Miss Amber

amber came in for another photo shoot today in much more casual attire. she hasn't been groomed in a while, so her furry self is much fuller.

as usual she didn't really want her picture taken, walking off the set several times... okay, a lot of times. every now and then she would humor me, at least that's what it felt like, and she would sit long enough for a few pictures.

who you don't see is amber's mother, sitting just off to the right. if her mommy was not there, amber would not be there.




after an hour or so of shooting, miss amber got tired. we pulled out her blanket and her favorite toy. somehow after the blanket and the toy came out and we got her nice and wrapped up, she stayed put, content to let me take picture after picture.

i think i'm getting better at this puppy portrait thing.



thank you to amber's mom for letting me take puppy pictures and for constantly grabbing puppy and placing her royal highness back on set.

Why the Printer Won't Work

I have no idea why I find this so funny.

Ash everywhere

there was ash everywhere. it looked like a light flurry of snow falling, but with that overwhelming smell of smoke. who knows if the ash was from the plants that burned or from someone's home that's no longer there.

yesterday when i woke up, i remember thinking i hadn't seen the sky so blue in such a long time. the santa ana winds were getting stronger, it must have blown off all the smog around the area.

several hours later i saw the smoke come in. i remembered hearing about a fire somewhere, but i paid little attention to where it was. i wasn't worried that it might reach our house. we hardly live in a fire prone area. there were fires every year, it wasn't something unheard of.



i had no idea the fires were so close, that it would come close to the homes of people i knew, but would eventually pass them by.

Congrats Rita!

my friend rita gave birth to a happy, healthy, baby boy today. congratulations to the family!



rita was nice enough to let me come to the delivery room and take pictures while she was giving birth. unfortunately, i was trying to get a guest pass and missed the delivery by seconds - literally. the doctor was pulling the baby out just as i was stepping into the room trying to pull the lens cap off the camera.

rita is a brave woman because she had no problem with me taking pictures from any angle. ANY angle. why, those pictures could easily end up here on my blog for all the world wide web to see. okay, so that's not going to happen. i promised i wasn't going to show the business end of her to anyone.

i was even there for baby's first pee pee. i put the fig leaf there for those of you who have issues about seeing a baby's winkie. your welcome.



being there for the birth was an amazing experience. i had no idea of the kinds of emotions that would come up. it was so moving, i thought i was going to cry when they put the baby in rita's arms and she saw the baby for the first time. i know it sounds sappy, but it really is spectacular.



thanks for letting me be there rita. i hope the family is doing wonderful!

Making a Coaxial Cable

randy is now a cable guy. today he showed me how to make my very own coaxial cable.

here it is, step by step. i have no idea what the pieces or tools are called, so they will all just be called "thingy."


first, cut the cable so that the end is straight.


then use a tool thingy to remove the plastic covering over the wires. this one removes two sections at once.




then, pull back the braided wires that are covering up that other silvery part.


then slip the connector thingy over the wire.


use funny tool thingy to make sure connector goes on to wire all the way and crimps on tightly.


and there you have it, my very own coaxial cable. i feel so manly making my own.

Dim Sum

randy and i love to eat dim sum. the place we end up going to the most is great seafood harbor in cerritos, mostly because it's close to the house.

i usually estimate how authentic and good an ethnic food place is by the proportion of people from that culture that are there eating. for instance, if there are more white people (no offense to white people) in a thai restraunt than there are thais, chances are it isn't very authentic thai food.

well, great seafood harbor has a lot of chinese patrons every time i go in. heck, even the people pushing around he dim sum carts and wait tables hardly speak english. most of the communication happens with pointing "i want that one" and nodding or head shaking.

i love the novelty of picking the food i want as the cart goes by. i never seem to get over it.

Halloween at the Photo Department

halloween at cypress college is always interesting. the theater department sells off some of the costumes they no longer use for $3 - $5. i found this amazing red robe for $3. as you can see, we had some fun with it.

Halloween Donut

for halloween michael brydges, a communications instructor at cypress college who happens to be taking a few photo classes, brought some krispy kreme donuts in for the photo department staff. he even got me the special pumpkin one i thought was so cute. thanks michael!

Mike and Nong Nang's Wedding

Mike and Nong Nang's wedding was a small and intimate affair. every wedding i go to is special in it's own way. there were less than 20 guests and half were photographers!

after a minor fiasco at the hair salon, mike and nong nang finally made it to their wedding half an hour late and i made it there 15 minutes later, but long enough to miss the entire wedding ceremony. in any case, we made it there in typical thai time.


mike and phi nong were married in a gazebo overlooking the ocean in laguna beach. i wish i could say the wedding was beautiful, but frankly, i missed it. luckily, mike is a photographer and he has a lot of photographer friends to help take pictures that i get to see. two of the guest were yvette and roman galvan, amazing wedding photographers. hopefully, i get to see it on ron's video one day too.

the reception was held at madison square and garden cafe. it seems to be a place that sells unique and whimsical trinkets for your home and garden, as well as having a small dining area in the back. the garden cafe area is just dreamy and i would love to have a back yard like that one day. the good news is that they also seem to offer landscape planning & design services.

lunch was a simple yet flavorful salad. i had the pear salad (fresh cut romaine lettuce with candied walnuts, gorgonzola cheese, diced poached pears and tossed with balsamic vinaigrette) while randy had the shanghai chicken salad (mixed greens, carrots, wontons, red cabbage, rice noodles, and grilled chicken in a plum mustard dressing). i always get food envy when it comes to what other people ordered so randy was nice enough to share half of his salad with me.


i have no idea where the wedding cake was from, but it was good! it was some of the best wedding cake i've ever had. maybe it tastes extra special good because it's a wedding cake.





i wish mike and phi nong many happy years together. thanks for allowing me to share in your wedding day!

Boo & Co.

while walking around target i saw these totally adorable halloween decor items from boo & co. one day i'll have a place of my own and i'll buy all this stuff to decorate my house!

pumpkin bath mat,


halloween themed wash cloths,


and spider web place mats!

Michael's Motion Demo

tonight mike did his motion demo for the class.

stop action


blurred motion


panning



and just for kicks, cory and i decided to stay in the studio and see what we could come up with for some lights he had using the bulb setting on the camera.

Kitchen Remodel

the kitchen remodel is coming along quite nicely. we have walls again! pretty soon randy will install the cabinets that we bought from ikea.

thank you arian and manny for all the help you've given us with this project.

Xtreme Bowling for Markus's Birthday

For markus's birthday markus, claudia, randy, and i went out to dinner at tulsa rib company in orange. they pretty much have the only ribs i'll eat. i'm sure there is better out there as my friends from texas all tell me, but i haven't had them yet. i am always on the hunt for good food, so if you know if a kick ass rib place, let me know.

yes, i've been to lucille's and no, it doesn't compare to tulsa rib company.

after some good feasting we went bowling at Carter Lanes in Fullerton. It was time for cosmic bowl. i really liked it. the place wasn't crowded like Linbrook and everything just seemed a lot cooler.


i suck at bowling.


my favorite part about Carter Lanes were the shoes. They were pretty new and even the stiching glowed quite nicely under the black lights. I want a pair like these now! I have no idea where to get them though.

Jonathan's Birthday

the cypress college photography department is like a family. as with a lot of families, we take time to celebrate each others' birthdays. this time, it was jonathan's birthday. we got him a chocolate silk pie with a batman candle then sang happy birthday to him.

i'm sure he thought that was it, but there was more. shortly after jonathan's class started another instructor, clayton, took his entire digital photography class over to jonathan's classroom, barged right in, and broke out into "happy birthday".



we like to make learning fun.

Cliff's class gets comfortable

in order to get students to feel comfortable and open up, cliff abandoned the normally formal seating arrangement in the classroom for a more campfire circle feel. comfy chairs were brought in instead of desks (although some still chose to sit in desks) and an air mattress was even laid on the floor for whoever wanted to chill.

i'm not sure if it worked to get students to feel more comfortable, but it definately made class more interesting.

James Huston @ Cypress College

James Huston, author of many books including "Farewell to Manzanar" and "Snow Mountain Passage" gave a talk about his books and the stories behind writing the books at Cypress College today.

Normally, this is not a talk I would attend, but my speech professor Dr. Donna Friess had us go as part of our class. I'm so thrilled I got to go because the stories behind the books were quite interesting. Mr. Huston also spoke about the process of writing the books and there were a few funny anecdotes behind them.

I even got his autograph! yeah!

Happy Birthday Arian

happy birthday arian!


i've had ice cream cakes before, but this is the first time i've had ice cream cup cakes! awesome! i'm not the only photog in the family. tisha is too and i think great minds think alike. we are both taking pictures of these delicious treats.

Bowling at Linbrook

so, i went bowling again yesterday, this time with the filipino family instead of the photo family.


there was lots of beer.


randy bowled a turkey!