HyStudio – Life Behind the Lens

Sharlene and Jason got married in the beautiful Shakespeare Garden located inside Golden Gate Park.

I love the detail of the dress (yup.. looking forward to blog about the details in this beautiful wedding). Sharlene looks beautiful in it.

Those are just teasers. And you know me, I always save the best for last Stay tuned.

I remembered taking Danny’s call when I was in a supermarket parking lot. Though I do give out my number during the inquiry phase, rarely would brides and grooms to-be call; most clients would exchange couple rounds of emails with questions. Danny gave me a list of in-depth questions during our conversations. I answered one by one with a shopping cart full of grocery, standing in front of my car, while other cars zooming behind me. It can really make some unique photos if Hy’s around. (No, Hy wasn’t around, Hy was out in a wedding). At that time, my impression of Danny was a groom-to-be who did a lot of study on wedding photography. Most of such study work are done by brides, so at the time, I was thinking.. “Wow, this man really cares about the wedding”.

When Hy and I finally got to meet with Danny and Huong during their first visit to our place, I can immediately see why. This man deeply loves his wife-to-be, and was trying to be involved and taking care of all the details of their special day.

For this engagement session, we traveled down to the city of Carmel, a special location for Danny and Huong. I tagged along with Hy. Hy and I had coffee at Carmel Coffee & Cocoa Bar while waiting.

Downtown Carmel was just full of colors. I love how the colors come out in the photos.

But if we strip out the color, the location gave a totally different vibe.

This is the first time Hy does a photo shoot at downtown Carmel. I am always amazed of how Hy can find and see unique places.

Then we headed to the beach. It was a very nice warm and sunny day.

Congratulations Danny and Huong!  Looking forward for the dinner together during our off season.

Venue: Stanford Park Hotel

This is Frank’s first formal wedding by himself, after a year of training. I am a proud mama seeing Frank grow in terms of skill and leadership. I know Frank hasn’t reached his potential yet, this is just his first year photographing people (he used to shoot landscape, building and such). I am confident for Frank’s 2nd year with HyStudio, he will grow even more. Let’s wait and see a star to be form. Back to Daphne and Carl, there were just so much joy in this wedding.

First dance

There are a lot of dancing through the wedding. The wedding party even did a group dance performance.

The girls have been watching ‘America’s Next Top Model‘

Thought this is a creative way to show the ring

Hy, Frank and I attended a beautiful wedding at Thomas Fogarty Winery this morning. Our roles were complex, I as a guest of the bride, Hy and Frank working as photographers.

Fogarty was one of the location that Hy and I considered for our own wedding. We visited the site 3 years ago and last week and today. Hy snatched this shot indoor last weekend during our scout.

The vineyard was beautiful during fall season. Some of the grape leaves turned golden yellow, a color that expresses the joy of the harvest.

Today, the site was as beautiful as ever. Today’s wedding was a lunch event. The couple was really lucky as the view over the valley was so clear, no fog at all. Driving up the winding Woodside road by myself early morning was quite a ride. After getting married, I rarely have a chance to drive on winding road again, as Hy’s usually on the driver seat. It was quite fun to drive up by myself, enjoying the early morning breeze and the thrill of driving fast among the woods. Skyline Blvd over the mountain top was just breath taking. The view over the valley was magnificent.

Thomas Fogarty Winery is just a perfect venue for wedding. I can’t wait to show you what’s in Hy and Frank’s camera. Stay tuned.

Location: Quail Lodge Resort & Golf Course, Carmel, CA
Hair & makeup: Lisa Zomer
officiant: Denise Adkins
Videography: Alex of Lumitone

Super sorry for my faithful readers. I know I promised to post this ‘tomorrow’, and before I realized it, couple days flies by. Life is so unpredictable ~ BTW, Happy Friday!!

As I mentioned before, during Ann and Chris’ first visit, we both discovered that Ann’s brother and I worked in the same company, actually Ann’s brother and I worked quite closely in our previous roles. Working through Ann’s wedding photos brought tears in my eyes, it’s like a little sister got married. Looking through Ann and Chris’ wedding photos, I really enjoyed Hy’s way of capturing the emotions of the day and complexity of the photos.

First of, Lisa Zomer, a well known make up artist in our industry. I was really happy that we get to work with Lisa for the first time.

I really love the complexity in this photo.

Lisa in action.

This photo is inspired by respectable Ms. Kuperberg.

I love the emotion captured here.

Cute flower girls

Love the scenery in the background.

For every wedding, I am always captivated by the eye contact of groom and bride. The look is silent, yet, expresses more than words.

Joy of newly wed.

I have to pose this photo again. I just love it.

Hee.. the girls.

Night view of Quail lodge’s Peninsula Ballroom at the Clubhouse.

Lastly, sparkling send off.

BTW, as year comes close to the end, no worries girl, there are still many weddings to show case. We still have many weddings up coming this year for HyStudio (we are not even close of getting done this year yet). I will try to dig out more photos to show you over the weekend.

Location: Quail Lodge Resort & Golf Course, Carmel, CA
Florist: Natasha of In Waters, San Francisco
Cupcakes: Sibby’s Cupcakery, San Francisco

Most of the time, I show case the wedding first, then the detail shots. Today, I thought I would do something different I love the emotions Hy captured in Ann and Chris’ wedding, I will show case them all in the next post.

Ann and Chris got married in the romantic city of Carmel. It was a nice Friday afternoon wedding. Somehow, I just love the Friday weddings. The guests attending the wedding would take a day off from work, just to celebrate this special day with their love ones. Friday weddings are usually more calm and relaxing.

To start off, beautiful bridal gown and shoes.

Bridal bouquet by Natasha of In Waters. “In Waters” such an appropriate name for the business.

Ceremony is at Quail Lodge Resort’s Quail Meadows.

Catering was done in house by Quail Lodge.

Colorful cupcakes tower (so IN this year) by Sibby’s Cupcakery in San Francisco.

Did I just see mushmellow and candy? Yum

Last but not least, focusing on the rings ..

Stay tune for more wedding photos tomorrow.

Got busy this week during weekdays. Here are some photos to start your weekend!

I love this one.

Stay tune, I will be posing more photos over the weekend. Have a nice one!

Hy and I were away for a precious 1 week vacation to the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. We actually camped in the park for couple days. It was nice to get away from it all, no cell phone reception, no internet access for couple days while we camped in the park. I grew up in the city, so, I am totally not a tent girl. I enjoy staying at the 4-5 stars hotels, soft bed, nice design, good smell and super clean rooms. But after dating then married a man who loves nature so much, I learned to appreciate couple nights of simple life in the tent.

We camped at a premium location right next to the river. Hy tried his best to make things comfortable for me: a good looking water proof tent, air filled camping mat with tasteful color, light and warm goose down mummy sleeping bags. It was quite nice sleeping with the sound of nature: river flowing in the background, fresh air flowing through the tent, crickets singing through the night. There was one raining night, but I wasn’t bothered at all. It was dry and warm inside our tent. Listening to the rain, with hot tea in our hand, we chatted through the evening.

It’s funny how my perspective changed through out the trip. When I arrived at the Smokey, to be honest, I was very disappointed. I was looking for full fall color in the park, color of red and golden yellow. The reality was, we came 2 weeks too early!! I was greeted with full park of green! When driving in, I saw only little tiny spots of red and yellow here and there. In addition, on the first day of my trip, there were also surprised unpleasant changes happening at work that made me felt quite sad. For the first couple days, I was concentrating on what I don’t have; the full forest of green plus this sad news from work. I had a lot of time to contemplate about the unexpected events in life. Though there were plenty of joyful moments with Hy, my heart was quite heavy.

My transformation came the last day we leave the Smokey. When driving out of the park, I found I saw a lot more of reds and yellows. I don’t think the color of the park changed so much within couple days. I think what happened was, I started focusing on what was there vs what wasn’t there. I started enjoy more on the few beautiful trees that changed color, vs complaining in my heart about the forest remaining green. I started to treasure what I still have at work, vs, the have nots. Look at this beautiful photo taken by Hy on our last day there. How can I have a complaining heart with this beauty from above?!

This post is for you, my dear friend and teacher. May your journey ahead fill with wonders and beauty. Thank you for what you’ve provided these years. Looking forward the next time our paths crossed ~