This past Saturday, I had the pleasure of meeting up with Linda and James in Pasadena where we shot their engagement photos together with their dog, Coco. Linda and James have been dating for five years and James recently popped the question to his beautiful girlfriend fiancée.  They’re a really fun couple and I had a great time hanging out with them.  I can’t wait til their wedding in June.  Congratulations guys!

I really like landscape photography, but suck at it because I don’t have the patience to wait around all day in one spot for that perfect moment. I read once that Ansel Adams took his famous “Moon Over Half Dome” shot while on the way to cocktail hour. He just pulled over to the side of the road, snap snap, and got back in his car on his merry way. I don’t know how much of this is true but ever since, I have been committed to bringing my camera with me everywhere, and lately my tripod has found permanent residence in the trunk of my car as well. Heck, it’s even fully extended out and sticking into my backseat just so I can be THAT much more ready.

So anyway, the other day I was driving to the grocery store and dry cleaners which is about a 5 minute trek down the block. However, it took me half an hour to get there because I was driving all around the back roads, trying to find the perfect angle to shoot these mountains. They looked especially captivating this day, because the big rainstorm had finally passed from the area. I ended up taking a shot by the cow farms, which smelled quite un-lovely.

The things we photographers do for pictures…btw this was a 30 sec exposure @ F11.

Please enjoy these photos of Maria & Richard’s beautiful and intimate wedding in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. I had a great time photographing such an awesome couple and family. Please click the image to view the slideshow!

I hope everyone’s week has been going well so far and if not, then I hope the rest of it gets better. For me, it’s been another hectic week as I try to juggle work and home life with photography. The crazy thing is, I totally dig it. I am finding myself much more productive at work because I try to finish up whatever I can early or ahead of time which frees up the rest of my day for other stuff. This contrasts greatly with my usual habit of “let’s put it off until i absolutely have to get it done” mentality. Funny how that works, no? It leads me to believe that we can create motivation out of anything, and that having a passion for something not only brings balance to our lives, but also brings harmony as well.

Anyhow, I’ve been spending a lot of time working on the business of my business. Although I would love to do nothing else but shoot pictures and edit them, successful photographers do well because they have a well thought-out business plan and run their studios in an organized and efficient fashion. I’ve been focusing mostly on branding, as well as optimizing my post processing workflow (which I will detail in a future post.) I feel that the time I put into these things now will help me grow and expand later.

Recently, I’ve discovered that my PC laptop has a Lightscribe burner in it. Being as how I’ve just completed my logo design, I thought “what better way to enhance the look of my business than to use it on my products too?” I offer a DVD of images to all of my clients, of which Dave & Melissa (my recent e-session couple) are the first ones to receive my new, professional-looking DVD.

Here’s what it looks like, I’m pretty happy with the results.

I think Lightscribe burners are a really great alternative to a CD label that is printed out and stuck on to the disc (I personally do not like them at all although I must admit that there are some nice looking ones out there.)

Oh BTW, you may notice the “miengsaetia.com” next to my phone number. Consider this a ’sneak peak’ into other things I’ve got lined up. Of course, more on that in a future post. :)

isn’t he cute?