Picked up my brand new Apple Mac Pro

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

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

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

Teresa and Dean Engagement Session

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!

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

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

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

Epson Fiber Base Photo Paper

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy 100th Episode to Photoshop User TV

Scott Kelby, Dave Cross, and Matt Kloskowski, aka "The Photoshop Guys", celebrated their 100th episode of Photoshop User TV (formerly known as Photoshop TV) today.

I look forward to Tuesday of every week to download the latest episode of Photoshop User TV via my iTune (Gosh, I'm such a geek!). I have all 100 episodes.(OK, I'm really a big geek!) They have gone a long way since the first episode. They started taping in Scott's office and now they have their own recording studio with studio lighting and quality sound.

The show is filled with Photoshop Tips and Tutorials. I've learned so much from these guys for the past 2 years. Besdies they are hilarious together, especially the memorable "Steam" episode. For those of you who are avid viewers of this show, you'd know what I'm referring to.

Anyhoo... Happy 100th Photoshop User TV!

Dennis Kucinich appeared as guest on the Tonight Show

Dennis Kucinich, presidential candidate, appeared on the the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. I actually had the pleasure of meeting him in person at the Screen Actors Guild on August 22, 2007. Please refer to my blog post for that day to view images.

Bridal Show at the Pasadena Hilton

We were at the Pasadena Hilton doing a bridal show. Here's a picture of our booth. We met many beautiful brides to be today. It's alway such a joy to hear their stories about how they met, where they're going to get married, and most of all introduce our services to them on their special day. To those of you who scheduled to have a consultation with use next week, we look forward to discuss with you further regarding our services. Thank you to each and everyone who stopped by our booth to take a look at our beautiful albums. God Bless.

P.S. Congratulations to the lucky bride to be who won our drawing of a beautiful canvas portrait. We're waiting for you to call us. :-)

New Apple Touch iPod

Apple just announced the new Touch iPod. Its has a similar revolutionary multi-touch interface just like the iPhone. It also sport a sleek 3.5-inch widescreen color display. It doens't have a mobile phone so no AT&T Edge service, but it has built-in Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) which you can use Safari, YouTube, iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store, and only 8mm thin. Starting at just $299 for 8GB, and $399 for 16GB. It's like having all the cool features of the iPhone without the annoying features of the phone and PDA features of the iPhone. It's interesting that Apple already debut a iPhone want-a-be which will be her by September 28th of this month. I guess they are targeting all those users who wants all the cool features of an iPhone without the commitment to AT&T. Steve Jobs thought of everything and letting go of no demographics. I guess that's why Apple is now over $140 per share.

Al Gore won another Entertainment Award

Isn't this amazing. Al Gore lost he presidential election with the narrowest margin 7 years ago, and since then he won an Oscar for best documentary for "Inconvenient Truth", and now an Emmy for Outstanding Creative Achievment in Interactive Television: Current.

"Accepting the award for Current, which makes significant use of user-generated content, were partners Joel Hyatt and former Vice President of the United States Al Gore. On a night in which the Television Academy and Fox were touting their efforts to produce the first-ever carbon-neutral Emmys, Gore, who has led a passionate campaign to raise awareness about global climate change, was a crowd favorite, and received a standing ovation as he took the stage.
“We are trying to open up the television medium so that viewers can help to make television and join the conversation of democracy and reclaim American democracy by talking about the choices we have to make,” said Gore. " Excerpt from Emmy's Website.

Apple New Nano

Apple just released the new Nano iPod thsi week which you can view videos as well at $149 for 4GB and $199 for 8GB. Now who on earth would want to watch video on such a small screen?

It's very small and sleek when I went to the Apple store yesterday. It comes in a number of colors. Picture here Red is their special "RED" project.