Today, Seung and I attended the WPPI Roadtrip here in Seattle at the waterfront Marriott.  I’ve been looking forward to this event since I found out about it.  To think just a few days ago I was about to skip out on it because 1) Seung couldn’t get the day off work  2) I really didn’t want to go alone and 3) I was swamped with my 9-5 day job.  To take the day off during the busiest time of the month would just create more stress than I wanted.  Fortunately, Seung was able to get off work and I was happy.  Gosh, I woke up earlier for the conference than I normally do for work.  Today’s event was so worth the stress and pile of work I’ll be facing when I return to work tomorrow.  The great thing about attending the WPPI Roadtrip is that we’re automatically registered for the 2011 WPPI Convention & Tradeshow.  We were able to get a taste of what’s to come in February and I can’t express how excited I am for it.  Did I mention it’s going to be in Vegas?  FUN!  Now, we just need to make some more (a lot more) photog friends before we go so that we don’t feel like such lost little people at the convention.  I hope a couple of months will be enough time to do that.

Anyway, even more exciting than WPPI coming to Seattle was the fact that the AMAZING Jasmine Star was one of the speakers/presenters.  There are only a handful of photographers who I feel “keeps it real” and who I find inspirational and most importantly relatable.  I’ve never met Jasmine until today.  I never in a million years think I’ll meet her in person.  During the coffee break before Jasmine was scheduled to present I went up and introduced myself to her.  I told her how I’ve been following her blog almost every night for the past two or so years and how I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning to catch her 5-days CreativeLive workshop online the past five nights.  So yes… I’m exhausted and sleep deprived at the moment.  I then introduced Seung to Jasmine like she’s a friend of mine or something… LOL.  That’s how Jasmine makes you feel.  You either love her or get annoyed by her (her own words) and if you can’t already tell I really LOVE her!  Well, Seung made a comment to Jasmine and guess what??  It made it into Jasmine’s intro of her presentation.  That was our two seconds of fame, even if the other 400 something attendees didn’t know who Jasmine was referring to.  Oh well.  Jasmine made it clear at the beginning of her presentation that she’s not a professional speaker.  I’m glad that she’s not.  I’m glad that she spoke from the heart,  shared her story and her ways of doing things that work for her.  Jasmine was such a nice breath of fresh air.  She’s amazing and inspirational.  For us just starting out with our business we’re faced with so many barriers and negativity of being a “newbie” in an over-saturated industry.  We’re doing this more because we love it than it is bread and butter.  We understood the risks and time required and took it to the next level anyway because we love it that much.  It’s definitely not as easy as it looks and it’s nice to have someone like Jasmine who’s generous in sharing what she knows and what she’s learned in just four years.  She’s someone who favors and fosters a sense of community rather than competition.  I know I haven’t really made the time, but I’m really looking forward to finding that community we want to be a part of.  This will be step one of many to come. Oh and Jasmine, she’s such a beautiful person all around and so gorgeous too =).

Meet three weeks old baby Lucus Maximus!  I finally got the chance to meet him this past Sunday.  I’ve been sick and I didn’t want to get anywhere near a newborn.  Well, I decided to bring my camera along hoping I could snap some pictures of the little gladiator.  He weighed in at a whopping 9.5lbs!  I’ve been waiting to meet him since last winter when his momma Michelle told me I need to get pregnant so that we could be pregnant together.  That’s how I found out baby Lucus was on the way. I’m sorry I couldn’t make that happen, Michelle.  Maybe with your next one =). Anyway, photographing a newborn baby seems easy enough right?  I was so wrong!  I was nervous, scared, and frustrated all at the same time.  There’s a lot of idle time involved waiting for the perfect moments.  Also, the baby cries, needs feeding, wets the diaper, and does the other thing in the diaper. Pretty much a lot of patience is required.  Plus, they’re a fragile little being!  After taking these pictures of Lucus I made up my mind any request for newborn pictures is likely out of the question, but after seeing how precious baby Lucus is it makes it all worth it!

Remember these expecting parents?  Something I hadn’t mentioned before was that Davy and Manu experienced a very difficult pregnancy early on.  It was very hard to watch our friends go through such a tough and emotional journey when it should’ve been a happy and joyous chapter in their lives.  Throughout the pregnancy Davy and Manu kept the choices of baby names on the hush hush.  They just wouldn’t budge no matter how many times I asked and I couldn’t believe they were going to make me wait to find out the name.  When their baby was finally born I learned they named their son Jivet.  It almost made me cry.  One little word that represents so much!  You see, Jivet means “life” in Khmer.  Being Cambodian myself I’ve never met anyone with that name.  I fell in love with it immediately and thought it was the best name/gift ever that they could’ve given their son.  Jivet is just the most adorable and happiest baby I know.  He’s such a good baby and his parents deserve him so much!  This photo shoot took forever to happen, but I’m glad we finally got some photos of this cutie during a picnic we had recently at Seward park.  Here’s Jivet at about nine months old.  He’s turning one year old at the end of September.  It seem just like yesterday this little guy was born.  Life can be so amazing!