Wedding costs

Not related to photography but I thought this was kind of interesting: http://bridepop.com/everything-else/weddings-by-the-numbers-infograph/

Basically, if you want to have a cheap wedding, go to Las Vegas or Los Angeles. I guess it kind of sucks to be a wedding vendor in these areas because of low cost margins. If on the other hand you're a wedding vendor, San Francisco or San Jose may be a cash cow! In fact, people in Northern Cal pay nearly TWICE as much for their weddings as people in Southern Cal. What's up with that? Is it because of all these spoiled rich dot-comers that have too much money to waste? Or is it the fact that there are simply too many wannabe photographers in the Los Angeles area who aspire to shoot movie stars and such? I don't know. I can only guess from the numbers. Anyways, of the total cost of weddings, about 23% of the entire budget is allocated for photography/videography. Whoa!!! That's a whopping $3691 spent on video/photos per wedding! Wow.

2010 Asian Engagement Shoot aka 婚纱藝術攝影

I got tons of engagement shoot pictures from projects that Ivan and I have been working on. What do I do with these pictures? I style them. There are many ways to style pictures. For example, many westernized clients prefer the photojournalistic style. That is, they like it raw, unscripted, unedited, in the moment, and usually in black and white. Western style is no styling, very little post processing (我不是在開玩笑). However in Asian cultures (especially in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, etc), most clients prefer the surreal look. This is why Asian weddings always split up the photo sessions into two separate days-- 1) the engagement shoot aka 婚纱摄影 usually shot at least a month in advance, with professional makeup, hair styling, and 3-5 dress styles (白纱, 古裝/旗袍, 禮服) shot in a professional studio for an entire day and 2) regular on-the-day wedding shots. Look, you can't go to Taiwan or China and not do 婚纱摄影, because many Asian photographers consider the on-the-day pictures to be random, uncontrollable, sloppy work. 他們說老美拍照馬馬虎虎的 :) Personally, 我覺得老美太貴了!!! LOL哈哈哈 !!! 例如一本書他們要收3倍,說很好聽,但是印刷仍然在大陸!

Because LA clients in San Gabriel are almost all Asian, I toned these in the popular style that appeals to Asian customers. Color. Contrast. Surreal. Ultimately, art is subjective. The photojournalistic purists may call the Asian style "cheezy" or "trying too hard." But if this is the style that paying clients want, then that is the style that speaks to them! So call this style whatever you want to call it. If you're not buying, then one cares what you think :)

I got a bunch more pictures on my hard drive, but I'm too busy to process them at the moment. I'll probably see you guys next month. So stay tuned!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! This is the first post of 2010. It was a lot of fun.

Catching up: November and December

I have a huge backlog of things that I haven't had a chance to post here. Highlights: I had a chance to meet up with my buddies from junior high who came all the way down to the LA area and that's pretty cool.

I met up with Richard on the Thanksgiving break. I actually ate MEAT!!! Ribs, at Richard's place. I know this sounds weird, but it was such an amazing experience. Just a few week before I was still eating porridge and soft food. I've been sick pretty from severe ulcer almost 1/2 of the year and been on one medication after another and couldn't even eat regular food, like burgers, pizza, boba tea, etc. I've lost almost 10 pounds this year, and I was already a chopstick before I got ill. Well, late November I started getting better... and at Richard's place I ate ribs!!!!!!!! It's amazing how little things can make you happy. Anyways, they say a picture is worth a thousand words so without boring you, here are some pics:


I met up with Eric during the Christmas break. Baby Evan was only a few months old! It was so great sitting down with everyone, eat food that normal people eat, and chit chat and catch up. That means... I didn't really take as many pictures, but it's alright. Sometimes I prefer to relax and be a civilian than to be a photographer.

Humor: pet photography

From http://graphjam.com/2009/12/22/funny-graphs-pet-photography/