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
All You Can Jet!
Sometimes I dream about the jetsetter lifestyle-- not only flying to all kinds of places, but actually doing so spontaneously. I could wake up in the morning and think, I'd love to be in New York today, and voila, be there before sundown!
But really, how many people actually have the flexibility in their time and the access to airplanes to just fly around whenever they feel like it?
Apparently, I DO!!
Yes, after some deliberation, I decided to take the plunge and live the dream, thanks to JetBlue's All You Can Jet pass. I am free to fly wherever I want between September 7 and October 6. The one big drawback is JetBlue's very limited selection of destinations (so I can't just think of being in Paris and end up there, unfortunately.) But I will still be happily flying around, as much as I possibly can, to the places that they do serve. What better way to celebrate not having a 9-5 job?
So this is where you come in, dearest friends and clients: Want to book a session in your city? Help host me in your town? Jump in the fun and help me make the most of my travels!
Tentative schedule below, open to suggestions! (look at September-October):
September 7-9: Los Angeles
September 11: San Francisco Wedding
September 16-19: Chicago to Indianapolis
September 18: Indianapolis Wedding
September 20-22: New York
September 25: San Francisco Wedding
October 1-4: Austin to San Antonio
Midwest Tour
Even before it hits, you can feel it coming on. It takes but one step from the plane onto the jetway for it to strike in full force. The humidity. The heat. It's a giant cloud stifling you with its sticky, unsolicited embrace.
Welcome to Cincinnati.
To be honest, I kind of missed it. There's no denying it feels like summer here. And besides, most of our time is actually spent indoors in air conditioned spaces, ducking from the heat.
That is, until I decided to drive in a 700+ mile loop in my 1995 Avalon... which has no air conditioning.
From Cincinnati, I drove to TAF in North Manchester, Indiana. With the windows down, it wasn't unlike cruising around in a convertible past the cornfields. Beautiful red and white barns stood isolated against blue skies, white puffy clouds, and green fields.
The Manchester College campus at dusk:
After a week in Indiana, I headed to Michigan, my original home state. There, I photographed a friend's family at the beautiful Kirk in the Hills, a Gothic-style church in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan:
And after a couple days of great hospitality, I drove back down through Ohio, spending much of my time stuck behind semi trucks on the two-lane I-75. Along the way, I stopped by the tiny town of Anna, Ohio to refuel:
So now I have two more days in Cincinnati, and then it's back to San Francisco. But it's been a lovely trip despite the weather and the ten mosquito bites I acquired in under 15 minutes. Til next time, Midwest!
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.
Seattle Sneak Peek
It's a struggle every day as the sun battles the clouds. Seattle's gray, dreary reputation is redeemed each day around 2pm when finally, blue peeks through, the sun trumphantly takes over, and the city transforms. Sunny, mid-70s-- beautiful. I leave you with a sneak peek from the Bite of Seattle two days ago; today's the last day of my trip, and you can be sure I'll post more when I get home!
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!
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:
Junghwa & Brandon | Cincinnati Wedding Photographer
There was no way around it. She was becoming anxious. They were running behind, and all the logistics of pushing back her hair appointment, changing locations, and moving people around were starting to overwhelm her. Junghwa made it through her makeup session by sneaking in phone calls between brushstrokes, and then she rushed off to the salon.
He met her there, the fair-headed boy with a super sweet smile. Brandon stepped into the buzzing salon to bring Junghwa her dress and all her sparkling accessories. They shared only a momentary exchange before she had to rush off again to get changed. It was as if the world was spinning, and they could only spin so fast to keep up.
It wasn't until the car ride that all that spinning stopped. Or rather, the world was still spinning, but it was they who were still. In that brief trip from the hair salon to the church, Junghwa found her center of gravity again. With his warm, gentle presence and his boyish charm, Brandon soothed away the weight of her anticipation. By the time they arrived at the church, she was a completely different person. Calm. Whole. At peace. Ready to walk down the aisle with the man she loved.
Junghwa & Brandon, thank you so much for inviting me back to Ohio to be a part of your beautiful wedding day. I can still feel the love from your friends and family surrounding everything and everyone. And of course, I wish you all the very best as you continue to center each other in your new life together.
Multitasking as Jean Folchi does her airbrushing magic.
Junghwa's aunts and mom help her get dressed downstairs in the salon...
...as the men sit around waiting upstairs.
This conscientious videographer (the boyfriend of one of the bridesmaids) could be seen faithfully recording everything throughout the entire day.
My really awesome second shooter Elliot captured the guys getting themselves together. It was about an hour into the shoot that Brandon recognized Elliot from junior high. Later, I recognized Brandon's sister Meredith from junior high as well. Small world-- and it all ties back to Sycamore Junior High!
Junghwa and Brandon are both musicians-- Junghwa the pianist, and Brandon the conductor. It only made sense that music would figure largely in their wedding too. Guests could be heard commenting throughout the rest of the day how beautiful it was.
A quick prayer before the ceremony.
The guests fill the seats at St. Saviour Church.
Mom and dad give Brandon a final go-over.
The wedding was officiated by Father Bernie McAniff, S.J. who traveled to be there.
After a nice midday break. The guests headed over to Brandon's family's home for the wonderful backyard reception. The cake looks divine!
A nice detail from the bride's parents. Junghwa laughed when she saw it, explaining something about them and pandas.
Junghwa changed into her second outfit for the reception-- a beautiful Korean gown.
What a good looking family! Brandon looking strapping on the left, and his cousin Chris looking, well, like he belongs in a magazine, on the right.
Brandon's father enveloped in conversation with Bethany, another girl I knew from high school.
Jason gave a hilarious toast-- short and sweet.
The maid of honor spoke first in Korean and then translated to English. While she was speaking in Korean, she had a momentary lapse, and she paused mid-sentence, trying to remember what to say. Someone from the audience generously offered, "Brandon?" as she broke out laughing, saying, "I know his name is Brandon!"
The bride's mother and aunt, and Brandon's mother looking on.
A great sequence captured by Elliot: the funniest bouquet toss I've ever seen. Notice how the bouquet goes in a direct path, right to the bridesmaid. Now, notice how Junghwa is turned around looking straight at the bridesmaid. The other girls never even had a chance!
Junghwa is getting a kick out of this. They even practiced the toss beforehand. Hahaha.
Their very sweet first dance, to Claire de Lune. Elliot's angle from above.
And my angle. Like little wings taking flight.
Vendors:
Makeup: Jean Folchi
Hair: Le Salon Hair Salon, Montgomery, Ohio
Wedding Coordinator: Jan Ortman
Ceremony Venue: St. Saviour Parish, Cincinnati, Ohio
Celebrant: Father Bernie McAniff, S.J.
Musicians: Friends of the bride and groom
Reception Venue: Private home, Blue Ash, Ohio
Catering: Garnish Catering, Blue Ash, Ohio
Photographer: Anna Wu Photography, with thanks to my second shooter, Elliot Kim.