V and Me in LA

My Love…

It’s easy to say “stop and smell the roses” or “enjoy the journey” but when do we actually do that? Well two weeks ago I left my job at Entegris as an Applications Engineer… and no it was not so that I can pursue photography full time (not yet anyways, haha!), but it was because I got offered a position at a Materials Research Company as a Research Associate doing work on alternative energy applications – specifically Hydrogen. Yes! (Said like Kevin in Home Alone for all you old people). So how does that relate? Well I was able to take a day off (yah, one stinkin’ day – every single person I know told me to take AT LEAST a WEEK) and take a trip with the love of my life, my best friend – Vaness (V). So here was a schedule and day of events in picture form (Just a small number of pics of course, cuz then it really would not have been a trip for us - it would have been for me!)… First, to the Griffith Observatory, where, of course, we get lost going up there… thanks LA.

I was admittedly totally geekin’ out when I saw this periodic table of elements.. it was soooo cool, they had each element in their own lit up box and displayed inside was sample of that element. Solid form, liquid, gaseous, they found a way to display. I mean except of course for a bunch of the rare earth metals… Way cool! I took more pics and Vaness had to pry me away from playing with all the cool little buttons they had for it… After that we drove down over to.. Hollywood and Highlands…

So, now my chance comes along to tease Vaness and pry her away from something as she “geeks out” over the Harry Potter Chinese theater concrete block. yay. Then I go and score another one and see this cool lil guy.. STAR WARS! CP3O was really there! And you gotta love the R2 droid prints – classic.

Can I be honest? Hollywood – at least the touristy part – is overrated. I mean even for a tourist attraction, I was expecting more. I don’t know – more shops, more little vendors selling Hollywood sign trinkets, more picture booths, more significant Movie Star artifacts, more things to eat… just… more. Maybe I was thinking that this particular part of Hollywood would be that obnoxious, over the top, bigger than life kinda place. Am I asking for too much? Not that I am really all about the tourist trap vendor that sells you that eyesore of a fleece pull-up jacket sportin the “city logo” so you can where it in all other parts of the country to say you’ve been there – and in the real sense, like you actually stepped on that land… yah I think it should be banned, but when you go to a place to be a tourist I full on expect to feel totally gawked at, but freely accepted as - a tourist. Yah that’s right.. And they just robbed us of that whole experience. There really just wasn’t much going on. This is Hollywood! It’s supposed to be grand! With lights! . I mean, even the H&M was kinda weak – I think there were maybe 8 racks of guys clothes – for winter wear… So we decided to add another stop – Santa Monica Pier.

Now that’s a little more like it. Beautiful spot, nice pier, pretty sights, we even made it on time to catch the sunset (through heavy traffic of course)… The only thing – THE WIND. It just didn’t wanna quit! It was crazy, so cold… So after sunset, we figured we would have time before going back so we went over to DOWNTOWN DISNEY!

The perfect end – to a perfect day. If you ever get that chance, take that break, that trip, that one day to just get away. It was rejuvenating (although tiring) but it gave us a chance to just stop and smell the proverbial roses (or LA Smog)… We took a day and just let God lead us to place after place… We had highs and lows, but mostly, we just invested this time with each other… and it was the first real chance in a long time to just simply enjoy each other’s company... You need those kinds of things…

Free to Succeed

Launching in March 2009

I found that without an understanding of what your body of work may look like in your mind, you can’t pursue it well enough for you to invest in it. And we all know what happens to a goal when it isn’t invested in, passionately. I’ll define goal setting as different from vision. Goal setting requires no passion. You can set it and forget it – it is simply a marker. A point that, if achieved, will signify success and the need to set another goal. Vision – a whole other beast. It requires careful thought, tons of prayer, waiting, answers, signs, and time – then comes – vision. A vision of what that final road will look like. And with all that, to pursue it has to lead to passion. You couldn’t possibly strive for something that has been architected in your mind through thought, prayer, waiting, answers, signs, and time without passionate pursuit. It is almost tangible. You can’t help, but roll it into action.

I attended the Free to Succeed tour hosted by David Jay. Jasmine Star was a main presenter – a wedding photographer with some really great work and one of the first people I was directed towards. I may only understand my current enjoyment for wedding photography and the related because I love events, details, fast-paced shooting, and a story that I can attach my heart to. But, how this field is a place to seriously express myself is something I was still fleshing out. Before the event Jasmine Marie Ko snapped this shot with her PS with me and Jasmine Star. I was a bit “star-struck” (sorry I really didn’t know how else to describe it but to use what is probably a sickly overused pun).

Yah. Hella cheazin’. Seriously? Well anyways… I opened this entry with my understanding of the word vision and how it has been applied by me. I have learned, especially in these past years, that God has given me vision all my life. I pursue that vision with a passionate internal fierceness, and the end result is often nothing short of amazing. Now that doesn’t mean that what I envision manifests itself in a way that I thought it might – but the way there – completely life changing. Bottom line, photography has become a passionate pursuit. One goal? Launch my portfolio, brand, website, etc in March 2009. Why then? It’s in the vision… what else is in the vision?

Well, at the tour, aside from learning a few ways to launch your business and some tools to do so, Jasmine Star posed a question that she implied was extremely key to answer before starting your business. Give 5 words that describe you. Not your photography. Just you. When you have that – it has to show in your pictures. Not because you printed the words, “artsy” or “modern” or “fun” next to your picture, but because you can read in those pictures who you are. You may not think many people can exactly read what a picture says about a photographer, but you’d be surprised what conclusions you could draw if you took someone’s body of work and thought to draw a print of who this person may be like. I think for me, that is what attracted me to Jasmine Star’s work – that drive – she kept saying she is driven. It shows in her work, at least to me it does. Blog-wise, she just lets it flow… And her story of how she went into photography is even more of a reason why I followed her work. She's awesome and definitely one of my photographic inspirations... Anyways, J* said to turn to friends and ask them what they thought one of your words might be. At that moment, Jasmine Marie Ko turned to me and said, “Galang, I would have to say one word for you would probably be – passion”. She had no prior knowledge of this word and its particular meaning in my life, so it was pretty crazy to me that she said that. In fact, at my senior retreat in High School, one of the affirmations given to me was that I possessed a deep passion – so it does hold a lot of weight when it is re-affirmed almost 7 years later. My fiancé easily agreed with this assessment, “yup, that’s you!”.

I found that photography is the one art, thus far, that has seen my passion show through it throughout time. Not every single time, mind you, but throughout time… I hope my passion can show through, along with the other 4 words I’m still working on… And being an art form, me showing through is probably pretty important. Inherently, when something like my passion is showing through this medium, a vision for it has to have been laid in the foreground. My unique inborn natural quality of pursuant passion – well? what do you do with that – looks like it just needed a vision to continuously express itself through… Thank you God for my photography.

Wedding - Greg and Susan

Balboa Park, Spanish Arts Village – San Diego, CA

The wedding was in Balboa Park with the lovely Greg and Susan at the Spanish Arts Village. BEAUTIFUL. I was loving the colors at the site, of course the scenery at Balboa Park, and the bride and groom themselves were a really sweet couple to work with.

I entered the day a little bit nervous. I didn’t really know what to think – I was going to go along with Melissa Koehler to shoot a wedding in Balboa Park. (You can check out her blog entry on Greg and Susan’s wedding at www.MelissaKoehlerPhotography.com/blog). I was more than grateful and probably equally excited to do this. Just to be given the opportunity to observe her shoot a wedding was a bit – shall we say – confusing?! Why would she even let me on site! Okay, so I know how to use a camera, and maybe I’m being a bit harsh on myself. But, to be ALLOWED to come along was an honor, at the very least. I will always, always, always appreciate it. I had a lot of fun shooting, making my mistakes, and coming away with a great learning experience and even a few triumphs in the way of pictures! Enjoy!

Starting with the a few details…

Getting Ready…

The first look…

Now on to the private couple shoot.. It was really cool roaming around balboa park with them! We got to walk all over the park! Lots o’ fun… Thank you to Melissa and Marlo for showing me the ropes of "Photoshoot Direction", setting up each pose - it really gave me great learning perspective as well as a chance to let the creative juices flow…

Here’s some fun with the whole party!

They had a really beautiful ceremony – Susan rolled up in a classic car with her dad and the whole wedding was in the perfect spot in the center of the Spanish Arts Village...Great colors!

First Kiss as a married couple!

And then, their first dance as a married couple...

Melissa being a rockstar, hehe… :-)

Greg, quite the happy groom…

So the garter was flung into the air and made its way to the front of the awaiting bachelors - right to the floor. Every guy there ensured that there was no catch to be had… But, our innocent ring bearer, bless his kind soul, probably thought “hey! It looks like someone dropped little somethin’ here… I’ll get it!”… The following reaction by the every relieved bachelor in the house probably left him just a bit confused…

I can’t thank Melissa enough for allowing me to come along and learn!! She is a real inspiration to me in the photography world and as I get to know her, she is even more of an inspiration to me as a person. It was really great working with her! And thanks to Marlo, Melissa's gracious 2nd shooter for this wedding, for guiding me through the “second shooting game” too…

And finally, thanks to Greg and Susan, you two were really sweet… Thank you for letting me be a part of your day!