Gela: 1st birthday party

Ok. first of all, was it just me or did anybody else have to go through that 6-hour power outage? Yes, 6 hours! I watched the news this morning and they said there was going to be "1-hour rotational brownout" (or whatever they call it) from 10am to 4pm today. So, I planned my day around that. At exactly 9am, however, just as I was going through my emails and uploading photos for this blog, the power went off! 1 hour ahead of schedule!

Anyway, I expected the blackout to last about an hour so I went about the other stuff that were in my schedule. 1 hour later, the power didn't come back. 2 hours, 3 hours, 4 hours went by. I had already organized my office, tidied up the house...Hay. Finally, after 6 hours and 15 minutes, power finally came back. So now, I guess I have to work really late tonight to make up for the 6 hours that I lost. And perhaps I have to skip sleeping altogether because I still have those 3 hours that I have to make up for from yesterday, remember? So fun!:)

Anyway, here is the entry that I was writing this morning before I was rudely interupted.

January 30, 2010
Riverfront Residences Clubhouse
Party theme: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

It's amazing how much a baby grows in a year! I first photographed Gela when she was only a couple of months old about a year ago. Her baptism was one my events last year that never made it to this blog, so before I go into her birthday party, I want to post just a few shots that I took from her baptism. Because these shots are just too precious not to share.  For those who have seen my website, a couple of these photos would be familiar.

The first thing that you notice when you see Gela are her beautiful eyes.  You could stare at them for hours.  It was also when I shot these photos of her that I realized babies actually tend to trust me when they sense that their parents trust me as well. Gela was just a couple of months old here.  She was fussy and she was crying when we arrived at the hotel. But when I asked Mommy Len if I could take solo pictures of her on the couch, Mommy Len put Gela there, and they pretty much left us alone. So, it was just me and Gela while everyone else was busy preparing.  And she quieted down, and looked at me with those adorable eyes. And we got some fantastic shots!





She wasn't too happy when they bothered her again to put on her dress though.

I just can't get enough of those eyes!


She was getting a bit sleepy here.



Almost a year later, I met Gela again for her first birthday. And she has turned into such a lovely little toddler!  Below are some of the shots from the party.


Jacque with her Party Boosters team dressed up the place. Love the colors!








Some details.


Yes, Gela was made in Singapore and grown. :)

We went down to take a few shots while the party was already in full swing. With Mommy and Daddy.


She still has those lovely eyes.

I forget if this baby is a cousin or just a friend. They're both so cute though!





Back to the party.


Gela looked like she was having fun. And I love her smile!


I guess she had too much fun and had to take a short nap in the middle of the party.


Host-magician Butch entertaining the guests.





The lovely yummy cake.

Minnie Mouse came to the party!

My FB Fan Page and other announcements

I was supposed to publish this entry last night when something went wrong and I lost the two paragraphs that I had already written. Grrr. Since I was already tired and sleepy, I decided I'd just rewrite and publish it early this morning. But when I got up at around 6am (I was supposed to go jogging), it was raining softly and it really felt like Christmas outside. I woke Pete up to show him, and I even told him "Nag-time travel ba tayo?" Hahaha. So, I went back to bed with the beautiful sound of the rain in my ears. And then I overslept for 3 hours! Argh! So, here I am trying to rearrange my schedule for the day (No, make that for the week!) to make up for the 3 hours that I lost this morning. Not cool!

Anyway, I wanted to post a few announcements to start this week off.

1. I have a Facebook Fan Page! Hehehe. My friends and some clients have been asking me to put one up and although I recognize the value of it, it just felt too weird to make a fan page for myself. So, last week, my dear friend Lyra put one up for me. Lyra has been such a big help in my business the past few years, and now she's officially my number one fan (on FB that is.:P) and the keeper of my fan page!:D Last time I checked, I had only about 60 friends over there. So, if you could, please check it out. That way I wouldn't feel so pathetic. Hehehe. Just kidding. As of now, we're just using the page to mirror my updates on this blog, but we're trying to cook up a few things so I hope you stay tuned for them.:)

2. I have released updated packages for kiddie events and portraits. So, if you have my old rates and you're interested to book me soon, please email me again.:)

3. Due to some personal reasons, I will be cutting back on kiddie party bookings starting July.  I will only be accepting around 3 to 4 kiddie events per month for the rest of the year. As of today, I am already fully booked until June, I have 1 more slot for July, and a few more slots for August until October.  I will start accepting bookings for November next month.

I will however be setting aside a few weekends for portrait sessions. Last year, I got a lot of inquiries for holiday portraits. Unfortunately, I couldn't accommodate all of them because my schedule was full. This year, I will start accepting bookings for holiday portraits starting August. Holiday portrait sessions will start in September. I will be announcing the schedule as well as possible venues on this blog as soon as I finalize my schedule.

As for non-holiday portraits, you may inquire anytime, and we can talk about the schedule. Starting July, I will also be setting aside some days to focus on non-holiday portraits. :)

And because blog entries are so much better with photos, here are a few of the cute babies that I shot just this past weekend.

Saturday morning, I was up early to shoot Zoe's portraits in MOA. Isn't she adorable?

Saturday afternoon, I worked with Jhoanne of Polkadots at Gab's birthday party!:)

Sunday, I had the pleasure of photographing little Bella's baptism. 

Christine: Maternity portraits

I first met Christine and hubby Joseph when I photographed their daughter Dana's 1st birthday party in 2008. Last year, I met up with them again when we had their family portrait session. Christine was a couple of  months pregnant by then and told me she wanted to do a maternity session with me. We did the session late January. And just a couple of days ago, I got a text from Christine with the happy news of the arrival of the newest member of their family! I can't wait to meet the little one as we're also planning to do a newborn portrait with Baby Darla soon.:)

Here are a few of my favorites from the session.

We had to move the pictorial at an earlier date than we originally planned because Christine felt that her tummy was already getting too big.  On the day of the pictorial, Christine and Joseph got stuck in a traffic jam, so I was getting worried that we wouldn't have enough time to take good photos (I couldn't extend the shoot as I had a party to photograph that afternoon).  While I was waiting for them at UP where we agreed to do the shoot, Christine texted to tell me not to worry. "Magaling akong mag-pose," she joked.  But when we started shooting, I realized she wasn't joking at all.  She was so relaxed and comfortable in front of the camera.  And she seemed to know exactly what to do, I didn't have to think of the poses alone. We finished in under an hour, and got a lot of great shots.

One of the first shots. One of my favorites.  

I have always wanted to use one of those grassy slopes in UP.  This was another one of my favorites.

Christine is such a natural.:)


I have done a lot of photo shoots at the UP Campus, so I wanted to look for new spots.  While waiting for my models, Pie and I drove around the campus to scout for interesting locations.  We saw this pile of junk in front of the Engineering Bldg. and I knew I wanted to use it.  I told Christine about it and I was so happy when they agreed to shoot there just before we wrapped up the shoot.  The shots turned out even better than I expected.:)

They were talking about where they were going to eat lunch after the shoot here.:D