Someone is a Master now!

I have not updated this blog in like...forever. I'm back but without Internet for long so I'm going to post a few quickly. I can't take all the credit for this, since I took the pic but Anisa chose the layout and printed the announcement. Needless to say I am super proud :D

Some Dinner Pics

Alea, UCI undergraduate Class of 2008!


B - I just threw her in there cuz this was a nice pic.

Khiemy and Ty - who I owe a refund for the red envelope. I actually owe Johnny Lam one too, but he got me a gift certificate. I'll have to figure out a way to pursuade them to accept their refunds.

I have been patiently awaiting my more powerful lappy computer which is in for repair to do some retouching so pictures have been trickling out veeerrry slowly. Here are a few more guests who only attended the dinner portion (which was probably the smarter thing to do). Also, congrats to my former research assistant Alea, who graduated Magna Cum Laude from UCI and attending Hastings Law School! There was a lot of brain power in that room come to think of it.

Also, on the Sienna front - that little girl might be getting an agent so hopefully I can get in on the action for pictures. The talent scout really liked her and my "professional" looking photos :) Anyway, these photos were snapped by me just for fun. (I only shot a handful that day). I notice that photo newbies tend to shoot horizontal shots a lot. I guess it feels more natural. I suggest changing things up - go vertical, try shooting upward from below, and even ... do I dare go there??....TILT the camera. But please use sparingly at non extreme angles (just my opinion).

Hey Jeff, I know you have 2 kids and a wife to get out of, but we need to get together soon!

A Few More from Graduation

Me & Kris - Susy and Sienna were in El Salvador.


Beef and his wife Evelyn.


Jenny, AC


Joleen, Lori, Lyndsay, Lynn, Rita, and Phil


Johnny, San, Ann, Sandy, Howard


My hood.


John D


Me and Bryana


Anisa and her parents (Ramin and Brenda)


My sister, my parents.

Here are the obligatory family/friends pictures after the ceremony. Nothing was really taken for the purpose of "photography" or getting anything artsy, just good ol fashioned everyone say cheese shots. I got these printed to include with some 'Thank you' cards.

After the LONG ceremony, we headed over to Sumo restaurant in Irvine where I met up with a few more people for some seafood buffet action and the manager there Jay was really cool and gave me a discount and we chatted about photography for a while.

Anyway, I'm not technically finished yet - some last edits on my dissertation so no new pics just yet, although I do have an engagement shoot that needs to be shot. More pics and news soon.

UC Irvine Graduate Class of 2008

There was a sea of people.


Here's me being hooded by John Dombrink.


This is an INCREDIBLE shot!

Saturday was my day to be on the other end of the camera. I'd like to thank all my family and friends for coming out on my big day. I got some wonderful gifts (some a little TOO good) and I'll be sending everyone individual thank-you cards soon but for now, this blog post will have to do. Thank you for all your support through so many years. Yes, I do feel bad for the ceremony part, which was extremely long and dare I say it - boring!!

Here are a few snaps thanks to Anisa, who received a serious crash course on how to use a DLSR but she had a little bit of help thanks to the incredible Nikon D3 - which didn't break a sweat going up to ISO 6400. I'll have a review of the camera soon. I'll also be showing a lot more pictures from that day and talk about my future plans in life in addition to photography.

Class of 2008...Almost

Kindergarten Commencements
Yes, I chose the rainbow belt and clip-on polka dot tie.


UCI 2000

As most of you know, in a couple weeks I'll be finally graduating. I've been busy trying to wrap things up so I haven't taken too many pictures. These are two olden shots of me during graduation. The first one is when I graduated from kindergarten. The second is when I graduated as an undergrad.

The funny thing is I spent around half an hour searching for the picture files thinking I lost my undergrad pictures until I realized...they were in FILM! So I poked around the photo albums and found them. Sheesh I feel old. I tried to spruce them up a little with photoshop but they're just old pictures. What I've noticed with pictures is that the ones you once thought were good aren't really that great when you go back and re-visit them. Sometimes your memory ties them with the good times in your life and you remember them as better than they actually were. So, going by that, never go back and eat the candy you ate when you were a kid. A few years ago,I bought a fun dip and tried to eat it. It was like eating pure sugar - gross. But I loved them as a kid.

Anyway, for my 2008 commencement, I'm going to try to get some awesome pictures. I've already got a few volunteer friends playing paparazzi that day with some nice cameras so hopefully they'll turn out nice. Guys - bring your 200mm lenses and make sure to crank up the ISO since it's going to be indoors :) I'll be gone the later half of the week for a quick out-of-state trip but more pictures and exciting news soon !

Class of 2007

These took a lot of coaxing by auntie and some rapid-fire camera action.




*pumps fist* Booya

Sienna was so proud of her mom she finally broke out in smile! It's almost 2am and I was just going to do a couple of pictures for Susy's UCI commencement invite but I got carried away seeing how well the pictures turned out.