Long Beach Photoshoot - Part 2

(in case you missed it, part 1 of the LB Photoshoot was here)

Tater generously allowed me to practice taking portraits on her.



Being a good sport, Tater held poses and and kept smiling even when I messed up :)







We concluded our photoshoot with some good ol' Pinkberry. Yum.



On a related note:

I am looking for opportunities to practice taking portraits and building my portfolio. If you are in the LA area and are interested in becoming my model (or if you would like to lend me your child), please email me at winnie0917 at gmail dot com for more information. Thanks!

Long Beach Photoshoot - Part 1

Yesterday I went on a photoshoot with another photographer for the first time.



Yep, it was the sweet and artistic Tater!

We met up at 8 in the morning but unfortunately by then it was already too sunny. At least it wasn't so hot. Oh well, we tried :) Tater and I took a stroll around the East Village Art District in Long Beach and snapped away.



In spite of the artsy name, East Village Art District really wasn't all that interesting. I took a lot of very random pictures. I'm sure Tater spotted cooler things than I did.





Random side note: I love meters. They seem to be standing on the sidewalk observing people and watching time go by. Of course, I don't love them when I need to park and don't have sufficient amount of change in my wallet.







By the way, I loooove the 50mm f/1.4 lens.



Which I'm sure you can tell by the overly excessive blurriness of backgrounds in these pictures :)



Coming up in Part 2: some portraits :)

A Mini House Party

Today the Hubster and I threw a little gathering at our condo for some college friends. To be honest, the party was entirely self-serving; I just wanted to force myself to finish unpacking ;-) Not to mention, I had a few recipes that I wanted to try out on some guinea pigs. Hey, whatever works right?

The wedding vases made another appearance :)



Unfortunately one got broken during the move so I only have five left.

Since most of the guests were boys, the color theme pretty much went unnoticed (it was blue and green with some white and yellow, by the way) and people thought the utensil jar was just there for looks :-P



Whatever, I liked them.

We started with deviled eggs (which I forgot the paprika . . . and I just noticed that as I looked at the picture), chips with blue cheese dip, mini caprese, and pigs in blankets.



From then on, I stopped taking pictures . . . so you can just take my words on the rest of the menu. We had mini burgers served with caramelized onion and macaroni salad. I was supposed to make a potato salad too but I ran out of time.

For dessert, we had rice pudding, fresh fruit, and ice-cream. I also made chocolate chip cookies, but forgot to serve them. It was purely an accident, of course.

[looking around]

[cricket]

We were supposed to have mini ice-cream scoops as well, but they didn't quite work out. It's far easier to just let people serve themselves anyway. For drinks, we had iced tea (served with a choice of simple syrup or lemon flavored syrup), cucumber mint lemonade, and mojito.

Overall, the food turned out half-way decent. I ran into a few snafus along the way, but at least nobody got poisoned (that I know of, so far). It was hectic as hell to prepare that much food for one day, but dare I say . . . it was fun.

P.S. - the secondary "food theme" was bite-size food, in case you didn't notice. Because, eh, nobody at the party did.

Also, I just realized that I never gave anybody a tour of our condo. Oops. So much for the effort to make the rooms clean and organized. But it's probably better that they didn't see the stacks of stuff still waiting to be put away behind the closet doors.

Mini Update

- I'm almost done unpacking!

- I NEED to get quotes on fixing all the stuff that got damaged during the move.

- I bought this nifty little thing to help with organizing :)



- I took the picture above with my new lens! Yay! It's a 50mm f/1.4 prime lens. So far I love it.

- I sold my very first print on Etsy!!! But then I spent $100+ on supplies so it turns out to be the least profitable business ever.

- To motivate my organizing / cleaning, I invited some college friends to come over on Sunday. Now I'm totally regretting it because I have a LOT to do still :X

Happy Independence Day!

On a side note: Unpacking has definitely taken a toll on my sanity and patience. I hope to catch up with life very soon.

Last weekend we headed to Victorville for the annual Fourth of July party with the Hubster's family. The lake view was gorgeous at sunset.



And of course, the highlight of the party:



Whee! I love fireworks.







I have other pictures from the day that I haven't even downloaded from the camera :-P Maybe next time.

Enjoy the long weekend!



Now, back to unpacking :X

UPDATE: A few of you asked about the technical aspects of the fireworks shots. I'm by no means the expert, but I'll tell you how I did it.

I used a tripod and a remote control in addition to the camera for these pictures. I set the camera at ISO 400, f/22, 2.5 and sometimes 5 seconds. In hindsight, I should have probably gone with ISO 200, f/11. Also, I would have liked to find some recognizable landmark to help frame the pictures . . . but there were none in Victorville. Beyond that, it was just about clicking the remote control button continuously while watching the fireworks :) Afterwards, I cropped the pictures and sharpened them in Photoshop.

It would have been helpful if I read these articles BEFORE I took the pictures:

How to Photograph Fireworks Displays
11 Tips for Sparkling Fireworks Photos

But hey, it's not too late for you :)