoes, steam broccoli, and cream corn. Honestly, I couldn't finish more than 40% of my fillet even though it melted in my mouth. I also had a bite of their Chilean Sea Bass grilled in butter. It was so moist and tender that it disintegrated as soon as it entered my mouth. Each bite was a mouthful of moist and tender morsel of the best fish I have ever tasted. Finally, we topped it off with dessert which includes Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, mouth watering pecan pie, chocolate mousse cake, and crème brulee. We all had a doggie bag as no one could finish all these delicious food.

After dinner, we had a live musician dedicated a rendition of Elton John's "Lion King" which the girls love so much when they were younger. Here are few photos of tonight's festive event. Congrats Chris, Tiff, and Stephy! Also a big "Thank You" to Kwok & Esther because they picked up the hefty tab!! :-)

Stephanie Makino and Kai Nagata E-Session II

2008-08-10T13:00:00.000-07:00

Today, I woke up early to join Stephanie and Kai at Will Rogers State Beach for their engagement session. As you may have noticed that I photographed Stephanie and Kai a couple of weeks ago at Long Beach, CA. Today is just a bonus session because Kai wants to have crashing waves photos for his engagement photos. Well, if that's what Kai wants then that's what I'll provide. I had a wonderful time with Stephanie and Kai because they are the nicest couple ever. I wish them happiness and the very best with their marriage. Here's a sneak peak of their engagement photos today. Enjoy the slideshow and turn up your speakers. :-)

David Jay: Free to Succeed Tour with Jasmine Star

2008-08-06T22:13:00.000-07:00

Tonight, I drove all the way down the the LAX Sheraton Hotel to attend David Jay's Free to Succeed seminar. He had many insightful ideas about pricing packages, post processing, and branding oneself.

Jasmine Star was the guest speaker. She gave an inspiring speech about how she started 2 years ago as a wedding photographer literally with nothing. Yet, that didn't stop her because she photographed 37 weddings the first year because she was "determined". DJ and JS were funny, insightful, informative, and inspiring. They were surprisingly good speakers. Spending $99 and $15 for parking is well worth it. I would definitely recommend every photographer whether amateur or professional wedding photographer to attend the Free to Succeed seminar.

5.6 Earthquake hits Southern California

2008-07-29T15:52:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,

Just in case you're curious, everyone is ok and we survived a 5.6 earthquake today. The epi-center was in Chino Hills. It was a little scary because I was on the 9th floor in my building and we swayed back and forth for about a minute and a half. 90 seconds may not seem like much but it's like an eternity when it comes to earthquake.

I quickly drove back home to check if everything was ok. I then realized that my house is so messy that it looks exactly the same. In fact, I think the earthquake sorta move my stuff in a more orderly fashion. :-) That's bachelor living in socal and working 2 jobs.

Peace. Talk to you soon.

T.

Stephanie Makino and Kai Nagata E-Session

2008-07-27T20:24:00.000-07:00

Today I had the pleasure of photographing Stephanie and Kai's engagement photos. They were so funny and photogenic which made it easy to capture great photos of this lovely couple. Unfortunately, we tried to capture a mixture of urban and beach front photos, but we ran out of time because we lost the light when the sun sets. No worries, I offered to do a 2nd part of their engagement session at another place and time. Keep your eyes peeled for the 2nd part of their engagement session. In the mean time, here's a sneak peek of their images today in a slideshow.

Bose Companion 3 Speakers Follow-Up Review

2008-07-13T23:04:00.000-07:00

A week ago on July 4th, I purchased a Bose Companion 3 computer speaker system (comes with a wired remote and subwoofer). I finally hooked it up to my Mac Pro tonight, and it is phenomenal. It sounded even better than the ones in the Bose Showroom. As with previous experience in trying out speakers in the showroom, it always sounds better there because the showroom is acoustically controlled and design to accentuate the quality of the speakers. However, this speaker system delivered sweet melodic mid-tones, non-ear chilling highs, and a heartful deep bass. It's by far the best computer speakers I've heard. Considering, I almost bought the Companion 5 system. Now, I'm convinced I made the right choice because Companion 5 would be too much speaker for my purpose and the Companion 3 delivered the perfect blend for the money. Bravo to Bose Sound System!!!

Finally, the iPhone 3G in my hand!

2008-07-13T17:25:00.000-07:00

Well, after trying 4 times since Friday morning including twice on Friday, and 4.5 hours yesterday morning at the Apples Store Pasadena, I finally got the iPhone 3G in my hands. Yay!

I have to say one of the nice new feature of the new iPhone 3G is that it comes fully charged right out of the box so that you're up and running as soon as the plastice wrapper is removed and the acitivation process is completed. It also comes with a soft cleaning cloth to dust off grit, dirt and grimes on the phone as well as the screen. However, I have not need for that because i promptly purchased the antiglare shield an a see-thru plastic case to encapsulate the phone to avoid damages scratches and keep it in as mint condition as possible. Can we say "nut-job"? :-) Actually, it's a good thing as I already dropped my iPhone 3G twice already. I have this theory, the newer the phone and the more pristine condition of the phone, the slipperier or my inability to hand on to the phone gets. At least, that's my theory. :-)

I have to say the new iPhone 3G seems and feel thinner than the first generation iPhone. I made a side by side comparison. It's the same length as the previous phone but it's about 2 mm wider than the older phone. That's why the crystal protection screen shield will not work for both phones. You have to purchase the correct crystal film for the phone.

I also noticed that the screen seems to be sharper and crisper in displaying images. However, it's slight warmer and it has a yellow tint to all screens, not just images.

The virtual keyboard seems to be more accurate as I am mistyping less often. Yes, after a whole year, I'm still struggling with the virtual keyboard.

The battery life which Steve Job boasts is a lie. It can't possibly last more than 24 hours without charge, unless the phone is in non-use mode. Currently, I have 3G and bluetooth turned on, and it's sucking up battery like there's no tomorrow. I might have to bring it back to exchange it if it's defective. The battery went out on me 3 times today. Fortunately, I had my old iPhone portable charger with me. I was surfing on 3G, watch a quick movie clip of the "Shooter", and the bluetooth was turned on to connect my wireless headset. Literally, I can see a quarter of the power status bar went down. That's within 10 minutes of time!

I also noticed my cell phone coverage under 3G is not as good as EDGE. I usually have 4-5 bars of signal in the San Gabriel Valley area, but now it's only 2-3 bars. I also noticed that I had a couple of dropped calls for the first time in the SGV area.

Although, I still can't copy and paste, but I with the new 2.0 software (older iPhone can download for free upgrade), it's nice to at least delete multiple emails at once. And also a complete delete all emails within trash, sent items, junk, outbox, etc. It saves alot of time maintaining storage capacity and not get cluttered up with unwanted emails.

Incidentally, just a side note, a year ago today I almost returned my first iPhone due to a number of issues. Click here to read that post.

The New Apple iPhone 3G is here today!

2008-07-11T08:15:00.000-07:00

I got up bright and early and head over to the Apple store at the Grove arriving just after 8AM, which was the scheduled store hours for today. The parking lot was relatively empty and I thought I beat everyone there. To my surprise there were at least 250 people already on line. I guess, I'll have to come back as the line is not moving at all. They are only letting a handful of people in at a time.

Upgraded My Macbook Pro with a 250GB Hard Drive

2008-07-06T02:11:00.000-07:00

I upgraded my Macbook Pro from 160GB to 250GB hard drive tonight... actually it's early in the morning. It was no easy task because I needed to remove over 24 screws and 4 of those are torq screws which required a special tool. After 45 minutes of surgery, I was up and running with my new hard drive. I now have 90GB free space.

The whole process begins with getting a SATA 2.5" hard drive enclosure. I searched all over including the Internet. Most of these enclosures costs approximately $100 or more. I found one surprisingly of all places at Fry's Electronics for $19.99. Yes, $20!!! It's made by Coolmax. It comes with a carrying case and it's own little screw driver to tighten those tiny screws. You don't even have to buy a whole precision screw driver set. You can even use your tool for future use. My favorite part of this external enclosure is that it comes with it's own USB cable. When connected to a computer, it draws power from the computer via the USB. No additional AC adapter required! This really streamline the use of this hard drive enclosure without hunting for an electrical outlet.

I then connected my new 250GB hard drive to my Macbook Pro by installing it into the Coolmax hard drive enclosure. I then downloaded a freeware called SuperDuper and duplicate my hard drive to the external 250GB hard drive This freeware worked flawlessly. Copying 145GB worth of data took several hours. I basically click the start copying button and went out for dinner. When I came home, it was all done. I then followed the long process of removing the screws to open the case to get into the internal guts of my Macbook Pro. It was a delicate procedure. The hardest part is keeping track of all the screws that were removed. I removed the 250GB HD from the CoolMax enclosure and replaced the 160GB HD. I then took on the arduous task of replacing all the screws and secure the Macbook Pro.

When I turned on my Macbook Pro, it just kept on blipping and a quick constant LED flash. I was nervous that I might have screwed up my Macbook Pro. Most of all, I told myself "Crap! I have to remove all those screws again to get to the hard drive!!! Argh!!!" Fortunately, I stayed calm and researched on the Web with Lan's Sony VAIO laptop and Googled the symptom. It turns out that all posts on the Web points to a loose memory module. I guess I didn't seat the memory module tightly enough when I had to remove it to get to the internal hard drive. I reseated it and Voila! The computer booted right away and I heard the familiar chime. :-) My Macbook Pro now has an additional 90+GB of freespace!

By the way, the Fujitsu hard drive is only running at 5400 rpm . It's not the fastest but it's only $99.99 at Fry's Electronics this weekend. I needed more storage space and if I needed more speed, I'll just move projects to my Mac Pro.

Bose Companion 3 Desktop Speakers

2008-07-04T19:18:00.000-07:00

Today I purchased the Bose Companion 3 Speakers at the Bose Outlet at Cabezon, CA. I've been checking out this speaker for months. I couldn't decide between the lower model Companion 2 system (no subwoofer) @ $99 and the Companion 5 system @ $349.99. The good thing about the Bose Outlet store aside from the discounted price is that their demo station is side by side with the same music. I liked the Companion 2 speakers @ $99 but it's definitely sub-par to the 3 and 5 series. I found the Companion 5 is superb but maybe too much speakers for my need because if I really want superb quality sound to listen music and watch movies, I'll just turn on my home stereo system. The 5 series is perfect for those consumers who do no have a high quality home stereo system. That leaves the Companion 3 system which has low profile and footprint satellite speakers with a fantastic subwoofer for the low bass. It's like no other computer speakers I've ever heard. Just think the Companion 5 is even far better than the Companion 3 speakers. So, for those of you who do not have a home stereo system and want to listen to music or watch movies with your desktop computer, the Companion 5 system is the way to go. The Companion 3 and 5 system also features a remote volume control which also has a headphone jack and audio input jack for plugging in your mp3 player.

I've been lurking like a vulture for a sale for months. The retail price which never goes on sale is $249.99. It's finally the 4th of July weekend sale with an additional 10% off of the outlet price of $219. It's $197.10 before tax. It's such a good deal, I just couldn't pass up this offer even though these are considered refurbished models. It still carries the 5 year Bose warranty. Go check it out this weekend before the sale is over.

Happy 75th Anniversary SAG!

2008-07-01T13:21:00.000-07:00

Seventy-five years ago today marks the birth of the Screen Actors Guild. We were watching a documentary at the AMPTP and it says the official date when the Guild was registered is June 30, 1933.

Who would have thought that exactly 75 years later that the Guild would be on its last day in Theatrical / Television negotiations with the studios at the AMPTP. The picture above was taken this morning while SAG was waiting for AMPTP’s counter (final) offer. This is a historic event as this contract agreement will not only affect the next 3 years’ 4+ billion dollar contract, but it will set precedence and impact the Entertainment Industry for decades to come. If SAG negotiation team gives in too much it will affect the lives of many working class actors.

Bridal Show @ the Pomona Fairplex

2008-06-29T09:38:00.000-07:00

This morning my partners and I got up bright and early to venture all the way to Pomona or "Here Comes the Bride" bridal show. This is a picture of our booth. What do you think? :-)

We're showcasing our canvas prints. I'm not tooting my own horn... I think our images printed on canvases look fantastic. This is what differentiate us from our competitiors.

As a bonus, anyone who books a wedding with us today gets a matching engraved his and hers iPod Nano with their wedding slideshow. I have one in my hand and it looks great!

Outrageous Gas Prices!

2008-06-24T18:25:00.000-07:00

This is insane! This is not trick photography nor very good Photoshop work. The display is correct. I just filled up my gas tank and it cost me almost $76! And I filled up my tank 5 days ago. That's an average of $18 per day to operate my car for commute. I gotta find another way to get to work.

BODA Dry Lens Bag Follow Up Review

2008-06-19T23:39:00.000-07:00

Just a quick follow up with my review of BODA Dry Lens bag after a couple of months of use at weddings and engagement sessions.

All in all I like the system a lot because all my accessories and most use lenses are centralized to a single position on my waist. When I need something from the bag, I swing it forward and when I'm I'm done, I swing it behind my left buttock. This way, I don't walk around knock down things around me. The zipper and the ballistic nylon material is well constructed and not once, did the zipper caught onto anything and it was easy getting in and out of the bag.

However, the belt is not as rigid as the Think Tank belt or other belt system such as the Lowe Pro. Its lack of rigidity makes it uncomfortable to wear the bag on my waist throughout the entire wedding day. It slips and slide too much. To further add to the problem, the waist belt that I got was size medium. According to their website, medium fits 34"-47" waists. I'm 34 but I found the belt still a little loose and I couldn't tighten it any more. So, I've been looking to replace the belt with the small belt which is 26"-34" waist. This way, I can tighten a little bit more. The shipping for this $10.99 belt is $6 which didn't make sense to me because shipping is more than 50% of the cost of the belt. Finally, my business partner Allen decided to get the Boda bag as well after seeing me use it in action. So, I piggy back my order for the belt.

Much to my dismay, the belt is too short!! You say, how can it be? I say the same?? How can it be that my waist is in between 2 belt size? Impossible! Especially according to their website there's no gap between the 2 belts. How is it the longest length of the small belt is still shorter than the shortest length of the longer belt? I'm gonna contact Boda tomorrow to first complain and the inquire about their quality control of the belts. In the mean time, I still can't wear my Boda Dry Bag on my waist. My waist size falls right in the gap of the two belts!! :-(

New iPhone 3G announced today

2008-06-09T11:58:00.000-07:00

A little more than a year ago, Steve Jobs announced the iPhone at the MacWorld 07 Conference. If you're a follower of this blog, then you would know that I have been using the Apple iPhone for the past year. Although I was not completely happy with the first generation iPhone in my initial review, I wanted the new 3G iPhone to improve on the first generation and I've been anticipating today's keynote address by Steve Jobs.

The new 3G iPhone was announced today at the WWDC (Worldwide Developer Conference) convention at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. This is a much anticipated and rumored announcement. For months, there are forums speculating the new iPhone of its features, design and cost of the phone. It's now only $199 for the 8GB and $299 for the 16GB version. It sports a 3G data connection. Basically, Apple finally addressed most of my gripes (and other iPhone owners as well) with the debut of this new iPhone. I'm happy to say, job well done. Watch the keynote below.

This is the commercial for the new 3G iPhone.

As you already know, this new iPhone has 3G data connection from AT&T which is not available to the iPhone until now. 3G was only available to the Blackjack, Treos, and Q. The old EDGE data connection was so slow that it wasn't feasible to use the iPhone for Web access unless you have a WiFi access near by.

The other new feature that I was anticipating is the Enterprise email connection to Microsoft Exchange Server. iPhone users can receive their company's corporate emails, data, calendar, contacts, tasks, notes, with their iPhone. They improved on their PDA portion of the iPhone

The new 3G iPhone has built-in GPS. It's not a big deal to me since I already have a portable GPS (Navigon 2100) and my Blackberry Curve has TeleNav. Nonetheless, it's one of the big selling point of the new iPhone 3G.

Finally, you will be able to download Apps right from the iPhone such as games, and other utilities.

SAG Rally Against AFTRA

2008-06-09T11:56:00.000-07:00

SAG had a rally against AFTRA's decision to sign with AMPTP this morning. A number of celebs showed up to support this effort. I, of course was on site photographing the event.

Movie Review: "Kung Fu Panda"

2008-06-08T22:00:00.000-07:00

This is by far the funniest animation feature film since "The Incredibles", "Toy Story", and "Cars". Jack Black was amazing as the adorable chubby Panda chosen to be the Dragon Warrior to battle against the evil Tai Lung. His epic journey from the day-dreaming kung fu master wannabe noodle shop seller to the hero of the movie albeit predictable. However, the characterization and the animated voice-over by the entire cast is just phenomenal. The dialog plus the comedic timing of Jack Black and Dustin Hoffman really kept me laughing in tears throughout the whole movie. Yeah, I know all you macho guys might be laughing at me for watching this movie... well I challenge you to go see this movie and walkout not laughing or think this movie is for kids only. As I recall, there were many men in the theatre with me and they laughed even louder than me! Now that's a feat in its own! So, don't miss it. It's a definitely a 2 thumbs up.

New Rackets

2008-06-03T20:30:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited today. Lan ordered a pair of brand new Wilson K-Factor Tour 90 rackets for me and the order arrived today. This package came with 4 sets of synthetic strings, tennis bag, tennis stencil, stencil ink, and 12 grips. I'm gonna have this racket restrung Friday. Can't wait to try it out!

Chris & Julie's Wedding

2008-05-25T23:20:00.000-07:00

Today, I was invited as a guest to Chris & Julie's wedding. A little
change of pace :-) Chris was on of my boy scout kids. I met him when
he was on 11 years old. Wow how time flies. It's 17 year's later and
I'm so proud and happy for the two of them.

Movie Review: "Indiana Jones in Kingdom in the Crystal Skull"

2008-05-23T23:10:00.000-07:00

Lan and I wanted to catch the midnight show on Wednesday night of "Indiana Jones in the Kingdom of Crystal Skull" but we were a little tired even though I've been looking forward to this movie for quite some time now. Fortunately, we didn't stay up late and stand in a long line because this movie was actually somewhat disappointing. I guess partly because the previous 3 movies set the bar so high, and we've been anticipating the 4th movie for more than 19 years.

Harrison Ford's age actually showed as he didn't do any of his own stunts. He moved slowly. Too bad, his character was one of my childhood heroes. :-) The story was a little far-fetched, and a little weak. George Lucas' ILM's CGIs were fantastic as usual. That's a given. Moreover, re-introducing Karen Allen as Marion was a nice nostalgic touch. Also, early in the movie a quick reference to the original movie really added to this movie. Shia LaBeouf of "Disturbia", "Transformers", and "I Robot" did a magnificent job playing his long lost son. The tension between the characters showed throughout the movie and it made the movie somewhat dull plot to be more interesting. Finally, at the end a brief foreshadow that Shia's character would eventually take over as Indiana Jones was good tease to the audience.

All in all, Lan and I gave a small thumbs down. :-( Sorry "Indy".

Vancouver BC

2008-05-18T12:49:00.000-07:00

Took a short weekend trip to Vancouver BC. This place is beautiful. Taking a short break right now to enjoy the scenery. The weather is perfect 70 degrees. The sun is shining and most of all the air qualityis superb. I'm almost hyperventilating from the high level of oxygen. :-)

San Marino High School's Production of "Cats" the musical

2008-05-01T22:51:00.001-07:00

Tonight I went to San Marino High School to watch my niece, Tiffany, perform in the musical "Cats". Needless to say she was magnificent as she had many solo dances. She grew up so fast as I still remember holding her when she was just a baby. She showed maturity in her performance. Her pose and her lines were so perfect. I definitely noticed major improvement in dance expression from previous years' performances. I, being the proud uncle, was so proud of her that I was welled up with emotions... happy ones of course. Here's a slideshow of her performance.

Tennis: We're Sectional Bound!!!

2008-04-13T15:35:00.000-07:00

Well, we did it this year! We're Sectional Bound for the 8.0 Mixed Team representing San Gabriel Valley! It will be the weekend of my birthday next month. From the beginning of this mixed season it is my goal to get the team to Sectionals after a tight lost to Hatty's team last year. We missed sectionals by a match lost. I'm so happy that we pulled it off despite all the obstacles we had in the past week. Two of my key players Tac and Judy were on the injury list. I had to leave work for a couple of hours to win with Beverly to clinch out berth to So Cal Sectionals!

Match summary is below. Who would've thought with 3 of my key players not on the lineup, we were able to pull it through losing only one match out of nine matches!!! That's phenomenal. It's much more than I expected!

Sat. 4/12 1PM vs. Santa Barbara
David and Sandy won 3-6, 7-5, 1-0
Tac and Beverly lost 7-5, 6-4
Alain and Lan won by default

Sat 4/12 4PM vs. Temecula Valley
Terry and Beverly won 6-4, 6-3
Lan and Alain won 7-5, 6-1
David and Sandy won 6-7, 6-2, 1-0

Sun 4/13 1PM vs. Ventura County
Terry and Beverly won 3-6, 6-1, 1-0
Lan and Alain won 6-3, 6-2
David and Sandy won 6-2, 6-4

Above is the team photo of all who played in the last round. Too bad, Tac, Raj, Linda, and Judy were not present. I'm sure we'll have another photo op at Sectionals!

P.S. Now I have a dilema. I wasn't expecting to have all 3 of my mixed team go to Sectionals. The schedule are directly conflicting with each other and at 2 different location. I'm gonna have to choose which team to play for. Perhaps, I can play one match with the SGV 7.0 team.

BODA Dry Lens Bag

2008-04-04T18:41:00.000-07:00

I first came across BODA at the WPPI Convention in March. I didn't pay much attention to this bag at first. In fact, I walked by it a couple of times without even stopping, just casually glancing. Anyway, today is the last day of the Photoshop World Trade Show in Orlando Florida. I walked by the Boda booth several times for the past 3 days. Once again I was not intrigued enough to stop until today. They had a tiny little booth with just 2 salespeople, one table, and a couple of samples for people to look at. You have to understand that every other company has elaborate setups for their booths.

Boda features 2 bags, the Boda Dry Bag and the Boda Dry Jr. bag. Why do they call it Dry Bag? Beats me. :-) No actually, it's suppose to be weather proof because the zippers and the tough ballistic nylon is to keep your equipment from getting wet during inclement weather or being splash by a big wave while at a beach shoot.

This nifty little bag carries a whole bunch of stuff with its tiny little foot print. Its design is to carry all your accessories and several of your essential lenses. It has a compartment for batteries, one flash, one long lens (70-200mm), a divided compartment to hold 2 shorter lenese ( 16-35mm and 50mm 1.2), business cards, 8 CF/SD card compartments, pens, cell phones, a lens cloth, etc. The Jr. bag is essentially the same except smaller. It can hold one long zoom lens or 2 shorter lenses. It's not intended to replace your camera bag. It's used when you just need to be on the run and need quick access to your accessories. That means you still have to carry your camera on your shoulder. The Boda Dry bag can be worn with a shoulder strap or a waist belt. The belt comes in 3 sizes. Make sure you purchase the right length otherwise it would be hard to run around with 15 lbs strap around your ankle. :-) I think it's a great design because I don't want to carry my entire rollaway bag to a wedding anymore. Althought the cost of the Boda Dry bag is about the same as medium size roll away bag. Incidentally, BODA is "wedding" or "marriage" in Spanish.

I've been looking for something like the Boda for quite some time. And in fact, not long ago, I wrote a review for the Think Tank bag back in November 17, 2007. I was and still am very satisfied with this bag system. It fits snugly against my waist and I'm able to carry my essential lenses and memory card storage system. In fact, I can run with the system around my waist. I'm gonna give this baby a try and will do a follow up review later in a month or so. In any case, I couldn't pass up a really a good deal because the show special is $175 which includes a waist belt, a lens divider, and most of all... no sales tax and shipping. So, if you attended WPPI or Photoshop World, be sure to mention the show special when ordering online or over the phone.

Midnight Madness at the Peabody Hotel

2008-04-03T01:12:00.000-07:00

It's Midnight Madness where it's the only Photoshop World session which they guaranteed that you will learn absolutely nothing about Photoshop! My good friend Jonathan joined me this time and he's a newby to Photoshop World and Midnight Madness. He initially stated that he can only stay for a moment, but he had so much fun, he end up staying practically for the whole night. :-)

The picture above is of course me in the middle sandwiched between the Layers Magazine weekly podcast hosts... Corey Barker and RC Concepcion. These guys teaches everything about Adobe which means they know every Adobe application inside and out... Indesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Dreaweaver, Flash, etc. Go to iTunes or to their website to view their podcast.

Epcot Center

2008-04-01T23:49:00.000-07:00

Well, I landed safely after my red-eye flight to Orlando landed safely. It was still only 8AM after I rented a car. So, it was too early to head out to Epcot and also I was still pretty tired. So, I decided to head over to my hotel and check in first. Fortuntately, they had a room available and I as soon as I got in, I feel asleep in bed. I didn't get up until 12 noon. I know even though I lost half a day, I had a much needed nap and as I'm still very jet-lagged.

It's pretty humid here and the locals were laughing at me when I made that comment. Mainly, this is pretty comfortable for them. :-) I'm such a whimp now that I lived most of my life in southern California. It also rained from time to time but I managed to fit in all of Future World. I have not been back since 1996. I had a chance to sight see a day before the conference began and I had a blast at the Epcot Center.

Epcot Center hold a special place in my heart because when I was 16, I read that Disney World is opening a new theme park called Epcot Center. Ever since that day, I've been dying to go there. Unfortunately, I never had the money to go until after I graduated and started working. And even then, I had to wait another 8 years before I had the chance to go. I actually had a bit of anxiety anticipating my arrival to Orlando because of the Epcot Center. If I were to do this again, I would spend more than 1.5 days there because I had to rush toward the end before the park closes. Perhaps next time, I don't have to wait another 16 years.

Photoshop World Orlando

2008-03-25T17:28:00.000-07:00

Well, it's only a week a way. I can't wait to go there next week and learn a whole bunch of Photoshop "stuff" from the great teaching faculty of Kelby Training. Perhaps, I'll join in on the Photoshop Guys live taping of Photoshop User TV as well. This year, the theme is Star Trek. I can't wait to see what the Keynote address has install for us. It's gonna be a riot. These guys are so funny. Well, come back next week to have a day to day recap of Photoshop World Orlando '08!

Got an Autographed Photo of Michael Dorn (Lt. Cmdr. Worf)

2008-03-06T23:17:00.000-08:00

Today I had the biggest surprise! While working hard at my desk, I was summon to go to the President's office to photograph an event for Alan Rosenberg. So, I hurried down the hall and when I arrived, to my surprise, it was not a photo op at all but it was just a ploy to get me down to Alan's office so that Anne Marie Johnson can give me a autographed picture of Michael Dorn who plays a well known role as Lt. Commander Worf in Star Trek TNG.

To most of you, this is just a regular picture, but to me this is priceless because Michael Dorn doesn't signed Star Trek memorabilia anymore. In fact, last month when Lan and I went to the Star Trek Tour at the Queen Mary, some of the cast of TNG artwork has everyone's autograph except for Michael Dorn's. This is a very rare Star Trek TNG keepsake. It's all due to Anne Marie Johnson. She's a good friend of Michael Dorn. When she invited him to the SAG 75th Anniversary celebration, I was somewhat starstruck when I saw him. I'm usually pretty cool around celebrities. Anne Marie found out about my admiration of him, and worked her way in for the past 5 months to get an autographed photo for me. She is such a sweetheart.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2008-02-14T23:12:00.000-08:00

Today is a special day for many couples as they celebrate their love and affection for each other. I know it's been way too commercialized in the recent years and most everyone lose sight of what today really means. To me, it's not just a celebration of love of your significant other but it's a day to cherish the people you love in your life... friends, family members alike. So, even if you're "hitched" or "attached" to a significant other, please take some time out today to cherish the people around you who loves you, and how much you love them. No need for fancy gifts, extravagant dinner plans, or exorbitant bouquet of flowers. You don't need that to show your love for each other.

And for those who got engaged today, a big CONGRATULATIONS to you all. Please remember to keep me in mind when selecting a wedding photographer. :-)

Happy Chinese New Year! The Year of the Rat!

2008-02-07T16:11:00.000-08:00

Happy Chinese (Lunar) New Year! Gung Hay Fat Choi, Lay See Dow Loyr. :-)
I called my parents early this morning to wish them good health, wealth and happiness. It's always better to do that early in the morning vs. later in the day. They were happy to receive my call. :-)

This year is the year of the Rat (rather than mouse??). It's also the beginning of a new Chinese Zodiac Cycle and the year of the Pig ends it. There's an old fable that explains the "pecking" order of the zodiac signs. Unlike the western zodiac cycle, our zodiac lasts a whole year rather than a mere 30 days. By the way, this year is a good year to get married, so contact me when searching for a photographer for your wedding this year. :-)

Chinese New Year lasts 10 days and is considered a major holiday for us and our neighboring countries... except for Japan which celebrates the Western New Year on the first of January. Although the traditional Chinese calendar did not use continuously numbered years, its years are now often numbered and 2008 to be 4706.

I remember growing up in Hong Kong, Chinese New Year was a lot of fun and I looked forward to it every year. My Mom used to make a big fuss by cooking special sweet dumplings, turnip cakes, which she only bakes once a year. It's one of my favorite foods but I only get to eat it once a year. It's a long laboring process, but my Mom always seem to handle it all by herself. She also make a big fuss by buying new shoes for me. It's the only time of the year I get to buy new shoes. YES, once a year! Unlike the US culture, children get new shoes at the beginning of the school year in September. There were years where I would get new clothes too. I remember not able to sleep the night before and waking up early and get all "snazzy up" in my brand new clothes and shoes and ready to visit my relatives who we only visit once a year... yes, Chinese New Year. It's equivalent to Christmas morning for me. I must confess, it's not that I was looking forward to meet my distant aunts (who pinched my cheeks) and uncles, and cousins... it was because I get "Red Envelopes" filled with money. :-) Yes, married adults give out "Lay See" or Red Envelopes to gain good fortunes for their love ones as well as for themselves. We did however, had to rehearse a song so that we can perform in front of our relatives over and over again from one house to the next. Every year is a different song, and I was so young, I didn't even know what I was singing in English. :-) Also, since the New Year lasts 10 days, we didn't have to go to school for a whole week! Now do you see why I used to get so excited about Chinese New Year.

I was however perplexed that every year is a different day. I asked my Mom "why is it not the same day as last year, it's so hard to keep track of?" I was inquisitive because I wanted to know how many days to the New Year. I was told that our culture follows the moon phase to determine months, and therefore years. Whereas, the western civilization follows the traditional long and short months, and every 4 years an extra day in February to adjust for the misalignment to the moon. Whose system is better, who's to say? For me, just tell me when is it, and I will be ready to receive my "Red Envelope", Lay See, Hung Bao.

On a side note: the Space Shuttle Columbia crashed on the morning of Chinese New Year on Feb 1, 2003. It was a sad day for me even though it was Chinese New Year. I remember watching the first Columbia Launch in 1980 as a young lad dreaming of being on the Space Shuttle some day.

My iPhone Ran Out of Space

2008-02-05T15:43:00.001-08:00

Crap! My 8GB iPhone ran out of space today. I was trying to sync up my latest podcast download of Photoshop User TV, when I discovered none of my videos were able to sync nor download due to storage capacity exceeded. I couldn't believe it because my capacity had always been near but never exceeded maximum capacity. It must have been a recent email I received with a large attachment which pushed it over the limit.

The problem with iPhone email is that it's not search-able by size. It's near impossible to find the culprit that rendered my iPhone useless. So, I tried to delete all emails on my iPhone since I have all emails downloaded to my Entourage. But there's no quick way of doing it. I can only delete one email at a time by the tedious procedure outlined in the Apple website. I searched most iPhone user forums and no one seems to know how to do it swiftly and quickly. I even went to the Genius Bar at the Apple Store, they don't have a brief way to delete emails either. I'm really stuck because not only emails in my inbox is taking up space, my sent items are equally just as guilty in killing my iPhone.

So, what I did finally was reset my iPhone to factory settings, and then download my music, videos, and movies again. It cleaned out my trash, sent items, and drafts. I also deleted all instant messages and its conversations. This was a relatively brief procedure (15 minutes) as compare to deleting each email one at a time.

I'm Not a Goldfish!

2008-02-05T15:42:00.000-08:00

Anyone of you out there own a goldfish as a pet? I remember when I was young, I was fascinated with them. My uncle lived with us in Hong Kong (actually, everyone lived in one roof in our traditional Chinese culture), and he had a fish tank full of goldfish, angelfish, etc. I remember I kept feeding the little fishees and eventually their belly got bloated and they turned belly up. I did it out of love and affection for the little guys but I didn't know better. I thought I was loving them and doing what's good for them. *Sigh* I was only a little lad without any understanding and knowledge of their limitations. I was thinking from my point of view and didn't pay attention to their feedback and response. This is a prime example of bad communications can result in a bad outcome.

This is the primary reason why I always avail myself and open a 2 way communications with my clients so that I have a better understanding of the needs/wants. This way, I can provide the top notch service that I strive to provide on a daily basis. Most of my clients can attest to that respect.

On a followup story, when I got out of college and decided to move back in with my aging ailing parents. I was the goldfish and my Mom was the little me. She missed having me in the house so much she fed me 5 meals a day. And I was like the goldfish, not wanting to protest and eat blindly until every morsel of on my plate (bowl in my case) was consumed. As a kid, I was told/taught to eat everything in my bowl. The old fable of if I don't eat everything, then the face of my wife will resemble my bowl which is crater-like and scared like the leftovers in my bowl. And also, my Dad kept telling me that the kids in Congo are starving. They would be so lucky to have the kind of foods we had on our table. So very soon, I gained 40 pounds and my heart rate and cholesterol level soar to unhealthy heights.

In retrospect, I should have told myself that I'm not a goldfish and that it's ok to not eat everything on my plate. It's not that I condone wasting food, but when I'm full, I should have the consciousness of saying to myself to STOP EATING!.

I was out picketing with the WGA at Paramount today!

2008-02-04T13:14:00.000-08:00

I was out picketing along side with the WGA writers in front of the Paramount Studios this morning. It was a cold windy morning, but I managed to toughen it out. Actually, I had a blast. Yeah, on contrary to most people's belief, picketing was fun. This was an initiative by our new CEO (well, it's been a year, in SAG relative term, it's NEW) Doug Allen, who encouraged all employees to take time out from work and volunteer to be on the picket line for the past 3 months. Today was my turn and I gladly accepted the assignment to break up the monotony of SAG's day to day mundane work.

I met several people including a character actor Victor Kobayashi. Character actors are usually not recognizable until you pay full attention of their background work to support the main character of the story or to enhance the storyline. He told me that the main reason why he participated the WGA strike and picket every morning with them was because he remember back in 2000 when SAG had our Commercial Strike a teamster took time out from lunch and walked the picket with him. He thought to himself that when presented an opportunity in the future, he would pay it forward just like this gentleman did for SAG. So, even though it was cold and windy this morning, he thought it was the right thing to do. What a guy! :-)

14th Annual Screen Actors Guild Award - The Only Award Show This Year?!?!

2008-01-27T23:12:00.000-08:00

I was photographing on the red carpet at the 14th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium today. It was more exciting and packed with celebrities than previous years as it may be the only Award Show in 2008!

SAG President, Alan Rosenberg speaking on stage at the SAG Award Show.

WGA (Writers Guild of America) is currently on strike. The close bind between 2 unions SAG and WGA put a bind on last month's Golden Globe Award Show. The Hollywood Foreign Press did not sign at least an interim agreement with the WGA, the Golden Globe Award Show became a big "Golden NOPE"! The show was aired without a red carpet entry because no celebrities wanted to cross the picket line in solidarity with our sister union WGA. Also, no celebrities came to present at the Golden Globe either. The show consists of only a several (non celebrities) people reading off the nominees, and announcing the winners without the usual "Hoppla and Fanfare". It was a sad, sad, sad Golden Globe Award Show. I hope by the time the Academy (Oscar) Award Show comes around, the strike will be over otherwise, the SAG Award Show will be the only Award Show of 2008.

The beautiful Angelina Jolie!

...and hubby Brad Pitt!

Carla Gugino of "American Gangster"

The beautiful and talented Rebecca Romeijn. "X-Men, Ugly Betty"

Teen Hearthrob Zack Efron of "High School Musical" and "Hairspray"

Amanda Bynes of "Hair Spray"

America Ferrera of "Ugly Betty" not so ugly tonight...

Eva Longoria-Parker, looking just as lovely as ever even without hubby
fame NBA superstar Tony Parker.

Jeremy Piven of "Entourage" looking just as dapper as his character, fast talking talent agent.

Silver Beaver Reception

2008-01-22T20:52:00.000-08:00

As most of you know and who had been following my blog, I was presented with the coveted Silver Beaver Award last year in March. Since I was the award recipient, I was invited to the 2008 Silver Beaver Review Board in December. We sat down and pounded out on reading and review Silver Beaver Applications, and resumes.

There were many applications, but we were told to select only 10 applicants. It was a difficult process as every candidate was worthy to receive the Silver Beaver Award. I had some disagreement with some of the selection and some that were not selected. I guess, I didn't know these applicants personally as I can only read their proud achievements through their tenure in scouting for the past 2-3 decades. In the end, we were all proud and satisfied with our selection. I think we all slept soundly that night. :-)

Tonight was the Silver Beaver Reception at the Smiser Scout Center in Pasadena. I remember my reception vividly of last year as if it was yesterday. I remember walking in on time, but to my surprise everyone was in the room and had their portrait photographed already. I felt bad because I was holding up the photographer from packing up his equipment. Anyway, this year, everyone was very happy and excited about having their portraits taken. They all borrowed a Silver Beaver Award and had it temporarily around their neck for the picture. Everyone was posed perfectly albeit they all look so uncomfortably like a robot. "Chin up, look here, tilt head, move arm and lift elbow, etc.". Belle n' Beau are famous for their classic portrait, and I guess that's what it takes to look perfect and be capture in time with a still photograph. It was an important moment and event. I guess it was all worth it in the end.

I think I'll contact Belle n' Beau and have a copy purchased so that I can keep it for prosperity. :-)

MLK Birthday Today

2008-01-21T12:56:00.000-08:00

I have tremendous respect for Martin Luther King Jr. It's his birthday today. Below is the video of his "I have a dream" speech spoken publicly shortly before his untimely assassination.

MacWorld Keynote 2008

2008-01-15T09:54:00.000-08:00

Watching a live MacWorld Keynote 2008 transcript right now on my iPhone. How cool is that! Here's the video of the Highlights of Steve Job's Keynote Speech.

Screen Actors Guild New Website

2007-12-30T12:46:00.000-08:00

Screen Actors Guild launched their "New and Improved" website today. It's definitely more user friendly and more intuitive so that visitors to the site can find things easily and not get lost among the many levels, not to mention many tiresome mouse clicks.

Best of all, the main page of the website featured many of my photos I took for the Guild through the years. :-) Yay Me! Please click here to view their website.

Movie Review: "Sweeny Todd"

2007-12-27T19:18:00.001-08:00

After leaving the Ritz Carlton (Pasadena), which by the way soon to be the Langham Hotel, Lan and I decided to go watch "Sweeny Todd". I'm a sucka for musicals and I remember when I was a young pup in NYC, I wanted to go watch the Broadway version of this movie. I was vastly intriqued with a demon barber cutting up people and then to dispose of these which he deemd evil people to his friend and accomplice to make shepherd pies. What a gruesome concept! Unfortunately, I was too young to go by myself, and none of my friends back then care to watch a Broadway musical. So, 3 decades later, I didn't want to miss this opportunity and wait for the DVD/Blu-ray version.

Lan is a great sport. Despite her lack of interest to musicals and distaste for bloody horror flicks, she agreed to accompany me. The storyline is great, but no surprise to me since I already know the storyline years in advance. However, the performance by Johnny Depp, both acting and singing, far surpass my expectations. Not to mention, Helena Bonham Carter's portrayal of Mrs. Lovett was superb... she has a beautiful voice as well.

This is Johnny Depp's best performance showing all his talents in one single movie performance. I would be surprised if he doesn't get a nomination for an Oscar in Feb 2008. We gave it a big 2 thumbs up. Don't miss this movie! And if you did, make sure you at least rent the movie in the coming months.

Movie Review: "National Treasures - Book of Secrets"

2007-12-25T23:58:00.000-08:00

Well, it's Christmas Day, since all the stores are closed, we really had nothing to do other than watch a movie. I've been anticipating "National Treasure 2 (the sequel to the first one), The Book of Secrets" for about a month now. It came out last weekend, but I was just inundated with so much work from SAG and Tiamo Photography, LLC. I haven't had a chance to see this movie. So Lan and I, along with her brother Thanh ventured to the movie theaters today knowing fully that it would be a mad house.

While this movie will probably not be nominated for any categories in the Golden Globe Awards , SAG Awards, nor the Academy Awards, it was an exceptionally entertaining movie. Usually, sequels can't live up to the original movie because of the exceptionally high expectation of the viewers, this movie did just fantastic.

The lead character Ben Gates played by Nicolas Cage, and Abigail Chase played by Diane Kruger (of Troy as Helen) was sparked an intriguing hook to the audience as this time, they are separated and Ben Gates had to move out of his lavish multi-million dollar estate. The ever witty Riley Poole played by Justin Bartha kept me laughing and fully engaged into the storyline of the movie. Jon Voight who portrayed Patrick Gates joined by his movie wife, Dr. Emily Appleton, portrayed by multi-Oscar winning actress Helen Mirren, added to the original movie with a new storyline that alleviates some of the intensity of the movie. I guess that's how they turn a simple movie plot and turn it into a 2 hour + movie. I guess I'm just a "sucka" for a treasure hunting movie, and the intertwine of history and fictional characters just sucked me right in. Yes, I liked "The DaVinci Code" as well.

This is a 2 thumbs up movie for me and Lan. Don't miss this movie and keep your eyes peeled for the Blu-Ray disc of this movie.

Conversations with the cast of Heroes

2007-12-15T23:46:00.000-08:00

SAG Foundation hosted the "Conversations with the cast of Heroes" this afternoon. Among the thirteen regular cast member, Masi Oka who portrays Hiro Nakamura was there. I was fortunate enough to bump into him after the event. Here's a picture of him with me.

Corporate Portrait: Proudfoot & Quach LLP

2007-12-13T22:25:00.000-08:00

Tonight I photographed Lan and her business partner Don Proudfoot for their corporate portrait session. Don has been a litigator for the past 40 years. He's a fantastic lawyer with many years of experience as a trial lawyer. Combined with Lan's tenacious style and detail oriented thoroughness, they make a fantastic team. They recently left their law firm to form Proudfoot and Quach LLP. They are located in Pasadena. Visit their website to contact them.

Beowulf - 3D

2007-12-08T00:45:00.000-08:00

I went to see a late show tonight with Lan at the Edwards on Main Street. It's the 3D version of the critically acclaimed animated Tale of Beowulf. It's a fantasy set in 5th Century Denmark. The main character Beowulf (Ray Winstone) must defeat Grendel (Crispin Glover), a monster to say the least, who's been terrorizing a nearby Kingdom ruled by Hrothgar (Sir Anthony Hopkins). It's your average Love, Infidelity, Seduction, and Action movie. It has all the elements of a boxoffice hit. Plus... it's an animation with life-like characters. Not only the voices of these great actors brought these characters to life on screen, the animation is phenomenal. It's by far better than say "Final Fantasy" animation because Robert Zemeckis and his DP (Director of Photography) turned this animation into a movie epic with artistic camera angles. During the fight scenes, Zemeckis utilized many creative camera angles through high tech CGI brought this movie to a new level in animation.

To boot, we paid an additional $2 for the 3D version. We have not seen a 3D movie in a long while and they really improved on the glasses. We both wear glasses, and these 3D glasses sit comfortably on top of our regular glasses for 2 hours. I really think the extra $2 was worth the extra money for this movie. It really brought this very well made animation to life. Lan and I gave this a big 2 thumbs up!

Attack of the Pearl Harbor - 66 Years Ago Today

2007-12-07T14:14:00.000-08:00

Sixty-Six years ago today, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Here's a really good website recollecting the series of events of that day. The History Place. The picture above is the memorial of the USS Arizona which was sunk on that day.

I remember watching a movie called "Tora Tora Tora!" when I was young. What an epic movie. That's when my Dad explained to me the history of the attack of the Pearl Harbor. I was intriqued at the time because of the violent relentless surprise attack on a early Sunday morning. No one was prepared for this attack, in fact, most everyone was at Sunday worship. I was trying really hard to understand war with my naive childlike mind and couldn't grasp the thinking behind such brutal attack. Kamikaze pilots would actually crash into their target rather than bail and survive a crash just so that it can create a bigger impact on the attack. I thought to myself, why would anyone hate another so much as to terminate oneself than to survive and preserve another life? I wasn't sure I was impressed with their persistent and focused attack without regard for their own preservation, or was I just dumbfounded at the way adults rationalize brutality and violence not to mention attack of civilians and enemies that had no way of defending themselves. Where was the nobility of being a soldier and wagering war against your enemy?

To this day, I still don't understand war. Why would anyone opt to take a lose-lose situation vs. a win-win situation for all parties? Negotiation? Communication? Senseless death? Perhaps, I value my life... all lives very much. Perhaps, I will never understand war, killing one another and for what purpose?

Charles Durning - SAG Lifetime Achievement Award

2007-12-05T15:51:00.001-08:00

Charles Durning will be receiving Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award on January 27, 2008. He paid us a visit today and was interviewed by our SAG President Alan Rosenberg.

I remember watching Charles Durning as a kid and my most memorable movies with Charles Durning are "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas", "Tootsie", Scarface", and "The Hudsucker Proxy". I'm a fan of his work. He was so funny when he was chasing Dustin Hoffman around the room in Tootsie. He's also an excellent singer and dancer and received 2 Tony Awards for his musical performance on stage.

He spoke of many things during the interview and quite a jovial guy with a great sense of humor. He’s actually a Silver Star recipient during WWII. At a poignant moment, he was a little choked up when he spoke of having to kill during the war and later captured twice as prisoner of war. He was actually injured but he joined his troop on the day of Battle of the Bulge. What an interesting man.

New Wacom Cintiqs!

2007-12-04T14:48:00.000-08:00

I posted several times in the past that I use and LOVE my Cintiq 21UX monitor/pen tablet for my digital imaging and graphic design work. The ability for me to draw directly on the screen speeds up my workflow and provide infinite control of pen pressure rather than from my wacom pen tablet.

Today, Wacom launched not 1, but 2 new Cintiqs... 20WSX (wide screen) at $2000 and the portable 12WX at$1000. The 12WX would be a handy tablet to pack into my laptop bag when traveling, on location shoots, or to a client's house for sales presentation and image adjustment/enhancement. This would be a great Christmas gift under the tree for your special someone. :-)

Navigon 2100 GPS

2007-12-02T23:34:00.000-08:00

I got up early this morning to get to Staples and purchased the Navigon 2100 GPS. $149.95 This unit is listed $199 everywhere else. I've been looking for a GPS unit for my Dad for some time now. He's reluctant to drive and afraid to get lost at night because he's in his 70's now and his sense of direction and eyesights is not so good now. This way, he can drive my Mom to more places rather than cooped up in the house all the time. I thought it would make a great Christmas gift as it is very difficult to come up with new ideas and useful gifts for him year after year.

I tested the Navigon and I really love their 3D Reality view on a 3.5 inch display. It clearly shows which lane you should be if you want to exit to the correct freeway interchange. It's particularly confusing here in LA freeways and really useful feature to avoid missing an exit because you're in the wrong lane. Their text to speech of street names and exits is pretty accurate and it would be great for my Dad so that he doesn't have to constantly look at the display to navigate to where he wants to go.

Whenever, I slow down and come to a stop, it displays all gas stations, and restaurants in the vicinity. Some restaurants displays with their logo such as McDonalds and Starbucks coffee. Chevron logo is also displayed for their gas stations.

The only drawback is that it's only a 3.5 inch display, and it comes with only a care charger. You'll have to pay another $20 for an adapter to charge it indoor with a household electrical outlet.

All in all, I'm very satisfied with the Navigon 2100 because it's feature packed for it's price. There aren't any other GPS on the market at $150 can produce the same amount of quality display and information

HKSAF Christmas Ball 2007

2007-12-01T23:54:00.000-08:00

Hong Kong Schools Alumni Federation hosted their annual fund raising Christmas Ball tonight at the brand new San Gabriel Hilton Hotel. I was invited to photograph the event. Since this is a fund raiser and for a good cause, I volunteered my service for this event.

HKSAF is a non-profit organization consists of various alumni schools and organizations in Southern California. Their main effort every year at the Christmas Ball is to raise scholarship funds for needy students in Hong Kong to study abroad. Everyone usually have a great time at the ball getting dressed up and meeting old and new friends.

This year, HKSAF invited (hired) Sum Sum, and Ban Ban (sisters) to perform and entertain the crowd. When I was just a little kid in Hong Kong, I used to watch Sum Sum every night. She used to do an evening variety show called "Enjoy Yourself Tonight". She also used to do a TV commercial for TV Guide stating it sells for only "$0.30". Everyone used to imitate her. Wow, that was almost 40 years ago. (shuddup, I know I'm dating myself) Here are some of the highlight photos of the evening plus some personal ones with Lan and her mom.

If you're an alumni from Hong Kong, please visit HKSAF for more information regarding membership application. They also welcome any amount of donation regardless you're an alumni from Hong Kong or not.

APS 1300VA UPS Battery Backup System

2007-12-01T13:38:00.000-08:00

After purchasing the Apple Mac Pro for the past month, and loving it so much. I've been spending sleepless nights (ok, I'm kidding... in reality, I have an "off" switch on the back of my head. When it hits the pillow, I'm out) thinking about in the event of a bad electric spike, it can seriously damage my baby. Not to mention, if I run into a blackout during upcoming Summer months, I can lose my files to data corruption, and lose my work which I may have worked on for many hours.

The solution is to get a UPS (Interruptible Power Supply) made by APC. Belkin makes several reputable model as well. However, I'm old school with APC from the years of working as a network administrator which we employ APC UPS to power backup network servers.

Circuit City had a great deal this weekend with the APC 1300 VA Battery Backup System with LCD Display. The voltage capacity is very important when considering a UPS because depending on the number of device, computer, monitor and peripherals such as external hard drives and external DVD burners, it might be too much of a strain on a more anemic version. 1300 volts protection is just about right because it's affordable yet it can protect all the devices I mention above. It's rated up to 136 minutes of power backup which is ample time for me to save my files and turn off my computer, or enough time for power to recover. Plus, it conditions electric current coming out of the wall to my computer power supply and avoid too high of a spike which can permanently damage my baby. This model has a LCD display which show the status of the electric current and the load it's taking on. As a curiosity, I noticed that the electric current fluctuates from 119 volts to 122 volts throughout the day. It has 8 outlets. 6 of which is battery backup for devices such as monitors, computer, external hard drives. And 2 outlets not backup for devices such as printers, speakers, DVD burners, etc.

Now with APC 1300 VA running 24/7... I can now sleep soundly. ;-)

Bought it at Circuit City $129.95 - $15.00 Coupon discount = $125.00

Just a quick update on 12/9, Circuit City is selling it for $119. I guess I'll make a quick stop to CC and get my $10 + Tax back since it's within 30 days price match period.

Mac Pro & Leopard Review

2007-11-28T23:06:00.000-08:00

After using the Mac Pro and Leopard for the past 30 days, I must say that it's one of the best investment (the other would be Wacom Cintiq 21ux) to date in terms of speeding up post production workflow in Photoshop CS3 and Adobe Lightroom.

It's probably due to the fact that Photoshop CS3 now runs natively in Intel Mac processors and partly because the Mac Pro just kick-butt in terms of speed. The Quad-Core Xeon processor just churns out processes effortlessly. I have 5GB of RAM (read my previous blog on how easy it is to install memory) and that just made life so fast and easy. Someday, I'll max it out to 16GB, (yes 16GB!!) but for now since I'm not doing intensive video editing, 5 GB is more than enough.The Mac Pro came with a 250GB hard drive but it has 3 more hard drive cage. So I added 3 more 500GB SATA hard drives. I "raided" 2 of the 3 hard drives to mirror each other. (Please view my previous posts on how to install hard drives and Raid it 1 for mirroring.) This way if one of the drives fail, I have a back up drive of my most important files such as digital images and videos. The other 500 GB hard drive I store my personal files and personal digital images. With Leopard's Time Machine, I have an external hard drive backing up those files. What's the difference you ask? RAID 1 drives are quicker to reconstruct and restore files than Time Machine.
Finally, Leopard is an awesome OS. It makes Windows Vista looks like DOS. Vista is just too sluggish and a memory hog. Leopard just files through everything I do with my computer. I particularly like Spaces. Spaces is a new feature in Leopard where you can separate your desktop into 4, 8, 12 sections. I usually group one space for surfing the web and emails, another for Lightroom and Photoshop CS3, and third to copy files, install applications, and a 4th for whatever else that I don't want to clutter up my workspace. I don't even need to use Expose anymore.The only drawback is that Leopard is not compatible with some of my software such as Parallels, CS3 premium to name a few. I heard a new update is on the way by the middle of December.

All in all, I'm just tinkle pink with my new Mac Pro. I'm now working 3x the speed of my Macbook Pro which means I have now more time to do other things such as blogging. :-)

Monster Cable Home Theater PowerCenter Surge Protector with Clean Power Stage 2 v.2.1 Circuitry

2007-11-27T23:48:00.000-08:00

Well, you probably heard people say once you upgrade in one area, you'll end up upgrading exponentially to other things as well. From my previous posts, I purchased a Blu-Ray player and a new receiver last week. Only to realize that I'm not maximizing the potential of my AV Theater system because I don't have a electrical power conditioner to filter noise and produce clean powe to my Blu-Ray player and receiver.

I was little skeptical for the longest time. I thought it was just a ploy for sales people to get me to spend more of my hard earn money. They kept saying that I made a large purchase of a Hi-Def TV last year, and I need to protect it and give it the cleanest power so that I can get the best picture. "You bought the chicken, you might as well pay for the teriyaki source as well." I thought how can that be? But sure enough, I succumbed to the notion and got a Monster MT 1600 because I got a 10% discount coupon from Circuit City in my email inbox. I just love their instore pickup when I complete my shopping and transaction online. It speed up my shopping and research and I also make sure they have it in stock. And if not, I can go to another store that has it in stock. Any way, I did notice better picture quality because I notice there are less grain and clearer and crisper image with less "ghosting" effect especially 1080i sports broadcast (NBA Laker games). Circuit City $299.95 - 10% ($30) = $269.95

Sony STR-DG510 HDMI Receiver

2007-11-23T23:58:00.000-08:00

Well, I woke up early this morning to participate in the Black Friday Holiday Shopping Frenzy. I came up empty handed at Fry's and Circuit City because by 6AM, there were over 500 people ahead of me waiting in line to go into the store. So, I decided to make a quick run to Best Buy and sure enough they had a line earlier but not it had discipated and I was able to walk right in. Many of the items I was hoping to get was no longer available. But, I came across a Sony Receiver which I was looking to upgrade from my 5+years old Sony Receiver with no HDMI connection. Black Friday price $100!!! Wow, it can be! But there were more than a dozen available right on the show floor without having to wait in line to get a sales associate to get it for me. I quickly grabbed one under my arm and proceeded to the cashier line. I will post a review in a couple of months after I tested the receiver thoroughly.

Sony Blu-Ray Player

2007-11-21T23:46:00.000-08:00

I purchased a Sony Blu-Ray Player (BDP-S300) today. I waited a whole year for this because when I purchased my Sony Hi-Def TV last year, I couldn't afford the Blu-Ray player because it cost $1000! After a year, the player dropped over $600 and Blu-Ray movie discs are more abundant and affordable as well.

What an awesome upgrade from my Sony upconversion DVD player. The audio is just monstrous because Blu-Ray discs can hold 5 x as much data as a DVD. So, the manufacturer packed all kinds of audio and video codec files to provide maximum 1080p video format, and 5.1 audio.

I highly recommend for anyone who's looking for a great Christmas Gift for that special someone. It's gonna rock his/her world. I got mine at Costco for $379 plus a free Spiderman 3 Blu-Ray disc. It's the best deal in town because you save $20 for the player and another $30 for the movie disc.

Theresa & Dean Elliott Wedding

2007-11-17T20:07:00.000-08:00

Congratulations Theresa and Dean! Thank you for choosing us to be a part of your special day. Here is a teaser of today's wedding images. More to come when you're back from your honeymoon. God bless to you guys.

Think Tank Photo Modulus Belt System - The Verdict

2007-11-17T20:02:00.000-08:00

Well, I spent a whole day photographing a wedding wearing my new Think Tank Belt System and I love it! I had a couple of belt system in the past... Tamrac and Lowe Pro. Neither served me well and I couldn't understand it since they are bother reputable companies. The only thing I can think of is my gut is too big which pushes the whole belt down and my butt is too small and it keep on slipping off. I usually spent a whole day lifting my belt back to my waist all the time. It gets tiring when I had to do that all the time.

The Think Tank was different. I believe the solution lies not with the accessory bags but with the belt. The Think Tank belt is more sturdy and rigid than the Tamrac belt and Lowe Pro belt. That's the reason why it was able to stay on my waist the whole day without having my lifting it back up to my waist.

I was a little skeptical at first because of my bad past experience with waist belt systems. Even when Ben Willmore demonstrated in his video blog (click here to view Ben's blog) testifying what a great system it is, I was still reluctant to try. It was until last weekend when I was in Photo Expo West where I finally succumb to the temptation to try yet another belt system (10% discount had something to do with it). I thought it looks too similar to Lowe Pro to really make a difference. It even has a builtin rain cover for the lens cases in case you're caught in the rain with your expensive equipment. And the reason why it looks like Lowe Pro??? The Co-Founder or Think Tank was the chief designer for Lowe Pro.

Unlike Lowe Pro, Think Tank belts is compatible with other brand accessories. I was going to purchase Think Tank Trim Changer as well for $40, but I had a similar accessory when I purchased my Lowe Pro system and it actually fits perfectly. So, I cheated and mixed accessory. Again, the Lowe Pro bag is not as rigid as the Think Tank, but I actually prefer it as it is worn on the side of my hip which is not has wide. The "Whip It Out" lens bag which carries my Canon 70-200mm f2.8 IS lens without the tripod collar is an awesome and unique design. It employs a zipper to add/relieve pressure on the lens without the fear of dropping the lens out even with the lens hood sticking out. My other favorite item is the media wallet which has a builtin tether to attach to the accessory bag without the fear of losing my irreplaceable CF/SD cards fill with wedding images of the day.

Anyhoo, I really love it because I have all my lenses ready and available throughout the day. It's much better than carrying my camera, flash battery pak on my back pocket, and a shoulder bag. Usually, at the end of the wedding, my back is all messed up because I couldn't stand straight because I had to balance everything. My back was not hurting as much and I didn't feel as tired as usual. My total investment is only $100 not including the $25 purchase for my Lowe Pro accessory I purchased 8 years ago. It's a reasonable investment to save my poor back. :-)

Photoshop World 08 in Orlando FL

2007-11-16T23:12:00.000-08:00

Photoshop World 08 was announced today and registration is now opened. This time it's going to be in Orlando FL rather than Boston MA. I can't wait as I have not been to Orlando since May 1996. From the look of the banner above, I think Scott Kelby and his crew is going with the Star Trek theme and spoof them. This ought to be fun because there are probably many Trekkers (Trekkies) among the NAPP community. :-)

Top Gun Tennis Tournament

2007-11-11T22:26:00.000-08:00

Lan and Judy won their Final match at the Top Gun Tournament handily in straight sets. They had a much tougher bottom draw even though they had a first round bye. Their 2nd round match last week, and their semi-finals match was much tougher in competition. They almost lost in the semis against too very experienced and crafty tennis players. In fact, upon researching their records, they have not lost this year until yesterday against Lan and Judy. I’m so proud of the girls because they played magnificently throughout the tournament.

David and Jimmy also won their men's 4.5 doubles finals as well. However, they had to go to a 3rd set. It was tougher than they had expected. Nonetheless, it was a good win for them and here are some action shots of their match.

Think Tank Photo Modulus Belt System

2007-11-10T22:21:00.000-08:00

Well, here's what I purchased at the Photo Expo West, a Think Tank Photo Modulus belt system. I got the "Whip It Out" for my long telephoto lens, "Lens Changer 50" for my 24-70mm and 16-35mm f2.8 lens, and finally Think Tank belt. It's just under $110 with 10% discount at the Expo. This Saturday, I will put this belt system to the test. Stay tune for the verdict. ;-) By the way, the accessory pack in the above photo is not a Think Tank accessory bag. It's a Lowe Pro bag which I purchased 8 years ago. It fits perfectly, and it's much cheaper in price than the "Trim Changer" @ $40.

Photo Expo West

2007-11-10T22:10:00.000-08:00

I got early and drove down to Photo Expo West which located in the Del Mar Fairground in San Diego. A good friend of mine and not so shabby photographer too, Don Gale, sent me an email informing me that he will be speaking several seminars there.

When I arrived, after a 2 hour arduos drive from San Gabriel Valley (actually, it would've been like 1.5 hours but the last 4 miles took 30 minutes!) I was disappointed that it's nothing like Photo Expo East in NYC's Jacob Javits Center. The exhibit hall is much smaller even though the big names were there such as Canon, Nikon, and a couple of local Camera Store. I guess, I can't complain since the entry to the Expo is free. I just had to pay an exhorbitant $9 for parking fee.

I was surprised to see that Hanson Fong was speaking in the Canon booth with a WiFi adapter to the projector... which kinda not work at first. But, my friend Michael Nadler, a Canon rep rapidly worked to get it up and running for him. Hanson is a great portrait, wedding photographer, but I can't say the same regarding his presentation skills. I'm not sure most people can understand him with his hard to hear voice and heavy Chinese accent. Even though when I asked him which dialect of Chinese he speaks, he denied he knew how. I went to his studio in San Francisco once. It's right in the heart of SF Chinatown on a hill. He has many beautiful portraits of family and wedding images. Several years back at WPPI, I actually bought one of his posing VHS video. What a rip-off... $50 for a 8 minute video instruction. He was one of my good friend's, Barbara and Robert Pon, wedding photographer back in 1993. At the end of his presentation, I have to admit that his images are beautiful and I did learn a thing or two regarding portrait lighting.

Now for the best portrait lighting instruction, I would still say it's Don Gale. He has a pleasant voice and he enunciates his syllables, and spoke in clear and concise diction and tone. Not to mention, he has a wealth of knowledge of portrait lighting. I was blown away by his instructions year ago when I first met him as a student, and later on became good friends. He teaches photography workshops throughout the year. Check out his workshop schedule here.

I was going to walk away from the expo without purchasing anything as I couldn't find any good deals for memory cards and such. B&H Photo was not there. :-( But as I was leaving, I stopped by the Delkin booth. What caught my eyes were their Pop-Up Shades which is very similar to the Hoodman shades, except Hoodman doesn't make one for the Canon Pro cameras such as the 1D family of cameras. They actually make one for my Canon 1D MarkIIn but they didn't have it in stock with them. I'm gonna to order one online next week for $40. I often like to show the bride and groom of a great photo I just took to reassure them that their day is going well and their wedding images is fabulous. However, most of the time, we're outside and the sunlight washes out the display. They can't really see it sometimes, but I always get a polie nod with an agreement that these are great images. :-) This shade should eliminate that problem.

Then as I was leaving, I saw a rep from Think Tank Photo on the Expo floor promoting their products. They were selling their products 10% off but sales tax must be added. So, essentially, it's getting Think Tank products without paying for sales tax and then some. :-) I recall Ben Willmore showcase a video on his blog regarding his love for his Think Tank belt pak.

RAID 1 of My New Hard Drives

2007-11-08T23:27:00.000-08:00

After installing my 3 new 500GB hard drives, I decided to RAID two of those drives to RAID 1 which is mirroring. Should one of these 2 hard drives fail, the hard drive will act as a backup and rebuild the replacement hard drive. I use OSX's disk utility to create the RAID set.

RAID 1 basically makes 2 hard drives as if it is one drive. When you save or write to one drive, it will automatically save or write an identical file to the other drive hence the concept of mirroring your drives. The only drawback is that you lose half of your storage space. In my case, I have 2 500GB drives which would make it 1 Terabyte of disk space. By mirroring, I reduced it by half and only have 500GB of storage. It's a drawback but I'm willing to live with it because I would much rather have data redundancy and not have to risk any of my data. I can't afford to lose my clients' wedding images because they are priceless. I can't ask them to reinvite all their friends and families, and dress up in a tux and gown again.

So now-a-days, I sleep much better knowing my data is secure. Next week, I will take one step further and employ Leopard OS's Time Machine. Stay tune... more to come next week...

Installing Hard Drives to My New Mac Pro

2007-11-08T22:22:00.000-08:00

The new Mac Pro internal configuration is magnificent. Simply genius as it's so clean and tidy, totally cable free. The memory, optical drives, and hard drives are all snapped in with it's own installation cage.

The 4 hard drives bay slide out easily and cleanly for quick hard drive installation. You'll notice in the video below, it's relatively simple without changing jumpers, nor have to indicate master vs. slave drives. All I needed was one small screw drivers. In fact, the screws were pre-fabricated with the hard drive cage. All I need to do is screw on the hard drive to have secure mounting of the hard drive. I now have 1.75 Terabytes worth of disk space.

Tune in next week as I'm going to attempt to install an external hard drive and test out Leopard's Time Machine. The external drive must be at lease the same size or larger in order for Time Machine to work. I'm also going to try to replace the original 250GB hard drive in the Mac Pro. I purchased a SATA hard drive enclosure at the LA Computer Show today. My plan is to remove the 250GB hard drive which contains MAC OS Leopard which I will copy to another 500 GB SATA hard drive. Come back next week and read more.

Finally, a headphone jack adapter for the iPhone

2007-11-08T16:13:00.001-08:00

Ever since I got my iPhone, I've been looking for an adapter to the headphone jack so that I can use my Bose in ear headphone rather than the headphone that came with the iPhone. Frankly, that headphone really sucks and not very good high fidelity. Also, I've misplaced those headphones for the n!th time.

Initially, Belkin came out with an adapter for the price of $10, but it's so big, long, and rigid that it looks horrible with the iPhone. Not to mention, it doesn't have a mic, or on/off switch to use with the iPhone to make and receive calls.

Vodaphone also had a headphone which significantly better than the Apple headphones but it cost $100.

Finally, today while I was waiting patiently for a Mac Genius to fix my iPhone, I discovered on the shelf Monster had developed a iSoniTalk for the iPhone which cost $20. You can use your favorite headphones to listen to music and take calls on your iPhone. It has an easy one button operation to play/pause music, or asnwer/end a call. The intriguing design of this product is that the cable is equiped with clips to attach to the headphone wire so that it can act as a single unit. I really like this product and I found it to be a great substitution to the Apple headphones.

Replacing the iPhone

2007-11-08T16:11:00.000-08:00

I dropped my iPhone for the n!th factorial time last week, and now the on/off switch is jammed into the phone. My iPhone was enclosed in a InCase leather case and only 10% exposed and for some reason, invariably, that's the part the phone is dropped! It's now affecting the battery. It's going dead really fast. Once it's gone past half way point, I have perhaps, another 5-10 minutes of usage time before it's completely dead. BUMMER!

So, I scheduled a Mac Genius reservation at the Genius Bar at the Apple Store at the Grove. I waited patiently as my reservation had came and went, and now it's way pass my scheduled time. I'm beginning to be very annoyed, but I tried to stay calm as I need one of these Geniuses to assist me with the repair of my beloved iPhone.

When they finally called my name, which seems to be eternity, I popped onto one of the highchairs (barstool) and begin to tell my sob story to one of the Geniuses. He listened intently and feign a occasional concern to what I have to say... with "I understand", and "I see". So, I thought I can have it repair and perhaps have a functional iPhone once again. To my dismay, all he said was because it was dropped for the n! factorial time, and beyond the 30 days warranty, my only option is to purchase a new iPhone in exchange of my damage phone... for a nominal fee of $249 plus tax! Aargh! I don't want to drop another $250+ for a new iPhone when I already purchased it at $600+ and then within 2 months, the price dropped $200.

So, I went back to my office, and I used a very very tiny screwdriver and pry loosed the on/off switch. It's a little marred-up, but at least it's now functioning. Let's hope I don't drop it again. :-(

Photoshop CS3 Design Premium doesn't work with Leopard! Bummer!

2007-11-05T23:13:00.000-08:00

I just tried installing CS3 Design Premium on my brand new Leopard driven Apple Computer. And I sadly discovered that it's not WORKING! Here is the link to Adobe with the Leopard FAQ and the timeline of the updates.

I just added 4 more GB of memory to my new Mac Pro

2007-11-04T23:00:00.000-08:00

Wow, it was so easy to install memory into my new Mac Pro. I came from the PC side of the computing world and I used to build computer "hot rods" as a hobby. I have never seen a computer with a tighter inside configuration than the Mac Pro. It has no cables, everything just snaps in directly to the motherboard and daughterboards. The most common upgrades are easily accessible.

The computer compartment door has one latch which requires no tools to open. The internal memory are separated into 2 daughterboards. Since I already have a pair of 512MB on the first daughterboard, I have to install the first pair of memory on the second daughterboard first. The heatsinks are "ginormous" on these memory module. I guess it gets really hot and it dicipates heat. All I needed to do is align the notch on the memory to match the socket on the daughterboard and snap in the 2 ends until it locks the memory in place. I repeated the second set on the first daughterboard. I was up and running within 2-3 minutes.

It now has a total of 5GB of memory.

Picked up my brand new Apple Mac Pro

2007-10-28T19:18:00.000-07:00

Well, my new "baby" arrived home. We picked it up at the Apple Pasadena Store tonight right before they closed. Boy this computer is very heavy considering it's all aluminum.

SAG 75th Anniversary, Hollywood Star Walk of Fame

2007-10-25T14:27:00.000-07:00

I just got back from photographing Screen Actors Guild receiving their Hollywood Star. All the past SAG presidents were there including current President Alan Rosenberg.

Jennifer & Michael Macaranas E-Session

2007-10-20T23:27:00.000-07:00

We spent the afternoon photographing Jennifer and Michael at the beach. We had so much fun getting wet and getting sand wedge onto our feet and leg, and most of all we captured the couple as they are... so very much in love with each other.

Jennifer and Michael were actually childhood friends back in Southeast Asia. They were next door neighbors. They separated when they immigrated to different cities in the US. Who would've thought that after years of separated as adults that they found each other 5 years ago. I guess it must be fate that they belong together. When love is "right" there's no fighting it. God bless to the both of you and we look forward to photographing your wedding day.

Nathalie and Ronald Zuletta Wedding Album

2007-10-18T11:20:00.000-07:00

Teresa and Dean Engagement Session

2007-10-14T22:00:00.000-07:00

Teresa and Dean have known each other for over 20 years. They were high school classmates. Love comes in full circle when they finally got together five years ago and found each other. Here are a few engagement photos (teasers, more to come) of the couple at the beach.

Al Gore is now a Nobel Peace Prize Recipient!

2007-10-13T00:38:00.000-07:00

Wow, all I can say is wow! Even though I didn't share the same views as Al Gore, especially when he claimed that he invented the Internet. I'm truly a fan of his and he's definitely an inspiration to me regarding being persistent and having a true vision of what you want to achieve.

After he lost a very close presidential election to George Bush in 2000. Former Vice President Al Gore had won a Academy (Oscar) Award, an Emmy Award, and now a Nobel Peace Prize Award. He's the only person in history to do it all within the same year. Read the complete article in the NY Times website.

Sherie's Farewell Party

2007-10-12T14:55:00.000-07:00

Sherie Harding is one of my favorite people at SAG. She's funny, knowledgeable, loved by everyone, and not to mention quite a fast typist. Her typing speed rivals court reporters because she can type every word in verbatim of multiple people speaking in a meeting.

Here's a video of her and her friends in Residuals giving her a fond farewell. Gonna miss you much. Good luck at the "Dark Side"! :-)

Al Gore nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize

2007-10-12T09:28:00.001-07:00

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16920923/

Epson Fiber Base Photo Paper

2007-10-08T09:21:00.000-07:00

I’m often asked by many of my clients and friends… whether digital images photographed with a digital SLR is as good as to an equivalent film camera. Should we switch? Should we hire film photographers only? I usually say…”In my humble opinion, I believe the images produced by the current digital SLRs and Digital backs for medium format cameras are as good it not better than film cameras; Perhaps, with the exception of Black & White Photography.”

Of course, I’m a traditionalist with a bias opinion toward the traditional black & white photography process… the zone system, mixing my own developer to control the output of my prints, and finally printing on fiber base photo papers to produce a fine art, archival, gallery prints. I'm a big fan of Ansel Adams.

With the recent emergent of Epson Photo printers such as Stylus 2400, 3800, 4800 (now 4880), 7600, employing UltraChrome K3 archival ink which includes three levels of black and sets a new standard in fine art photography and black and white prints. I thought it was a good effort on Epson’s part to move the digital image concept closer to the traditional photography concept. However, digital photo papers were still lacking in fine art gallery quality.

Well it is until today, Epson made a press release of their latest creation… fiber base digital photo papers. They call it “Signature Worthy” Exhibition Fiber Paper. These papers are phenomenal. Scott Kelby already talked about this on his blog. To read more, click here to access Epson’s press release.

So now, I can surely say that digital photography is every bit as good as film photography. I can't wait get my paws on these digital photo papers and tryout some of my own black & white images.

Truckin' For Kids

2007-10-07T17:04:00.000-07:00

Frank Pangburn is the mastermind behind Truckin' For Kids. It's a charity to raise funds for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. This is a picture of our booth. We are one of the many proud sponsors for this great cause and this great event.

Truckers from all over assembled at the Irwindale Raceway this weekend to show off their beautiful trucks. Every square inch of chrome was shined. Tires were buff to a beautiful sheen. And on Saturday night, every truck turned on their cool lights and we had a great time photographing the Light Show. On Sunday, the drag race was on. We provided still photography of the event and many came by our booth to purchase a photo or two to take home as a keepsake of their participation at this event. Many purchased our brand new product... a 20x30 image printed, stretched, and mounted on canvas. It has an archival life of over 100 years!

Come to this great event next year and view the spectacular and enormous trucks up close. It's for a great cause and you'll have fun with your whole family.

This is a photo of all the photos we took today in thumbnails posted on the side of our RV.

Jennifer & David E-Session

2007-09-30T23:07:00.000-07:00

Here's a teaser of Jennifer and David's eSession images. I'm so glad to be around these two "Lovebirds". :-) I can tell they are so in love with each other. Congratulations Jennifer and David!Jennifer and David met each other while working at the Screen Actors Guild. So I know the happy couple many years. Ever since they both left the Guild several years ago, I have not heard from them until recently. Jennifer heard through the grapevine that I have a wedding photography business and wanted to know if I can photograph their engagement session. It was my pleasure to photograph the Lovebirds today even though we all got a little wet.

If It Ain't Broken, Don't Fix It

2007-09-28T14:21:00.000-07:00

Well, I heard the news that the women's USA team lost in the semi-
finals of World Cup to Brazil 4-0 ending a 51 match record... Winning
2 consecutive World Cups, and a Olympic Gold Medal! Quite a run. What
bothered me and practically the entire US soccer fans is that the US
coach decided to swithc goal keeper right before a single elimination
semi-final round! Solo only gave up 2 goals in 4 games and a much
younger faster goal keeper than the 36 year old veteran Briana Scurry.
Yes, her resume is impressive, but what in the world would prompt the
US coach to switch goal keeper? Here's a classic case of "If it ain't
broken, don't fix it". It's a good lesson to learn.

Sent from my iPhone

SAG's Old Queen Music Video

2007-09-26T18:12:00.000-07:00

Here's Residuals and Friends' rendition of "SAG Old Queen". Enjoy! :-)

Top 10 Reasons Why Allen Macey is Leaving SAG for an Inn in Vermont

2007-09-26T18:03:00.000-07:00

This Dan Groya's Top 10 reasons why Allen is leaving the Guild for an B&B Inn in Vermont. Enjoy!