Sophia Margarette: 1st birthday party

January 9, 2010
Northeast Greenhills Clubhouse

Second weekend of the year, Pie and I found ourselves back at one of my favorite kiddie event venues, this time for Sophia's birthday party.  Mommy Kat contacted me April of last year, but I told her I accept kiddie event bookings around 6 months before the event.  She made the deposit as soon as we hit June.

The family is based abroad so I only got to meet them on the day of the event.  We started shooting at their hotel rooms at the Crowne Plaza.  When I got there, I found out that everyone had the colds--Sophia, older sister Kirsten, and Mommy.  Aside from that, they had just flown in a few days before so the kids were still trying to adjust to their surroundings.  So, as you can imagine, it was not easy getting them to smile at the camera, or even sit still long enough for me to get a good shot.  Oh, and during the party, I started getting a splitting headache! The kind that feels like your head is about to explode! (I actually told Pie to make sure she took over the camera in case I collapsed. Hehehe.) But, as always, I tried to do everything I can with what I was given that day and I ended up with some really nice shots.  And the family (especially Kat) was just so nice to us, and I'm really grateful I had the chance to photograph their event.

We weren't able to take portraits at the hotel, because Sophia wasn't in the mood. But I did get shots of the nice details.

This is Kirsten. I felt just a liiiittle bit guilty that instead of telling her mom about what she was doing at once, I took a few more seconds to take a few shots first. Hehehe. I just thought she looked too cute!

It was my first time to work with NY Giftworks & Party Shop, but I think they did a great job with the venue set-up!:)








I LOVED these personalized umbrellas!


When the program started, we tried to get some nice family photos outside. TRIED. Pia was so not in the mood that she was either frowning or crying in the photos.  We decided to take a break and just try again when she was in a better mood.





I did get these lovely shots of Kirsten.:)





After about half an hour, we tried again with Pia. And this time, she was in a much better mood.:)





We were finally able to get her to smile. 

And doesn't she look lovely when she smiles?


Here's Pia with lovely Mommy Kat.

The kids enjoying the show.


Sophia was asleep during the candle-blowing.  Good thing Mommy was there to blow out her candle for her though.

Gavin: 4th birthday party

January 10, 2010
Avilon Zoo

I've been photographing Gavin and his sister Riley for a couple of years now.  I met the family for the first time during Riley's baptism in 2007.  And before this one, I also took pictures of Riley's 2nd birthday party last year.  Mommy Rhoda told me that she's decided she will continue throwing birthday parties for the kids until they tell her to stop, so I'm really hoping I could still be part of all their celebrations.:)

A few days after I sent out the photos to Rhoda, I got a really nice email from her that made me cry.  I asked her and she said I could share their story on this blog.  She said I'm a great storyteller because I have photos to match. But you know what? I think I'll let her tell their story.  Here are excerpts from the email (posted with permission, of course) that she sent me:

Hi Ging!

Just wanted to thank you for the great pics and for being there during the most important events of my life. From Riley's baptism to Gavin's birthdays (I think you covered 4 out of 6!). You have a really great job, you see the kids grow up and you see them at such a happy occasion...

...Anyway, I wish I can book you for Riley's 3rd birthday in September (I decided I'd celebrate all their birthdays until they tell me to stop, and I'm sure there will come a time that they'd do that) but we're leaving sometime in June so Gavin can get more intensive therapy/education in the US. It was after his second birthday that he got diagnosed with autism. We've been going through almost 2 years of therapy already and he has shown great progress! I'm just so proud of him. And you really captured his happiness on his birthday! Did I tell you he spelled z-o-o when I asked him where he wanted to have a party. I think he did that on 2 separate occasions so I booked the place. Sometimes it crosses my mind that if he could only speak then everything would be okay. But with autism, there would really be good days and bad days. It's a lifelong condition and there is no "cure". So I just focus on all our good days (and we're on a roll lately!) and prepare for the not-so-good ones.

 I hope in a few years time when you cover our parties again, you can still capture his smile and his eyes. Again, thank you for sharing the great memories with us and for capturing those once in a lifetime events. We love looking at the pictures!

Best regards,
Rhoda

And yes, everytime I see Gavin, I see great progress in him too and I couldn't help but feel proud as well. :)

Here are some photos from the party.

The yummy cake and cupcakes!








Riley is such a smart little girl. Rhoda says she's not too fond of the zoo, but she seemed to enjoy herself during the party anyway.

And here's our birthday boy Gavin.

It was quite difficult to get good shots at the zoo because it was too dark and everyone had their backs on me (because they were looking into the animal cages.) This one, however was one of my favorite shots and it was taken by one of the animal cages.  Side story: Rhoda came earlier than the kids to do last minute preparations at the venue. And when she found out that the kids had arrived, she hurried downstairs because she wanted to see the expression on Gavin's face when he sees the place. And I think this photo captures how happy Gavin was to be there.:)


The host giving the guests a tour around the zoo. Look how attentive Riley is.


Gavin looking into one of the cages.


He's such a handsome boy, isn't he?


At the feeding area.

Riley wasn't really interested in the animals. :D





Then it was time to head back up and get on with the program.

We didn't get the chance to take family portraits, but I was able to capture this moment and I loved it.

The whole family helping out with the candles.

Riley helping out with the giveways.


Some animals were brought up and this dog was my favorite.

On recurring dreams...and the rain!

I have three recurring dreams. (Is that weird?) One is about riding cars, one is about staircases, and the third one is about school.  I'm going to talk about the last kind because I just woke up from having one this morning.

I've been having this dream for many years now.  Each time, it seems so real that I would feel a great sense of relief everytime I get to that point where I'm still sleeping and yet I realize it's all just a dream and I couldn't wait to wake up and get back to reality.  (When you're living a dream, what is it that you do when you sleep? Have nightmares?:P) Anyway, about the dream...it comes in different versions, but it's always about flunking a subject in my last semester in college that I had totally forgotten about during the semester because I was too busy living my life.  It's usually some really interesting course like...um...PI 100 or Soc Sci II.:P  And in my dreams (or nightmares), flunking that one subject would always mean that I couldn't graduate, hence I would not be able to do what I actually want to do, which has nothing to do with what I studied for all those years.  My friend Lyra says it probably means I'm scared of failure. Pete says it could mean I still need to continue "learning". I say it's probably just my mediocre academic performance in college coming back to haunt me. Hehehe.

This morning, the dream was even worse, I was flunking ALL my subjects. All 21 units of them (Yeah, I saw my UP Form 5 in my dream.)  And I was like...Why did I forget that I was enrolled in these courses? Oh yeah, because I was too busy shooting and editing stuff for my clients! Hehehe.  And in my dream, I was preparing to talk to Pete and let him tell me that it's ok if I failed those subjects. That I didn't need them in my work anyway. And then at that point, reality started to set in and I woke up thanking the heavens that it was all a dream. And there's my happy ending.:)

In other news...it's raining!

First, let me just say that I LOVE the sun.  It makes me so happy.  As a photographer, I use it as much as I can for as long as I can.  And I'm usually bummed when it rains on a day when I have a shoot. These past few weeks however, there's been too much sun and no rain at all.  And I think I am one with every Filipino in praying to God to please make it rain. Yesterday, I had an engagement session scheduled. When I woke up to the sound of drizzle, I prayed, God, please make it rain...tomorrow...Hehehe. But the truth was, at the back of my mind, I was already thinking of possible shots in the rain. I knew I wouldn't mind it as much if our shoot got rained out. I knew we could figure out something. I just wanted it to rain.

And what do you know? My prayers were answered. We got really nice weather yesterday (aside from a light drizzle at the beginning of the shoot) and this morning, I woke up to the sound of real rain!  I don't think I've ever been as happy about having rain as I was today.:) And I'm sure everyone was just as happy about it.

And just to make this babbling less boring, here is a sneak peek from the engagement session I shot yesterday.  Bubbles make me think of dreams. And I really just love the photo.:)