Custom made halloween costume for Gia

This is Gia's halloween costume that was made by my mom and designed by Kattia. We started looking for a pre-columbian outfit or a pipil outfit to be exact, but didn't find anything that came close. Since there wasn't an outfit that we could simply buy... Kattia began doing some research and finally arrived at the designed shown on these photos.


My mom is an expert with textiles and makes sample garments for top labels, so we thought this would be a good project for her. There is also a halloween costume competition at her work, (which they take very serious) and maybe we can win a prize.

The costume pays homage to the native pipil people of El Salvador. We obviously took some creative freedom and made it look a bit more festive, but the basic shapes and overall pattern is inspired by authentic garments. I was happy that Gia was a good sport, and let me take these photos without yanking off her costume's headdress.

Point and shoot shutterbug techniques

For anyone interested in improving their photographs using a point and shoot camera, check out pointandshootshutterbug.com. The site has a number of tips that are easy to follow. There are examples of photos using the techniques described in the site and what to do to achieve great results without the need for expensive photographic equipment. The owner of the website Kenny Watson (photographer), is a buddy of mine from art school. Here is a photo I took, as we work our way through a bottle of sake in little Tokyo.

hilton anaheim wedding reception and ceremony at saint pius v roman catholic church

We started shooting the bride at the Hilton Anaheim hotel near the Disneyland resort. The bride and her bridesmaids were upbeat and having a great time. As the bridesmaids helped the bride to get ready, Kattia began to take photos in a photo-journalistic fashion. The room had many large windows which provided natural light and a modern backdrop. I took the photo shown below in this setting, which gave the bride a really nice splendor.

The ceremony took place at the Saint Pius V Roman Catholic Church in Buena Park. Flash photography was not allowed during the ceremony but we were allowed to move around the isles. I was glad that we could move from one point to another because it allows us more creativity and better photo opportunities.

After the ceremony I rode in the limo, with the bridal party, to the Cerritos Sculpture Garden. The garden offers a number of open spaces as well as intimate areas and a collection of public artwork. The garden provided the perfect setting for the bridal portraits.



The ceremony at the Anaheim Hilton went smoothly. I was impressed by the crew from the Anaheim Hilton as they were courteous, friendly and fast. The bride and groom made a great entrance. At some point, the groom lifted the bride and took her for a spin. It was a really cool/stylish move and the guests loved it.


Saint Pius V Catholic Church
7691 Orangethorpe Ave Buena Park, CA 90621
Hilton Anaheim
777 convention way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Ice Town's First Annual Charity Hockey Tournament

The Ice Town hockey team won the championship game and will now go on to play the NHL alumni! I'll be shooting that later tonight if I don't freeze my butt before then. Here is a photo of the winning team.

The photo below shows Matt (the director of hockey at ice town and really cool guy) presenting a huge check to the Loma Linda University Children's Hospital. Earlier in the week I got a change to meet up with Tiffany from Loma Linda and I have only good things to say about them too. I was such an honor to be a part of this charity event.






Click here to view more photos of Ice Town's First Annual Charity Hockey Tournament

Traditional Wedding at the San Gabriel Mission

Here is a wedding I shot at the San Gabriel Mission, in San Gabriel California. This is a great place for traditional weddings due to the style of the church. It's a very popular location for wedding portraits as well. You can see more photos of this venue in our San Gabriel Mission Wedding Gallery.

A visit to the PMA 2009 show in vegas

I had a chance to go to this years PMA show in Vegas this week. I saw so many cool new products and services. I was surprised to see so many coffee table book binding systems. The staff of WHCC was also there, and I have a book coming in from them in a few days.

A visit to southern california's railway museum

I enjoyed the scenery and the collection of trains at the Orange Empire Railway Museum. They also have many trains that are being restored and provides opportunities to photograph textures, vintage signage and cool mechanical forms. Below is a photo taken in front of a train engine. I will return later in the year to photograph Thomas The Train Engine when it becomes available at the museum.