Wednesday, November 4, 2009 Posted in Personal
I absolutely love pictures that are in black and white. It strips all the distracting elements down to the raw emotions. It defines shapes. When I am editing photos, some pictures just beg to be in black and white. While I know that black and white pictures aren’t everybody’s thing, it is something that moves me. It makes me feel the emotions on the picture more vividly. My parents hate black and white photos. They think it’s too moody and funeral-like and much prefers color. I understand; to each their own. I have nothing against color images, I just much prefer black and white.
Below is a picture I shot a few weeks ago second shooting for the awesome Todd from Pictures by Todd. I prefer the black and white version.
Now here are some pictures where black and white doesn’t work too well. In a club scene. With all the crazy disco lights and blaring music, color is better to help give off a more exciting and vibrant mood.
One of my favorite photographers, Jose Villa, shoots in film. His photos are absolutely stunning. His black and white are so fine art. I love love his work.
Friday, October 30, 2009 Posted in Personal
Flu season is under way and I got tagged. Really badly. A coworker was nice enough to mention some tips on how to get through your cold/flu faster as I was coughing my brains out at work. I don’t have a normal cough; I have one of those cough that makes you cough uncontrollably and lasted for a minute. And if you don’t think a minute is long enough, try coughing really loud and continuously. Your abs will love it. It’s nothing worse then when you are talking to someone or in a classroom setting and you start to have a coughing fit. People would look at each other. “Is she dying?” “What the heck is wrong with her??”
Here are three remedies to getting through the common cold:
1. Drink lots of fluids. If you have the woofing cough like I have and wants to cut through those mucus, get some hot tea with lemon and honey. Hot water with ginger and honey is also good too.
2. Soups. Chicken soup is really good for the soul, but if chicken soup makes you want to gag, make yourself some spicy hot soup with onions and garlic. I went home and in 6 mins throw together my version of a ‘soulful’ soup. It consists of:
1 cup of 50 cents noodle (beef flavor)
Chopped broccoli, onions, garlic, bean sprouts
Pepper and a bit of hot sauce
A squirt of lemon
Cup noodle never tasted so good!!
3. Medicine. It’s really obvious but I still have to say it. Vicks DayQuil/NyQuil does it for me. I literally fell in love with this medicine after this one incident in middle school. I was taking Tylenol tablets then and was feeling so miserable. My head hurts and most importantly I couldn’t breathe. Well after one cup of Vicks, I could again. Take the liquid version.
Wash your hands, keep warm and sleep sleep sleep. TGIF!
Nothing saddens me more then when it comes time to budget for a wedding and photography is last on the list. I may be bias, but why is it we spend thousands of dollars on making everything look beautiful, but spend measly to capture it? As a photographer and a potential future bride, I already know the large amount of money and time spent preparing for your own wedding. It is hectic and can cost a lot of money depending on how you want your wedding to be like.
Yet….photography is my top priority.
After all the food are eaten, the dress put away, the flowers welted, and the guests departed, the only thing left are the photographs and video to help remember the day. Sad to say, but I think most people don’t really have a good recollection of their wedding day. Their brain are fried from lack of sleep, adrenaline rush, activities and greeting countless people. Everything becomes a blur. But photography is like a jigsaw puzzle…it fills in the missing pieces and completes the story. This is why choosing a photographer who’s work speaks to you is very important. Does the cake have to be that big? Could you enlist friends or relatives to help create the wedding invitations or flowers? There will always be something to sacrifice, but don’t sacrifice on the things that helps bring back joy and memories. In a sense, I think photography takes an even higher ground then video. Sure it’s great that I can hear the laughter and the sounds, but I don’t always have a laptop or DVD player with me to pop it in and watch. I love video, but I just feel that a photograph is so much more intimate.
With every wedding I shoot and attend, I am taking notes. It might be that I don’t have this or that on my wedding, but at least I could say “Boy are we glad we hire ___________as a photographer!”
Happy Wednesday!
