Let's take a whirl in the 20's: Jazz Age Lawn Party

Oh how I wish I lived in a time far fancier! Fascinators, long pearls, flapping dresses, seersucker suits, straw hats, and more! Ignore the fact that an Asian like me would be tucked away in the kitchen, and 1920s America sounds almost perfect heh heh. I've long held a love for the style of the jazz age: it all started in 4th grade when our class put on a Vaudeville Show and my mom made me a red & black flapper dress. Because I stopped growing in 5th grade, I proceeded to wear that dress as a Halloween costume (I kid you not) until college! This time around, I was joining hundreds of other party-goers at the 10th Annual Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governor's Island, and boy was it a blast! While there were varying levels of effort in outfits, I was truly amazed at how some people just played the part so well. It truly felt like you were transported to the 1920s for an afternoon with beautiful cocktails, a phenomenal jazz band, and non-stop dancing. Even people's picnics were on another level - we're talking fine china, wooden tables, vases with flowers, and more. I was smart enough to remember my DSLR this time around and courageous enough to ask strangers for photographs!

I always forget how much I love my 50mm lens until I start taking portraits with it - the crispness is just magical. For the most part I was shooting between a f/2.2 and f/3.2 from quite a few steps back. The only problem is that I need to put so much distance between myself & the subject, that it's hard to clear a path in a large crowd! I'm definitely getting better at quickly taking photographs, but I still feel quite a bit of pressure when I'm taking portraits of strangers as opposed to friends. I've learned, however, that a compliment serves as a fantastic explanation and lead-in to your question! 

Ethereal Light in Bushwick: Sarah Jane Shanks Collaboration [Part 2]

  This is Part 2 of my collaboration with the life-loving Sarah Jane Shanks! To see Part I please click here.

For Part 2, I'm showing you guys the photos from the incredible rooftop of this apartment we used in Bushwick! The wind was blowing hard and it was a lot colder than it looks, but we laughed our whole way through, played with the breeze as much as possible, and witnessed swatches of colors appear in the sunset behind us. I had so much fun experimenting with light out on the rooftop and in the interior shots in Part 1. It's incredible how just the slightest of movements, the tiniest of blockings, can completely change how a photo comes out. Soft hues versus sharp contrasts are all possible. While normally I would try to be editing the colors of my photos to remove any "unnatural" hues, I actually loved the shades cast on Sarah Jane as the sun set and sought to capture them even more. 

Baby Blues for Baby Boys

Last week I had the wonderful opportunity to celebrate my dear friends Amy and Renee who are expecting baby boys a couple of weeks apart. Both of these wonderful ladies are actually the first within my New York City friend group to be entering parenthood, and I couldn't be more delighted for them. The item I loved the most (besides the gorgeous cake and ridiculously delicious monkey bread) was the hanging twine with "favors" for after the baby was born. Ideas ranged from bringing over a movie for a girls night to doing a sink full of dishes to holding a real adult conversation! As more and more of my friends have entered into different life stages than me, I've wondered how I can love and serve them best when I have absolutely no clue what they might be going through. I loved these tangible ideas and can't wait to see how amazing of mothers Amy & Renee will both become! 

Ethereal Light in Bushwick: Sarah Jane Shanks Collaboration [Part 1]

Collaborating with other artists has become one of my favorite things to do as a photographer - whether it's working with the members of The Photograph Collective to come up with a new project or working with fashion bloggers, I love the teamwork, new ideas, reflective questions, and joint visions that go into collaborations. So when Sarah Jane Shanks reached out to me ever so sweetly with a request to collaborate for one of her upcoming projects, I jumped at the opportunity. We met up for breakfast early one morning to get to know each other better and how we could match what she wanted with how I preferred to shoot. We used a Pinterest board to brainstorm the looks we were interested in capturing, and it became clear we wanted light to play a large role in all of our photos. She came up with the brilliant idea of getting a space for us at an artist's loft in Bushwick that had unique furniture, plenty of light and an incredible rooftop. Armed with a few flowing outfits, 4 ft flower sticks, and an adventurous spirit, Sarah Jane came ready to turn our vision into a reality.

I can't even begin to describe how much fun I had during this shoot! I snapped a couple of hundred photos, moved furniture around, taped a blanket to a wall, chased the light, watched the sun set in the background, and just had the time of our lives. We tried some things that didn't work, but found other things that worked surprisingly well. I am so happy with how these photos turned out!

Another aspect of this collaboration that was quite interesting was our discussion of payment. I've been thinking about what photography means to me and how to balance the "value" of my photography. On one hand, I feel that the minute I start accepting payments for my photography, I will lose a love for it. I find so much creative refuge in shooting and blogging and don't want to have the stress of having clients & expectations on time frames for delivery. On the other hand, I don't want to devalue my time & effort for photography. For this collaboration alone, I probably spent 12-15 hours total in between meetings, brainstorming, traveling, shooting, editing, formatting, delivering, etc. Fortunately, for this time around, Sarah Jane and I found a beautiful solution that she would donate to my roommate Krista's missions trip in lieu of paying me for my services. I think that this solution addresses both of my concerns so appropriately - I'm not doing it completely for "free," but I am placing a value on my work as well!

Keep your eyes out for Part 2 of my collaboration with Sarah Jane soon!