Kristen & Matt’s Wedding | West Hartford, Connecticut
He stood in the reception hall surrounded by his friends and family and spoke of his new wife, his new marriage. He referenced wedding planning, often a notoriously stressful experience. But he smiled his passionate smile and declared, If wedding planning is a glimpse into the kind of marriage we'll have, I'm going to love it.
Matt and Kristen met in college at Duke, where they lived in the same dorm and were both involved in the same Christian organization. They were friends, but they didn't quite start dating then. Matt was moving across the country for grad school at Stanford, so they agreed to put it off. Of course, they then found themselves 3,000 miles apart and decided to start dating anyway.
True to Matt's words, all of the little details and elaborate excel spreadsheets that they labored over came together in a wonderful celebration of friends, family, and love. Kristen and Matt are simply adorable in their open affection for one another. They have been united in their love for each other and their love for God, and they will doubtlessly grow together in both.
I absolutely love Kristen's engagement ring: sapphire, diamonds, and gold, passed down from Matt's grandmother. And I love the band they had custom designed by Topper Fine Jewelers to pair with it too.
I began my day with the very good looking group of men getting ready at the hotel.
Such piercing blue eyes!
Then I photographed Kristen at her childhood home in West Hartford.
Gorgeous.
The ceremony was held at the very New England-style Covenant Congregational Church of West Hartford.
The programs were printed by Cricket Press with all the ribbons hand tied by Kristen and her helpers.
Kristen is absolutely glowing, walking down the aisle with her dad
Matt and Kristen sat down in the front pew for a special part of the ceremony as their friend perform a liturgical dance.
Beautiful detailing on their cake by Creative Cakes by Donna.
Kristen's grandmother was inspired by one of my photos from their engagement shoot and painted the beautiful painting of them on the left.
I love the soft flow of movement in her dress. They really had a beautiful first dance.
Kristen's sister Laura delivered a funny, moving, and emotional toast.
Newlyweds Addison and Julie-- I have to give Julie a huge shoutout, because she helped to coordinate everyone for all of the different group formals. I wish I could bring her with me to every wedding!
Birdseed grand exit!
Vendors:
Church: Covenant Congregational Church, West Hartford, Connecticut
Reception Venue: Birch Meadow Banquet Facility, Bloomfield Connecticut
Florist: Sharon Elizabeth's
Cake: Creative Cakes by Donna
Jeweler: Topper Fine Jewelers
Programs: Cricket Press
Salon: Acure Eco Salon
DJ: Dave Giani
Photographer: Anna Wu Photography
Lauren & Ryan | Cincinnati Lifestyle Photographer
We grew up playing violin together, having named ourselves the two halves of "wubu," Anna Wu and Lauren Buchkajian. We played so much in so many various groups and combinations (youth symphony, chamber symphony, duets, quartets, etc.) that our high school orchestra conductor named an award after us, the wubu award, equivalent to the 3000 points club. Yes, we were really that cool.
Orchestra overachieving aside, Lauren is doubtlessly one of my longest running blogstalkers, as she has been a personal supporter of mine from the very beginning. Long before I ever knew I wanted to be "a photographer" she stood by me in my various little ventures. She is incredibly beautiful, smart, and talented, and is far more amazing than she ever gives herself credit for.
This summer we got together back in Cincinnati at the tail end of my Midwest tour, meeting at the Panera Bread right by my house. We sat in the shop chatting for a little while, until the sun started to disappear. We took the quick trip over to Weller Park, and in between mosquito bites, I snapped a couple photos. Lauren's boyfriend Ryan joined in for a little bit too, before we headed over to Dairy Queen to finish off the night. I may have frightened Lauren with the horrendous swelled up welts on my legs from the mosquito bites, but it was all worth it in the end.
Please tell her she's gorgeous. Sometimes she doesn't believe me.
Lauren and Ryan have the most adorable story about how they met-- commuting together on the same bus together for literalaly weeks and weeks, neither one having the courage to approach the other. Of course, one day Lauren finally said hello, and well, here they are. 
Seattle & Shang Chen
If I just concentrate for a moment, I can conjure it all back. The amazing overlooks, late-afternoon blue skies, and the feeling of being in this beautiful city with no obligations-- only an open day to explore and spend time with friends. Seattle has a vibe not unlike the Bay Area's.
Despite its gray reputation for clouds and gloom, Seattle lights up in the summer. By late afternoon, the sun wins over the clouds. If there is a color I associate with summer Seattle, it's not gray, but green. Trees huddle in the landscape surrounding the water of the Puget sound, providing lush views of nature and city intertwined.
My last day in Seattle I spent with my friend Shang and her friend Emily. Below are some of my images of Seattle and portraits of Shang from our impromptu shoots.
Olympic Sculpture Garden:
The standard view of Seattle from a little park atop a hill in Queen Anne:
She's a Nikon girl, but I still love her. Shang Chen.
Me & Shang looking very coordinated with our brightly colored outfits.
I love traveling, and I feel incredibly lucky to be able to explore all these different places. If you've been following my blog, you'll know how excited I am to have bought JetBlue's All You Can Jet pass, which will allow me to fly to as many places as humanly possible for 30 days.
Follow along with my updated calendar on this previous blog post and catch me in your city. Here's a summary below:
Los Angeles: 9/7-9
Chicago: 9/15-16
Indianapolis: 17-19
Chicago: 9/19
New York: 9/20-21
Pittsburgh: 9/22
Boston: 9/23
Austin: 10/1
San Antonio: 10/1-3
Austin: 10/4
Los Angeles: 10/21-25
Lexington, KY: 10/29-31
The Shay-Tang Family | Kirk in the Hills, Michigan | Lifestyle Photographer
When I arrived, the house was buzzing with preparations for Lily's big day. This was the day she would be introduced to solid food. But you have to think of solid as a flexible term. Solid like... soupy rice pudding. But food that's not in a bottle is a big deal! We were all making exaggerated OM NOM NOM motions with our mouths, and I stood by with flip cam as we eagerly awaited Lily's reaction to the spoon in her mouth and the food dribbling down her chin. She was a trooper, and later would be rewarded with bathtime (her favorite) and an actual bottle of milk.
The next morning, we did a spontaneous photoshoot with Lily in her adorable polka dot outfit, in which she later made a huge poop.
Later, we headed to Kirk in the Hills, an amazing home-turned-church in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
While Lily is the star of her own show at home, and her 5-month birthday was something to celebrate, this was actually the main reason I drove over to Michigan for this shoot:
FOUR generations of Shay women.
In relation to Lily, we have Grandma, Great-Grandma (flew in from Taiwan), Aunt Patty (flew in from Arizona), Mommy Christine, and of course, baby Lily.
Mommy & Lily
With grandma and with daddy.
The whole family.
Then an outfit change, and we took it inside, out of the 95-degree weather. I loved the window lighting in this hallway and the arches in the background.
Love.
One more with the whole Shay-Tang family.
Patty and Lily.
And finally, I absolutely love this portrait of Christine & Patty's grandmother, age 87. Still young, I say.
Thank you so much, Christine, for inviting me to Michigan to stay with your family and to capture these portraits! I had a wonderful time and would love to come by again and again as Lily grows up! Hope your family enjoys these images for years to come.
Dan Hutchings, Vocalist | San Francisco Headshots Photographer
Dan Hutchings is a classical vocalist based in San Francisco now, but soon moving out of state. He's reserved, straightforward, and classically good looking too. The cool thing about this session is that it's the first one I did right here, at my new place in San Francisco. Looking forward to many more to come!
Love Out Loud– tafLabs 2010
My favorite thing about our "tafLabs" room is not the ten computers or the impressive mass of wires and hard drives everywhere. It's not even the six Canon DSLRs with all their amazing lenses scattered on all the desks. (And you know how much I love my DSLRs!)
No, it has nothing to do with the gear.
At each of our stations, we are working on individual projects that contribute to the whole-- parody videos; marketing surveys; a retrospective documentary; the slideshow. Every so often, someone will stop what they're working on and lean over to check in on someone else. Andrew coaches Justin through video editing. I help Tiffany rename her files. Ho Chie and Eric look through photo albums from 1989 and laugh at their reminiscences. Karen stops by and we have the kind of late-night conversation about purpose and life decisions that makes me reminisce about life in college.
I love this space because it feels alive. People are connecting and doing amazing work-- completely unpaid-- out of love.
Every year, 200+ youth gather in the Midwest for this summer camp, the Taiwanese American Foundation (TAF). Unlike the rest of the programs (elementary through high school), tafLabs is a space dedicated to developing all sorts of projects, small to huge, that contribute to the TAF mission or serve the larger community beyond TAF.
Within the week, I created a photography mentorship group, started an online video project, produced a mini documentary, and helped with our epic 3D slideshow.
The tafLabs crew this year:
The amazing thing about TAF is that I've been attending since I was 10, and yet I still walk away every year feeling like I've pushed myself to grow. We intentionally create this space for people to be open and vulnerable with each other, and it's awesome to look around and see lightbulbs going off everywhere and people clicking into gear. I'm constantly inspired, amazed, and thankful to be a part of it all.
Here are just a few more images from the week:
The Juniors (elementary) campers crowd around a laptop for a special message from the future.
The annual Thursday afternoon water fight is preceded by a variety of stations, one of which resulted in dumping water on unsuspecting counselors.
Full blown water fight!
This is a fairly good representation of what it's like to be a Juniors counselor.
We walked into the gym already lit like this, so we had to take advantage. And if you think the shot looks pretty decent now, just go check out what happens when it goes 3D in our slideshow.
Tearin up the dance floor. He's inexhaustible.
The wonders of off camera flash. Thanks to Jon Lee for running around the dance floor with me.
The 2010 theme-- Love Out Loud (LOL)
That's all for now. See you at TAF 2011!
Learn more about TAF/tafLabs and see our work at blog.tafworld.org.
Susie Fong, Harpsichordist | San Francisco Headshots Photographer
Susie peered into the window like a child sneaking a peek at the Christmas presents long before it was time, and she gestured me over to show me. In one room, a harpsicord with light-colored wood ornately painted with floral designs. In another, a stark modernist piece with sleek curving lines and a bold red, black, and white color scheme. These were extraordinary, unique harpischords sitting in ordinary practice rooms, there at the SF Conservatory of Music just for a summer festival.
Susie swiped her card to let us in, and she sat down at the red harpsichord. I just have to try it out. And as she played the beautiful notes from a Bach prelude, her love for the instrument and for early music took the scene, and everything else faded into the background.
Jenny & Kevin | LACMA | Los Angeles Engagement Photographer
They met through Craigslist!
When Kevin was looking for housing for a summer internship in San Francisco, he came across Jenny's apartment, which was being sublet for a summer. He didn't end up living there; he didn't even really get to know Jenny that well right away, but the connection was made.
A couple years later, Kevin was living in San Francisco, and Jenny back in her home town Los Angeles, when Kev started traveling to LA for work. He called up Jenny, and they got to know each other over greasy Chinese food. Kevin ended up traveling to LA a lot, and he ended up seeing Jenny a lot. And well, the rest is history!
We met at the absolutely delightful Los Angeles County Museum of Art, better known as LACMA, for an evening engagement shoot. It was such a wonderful place to explore; I could've stayed all day and still found new interesting nooks and crannies to photograph.
Love this awesome neverending escalator. Love the reflections on the glass-- three Kevins and three Jennys!
And at the top of the escalator? This amazing view over LA. Love.
The iconic lampposts in front of LACMA. It's such a wonderful installation, with such pretty, soft lighting too.
Like a forest of lights. I just love how blue that sky stayed, long after the sun had gone.
Jenny & Kev, I am so happy to be a part of this with you. It's really an honor to photograph a friend's wedding, and you've both been so wonderful to work with through this whole process. Can't wait to see everything come together in October!
Krystle Tugadi, Musician | Los Angeles Headshots Photographer
She's got soul, she's got style, and it's no surprise that she's on the rise. While a lot of musicians these days are going all-virtual with their webcam performances, Krystle Tugadi has taken it back to the stage. She performs live shows several times a week around her Los Angeles/Orange County home base. Don't worry, she's got plenty of web presence too. Check below for the links.
More on Krystle Tugadi:
Listen in on Myspace
Stay tuned for the launch of KrystleTugadi.com in less than a week
And look forward to her video collaboration with Turtlist Media in the coming months.
Duncan Tran, Actor | Los Angeles Headshots Photographer
Duncan Tran is charmingly good looking, and he's an actor and incredibly talented dancer. Spend some time with him, and you also get to see that he's a giant goofball on the inside.
Plus, have I mentioned he's an amazing hip hop/break-dancer? Seriously. Look him up on youtube. But check out these photos first:
