Baby project!

~ Babies are a link between angels and man~ Anonymous
I figured that I wasn't busy enough and needed some type of personal project. Yes, I'm pretty much crazy, considering that this week included a trip to the hospital-eek, Marcus is doing ok though. So I've decided to photograph 6 babies. Easy enough? 4 girls, 2 boys. I'm still learning so much and am so delighted to hear birth stories or just little anecdotes about them:)
I want to thank all the moms and of course the adorable little babies.
I wanted to throw myself a little challenge so here were the rules/guidelines:
-minimum clothing (which is by the way the only type of NUDE, i.e Baby nude that I'm planning to do)-20-40 min sessions-Black and white- Let it be ( babies are who they are- happy, grumpy, hungry- on their own time. Who am I to mess with that?)- No editing (gasp. Yet so liberating)-Post less than 8 pictures (forces me to be even more critical- in a good way right?)

So here we are. Meet the first ones. They are all so different and definitely special in their own way.

Jessie






Maiara






Tae







So I'm halfway done :)

Poehere and Tevita

You know, before I even applied for college, I was told that by far the cultural experience would be one of the most attractive feature of BYUH. So low and behold, out of the +100 nations represented on campus, my first roommate was from TAHITI! Ha.

What an experience. First year in college, first time sharing a room with someone other than your sisters, definitely memorable. By the way, I swear her food contributed to my freshman 15 and putting my clothes in the dryer didn't help either. Ha.

Here's us on our way to the school dance. BTW the date is definitely wrong. In 1996 I wasn't out of High School yet. In fact I was still in Fiji- long story.

Now...what, 7yrs later? (gasp) we have different/permanent roommates and I'm so happy for her :) She's about to start her teaching career this coming month and also happens to be an upcoming photographer ;)

Here's her: DUH pose. Yeah, she'll probably kill me for that. But hey, privileges of the blogger.

Practice, practice and more practice. And a super long post.

My last trip to Tahiti was more than therapeutic. First, I got to remember what it was like to just float in crystal clear water, in a lagoon and not being afraid of finding myself 100 miles down current, and just enjoy the WARM water. The only thing missing? My hubby :-(

But don't get me wrong, it was a lot of shooting. But this was the perfect opportunity to work/practice on a few things . For that, I want to thank the willing volunteers for their time and patience :)
Ok, so practice for what you may ask. I'd be the first one to admit that I'm far from perfect. So I picked what I thought I really needed to learn and there it went. Well, considering that noon time (aka super bright overhead sun = raccoon eyes) and pitch dark- or to me more like any LOW light situations, are the two extreme lighting conditions for a photographer why not take the time to work on those. In other words, situations that I used to flee away from. I mean, like the plague.

NOON

Not too shabby when using my shabby flash right?








and not being afraid of shadows???


But then again, its always nice to go back to my "comfort zone". In the shade with a super reflective surface, in this case the ground.


And of course my favorite type... backlighting.






Now on to the other evil...Haha. Well, it was actually a combination of reflectors, then off-camera lighting. Where Norris graciously shared his almightihood (?) on the topic. Again, thank you for Heiani and Hina for volunteering. I was about to scan an old class photo proving how long I've known Heiani, but then realized that meant showing what I looked like when I was 9yrs old (not a pretty sight- Haha). Anyhow, what troopers they were. I mean between the mosquitoes, flies and cold water...and the constant chatter between photogs-which in retrospect must have seem so boring to them. Ha. They were really patient.
It was definitely a lot of fun and most of all a big learning session! Glad that Moe was able to come too.












The following pictures incorporated the OCF while still using natural light.














I promise it wasn't an utter torture. At least I hope :)










Finally. Crowds or things that you cannot move. What better place than the local market right?
Thank you Mele, Josh and Poehere.


















It was quite a big learning curve and it was good to not be under the pressure of " I can't mess up" if you know what I mean. The whole concept that it was ok to make mistakes? So refreshing!!! I'm still "on vacation" (aka editing mode) for a few days. But I'm excited to get back to shooting :)
Thank you again all of you for teaching me, letting me practice, and most of all, have fun :)

Joyce and Jimmy- Wedding

There are so many things that I loved about this wedding but most of all SIMPLICITY! Those two were just so easy going and I'm really excited about how the pictures came out.Felicitations a vous deux!Bsx, LeeYen




















































How lucky they were to have a special guest performed such a beautiful aparima for us. Remember this shoot? Well it turned out that Lucie Poehere Wilson is now our Miss Tahiti 2010. Good luck to her running for Miss France :)