Hoang & Mai's Engagement!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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.