Francesca Simone: 1st birthday party

February 24, 2008
Activity Hall, Blue Wave Marikina

Simon, Jacque, and little Simone had just moved into their new home, and the first thing I noticed was how nice the lighting was in the house. I would have loved to take photos of the family there. Unfortunately, Simone had a cold and wasn't exactly in the mood to do portraits (and they were already rushing to get to the venue) so we had to make do with some candid shots instead. I was able to shoot some of the lovely party details in their living room however, and I loved how the colors turned out.

Here is Simone's colorful costume followed by her pretty gold shoes.

We were able to get really nice pictures of Simone smiling (at Pete who was standing behind me) but I really like this shot in particular because it shows some character. I love that she's playing with a Ferrari model car instead of a Barbie doll.;)

Jacque requested a shot of Simone's favorite toy.

At the party venue, the first thing that caught my eye was the grand cake ensemble. It was composed of a rotating cupcake tower (which you can see if you visit the online album) and this lovely 2-layer cake at the bottom.

They also had this huge dessert selection in one corner. Yum-o!

The moms and titas enjoying the party.

Despite the cold, I think Simone had a great time at her party. Here she is wearing her Snow White costume and a lovely smile.

A cute and funny shot of Mommy Jacque and Simone.

Simone with Daddy Simon and Mommy Jacque.


Click HERE for more photos!

Leslie: Maternity portrait session

Happy Easter!

Pete and I spent the Holy Week going back and forth between his parents' house in Marikina and my folks' place in Q.C. We spent a lot of time reviewing our goals and working on some of our plans for my photography business for this year. I don't want to give out the details of the other stuff yet, but one of things we achieved during the past few days was to make a few changes to this blog's look.:D You may notice a few more slight changes in the next few hours or days as I am still tweaking the template a bit, but I think it's looking great so far.:)

Anyway, let me test out this new template by posting some great photos from the maternity photo session I did last Thursday. Leslie contacted me about having her preggy photos when she was just a few months pregnant. We exchanged ideas through email, she sent me a few photos that she got from the internet that she liked, and I was so happy to know we agreed on the style that we liked.

Leslie went to her photo session well-prepared with a couple of outfits and a whole entourage composed of her hubby Sherwin, mom, and sis in tow. Hehehe. I didn't mind one bit because having them there made it even more fun for everyone.:)

It looked like Baby Jared was ready to come out any minute but Leslie was still up for anything. Check out some of my favorite shots from the session.

I asked Leslie if they could bring a plain white blanket that she could use during the shoot. They brought two blankets, and one was this nice green one that I loved and ended up using for the whole shoot.:)

It was a bit cloudy when we started but throughout the session, the sun would sometimes peek through the clouds and we grabbed those moments to take sunny photos like these next ones.

Leslie wore this lovely necklace especially for this photo shoot. That's Baby Jared in there.

One of the last shots for the day.


To Leslie and Sherwin, thanks for an awesome shoot! Hope to meet Baby Jared soon!:)

Djuan: kiddie portrait session

Djuan will be turning one next month so we had a quick portrait session with him a couple of weeks ago. When Pheng and I were discussing (through text) where to do the portraits, we had a couple of outdoor locations in mind. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate, so we ended up doing the session indoors at the 3rd floor of the Bahay ng Alumni in UP. (We did Pheng's maternity portraits in UP last year, so I was kinda hoping we could do Djuan's portraits in the same location.) We were able to get nice light, which is one of two things I need in a location to do a kiddie portrait session (great backgrounds are not as important as good lighting for me). The second thing I need is for the location to be comfortable for the model, especially when the model is a baby or a toddler. As luck would have it, we didn't get that that day. When we got to the Bahay ng Alumni, the rain had stopped, but the air felt like we were in a sauna. Being at the top floor of the building made it even worse. We were able to spend about 10 minutes of shooting, before poor Djuan started getting very uncomfortable and fussy. We headed downstairs and shot a few more photos in front of the building until we could no longer take the heat.

We did manage to get really nice shots of our handsome little model. Take a look.:)
Love the hearty laugh!:D
A cute shot of the family.
Look at those eye lashes!
Closer...

I will be seeing Djuan again on his birthday party in April. Can't wait!:)

Renzo Matthias: 1st bday party

February 16, 2008
Somethin' Fishy

Yes, Renzo turned one about a month ago! The last time I saw him was when he was about 3 months old, and I couldn't believe how much he's grown. Grette and Romel again came home from Bahrain to celebrate this big milestone in their son's life with their families and friends. Aside from being the official photographer, I (along with Pete) was also able to enjoy the party with the rest of the guests. It was also nice to see some old co-workers at the party. (Although it was a bit awkward trying to explain how and why I turned my back completely on my old "career" as an engineer to do what I'm doing right now. Hehehe.)

Even during Renzo's baptism, Grette and Romel were already giving hints about what the theme of Renzo's 1st birthday party would be. These guys are big fans of the Ferrari F1 Team (did I say that one right?:D) For the party, they incorporated Disney's Cars with all the Ferrari logos and all stuff F1 (I don't know anything about the sport, so bear with me here.:D) and it worked! I loved the details, the stage set-up, the little tatoos, down to Renzo's cute little Ferrari shoes. And I loved the food too, of course.;)

Here are a few shots from the party. I love red!:)

Check out the awesome details on this cake!

Colorful balloons.
Cute baby.:D
Cute baby with handsome daddy.;)
As always, Tito Alex was a hit with all the guests.
The lovely birthday family.:)
Blowing of the birthday candle.
LOVE the shoes!

Please click HERE for more photos!

Charlize Sophia

February 10, 2008
Valle Verde 4 Clubhouse

Pinky is another client whom I met only on the day of the party itself. Not because she's based abroad but because we were both so busy we couldn't find a common time to do a meeting anymore. It was great working with her though. She was able to put up a great party for her lovely daughter Charlize. And I had a lot of fun photographing it.

When I got to the venue, I saw the colorful and festive set-up, and I wasn't surprised when I realized it was the work of the talented and creative Jhoanne Alon of Polkadot Events (I will be posting a link to her site, once she gives it to me.:)). I LOVED the decorations.

This is Charlize's first cute outfit for the party.
Then she changed into this equally pretty dress.
The cake.
A shot of the beautiful family.
Charlize wasn't in the mood to smile for the camera when I was shooting posed shots with her and the family. At one point she saw me pointing my camera at her from a distance, and I started playing peek-a-boo with her using my camera. After a few tries, she suddenly gave me this big cute laugh and I'm glad I was able to capture it.

Enjoying the party.
One of the last shots of Charlize after the party, when the party decor were coming down.


Don't forget to visit the online album HERE!

Me at work...

Photo by Pie.


Ugh. I think I better fix myself up a bit more even during portrait sessions. Hehehe.

The Dioceras: Family portrait session

Happy Monday!

I wanna start this week with a family portrait session I did a couple of weeks ago.

Pete and I realized we were definitely not in college anymore when we started having "couple friends" (i.e. married couples with whom you do lunches, and whose kids become your inaanaks.) and Ronald and Richel definitely fall under that category. Ronald is a former co-worker of both Pete and me. And their youngest Jolo is actually my godchild. We've been wanting to do this session for months and we finally had the opportunity to do it about a week before Ronald was due to leave for Australia.

We did the pictorial by the Manila Bay area fronting the Manila Yacht Club. I was a bit worried because it was starting to rain when Pete and I left Q.C. Fortunately, the weather was still nice when we got to Manila. And I think we got pretty good images.

First off, a couple of warm-up shots.

I find this photo really funny because the kids don't look very happy about me pointing a big lens at them from across the street.:D

Chibi and Jolo were a bit shy in front of the camera so we decided to let the whole family watch some people fishing by the bay while I shot a few candids. These images turned out to be some of my favorites from the session.

I love this photo because it has FAMILY written all over it.:)
These guys love their CROCS.

Finally, a "formal" family portrait.
A little bit closer.
Cute shots of Nanay and Chibi.

Last look from Jolo.
To Tatay Ronald, Nanay Richel, Chibi, and Jolo, thank you guys for letting me and Pete shoot with you (and for lunch!:D). We definitely had a great time!