Nick's Photoshoot

Nick has been wanting a photoshoot since... forever, and we've set up this photoshoot last week. The scheduled time to shoot was 6:30am (effing early as heck I know) so we had to wake up at 6am and meet up. Today finally comes and we don't officially start shooting until 7am which is fine because there still wasn't anyone or any cars around. I wanted to do a static shot with the car in the middle of an empty street. Since we are in downtown Houston, there was no way that was going to happen. So we just decided to shoot in front of Minute Maid park, home of the Astros. No one really bothered us except for the security guard driving around in his security cart. Here was our conversation:

Security: Hey guys.
Nick: How're you doing

S: So what are you guys doing here?

N: We're just doing a photoshoot...

S: Oh, what kind of photoshoot is this for? Magazine, personal....?

N: Oh... um... this is for a magazine.

S: Really? Which magazine?

N: I don't know if you've ever heard of this... but it's called Import Tuner.

S: Ah, so you guys are just going to take pictures of the car, right?

N: Yes sir.

S: Okay.

Now, in my mind I was like "Wtf? Import Tuner?!" haha. That was pretty funny to me. Now onto the pics.

You can view more pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dphan/sets/72157605753413958/

Kaba Modern!

View more photos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dphan/sets/72157605715156905/

I heard KABA Modern (KM) was going to be in Houston a few days ago and debated on seeing them but little did I know they were going to be signing autographs on my side of town. So here was my chance to get pictures of a famous group of dancers from America's Best Dance Crew. The group consisted of Yuri Tag, Tony Tran, Mike Song, Lawrence Kao, Cindy Minowa, and Jia Huang. They're also known as KM MTV crew instead of current KM 2008 team.

I met up with Alex and his cousin before heading to the autograph session. We hit a couple of balls and left there by 5:30pm. We got there and there was a big crow of asian kids surrounding the autograph area. We got to see some familiar faces (Harrison, JohnL of http://www.planet-zero.com/, and Titooo). Since my friend and I had really expensive looking cameras, we got in as "Media". I got to meet another photographer whom only shoots famous myspace people as a hobby. I thought that was pretty cool.

I didn't really get a chance to meet KM, but I just stood on the side and took pictures. It's just awesome watching these guys get a small community so hyped up. I would have to say there were more than 300 people at The Yogurt Spot (www.theyogurnspotusa.com). I was wondering what would happen if Hannah Montana did something like this... $$$ right?

Camera/Lens Testing

A friend asked me about this nice Hindu temple a while back and if I've been there. I said no and she said we should go there to take pictures one day. Well, today was that day. I got to test my newly acquired Canon EOS 10D. I've owned this camera body about 1 year ago and I must've gotten too used to my 20D because the speed on the 10D is just horrible. Shutter speed sounds so quiet and weak, startup time is ridiculously slow, but the focus points are alright. We had to sort of rush our visit to the Hindu temple because I didn't want my friend to be late for work. It was my fault for not going earlier.

Well here are pictures of the temple and some from George Bush Park.

Wedding Photographer?

I shot Terry and Nary's Wedding last Saturday as the main shooter with some help from Hai (http://www.jhphotographyonline.com/) as a second shooter/backup. It was my second time shooting with Hai and he didn't try to take over the wedding or anything, but offered advice on what to do here and there. I have to thank him with the lighting set up and for keeping me company until the reception started. I have to thank Terry and Nary for inviting me as a guest and photographer to their wedding. It was the shortest wedding ceremony I've ever been to so far, haha. I also got to see my ex-girlfriend, whom I haven't seen in a couple of years. I also got to see her bf and I have to say they look great. Sucks that I didn't get to talk her but it's okay. I got to see a lot of old faces (Chris K., Dan N., Kenny L., Wu Parents, etc.).

I've never really imagined myself as a wedding photographer, but it's pretty damn fun. As the wedding photographer, you have all the pictures witnessing the couple become man and wife. The only thing I really should've cleared up with my friend was that if I were to be the photographer, I should've been the first to get all the shots. I don't need someone else to take the shots for him since I was hired to do that. I will need to include that in my contract the next time I shoot a wedding.

My schedule has somewhat finally cleared up. I get to be a 2nd wedding shooter for Joe Heileiger (http://www.jheiliger.com/) this Saturday and after that, I'll have my pre-clinical exams again on Wednesday. Hopefully I'll pass this time around. I'll then decide to see if I want to work more or go on vacation somewhere in July/August.