Don't forget to play!

So I had a wonderful day of freedom. Designated this past friday to a full day and night of just having fun and not doing anything but have fun. That i did! Had a picnic day with a great friend of mine and went cardboard sliding (Slide on cardboard boxes down steeeep grass hills) and was a total fatty and ate whatever I wanted. No guilt present. :) Everyone needs these kind of days once in a while. I would like to make it a weekly thing... designate one day of the week of nothing but fun. I've actually recently been doing that and maybe that is the reason for a few unwanted pimples miraculously disappearing on me. Or not finding disgusting random white hairs while I'm instyling my hair. Either way... don't ever forget to play. I live by that cliche quote "Work hard... Play Harder." But it is SO true. I have 3 part time jobs on top of working my ass off with establishing my photography business and doing all these photo gigs; yet I still manage to party and dance the night away at least once a week til 4am. Still manage to grab a bubble drink with a friend on a whim. Maintain a strict every wed night girls night with my bffs. And squeeze in random spontaneous hikes. In life balance is key to surviving. Balance in relationships, love, work, and playtime. Its essential. SO with that said... take a break from studying, typing up that paper, working that extra shift you decided to pick up... and instead, gather your girls for a couple martinis, dance until you break a heel, laugh so hard you either snort of fart, and just have FUN and PLAY! :)

FIERCE just doesnt cut it!

I was hungry. Foaming at the mouth, cravings clearly stated within my eyes, hungry... for a fierce shoot!! :D And that I got. Wanted to help out a recent newly made/found friend Madoka to take some baby steps to following a passion of hers. The hunger in her eyes is just as intense within mine when I speak of photography but with hers its with Make up. Talented 18 year old, she learned how to apply make up on herself all by herself. No school. No classes. Trial and Error. AMAZING! I am driven and LIVE off of being around people who are passionate and have talents. I love to help nudge people into taking steps to making dreams they thought couldnt exist in their life come true. Show them their potential and the rest is up to them to take a passion to the next level! Danielle... the FIERCE model used in this shoot is another similar story. She contacted me through myspace back in the day when that ruled the world and not FACEBOOK (which i HATE because im on that thing WAAAY too much!) She had NEVER worked with a photographer before, never did any serious modeling. But found something in my work to be inspiring enough for her to contact me asking if I would be willing to coach her and help her start off a possible model hobby, passion, career, or whatever comes out of it. GORGEOUS girl! Got together and I helped her out, gave per pointers on posing and facial expressions and working with NON nasty male chester molestor photographers (EWW! haha) And here we are today... One FIERCE model who is a total natural and pro... and a young aspiring make up artist who i KNOW will do great things with her talent. Ladies... Lets RULE this world one shoot at a time! ;D Hope you all enjoy this series which was shot in my ghetto back yard... haha!

SLACKING ON THE BLOG!

So i totally have failed this month with the blogging. I'm enjoying my time of relaxation before next month because next month is when the weddings begin! :) Starting next month I am booked every month for the rest of the year! :D NOOO that doesnt mean I'm not taking anymore weddings, it just means I am stoked that I have managed to book at least one wedding per month. So Feb was my month to slack off a bit and enjoy life. Next blog i promise there will be more interesting things to talk about and I will have pictures to show for. Well guess i'm off to more slacking which means... another day of wasting my time on facebook!! lol Oh facebook how you consume me and take over my life! I want to kill the young genius 20 something year old for creating such a devilish thing!!! Have a great day everyone! :)

Alex and Kristina Engagements!

So it has to be said... I HAVE BEEN DYING TO SHOOT A GAY/LESBIAN WEDDING COUPLE!!!! I have been waiting patiently to get that phone call or email one day of a gay or lesbian couple celebrating their love together and wanting me to capture it!! :) So THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU Alex and Kristina for being the ones to feed my hunger in that department!! :) As you know, gay marriage is not legal in Hawaii.. YET! I feel abercrombie is going to pull through and legalize it, GO ABERCROMBIE! NO we won't go there in this blog though; about politics and what I think is right or wrong. It's just one other persons opinion and I am writing this blog to celebrate Alex and Kristinas beautiful decision to celebrate their love for each other despite what laws are stated on paper. No one can ever take that away from you and both of them are sooo very much in love!! :) I had a blast just roaming the streets of downtown with them and chatting it up. Taking pics of them was not a problem at all... no awkwardness in front of the camera because secretly I feel they practiced in the mirror OR used their own camera on self timer and played americas top model. Don't lie Alex and Kris!!! lol But yes these women are absolutely amazing together and I look forward to capturing their wedding day in March!!

My Family. The GREATEST people in my life.

When you grow up you learn things at different times. You learn your numbers, colors, abc's. You learn that the greatest tv shows on the planet exist such as reading rainbow, captain planet, and Doug. You learn that boys have cooties and you should run away from them at recess. You then begin to make your first set of friends, you form your group, your clique, your members only need a secret password to get in the club group of friends. You do everything with them. They become your world. They give you advice, and vice versa. You laugh together, cry together, get angry together. They experience relationships with you. You take a look at your friends and you realize how similar they are to you depsite how different they are from you. The phrase "your friends are a reflection of you" makes sense now! You learn that friends eventually become apart of your family. Where am I going with this?

I HAVE THE BEST FAMILY IN THE WORLD!! I have the most amazing parents who are so incredibly open and accepting and loving. They have always encouraged my brother and I to have our friends over the house. And that we did and still do. Our house has become "The Spot" for both my brother and my friends (ESP my brother because they are all broke asses haha) Screw kahala mall or alaz. My parents believed that being able to get to know our friends would be a great way to know who we are hanging out with and seeing our friends would give them an idea of who we were and what we were becoming.

Lately since I have moved back home I have been hanging out with my brother and his friends. They are 4 years younger than me. I am 24. (yikes to getting old!) I have had such a blast kickin it with them I had to write a blog about them. Each and every one of them are so artistically talented it blows my mind! You've got dancers, poets, photographer, singers, fashion/costume designer. They are people you just know will go places and can do anything they wish to do. Winter break is coming to an end and I am sad that my brother and his other half and other friend in his group will be going back to san fran for school. Its been a blast and I enjoyed getting closer to every one of his friends and getting to know what great people he has chosen to be apart of his life. BUT i wouldn't expect anything less from my amazing, talented, and can't forget FIERCE baby brother. haha Thanks for letting me tag along with your posse and sharing the secret password with me in order to get in your group. :D So glad to see you follow your dreams in sf. Your sis awaits for the text msgs and phone call updates while your up there and I can't stress enough how proud I am of you not just as a photographer but the man you are growing up to be. Love you Shane! I've never looked forward so much to summer!!

Feeling the Music!!

So this blog is completely off topic and random. Yes... It is currently 3:02am saturday 1/15/2011. I am wide awake and for the life of me can't even push myself to try and sleep. SO that is how this blog is happening right now. Aside from photography, music plays a HUGE role in my life. I was a HUGE band geek in high school... played the clarinet, was first chair, had the solos, was in marching band all throughout high school, was section leader and here's the real kicker... I LOVED EVERY MOMENT OF IT!!!! Anyway, music is another part of me that allows me to express myself like with photography (as if I have a problem expressing myself through words with my big ass mouth!) Art and Music consumes my life. This blog is about my other love. I mainly talk about photography and my business but I'm in the mood to share what fills the other side of my heart. There are a few songs lately that I been jamming to and living to. One thing about music I love is the ability to take a song and relate it to how your feeling at that time. Some songs just GRAB you and it's like the artist wrote it with you in mind. I love when that happens. Now although I wish everyday I was living to tunes like "What A Feeling"(Flashdance) - Irene cara or "walking on sunshine" - katrina and the waves, it just doesn't work like that. People would think that I was on drugs or that I was mentally unstable. So below I will list a few songs for you to check out. I been feeling the vibe of these songs or been experiencing some of the contents, or just plain right jammin to it while I edit pics cuz the beat gets me going. So check it and hope at least one of the songs is able to grab at you like it did for me.

"Forever and a Day" - Kelly Rowland
"Lisztomania" - Phoenix
"Heaven Forbid" - The Fray
"Shy that Way" - Tristan Prettyman and Jason Mraz
"Please Don't Go" - Mike Posner

Family Time!!

Much congrats to a very good friend of mine who recently graduated in nursing at HPU... Belle Bacas!! The past year or so I would try to get her to come out or when our mutual friends would have something planned it was always iffy on if she was able to make it because she was always studying til the early morning hours at kahala mall! So worth it now that she has finished and will be doing her thang in the hospitals and being an official RN!! She is originally from Seattle where her family resides... 2 sisters and her parents. They were all able to come to Hawaii to see Belle graduate and decided to have a fun family portrait session with me since Belle has decided to keep her life here on Oahu. (YAAAAAAAY!!) :D I had a blast with her family... her mom was the best at the jumping pictures we did which you will see at the end of this post. :D It was a pleasure kickin it with you Bacas family and again congrats Belle on FINALLY finishing the crazy nursing program!! Now I better see you out more often! :)