Mac and Karen: Engagement pictorial

Mac and Karen were referred to me by Kix Tavora when he had to do a short stint in Singapore. Although they had already had their engagement pictorial with Kix, Mac and Karen requested a "getting-to-know-you" session with me as well. I readily agreed because I know how important it is to meet wedding clients at least once before the wedding. A pre-wedding photo session is also a perfect ice-breaker between a photographer and the couple.

Mac is currently based in Korea and came home only about a week before their wedding. We had the shoot only a few days before their big day.

When we were texting and emailing about possible locations, I remembered a short photo shoot I did at Harbour Square in Manila several months ago, so I suggested the place to Karen. Fortunately, we got great weather that day (we were supposed to do the shoot a few days earlier but we had to postpone because of heavy downpour) so we were able to get sunny and colorful shots that I love so much.

Here are some of my favorites.




A lot of people have been noticing my obsession with shoes. And yeah, I did love these guys' shoes.:)

My sister Pie assisted me during the shoot (while shooting on the side as well), and she told us that at one point a woman who happened to pass by told her that Karen looks a lot like Mulan (the Disney character). Well, doesn't she?:)






And then we headed to the nearby Luneta. Tacky, right? But if you look closely enough, you'd actually find little charming spots around the park like the ones in these next shots.


I love these next two shots.

Mac told me they used to do their engineering plates (they're both ECE's, by the way) inside the Chinese Garden in Luneta when they were in college. So, there you go. The place actually held some memories for them, too.

Yakee: 1st birthday party

October 12, 2008
Dazo Hall, PhilAm Village, Las Pinas

Mec was the winner of our Mother's Day contest in May this year. She wrote a very heartwarming entry that everyone agreed she deserved the prize. And looking at how she dotes on her son Yakee, how much work she put into making his first birthday party special, how she made it a point to hire great suppliers (ahem, hehehe), I can honestly say that I believe she meant every word that she wrote.

The party was Harry Potter-inspired, and this showed in the red-and-yellow decorations, the Harry Potter giveaways, and even in the dessert bar. One of the cool things about the party was that a lot of the kids came in their costumes. It was only a couple of weeks before Halloween, so it was a perfect opportunity to show off the cute ensembles in advance.

Here are a few of my favorite photos from the party.

Yakee, of course, came in his cute Harry Potter costume.

This is Mommy Mec up on stage with the other moms during a game.:)


Posing for mom's camera with daddy.

Isn't he cute?

We were able to take a few family photos before the party started and while the light was still nice.

The party favors.


Please click HERE for more photos!

Aaron: Portrait session

I got an email from Jessica asking me if I was available to shoot her baby's birthday party on October 15, 2008. I checked my calendar and realized it fell on a Wednesday, so I asked her if she wanted to reserve the nearest available weekend. She then told me that they were actually based in Zamboanga so they were really planning on holding the party on a weeknight while they were in Manila for a short visit.

She also asked if we could have a short portrait session a few days before the event, and I happily agreed.:)

We had the pictorial at Jessica's sister's house two days before the party. Pie and I got to the place and the family was still out. When they arrived, Aaron was asleep. Jessica said he had just fallen asleep in the car. And then I was surprised when she actually started waking him up! I sucked in my breath and braced myself for what was about to come. I've been around a lot of babies, and they usually don't like being disturbed when they're sleeping.

As soon as Aaron opened his eyes though, he gave us this HUGE smile! And he didn't stop smiling for most of the pictorial! It turned out to be one of the easiest kiddie photo shoots that I have ever EVER done! And the photos I got weren't so bad, either.;)

Check them out...

Aaron was all smiles as long as nobody took away the wooden spoon that he found lying around in his aunt's living room. (It was part of a table display.)


I loved his smile! I was also so happy that I was able to take a few shots of him in his diaper.:D

Yup, still holding on to the spoon.:D


We took him to another room, but he still wouldn't let go of it.


I love this shot.:)


It was raining really hard earlier that day that we almost canceled the shoot. Just as we were about to finish though, the sun came up and I found this spot where the light was just amazing!

Unfortunately, Aaron didn't look so thrilled about going out in the sun.

After several shots though, we finally got him to smile again. This was my favorite shot from the session. This was also the one that they chose for the canvas frame.:)

Pio Lorenzo: Baptism

October 11, 2008
Santuario de San Antonio Parish
Mahogany Place Clubhouse

About a month after we did Pio's portrait session, I found myself at their lovely home again, this time to photograph his baptism. Pio was much more relaxed this time so we were able to take a few nice shots of him before heading for the church.

Here are a few of my favorites from the day...

Some of the cute details. They used one of my favorite shots from the portrait session on the invites and the guestbook.:)




Getting dressed with the help of mom and dad.

A couple of shots of the beautiful family.

During the pouring of the holy water, it's usually just the mommy (or whoever is holding the baby) that fits into my frame. I try hard to position myself so that I could fit both parents in the photos, but more often than not, the other parent is usually standing just outside my range. Daddy Patrick made it so much easier for me by standing between the priest and Mommy Des.:)




The reception was held at their village clubhouse. I loved the simple but cute details that they added to make the venue more colorful.




Please click HERE for more photos!

Working from bed... (AND the Lau Family portrait session)

A lot of people would opt to work from home when they get sick. I, on the other hand normally work from my house (sometimes I do work in a coffee shop just for a change of scenery), so now that I am sick, I'm actually working in bed. It must have been the really chilly weather during my last two weddings in Nasugbu and Lipa. I fell sick Saturday night and it got worse Sunday that I couldn't go with Kix to a wedding yesterday.:( To make things worse, we still have tons of shopping to do and I still have a lot of stuff to finish. Hay.

Anyway, I shouldn't really be complaining. All in all, this was a very good year for me and my family. Let's just hope I will be well enough to celebrate it tomorrow.:)

And just to make this post much more exciting, here are photos from a beautiful family portrait session I did at the start of this month. These are Laurence, Cindy, and little Lyncee. We did the photoshoot at a nice place in Antipolo called Jardin de Miramar. It was my first time there but I loved it so much that I immediately recommended the place to a couple friends who asked me to shoot their engagement photos just two days after this pictorial.

When Cindy showed up made up by the very talented EJ Litiatco, and when she told me about their outfits for the shoot, I knew it was going to be a great afternoon for me.:)

Here are some of my favorites from the day.:)

I love Lyncee's expression here.:D


Lyncee wasn't very comfortable being in a new place with a stranger pointing a big camera at her...




I asked Laurence and Cindy if they could let Lyncee run around for a bit so she could feel more comfortable. Here is one of the very very few shots showing Lyncee's pretty smile.

My favorite shot of Lyncee.

Then it was time to change into their Christmas outfits and go into the Casa Santa which consists of a collection of thousands of Santa's from all over the world. We were told that the owner collected the items in the span of 13 years!

My favorite among their Christmas photos.:)






Lyncee wasn't in the mood anymore but I asked if we could take a few couple shots before wrapping things up.:)

I'll try to post some more later, but in case I don't get to post until after Christmas anymore, I just wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!:)