Shooting Wat Arun, Bangkok

I had a chance to make a brief stop in Bangkok during my year-end trip.  I only had one night to shoot; so I scouted the internet for locations which I feel best represent beauty of Bangkok at dusk.  Most importantly, it must be easily accessible since again, I had a dinner deadline.  Turned out most of the images I found of Bangkok were citiscapes, buildings, night lights, etc.  Wat Arun stood out because it is a well-lit ancient temple, and it is right next to Bangkok’s famous river.  Thanks to the tips from Prachanart Viriyaraks and my buddy Panu; I was able to find the right location, plan the shoot with enough margin after sunset, and still make it on time to dinner despite Bangkok’s infamous traffic.

I thought I needed HDR to properly expose the image.  It turned out, single exposure from one of my bracketed frames was nearly perfect.  What a majestic site, don’t you think?

Sunset over Shinjuku – 2012

This is my 2nd attempt at capturing sunset over the city of Shinjuku.  The weather was virtually perfect, sky was clear and glowing orange, mount Fuji was clearly visible and gigantic as the result of compression from my teleconverter.  However, I ran out of time – I had a dinner appointment that night; I had to leave by 4:50PM.  15 more minutes the lights would have been perfectly balanced.  May be next year, may be.

Francesca for Eye Sparkles

I am so thrilled; it’s been a while since I’ve had this much fun.  I have been in contact with Ann off-and-on over the past year.  I am actually embarrassed to even contact her because I’ve canceled on her too many times.  This time, I am determined to see the project through.  Ann agreed to collaborate with me to shoot some accessories for Eye Sparkles fashion outlet.  To sweeten the pot, I recruited the amazingly captivating Francesca.  She is simply wonderful; I could shoot with her all day.  So many looks, so little time.

We decided to start with a clean natural look with Francesca’s hair tied up.  This way we can showcase the accessories without too much distraction.  But seriously, how could you not be distracted by Francesca?  Ann and her assistant Trang Le quickly went to work.  Watching Ann work is like watching a maestro perform.  Every move is crisp and confident; it must be such a pleasure to be doll’d up by Ann.

Meanwhile, I started to prep the set.   A white seamless paper is used for background.  For lighting, I started with the following:

• PCB Einstein with white beauty dish.  Center, above eye-level.
• PCB Einstein with softbox.  Behind Francesca, pointing down for hair and rim light.

A quick test shot.  Not bad, but rather boring;  too catalog-ish.  

Taipei – Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall

I had the chance to spend the weekend in Taipei last month; so I made sure that I packed my Benro tripod with me.  I chose CKS memorial since it was relatively close to my hotel, and easily accessible from the MRT.

Hannah

Shooting Hannah (and Wen) was quite a learning experience for me.  I had limited gear (speedlights, umbrellas, eBay softbox, and reflector) and tight space (my hotel room).  To be fair, I knew my challenges before I set out on my trip; but I didn’t realize how little I knew about lighting in small spaces.

Singapore Sands Casino – In the Rain

It was my last night (of two) in Singapore.  I sat there at the Fullerton Bay Hotel, drinking my Asahi, contemplating how I was going to capture the casino without tripod.  Then it occurred to me that I had my light stand, which had a 1/4″ thread.  I could run it through an adapter and secure my camera on the light stand!  Yes!  Nothing could stop me from finally getting some decent pictures now; right?  Well, not quite.  Just as the sun start to set, it started to rain.  I stood there under a porch in front of the Oyster Bar; taking a snap shot every minute to check for light balance.  Mean while, the rain got heavier and heavier.  The wind got stronger and stronger… you get the idea.  Finally when the sky and the casino light reached the balance I liked, I dashed out to the edge of the quay, took some quick shots, then ran back to the Fullerton Bay to finish my dinner.  All soaked.  May be next time…

Shanghai through the Window

It was my first trip to Shanghai.  I packed my best lenses, lighting gears, trigger cables… Dragged the heavy luggage across three different countries.  But guess what?  Forgot to pack my tripod.  Argh!

Sea to Summit Workshop – Santa Cruz

I finally got around to join the Sea to Summit Workshops in Santa Cruz ran by Jim Patterson and Josh Cripps.  They hold landscape workshops up and down California coast; and every once in a while, they venture out to the sierras.  Boy, did I learn a lot.

Wen and Only Wen

About a month ago, I had the chance to spend a weekend in Taipei.  To kill time, I decided to scout for models via Modelmayhem.  Since I was traveling, I was only able to bring limited gear.  The other restriction was location;  the temperature outside was 90+degF with high humidity.  Given these two challenges, I decide to do a glamour set in my hotel room.  I chose Wen because her portfolio shows she is experienced with my theme;  sure enough, she did not disappoint me.  She is full of energy and always excited to improvise on my ideas no matter how dumb they were.  The excitement she brought made the shoot extra fun.

Nemuro Wine – 2009

A couple years back, I wrote about photographing the Nemuro wine bottle; which turned out to be a lot of fun because I was able to do it with only 2 lights.  I received the 2009 vintage a few days ago.   My first reaction after seeing the bottle was: “*%^$*!, black label on black bottle…”