Thanks Shantel and Rob!

We got a nice surprise in the mail... a "congrats on your baby" card from one of our wedding couples, Shantel and Rob! We definitely weren't expecting anything from clients so this was a really cool surprise. So thanks guys!

Here he is with the card:



And a goofy grin...

Cars on Ice!

One of my hobbies is driving fast... and the more slippery it is, the better!

Which is exactly what a couple friends and I went out to do today. We went to the Alberta Solo Association's winter autocross at the airstrip at the Canadian Forces Base. It's a great opportunity to drive like mad in a legal, safe environment.

The vast majority of cars were Subarus, unsurprisingly...



Here are my friends' cars. Steve drives the Impreza, Aref drives the Legacy SpecB.



Waiting in the staging area for my run on the course.



A typical "looking kinda stupid" shot of Steve and I...



How can you tell we are hardcore Canadians? Take a look... hahahah



All in all a great day! It's a great feeling to toast a bunch of 4WD cars in your pathetic 2WD car on ice. Anyone looking to get in on the fun should check out http://www.albertasolo.com/

Hope to see you at the next event!!

I'm gonna love him, I'm gonna hug him, and I'm gonna name him... Simon!

Haha, for those of you who watched Looney Toons growing up, you know who I'm quoting.

So yeah, we've chosen the name Simon Sungwan for our little guy. He's doing awesome, thanks to EVERYONE for the well wishes!

He seems to change a little every day. Here's a few extra pics:

Here is Merry and Simon recovering the next morning... hahaha


Day 2, he fell asleep while I was burping him


Day 3: his hands compared to harabugee's (grandpa in Korean) finger


Day 4: here he is practicing his Taekwondo stances


Day 6: He's happy with grandma


He spends a lot of time just looking around and observing the world


Again, thanks to all for the well wishes!

Wow I'm a dad?

At 16:42 on wednesday January 13, 2010, we welcome our little guy to the world. No name yet, though we hope to have that settled by the time we check out of the hospital. Merry did an absolutely amazing job. I'm so proud of her!!!!

Thanks for all the support and well wishes!

What's your play 78

Every tuesday my photographer cousin Laura Hana runs a "what's your play?" fun game. A basic photo is posted up and everyone throws their processing interpretation on it. Check out her blog to participate yourself: http://www.dolcepics.com/

The original photo is:


Here's my take on it:


-Various curve masks to reduce contrast between highlights and shadows
-Changed toning by dumping colours into a layers on top and selecting various blending modes (screen, Hue, multiply) and masking them to my liking
-Moved leaves over to a composition I liked with clone tool
-Bent branches (via liquify) to extend and connect to new leaf position
-Blur tool to even out the softness around the bends and cloning
-Brush tool at 50% to paint in colours that got skewed in the edit
-overlay a wall texture
-selective dodge and burn
-curve mask to bring out leaves more
-saturation mask to adjust colour levels as needed

Newborn Baby Jake!

It is a pleasure to introduce baby Jake to our viewers! Jake was born Dec 21, 2009 weighing 7.5 lbs. Stefanie and Jim couldn't be happier! He was such a good baby and didn't cry once through the shoot! (Though Stefanie did get peed on... oops!)

So here's Jake at two weeks of age!





Yawn!!







Little feet!



Proud dad!



Little bum!



Jake's bodyguard, Maggie. Apparently she does an excellent job of guarding and alerting Stefanie and Jim when he needs attention.





Proud mom!









So congratulations to Stefanie and Jim! Jake is adorable!! Looking forward to seeing him as he grows!

A blizzard and a wedding with Elaine and Brian!

And a Happy New Year to everyone!

We're going to start off 2010's first blog post with Elaine and Brian's awesome winter wedding. And let me tell you, it was REALLY a winter wedding! The conditions were cold, windy, blizzard, and undrivable in some places. But that was hardly a deterrent to Elaine and Brian's crew from celebrating a fantastic wedding!

And I'm glad, as I ABSOLUTELY LOVE shooting winter weddings! And I mean I REALLY love it!

In usual Chinese tradition, we started off at the bride's parents' house.



Getting the dress on!





Happiness abound!



Brian and the guys arrived, and had to pay, drink a nasty concoction, and sing a song to earn the right to get into the house.



Then they had to play the "pass the card with your lips" game, much to the laughter of everyone there!



Before the ceremony, we managed to get out for a few pics!



It was snowing and the wind was really strong!



Most people would shy away and stay indoors, but situations like this is when you can get something truly different than the usual wedding photos!



The ceremony was at Highlands United church.





Congratulations!



Then came the indoor shoot, which was booked at the Citadel.



Elaine looked fabulous!



The guys were goofy, as usual!



The girls were beautiful, as usual!



It was so dark in the atrium so it provided a different light to what is typical for the Citadel.



This cake had a water fountain in it! crazy!!



Wardrobe change!



And the Filipino money dance!



Followed by the first dance.





Elaine and Brian, your wedding was a fantastic way to cap off our 2009 wedding year! We were privileged to be a part of it, and SO lucky that you were willing to go outside despite the absolutely nasty weather!
Congratulations again, and have an awesome 2010!

Click HERE to view more PHOTOS!!