Refuge at Refuge

Where there is Jayden, there is noise and mess :-) He controls the 1st floor and visits the 2nd floor very often. The only exception is the basement. Although most of his toys are in his dedicate large room in the basement, it's separated from the rest finished area. And I have given him strict order that he can't and shouldn't mess around there. (BTW, he rarely listens...)  Therefore, my only refuge where I can enjoy the moments of quietness, listen to my favorite music, read my books and magazines, watch non-cartoon related TV shows/movies and most importantly, be alone and do nothing. This is my basement, nearly 1000 sq foot of refuge at refuge.

3 Years Later...

Time flies. It's been 4 years since the last post when my little boy, Jayden Zhicheng Feng was just born. He is now in Junior Kindergarten, running and speaking like never ends.

A New Life Has Come

December 19, 2012, a new life has come to my family, Jayden (ZhiCheng) Feng was prematurely at Civic hospital around the midnight. He was merely 5.3 lbs.

Although Bo and I had been preparing for this for a long time, we both realized that our lives would be totally different at the moment when this happened. We were hoping for a  peaceful Christmas, but it would never be again...

Jayden was naturally delivered. Bo only stayed in the delivery room for about 8 hours. And   the doctor "kicked" us our after 2 days. Jayden was being monitored in ICU for one day due to his size, not being able to maintain body temperature and slow heart beats... It sounded terrible but the little tough guy was brought back to us after one day when all these problems were gone. 

Jayden has always been a funny mainly due to his abundant facial expressions, all the time when he was awake, such as in the following pictures.

He was sleeping most of the time, only glimpsed for any noise after meals...

Jayden is growing fast. He's almost gained one pound each week. Other than sleeping, he is eating with poops and pee in between, requiring constant caring 24/7. 

During the first month, because he was relatively small, he needs to go to Ped every 2 weeks. When we wrapped him up and put into a car seat, he was very curious about what was happening but fell to sleep rather fast as soon as the car started...

Yes, Jayden is unusually cute when he is calm and playful just like what are in the following several pictures.

谁说我有作风问题 ?!...

Now Jayden is 3 months old. He still demands constant care 24/7, crying when he needs anything or just feel grumpy. From time to time, Bo and I really missed the time when we had no kids but that moment was gone fast when Jayden stopped crying... The only he does more often those days is smiling, very charm smiling, that gets everyone's attention very fast.

And now he is 7 months old and growing...

After bath...

To be continued...

Model Shoot at Dow's Lake

This was another Meetup event with about 20 other fellow photographers for an model shoot. There were about 7,8 models with an experienced instructor. Young models here were to learn how to pose. Amateur photographers, like myself, were to learn how to work with inexperience models for outdoor portraits.

The equipment I used includes, my beloved Nikon D700 and my old friend 70-200 VRI, all with natural lighting.

Let's take a look at the pictures I processed so far...

To be continued...

Engagement Shoot with Daphne & Andres

This was a Meetup event with another 4 fellow photographers for an engagement shoot, Daphne & Andres. The newly engaged couple were young and energetic. This made the shooting a lot fun. 

The equipment I used includes, my beloved Nikon D700, newly purchased Nikon 50 F1.4G and my old friend 70-200 VRI. I brought the shoot through white umbrella, stand and SB-800 for the evening but it was the time I used the combination in practice. I need more practice with those :-)

Let's take a look at the pictures I processed so far...

Thanks for reading. The End.

Another Real Estate Shoot

It was from word of mouth again. I didn't post any ads, this was the 4th time I was refered by my previous customers to take a real estate shoot. 

Out of curiosity, I checked out what it's called "Professional Grade Home Photos" from the largest Home Marketting Consultants, Grapevine (in another phrase, sell by your own). This service is only included in their most expensive listing package. And it costs almost $800 !!

Let's take a look at what so called "professional Grade" service offers. It says "Nine (9) photos of your home taken with a professional grade SLR digital camera with a wide-angle lens, bounce flash and diffuser."  It's funny. First of all, it didn't mention the qualification of the photographer. It could be an 8 year old boy or girl, as long as he/she uses "a professional grade SLR...." We all know (ok, serious photographers know) the most important element of photography is the part 6 inch behind the camera. In other words, the photographer. There is no double everyone can take pictures but if you charge people a heft amount of money, it's gotta be an experienced and qualified photographer.

Secondly, what qualifies as "professional grade", there is no definition in the world. I saw people took amazing pictures using point and shoot Sony or Olympus cameras. I saw gabage from Nikon D3x as well.

Third, bounce flash and diffuser won't always work. It depends on the size of the room, the type of surface(ceiling and wall) and how furniture is arranged, etc. The best way to lighten the house is tone enhancement (similar to HDR) but not in a sereal way.

Funny that I only charge $50 for as many pictures as you want. I usually spend about 4 hours for each shooting from the field trip to post processing. This is lower than what you will get paid working for flipping burgers...

Ok. Let's take a look at what I used. My equipment includes Nikon D700, Nikon 16-35mm VR and Manfrotto tripod. There was no flash or bounce card. What I asked the owner to do was to: 1) keep things clean and simple (note: unless you have a big home or a certain style you would like to show, always keep it clean); 2) turn on all the lights and open up curtain to let natural lights in. I usually take 5 pictures with 1 stop apart. However, I only use one of them with the best lighting. When the owner specifically asked me to ensure both indoor and outdoor are visible (such as the first picture), I use 2 pictures to merge together. Another important part is that the owner spends way more longer time than I do in the house. So every time I finish one room, I always review with the owner to see if he/she agrees with the angle. Since I have the 16-35mm lens on a full frame camera, usually owners are quite surprised and happy to see how big their houses look like. And of course, until I post-process all pictures, they are even happier to see how bright it is.

Another recent shot in June

Thanks for reading.


The End.

Boudoir Studio Location Shot

This is my 2nd Meetup. This time it's Boudoir Studio Location Shot. I went for the event simply because it was in a studio. And for many years, that I wanted to establish my own studio in the basement but for many different reasons it hasn't happened yet.  I like landscape a lot it gives you opportunities to keep moments forever while I travel (did I mention I like travel too...). However, I don't have a lot of opportunities to go to exotic places where fewer landmarks are taken by a lot of photographers. And when I travel with Bo, it's very hard to get up early and stay late to catch the best lighting condition. Anyway, I have a lot of excuses :-)

My new year resolution is to progress into portraits and studio shots. I feel it's more relevant to people, the people I know and the people I get to know. And there have been quite a lot of needs from my friends around, babies, graduations, wedding, etc. I really want to start up possible business in this area.

Let's go back to the subject. Although it's paying event, it's an excellent opportunity for me to grow my knowledge for studio shooting. And the topic this time, Boudoir, I just realized what it was when we started. 5 mid-aged guys with a young woman and lingerie, made me feel uncomfortable at the beginning but soon it eased over because everyone was so focused on the techniques, lighting, posing... I told myself, what a great group to be in...

Working with other experienced photographers will always let you realize how little you know about photography. I knew nothing about studio setting and I knew very little to ask model to pose. Quite a lot to learn. Gladly, at least, I think my PS skills compensated some of my weakness.

First of all, let me illustrate the studio setting.

Then let's take a look at the result. Studio lighting does make all the differences. I can see how those pictures in the magazines were make now.

The end. Thanks for reading.