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 =).

I think this is like the longest I’ve gone without blogging (on any of my blogs).  I sort of have an excuse though.  I was out of the country for half of the month and now I have lots of blogging to do on that.  Well, I’m happy to be back and away from Cambodia’s scorching weather.  I was so relieved to breathe in cooler and fresher air.  Speaking of the weather I think the seasons here are having an identity crisis.  I loved that we skipped winter and  spring came super early this year, but right now it feels more like winter!  We had two engagement shoots this past weekend (luckily no rain) and I always feel so bad for our couples when it’s cold, windy, or wet.  I mean we have the easy job since we’re not the ones trying to look good and comfortable.  The feeling quickly disappears though when our clients tell us later how much fun they had.  I’m always happy and glad to hear that despite the rain, wind or cold.  It means we accomplished part of our job :).

The return of cold air is totally reminding me of Christine &  Jeff’s engagement session.  It was freezing that day!  It’ll be a totally different atmosphere exactly two weeks from today when we arrive in Cancun for their destination wedding.  I’m so excited, but I’m not yet ready to get onto a plane again.

I’m leaving to Cambodia for two weeks and will be celebrating New Years for the first time in the motherland.  Talk about exciting!  A trip back to my roots always brings out mixed emotions in me.  It’s like a vacation, but not really.  It’s  more a homage to my family and heritage.  It’s time to step out of my bubble and into a different perspective.  Holiday in Cambodia, please treat me good.  I’ve missed you!

Please note I will have very limited access to the Internet so I will respond to any emails and messages when I return.  Wishing everyone a happy early Khmer New Year!

Why as grown ups don’t we keep up with the tradition of having annual professional pictures taken like we did back in school?  Do you remember how big of a deal that was?  Okay, maybe “every” year would be a bit much but I think people should get updated portraits taken throughout their adult lives too whenever possible.  Especially to document milestones in life, but of course no reason is really needed.  Recently, Seung and I were looking through a box of photos from his high school days.  I swear Seung was such a studio/school dance picture whore back then.  I couldn’t believe it.  I don’t have half the amount of pictures he had.  Then again I wasn’t too fond of school dances.  Well, the professional photos ended there for him.  That gave me the idea to do a photoshoot for Seung.  His 30th birthday was the perfect excuse to get him to play along with me (once again).  There’s actually a funny story about those infamous studio and high school dance pictures of his.  They were a prelude to our worlds eventually and unexpectedly colliding years later.  Funny how things have a way of working out.  Anyway, check out my sexy model doing his thing!

It’s starting to feel a lot like spring in Seattle. Last month was the warmest January in Seattle on record.  I’m loving it!  I hope this means warm weather will come sooner than expected.  Whenever we get any sun during the rainy season I just  have this urge to go out and shoot.  It’s kind of funny that that’s how I look at that now.  If the camera doesn’t come out it just seems like such a waste of a perfectly good day for a shoot.  I woke up this morning to a sunny surprise and knew I had to take advantage of it.  I’ve been waiting for a day like this for something I’ve been planning for my husband.  He turned the big 30 last month and I decided we need to go shopping to update his very outdated wardrobe and give him a photo shoot for updated pictures as well.  I’ll post some later.  I just have so much more other things to cross off my list first.  In the meantime, I just want to share some photos he captured of me making a big mistake.  Don’t shake the cattails unless you have a lint roller handy.  This incident pretty much wrapped up our fun little mini-shoot.  Yet, another reminder why I enjoy being behind the camera even more!