What had happen was....

Update!

2011-12-03T23:28:00.000-08:00

This is my update.

Bobby Ho's IS300

2011-07-05T08:01:00.001-07:00

Bobby Ho's IS300, a photo by Danh Phan on Flickr.

Lexus IS300, Houston, TX, 2011

I haven't done a photo shoot in awhile so I was really anxious to do one. Of course, it had to be a black car -__-

Bobby's IS300 has a 2JZ-GTE with a single 67mm turbo, aero kit, and sitting on some HRE wheels. Shooting his black car was a challenge since sundown didn't wasn't until 9pm. It was fun though. Bobby got to meet some of the Mayday Garage guys and my neighbor Khoa, whom helped assist.

Modified Cover!

2011-05-12T22:33:00.000-07:00

So one of my goals finally came true... to get one feature in a big name magazine. Not only did my photos get featured, they made the cover of Modified Magazine! So now that I've achieved one goal, it's time to aim higher.... but what is bigger/higher than a front cover?

New goal: Advertisements

Here's the photo of the cover shot and the magazine and another from the feature:

Alana V.!

2011-05-04T07:31:00.000-07:00

I took this photo at the grand opening event for EVS Motors and Studio last Sunday. Alana (pronounced like Uh-lena) was 1 of the 3 models I got to work with that were hired to promote the event. Even though she's new to the modeling industry, her looks should get her pretty far.

Model: Alana Vorda
Camera: Canon 5Dmk2
Lens: 50mm f1.2 @ f1.2
Lighting: N/A

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T15:34:00.000-07:00

I don't have any egg photos or children in pink/purple clothes but I do have a cool shot from yesterday's Great Vigil Mass at one of our local vietnamese churches. It was a 3 hour mass from 9pm to a little past midnite. I really do not missing going to church... sighs.

Megan and Omar Married!

2011-04-21T06:55:00.000-07:00

I apologize for not blogging in awhile, but I really really want to get back into it. So my transition will be a bit slow.

This is probably my only booked wedding for this year and it was awesome. The venue was great, coordinator was nice, and everything went smoothly. It felt like my 2nd shooter (Khiem Pham) and I had all the time in the world to capture everything. I guess after going to more than 20 weddings now, I can now say I'm pretty experienced so I know what shots to look for or try to get. I'm all about trying to capture the moments with the help of my 5Dmk1 and 5Dmk2 paired up with my favorite prime lenses.

Megan and Omar were awesome. If I wanted to do something they were down for it and their trust in my skills made it easy for me to shoot. Thanks for being so relaxed and happy, Megan and Omar!

Wedding Venue: Hotel Derek
Slide show music: Marie Digby - Say It Again; Keith Urban - You're My Better Half

Haven't updated in awhile!

2010-11-18T08:10:00.000-08:00

So I leave you with a couple of pictures...

I'll be back to update on what I've been doing through the year... later!

Planet Zero: Access Zero 50!

2010-06-21T05:38:00.000-07:00

I took a break from editing pictures and went out to the Planet Zero meet last Saturday to test out my new 7D. I still have a long ways to go learning how to visualize with videos...

Camera: Canon 7D with 50mm f1.4 lens

Planet Zero Anime Center: Access Zero 50 from Danh Phan on Vimeo.

John Lei's Starion!

2010-05-20T21:20:00.000-07:00

Once in awhile when I'm not shooting for MaydayGarage I like to take some time to shoot things for myself such as my friends' Mitsubishi Starion. If you've come across a starion before, you'd probably think it was an 80s Toyota Supra but once you get closer, you'd find that it looks wider due to its fender flares. Only a few people know about Starions because they're pretty rare... to me at least. Well enough talk and on to moar photos...

Audrey + Nym!

2010-04-30T23:22:00.000-07:00

Hey it's been a long time since I've posted here. I just wanted to let you guys know, for whomever reads this crappy blog, that I've been working non stop and have neglected flickr and my blog. Here's a small update on Audrey and Nym's wedding day. I was more of the behind the scenes guy since I was doing mainly videography so these pictures were just something I snapped for fun. Well here's the slideshow... I just really liked the music.

Ty Nguyen's Audi A4 Mayday Garage feature!

2010-03-12T05:53:00.001-08:00

One of the quickest photoshoots I've done in awhile. It was literally on the run since the Mayday team and I were covering the ESX Motorsports event at Gillman Subaru. We basically saw the car, ran around looking for the guy, asked for his permission, drove around, found a decent spot, and shot the car in about 1 hour. You can read more about about the car and the shoot at Mayday Garage.

RAYS catalog!

2010-02-21T06:55:00.000-08:00

My friend, Junior Arriola, sent some photos of his RAYS sponsored 350Z car to Eddie at Mackin and they put one of my photos in their official catalog. Even though its a small picture it's still pretty awesome that I have a photo printed somewhere in Japan. Thanks Junior!

Ada's Baptism!

2010-01-30T14:27:00.000-08:00

Most of my family came back to Houston for awhile to attend the old man's memorial/prayer party we have every year so it was a good idea to have Ada's baptism as well. The church was at St. Justin Martyr. The lighting there is pretty weird because of a greenish tint. So please just ignore that...

Music is by David Tao - Angel (I don't even know if it makes sense with the pictures =X)

Kevin&Tracy's Teasers!

2009-12-26T12:49:00.000-08:00

I had the chance to help out Hai of www.JHphotographyonline.com again as a video guy. I took a few snaps at this nice wedding alongside them and Costas of www.digitalremix.net. Most of the photos are behind the scenes. You can view the slideshow below.

Venues:
Church // Holy Rosary Church // http://www.holyrosaryparish.org/
Reception // Paraiso Maravilla // http://pmhouston.com/

Cyndee + Kris!

2009-12-12T09:46:00.000-08:00

I shot this wedding alongside with Laura Sponaugle on Halloween. I haven't shot at a vietnamese wedding in awhile, but this kind of wedding seemed a bit more traditional with a hint of modern feel to it (to me at least). They were a great looking couple and the bride happened to be my moms' friends' daughter... so she was at the wedding as well. Small world indeed. Here's a short slide show of the wedding:

SoReal Cru's Dance Studio Opening!

2009-11-12T07:19:00.000-08:00

Raniel invited Harrison and I to cover the SoReal Dance Studio Grand Opening. The Dance studio is what you'd expect it to be, hot and energetic. Well it was mainly due to the 80+ dancers ranging from 8 yrs old to 30 yrs and the limited air conditioning in the dance studio. Unfortunately I was only there for the first workshop taught by Jun Quemada. The studio opening lasted from 4p to 9p. I would say it was a successful event for a small studio opening.

Here is a slideshow I made from the event.

Photos//Danh Phan
Music//George Nozuka

Dina + Khai!

2009-11-05T06:28:00.000-08:00

A second shooter for Michael Lyons Photography once again. Enjoy the images!

Venue//Chateau Polonez
Florists//Secret Floral Garden
Hair&Makeup//The Perfect Face
Caterer//Glorius Cuisine
Wedding Cake//Virginia's Cakes

Karla Michelle's Quince!

2009-10-29T12:42:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity to help out jhphotographyonline.com alongside with Costas of digitalremix.net at this Quinceneara. I was basically a photo/video guy for this event but I'm more of a photo guy than a videographer. It was my 2nd time playing around with the new Canon 7D provided for me by JHP. It's a great camera, but not worthy of an upgrade if you currently own a 30/40D. The only thing I like about it is the increased AF points and HD quality videos it captures.

We started off taking pictures at Karla's house in Pearland as she was getting ready and then headed to the venue up North Houston. Forgive me as I have forgot the venue's name. It was a nice warm catered venue enough for 50 tables, a dance floor, dj's, and a band.

Here are a few photos I took from the event... and don't mind the music. It's just something I like at this time... haha.

Alex's Alpine White E46!

2009-10-21T12:24:00.000-07:00

It's been about 2 years since I've done a real photoshoot for Alex. His car has gone through such an amazing transformation. His small exterior mods started building up and it is what you see here today. This wasn't a real, real photoshoot but more of a trial for my new and longer rig.
We had planned to shoot at 8a, but we didn't meet up til 8 and ended up scouting for about an hour. We rolled through Katy and then somehow ended up somewhere near 290. We took another 30 minutes to set up the rig and started shooting. It was about 10am and the sun was almost high up. Even with an ND filter stacked with a CPL, at ISO50, I couldn't keep my shutter speed slower than 1 second. Looks like I may have to invest in a 9 stop ND filter. Well here are the outcome of our shots.

Hoang & Mai's Engagement!

2009-10-14T14:43:00.000-07:00

I shot alongside JHPhotographyonline.com and Costas of www.digitalremix.net this past Sunday. Hai invited me to help him shoot his brother's engagement ceremony or, "Dam Hoi". It was a rainy day but it really wasn't too bad...

The hardest thing about making a slide show is picking the music. I hope they go well together.

My newlyborn niece!

2009-10-13T12:45:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the world Ada Nhi Pham! It's a cruel and cynical world we live in so hopefully you won't experience that until later on in life...

Yessica + Mike's Engagement Proposal!

2009-10-06T14:00:00.000-07:00

A friend's friend had planned out a surprise proposal at Lake Travis' The Oasis restaurant and had me document the surprise. I arrived at 5p to meet Mike's mom and the rest of the family upstairs. The couple did not get there til 6:30p. Both families were there as a surprise to Yessica.

Before they arrived, I had to find angles where I wouldn't be seen. I got high... I got low... and even hid behind what was supposed to be a tinted mirror. At one point during this paparazzi ordeal, his fiance had spotted me through the mirror but had thought nothing of it. I was noticeable because of my white Tshirt. I had to get way different angles from where I was shooting and even had to role play. I pretended to be from Southern Living, a magazine about life in the south.

The proposal did not happen until sunset or 7:30pm so by then she was starving and wondering why her food hasn't been served yet. I asked Mike if he was nervous and he told me after the proposal, "Not really man... I had about 4 drinks ." Even after the proposal she did not give him a clear answer to his question. She kept saying, "Omg... shut up... SHUT UP! OMG!"

Here's the slideshow I made for them

Dee-Tay the Rapper!

2009-09-15T07:25:00.000-07:00

So what have I been up to since my last post? I've had a couple of photoshoots and took some time to study for my upcoming board certification exam. Well, let's just say that I've done less of the latter than I should have. Is it a lack of motivation? I'd definitely say so. I'd rather spend hours researching on lighting techniques than re-learn about the different diseases that the human body goes through when RBCs, WBCs, Hgb, MCV, Hct, etc. are increased or decreased. My heart is just not into it anymore.

One of the photo shoots I had the opportunity of shooting was for Deonte Brantley. He was referred by another client of mine and had liked his photos. At 17 years of age, he has plans to be one of the rising rap stars in Houston. After weeks of scheduling, we finally shot at one of the popular graffiti locations on Crawford and Elgin. I met up with Deonte at the Kim Son restaurant in downtown Houston. You would think most kids would have their own cars to ride around but being 17, Dee-Tay brought his dad. Without his Dad, the shoot wouldn't have been that great. I guess having his dad there relaxed him a bit and encouraged him too.

Well here are three from the shoot that I really liked.

Labor Day Fun!

2009-09-09T11:30:00.001-07:00

Went out to Galveston, TX with a few friends for the day. Probably one of the best laid back trips evar! We were supposed to leave at 10AM but we didn't really leave Houston until 1p. Before we left, we ate at Les Givrales' behind Don's Cafe. Their banh mi was pretty good. Next time I'll try out the Banh Mi with pork and eggs. When we got to Galveston, we shopped around for drinks. That took us about an hour or two... haha. We didn't find any spots around the seawall so we went to East Beach instead. We took photos and played around in the sand for a couple of hours. Then we headed to The Spot for dinner. I fell into a food coma on the way back and doze on and off. We finally came back to town and called it a day. Good times...

Here's a timelapse by Ervin Llanera...

Labor Day @ The Beach from Venn L on Vimeo.

I'll post some pictures in a bit.

Cindy's Birthday @ Escalante's!

2009-08-30T13:16:00.000-07:00

I haven't been out of the house for awhile... approximately the time since I've been back from Vegas lol... and I was invited to CindyK's bday. It was a fun evening with old friends and new friends, even though I didn't really get their names lol. We ate at Escalante's, a mexican grill in the first colony town center. I had the salmon with grilled shrimp, rice, and the side salad. Everyone else had Fajitas.
Afterwards, we wanted to go to Loggia's, but there was a $5 cover so we went to a wine bar instead. We didn't drink wine. We drank beer instead haha. It was a good night to spend with old friends. Enough of my crappy story of the evening and more pictures.

Phi's BMW E60

2009-08-23T09:05:00.000-07:00

I had a planned photoshoot with Phi and his E60 yesterday morning at 7a. We were both running kinda late so instead of wasting more time by going to downtown to scout and shoot, I decided to use the parking garage at Town and Country Center. I haven't finished processing the pictures yet but here's a little behind the scenes of the rig shots.

Las Vegas!

2009-08-19T13:18:00.001-07:00

It was my first time in Vegas with my brother and a few friends. It was definitely an awesome experience and there will be many more times where I'll be back there.

Here's some pictures from the trip that I took... also I'm trying out a new slideshow flash program. It's pretty simple and easy to use.

Helen Rios!

2009-08-18T10:01:00.000-07:00

Harrison had another friend willing to try out some test shots with his studio background set up at my place. This was my first time shooting with a large background with lighting. A few days before the shoot, I had watched Zack Arias' OneLight DVD. Seeing what you can do with one light is definitely awesome and cheap. Now I've gotta learn how to use more than one light next time. Any volunteers?

Here are some of my favorites from the test shots...

2nd Import FaceOff 2009 Houston!

2009-08-07T07:16:00.000-07:00

Import Face Off came back to Houston again, actually Baytown, and it was hot as hell. Literally! I didn't really want to go because of the heat, but I didn't want to miss out on a local show. My last minute decision was at 10AM when Ervin texted me to see if I was still in. I didn't really have anything better to do so I headed over to Bernie's house to meet them up. Along the way, we ran into a few hurdles with law enforcement and part failures. Roll in should have been around noon or earlier but we arrived at 12:30p.
I was surprised because as we were rolling in, other people were also, and even later there were more people rolling in. Once I helped my friend cleaned his car up, I started taking a few snap shots of the cars and people around. To sum it all up, it was hot! In my opinion, the show did not have a lot of spectators. There were about 150 +/- 50 or so cars showing and about 50 being show worthy. Enough words from me, here are some pictures...

Cassandra and Carlos!

2009-08-05T08:14:00.000-07:00

I shot these as a 2nd photographer for Mike (www.michaellyonsphotography.com) on the weekend before I left for Florida. The venue was at The Greenspoint Club on top of a parking garage. They had top notch catering and the atmosphere was really nice and romantic due to the warm ambient lighting. The dance floor was not too big nor too small for 30 people. The caterer, planner, waiters/waitresses, and bartender were all very professional and courteous to the guests.

Even though Mike and I only shot the reception, it was fun overall. It's kinda weird only shooting a reception and not the ceremony. I barely got to know who I was shooting. Well here are my pictures from the reception of Cassandra and Carlos...

Paula and Ben!

2009-07-20T21:41:00.000-07:00

While I was still in Florida, a friend called me up to tell me that his friend was looking for a photographer for a wedding reception. Knowing I would be worn out from the trip, I still took the job. I was booked 6 hours for a wedding reception. I needed some type of income and even though I charged so little, it was worth it... kinda. It was an outdoor wedding reception behind the couples' house. After 2 hrs of nonstop rain, the ground became muddy and marsh-like. My shoes and pants were covered in mud after the wedding.

I forgot to mention Khanh from www.khanhfoto.com was my 2nd shooter for this wedding. He did an awesome job. Here are my shots...

Florida!

2009-07-18T21:26:00.000-07:00

Two weeks after our trip to South Padre Island, my family took another vacation in Florida. Here are some pics of our trip...

San Juan Valle!

2009-07-16T21:17:00.000-07:00

We stopped by a Church to pray for things in life after our trip to South Padre Island. One of the nicest I've been to in awhile. Here are some pictures...

You can find the rest of the pictures HERE

Fun with Masie and her BF!

2009-07-14T21:02:00.000-07:00

What do you get when you shoot an energetic little asian girl and her bf? Just check out the pictures for yourself...

Thao and Minh's Wedding!

2009-07-12T19:42:00.000-07:00

My sister got married in May and I got stuck helping out with the wedding. I was helping out with the food, drinks, and flower arrangements. I had to take shots of the guests with the B&G. It was not a fun task because lighting was terrible and I was sweating like crazy. I got a few shots here and there but nothing too fancy. If I had the choice of shooting a family members wedding again, I would have to turn it down. I don't even want to take out my camera because they're so demanding. Just because I have an expensive camera doesn't mean I have to do what they tell me to.

/rant

Onto pictures...

J.Le and Charles!

2009-07-09T21:40:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine asked me if I could do a photoshoot for one of her friends because they needed some promotional pictures for their hip hop group. We finally got to shoot last Monday since I've been out of town and she's been out of town. I had 2 strobes on me but one ran out of batteries after taking 2 or 3 shots. Here are few photos from the photoshoot.

You can find their music here @ http://www.myspace.com/jaaylee

Rosleen and Jason!

2009-07-07T13:45:00.001-07:00

It's about time I updated eh? No one really reads this except for the two people subscribed to my blog haha. Over the next few months, I will post up some pictures up from recent and past weddings I've been to.

Below are the highlights taken at Lindsay Lakes (www.lindsaylakes.com). It was a nice venue for a small wedding party of 70 + 1 DJ + 2 photographers (Mike of www.michaellyonsphotography.com and I).

Congrats Rosleen and Jason! View more photos on my flickr HERE

Shawn's Mustang... again!

2009-06-15T09:21:00.000-07:00

This shot was taken last Wednesday and I've only looked through a few. This exposure came out the best so I opened it up in CS3 and started editing. It took me about 30 minutes to get to the final picture. The only things I did were remove the rig, fix the color of the car, remove the rig reflections on the car, and cloned in new paint. After that, I burned around the area of the car to dramatize the photo a bit.

Before and After photos

Productive Sunday!

2009-06-14T23:40:00.000-07:00

I covered 2 events today starting at 11am til 5p. I came home burnt and exhausted. The temperature gauge on my car read 100F throughout the day. Gotta love Houston weather...

The first event was for UrbanSpeed (click on picture to view gallery)

..and the next was Fabricated Motorsports Drift Event (click on picture to view gallery)

Marvin's BMW E30 325i!

2009-06-13T11:57:00.000-07:00

Here are a few photos from Marvin's photo shoot awhile back. The locations used were different parts of downtown Houston. This was probably the first time I've used strobes in broad daylight. Thank you for CPL and ND filters :D

Annie Hwang!

2009-06-11T16:20:00.001-07:00

I tagged along with Harrison again because he promised a photoshoot for a friend, Annie. I didn't really feel like shooting so I just helped out with the lighting. I took a strobist shot though and it didn't come out too bad.

All Team Bash Car Meet v.2009!

2009-06-07T16:02:00.000-07:00

The team bash had a better turnout than I had thought. Most of the known and small teams of Houston gather together at Bear Creek Park to just kick back and bbq!

New Shoes!

2009-06-06T08:59:00.000-07:00

Picked up some new shoes over the past month. Left to right: Puma El Rey, Nike Dunk Pro SB's Spiderman, and Nike Zoom Lebron VI Low

Cindy N. Pictures!

2009-06-03T16:25:00.000-07:00

I haven't taken posed modeling type pictures in so long that I forgot how hard it actually is. A friend of mine, Harrison, invited me a long to help him shoot Cindy since he's still a noob to photography. She was a great subject to shoot and I enjoyed it. I still need to learn how to create more flattering poses though. Every time we finished one pose I would run out of ideas. Hopefully, next time I will be able to direct better. Some more info on Cindy is that she's a sophomore at UH trying to get into the pharmacy program. She also told me she'd like to do more of these types of shoots if she were paid =P

You can find the rest of the set here: http://www.danhphan.smugmug.com/gallery/8426771_QQuf9#553586089_yMrBd

Nick's Mini Cooper S!

2009-05-30T10:07:00.000-07:00

Life!

2009-05-29T06:37:00.000-07:00

"Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend - or a meaningful day."

- Dalai Lama

Yesterday, I attended a funeral with my mom. It was one of my dad's good friends from a catholic magazine they had worked together on. He fought lung cancer for almost 2 years, but sadly, it was his time. He left behind a beautiful family with several grand kids. It makes me think about myself and how I'm already at a quarter of my life and so little I've accomplished compared to others.

Attending funerals is not my thing. I've been to 3 now and it just brings back pain and sadness from the time my old man passed away. I need to get used to it and become stronger because I watch my mom attend wakes and funerals at least once a month. Maybe I need to understand attending a funeral is not to be sad, but to be happy for the life they lived.

R.I.P. Ong Luca Nguyen Tri Su (Bac Su)

Tradicao Brazilian Steakhouse!

2009-05-27T16:09:00.000-07:00

http://www.tradicaobraziliansteak.com/

A friend of mine has been wanting to go back to this place for awhile now so he planned to eat there today. The outside of the restaurant isn't too pleasing on the eyes, but once you step inside, the atmosphere is a bit more warm and maybe romantic. But I don't think steakhouse buffets and romantic can be used in the same context. We came with a party of 6 and were seated immediately. I've never been to a brazilian steakhouse, not even Fogo de Chao, so this was all pretty new to me. We started off with hot muffin looking bread with some kind of cheese inside. Then we served ourselves with some salad at the salad bar. And finally, servers would come around our table offering different slices of meat. By the 15th type of meat, I was pretty full. It ranged from lamb chops to the house special. For $15, it was probably the best meal I've had in awhile.

Here are a few snaps we took before and after eating:

Tokyo One!

2009-05-26T05:14:00.000-07:00

My family and I went out to Tokyo One buffet yesterday for family dinner. I haven't had it in a couple of months now and I was definitely feeling it so I grabbed what I could and ate like a starving man. I also brought out my 50mm 1.8 to play with...

Graduation/Summer!

2009-05-21T07:56:00.000-07:00

I've finally graduated from college and it feels great but... I have no job offers or anything lined up at the moment. I guess this is where the real journey begins for me.

Lets recap my 7 yrs of college life:
- Freshman year, decided I wanted to be an optometrist so I became a pre-optometry major, but I was too much into a girl to concentrate on anything which included friends, family, and school which was a pretty bad start for me. I made B's and C's that year and broke up with the girl.

- 2nd year, probably my worst college year ever. I failed 2 classes and made mostly C's. I became depressed and emo for awhile. At the end of 2nd year, I found out I had Graves' disease.

-3rd year, ended up being kicked out of the school for a low GPA and then put on probation. So after the first semester ended, I transferred over to TSU to pursue a different career path. I chose clinical laboratory science. My old man had also passed away that same year from pancreatic cancer.

- 4th year, I did a lot better in my school work and earned A's and B's. My cumulative GPA was now a 2.5 or so. A lot of my friends were getting into pharmacy school and it looked pretty easy getting into so I tried it out too.

- 5th year, I finished all my prereqs for pharmacy and my CLS major and also did some volunteer work at the VA hospital. I applied for pharm school and got an interview, but was rejected. My plan was to attend with my brother and friends, but since I couldn't get in, I went through a different path.

- 6th year, I started the program I eventually graduated with, Clinical Laboratory Sciences. I thought science would keep me interested in learning forever but it slowly ate me away. For this reason, I knew I couldn't have made it in pharmacy school.

- 7th year, last and final year of the program in which I was put on clinical rotations. I got to experience the real life of a medical technologist and it is a repetitive one. Maybe it was because it was only a reference laboratory that everything seemed repetitive but I don't think I could do the same thing over and over again. It was kind of a disappointment for me. Hopefully there are more openings to this field with different options.

Twitter!

2009-03-28T11:13:00.001-07:00

I've been so lazy to update this thing, but you guys can now follow me on twitter!

http://www.twitter.com/danhphan

Spring Update!

2009-02-07T06:59:00.000-08:00

It seems like I've only been updating when the season changes. I'll try to update as much as I can now since my site has been updated (Thanks to Evo-sys/Trung Pham!).

So what have I been doing lately? I've been busy working for free at Quest from 8a in the morning to 4 in the afternoon. Once I get home, I either study or take a break. This kinda shows what my future is going to be like; barely anytime for photography. I love to take pictures whenever it's possible, but graduating with a degree is my first priority for now. So I will be doing just small side jobs on the weekends if possible. A friend offered me to use his studio so I might just have to take advantage of that. If anyone is up for head shots, let me know!

Winter Update!

2009-01-10T13:29:00.000-08:00

I said I was going to start up some portrait studio sessions, but I never had the chance or time to do so. Some day... hopefully.

So what have I been doing over the break? I've shot a couple of automotive photoshoots/events, 3 weddings, and one engagement ceremony. I have a few more people interested in my photography services but no concrete date is set up yet. I'm kinda glad I have people that are interested in my work because I like to help people document a special moment or achievement they've done in life. I guess I do like taking pictures...

I've also picked up Annie Leibovitz' latest book Annie Leibovitz at Work. I'm about halfway through the book now and I have to applaud her on documenting some of the most famous people of our time. Leibovitz' timeline of photographs are infamous. If I had a chance to work just as she did, I would probably take the opportunity as soon as possible.

You can find my latest work here: www.flickr.com/dphan
And a gallery of images here: www.danhphan.smugmug.com

8 Series / ViaColori / Mini S / Jennifer and David...

2008-12-06T06:59:00.000-08:00

I haven't been updating much lately because of rotations and work tiring me out. Being lazy also doesn't help either haha. So why update now? I'm done with my first semester of clinical rotations! One more semester and I'm gradumated (spelling/grammar error intended). Since I have free time now and I don't work for CVS anymore, I'm going to start a studio project for this winter. I'm going to start shooting more people!

So far, I have most of the camera gear. I just need light modifiers, backgrounds, and stands. Looks like I have to invest in a bit more gear than I'd like which I never like doing. I'm even thinking about selling my 2 30D bodies for a 5Dmk1 since they're going down in price. If I do that, I would have to sell my 10-22 and pick up a 17-40L. Somebody stop me!

Well here are a couple of images from last month:

Finally...

2008-11-17T16:08:00.000-08:00

Worked my way up to own the lens that rules them all, the 24-70L. I haven't had the chance to test it out yet, but the lens feels like its made for real work. I can't wait to use it on my next photoshoot.

In other news, I have 3 more rotation weeks at Quest, and then I either stay til the end of the year or move to Bentaub. I like Quest and how close it is, but I'd like to keep my options open and try the hospital setting.

I still have no idea where I want to work...

Upgrading

2008-11-14T00:10:00.000-08:00

I am finally upgrading my phone and my lens. I am writing my blog with the 2g iphone. Honestly, I'm impressed at how easy it is to use and how big the screen is than phones I've previously owned. It has everything a photographer would need and more. When I have more time I'll prob upgrade the firmware. Its pretty late now and I just wanted to update what's been going on.

Election Time....

2008-10-29T18:00:00.000-07:00

It's around that time of the year again when voters line up early in the morning, prices of crude oil and gasoline prices fall, leaves turn gold-yellow, and temperatures fall below 50F (in Texas at least). Of course this only happens every 4 years when a presidential election is about to happen. Does any of this affect me?

Yep.

I'm a noob at this voting business because I had to check to see if I was a registered voter or not earlier today. Sometimes I wonder if my vote really counts. We basically vote for an elector whom then votes for the presidential candidate. Why can't the people directly vote? I guess this is how the system has been for a hundred years now.

Shaniqua...

2008-10-22T21:20:00.001-07:00

Is my bay bay and also my ride. I've spent so much on her such as getting the oil changed, getting new brakes, getting new shoes & rubber, swapping out suspension kit, getting a new bumper, but I'm not even done with the maintenance on the car yet. I just hope she doesn't die on me before I finish.

I got bored yesterday and felt like I needed some practice with photo gear. So I headed out to a vacant parking garage near Cinco Ranch to take some test shots. Here is the outcome:

Here is the setup for most of the shots:

Updateeee-ohhhh

2008-10-20T22:04:00.000-07:00

I haven't written in this thing in forever. Not that I actually wrote anything worth posting, but I never really had the time to or was just too lazy. Well, I am back, but just for a little while. I'll try to update as much as I can from now on.

I've finished my first round of rotations about 3 weeks ago and now I'm on my Hematology rotation at Quest Diagnostics. It's a pretty nice laboratory connected to a huge business firm, Jacobs. I don't even know if they're that big, but they share our building and they have an even bigger building across the street. It's nice not having to pay for parking since it's located on the Southwest side of Houston. That's a plus and it's also 15 minutes from my mom's house.

Everyone there at Quest are all pretty cool. The freakin lab consists of mainly filipinas, indians, vietnamese, and african americans. So much diversity. Well enough about my school life. What have I been doing in the photography business?

A few weddings here and there. Here are some of the weddings I've taken in the past weeks...

Diana and Danny

Kim and Jeff

For Sale...

2008-07-22T22:32:00.000-07:00

My beloved 20D, 70-200 f2.8L, and my 17-50. I've been through so much with that combo it's kinda sad. My reasons for selling? I don't really know. Maybe I'm just looking for something new or I'm at a plateau where this should just be a hobby and to keep it a hobby I shouldn't put too much into it. Maybe I'll find what I'm looking for later on.

Last Sunday, I scheduled a photoshoot with David 'Sumo' Black Honda Accord Coupe. Knowing myself I thought shooting the car at dusk would be a good idea but the area I shot hid the sun behind the tree and buildings. Much of the photoshoot was failure on my part because I left my ISO on 1600 and I only picked one location. Well here are pictures from the photoshoot. You can go to my flickr or www.danhphan.smugmug.com to view the full gallery.

Crazy weekend...

2008-07-16T22:34:00.000-07:00

For 3 days straight I've been taking pictures. Last Friday was Danny Nguyen's last fashion show of the season, Saturday went to the Red Bull Can Art Gallery at the Galleria, and Sunday had two car photoshoots. So far I've finished processing 3 of the 4 events I've shot at. I like taking pictures and the outcome is always great when people appreciate them but I wish I could get paid doing this. But because of these photoshoots/events I've gotten more exposure to potential clients which is also awesome. Hopefully I have the time to do them.

Here are some photos of the events/photos over the weekend:

You can find more pictures at www.flickr.com/dphan

Nick's Photoshoot

2008-06-22T18:33:00.001-07:00

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!

2008-06-20T22:05:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-12T23:27:00.000-07:00

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?

2008-06-11T13:43:00.000-07:00

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.

Mellow

2008-05-18T01:05:00.000-07:00

Ahhh I said that I was going to post pictures from my trip on my last entry but an unexpected turn of events happened with my macbook. The HDD crashed as I was uploading pics on flickr. Hopefully, my software and files can be recovered by the apple geniuses tomorrow. If not I will just have to buy a new HDD or build a new computer.

The trip so far has been relaxing. I'd say Oregon is a mix between Houston, Hong Kong, and Austin. Three nice places together = awesomeness. I also got to meet my sister's godmother and her grand daughter. It was nice meeting you, Joanne. Good thing they left back early for Cali because my sister's A/C broke and I'm sitting here without a shirt =/

I will probably post pics when I get my laptop fixed or when I get back in Houston. Until then, take care (to whomever actually reads this blog)!

Nary & Terry's E-Session

2008-05-12T09:14:00.001-07:00

It was my first time making a collage like this and I must say, it takes awhile to arrange and fit the the pictures where you want it to fit. It must've taken me 3+ hours with my limited experience of CS2, but the outcome looks great to me. There are some lines that do not match up but nobody can really tell but me.

Terry is a friend from highschool I haven't talked to in so long. I'm glad he asked me to shoot his wedding because this would be my first official wedding as a 1st shooter. So far, engagement photos are done and all we have left are the bridals, ceremony, and reception. I'm a little nervous but kinda anxious to get the wedding done.

Finally Over...

2008-05-10T23:15:00.000-07:00

The picture above was taken a couple hours after my last final. I didn't have anyone to celebrate with so I just came to my favorite spot to take Houston skyline pictures, Sabine bridge. If you look closely, my car (Shaniqua) is in the picture, heh.

Hmmm I'm not gonna be working at CVS for about 4 weeks. I should be ecstatic but I feel kinda sad at the same time. It's okay, I only work there once a week so no one should really notice I'm gone. I bet when I come back they'll be like, "You still work here??!" And I'll just reply with, "Oh crap, I forgot!" haha... that would never work though.

So I leave for Oregon on May 13th and come back on the 21st which is a Wednesday. When I get back I have to shoot bridal portraits for Terry and Nary's Wedding which we planned for 24th. If I have time I'll stop by Mean Streets car show in Austin to check out the cars. Hopefully, I'll be done editing pictures by Sunday to place orders on mpix.com. Once I get back on Monday I'll have to buckle down and study/review for my preclinical exam, Friday, May 30th. It's a good thing my summer school class starts the first week of June instead May. Hopefully I pass clinicals without any problems so I can concentrate on getting ready for Terry's wedding on June 7th, Saturday. After June 7th, my schedule should be free agaiiiin.

I know I should be studying but I'm tired..... of everything.
I don't know why but my mind is wandering...
What is that goal I'm reaching for?
Weird...
Like you.

Playing Games

2008-04-27T23:05:00.000-07:00

I'm tired.
Don't know what to do anymore.
Just keep playing.
Will I become pro
playing this silly game?

When will it be game over...

So I can take this mask off...

Soon hopefully.

Grounded

2008-04-20T22:05:00.000-07:00

Yup! I'm taking a break from aim, facebook, h-i.com and all my favorite sites for awhile just because I'm doing so bad in all my classes. What a great time to do it when school is about to end huh? So many things have gone on during the school year that I have not actually learned any of the material. I've only memorized material enough for myself to pass the class. I now regret it and am paying for it. So, I will now just check my emails and blackboard for school stuff, study from 5-midnite or whenever I feel my brain is fried, and workout when I'm not doing anything productive. Am I being a little hard on myself? Not really... I feel like it's the first two years of college again, which was major fail in my life.

I know no one really cares or will miss my presence online so this might be a waste of a post. Hopefully this puts me back on track with school and everything else that should be important.

If you need to contact me you can call/text my cell or leave me an email dphan at danhphan.com.

HIN Austin, TX

2008-04-15T13:00:00.000-07:00

Venn and I traveled to Austin, TX Saturday morning to cover the event for www.houston-imports.com. The show had a great turnout and everything was as scheduled. The weather was great too minus the sunburn I got at the end of the day, but that's what I get for taking pictures so early. The only complaint I really had was that I was not given a media pass, but a normal guest pass. I didn't feel "official" even though I had my expensive camera gear with me, but whatever. I had a good time meeting new people from the boards and hanging with them. Wish I could've gone out to 6th after the show but I was dead tired from shooting and being burnt by the sun.

I gotta thank Los for the passes, Eric for the place to stay, and Venn for accompanying me to the show. You can click the picture on the bottom to go to my event coverage.

Life...

2008-04-10T21:15:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling pretty happy right now because classes are almost ending and my website (www.danhphan.com) is finally finished. I owe it to my friend, Trung Pham, for putting up with my demands. Thanks man!! Also, I've had the chance to take a break from classes and go up to Austin for a CLS conference, which gave me a break from school. Oh man, it was much needed. After I got back from the convention Nathan invited me to go to the Japan festival at Hermann Park. It was pretty fun going with a couple of new faces. Then last sunday I did a photoshoot with Tony and his BMW M3 with gold DPE's. That thing is just pure sex. I still need to learn how to process my photos better because I'm still not happy with the results I'm getting but people seem to like it.

On another note, I have to congratulate Ms. T. Pham on getting into Texas A&M Pharmacy School... hopefully this will be one of your many acceptance letters to come.

Click the links on top of the pics to view the gallery/set. Enjoy!

Sahba's random RX-8 photoshoot... lol I just showed up at his house for pics

A few from the Uptown meet:

Japanese Festival!

And here are some from Tony's M3 Photoshoot

Import Reactor

2008-03-22T22:05:00.001-07:00

I've been waiting so long for this show because I felt like a real media photographer. I got a 3 day media pass to any event which included photographs of music guests, naruto voice characters, and other various anime convention events. The only event I really wanted to go to was Import Reactor. JohnP and JohnL did a good job organizing the event but they still lacked in security to check for tickets. I'm pretty sure they lost a lot of business that way but that was the only downside to the show from what I saw.

Walk Around Houston

2008-03-21T11:42:00.000-07:00

Played around a little bit with bracketing and HDR photos. As you can see the outcome came out a bit on the extreme unrealistic side. I love the colors and everything but it just seems too unnatural for me. I have more pictures but these are the only ones that were edited.

This guy here thinks he is chris brown.

Relaxing Day

2008-03-19T08:40:00.000-07:00

The picture above was taken yesterday at a park near my house. Ms T. Pham wanted to show her niece, Debbie, how cute my puppies are. Debbie was scared the puppies were going to bite her, but she finally saw how harmless they were and wanted one for herself. It's too bad I can't give any of these dogs away to friends because they're only given to close family friends or my mom's friends. Sorry guys but it's not my dog so I can't give y'all any puppies. If they were mine I would give them to anyone that asks me in advance. If you beg my mom maybe....

I finally got a chance to go to my first Rockets game yesterday too. It's a shame we lost because that would've made it 23 in a row. But it was an awesome experience because of the excitement and hype the fans put into the game, even the bandwagon fans behind me criticizing every play by the Rockets. Maybe one day I'll be able to shoot on the side court.

Rollin into Spring Break

2008-03-16T15:39:00.000-07:00

Spring break is finally here and I'm ready to just relax, read, and of course, photograph. So I've already ordered most of my parts for the car rig and now I just need to find some place to make the boom. If all goes well I will have a working one by next week.
The picture above was taken with my Canon 10-22mm on Danny N.'s imitation of 'automotiverig.com's rig. It is such a nice rig but too much work is needed to make it. Hopefully, mine will be easier to set up.

Happy Easter everyone and to the students out there, have a great Spring Break!

Scared

2008-03-07T19:04:00.000-08:00

This was one of the first pictures I took with my Canon 10D camera. I was so excited when I first began shooting that I shot anything that moved/stayed still. Now I've learned that there are other things worth shooting such as cars and people. I've always been scared of shooting out in public but I'm a photographer now and I will literally do almost anything to get the shot.

Ever since I was wee todd I think I've always held back. For example I never really studied for any of my classes or tried to take chances with girls so I never made it to the top of my classes nor had the chance to date different girls. That's probably what I regret the most about my past because it just reflects on the present me. Gawd this blog is getting a little too personal right?

"Just be her friend," says my childhood buddy.

I'm trying my best to not show my true emotions.

Ok. I have decided I can't change who I am and I will just continue to be who I am.

Me,
Myself,
Danh Phan (the nice guy).

Beautiful

2008-03-04T22:05:00.000-08:00

Nice sky huh? This picture was taken on June 1, 2007 with the weather being 84F. I love taking pictures of the sky especially when it's nice and blue. I hate it when I'm either stuck in class or work. I would always stare outside the window wishing I was laying on the grass looking at the sky. Sounds pretty gay... but that's what I would rather be doing than sitting in some boring lab or pharmacy.

Should I take on photography as a part time job and quit CVS or should I just continue doing what I am doing?

Alex's E46 Photoshoot Part 2

2008-03-02T21:37:00.000-08:00

Shot Alex's car today in Rosenburg. It's such a nice and quiet town even though there are a bunch of scary black and hispanic people walking around. Hopefully I'll be able to do more photoshoots there in the future.

Pondering

2008-02-26T18:41:00.000-08:00

This shot was taken in the morning around 8:15am. As I was taking a shower I took a peak outside and the sky was blue with nice clouds. So I had to try to get a shot before they all moved east. I tried to think of a place without any elements in the foreground, but that ended up failing. So I just pulled over on the road behind my local Fiesta.

So I've been pondering about going on a backpacking Eurotrip with one of my good friends. I want to go backpacking at least once in my lifetime and also get some nice landscape pictures. The only thing holding me back is how much I need to save up for. If I was working full-time I could probably save enough and come back home with money leftover but I'm working part-time and going to school. I need to save up at least $3,000 and I doubt I could save $1000+ in 2 months. I'm being sucked dry by gas and credit card bills.

Also, why are the good ones already taken?

Sighs. Guess I'll just keep watching.

Gifford and Andrea's Wedding

2008-02-24T23:14:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine asked a favor for me to shoot his brothers wedding even though they had already booked some photographers already. It was a very nice wedding in my opinion, but a little disorganized. I had fun as a guest and as a photographer. I had the chance to meet Jesus, Christie, and Yen. They all post on TPF and are great people to work with. I hope they don't mess with Christie too much about me being her assistant for 5 secs by holding onto a video light haha.

Looks like Rain

2008-02-20T16:19:00.001-08:00

Picture was taken with my phone, Nokia 5300. Probably the best inexpensive camera phone I've ever had. Rain in Houston sucks because it just messes up Houston traffic like a clogged artery. It's ok, I'm kinda enjoying my canceled time off from class. I really needed it because it's been a long day.

When I get the chance I'll probably post up pictures from weddings I've shot at.

Arturo y Yvonne's Wedding

2008-02-17T22:35:00.000-08:00

Shot as a third for Mike today. This was a good experience for me because I've never really been paid to shoot before. I was some what nervous, but not as much as the 1st shooter haha. Overall, it was a 'weird' wedding according to my co-shooters.

Kristen's Wedding Day

2008-02-17T16:30:00.000-08:00

I attended a fellow CVS coworker's wedding over the weekend as a guest and not a photographer... even though I took photographer-like pics haha. My assistant was Ms. Tam Pham. She didn't charge her camera battery so I let her go crazy with my camera. I'm glad she was my company to the wedding because going to a wedding alone seems kinda weird. To me at least.

Happy Valentine's Day

2008-02-14T00:18:00.000-08:00

Well, looks like I'll be alone again for Valentine's day. I don't think I've ever had a valentine before... I guess it counts when I received Valentine's day cards and candy back when I was in elementary school, right?

Exam week

2008-02-11T23:00:00.001-08:00

It's exam week at TSU and UH. Actually, it's been like that for me every week since my professors consider quizzes to be exams. Totally ridiculous in my opinion. We're having to do that because we are totally behind in schedule and they are trying to make up for it. Dangit!

Honda Ad (for fun)

2008-02-11T10:55:00.001-08:00

This was taken during the time frame for Challenge #5: "Advertisement"

The most challenging part of the picture was adding that damn Honda logo. I'm not too good with the quick mask tool yet so I had to paste the logo on and erase all the white that was on there.

Strobist info: one vivitar 283 on tripod left side and one 430ex held by my cousin right side

Here is the picture before: www.flickr.com/photos/dphan/2257779081/

Orient Cafe Meet

2008-02-10T00:59:00.001-08:00

IMG_7481.JPG
Originally uploaded by disboifan

All I did today was deposit my check, pick up some poverty wizards, shoot my cousins' car, and take pics at Orient Cafe meet. It was nice meeting new peepz.

Happy Chinese New Years!

2008-02-07T22:33:00.000-08:00

The Big Event and The Houston Auto Show

2008-02-03T12:37:00.000-08:00

PZ Meet and Closecalls

2008-01-27T00:35:00.001-08:00

I was thinking about heading up to Chewy Ball's today after the Planet Zero meet but father time always seems to keep me places longer than expected. JohnP actually invited me to the meet because I had forgotten about it and had not marked it on my calendar. The meet was pretty relaxed this time around... saw a lot of old school cars that I'm not used to seeing such as the Datsun Fairlady that was one of the first produced in the US and saw a couple of familiar faces.

After the meet, JohnP showed me who the owners of PZ were and got to meet JohnL for the first time. These guys are always thinking about ways to make the Houston scene bigger and better. So far, I've heard what they are doing is only a "tip off the iceberg" so I'm pretty excited about that. Man, knowing JohnP is an honor because he's putting Houston back on the map with the help of Planet Zero.

My closecall after the meet was almost getting a ticket for running a red light. I haven't had a ticket since my last accident which was almost 5 yrs. ago which is probably why he just gave me a warning. I guess it also helps to be courteous to law enforcement. I know I would've shitted bricks if I had gotten a ticket because I could not afford that shit now. Anyways I was really lucky today.

Danh Phan is exhausted!

2008-01-15T21:36:00.000-08:00

HOUSTON - Danh Phan is exhausted today from staying awake the whole day! Why am I talking in third person? Because it's the cool thing to do lol. The shot to the left was taken after eating lunch at Amnity Park located at Alief Clodine and Dairy Ashford. That's where my brother and some of our friends would ball at in the summer. It's been a while since we hooped. I kinda miss it.

I'm extremely tired from filling in for a coworker because she was sick... I almost fell asleep driving home. Blah. Working at CVS has made me realize something. I haven't been sick in a couple of years... I can't even remember the last time I've had the flu, cold, or fever. I've only puked once from drinking too much and that was it. I guess the antibodies in my body are doing a good job detecting foreign invaders. Yesssss!

Chelitis!

2008-01-14T19:55:00.000-08:00

My lips are so friggin red and dry it looks like im wearing lipstick. What a waste of a day today. All I did was go to school to register for classes. My friend and I left early because the professor was just talking about her mother with Alzheimer's and she didn't have the syllabus ready yet. Apparently old people with Alzheimer's fake symptoms just to get some attention. That is so immature but what can we do about it? Absolutely nothing...

After class my friend and I just went to Major's to look for some textbooks but none were there. Bummer. My friend didn't know her way around downtown so she followed me all the way to Main and that's when she lost me. I called her later to find out she took university all the way down to kirby. I felt kinda bad because I took main all the way to 59. Ah well.

I stopped by the bank to deposit some money leftover from the trip and a check from work. BoA is super fast on weekdays but super slow on weekends. I went home after that and met up some guy for a used Nokia 5300. Pretty nice phone but needs work on the case so I ordered a new one. I got tired after watching an episode of Iryu 2 so I fell asleep around 2. I woke up and it was dark outside... I looked at my phone and noticed the time was 6pm. What a waste of a nice afternoon, but the nap sure felt gewt!

Nice day for some Tennis!

2008-01-13T18:40:00.000-08:00

Currently waiting in Japan...

2008-01-11T17:56:00.000-08:00

Good gawd our flight schedule wait is horrible. We're stuck in japan waiting for 8 hrs until our next flight to chicago and then wait another 5 hrs until our next flight to houston. GAAAH! I can't wait to get into my bed.

Back in Bangkok!

2008-01-07T09:24:00.000-08:00

Just got back from a 2 day trip from Pattaya and man... that place is crazy! They have no restrictions or ethics whatsoever. I would think that Thailand is still under the rule of a monarchy there would be order in the whole country... but anything goes in Pattaya. You have prostitutes sitting on corners, prostitutes sitting with sleezy old men, lady boys sitting with sleezy old men, lady boys going with other lady boys, and the "sexy" shows were worse than pornos. I can see why Thailand is such a popular place for "business" trips and what not. I bet more than half of the old sleezy men are married and just on a "business" trip. I'm not against that but I'm just sayin...

However this was the first time I've been to a beach where I could actually see in the water, even though my eyes burned a little afterwards. The beach they took us to was a little island about 20 minutes from Pattaya. Weather was perfect and everything. The trip to Thailand actually pwns Vietnam two folds. I'm kinda hesitant to go back to Vietnam now because I've been spoiled with A/C and a comfortable bed for a week now.

I'm too lazy and the internet is too slow to upload pictures so I will do it when I get back.

In Bangkok!

2008-01-04T09:19:00.000-08:00

I'm currently on a tour in Bangkok, Thailand. I've concluded that going on tours is much better than sitting in one city and that Thai girls are hotter than vietnamese girls (sorry viet girls lol). I haven't used the internet for about 2 days and it seems like I've lost track of time. I don't even know if its Friday or Saturday here right now. I just know my Macbook says 11:25am which is Houston time and that I am friggin sleepy.

So far we've been to a crocodile, dolphin, and stunt show in Bangkok. I want to watch the "sexy" show but my mom refuses to let us watch because they perform sexual acts on stage pffft. I think I know how sex performed =X

I gotta keep this entry short because I only have a total of 1 hour to use the net. It costs 300 bhat dammit. You guys think things in VN and Thailand area cheaper than the US but they really aren't.

Bored

2007-12-24T01:02:00.000-08:00

Just some random pictures from Day 4 in Saigon: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dphan/sets/72157603513742951/

It's 4:05pm here in Vietnam and I'm just sitting in my uncle's internet cafe. So far I've ate snake, rat (yes rat!), pork, pig skin, clam, oysters, jumbo shrimp, pho, hu tieu, com chien, and everything you can imagine except dog meat. I still have 2.5 more weeks to go and at this rate I think I'm going to end up gaining 10 lbs.... great.

Trip has kinda been a drag because of my mom. Going with her, my siblings and I can't really go out to enjoy the nite life in Saigon which sucks because that's what makes saigon fun. It's ok though, we just visit relatives and drop off money/gifts to them. We have so many relatives it's kinda crazy.

Even though I'm in VN I still have to go to church =/ (no offense to you god).

Ho Chi Minh City, Saigon

2007-12-19T00:11:00.000-08:00

So I'm currently at my Uncle's internet cafe below his house and it is hooooot. My mom, sister, and brother arrived here monday nite at around 10pm and had left Houston at 6am. The flight here wasn't so bad. It was a pain carrying 8 luggages to Intercontinental Airport. Yes, 8 because we're allowed 2 luggages per passenger...

The first flight was to San Francisco, CA. Their airport was nice and cleaaan... so I took a dump there as well as my brother. The freakin airport didn't feed us so we bought some deli sandwiches and ate while we waited for our next flight.

Our next flight was to Hong Kong. It was the longest 14-15 hrs in my life... We went through like 5 movies and 2 meals. Btw, I hate airline food now. If you have a choice between beef or chicken, take the chicken! I still finished my damn food because it's a sin according to my mom and our religion lol. We finally arrive in HKG and I must say, their airport is waaaaay nicer than any of the other ones I've been to. There were probably 20 different restaurants and 50 different vendors/stores in one floor. Prices were about the same bc of duty free. When we got to our gate I knew we were heading to Ho Chi Minh, VN just from the look of the people lol. By this time I looked and smelled just like them. No offense to anyone out there....

I forgot to mention I took a dump there too =)

We board the plane and it is a 2 hrs flight to VN. Even though the new airport was supposed to open on the 18th we still got to go through it. I think I was one of the first few to take a dump there too bwahaha. I basically took a dump at all the airports -_-

More pics and updates to come later. I will be in VN for about 2.5 weeks and Thailand for 4 days.

Planet Zero Meet!

2007-12-11T22:07:00.001-08:00

More pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dphan/sets/72157603408739464/

Pics and Discussion here: http://www.houston-imports.com/forums/showthread.php?t=432837

BBQ Meet!

2007-12-04T14:10:00.000-08:00

I got the chance to shoot with my 70-200 f2.8L lens again on sunday at Thanh's BBQ car meet. The food, cars, and people were great. It was pretty cool meeting some old faces and meeting new ones also. I gotta thank Thanh for hosting it and BuddazWizdom, Ormand, and Viet for being the chefs. Props on the BBQ you guys put effort into. I can't forget Los for bringing the TV out even though the Texans lost.

The meet was so awesome that I have nothing to complain about except for the rain. It rained for 30 minutes or so, but it brought everyone under the pavilion. Thats pretty much what the Houston scene should be about. Meeting new people and sharing your experiences whether it be about mechanics, computers, stereos, or even photography.

I also gotta thank Huy for being my second shooter. Without him I would probably be banned from flickr for uploading so many pictures haha.

Here are pics from the event.

More pics here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dphan/sets/72157603355840334/

Discussion Thread: http://www.houston-imports.com/forums/showthread.php?t=431640