Zachary's Baptism

A few weeks ago (actually, the day after Alton+Charissa's wedding), was my cousin's son's baptism.  Since I rented the 70-200 f2.8L IS and 24mm f1.4L for the wedding the day before, I wanted to take full advantage of these lenses.  It was my first time attending a baptism, so I actually had no idea what to expect.  It made shooting a bit interesting, since I never knew what was coming up next.  Instead of being able to enjoy the moment, I found myself standing the entire time with the camera always at the ready so as not to miss a crucial moment.  As was the case the day before, I fully noticed the loudness of the Rebel shutters, especially in a quiet room and I only hope the constantly shutter clicking wasn't overly distracting the entire time.

One note, I switched back to using my XTi after mainly using the T2i for the majority of the previous day, and it was a HUGE difference in terms of processing.  I barely ever shoot in full manual mode, just because often in shoots like this, I don't have the time to set the aperture, shutter, iso, AND exposure for every scene.  So I tend to leave it in aperture priority and let the camera do the rest.  I could tell instantly, that with the new digic4 processor on the T2i, all the settings were automatically set to get a better shot.  Whereas on the XTi, I found myself taking a shot, looking to make sure the picture came out ok, adjusting a bit, then shooting again.  On the T2i, I found that I often didn't have to make too many adjustments after the shot..... it just worked. 

Cloudy Day in SF

A couple of weeks ago, we went to SF to scout out potential locations for an engagement session. It was quite sunny in the south bay but SF was a different story. The clouds were as dense as a stormy day. Below are some pictures from that day.

The image of the Golden Gate Bridge disappearing into the horizon is a sight to see.

One can't truly appreciate the majesty of the Golden Gate Bridge until you see it up close.

...A windmill in the middle of Golden Gate Park? I wasn't expecting that.

Alton+Charissa Wedding Pictures

Last Saturday, June 5th, the Visia Productions crew had the pleasure of filming Alton and Charissa's wedding.  It was a wonderful wedding, with lots of friends and family joining in to celebrate their special day.  The weather was beautiful, although a little too hot at times, especially in the church.  What we originally thought were tears coming form Alton turned out to be beads of sweat!  They chose the SJ City Hall Rotunda to host the reception which was beautiful and a step away from the traditional country club or hotel banquet room setups we're mostly familiar with. 

Although we were only doing the video for the wedding, that didn't stop us from taking a break and snapping a few pictures of our own!  Since we weren't their hired photographers, we tried not to intrude in asking them to pose for any pictures for us.  Here are some of the more candid shots from the day:

Stay tuned everyone for the highlight video...

Out and about in Old Sacramento

A couple of months ago, we went up to Sacramento to celebrate Jackson's birthday.  Being into photography himself, he suggested traveling out Old Sacramento for some grub and to take some pictures around the streets.  For those of you who have never been to Sacramento other than in passing by it on your way to Tahoe, Old Sacramento is this niche area in downtown that's a throwback to the early years of the California Gold Rush Era. Home of the first transcontinental railroad as well as telegraph, Old Sacramento has a set of 50 historic buildings which really brings you back in time. Not to get too far off point, Jackson, Ronald, and Esther spent the afternoon walking around, checking out stores, getting a quick picture in here and there.

Tried my first salt water taffy... eh, not sure what all the craze is about.

Jackson being Jackson....

Break time for ice cream!

I loved how this picture came out, especially with the cobblestone roads.

Davis roomies reunited...yup, this is what we do for fun.

Visia Productions in Action!

Here Tim, Derek, and Gabe are working on the tripod mounted camera with the 55-300mm lens attached.

Here is Tim checking the video abilities of the newly acquired T2i and zoom lens.

Mounting the T2i to the steadycam.

 

Some steady cam practice in the streets of Palo Alto.

My Dad's Goldfish - update

It is with a sad heart to report that the lazy goldfish has now passed away.  My parents came back one day and noticed it wasn't moving much, even after putting food in (eating was his favorite activity).  A few hours later, he stopped breathing all together.  May he join the rest of my pets in goldfish heaven... rip un-named fish.

Photoshoot: Mei+Ian

A few weeks ago Brent, myself, and our assistant for the day, Esther, had the opportunity to go around Palo Alto to do a photoshoot for Mei and Ian.  We started out around 4pm, so the sun wouldn't be directly over-head but we wanted to be able to end the day with some nice dusk shots as well.  We only had time to stop at two locations in Palo Alto (a small grass-land spot freeway and in the iconic Stanford campus), but one of the faults that I quickly learned when reviewing the pictures was that even though Mei+Ian went through several poses, one of the things we did wrong was not asking them to move to a new spot each time.  In the end, I felt like there wasn't enough variations in the background, but we'll have to just chalk this up to 'lessons learned'. 

Overall, Mei+Ian made up for our shortcomings and modeled beautifully.  Their natural love for each other shows through in all of their pictures, as evidenced in their radiant smiles and body language.  We had a wonderful outing with this couple and wish them the best of luck in their preparations for the wedding!

 

Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5 EX DC HSM ELD SLD Aspherical Super Wide Angle Lens

I just ordered a Sigma 10-20mm wide angle lens along with a 16gb SDHC C6 card from Amazon.  I was looking at this lens or the Tokina 11-16 but decided on this due to its range that would fill more "gap" up to my 24-105.  Here is how the items were packed:

One step inside the box:

One more step without the wrapper.  I like that it came with a case (though bulky) and a petal lens hood.

And here is a pic of the "friendly packed 16gb card" that is pre-opened for you so you do not need a razor blade to slice open the package.

I linked up my new lens to my T1i body and began shooting.  I like the effect that it provides and the speed at which it does it.  I do need more practice with it, but it does a great job getting everything in the picture with minimal pin cushion.  One thing to note is that when I was shooting on aperture priority, it would auto select it a higher ISO leaving dark pics quite noisy.  It does great in good day light.