Just like the photographer’s need to change his/her lenses, a blogger feels the urge to change the blog’s template. For the past two months we’ve been working on the new template. The hard work will pay off soon.

It is harder than what we’d imagined; coming up with the color theme is more difficult than the html coding. Please pardon our appearance as we make updates. As soon as we finalize our customizations; we will debut our new template.

Did thousands of Chinese-Americans line up for the 888 wedding date as many did for the 777 wedding date last year?

The 888 date is a wedding on August 8, 2008. The number 8 has always been an important and lucky number in Chinese culture. The Chinese for eight in Mandarin sounds similar to the word which means “prosper” or “wealth”. In Cantonese the words for “eight” and “fortune” are synonymous and homophonous.

With such an unforgettable wedding anniversary and date; husbands will have no excuses for forgetting their wedding anniversary.

Few days ago, while channel surfing, I heard a female voice in Mandarin asking, “What did you get me for our anniversary?”.

“That’s my commercial!”, I screamed out to my friends.

About two years ago, I was approached by Kim Wang of Digital Art Video to submit a concept sales pitch for a Chase commercial. To my surprise it was selected and made into a commercial.

If you have dined in a Chinese restaurant or attended a Chinese wedding, you have probably seen the double happiness symbol. This Chinese character “Double Happiness” is a very important symbol in Chinese culture.  Since the commercial is to target the Chinese community, I kept to theme of Double Happiness.

The commercial shows a young couple celebrating their wedding anniversary. The wife gives her husband a handbook for first time fathers, letting him know she is pregnant. He gives her a set of keys to their new home — financed with a mortgage from Chase.

Digital Art Video did a phenomenal job with the filming and editing of the commercial. Just imagine what they can do for your wedding, birthday party and other celebrations.

I was told that the commercial debuted last year on the Chinese cable channels of New York and Los Angeles. Maybe it is time that I get a TV and subscribe to cable.

Summer is here. School’s out. The 4th of July is just around the corner. Instead of the usual BBQ, fireworks and a Will Smith movie this year; little girls can celebrate with Kit Kittredge: An American Girl. The film stars Abigail Reslin (Little Miss Sunshine) and is the first in the American Girl film series to have a theatrical release.

Moms, aunts, sisters and cousins with little girls (preteens) in their family are familiar with American Girl.  American Girl is a premiere lifestyle brand that offers a variety of age-appropriate, high-quality dolls, books, clothing, and accessories.

Kit Kittredge: An American Girl opens nation wide on July 2.

If you’re looking for a family-friendly activity this weekend…go to Central Park this coming Sunday, June 1 and celebrate Japan Day. Japan Day is an event designed by the Japanese community of New York to promote deeper understanding of Japanese culture and, to say “Thank you, New York!”

Japan Day 2008 is held in a green oasis in New York City, Central Park’s East Meadow. It will feature the best of traditional and contemporary Japan with a wide range of family-friendly activities and powerful stage performances throughout the day.

It will be a great opportunity for me to practice my photography skills. Hope to see you all there.

To learn more about Japan Day and to see a list if activities and festivities please visit: http://japandaynyc.org/main/

This picture was taken from our studio window. That’s the Manhattan Bridge in the background. Click on the photo to enlarge.

Last night as I was blogging; I heard a loud bang. I looked out the window and was surprised to see beautiful lights. Wow, fireworks! What’s going on? After a quick Google search; I found out that last night was the 125th anniversary of the Brooklyn Bridge.

If you still don’t have any plans for this Memorial Day weekend, why not head over to the Brooklyn Bridge and enjoy the festivities. Please visit nycvisit.com for a complete schedule.

Be sure to check out the New York Times slide show Brooklyn Bridge Turns 125.

We get a lot of emails asking us for our pricing/packages. It is conveniently posted on our website. At first it may be a little hard to find if you do not look through the website.

Why don’t we just name it, “Pricing”?
1) because we want you to explore our website
2) because we believe it is an investment ______________________________________________

What do you do with your photographs? Do you put them in an album or put them in photo boxes? How often would you look at them?

Since I’m still a singleton, I only have vacation photos to look at. Every time I look at my vacation photos, I remember how much I enjoy my trips. Prior to every booking I always have to fight the frugality in me. The photos give me the opportunity to relive a certain trip or every trip each and every day. At the end I do often tell myself that I made a wise investment in booking the trip because these wonder photos and memories will be with me for a long long time.

The following two photos are from a trip to Italy two years ago. Every now and then I would think about the handmade black and white pasta and seafood stew that I had in Ristorante Belvedere, Monterosso al Mare, Cinque Terre.

If anyone know of a restaurant here in the city that serves such delicious delicacies, please share the name of the restaurant with me. Thank you!!!

May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. For the month of May, I’m going to try to tie every post to the Asian American Heritage theme.

This weekend (May 3 & 4) is the Cherry Blossom Festival at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. If it weren’t for seasonal allergies I would be there documenting the festivities while testing out my newly acquired photography skills. For those of you who are lucky enough to be there, please don’t be shy and share your photographs with us.

In February, Polaroid announced that it would stop making its instant film in early 2009. By the end of 2009, the polaroid cameras will be obsolete. I’ve seen a few people hoarding up the instant films in my local drugstore. Polaroids cameras and photographs may soon become an old relic in a museum, thus making the photographs more priceless and memorable each time we look at it. With that said, here’s the first entry to our photo contest.

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The interesting thing about this photo is that it is a rarity. I mean there are only about 30 actual photographs of me as a child from the age of birth until 10 years old. And more specifically, I have no photographs as an infant and only 1 as a toddler. But rather than use that solitary photo and end the story there, I chose this one.

My mother passed away when I was almost 3 years old. And from even before then, at around the age two, I was in foster care. The first home I stayed in was an awful experience. The days and nights were filled with trauma and abuse and It wasn’t too long before I was transferred to a second home. It was in this home that I had my first conscious and memorable experience of love between a child and a mother. Honestly it was a bit overwhelming at first, after what I had been through, to receive such a loving heart and loving place as this woman’s home.

Her name was Pat and she loved and cherished me as if I were her own. This photograph is one of about 29 (as I mentioned earlier the only other photo is that of me as a toddler) and it was taken on one of those old Polaroid cameras where the picture comes right out and needs to dry. And what I love about it, is the warmth I feel when I see myself, full of joy, in the arms of the only woman I ever really had in my life that held me and loved me as her own child would be held and loved. And the most difficult part of it all was she eventually, after almost 7 years of raising me, had to say goodbye when my biological father was able to take me back.

That experience, and Pat herself still have, to this day been an inspiration for me as an artist (musician ) and new father. In a song I’ve written about that experience and the sorrow I felt on the day I said my last goodbye to her I sing “I separate from your body, a passing smile wave my hand, there’s nothing left but a distance, and nothing more than a glance”.

And in the end what’s most memorable and inspirational to me is that she truly did love me unconditionally. As we recently were able to re-connect, after about 24 years of no contact, when she saw me, she grabbed me and hugged me for about a minute straight and in the midst of all the tears it all came back to me…… and it felt just the same,….. Just the same!

- Greg F.

Learning never ends and knowledge is power, therefore the Storyteller goes to photography seminars and trade shows on a regular basis. He’s kind enough to share with us what he gained from a recent seminar. Sometimes it is not what we expect to gain/learn, but what we make out of what was presented that makes it valuable.

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- Intention & Focus -

Without intention all acts are purely mechanical and robotic.

Without intention a photo can be perfectly exposed and composed, but there will not be a sign of life in it.

The intention of a photographer is not to execute all the mechanics and technicalities perfectly; a robot can do better. The focus should not be on the mechanics and technicalities after one becomes a bona fide photographer. Otherwise, your creativity will always remain on the level of a techie instead of an artist.

To help make my point clear; I would like to quote Bruce Lee from his movie, “Enter the Dragon”: “It’s like a finger pointing a way to the moon. Don’t concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory”. To be a photographer you must focus all your energy and your intensity on your intention. It does sound repetitive, but it makes sense if you think about it.

Yes, it’s the intensity of your intention that defines who you are as a photographer. Otherwise, a robot can do a better job than you. It’s the only difference. Free yourself from the constraints of the mechanics and technicalities and elevate yourself from the robotic procedures of photo taking.

You should not blindly follow “the teacher”. Find out what his intentions are. There are many proclaimed masters that set up courses and seminars to sell gadgets. The techniques you learn from them are purely set up to sell their gadgets. Do you really need the gadgets to capture beautiful photos? Don’t be a human doing, be a human being and find your intention.

Are there other ways other than their ways? One simple solution is to look at their photos. Do their photos speak to your heart? Is the talk in sync with the walk (the finished photos)?

Intention & Focus, these two words that can change the course of your life and your photography!