There was a great turnout to the “Photography Made Simple” workshop this past weekend—over 150 people showed up! The class was a blast; we just spent the whole time laughing and having fun. Thanks to everyone who came out!!

This class is designed for everyone from complete beginners to amateur photographers. The goal is to learn how to tell a story with photographs. Over the course of the day, we cover topics like using an SLR, posing groups and individuals, changing lighting to create a mood, utilizing windows and household items to shape light, and touching up pictures with Photoshop.

This class was one of the most engaged and excited groups we’ve ever had. Everyone was excited to try new things and asked great questions. The day just flew by!

If you missed the workshop, you still have a chance to catch the next one this upcoming weekend. We’re teaching it again on Saturday, February 4th from 9 am to 3 pm. Breakfast and lunch are included, so all you have to do is show up with a camera (preferably an SLR) and a notebook or laptop. The session is held at The Lookout, located at 605 Macara Ave, Sunnyvale, CA 94085. The class is already 92% full, so
hurry up and get your ticket while you still can.

Also, we’ll be teaching an intermediate/advanced photography workshop at The Lookout on February 29th from 9 am to 3 pm. Everyone knows that the best way to get the perfect photograph is to capture it with the shot, instead of trying to fix it up in Photoshop later. “Garbage in, garbage out,” goes the saying. But how do you get beautiful shots on the fly? Come find out! This class will teach techniques you can use to create standout photos, whether you’re photographing portraits, food, products, or anything else you can think of.

We are looking forward to meeting everyone who comes to these classes! Getting to teach these workshops is one of our favorite parts of the job, and we truly appreciate each and every person who decides to spend a day taking pictures and having fun with us.

As we say goodbye to 2011, we also say goodbye to the headache of renovating our photography
studio. We spent 3 months dealing with the fine white dust from the drywall, the teeth-shattering jackhammering, and the noise from dawn till dusk. Renovation is super stressful, especially if, like me, you’re someone who is meticulous about the tiniest details: light, color, the shape of the tiles, design, ambiance, and on and on.

But the good news is that our studio renovation is finally complete! Champagne all around, please! Happy New Year!!!

We decided to go through the remodeling process because we wanted to be able use the studio as an elegant backdrop in photos. Renovation of this proportion usually takes 6 months, but we
completed a majority of it in just under 3 months because we are utilizing the space as a studio and can’t have such a long downtime. We had to be extremely creative in making the renovations in sections.

We did all the interior design ourselves, and we’re so please with how it turned out! The studio used to be really dark, but now light pours in from skylights and windows. Glass doors open onto the yard, creating a flow between indoor/outdoor living space.

We created more light by adding 7 new skylights, and a bunch of new windows. We also installed at least 60+ new light fixtures into the studio, most of which are LED (energy efficient and non-toxic).

The interior has a wedding theme with a glamorous, contemporary, warm and extremely sexy feel. The furniture is modern and cozy, the perfect place for couples who are getting married to get comfortable, have some wine and cheese, and chat with us about their plans.

The fireplace is elongated, see-through and set into beautifully curved tiles, bordered by wood. The other side has a large black granite surround, sitting on a sensual red wall. The see-through fireplace is fun because it’s essentially 2 fireplaces in one.

The salon also received a facelift with new light fixtures, glass French doors and new flooring.

With its beautiful lighting, flowing design, comfortable furnishings and elegant touches throughout the space, visitors tell us the new studio has the feel of a high-end lounge.

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

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!

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

What a super fun weekend!! Over 100+ photographers attended our Photography Made Simple workshop in Maggiano’s Little Italy in Santana Row, San Jose.

Everyone loved the breakfast and lunch!

We got some great comments and emails from the attendees. Here are some great ones,

1. “Michael, the workshop exceeded my expectations. In addition to being very informative, it was also most enjoyable. From the first minute to the very end I was captivated. Thank you” – Trevor Ngo
2. “I especially liked Michael’s philosophy that to make pictures stand out, they have to be taken from the heart, and it shows in his work”…read more – Michelle Ma
3. “It was like 10 years of professional skills of composition, lighting, creative view, crop, portrait demo, to some photoshop retouching techniques packed into an injection. Voila!” …read more… – Dee Lee
4. “I want to give a huge recommendation for Michael’s photography workshops. I took Michael’s portrait and lighting workshop a few weeks ago and it was great! Whether you are just starting out or are an experienced photographer, there is much to be learned from him…”read more… – John Harrison

Here’s a shot of the back of my head, facing my class in Maggiano’s Little Italy, Santana Row, San Jose.

Now, doesn’t it reminds you of this product?

Tune into the Marc Silber Show and advance your photography. Learn from the likes of Chase Jarvis, Bambi Cantrell and Michael Soo.

I was given 2 days notification to give a 90 minutes presentation to 100+ photographers at Smugmug HQ in Mt View. Despite this being such a short notice, I think the presentation was a major hit !! Check out all the comments below!!!

Photographer Michael Soo shares with us, a load of tips on how to take great family photos in the Marc Silber’s Tips and Techniques Show! Check it out!

I’ve been really privileged to photograph NFL and NBA Cheerleaders for their swimsuit calendars for the past few years and have always look forward to the assignment. These sessions have produced gorgeous individual portraits and calendar shots. And I’ve had a fabulous time. The cheerleaders are just as nice as they are great-looking, and the energy, from start to finish, is totally positive and fun.

Maybe it was that energy that attracted the attention of MAXIM, the international men’s magazine. I was delighted to learn that 20 of my portraits of the Buccaneers cheerleaders recently appeared on its website. This is huge for a couple of reasons. First of all, Maxim usually features only 1-2 images from a photographer. And second, the Maxim website has content that never appears in the magazine. Because of that, it’s become very popular with masculine viewers around the globe.

In this positive spirit, I want to offer a few tips from my experience in photographing women. These tips work, whether you aspire to appear in a magazine or just want to have a great picture of yourself taken. Here goes:

Tip #1 – Unless you haunt the gym and have amazing abs, never face the camera head on. Always angle your body slightly away. You’ll appear slimmer and more buffed.

Tip #2 – Turn your face toward the main source of light, which could be the sun, a lamp, or a bright wall. That will throw some of your face into shadow, which is not a bad thing. This brings me to tip #3.

Tip #3 – Show off your strengths and minimize your weaker points. For example, if you think your face is too large, use the shadow created by the light source to make it seem smaller. You can also use your hair to hide parts of your face. Or, if you have beautiful hands, use them to cover areas you don’t want to emphasize. The possibilities are endless.

Tip #4 – Chin up! Yep, your mom was right. Lifting your chin just a bit will give you an automatic face lift and help you look self-confident and happy! Very appealing.

Tip #5 – Forget the camera. It’s not there. Yeah, right, that’s really good advice… The camera and the photographer ARE there, which is why you’re there. So here’s a trick to help you feel and look more natural and relaxed: Use your thoughts to create an environment that you love, like the beach or the mountains, and “go” there. You did that time and time again when you were a kid, and your imagination can serve you just as well now.

- Michael Soo