Who says the youngest child suffers from not having enough pictures taken of him or her? Not in this household 
The images below were taken during Daddy-daughter time at the park. Happy Friday, everyone!
Archive for the ‘Lifestyle’ Category
Friday Feature: My Little Emmy
May 11, 2012Children’s “Informal” Shoot
April 9, 2012As people where leaving church after the Easter service and lunch, my family was one of the last ones to leave. My youngest had just taken a short nap inside the church and being the photographer that I am, I decided to just take a few shots of my kids and my friends’ kids. Well, I was delighted with what I captured.
CAUTION: There is a lot of cuteness in this post. And I mean a lot! This is not for the faint of heart. I repeat: it is not for the faint of heart! Proceed with caution….and oh yeah: enjoy!!
Rocky and Marla: Kitakyushu, Japan
March 10, 2012My good friends at church, Rocky and Marla, are releasing a new CD real soon! Woo hoo!! We went around town to shoot some picures to go into their CD. Enjoy the images!
Photo Shoot with Hazuki: Kitakyushu, Japan
November 1, 2011My friend, Hazuki, used to live in Kitakyushu but due to her husband’s job transfer, she and her family moved up north. Hazuki and her daughter were back in town last weekend for a quick visit. Shortly before their departure, I had a chance to do a photo shoot at her request. She is a yoga instructor and has started a small business. She naturally wanted profile pictures for her blog/website and that’s where I come in. Hazuki was great to work with and I believe the images we captured that day reflect her fun and engaging personality. I am sure that future clients that visit her site will notice this right away. Happy viewing, everyone!!
We found this empty park with beautiful fall leaves and decided to do a couple "yoga" images.
Before their train departure, we found one more location and came away with beautiful portraits of Hazuki.
Here are some behind-the-scene shots of Hazuki with her cute daughter.
Photo Shoot with Tomoko: Wakamatsu, Japan
October 20, 2011“Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow. It’s what sunflowers do.” – Helen Keller
Swimming Session with Fuuta: Wakamatsu, Japan
October 17, 2011Little Fuuta has been swimming since he was one. And, at a young age of five years, he is an impressive swimmer. This is not a kid who is forced to do this. He loves what he does! Between laps, he won’t hesitate to smile and give a good laugh. It’s been a complete privilege (I sound like an Idol judge) for me to take his pictures and to see him develop each year. Who knows? Fuuta might represent Japan one day. Here he is…Fuuta!!!
Wakamatsu, Japan: Moore Family Lifestyle Session
September 17, 2011Today’s blog post features a family from Texas: the Moores!! They spent 10 days in Japan to do summer ministry at our church. Although each day’s schedule was jam-packed, we managed to squeeze in a family shoot while playing at the beach. I am so glad for the opportunity to meet them. They were such a blessing to all the people they met. There’s such a zest in the way they live their lives that people take notice. Thank you, Moores, for reaching out and sharing God’s love with us!
**Don’t forget to watch the slideshow at the end!**
With Mr. and Mrs. Itoh: wonderful hosts during their stay
"That's the Pacific!"
What a great-looking family!
Ocean waves are the cause of this fantastic rock formation which makes for a great backdrop.
A beautiful daughter!
A beautiful daughter!
Time for the couple shots!
Love this moment between them! What did she say to him?!?
Everyone enjoying the sunset while exploring.
Ending our time with a gorgeous sunset!
Kinzan River Photo Shoot: Kitakyushu, Japan
April 21, 2011This week, Shouten, Winnie, and I went out for another photo session. This shoot took place at Kinzan River. Every spring is the Cosmos Festival highlighted by the blooming of various kinds of flowers, especially tulips. On either side, the river is flanked by gorgeous flower beds and cherry blossom trees. We were too late for the cherry blossoms but just in time for the flowers.
Winnie really enjoyed this shoot because she loves flowers!
Winnie looking beautiful in her spring dress
I'm not a "flower" kind of person but even I can appreciate their beauty!
This one is shot with a long lens and the next one with a wide-angle lens. Which one do you like?
Shouten wanted to learn more about flash photography. He specifically wanted to know how I got the nice starburst effect on some of my shots. For those shots, I use a Lastolite triflash bracket. You are able to mount 3 flashes. Using 3 flashes will allow you to “overpower” the sun. Having 3 flashes also gives you a faster recycling time between shots as the flashes don’t have to be on full power. On the next 3 images, my aperture setting is the same but look at how the mood changes when I adjust the shutter speed.
F22, 1/200 A dramatic look with a sharp sun starburst
F22, 1/60 With a slower shutter speed, you bring in more of the scene. The starburst is not as sharp but still pretty good. I also had the model face more in the direction of the flash. I also love the little starburst reflections on the water!
F22, 1/50 Now the sun is starting to wash out. But still a nice warm, pleasing shot of Winnie.
F18, 1/50 Sometimes, I introduce texture to compensate for the harsh lighting. The texture also gives a nice fine art look which I was going for in this image.
I also use a reflector to bring light back into the face when in open shade. The reflector I love to use is the Lastolite Trigrip. I am using the reflector in the next 3 images.
Learning lighting is essential when doing photography and I’m thankful for my mentor, Scott Robert Lim, who has taught me a lot about lighting and photography. Check out his site and be inspired!
Thanks again to Shouten and Winnie for an awesome photo shoot. Looking forward to our shoot in May!
***Update: I forgot to include one more photo. See below:
Can you "feel" the warm spring sun on her face?
Photo Session with Winnie: Hibikino Campus, Wakamatsu City
April 19, 2011Last Wednesday, I went shooting with one of my former students on the Hibikino Campus. This is the campus where I work part-time as an English teacher. Our model that day was Winnie. She is a graduate student at Waseda University but as you will see, she is also a beautiful model. Shouten, my former student, is from China and he loves photography! Today was his first time to shoot using the off-camera lighting technique and he did a great job. He was so excited that he is now planning to buy his own trigger system for his flash. I had a great time shooting a beautiful model and getting satisfaction from Shouten’s improvement as a photographer. Thanks, Shouten and Winnie! Can’t wait to do it again soon.
Here’s a black and white version of the same image.
WPPI Part 2: Family Session with My Sister
March 9, 2011One of the treats of going to Las Vegas every year is not related to photography at all. I get to see my sister! Her family lives in the San Francisco Bay area but they make the trip to see lil ol me. It’s not ideal as I have WPPI all day long but what a great time I have with them in the evening! I don’t often get to play with my niece, Elle, as I live in Japan. So imagine the fun I have playing with this sweet angel!
On their way back home and before my platform afternoon class, we had a short time (and I mean short) to go out to the desert to capture some family shots. Next year, I want to set aside a whole afternoon to shoot them at Red Rock Canyon. Until then, enjoy the pictures below.
This is my beautiful niece, Elle!
With her Daddy
I love this one. You can see Elle’s smiling face behind their kiss.
Elle: Ummm…why was I put inside this tire? Is that a scorpion I see?
Okay, break out the flash and see if we can do something dramatic.
Sad to say but at this point Elle wasn’t cooperating anymore so Mommy and daughter went off to explore while Edgar played the eager model.
This cool DJ/sound engineer has no problem posing for me. Ha ha ha!
Edgar had his own idea for the next couple images
Edgar: Don’t mess with me!
It was time to go but not before I got a shot of my beautiful sis. Love you, Fern!
Coming up…my thoughts on my experience as a volunteer for WPPI’s Print Judging Competition.
