My 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.
My assistant, Shouten, and I put in some shooting practice time earlier this summer. Our model for this photo shoot is Shuming from China. Thanks, Shuming! You did a fantastic job!
Today’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?!?
“What is CMA?!?”, you ask. CMA stands for Celebration Ministry of Arts. CMA is a performing company of Christian dancers who are based out of Colorado. This summer is the 7th year CMA will do ministry in Japan. You can find more detailed information about CMA and the work they are doing in Japan on their website.
What is exciting for me about CMA’s tour this summer is that the dancers will go and help with relief work in Fukushima prefecture. This is one of the areas in the Tohoku area that was affected by the earthquake/tsunami that hit Japan on March 11th. I have been to the devastated areas twice and having hope is a constant struggle for many of the survivors. I am confident that through their gift of dance and through their ministry of service CMA will bring a message of hope to the Japanese people they meet in Fukushima. Let’s remember to pray for them as this is an incredible opportunity.
CMA dancers have an incredibly busy schedule during their brief time in Japan but last summer, I was able to squeeze in a short practice shoot with three of the dancers. The dancers are Tiffany Case, Gwen Kennicutt, and Christine Rempel. The fun part of shooting dancers is that they are so graceful and beautiful with the poses. I wish I had all day with them! I hope I will have other opportunities in the future. Hope you enjoy the photos…..and remember to pray for CMA!
Well, as promised, here is Part II of the inspiration shoot that took place last weekend. If you missed Part I, go here.
My models were Anne Crescini and Marla Ayatsuka. One of them’s my wife To be honest with you, my shots didn’t do any justice to the beauty that these two women have. God made them both beautiful on the outside. But the beauty they have on the inside is just as attractive. The strength and character of these women are something to behold. So, forgive me that these images fall short of truly capturing who they are.
I wanted to create a little bit of drama using the sun flare and a texture.
Thank you, Jessica, for designing the bouquets and head pieces! You're the best!
Last Saturday, we had an inspiration shoot and went out to Green Park for some fun in the sun! Jessica Kondo is a good friend and we collaborated together on this shoot. She designed the beautiful flowers (bouquets and head pieces) you will see below. Like I said before, I’m not a “flower” person but I can appreciate their beauty and Jessica did a phenomenal job. I am looking forward to doing many more collaborative shoots with Jessica. When you combine the flowers with beautiful models, then you have a winning recipe.
For our models, my wife and daughter (Anne and Mia) teamed up with another mother/daughter team (Marla and Hana). We’ve known Marla ever since we arrived in Kitakyushu eight years ago. She and her husband, Rocky, are wonderful friends. I need to do a lifestyle shoot of them just so I can show you their awesomeness! But I digress. Mia and Hana are best buds and well…they are just plain cute!! Okay, enough banter. Enjoy!
Getting ready
Putting on makeup is fun!
I don't like this part, Mommy!
Hold still, baby!
Pretty Hana
Friends
Love their expressions here!
Tea time!
I love the shadows being caused by the flower headdress!
Can we play now, Mommy?
What beautiful girls!
By the way, you don’t want to miss Part II of this inspiration shoot. Anne and Marla get their modeling on! Here’s a sneak peek:
This 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:
One 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.
This was my third consecutive trip to Las Vegas for the annual Wedding & Portrait Photographers International (WPPI) Convention and one thing that I have not been able to do the first two years was a desert photo shoot. Well, I finally got the opportunity to participate in one when Gavin and Erin Wade posted on facebook that they were organizing such an event on a Saturday afternoon. Gavin and Erin did a wonderful job putting together their very first photo shoot in Vegas. All who attended had a great time and walked away with some pretty spectacular images. Make sure to sign up for one next year if Gavin and Erin organizes another photo shoot. Gavin and Erin, thank you !
As a bonus, I got to share a ride with my friend, Mike Colón. I’ve learned so much from Mike about wedding photography from both the technical and business standpoints. But on this day, Mike shared with us the funny and lighthearted moments of shooting weddings. It was fun listening to his stories. And writing about Mike on this post has also taught me a valuable lesson: how to type an accent mark over the “o”: ó…see?!? Ha ha ha!
As you will see below, I decided to post my images in black and white. I wanted to view the images from a different perspective. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the images!
And I must not forget to give a big shout out to the following people for their contribution to this great shoot:
Models: Brittanie and Tomas Cruz (Bride and Groom) Kate Colosi (High Fashion)
To be honest with you, my shots didn’t do any justice to the beauty that these two women have. God made them both beautiful on the outside. But the beauty they have on the inside is just as attractive. The strength and character of these women are something to behold. So, forgive me that these images fall short of truly capturing who they are.
