What better way to enjoy good food and wine is to have them with great friends. An invitation to fine dining with Carol + Chris and Terel + Stacia is met by a surprisingly gorgeous home, a warm family and friends, Stroy + Laura and Danean + Brad.
How much fun can a few hours be? Watch and find out!
We are very blessed to be one of Yelp’s highest ranked photographer in the bay area. Yup, with approx. 50 FIVE STARS reviews, we feel loved. However, today came an email stating that we now have a negative FAT ONE STAR review in Yelp! A one-star what?!!
We’re breaking the mold ! Making history and causing chaos in the industry. People officially now hate us on Yelp! 
- Michael Soo
Sad Photographer of the Year
We recently photographed some pretty cool looking products and it made me think. Ok, not too hard but…
Ever wonder why women have so many purses? I figure that it might have all started back in the caveman days. You know, women were the gatherers and we men, were the handsome, daring, not to mention, hairy hunters. 
Ok, back to the gatherers. Well, the women had to collect berries and what other food they could find and you know all of that doesn’t fit into their hands. So came the invention of the purse – some cloth or fabric or other material to hold the food. But then they added colors and made the purses out of different materials and so came the invention of the designer purse! It’s a theory anyways. I think this evolved into a display of color to attract us men, you know, like how some birds attract others with cool unusual colors.
These days, women switch up their purses so much, one might worry that it could be a wasteful hobby. Well, worry no more. Wo Schiffman, founder of the new company Fibre Arts Design, created a line of bags that are made from recycled materials. Recycled purses that can eventually be recycled. That sounds really awesome. Well, you probably don’t want to recycle these though. They’re the latest trend and they’ve traveled to fashion shows in L.A, San Francisco, and are now on their way to Milan! Who wouldn’t want to keep these new bags! From my perspective as a photographer, the unique colors and fabrics definitely have caught my eye.
Her new line also includes bags for us men. For years we’ve pretended that we didn’t need purses, er, bags and we try to stuff the minimal into our wallet and into our back pocket. Sometimes it does get uncomfortable especially when you’re sitting down for a long time. Nowadays, we’ve got a lot of other gear like sports water bottles, cameras, etc. Besides, hasn’t it occurred to you that it might be dangerous for men to stick their keys in their front pocket? Guys, there is serious potential for injury here! Think about it! Besides I could use something to hold my extra camera gear. Maybe I should consider a man purse after all, er I mean a bag. You think that I could attract the opposite gender by sporting a cool new bag from Fibre Arts Design? Would women find me fashionable? Should I try?
Makeup Artistry and Hair Styling by Tiffany Chiang of designHERimage
Who would have thought, that product photography for actuators, servos and motion control products can be an eye opener. We have photographed the cover pages of Animatics for the past few years now. These are what their servos, motor controller amplifiers and SmartMotor™ look like (actual cover photograph for their main brochure),
However, never in my wildest dreams do I realize that these products that I photographed are one and the same mechanisms that power this crazy amazing kinetic sculpture! Check out this stunning video!!!
As a photographer, I often get to work with a lot of pretty models, but I’m used to it, and as a professional, I would never ever drool over them. However, with this particular photo shoot, I really found it difficult.
My latest models have been making me drool like crazy. The curves on those thighs and legs, their beautiful golden tone and the color on that tender rack of juiciness are all irresistable. All this is set against the rich, warm colors of the backdrop, a beautiful table hand-made from two logs. They’re exactly what I like capturing in my pictures. I’m talking about the barbeque chicken and ribs from Sam’s BBQ restaurant here. It’s a good thing that Sam actually fed us before the shoot, making it the tastiest shoot that I’ve worked on, literally.
Sam’s father opened the restaurant some years ago, and today, it is packed with fun and good food, even on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. That’s because Sam is a brilliant marketeer. He hires in a band on slow nights and is now having professional pictures taken of his food. This was great timing as one of the catalogs is now asking to include his restaurant in their book because others have provided terrible quality pictures. This is such a great opportunity to show off his food and have people drooling for more.
The past two months has been nothing but a truly humbling experience for us. We have been blogged, reviewed, voted and published. Here are some of our recent delightful encounters that made us blush to no end…
• As of today, we’ve been voted to TOP THREE of the BEST Wedding Photographer in the entire San Francisco Bay Area by San Francisco Chronicle. Help us Capture The Love become #1 !!!
• Queensberry saw our work and they love what they saw!
• Profoto, a high end international professional lighting company interviewed and blogged about us
• James Robinson, a fellow photographer found us via the Profoto Blog and went ahead to interview us
• Our work was published by both Gizmodo AND Engadget at the same time!
• We got into the front cover and numerous pages of the highly successful Nesting Newbies magazine!
• We’ve taught in several highly successful workshops in Santana Row and were requested by Smugmug to be the South Bay’s Smug Leader, proceed to give talks and organize activities for hundreds of local photographers!
We feel really blessed and we’re definitely counting our blessings and appreciate all the support and love we have gotten over the years from everyone!
I wanted to help Nancy and Kevin create a dream photo shoot, but what inspires one to dream? Is it the dress? Is it the location? Or is it just that magical feeling of love?
For this engagement shoot, Nancy wore the English Garden sheer strapless dress from Ema Savahl Couture. Detailed with sparkling flower appliqués made in the warm shades of nature, it is a romantic, dreamy gown. The dress, blooming with flowers and made of airy fabrics gave Nancy an ethereal look. It was the inspiration that turned the backdrop of the Pulgas Water Temple into the home of a Roman god, the columns of the Legion of Honor into a rendezvous spot and Golden Gate Park into a fantasy world of love.
And so the dream began:
She was a beautiful maiden who lived in the woods. She never ventured outside, for she had been warned, “Once you step outside, you may never be able to return.” But that one beautiful day, she could not help but be drawn to the light beaming from the other side. Wandering to the edge of the woods, she stopped to embrace the light, ready to step out of her world and into another.
What a beautiful new world she had never seen! Through the lavender fields, she frolicked, her airy chiffon gown flowing behind her. Was the sweet scent wafting from the flowers in her bouquet or was it just the magical scent of her beauty? Her presence caught his eye.
Who was this beautiful maiden, wandering about? He had to know. He greeted her on the plains of his meadow and offered to share his world with her.
It began with a friendly stroll through the meadows…
They spent much time together, roaming about his land. They had many a secret rendezvous. Some were hidden behind the columns where she gave him pecks of love on the cheek.
With spring breezes blowing by, their love bloomed with secret kisses underneath the flowering cherry blossom trees.
This beautiful maiden completed him. He could no longer ever live without his soul mate.
However, as time passed, she missed her home. They both knew that she soon would need to return to the woods.
It was then that he realized he needed to be with her and so he gave up his world to be a part of hers. She was now his world.
2010 has been kind to us. All our photography workshops and classes have been jam-packed and we’re really fortunate to share our experience and knowledge with the photography community.
Smugmug (a premiere multimedia hosting/sharing/selling site) sponsors a handful of photographers around the world to speak in Wedding & Portrait Photographers International (WPPI). For those who are not familiar with WPPI, it is THE largest annual photography convention in the world. Tens of thousands of photographers from across the globe will make their yearly pilgrimage to Las Vegas to learn, share and experience.
So, when Smugmug asked us to speak for them, amongst the likes of David Jay (entrepreneur and photographer); Robert Evans (photographer who shot the weddings of Tom Cruise & Katie Holmes and Brad Pitt & Jennifer Aniston, etc.), it’s quite an honor and a humbling experience. Here are the speaker schedule at the WPPI tradeshow.
Monday March 8
10:00 AM to 10:20 AM Gustavo Fernandez
10:30 AM to 10:50 AM Peter Garr
11:00 AM to 11:20 AM Robert Evans
11:30 AM to 11:50 AM Michael Soo YAY!
12 Noon to 12:20 PM ShowIt
1:00 PM to 1:20 PM JVS
1:30 PM to 1:50 PM ShootDotEdit
2:00 PM to 2:20 PM Tofurious
2:30 PM to 2:50 PM Katie Humphreys
3:00 PM to 3:20 PM Scott Jarvie
Tuesday March 9
10:00 AM to 10:20 AM Jefferson Todd
10:30 AM to 10:50 AM Bob & Dawn Davis
11:00 AM to 11:20 AM Steve & Jenn Bebb
11:30 AM to 11:50 AM Bui Brothers
12 Noon to 12:20 PM Alex Garza
1:00 PM to 1:20 PM Michael Soo YAY!
1:30 PM to 1:50 PM Robert Evans
2:00 PM to 2:20 PM Dawn McCarthy
2:30 PM to 2:50 PM ShowIt
3:00 PM to 3:20 PM JVS
3:30 PM – 4:00 PM ShootDotEdit
Wednesday March 10
10:00 AM to 10:20 AM Tofurious
10:30 AM to 10:50 AM Katie Humphreys
11:00 AM to 11:20 AM Pepper Nix & Mitch Burt
11:30 AM to 11:50 AM Gustavo Fernandez
12 Noon to 12:20 PM Jefferson Todd
1:00 PM to 1:20 PM Peter Garr
1:30 PM to 1:50 PM Steve & Jenn Bebb
2:00 PM to 2:20 PM Bui Brothers
2:30 PM to 2:50 PM Alex Garza
Wedding album design isn’t a chore for us. It’s an exhilarating part of our wedding package and photography process. It gives us a lot to look forward to.
Ever tried to buy a special gift for someone close to you, carefully wrap it and place it under the christmas tree? Despite Christmas being a week away, you can’t wait to see the expression of that special someone when they open that present, right? THAT’s exactly how we feel when we design wedding album.
This particular album is done for Christine and Ben. We were so excited about showing them the album that we photographed the albums and email them these teasers,
(click on images to enlarge – then use arrow keys)
 |
 |
 |
 |
(Ben wrote me an email within minutes saying, “We’re on our way over”)
Now, what makes the Queensberry line of albums from New Zealand, our selected album maker is beyond their scrumptious leather, suedes, silks, buckram and bengalines. It’s their hand crafted treasures, an extension of style, design and absolute exquisite photographic albums that retain memories. Their albums are the absolute best out there and we are glad that we are a selected few in the country that carry these albums. Don’t take our word for it, check out the guest album and engagement album that we created for Christine and Ben for their May 15th Wedding in The Ahwahnee Hotel located within the Yosemite National Park. Wedding photography in Yosemite and the Ahwahnee will be absolutely fun and exciting. I can’t wait to photograph there again!
(click on images to enlarge – then use arrow keys)
(Click above to read the blog, retweet and comment)
So we are truly blessed to be blogged by Profoto. They are possibly the highest end and one of the largest lighting company for commercial and advertising photographers around the world. Their reach is quite phenomenal. We were working in Intel Developer’s Forum in Shanghai, trying to rent light for an on-stage demonstration to 10,000-20,000 attendees. We searched high and low in the metropolitan city for dependable lighting packs. The only ones that we are the Profotos.
We used to use monoblocks; however, our work on fashion, product, commercial and advertising means that the light source’s color rendition needs to be highly accurate. You really don’t want your blue dress to look magenta, do you?
Checkout our reviews on Yelp!
Fan us in Facebook!