I've always been a big fan of Stillmotion work and luckily this year "Canon Digital Learning Center" teamed up with Stillmotion for a workshop tour around the U.S.  Stillmotion's first stop was New York City and I was able to engage in this wonderful learning experience.  Thanks to Patrick Moreau for teaching us his techniques used to produce some breathtaking cinematography and thanks to Canon for providing us with all the camera equipments.  It was fun to be able to use all sorts of Canon lenses. 

Below are some images from the two day Stillmotion New York City Workshop.  Part of our exercise was to make a Canon commercial using all the techniques and tools we've learned. A big thanks to my wonderful team who helped put this awesome special video together. 

Our team:
First camera man: William Chang
Second camera man: James M Hall
Director: Gregory Heisler
Audio and Video editor: Albert Oh

Having been a New Yorker all my life, it never stops to amaze me how many beautiful locations there are within the city.  Take Central Park for example, I've had many shoots there before, but each time I go I feel like I find a diamond in the rough.  We ventured off from the West 70's entrance right before sunset and found ourselves beautiful wooden structures, bridges, and of course, the beautiful Central Park lake. 

Of course our set up was amazing as well.  The bridal photo shoot for Lotus Bridal was creative and well organized.  With so many beautiful wedding gowns to choose from at Lotus Bridal, the Maggie Sottero Tatiana was a beautiful match for Anissa.  

Enjoy some of the photos from the shoot below. For all brides out there looking for a great selection of wedding gowns and other formal wear and accessories, please visit Wendy @ Lotus Bridal in Brooklyn, NY.

From a snowy blizzard day at one park to a sunny and warm day at another park here in New York City, it was quite a change in scenery.  We started the first part of the engagement session down by the meat packing district at High Line Park.  As the forecast predicted, we should be expecting a huge snow storm starting in the afternoon.  The weather delivered exactly that, of course, but did not stop us from going through with the shoot anyway.  Shooting while it snowed definitely adds warmth to all the photos.  I can see how Bryan held Dinh closer and tighter as the temperatures dropped.  This was definitely a fun experience for all of us, but the snow started falling much quicker and I was forced to end our shoot earlier.  Another key lesson learned - snow within pictures adds an excellent wintry touch, but damp people and equipment leads to a slew of other things.

We rescheduled for a future date and decided to shoot the next engagement session at Central Park.  The day started with a great brunch in the Upper East Side.  Once we were full and energized, we started venturing through the Park to find prime locations for pictures.  Finally, we finished our photo shoot at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Thanks to Dinh and Bryan, I was able to visit the Met again after so many years.  This is why I love my job! Not only do we get to hang out with our clients and spend a fun day exploring the city, we get to revisit places we haven't been to in a long time!  We zipped through several of the exhibits, snapped away, and even brushed up on some of our history knowledge. 

A special thanks to Bryan and Dinh for being such a great sport!  We appreciate all your help and look forward to your wedding in March.

Please visit Bryan Berio's amazing art work @ www.hawkstonedesign.com

 

We started the day with Irene and Jeff meeting at my house.  Thanks to Irene, she chose two wonderful locations for photos.  Our first location was at Snug Harbor and with 83-acres of land. We had so much to work with - gardens, historic buildings, and even Greek revival architecture! It was definitely a great place for a photo shoot.  Half-way into our photo shoot we were stopped by security and was kindly asked to purchase a permit to continue our shoot.  It was really convenient that we were able to purchase a permit on the day of the shoot.  From my experience, there are plenty of places in NYC that require permit requests to be submitted as early as 2 weeks in advance for approval.  But not at Snug Harbor!  And as we made our way across the park to purchase the permit, we took advantage of the long walk and happened to finish all the photos needed for that session so no permit was needed after all. 

After staying out in the cold at Snug Harbor, we moved to our next location - St. George Theatre.  It was a nice change of environment compared to Snug Harbor.  While I am a huge fan of outdoor shoots, I have to say it's quite a toss-up when comparing to indoor shoots.  St. George Theatre was a perfect indoor location because it was controlled, warm, dark, and open.  I was amazed with all the beautiful details that the theater had.  It gave the place a really grand feeling.  There were no performances taking place when we visited, and the theater manager was kind enough to let us use the theater for our photo shoot.   We explored the entire place and were able to work with different lighting and angles.  I have been living in Staten Island for ten years and am still surprised by how many gems there are here.   A special thanks to Irene for doing her research and finding this spot. 

Congrats Irene and Jeff! I hope you both had a wonderful trip in Costa Rica!

Photog Shootout:

The purpose of the NYC Photog Shootout is to connect photographers with different strengths, abilities, and talents to learn from each other, network and make new friends.

We are a part of the global Photog Shootout network. We are planning on spreading all over the world, so no matter where you travel to, you will know what your fellow photographers are doing! This will be your one stop to find workshops, photographer GTGs and other photography related events!

January 23, 2010 was our first Photog Shootout event of the year.  I had the pleasure of planning this event and all the coordination and work was worth it!  Below is a video of the behind-the-scenes from our recent event.  After taking Jason Groupp's Fusion workshop, making this video was easy.  There were so many questions answered that I would have never figured out on my own.  This is what Photog Shootout is all about!

I want to thank everyone who participated in the Photog Shootout event.  It was a blast and it was great meeting so many of you!

And of course, special thanks to those that helped make the event such a success!

Rob Ninja Nicholson - www.humbledeyesphotography.com www.photogshootout.com
Jason Groupp - www.jasongroupp.com 
Neil Van Niekerk - www.planetneil.com
Josh Lynn - www.joshlynn.com
Peter Quinn - www.quinncophoto.com
Chris Chen - www.chrischenstudios.com

Jina Pak - www.jacbeauty.com
Alexa Prisco - www.theglamfairy.com
Katia Hroncich
Valentina Gonzalez

Haley Eve Kasenetz
Yelena Kim
Kate Wang - www.katewang.com/blog
Danielle little
Deana Tart-Spiotti
Kendra Andrews