Anna Wu Photography » video

Mayline & Kenneth | Hylton Performing Arts Center | Manassas, Virginia Wedding Photography

Anna — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 16:05:34 +0000

I can still remember her as my quiet, smart, cool little camper when I, fresh out of middle school, served my first year as a counselor-in-training at our annual summer camp. Some things haven’t changed at all since those days– Mayline’s radiant smile and her generosity amongst them– but it’s been quite the privilege to see her grow into an absolutely beautiful woman and watch her get married(!) to such a wonderful man.

Together, Mayline and Kenneth are a bundle of unstoppable silliness. But more than anything, they free each other to be themselves, and that is always a wonderful thing to witness.

On their wedding day, both Mayline and Kenneth’s personalities and their family’s love poured out in both tears and laughter. The day began with a traditional Taiwanese ceremony at Mayline’s family home in Northern Virginia and ended it at an absolutely magical theater at the Hylton Performing Arts Center which was transformed by impeccable stage lighting.

Without further ado, we’re very excited to present Mayline & Kenneth’s beautiful wedding video captured by our sister company, Seaglass Cinema.

Mayline and Kenneth | 08.06.2011 from Seaglass Cinema on Vimeo.

And now for the photographs. It’s like this bay window was created for this dress shot.

Mayline’s sister Pauline and her mother help her with the veil.

In keeping with Taiwanese traditions, Kenneth and his groomsmen were put through a series of tests before he could earn the right to see Mayline. This one involved wearing these awesome hats and reenacting the proposal using various random props.

There were so many beautiful moments with Mayline and her father on this day. He even sang her an opera song at the end of the reception.

Mayline is a very talented photographer herself, so she knew just the way to my heart… just look at the amazing venue! The Hylton Performing Arts Center was a perfect, unique space for the wedding.

Gorgeous!

They pull off the more serious looks so well…

…but this photo really captures them for who they are!

I loved the handmade flags displayed in a variety of cigar boxes. They were so beautifully done!

They also created a very classy looking trifold graphic with an entire list of songs that their guests could sing to make them kiss (instead of clanging glasses). Their guests responded very enthusiastically, which meant lots of smooches and much hilarity.

A toast from the best man.

Congratulations Mayline & Kenneth! Thank you so much for inviting us out to Virginia and the D.C. area to be part of your amazing day. We had an amazing time, and we love you so much!

Wedding Vendors:

Venue: Hylton Performing Arts Center, Manassas, VA
Hair: Inhye Kim
Makeup: Lori Nansi
Dress: Casablanca
Florist: Fluertations Floral, Northern Virginia
Catering: Main Event Catering, Arlington, VA
Cake: Fluffy Thoughts, McLean, VA
DJ: Jonathan Chiu / Morgan Yeh
Photography: Anna Wu Photography, assisted by Lucy Song
Videography: Seaglass Cinema

Ragini & Brandon | Berkeley City Club Wedding Photography

Anna — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 16:55:06 +0000

Before we even begin, please take a couple minutes to watch the highlight film created by our sister company, Seaglass Cinema. It captures the day beautifully!

Ragini and Brandon | 07.02.11 from Seaglass Cinema on Vimeo.

The easiest, most obvious thing to say about Ragini and Brandon is that they are both incredibly brilliant. You could even say that’s what brought them together. They first met at Duke before either one of them had even matriculated because they were selected for an exclusive scholarship program. Their families met before school started at freshman orientation on campus. Now Brandon is in the Mathematics Ph.D. program at Stanford and Ragini is in the Ph.D. program in Rhetoric at Berkeley.

But the most remarkable thing about these two has nothing to do with their dazzling resumes and everything to do with the way in which they’ve grown together. They have such different personalities and strengths, and they’ve come to support and complement each other so beautifully. Every day, they empower each other to become better, stronger versions of themselves. Ragini with her beautiful, easy smiles, words just pouring out of her, and Brandon with his silent gestures of support. Together, they are just unstoppable.

On a beautiful Saturday afternoon at the timeless Berkeley City Club, Ragini and Brandon were married in a multicultural interfaith ceremony that they personally crafted, blending Indian, Hindu, Jewish, and Christian traditions and involving their families on both sides. Unique, personal weddings are my absolute favorite, and I was just so happy to be a part of this day!

I loved the Indian elements of the wedding– the mehndi on her hands really makes that diamond pop! Ragini wore this gorgeous orange sari for the ceremony and later changed into a purple dress for the reception.

I just love the romance through the window pane.

Brandon’s grandparents and parents

Ragini and Brandon wrote their whole ceremony and incorporated Hindu, Christian, and Jewish traditions. On the left, Ragini’s parents light the Kerala lamp. On the right, the glass used for the Jewish wine blessing.

Below, the couple walk around each other in a circle seven times as part of a Hindu blessing. Thanks to my second photographer Kirsten for capturing the side angles.

Ragini recited her vows flawlessly and had the room in tears within the first two seconds.

The floral decorations were impeccably done by Chestnut and Vine.

After the outfit change, we found some gorgeous light in a stairwell, and we made the most of it.

Love the photo on the right below. Look closely at the shadows!

And this is one of my favorites. Divine.

At the end of the night, a lively round of Hava Nagila was played for the Horah, a Jewish tradition of raising the couple up on chairs while everyone dances in a circle around them.

The best part of this horah? Not only did the bride and groom go up on the chairs– so did the parents on both sides!

One last shot of the dance party at the end of the night.

Thank you again Ragini & Brandon for having me at your wedding. I feel so, so lucky to know you both. I hope you are having a fantastic time on your honeymoon in Paris!

Wedding Vendors:

Ceremony & Reception Venue: Berkeley City Club
Hair: Dale Oxley Hair Studio
Makeup: Ruby’s Beauty Studio
Mehndi: Kamala’s Henna World
Florist: Chestnut and Vine
Catering: Berkeley City Club
DJ: Jason Shires,Quantum Music
Day of Coordinator: Kit Shires, Quantum Music
Lighting: Just De’Lights
Wedding Cake: Sweet Adeline Bakeshop
Videography: Seaglass Cinema
Photography: Anna Wu Photography, assisted by Kirsten Julia.

Behind the Scenes Video | Janey & Lee | Treasure Island Engagement

Anna — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 15:20:55 +0000

I absolutely love collaborations, and I love taking people behind the scenes. Janey and Lee’s Treasure Island engagement shoot was the perfect opportunity to do both! My videographer friend Joel and my assistant Sammie both came along to the shoot, and they each captured a bit of the action behind the scenes.

First up, Joel’s beautiful behind the scenes video. I love the pacing and the feeling of it. Joel will be an associate videographer with Seaglass Cinema at some of our future weddings.

Engagement Photoshoot from 1derbread Films on Vimeo.

And next, a couple of Sammie’s photographs from the day:

Thanks to Sammie, Joel, and of course Janey and Lee for an awesome adventure on Treasure Island! View the full post from Janey & Lee’s engagement session here.

Janey & Lee | Treasure Island Engagement Photography

Anna — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 19:17:52 +0000

They met through dance. After months of performing, rehearsing, dancing together, they slowly got to know each other, and eventually, they started dating. It was in a crowded restaurant that Lee got down on one knee and proposed in a chocolate syrup message written on a dessert plate. If there is one thing that strikes you about Janey and Lee right away, it’s that they do everything with heart. They share a sense of passion, all the while honoring each other’s individuality.

For their engagement session, we met on Treasure Island, the man-made Island that sits right in the middle of the Bay Bridge running from San Francisco to Oakland. Treasure Island used to be a military base, but has long since turned into abandoned buildings with the occasional church or warehouse where people hold events. I loved the idea of abandoned buildings, and it created a great backdrop for an urban, unconventional engagement shoot. Perfect for Janey and Lee.

This next one might be my favorite:

Abandoned gas station.

The shot of the Bay Bridge on the left was taken by my assistant Sammie. She just held the camera out and shot straight up into the sky. Awesome.

San Francisco skyline.

And a one more, not so serious, for kicks.

Here are two Instax shots we did at the end of the shoot!

Ting & Phil | Seaglass Cinema Wedding Videography

Anna — Mon, 09 May 2011 19:31:45 +0000

Those of you who have been following me for a while know that I also have a wedding videography business named Seaglass Cinema. We are just starting out but are so very excited about the work that we are doing. Videography is truly a beautiful medium for storytelling, and we love capturing our couples on film. Last weekend, I traveled to Las Vegas with my Seaglass partner Kevin Yau, and we created this beautiful movie of Ting and Phil. View the highlight film and read all about us over at seaglasscinema.com. We love to work together with photo & video, so inquire today if you’re interested in having us create a cinematic story for you!

http://seaglasscinema.com

Seaglass Cinema | World Premiere

Anna — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 20:31:52 +0000

Back in August, Seaglass Cinema was just an idea. We wanted to take a cinematic approach to capturing weddings and create ‘real life movies’. Our idea spun very quickly from possibility into reality, and just a couple weeks later, we gathered an arsenal of DSLRs and lenses and shot our first wedding in Indianapolis. Now, months later, after much editing and polishing, we are finally ready to reveal our world debut piece– a short highlights film from Erin & Nick’s gorgeous Indianapolis Roof Ballroom wedding. We hope you love it as much as we do!

Erin & Nick | 09.18.10 from Seaglass Cinema on Vimeo.

About the video:

They met in law school. Erin has the biggest heart for animals and people alike, and Nick simply loves Erin. They were married on a gorgeous day in Indianapolis, Indiana. Their venue, the Indiana Roof Ballroom was absolutely stunning, and the entire day was filled with laughter and simple gestures of love. This video was shot by Steve Wang and Anna Wu, and we were assisted by Jon Lee. It was edited by Steve Wang. Also, many thanks go to Kina Grannis for allowing us to use her song “Valentine.”

Wedding Vendors:

Venue: Indiana Roof Ballroom, Indianapolis, Indiana
Planner: Darcie, Circle City Planners, Carmel, Indiana
Photographer: Anna Lee Photography, annaoglee@gmail.com
DJ: FMX DJ Brian, 317.223.9717
Cake: Sugar Mamas, Mooresville, Indiana
Transportation: DPS Charter, Indianapolis, Indiana
Flowers: Thistle and Moss, Indianapolis, Indiana

What is Seaglass Cinema?

Seaglass Cinema is a videography team specializing in weddings. We take a cinematic approach to capturing the moments and the stories of a wedding day. We’ve left the era of boring wedding videos where you leave a big videocamera on a tripod to simply capture 10 hours of uninterrupted footage that no one will watch again. We shoot with an editorial eye and create a tightly woven visual story, or as we like to call it, a “real life movie.” The core members of our team are Anna Wu, Steve Wang, and Kevin Yau. We all worked together on the media team at a summer camp in the Midwest, which is what inspired our leap together into wedding videography.

Why videography?

Most of you probably know me, Anna, from my still photography work at Anna Wu Photography. In some ways videography may seem like a natural extension of my photography work. But the skill sets involved in photography and videography are perhaps more divergent than you might expect. Great photographers often make for terrible videographers, and vice versa. I could talk a lot about how the two are and aren’t technically related, but we were also thinking about the bigger picture. In this digital age, the wedding photography market is easily oversaturated. We see videography as more of a developing market. It is becoming easier and easier to shoot video, just as it is to shoot photo, but there is still a slightly higher learning curve to videography, especially in shooting the way we do. It also requires a team and more gear, and definitely more effort in post-production. So we thought to ourselves, we have the amazing team of friends, the technical inclination, and the imagination. Videography is only going to become more and more salient, and we really believe we can contribute meaningfully to this medium!

Why “Seaglass”?

Sea glass is old glass that is polished and tumbled by the ocean. We love the notion of rough edges made smooth. It’s something that seems effortlessly pretty, and it’s not totally perfect, but it’s raw and beautiful.

Are you available?

Absolutely. We would love the opportunity to capture your wedding. We are very, very affordable, with commissions starting around $1000. If you are interested in learning more, please email us directly at seaglasscinema[at]gmail[dot]com for more information.

What’s next?

We are working on our website, which will be seaglasscinema.com. (Yes, we know it is ugly right now). You can “like” us on Facebook and follow us on twitter. We still need to do some graphic design and create a logo (if anyone out there would like to help us!). We are also editing our second project, Jenny & Kevin’s Aliso Viejo wedding. But mainly, we are eager to expand our portfolio and to book more weddings! Again, please email us if you are interested or want to help us out: seaglasscinema[at]gmail[dot]com.

Behind the Scenes of Census 2010: Write in “Taiwanese” | Passion Project

Anna — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:57:15 +0000

It’s been a week since the Census 2010: Write in “Taiwanese” video debuted on YouTube, and it’s already garnered over 120,000 views. Produced by Slideshow Pictures in conjunction with at least seven Taiwanese American organizations, the public service announcement is part of a larger campaign to get Taiwanese Americans to self-identify on the US Census by checking “Other Asian” and writing in “Taiwanese.”

If you know me well, you may know that I love being behind the scenes of all sorts of projects and productions. So I was very lucky to find myself a last-minute addition to this project. Five days beforehand, we worked it out for me to fly down to Los Angeles for a day and a half, just to help out a tiny bit. Let’s be honest– I basically had an very fun day just hanging out with the various cast and crew members, but my official capacity was to serve as the behind-the-scenes photographer on set of the video production. Later, I pulled my own weight by designing the accompanying website for the video campaign (http://taiwaneseamerican.org/census2010). But now I get to bring you behind the scenes with me!

We got an early start on the day, rolling out of bed around 6am and heading over to the studio in Alhambra.

Three Slideshow Pictures producers and a makeup artist relaxing a bit before shooting begins: Jon Lee (CEO, Slideshow Pictures), makeup artist Yuriko Bondies, Alex Yang (Slideshow Picture), and Howard Chen (Slideshow Pictures). Jon has been working in Hollywood for a couple years now. He was an associate producer on Formosa Betrayed. So between him and director Karen Lin, they were able to make this a first-class production with sound, photography, and editing professionals up and down the production chain.

Byron Werner and his crew sets up the backdrop, lighting, and camera.

They test the setup on Howard. Looking good in both frames.

Jon Lee with Alex Wen, owner of KCW studios.

The famous “Taiwanese” Census 2010 shirts. Order yours today from TACL!

Harrison and Haley are third generation hapa Taiwanese Americans. Adorable! Harrison just kept on munching away at his fruit while he was waiting, and Haley was a natural star, delivering lines flawlessly!

Love the giant pencil. Love.

Politician and lawyer Ted Lieu gets some pointers from director Karen Lin.

Two sets of sisters! We had a few really great families who came to the shoot. On the left are Japanese-Taiwanese American Muramoto sisters. On the right, Agnes Hsiao and Elena Ling.

If you’ve been following me or Taiwanese American news, you might recognize these two as the killers from Formosa Betrayed: actors Henry M. Chu and Adam Wang (links to previous shoots with me). Keep an eye out. You’ll be seeing them more in the near future!

You may recognize actress Michelle Krusiec from Saving Face, amongst other projects. And on the right, a 96-year-old a-ma, Mrs. Ray-Yun Tsai Huang.

There were many, many more interesting people who participated in the video, but I don’t have space to show all of them here, so head on over to the Census 2010: Write in “Taiwanese” website to meet all of the other cast and crew members.

Singer-songwriter Alice Tong fills out some information for me– my other job that day was to collect bio information from everyone.

Director Karen Lin wraps the shoot at the end of the day– 8am to 5pm. A full day’s work.

Alex works on the giant pencil.

Breaking everything down– the scene outside.

A wider view of KCW studio.

I don’t know what they’re thinking! You tell me.

Lastly, a word about the campaign– I could launch into an argument about history and politics validating a Taiwanese identity. But for me, it’s also about upholding the right to identify ourselves rather than be defined by others.

So share the YouTube video and the website. Tweet this. Go after one of the many other ways to take action. And tell every Taiwanese American person in the United States about the campaign.

But as Ho Chie says, no matter how you identify, whether Taiwanese or not, be sure to represent your own identity and community. This is important for all of us as Americans, and this is our only chance this decade.

Be Counted. Be Recognized.

Above, my latest web creation. Their bios display on hover! You can also learn more about the campaign and ways to help by visiting the website.

3 Shoots in 3 Cities in 3 Days | Bay Area, Los Angeles Photographer

Anna — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 06:43:29 +0000

Miles driven by others: 37
Miles flown: 390
Miles driven by myself: 150
____________________________________
=577 miles traveled, and that’s just today.

Sometimes exhaustion is the most gratifying feeling in the world. In that moment when you finally sit down and have a chance to rest, you can feel the very essence of gravity as it pulls your every muscle down toward the Earth. The soreness in your bones and the slight dizzyness in your head are almost overwhelming, but somehow, none of it is worrisome. Instead, the feelings are reassuring. Because when you’ve put yourself that wholeheartedly and whole-bodily into your work, the tiredness is not a feeling of emptiness and depletion, but your body’s evidence of what you’ve done and what you can do, and it’s all the more encouragement to recharge yourself to do it again.

I couldn’t think of a more gratifying way to close out January 2010.

Before I describe my weekend, I’ll give the disclaimer that this might make my life seem much more glamorous and exciting than it really is. My life is not like this all the time. My bed is often my favorite place to be. But because I want to remember these adventures, I will capture what I can in a quick summary. Ready? Start.

Friday morning I had a great session with the members of the San Francisco Guitar Quartet. Right after work, I took off for the Oakland airport. After landing in Long Beach (thanks JetBlue!) I was driven back up to Los Angeles by my friend Vince. Saturday was the big film shoot– the reason I flew down– for the “Taiwanese American” 2010 Census Public Service Announcement. We arrived in the Alhambra studio by 7:30 am. Ten hours, several celebrities, an Olympic athlete, and a California State Assemblyman (amongst others) later, we wrapped on shooting, had a celebratory dinner, and eventually called it a day. By the next morning at 9am, I had gone back through Long Beach and arrived back home in Oakland, but only briefly, as I then drove up another 70 miles to Sebastopol for an engagement shoot at an amazingly cute family farm.

You’ll have to come back and visit again to see the fruits of all these labors. But for now, I leave you with this picture:

Long Beach Airport, the tiniest airport I’ve ever flown through. This one building is the entire terminal, with four airlines from beginning to end. This came in handy when I almost missed my flight but discovered it only takes 5 minutes to get from front door to airplane seat and thus made it with time to spare.

And now, it’s time to sleep.

Good night, world!

tafLabs & tafMedia

Anna — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 16:42:17 +0000

I’ve been working this week at Taiwanese American Foundation, the summer camp I’ve attended since I was ten years old. I’m serving as part of tafLabs, a new program in which we develop projects to make awesome things happen in our community.

To see some of the multimedia work we’ve been doing, follow out the new blog I created for TAF this week. http://blog.tafworld.org.

Behind the Scenes: TAF 2009

Anna — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 06:02:08 +0000

Welcome to Taiwanese American Foundation 2009: Sprout! After a two-year absence on my part, I am very happy to return for my 13th year at TAF, this time as a member of the TAFMedia crew.

Our first project of the week: given 24 hours, produce a video to be used as the Intro/Theme skit for the orientation. Follow young Brussell as he meets the Taiwanese American Fountainnn and learns about the 2009 theme: ethics and values, sprout! Watch the video here and scroll down below for the behind-the-scenes access.

Credits:
Brussell: Steven Wemhoener
Fountain: Andrew Loh
Writer: Jon Lee
Video: Anna Wu
Editing: Steven Wang
Set Photos: Albert Wu
Special Thanks: Jason Lee