For my birthday this year I had one simple wish, I wanted to get 400 fans/likes on my Facebook Fan page by the end of the day on my birthday.  It reached 400 about two days after I made the announcement.  Well, to show my appreciation for everyone’s support I am giving away a FREE Lifestyle Portrait Session.  To find out how to enter for a chance to win, please scroll to the bottom of  this entry (after all the pictures from my low-key birthday bbq/celebration over the weekend with close friends, hehe).

Almost there!!

HOW TO WIN A FREE LIFESTYLE PORTRAIT SESSION

How to enter:

• You MUST leave a comment  on why you want to win with your name and email below in this blog post.
• You MUST be a fan on Facebook (yes, I will check).
• The contest runs from 7/26/11 –  7/31/11
• You’re not required to, but sharing is good karma and is a nice thing to do so please help spread the word

• You MUST redeem and schedule your portrait session by 12/31/11.  You can use the session for individual, families, children, couples, engagements, etc.  However, this free lifestyle portrait session cannot be redeemed or exchanged for any types of event coverage, boudoir or newborn baby sessions.
• You MUST be willing to travel to the Everett-Seattle-Tacoma area at your own expense for your portrait session if you’re not local.
• You MUST sign a model release form and be okay with me posting images from the portrait session online (website, blog, social media sites, etc).
• This free lifestyle portrait session cannot be transferred to another individual.

What’s the likelihood of someone going to buy cat food and coming back home with a dog?  Well, it happened to me.   A routine cat food run to Petco turned into an unexpected adventure.  For awhile now since adopting our cats Jonas & Jolie, we thought about getting a small dog.  It was just a thought and we didn’t think we would actually get a dog.  If anything, we would have a greater chance of bringing home another cat than a dog.  I admit she wasn’t the cutest looking dog among the others that day, but she won my heart at first sight and how she looked didn’t matter.  It’s like what they say “you don’t pick the dog, the dog picks you” and that was so true.  What caught my attention was how chill and relax she was for a chihuahua and especially how SWEET and well behaved she was.  I knew she’d be the perfect dog to add to the family.  I couldn’t be more right after we brought her home.  Everything that happened that day was meant to be.  Seung and I were coming home from a wedding over the weekend and on the way back I met with a friend to return borrowed equipment at Factoria Mall.  We parked right outside of Petco so I had to walk through the store to meet with my friend.  After we left I realized I forgot to grab the cat food.  This forced us to stop by the Petco store in Tukwila on our way home.  Had I not forgot about the cat food in Factoria I would’ve never cross path with my little doggy.  I had to fill out a 10 page adoption application form after shooting a wedding all day the day before.  My poor fingers were throbbing with exhaustion, but it was worth it… so worth it.  Jinger became the newest addition to our family that day.  She’s been with us for exactly a week now.

Jinger was known as “Apple” when we got her, but I noticed right away that she didn’t respond to it and realized it wasn’t her real name.  After the adoption was final we started calling her Jinger, after Ginger herself, the founder of Ginger’s Pet Rescue.  She already picked up that her new name is now Jinger.  I suppose it was the perfect fit for her.  Some background on our sweet little Jinger… she’s a 3 year old chihuahua mix (we don’t know with what).  Based on her bio and the documents that came with her, she was a stray picked up by the Oakland Animal Shelter last October.  Had she not been saved by Ginger’s Pet Rescue she would’ve likely been euthanized.  Poor thing!!  She came up from California sometimes in February.  There are so many dogs in need of loving homes.  If you’re thinking about getting a doggy companion, please consider adopting first.  I say this about my kitties too, there’s something about rescued animals that makes them so extra special.

I just want to share a few images from a bridal/fashion photoshoot I took part in last month in the Nevada desert.  There will be more to come as well as a post on my first experience at WPPI this year in Las Vegas!  It’s been a month and I think I’m finally recovered =).

And a  shout out to these guys for making this photoshoot possible!

Event Organizer – emma and josh smith www.emmajanephotos.com
Bridal Gowns – La Belle Elaines- Seattle www.labelleelaines.com
Fashion Wear – Jeauneroe Designs
Accessories – Renee Pawele www.reneepawelebride.com
Hair/Makeup – Liz www.hairbylizz.com
Special Thanks to Pixel2Canvas www.pixel2canvas.com and Adorama www.adorama.com

I wanted to share these images a month ago.  Funny story (though not at the time).  After I took these pictures of my cats the memory card went missing.  I was pretty confident one of the kitties took it and hid it somewhere.  Seung and I searched high and low for days checking every crevice of our condo (including the garage) and underneath everything (the refrigerator, washer, dryer, sofa) where we think a cat would hide something.  We actually gave up on it.  The last time I suspected the kitties of taking something of mine it showed up two years later.  As I was packing my camera gear for WPPI (blog on that coming soon) last week the memory card magically appeared in my Think Tank roller.  Sorry, Jolie & Jonas!  Looks like momma misplaced the memory card after all and blamed it on the kitties.  Anyway, these are the test shots from my new 100mm macro lens.  I can finally take decent pictures of my cats without being all up in their space and scaring them off before taking a picture.  Aren’t they cute??  I have the best kitties in the world.  They sure aren’t your typical lazy house cats I can tell you that.  I can’t believe it’s been over three years now.  They’re our precious babies!  Okay, I’ll stop now before somebody calls me the crazy cat lady.  They were rescued kitties which we adopted and brought home at 11 weeks old in December 2007.

Happy Labor Day!  About a year ago around this time I put myself out there.  Nara Photography Blog was born on Labor Day weekend of last year.  I really had no expectations for what I was about to get myself into.  All I know was that I wanted a platform to share my love for photography.  Friends and co-workers who knew about my growing passion for photography referred me to their family and friends.  It was such a honor when I started getting inquiries for photography services especially when I didn’t have a real portfolio or a website.  Starting a photography blog seemed like a great idea because it was a nice way to share some of our recent work as we continue to build our portfolio.  In light of the one year anniversary mark I decided to give the blog a little blog-lift.  Nothing major.  I contemplated about getting a custom blog made, but personally didn’t feel the need to spend the extra money and thought it could be put to better use elsewhere.  This $30 blog template from Tofurious still works just fine for me as a year ago.  There’s a free version too for anyone who’s interested.

One year after the birth of this blog my mind is running crazy with a list of “to-do’s”.  Like I mentioned earlier, I had no expectations whatsoever when I started this blog.  The road Seung and I went down on as a result was more than what we both ever imagined.   This summer was a busy one for us (on our own standards) and we’re actually glad it’s coming to an end (in terms of the wedding season).  We’re excited to finally set some expectations and goals and focus more on the business side of things.  I must say that it’s probably the toughest challenge so far.  A few items at the top of the “to-do” list is to put up a website and start marketing.  We have a lot of work ahead of us, but happy to be doing what we love.

Stay tune for some blog posts with pictures!  We have a couple weddings and lifestyle portrait sessions to share.