It's Been A While

I had forgotten that I started this Blog over 10 years ago. I think it's time for me to re-start this blog and just kind of revisit what I have been doing as well as what is happening now.

Well, a lot has happened in my career since then. The dream of becoming a photo journalist had somewhat disappeared and it had transformed into being a sports photographer. I am not complaining as this career move has brought me to meet so many amazing and talented creators in the business. Meeting these creatives have also brought me so many opportunities in sports. Not just shooting sports in general (will delve into that in more detail throughout the weeks), but have brought amazing opportunities shooting for brands such as Easton, Blast Motion, MOD by Harley, ALBA. Boxed Water, just to name a few. These brands had taught me that putting ideas for these brands and working closely with their marketing group have helped me become more confident in my ability as a photographer and my ability to make their ideas come to life. I am very thankful for the many years of opportunities they have given me and their trust in me in making their ideas come to life. Working with these brands gave me an opportunity to work with various athletes that I am sure some of you would be very familiar with. Athletes such as George Wilson, Tiago Splitter, Carlos Boozer. And for those that follow softball, I've had the opportunity to work with Jen Schroeder, Lauren Chamberlain, Morgan Stuart, Haylie McCleney, Kinzie Hansen, Amanda Lorenz, Aliyah Andrews, Hayley Cruse Mitchell, Sis Bates, and Paige Halstead.

Besides working with these brands, I have also become more involved in shooting sports. My very first Pro sports team that I had the opportunity to work with as San Diego Chargers. This was an opportunity that I could not turn down. The Chargers marketing department wants a woman's POV and one of their staff photographer, Eddie Perlas, have recommended me to them. I did not know what I was getting myself into, but the idea of shooting for SD Chargers, it was an opportunity that one should not turn down. Traveling down to San Diego if not every weekend or every other week was an experience on it's own, but being at Qualcomm Stadium (now Snapdragon Stadium) and walking through the tunnel and opens up to the field and see the size of that stadium...it was a feeling so hard to explain. It's not an easy peasy job, but I would not trade this experience for anything. I've learned so much that I have used most of that experience now as I shoot for other Pro teams. It also taught me to be patient and to really rely on "mind over matter" mentality, as working for a Pro Team, requires a lot of endurance and gives you a lot of challenges throughout the day.

Stay tune next week for more...as my week this week is filled with soccer. Till then...keep on being creative and keep doing what you love to do! 

Opportunities comes once in a while...

Carlos Boozer (LA Lakers)

When an opportunity is handed to you...never think twice...because that time may never come again. In my case, this opportunity came my way when I was asked to photograph a professional athlete for for PR company. When I was told it was going to be Carlos Boozer, who happens to have been an All-Star and an Gold Medal Olympian...but also a Los Angeles Laker. Well...not only was I excited to do this job (not because I an a die hard Laker fan all my life), but I was just honestly honored for the opportunity. Thank you Mr. Jay Bartlett trusting me with this job.

Amazing venue in Malibu was our location, Nobu on PCH. Besides having a private patio for us to use, the Nobu staff was very accommodating.

Call time is at 1 pm and all I could think of is why? But with whatever obstacles given to you, you make adjustments with what you have. Found our first location under the patio, where it gives us the shade we were hoping for, but low in light that we needed. I had my assistant Jeremiah set up a strobe (thank goodness for battery packs) camera right. By the way, wardrobes were provided by a Loaded Dock Resort Wear and Alba. Since I needed to make sure that we capture the details of the garment, I knew that I will need to shoot at least f/9 or f/10. With the strobe that we have at this location, that will be the ideal setting since our particular strobe we have at this time is not powerful enough to give us an f/14 reading. I could get this by slowing down my shutter speed, but then I will end up blowing out my background, which is the beach and the pier. That means, I will have to shoot 1/200 to 1/250 on my shutter speed to give me the background I needed. Our first location worked out perfectly, capturing shots of our model Jack (who is also the designer). Beach, blue sky, and the pier perfectly exposed in the background and great depth of field.

Next location was a little more challenging since we are completely out in the sun. Of course, we can never over power the sun, so we balanced the ambient light with the strobe and had Jack stand against wood fencing, to give us some texture. I wanted part of the background as the Malibu shoreline, but of course, the elements are never our friend. Besides the bright sun, wind started to kick in. So we adjusted and just had Jack stand/sit in front of the fencing and had him close his eyes and open whenever I am ready to take the shot.