Behind the scenes footage of the NBA Warrior Girls’ swimsuit calendar shoot. Photographed in Napa Valley’s own The Meritage Resort. If you have not seen the Trinitas Wine Tasting Cellar of Napa, you have to check it out, it’s a cave, a wine tasting bar, a cellar, a spa and a huge traditional banquet hall, all in one.

(View in HD)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wr9H-knq6YI]

Some shots from the calendar:

After the long wait, the 2009/2010 swimsuit calendar that we photographed about 3 months ago for the NFL Tampa Bay Buccaneers has been released during Training Camp! It’s definitely a hit as the calendar was sold out during the first week of release!!!! Woozah!!

Well, what are you waiting for? Order the calendar NOW! It makes a great gift! I’m getting 50-60 of them, one way or another.

- Michael Soo

Roseanne, a Buccaneers’ cheerleader takes us behind the scene of Soo Photography’s photoshoot with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ cheerleader’s team shoot.

(Video by Ed Bottger)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ke6avEoBlg]

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We have recently added two absolutely amazing product lines to our studio that I am personally very happy with. If you know me, I’m extremely selective when it comes to the products we provide. Our employees have been known to roll their eyes when I rejected a beautifully crafted album just because it doesn’t have rounded corners (I refuse to believe that people will want to order sharp metal cornered albums, place them next to children, or adults). Maybe it is because I live in the same town where Steve Jobs work.

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A great deal of kudos go to Queensberry, our supplier in New Zealand. They are the best handcrafted album maker in the world. All the albums are hand-cut, hand-matted and assembled with acid free mats. The attention to detail and classic approach ensures the albums retain their appeal and integrity, as you pass them down from generations to generations. The albums are guaranteed to be free from defects in material or workmanship.

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The beauty of Queensberry albums is the unlimited capacity for customizations. Poetic balance between beauty, craftsmanship and functionality can be achieved to create either a classic or contemporary look to the albums.

Talk about beauty, the other product line that we are introducing is called the Luminae Crystal Panels (image above). Its a phenomenal compliment to our classic Museum Quality Canvas Wrap. Luminae Crystal Panels are the brightest, longest-lasting and most energy-efficient LED-light panels in the world! The lighting is made to be evenly light a photography with no color cast. It is about half an inch in thickness with aluminium studs to hang on the walls, creating a modern look that is captivating. We are installing at least 6-10 of these products along our studio corridor with high-fashion images that we captured.

I could go on and on about these one-of-a-kind products that only we can offer but I would rather you come and see them all up close and personal in our studio. Get an appointment to swing by…NOW!

- Michael Soo

A beautiful day, 72 degrees Farenheit in San Francisco and we spent the whole day in Sintak photography studio. All is not lost! We have a team of fun and talented individuals to party with indoors! We’re shooting bridal gowns today!

Dresses are designed and tailored by none other than Jinza Bridal Couture. There are many bridal shops out there but if you are looking for custom-tailored dresses, using exceptional materials, look no further. Jinza uses only top quality fabrics, pure French silk, organza, crepe, chiffon for a smooth flowing look. Jinza is both down-to-earth and pleasant. Story has it that Kelly (the model and bride-to-be below, YES! She’s a real bride to be married in a few months!) tried over 65+ wedding gowns at Jinza’s with no pressure from Jinza. Now THAT is what I call “excellent customer service”!

Why let me tell you about it rather than checking out the shots…

(Click on images below to see them LARGE)

As with all weddings, I will only recommend the best makeup artists and hair stylists. Take a closer look (click on the image on the right) at the flawless makeup by Beauty Expert Tiffany and extraordinary hair styling by Mikel Sessions. You’ll now have a few phenomenal vendors at your disposal.

Many thanks to Margarita and Kelly for being such amazing models.

- Michael Soo

Photographing bathing suit calendars with scantily clad models is exciting, the haute cuisine food photography has ruined take-out food for me for life, and my happiness for the ecstatic brides and grooms and their families I photograph already warms my heart on lonely winter nights into the next century. I do love my work, but when a photographer REALLY wants to have fun…

Gentry Magazine has recently exposed my vice–Trash the Dress–in their February 2009 Annual Wedding Issue. (full issue here)

I know it takes courage for women to sacrifice their treasured, expensive gowns, and my best efforts go into transforming the memories of these perfect wedding dresses into dramatic, whimsical, permanent art, elevating the dresses to importance equal to the lovely brides inside them. There is extreme contrast in style for featuring these wedding dresses between the precisely programmed events of the wedding day and the let-it-all-go, wild-and-crazy freedom of these photo sessions. And the gowns shine in both settings.

The brides tap into their imaginations as they collaborate with me, hatching the plan for these photo shoots. And if you look at my series of pictures, you’ll see the mischievous thrill on the faces of these lovely women. If you could see a behind-the-scenes collection of pictures of me, you would see that I am having spectacular fun, too.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZmYrD5fqL8]

You are invited to share my Trash-the-Dress images to enjoy the happy faces in these out-of-the-box wedding mementos, and remember, on the other side of the lens, my smiles were even broader. Thank you, ladies, for making my day!

- Michael Soo

Never-ending deadlines, continual search for new content to publish, reviewing new equipment for readers, replying to emails and mail from million of readers. These are but few of the challenges that face the editors in a publishing house. This becomes an upward battle, especially when it’s a large publisher, like Popular Photography & Imaging, the largest photography magazine in the world. They have to constantly feel the pulse of the readers, facing the impossible task of pleasing everyone.

PopPhoto has always been kind to me. This is the organization that gave my photography business a good boost a mere 3 years or so ago. Receiving one of the most prestigious and coveted international recognitions, the Photographer of the Year award from PopPhoto did a lot to extend my credibility and promote my business.

Recently, after months of hiatus from not hearing from PopPhoto, I’m just so glad that I will be doing a short 8 pages of photo work for them. On top of that, one of my images of Tiffany is the February Cover!!!

I personally know a number of photographers who get jaded along the way after being on numerous magazine covers, spreads and what not. I have been published dozens of times in various magazines, newspapers like The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, etc. However, being in a magazine will always be refreshing to me. I feel very blessed to be able to work as an artist.

John O, Jason B, Pete K, Debbie G, Julia S, Linzee K, and everyone in PopPhoto, I want you to know that each and every one of you made an impact on my life, and I want to thank you for it.

Below is the 4 spreads (8 pages) of the story.

 
It’s always humbling when I’m chosen as the photographer for people whose professional careers depend on my pictures. So Cal model Elizabeth is a special case.

For years she has used photographs from her modeling gigs as her portfolio. But recently she decided to create a collection of pictures specifically for her. After canvassing websites of many, many photographers, Elizabeth found me; and she chose to drive eight hours all the way from Los Angeles to come here to Cupertino…TWICE!

We worked both days and had some fun setting up different categories of shots to create a complete portfolio: headshot, commercial, athletic, and business-style photos.

The collaboration brought us from the studio, to San Francisco downtown, to the garden in my backyard, to a local park. We really covered her comp card in more ways than one. Tiffany Chiang did the makeup wonderfully.

Being a model is about versatility and acting. By creating photographic situation for the model to act out her role will dramatically increase her chances of being cast into a role.

My best wishes follow Elizabeth back to Los Angeles, and I hope my photos will bring her great luck with her modeling career.

- Michael Soo

If you remember back in April, a local Vietnamese hairstylist, Allan Ngo of Allan’s Salon, approached me to photograph his work for a huge competition, namely, Goldwell’s Trend Zoom 2008 Color Challenge. This is very much akin to the Grammy award for hairstyling. (The blog can be found here)

Allan has previously entered in the annually held competition, to no success. For him, it’s really about the exposure and not much else. A month ago Allan called me, “I made it into the semi finals!!!” he exclaimed. He was elated.

Then a week ago he called again, “I WON !!!”

He went on to explain that the image I created for him showed the proper shape, texture, color, depth and lighting of the hair that is crucial to become a winning image. On top of that, makeup artist Aimée Lam really brought home the matching colors of the eyes and accentuated the look with her tedious 1-hour makeup work on Danijella, the model.

It just pleases me tremendously that I am able to help Allan “uplevel” his business and reputation a big notch. What used to be an underdog local hairstylist is now a big name. A true “American Dream” success story.

Allan is now sponsored to compete internationally in October. This time, in Spain. Congratulations, Allan!!! I’m rooting for you! We all are!
(The winning image is on the right.)

- Michael Soo

How I Spent My Summer Vacation…

It might be difficult for some of you dyed-in-the-wool football fans to believe there is more to summer than training camp…but there is. It’s cheerleaders-calendar-photo-shoot time! Boy are we excited or what!!!

This July, I wrapped up the photographs for the upcoming 2008-2009 NFL Tampa Bay Buccaneers Cheerleaders Swimsuit Calendar. I am the photographer for a few other cheerleading calendars, but this was my first season with the NFL Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ calendar, and, as with all of my photo sessions—from brides to bananas to business environments to cheerleaders’ bodies—this shoot was exciting.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P17NwkNF4Q0]

The locations were the first plus to this project. We worked exclusively in Southern Florida, the Buccaneers’ neighborhood. The hours were brutally long hours each day of the week-long shoot. And as the physique wears down, the creative mind slips away along with it; hence, we began our location scouting hours, if not days, ahead.

With 32 girls in tow for the calendar, avoiding similar-looking locations was challenging. This was especially so with the restrictions we had to adhere to: e.g. not too many waterfall shots, because they used so many waterfall shots last year; constraints of only outdoors; non-cheesy spots; etc, etc. We had to squeeze every last drop of creativity we could muster.

We began the photography work weeks before the calendar shoot with the team and individual shots. That allowed us to get to know the girls a bit better before the calendar shoot began.

Another plus was having the rookie cheerleaders assigned to me as gophers and assistants. Yes, I remind you…I was paid for this gig…

The models began their days at 4 am and we wrapped up about 11 pm. Keep this in mind as you admire the twinkles in the eyes of these ladies. As I mentioned, the cheerleaders themselves helped out at the locations. But there was also an enormous team working on this project, over 20 people in all.

This shoot had its drama. On the way to an island location, we serendipitously passed a sunken, abandoned sailboat and decided to use it as a backdrop.* The models risked life and limb to reach the boat and board it—there was a reason it was a shipwreck!

You probably are wondering, does getting up close and personal with 32 beautiful women, all in bathing suits, over the course of a week change a guy? Be sure to check back to see my continual evolution.

And of course, the final bonus is the collection of wonderful, eye-catching, colorful, memorable pictures of a fantastic team of talented, patient, and hardworking young women. Enjoy!

(Click on an image, then use your RIGHT and LEFT arrow keys to go through all of them)

There are so many people to acknowledge, and they were all terrific; however, I will specifically mention a few:

1. Sandy Charboneau, the Buccaneers’ cheerleading manager, juggled twenty tasks on her fingertips (with Michael Jackson music playing in the background), and was tireless, efficient, organized, and a dream to work with;
2. Cathy Crooke, coordinator assistant, with a keen, intuitive knowledge, made things happen with a single phone call;
3. the Makeup and Hair Stylists, did not seem to need any sleep (unlike the photographer);
4. Ed Bottger and Shawn, the videographers, were exceptional team players;
5. Paul Ferradas, photo assistant, helped with bouncing off idea after idea (all during his birthday, too, no less!);
6. Marriott’s Omelet Lady fed us ultra-delicious breakfasts nearly every day while singing her omelet song ;
7. and, of course, the troop of highly disciplined Cheerleaders.

My sincerest thanks to the ENTIRE Buccaneers’ staff!

And now I’m back in Silicon Valley, returned to the REAL world.

- Michael Soo

* The adventure with the sunken boat deserves some elaboration. As I mentioned, the cheerleaders and staff had a terribly difficult time actually boarding the wreck. Things photographically were going well, when a Coast Guard vessel pulled up to force us to leave. We identified ourselves as representatives of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. While the Coast Guard crew were radioing their base to learn what to do with us, I began quickly taking shots to try to squeeze every opportunity left to me before getting kicked out. In the end, we were allowed to finish our work, the Coast Guard ship stuck around, and one of their crew pulled out HIS camera to snap off some shots, too! Real high seas adventure.