Mother's Day photo shoot: behind the scenes

First of all, I wanna greet all the mommies a belated Happy Mother's Day!:)

Our Mother's Day photo shoot was a success! The weather was great (whew!), the light was lovely, all the mommies were fun to work with...Of course, I owe a lot of Thank You's to a lot of people for making the day happen.

First, I wanna say thanks to the owner of Pan de Amerikana for letting us do the shoot at their lovely restaurant. We were able to get really good photos because the place had amazing light throughout the day. And since we were there the whole day, we were able to sample their food for breakfast, lunch, and even merienda. Their pandesal really IS good. I have a feeling we're gonna be spending a lot of time there from now on.;)

A big thank you goes to EJ and her equally lovely sister Mara. These guys really did a wonderful job on all the mommies. I wish I could take full credit for the photos, but really EJ and Mara just made it difficult for me to take bad shots! EJ and I agreed that it was a very exhausting but very fun project. In fact, we're already thinking of coming up with another one.;)

I also wanna thank Lyra for being so supportive of this project. She helped me scout for the venue, then she helped me advertise the project, and then she helped judge the contest, and then she dropped by the venue early just to see if we needed help. Oh, and she was also one of the first people to book a session--no two sessions! I don't know what I would have done without this lady...

How can I forget my favorite assistant and sister Pie? She always makes sure I have everything I need during a shoot and last Sunday was no different. She held the softbox and reflector for me, she took care of the receipts, and she even handed me a handkerchief when I was sweating too much.:D

Of course, I also want to say thanks to my ever supportive husband Pete who drove us to the venue even when he was nursing a fever. He had to leave for a bit to go to the doctor but he went right back and stayed there until the end of the shoot.

And finally, to all the mommies who signed up, thank you so much for being such great models. EJ and I really enjoyed working with each one of you. We hope we made your day even more special. Thank you!:)

And now for the photos...Here are a few behind-the-scenes photos that either I or Pete took during the course of the shoot.

Some details around the restaurant.




I caught a glimpse of a batch of their famous ensaymada.

I always like to do test shots with my favorite model (second to Pete) before a shoot.

A photo of EJ, Mara, and me with Teza who was our first model for the day.


Yes, I did get my own makeover.:)


EJ and Mara at work...

And here are a few shots that Pie took of me in action (she has her own Canon 40D now).

Taking a short break with Pete.:)


Ok, here's a little surprise. I haven't had the chance to really look at all the photos that I took but since I'm in a good mood today, here's a bit of a sneak peek. Enjoy!

Free Mother's Day photo session contest!

Hey guys! I've been so busy the last couple of weeks that I didn't realize it's almost the end of the month already and I haven't posted the guidelines for the Mother's Day contest yet!

Ok, so here's the deal.

1. WHO: The contest is open to all the mommy bloggers out there.

2. HOW: Just write a blog entry on the topic "The best thing about being a mom", and leave a comment to this post with a link to your entry. Please limit your entries to 500 words so the judges won't have a hard time.;) You can write in English, Filipino, or mixed.

Also, please put a link back to this blog on your blog entry.:)

3. WHEN: Deadline of entries will be on May 4, Sunday, and the winner will be announced right here on May 8.:)

The winner will get a FREE mini photo session on Mother's Day with hair and makeup by EJ Litiatco.

4. THE JUDGES: I'm so lucky to have such nice friends. I asked two of my writer friends to judge this contest for us. These ladies are both talented writers, so I'm confident they will do a great job in judging this contest.:)

Ruth Floresca is a widely published writer. She's been writing for popular publications like Good Housekeeping, Health Today, and a whole lot more for years now. She's also a super mom to not one, not two, but FOUR young boys! Just go to her website to know more.

Lyra Dacio is, of course my good friend from college. She's been published a few times and has even worked as editorial assistant for the special publication magazine Masigasig. Oh, and she and her hubby are also almost five months pregnant with their first baby!

5. QUESTIONS? If you have any questions, please email me at photosbyging@gmail.com.

Oh, and before I forget, we still have one slot left for the special Mother's Day mini sessions. So, email me to book it now. We're still finalizing the venue, but it will most probably be in Marikina City, in a nice little resto called Pan de Amerikana. Even if you plan to join the contest, I would suggest that you book a slot now, and if you win, you can get a full refund of the reservation fee. That also goes to those who have already booked mini sessions. You may still join the contest, and if you win, you get the session for free, get back the reservation fee, and we will open the paid slot to other interested parties.

Thanks and I hope to see you guys on Mother's Day!:)

Me at work...

Photo by Pie.


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

This made me laugh...

I spent the day at the Photoworld Asia 2008 with my sister Pie. The speaker for today was celebrity photographer Amy Cantrell. She started the talk by introducing the great photographer who served as her inspiration throughout her career: Phillipe Halsman. Just google him if you want to know more.:)

Amy ended her seminar with one of Mr. Halsman's famous quotes: "I drifted into photography like one drifts into prostitution. First I did it to please myself, then I did it to please my friends, and eventually I did it for the money."

Hehehe.

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!:)

Better late than never...

**Please click on the image for a larger view.

Just dropping by...

Hey! Just wanted to peek in and say I'm still here. Just super busy. I promise to put up some updates as soon as my crazy schedule clears up a bit. And to everyone who have been emailing/texting me, I apologize for not being able to answer all your inquiries sooner. Please don't be mad.:( I am doing my best and I will definitely be more accessible by next week.

I'll see you guys around!:)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PETE!:)

Happy birthday, Pie!

My little sister, who's been helping me a lot in my work the past few months celebrates her birthday today! Here she is in a photo I took earlier tonight, when we had our mini party at home.


And to everyone else, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!:)

Thank you!

This is a bit late, but I wanna thank everyone who texted/emailed me on my birthday last September 17. It was the last one I'll ever have in my 20's. (Eek.) I also wanna thank everybody who has made this year extra special for me. I remember that it was the day before my birthday last year when I got my first inquiry about the maternity portrait sessions that I was offering. That was a big deal for me because it was the very first time that I actually had to represent myself as a photographer to a client. Before that, I was always just some other guy's assistant photographer, or a studio's nameless associate photographer. Looking back, I can't believe how many more people I've met in the past twelve months and I feel so honored to have been given the chance to witness and share in their special celebrations. And I have no intention of slowing down yet, because this year is going to be even more exciting. We're cooking up some big plans for you guys, so please watch out for that.;)

Oh yeah, I had a low-key (but special) birthday this year. Pete and I had dinner with our families the night before, which was a Sunday. (My dad paid for dinner. Hehehe.) On my birthday, I TRIED not to work too much the whole day. And Pete and I went out to a nice dinner and some ice cream.:D

Here are a few pictures. All photos taken using my phone camera.:D

Sick leave

A lot of people think that when you work from home, getting sick is much easier. There's no boss no worry about. And no need to file for sick leave. Well, on the contrary, being sick when you work for yourself is much tougher. At least when you're an employee, you can just call in sick and they will either find someone to cover for you or they'll just pile up your tasks on your desk until you return. In my case, I have to do everything right now and being sick just means getting way behind on my schedule. I've not been feeling well since Sunday and it just got worse yesterday so I haven't actually been able to do real work the whole week--at least not as much as I want to. Fortunately, I don't have a shoot this weekend so perhaps, if I'm feeling better by then, I can start catching up on my tasks.

So yeah, this is me calling in sick. I'm trying my best to rest and save up my energy so I can get back to where I left off soon. So, since Monday, I've been limiting myself to answering emails and text messages, updating this blog, and doing a little bit of processing on the side. Oh yeah, and I also have a shoot for a magazine tonight so let's keep our fingers crossed that I don't collapse under the weight of the camera.:P

Moonlighting as a magazine photographer...

The first time I ever had my photos published was when I took pictures of designers Frederick Peralta and Kate Torralba for a stuffed toy company's promo summer of last year. My photos were published on the lifestyle section of the major newspapers. Although my name was never mentioned, I was still thrilled just to see a couple of my photos in print.

In February, Lyra asked me to be her photographer for an article she was doing for Masigasig, which is a special publication magazine that goes with every issue of Entrepreneur. The article came out in the May 2007 issue of the magazine. Of course, by then I was too busy to write about it here. I did get the kick out of seeing my photos and my name in a real magazine! Here is a copy of that article. (Grabbed this from Lyra's Multiply).

(I know, the pictures are smaller than my name!:D)

Then, late in June, Lyra and I, together with another writer Ruth, went on an overnight trip to Cebu for Masigasig. They did interviews and I took the photos. It was a very tiring but fun 2-day trip.

Here we are at our hotel room:

One of our interviewees was Kenneth "He-who-makes-Brad-Pitt's-furniture" Cobonpue. That's him between Lyra and me.

And here I am on one of Cobonpue's famous (and beautiful!) pieces. Photo taken by Lyra.:)

Oh yeah, two of the articles we did came out in this month's issue of Masigasig. I don't think Lyra (who is the editorial assistant for Masigasig) or the people at Summit would be thrilled if I posted photos of the whole articles so if you can, just buy a copy (Entrepreneur (and Masigasig, of course.:)) is a really good magazine. Pete and I have been buying a copy every month for over two years now) or makisilip kayo sa friends nyo na meron.:D But here are a couple of shots of my name on the articles. Hehehe. So far, I've done a couple more shoots for articles which will be coming out in the next issues. Oh, and Kix has some photos in the magazine as well.:)

I'm back!

Hey guys! It's been over a month since I last posted anything here. I was still working until about two weeks before the wedding, I just didn't have enough time to update this blog. But now that I'm back, I will do my best to put up the gallery and blog entries of the rest of my shoots last April as well as the last event I did before the wedding (May 5) for my friend Grette.;)

Anyway, the reason I was MIA for so long was that I became too busy with my wedding preparations during the last two weeks of May. I know some of you tried emailing me, and I apologize for not being able to get back to you sooner. I did ask my good friend Lyra to cover for me with some of the inquiries, but of course, she couldn't really answer all your questions. Also, some of you may have texted me after the wedding...unfortunately, I lost my phone on my wedding day.:( I only found the time to get a new SIM this week, after we got back from our honeymoon. I still have my old phone number, but I lost a lot of your contact numbers with the phone. So, please email or text me your contact details again.:)

A lot of people have been asking me about our wedding photos. I will be posting them probably...in about a month. Hehehe. My photographer friends Kix, Edu, and Edison took such beautiful shots that we're having a difficult time choosing which photos to put online. For now, I am posting some of MY shots. Yep, I brought one of my cameras to my wedding preps.:D I would've brought it to the church but Pete told me not to. Buti na rin...otherwise, I could've lost it instead of my phone! Eek.

Some of our wedding stuff...











Shierdan doing his FHM pose.;)


The wedding paraphernalia laid out for the photoshoot.


Our home-assembled coffee-bean wedding favors which made our house smell like Starbucks.


Our handsome photographers and videographers.(Naks!) Si Kix yung pa-cute. Hehehe.


Where no male photographer was allowed, I was there to catch the action.:D


And finally, you may watch our onsite AVP at Dan's site. Click on Gallery, and look for "My Ordinary Life". The 5-minute AVP includes clips from our prenup photo session with Kix and Dan which we did at UP on Maundy Thursday.:D

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY, EVERYONE!:)

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!!:)

Oh, and Belated Merry Christmas na rin.:D

Happy Birthday, Pete!:)

Let me just break myself away from work for a few minutes to salute a person who has been such an inspiration to me for the past 8 years--most especially these past few months. This photo, which I took during a shoot yesterday, pretty much sums up who Pete is in my life. He is my superhero. We have weathered through many super typhoons together, and he never once left my side. He also helps me clean up the mess after.:D AND, of course, he carries around my camera bag and other equipment for me. Hehehe.

But seriously, Pete has about twenty engineers reporting to him at work, and his job requires a lot of hours. And yet, he doesn't mind driving me around, carrying my photo equipment, helping me set up, and being the dutiful photographer's assistant...all for free. If that's not dedication, I don't know what is. I wanted us to celebrate our anniversary (which we weren't able to celebrate last November 4 because I had a shoot...no, actually WE had a shoot.:D) and his birthday last Saturday but we weren't able to as he got tied up at work. Today, I made him promise to NOT work for 16 hours, as he has been doing very often the past few weeks. Unfortunately, this time I am the one who has deadlines to meet so we probably wouldn't be able to celebrate today, either. We'll see.

Anyway, Pete usually likes to keep his birthday low-key. But I say he deserves a grand celebration. And since I couldn't do that, this is my way of telling the world (err...the five or so people who read this, anyway...hehehe) what a great person he is, and how I am honored to have him in my life.

Happy 27th birthday, Pete!:)

I'm back!

Yep. I'm back from my 4-day trip to Davao...and believe it or not, I didn't get to do any touristy stuff at all. NOT AT ALL. But I didn't mind one bit. I didn't go there to visit any tourist spot, anyway. I was there to see something even more beautiful...

This...
Meet my nephew, Maximilian Ybarra Lorenzo Sirilan--Liam for short.:D I photographed his baptism and took portraits of him and my sister (his mom) last weekend. This photo, however, was the first one that caught my eye when I was reviewing my shots earlier tonight. This was taken when I first got there, when my sister was giving Liam a bath. Oh yeah, and this was just taken with a 5MP P&S camera.;)

I'll try to post more photos in my next entries.