Friday, December 25, 2009

Valentine's Portraits

Valentine's Day is around the corner. Are you in love? Happily married? How would you like to have amazing Valentine's portraits with the love of your life? Ladies can also set up a photo session with me and give the gift of sexy boudoir photos to your boyfriend or husband!

I also have gift certificates for anyone who want to purchase them for loved ones.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Black Belt Advancement

I know that this is a photo blog, however, I'd like to make this announcement.

I was recently promoted to second degree black belt in KAJUKENBO on December 19, 2009. For those of us who get promoted to second degree or higher black belt in this style, we no longer have to get tested on skill or knowledge on day of the promotion. All we have to do is show committment and improvements in our training and/or assist with the other students throughout the year(s).

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Daniel and Tina's Wedding


My cousin, Daniel, got married last Sunday, December 06 at the Marriot Hotel in Newport Beach, CA. It was a very nice wedding with 100 guests. The ceremony was outdoors in the courtyard while the reception was at one of the hotel's ballroom. My cousin didn't know that I was an aspiring photographer until the day of his wedding, so I was not the official/hired photographer and it was difficult to stay in my seat instead of running around to get the photos I wanted during the ceremony. I know that if I was the official photographer, I would hate for a guest to get in my way.

I was still able to get some nice photos from my seat and got in some "practice" anyway. You can see more photos from the wedding at: http://anastasia.zenfolio.com/p276045306

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Los Angeles Zoo


Bighorn Sheep

Living in Southern California, I should know better that it's sunny 360 days of the year. After being disappointed for a short period while some dark clouds passed over my house, it cleared up with mostly clear skies so I went to the Los Angeles Zoo yesterday. I haven't been to a zoo - any zoo - since I started going to photography workshops in July. Using what I learned from workshops at the L.A. zoo, I was pleased with the photos/results!

You can see the rest of the photos here: http://tinyurl.com/lazoo

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Samurai Photo Session

The Los Angeles Photography Meetup Group had a Samurai photo session this weekend. The photo session was on the beach in Pacific Palisades (near Santa Monica), CA. Because of MY Martial Arts background, I was naturally inclined to be at the photo session. There were three models who were also actors and they all had a Martial Arts background. I didn't know any of them and they didn't come from my Karate group. They were all awesome models and I had a blast taking some action photos of them doing what they did best! I should also mentioned that all the models had their make-up done by Shannon Renee who was also a sweet person to work with.

I also took a few portraits of one of the models, Phillip, when he wasn't doing his Martial Arts poses.


Phillip's Martial Arts poses: http://anastasia.zenfolio.com/p337042688



You should seriously check out the photo sets for Andrew and Chiu because they did some aerial stuff! I was thrilled with how the action photos came out.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Holiday Portraits

Christmas is around the corner. How would you like amazing family or pet photos for your holiday greeting cards or holiday postcards? I'm not just a photographer...I'm also a dog lover, pet owner and a kid at heart!

Contact me for more details and book a photo session with me now!

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Karate Tournament

I attended a Karate tournament last Sunday and it was held at the Bassett Park in La Puente, CA. I had always competed in these types of events before, but I decided that I wanted to try my hand at sports/action photography. This was the first tournament that I had gone to, but didn't compete in. While I still have a lot to learn about sports/action photography, it was a fun and interesting experience photographing a sporting event. There were many different styles that competed in this tournament. It was not just Kajukenbo...there were also Red Dragen Karate, Kenpo, and many more at this event.


Kata Division


Sparring Division

Most of the competitors in the photos are from my class. I wasn't able to photograph some of my classmates because they were competing in their division while I was photographing a few other classmates in another division. For a full photo set, visit: http://anastasia.zenfolio.com/p772297298
Also, for those that don't know martial arts terms. Kata is basically a group of self-defense techniques. Sparring is "practice fighting". The Kata term may vary between styles and schools.

Here is a background for those that don't already know. I have a first degree black belt and 15 years (as of April 2010) of experience in a mixed martial arts style called Kajukenbo - Korean Karate, Judo/Jiu-jitsu, Kenpo, and Chinese Boxing (Kung Fu). I was promoted to black belt in December 2006 and I still attend training/classes. I have been practicing the same style with the same instructor.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Pacific Of The Aquarium

Pacific of the Aquarium is located in Long Beach, CA. I went there two weeks ago as I got a free admission for being a participant at a half marathon in Long Beach that I did on October 10, 2009. This aquarium is a great place to visit if you love all animals, particularly if you are very interested in marine life, oceanography and anything related to this subject. This was my first time visiting this aqaurium, so I had a nice time and I learned a bit about some of the marine animals.


I love looking at jellyfishes!


Hmm, I'm having trouble "Finding Nemo".

More photos can be seen at: http://tinyurl.com/ye8cuu5

A few years ago, I visited the Shark Reef Aquarium at the Mandalay Bay Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas, NV. At the time, I only had a point and shoot digital camera. The camera wasn't really good at taking photographs in low light such as in an aquarium because the maximum ISO was 400, so trying to photograph anything in the aquarium wasn't fun and a lot of the photos came out blurry. Now that I have a DSLR camera and the maximum ISO is 3200 (including a feature called "image stablization"), making it great at photographing in low light, I was thrilled that I got to take photos of jellyfishes! I'm very fascinated with jellyfishes because they are beautiful creatures to look at.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Children's Halloween Portraits

I attended a chidren's Halloween photo session in Eagle Rock, CA for the Los Angeles Photograpy meetup group yesterday. While it was fun to photograph children, there were about 15 or so kids ranging in ages from six months to five years old (with only five or so photographers!). I only managed to photograph about eleven children. Some of them are siblings. Oh my gosh, there were so many children there that it was difficult to photograph them all. Most of them liked to run away and play or they were camera shy or just shy around strangers. I think I can handle photographing families if the family had two small children under six years old. They can have older kids, but one or two younger kids is a lot to handle since they like to run around instead of listening/cooperating.


Sister and Brother, Chloe and Sean:
http://anastasia.zenfolio.com/p803339714



Baby girl, Eiza, didn't have a costume but was just as cute!
http://anastasia.zenfolio.com/p541500406



Ginger:
http://anastasia.zenfolio.com/p728813398



Gracie:
http://anastasia.zenfolio.com/p609259182



Brothers, Luca and Jaiden:
http://anastasia.zenfolio.com/p666679583



Merrick didn't have his costume either:
http://anastasia.zenfolio.com/p754366444


otis:
http://anastasia.zenfolio.com/p1073485739



Brother and Sister, Phillip and Scarlette:
http://anastasia.zenfolio.com/p751421792


While it was difficult and somewhat frustrating to photograph ALL the children that were there, it was still fun.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Engagement Sessions

I went to a photography event over the weekend for the Los Angeles Photog Group from facebook. The theme was "engagement sessions". While there were six models there, only two of them were a real couple. Everyone was so nice and it was a fun event!

Mel and Carolina are a real couple and they are getting married at the end of next month. The other models were "pretend" couples, but they were also great to work with too.




Monday, October 5, 2009

Bridal Shoot

I attended another wedding photography workshop over the weekend. I always have fun in any kind of photography workshops and I'm always learning something new. The photographers who lead and host the workshops are always fun.

Anyway,
Henry Wang and Doug McNamee were the photographers who led the workshop. They were awesome as always, and the models were also fabulous and beautiful! There were three models and two of them are a real couple - Amanda and Josh - even though they are not getting married anytime soon. Rie, who was the third model, was just stunning and an exceptionally talented model!

The workshop started at Henry's studio in Temple City and we took photos of the models in the studio and outdoors near the studio. Then we moved on to the Santa Fe Dam in Irwindale to finish off the rest of the workshop. Here are a few photos from the workshop with the rest of the photo session(s) on my zenfolio website.

After the workshop, we went to dinner to a Chinese restaurant called "Indian". What an interesting name! We talked a little bit about photography, but mostly of everything else and we just hung out. The food and company were great!

Friday, October 2, 2009

Miki

I went to the Los Angeles Photography group meetup for a high school senior portraits/photoshoot at the USC (University of Southern California) campus today. Only one model out of three made an appearance. Miki was the model. She had already been out of high school, but she could pass as a high school senior because she looked very young. I enjoyed working with her.


Someone asked me if I would do high school senior portraits awhile ago. At the time, I didn't know how this worked. I just thought that high school(s) hired a photography company and not so much the individual/independant/freelance photographers because the schools needed photos for the yearbook. I wouldn't mind doing high school senior portraits so long as I don't have to go through a photography company or have anything to do with the yearbooks and I can do the more casual, non-traditional/standard photos for the seniors.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

10th Annual Moon Festival

There was a Moon Festival in the town that I live in. This festival was about the Chinese culture and arts, and it was a very small event. It was very small, I don't think that event organizer promoted this very well or too much. This was their 10th annual event...I have lived in the same town for 20 years and this was the first year I have known about this event. I also didn't know about this event until four days ago!

There were some vendors there, however, I can't tell you what most of them were promoting or selling. While I am Chinese, I can't read Chinese and I don't any Manderin (which was the main language/dialect spoken there). There weren't any arts & crafts or games, and there were only one vendor that was selling food. The food vendor, however, was selling Korean BBQ! How strange because the event was promoting Chinese culture.



Miss China Town was also there with one of her Princesses.


Miss China Town is the one "facing" the camera

There was plenty of live entertainment and I basically stuck to the staging area. You can see photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/anastasia_photography/sets/72157622343474251/

Monday, September 21, 2009

Family Festival - October 10


I have decided to set up a booth at the family festival on Saturday, October 10 in the City of Walnut to advertise my photography service. This is a very small festival that only residents of Walnut and surrounding cities, and their friends and families would know about. There will be tons of things going on there like arts and crafts, games, food, and other entertainment including a parade and a 5K/10K race.

The 5K/10K race starts at 7am, but the actual festival will be from 10am to 7pm. If you have some free time during the hours of 10am to 7pm, please come by my table on October 10! I would greatly appreciate visits from any of you!

The festival will be located at:

Suzanne Park
625 Suzanne Road
Walnut, CA 91789
http://www.ci.walnut.ca.us/general.asp?id=226

It's also located behind Suzanne Middle School.

In case you are someone reading this and you know that I am a runner, I will not be doing the 5K/10K race in the morning before the festival. I'm running a half marathon in Long Beach the next morning, and I need to rest up my legs on the day before the big race. I have set up a charity page on behalf of Train 4 Autism while I am training/running for the half marathon. If you are feeling generous, you are more than welcome to make a donation through my charity page link or you can visit my table at the festival to donate.

http://www.active.com/donate/train4autism09/Karate_Kid

Sunday, September 20, 2009

San Dimas Dog Park Sept. 2009

Kiko (my girl dog)

I recently took my dog, Kiko, to a dog park in San Dimas for the monthly small dog "club" meeting. While she is good at greeting other dogs, she is finally learning how to play with other dogs.

You can see more photos of her and her doggie "friends" here: http://anastasia.zenfolio.com/p384146676

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Bride And Groom Photo Session - Laura and Dustin

A few weeks ago, I took my dog to a dog park in hopes to get her more socialized with other dogs and learn to play, AND with intentions of finding people who would be intereseted in scheduling a dog photo session with me. While I found two people who might be interested, I also left with someone who was interested in having me as a photographer at his wedding. Unfortunately, his wedding was last Sunday (August 16), and he never called me to confirm or fill me in on the details.

Before I had someone who asked me to be a photographer at his wedding, I actually didn't want to do wedding photography. There is a high expectation for the big day to be perfect because the brides-to-be put in so much time, work/effort and money into their weddings that it is very easy to disappoint them. I don't want to provide bad services, bad photos or the wrong kind of photos. I've decided to give it a try and if I don't actually like doing wedding photography after I try it once....well, I can say that I have tried it once to see what it is like. The only difference between regular couples portraits and wedding photos is that everyone is dressed up in nice clothes for a wedding. I've already enjoy photographing couples and they can be even more lovely dovey on their wedding day. I also realize that I could potentially gain more clients for "regular" portraits by doing weddings.

I had a "Bride & Groom" posing workshop
this past Sunday. Henry Wang and Doug McNamee were the main photographers who led the workshop. It was a fun and great learning experience. While this is NOT for a real wedding, now I have something to show and I don't feel stupid when people ask me to do their weddings!

Meet Laura and Dustin who were the models for us:


Dustin and Laura are a real couple, however, they are not getting married anytime soon. They were playing dress up in full wedding attire for us. They were such a pleasure to work with and they are a real cute couple!

Here are the rest of the photo set for Laura and Dustin: http://anastasia.zenfolio.com/p972848454

Saturday, August 8, 2009

First Maternity Shoot

I recently did a maternity photo session with Veronica and Paul. They are expecting their first baby in October. This was my first maternity shoot, so I didn't know what to expect or have any experience on what to do. This was also their first maternity shoot as well, so it was a learning experience for us all. They were a pleasure to work with and I hope to do a baby/family photo session after their baby is born!

You can see more of their photos at: http://anastasia.zenfolio.com/p457198407

While this was my first maternity shoot, it was an interesting experience and I have a lot to learn about this kind of photography. I absolutely love photographing kids and families, so doing maternity photos can't be skipped! Any photographers out there who reading this and do maternity photography, I would appreciate any help, suggestions, and advice on how to improve.