I love spending time with clients at their engagement sessions. As opposed to the portrait time on a stressful wedding day when every tick on the clock counts, an engagement session is much more relaxing and fun. Honestly. This is the time when I bond with my clients and laugh with them just about anything.

I still remember how much fun we had at Kristina & Eric’s engagement session.This was the scene that made me laugh. They found a booger fell on the ground and tried to examine it.

Here’s me in action. Ricky said the way I hold my camera looks so uncool. I KNOW! But what can I do about it? I’m like one of those old ladies who feel most comfortable wearing ankle length slacks because if I’m comfortable, then I won’t change. So don’t scream next time if you see me walking around with a pair of ankle length trousers.

Just if you’re curious, this is what I was looking at…

I love photographing children because the smiles I get are never fake. Although this is only true if they are not already conditioned by mom and dad to say cheese to the camera. But then you may ask: how to make them smile?

The answer is: REAL PLAY. Not fake play. Don’t think they can’t tell if you’re not playing with them wholeheartedly. In their little minds, they know your true intent is to click that shutter, and will give you the what-on-earth-are-you-doing look in return. I know it so well because I’m just sharing my failure with you. So next time if you want to get a child’s true smile on your photograph, play with them sincerely, and then go do your thing quickly.

I got to enjoy some play time with the Yu family and took some snapshots of handsome little Dustin.

If you’ve read my post a few weeks ago, you would know that I’m not a good sleeper. I often wake up in the middle of the night and my mind travels to the outer space. So last night, I woke up and I thought about photography. I suddenly saw a clearer picture of my photography style. It’s not like I decided on a style for myself at that moment, but it has been in me since the first day that I had a camera in my hand. It just became crystal clear last night.

I realized what my heart and my eyes are drawn to true emotions and natural expressions of people. From the very beginning when I started out as a child photographer, it was the genuine emotion of a child that attracts me. And I want to capture this piece of natural realness in my couple clients as well. These are the types of shots that make me smile and take pride in capturing.

Here is a teaser on a recent engagement shoot. It makes me wanna dance with them…

My Finao album arrived yesterday! I am more than impressed with its top of the line quality. I chose Finao because of the unique two-tone leather cover that they offer. There are so many options to choose from, and the colors are all fabulous! I decided to try this combination of textured accent and distressed leather, which gives it a modern and unique look.

The album was lovingly packaged in handmade paper made from recycled pineapple leaves and mulberry leaves.

Main leather: biker chic. Accent material: femme noire.

I like the seamless spread pages which make full page spreads look wonderful!

I love capturing actions. It adds dimension to a 2D photo.

Quite a few parents asked me how to take photos for their little ones when they are always going 60 mph. I would tell them just to capture them moving because those moments are so real. I would think most parents are glad that their children are active and moving, than not. Staying still and smiling at the camera is usually not their true self. Except if they’re like Annabelle.

My camera setting depends on how fast the subject is moving. It is usually slow enough for a shutter of 1/60 to capture fast moving objects, and 1/20 to 1/45 for people movement. I found these examples of my action shots and hope that they won’t give you motion sickness like Avatar on IMAX 3D gave me.

I’m officially an affiliated photographer for Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep Foundation (NILMDTS). NILMDTS is a non-profit organization that helps parents who suffer the loss of a baby with the gift of a portraiture. Before I read about this organization, I was praying that God could use me and my camera in a way that is pleasing to Him. When my friend Susanna sent me this article about NILMDTS, I applied to be their volunteer right away. I agree with Aurora Onorato, who shared her volunteering experience in the article, that – how could I not do it?

Really, how could I not.

I know it is not going to be easy for me emotionally. I cry every single time I surf in the NILMDTS parents’ forum to read their stories or browse through baby photos on the NILMDTS facebook page. But helping these families create beautiful memories of their child, whom they will not get to see again, is more important than my emotional well being.

Since I just got accepted as an affiliated photographer last week, I’m still waiting for my first dispatch call. I am nervous about doing the first session.  To be honest, I’d rather not having to do one.

If you have a few minutes, watch this clip about NILMDTS on the NBC Today Show. You do not need to be a photographer to help. You can volunteer as an area/parent coordinator to serve as the hospital contact and to help promote NILMDTS in your community. There is currently a need for an area coordinator for Central/North Orange County. Please consider this opportunity to help these families who are going through tough times.

If you know me, you know how I was once crazy with digital scrapbooking. I was a stubborn scrapbooker. I would not stop working on a page until it looks PERFECT to me. What that means is I often spent 8 hours, 12 hours, even a few days trying to scrap a perfect page with Photoshop. I just can’t explain the satisfaction I get out of it. Once I finish a page, I would be so happy and excited and not able to sleep that night. Yeah, I was that crazy!

I blame it on Two Peas In A Bucket. This website got me started as I looked with admiration at the pages that professional scrapbookers posted up there. I wanted to scrap like them! In two years, I scraped almost 60 pages to document Annabelle’s first two years and also a little bit of Christian’s life inside mommy’s womb. On the other hand, it was also Two Peas who led me onto the photography path. I learned so much about photography on its photo forum. There are many talented photographers there who are so willing to share their knowledge. That’s where I learned a lot of my photo skills.

Check out their site even if you are only slightly in love with scrapbooking or photography. They also give out free digital kits, and I’ll tell ‘ya, they are cute!

I have not scraped in two long years since Christian was born. I don’t know if it is a sad thing or a good thing. Time doesn’t allow me to do that anymore but I still miss it so much! Here is one of my favorites to share with you. This was my little Annabelle, who is not little anymore.

Journaling: Being able to work from home gives me the luxury of having you by my side most of the time. I can always be the first to know every new thing that you learn, words that you say, and every milestone that you achieve. I know that the time will quickly come when you will grow up, start school, make new friends, and we won’t be together as often. But for now, I treasure all the time we spend together, and I hope that no matter what, we will always be best buddies.

I realize lately that there’s one kind of facial touchup I have to do often on kids’ portraits. You might think that when photographing children, there’s not much photoshoping needed on their face. While it’s true that they don’t need any digital face lift or botox, there is one procedure I have to do often, especially on my kids’ photos. It’s called the “booger removal”. No wonder I always see kiddies sticking up a finger in their nostril, that’s because they always have stuff in there that needs attention. And I ask myself, do I want those photos of them to look more realistic the way they are, or should I take them out? It a hard call for me. Most of the time, I prefer not to see them on a portrait. Just a personal preference.

I rented a 15mm f/2.8 fisheye lens last month and had some fun with it. But I personally wouldn’t get my face too close in front of this lens because I don’t want to look like them.

Annabelle was laughing so hard when I showed her this photo.

And then she laughed at herself and said, “Oh, this is fun!”

What precious moment when they don’t fight…

I shot this on the airport train in Dallas, TX.

I’ve been drooling over this Shootsac for I don’t remember how long. It was a luxury to me when I was shooting mainly lifestyle sessions. Lately I’ve been thinking about this bag again since I will be shooting a few weddings and hoping to be able to do more. It’s a real headache how I’m going to carry my lenses, batteries, and compact flash cards at wedding ceremonies and receptions. I secretly pray that I don’t have to wear a belt with two lens pouches attached to my pants. Anyway, I mentioned this bag to Ricky and told him I wish to have one of these.

Like all my other shopping wishes, I did not expect him to pay attention. But he did put it on his mind. A few days later, he told me all the websites that sold the Shootsacs were out of stock, except for one store in Canada. Oh well, it may be pretty cool though to look like a gunman in a wedding, I thought. Who could have knew that my brother-in-law who lives in Canada is a frequent visitor of that camera store. Ricky told him about this, and he went and bought one for me right away! Isn’t he cool? Thank you Ricky and big brother! What a nice and early birthday gift for me. Now I don’t have to worry about my pants falling off while I bend down to shoot the flower girl.