Fashion shoot

A couple of weeks ago, EJ Litiatco and I joined forces to set up a fashion photo shoot. EJ came up with the idea last year on one of my pre-wedding appointments with her but we both became too busy (me with the wedding, she with the coming of her baby, and both of us with work) that we could only come up with a common schedule this month. We started the shoot early on a Sunday morning and ended at around 6PM. It was an exhausting activity but we all had fun. And we got GREAT shots out of it! I am actually still working on the photos (we took A LOT of photos) but the models haven't seen their shots and they're becoming curious so I'm posting a sneak preview.:)

Hair, Makeup and Styling by EJ LITIATCO.
Gowns by GINA DALU.
Venue: Celebrity Sports Club.

Here are the lovely girls who posed for me that day (in alphabetical order):

Mara is EJ's equally beautiful younger sister. Aside from doing modeling stints every now and then, she is EJ's assistant make-up artist (she did Pete's make-up for our wedding) and personal make-up model.:)

Mary is one of EJ's friends who does modeling on the side.

Mikah is one of EJ's regular models. She's the youngest among the five girls, but probably has more experience as a fashion model than any of the others. :)
Niña is my sister-in-law. I asked her to join us for the shoot only the night before. It was her first time to do a fashion shoot (not counting the times when I made her pose for me when I was still studying photography and trying to do some experiments. Hehehe.) but I think she did pretty well.;)
Virgie is another one of EJ's lovely friends.
All the pretty girls in one frame.
Oh, yeah. EJ's cool younger brother Dondi was also there to help out and to have some photos taken as well. Here's my favorite shot of him.:)

Big big thanks to the models, to Ms. Gina Dalu, and of course to Ms. EJ Litiatco!

Special thanks to my sister Pie and of course to Pete for the BIG help during the shoot.:)

Toffee: baptism

December 9, 2007
Shrine of Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life
Sis Seafood & Resto

Nice contacted me for Toffee's at least two months before the event but we kept postponing our meeting due to our conflicting schedules. After a few tries we were finally able find a common time to meet. However, when I was already on my way to our meeting place, I got stuck in the most terrible traffic I have had to experience in the entire year. I finally decided to cancel when it was clear I wouldn't be able to make it even if she waited for me an hour longer. Fortunately, Nice lives up to her name and she was very gracious about it. We were finally able to meet a couple of weeks since that unfortunate incident, and she turned out even Nicer in person.:)

The first thing I noticed about Toffee was how he smiles a lot. He was all smiles even during our first meeting so I knew I wouldn't have a hard time taking pictures of him. I was right. I also loved photographing the entire family, and I was amused to learn that Nice's dad was once a photographer himself. I would have loved to chat with him more but of course I was there to work.:)









More pictures HERE!

Joshua: 1st Birthday

December 2, 2007
Cityland Tower II

Joshua's party was my first event for the busy month of December. It was a lot of fun working with the whole family, especially Joshua's mom Sheryl. They chose a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme for the party and I enjoyed all the cute details, from the cake to the red plaid table cloths for the kiddie tables.


First off, a fun family portrait before the start of the program.


Here's a cute photo of Joshua getting a poodle-shaped balloon from the party host.





HERE are more photos from the party.

Shaunna Illysia: 1st Birthday

November 30, 2007
BOUNCE

I still have about ten events (plus some pictorials) to post about so I will do my best to update this blog every day (if I can) until I've eliminated all my backlog. Starting off with my last event for November 2007...

Less than I week after photographing Keith's 1st birthday party at Bounce, I found myself back at this fun venue for Shaunna's party.

Side story: Shaunna's mom Cris was the one who contacted me, but when we met for the first time for Shaunna's pre-event pictorial, Pete and I realized that we knew Shaunna's dad Arnold from college. He was a co-member of our org although he was already doing his thesis when we were applicants so he wasn't very active anymore. Still, small world!:)

Anyway, the party was a small gathering of family and friends. But everybody had fun, especially the kids. Correction: the kids had FUN! I actually had to dodge a few balls in the process!:D The party had a Hello Kitty theme which you rarely see these days. Cris did a wonderful job with the colorful details. I loved them so much I could stop taking pictures.:)







Click HERE for more photos!

Outdoor family pictorial

My December was so full, but when Ria asked if I could squeeze in a pre-event pictorial for her baby girl Faith, I couldn't refuse for a couple of reasons: 1. She seemed so excited about it that I felt I just couldn't let her down; 2. She agreed to an outdoor shoot, which I've been wanting to do for a long time. You see, most of the pre-event pictorials I've done so far have been in a playroom, which is also great, but I was excited to do something different this time.

Ria and I texted back and forth about a week before the event but we didn't actually finalize the exact location until about...I don't know...45 minutes before the shoot? Hehehe. We did agree to do it somewhere in the Manila area, because I'm from Q.C. and she's from Las Pinas and we figured Manila was a fair halfway in between. We did end up doing the photoshoot at the Luneta Park because even though neither of us has been to this historic spot for decades, we were sure we could find nice spots to take pictures. And we were right.

Even before Ria, her hubby Fed, and Faith arrived, I started scouting for nice spots and I found this lovely arched gate. I started with some family shots just to get them comfortable with the camera.

Oh yeah, they came in matching colors, which was a nice touch.:)

I soon found out Faith was not at all difficult to photograph. She's such a happy baby who smiles readily for the camera.:)

Here are a couple of my favorite shots of Faith. These were taken after Mommy slipped her into a more comfortable outfit, and after she had her bottle of milk.:)


This is my favorite shot of the family because they really look like they're having fun here. And the expression on Faith's face is just too precious.

Keith Tyler: 1st Birthday

24 November 2007
Bounce

I did Arianne's maternity portraits over a year ago, when Keith was just around 8 months in her tummy. About two months ago, James, Arianne, (along with Keith), who are now based in Singapore, came home to celebrate Keith's 1st birthday. Keith is actually Pete's inaanak and the last time we saw him before the party was during his baptism in January 2007, when he was just a couple of months old. So, it was a delight for us to see him again, this time more active and so much bigger.

The party was held at the Bounce Inflatable Parties. This was my second time to photograph a kiddie party there, and as I said before, this is the kind of party that even the little kids get to enjoy. Keith wasn't even walking on his own yet, but he seemed to have fun crawling around on the padded floors and playing with whatever he could get his hands on in the play area.

Here are some fun shots from the party:

Yes, there's a baby in there somewhere...

Three generations: Keith with Mommy Arianne and her mom.

Three generations: Keith with Daddy James and his dad.

The birthday family with Ally and Missy, who are also our friends from college.


More pictures HERE!

Ben and Beth: 30th Wedding Anniversary

16 November 2007
Preps: Pan Pacific Hotel
Ceremony: Manila Cathedral
Reception: Coconut Palace

Yes, this is almost 2 months late...but here it is anyway...

Ben and Beth are Bim's (a.k.a. Phoeben Teocson of Playback Productions) lovely parents. They have been married for 30 years (by civil rites) and yet this was the very first time they were going to walk down the aisle for their church wedding. And I have to say, those 30 years of waiting sure did pay off. They had a solemn Manila Cathedral ceremony followed by a grand reception at the swanky Coconut Palace which was culminated by a display of colorful fireworks.

More than the great details and the grand celebration though, what stayed with me after the party were the great stories that were told about this kind and generous couple. Everybody agreed that they really deserved to be celebrated that day. (Sabi ko nga, I suddenly found myself having great respect for Bim after meeting his parents. Hahaha. Joke lang, Bim.:D)

Here are a few of my favorites shots:

A tender mother-son moment.:D

Daddy Ben nervously checking out his suit.

O, ayan na ha!:D



Of course, we had to have the portrait session with the Manila Bay sunset as background.


Finally, I got this idea from one of my favorite photographers Laura Novak to make what she calls an inspiration board. Here is one for Ben and Beth's yellow-and-green themed wedding.:)

And more pictures HERE.

Still here...

Yes, I'm still alive. Just really REALLY busy. It's not even 7AM and already I've been working for over an hour. I've been trying to catch up on work as much as I can since the start of the year. I was sick for most of the holidays and so, although I couldn't really afford to totally abandon my work until I got better, I'm afraid I didn't exactly get as much work done as I would've wanted. Hence, a couple of late deliveries and a few unanswered inquiries, which I'm not particularly proud of. I think December is the worst month to get sick not just for photographers, but for anybody. Fortunately, I was still able to celebrate Christmas with my family and New Year's with Pete's and managed not to ruin everybody else's holidays with work or my health condition. And for that, I am still grateful.

Anyway, I know it's almost a week into 2008, but I still wanna wish everyone a Happy New Year. 2007 was a great year for me. In fact, it exceeded my expectations. I started the year thinking that I was going to take it easy with work, especially since we were preparing for our wedding. But when I recently went through my records, I couldn't believe how much I was actually able to do in a year. 35 kiddie events (12 baptisms, 22 kiddie parties, and 1 dedication), 9 weddings (3 direct clients), 10 magazine projects, 1 adult birthday party, and several photoshoots (including maternity, engagement, and pre-event pictorials). I didn't really actively promote myself in 2007 (because I was going to take it easy), but thanks to great clients who keep referring me to other people, and to people who serendipitously stumbled upon this blog, I was able to do all these projects. I am not ashamed to say that I am fairly new to the business, I have only been doing this full-time for over two years, but I feel so fortunate to have met a lot of people who have trusted me to capture some of their most precious memories with my camera.:) Thank you. I promise to work even harder to deliver even better photos and services this year.

Ok, I know I have been a little behind in posting the events I've done the past couple months. I promise I will get to them soon. Meanwhile, let me entertain you with some pictures from our Christmas with my side of the family. We spent it in our family home in Tacloban this year.


First off, a couple of familiar faces...


And of course, a picture my favorite nephew Liam enjoying his first course for the Noche Buena (Gerber). Most of my clients will recognize him as the little baby in my business cards.:D

(By the way, Liam has been sick since New Year's day. He caught a stomach virus and has been in the hospital for almost a week now.:( Please pray for his speedy recovery.)

Here I am trying to look bright and cheery despite not being able to enjoy any of the food.:( (Photo taken by Pete)

And finally, a casual family photo. (Taken with the camera set on timer mode.)
Here's to a prosperous 2008, everyone!:)