Grad Photos and Turning 30

A few weeks ago, I got to take some Grad photos--at Cal State University, Fullerton--and "Turning 30" photos for a kind soul, Phuong. It was my first time taking Grad photos and she was a great person to work with for my first shot at it. It was a pretty cool experience and I'm happy to say that she was pleased with the results.

The week after the Grad shoot, we headed up to Back Bay, one of my favorite spots. We took quite a few shots there, too. It was to mark a new chapter in her life: Turning 30 and being done with school once and for all!

Anyways, congrats to Phuong for getting her Masters Degree! Check out some of the photos below!

(First set is from Back Bay and the next set is at CSUF)

Finding Inspiration: A Man Living Out His Dream

I recently had the honor of meeting Josh Martin of "Martin Shapes" who is a surfboard shaper, legacy to Terry Martin. I got to hear some of his stories and hear what it's like to be doing something he loves. He is seriously the most down-to-earth individuals I'll ever have the honor of meeting in my life. He is so full of life and happiness. The moment we met, he greeted me with the absolute biggest smile. I got to watch him shape a board from start-to-finish. It was probably the raddest thing I've ever experienced...and I got to document it. I'd love to share with some of what I got from that day through this video. Take a look!



 Thanks for watching!

3 Things I Learned From My First Family Portrait Session with Kids

On Wednesday, April 1st, I was given the honor to take some family portraits for a beautiful family in Carlsbad, California (Yeah, that's outside of my zone of Huntington Beach / Orange County, but it's okay). It was a mom, a dad, and two adorable little girls. Three and four years old. She told me up front, "my kids are a little wild."

"Oh don't worry, it'll be fine!" I told her confidently.

Boy...was I wrong!

I've never dealt with kids before in a family portrait session. I should've realized that kids aren't going to just sit down and take pictures (especially at the beach!). They want to have fun! I think I broke every rule in the book when it comes to photographing kids. I didn't realize I broke these rules until AFTER I came home and Googled, "how to photograph kids." I still managed to capture some gems, but I really would've liked to have offered them a better experience.

Here are some key points that I've learned from reading a bunch of blogs/articles:


1) Become the Parent

Tell the mom and dad you got this (even if you might not). Tell them to BACK OFF! Okay, you don't have to be that intense about it. It'll keep them at ease. They won't be stressed out trying to control their kids. As a photographer, you're a part-time business owner, caretaker, entertainer, and friend. And probably so many other things all at once.

Basically, kindly tell mom and dad that you're going to take control of the situation and they don't need to do anything. Unless they feel their kid is in a position of getting hurt, they shouldn't be telling the kids to do anything.

2) Be the Kids' Friend

To continue on with the first point, be the kids' friend. Communicate with them. Hang out with them. Make them think photography sessions are fun. In order to get them to cooperate and have great, big, genuine smiles, be their friend and have fun! Let loose a little and play some games with them!

Get to know the kids. Ask them what they're favorite thing in the world is. Ask them what they're favorite show is. Ask them what their favorite ice cream is. Ask them what they're favorite anything is!

3) Let The Kids Play

This goes along a little bit with point 2. Let the kids play! Let them have fun! Some of the best shots are the ones where they're running around and having fun. They've got the biggest smiles when they're doing this!

Don't force them to sit down and say cheese. That's the worst thing you can do. When you tell them to sit down, they're going to want to pout. We don't want any pouty faces do we? We want big
smiles! When do they have big smiles? When they're running around having fun! Let them loose!

My Experience

Here's how these 3 points applied to my session and how I learned them:

1) I only took maybe 25% of the responsibility of dealing with the kids when it should've been 100%. This stressed out mom and dad because they had to deal with them! When mom and dad are stressed out, they're not happy and it reflects. When they're not happy, then the kids aren't happy. It's your duty as the photographer to deal with the kids during the session whether you think it is or not. When you deal with the kids, it makes mom and dad happy, which keeps the kids happy.

2) I barely talked to the kids. I tried a little, but I should've been so much more interactive with them. I should've let them play with my camera a little. Showed them a few shots and tell them how awesome they look in them (everybody likes praise right?). I should've asked them what they're favorite things were. I should've done so many other things, but I mainly focused on capturing that "right" moment that I was supposed to help create.

3) I kept trying to get them to stay in one spot and "just take one picture for me, okay?" No. Wrong. That's all wrong Vin. When I did this, they would sit down for MAYBE 2 seconds, then get right back up. If they did sit down for more than 2 seconds, they didn't look very happy. I should've let them play more. This is just the nature of kids. It's going to happen. I don't care what family you're with. Kids will be kids.

When they were playing in the sand having fun, that's when I got some of my favorite shots. That's when they began being cooperative when I said, "hey, look over here!" I mean, don't KEEP saying it, but every now and then when you want them to look at the camera, you can get their attention. But just let them roam! Let them be free! Let them be creative! Let them have fun!

My Last Words

I'm not claiming that I'm an expert and I now know how to run a photography session with kids. If anything, I still know absolutely nothing. But those are 3 things that I learned from the mistakes I made this weekend.

You've probably stumbled upon them already, but here are some good articles about photographing kids:
http://digital-photography-school.com/cut-the-cheese-5-tips-for-photographing-kids/
http://www.clickinmoms.com/blog/8-tips-for-photographing-uncooperative-children/
http://marcweisberg.com/2012/03/7-tips-to-make-the-best-family-portraits
https://photographylife.com/how-to-photograph-children

Here are some other shots from the day:

 

Thanks for reading!

Vin Le

When Routine Goes Wrong

Disclaimer: this has nothing to do with photography. This is part of the "...some other random things" portion.

Beautiful blue skies and a nice, cool breeze. Things are warming up. The snow is getting nice and soft. I look at the jump I've been doing all day. I decide I'll keep it simple this run and do what I've been doing. It's a little different now that the snow is getting slushy. This means I'll slow down as I approach the jump. I decide to pin line it and not to speed check. I approach the jump. My speed feels fine. I reach the lip. My take-off feels fine. I make a nice, slow, backside turn. The rotation feels fine. As I reach the end of my spin, I feel fine. I feel more than fine.

I can feel the adrenaline and exhilaration rushing through me. The rush was like the first time you snuck out of your house. The rush was like the first time you played hooky. The rush was like the first time you fell in love.

I loved the rush this jump gave me. No matter how routine this jump might be, I felt the passion that I have for snowboarding. A passion where nothing can stop me from doing what I love.

I loved every moment of this...until I spotted my landing. As I finished my spin and prepared my legs to take the impact of the landing, I realized I still had 10 feet under me to go. I miscalculated my speed, the jump, and the time it would take me to land. My rotation becomes inverted and my nose dips forward. There's nothing I can do. I brace myself for impact.

The nose of my board hits the ground first. Then it whiplashes me and digs my left shoulder into the ground. I feel an instant burning sensation. I pick myself up so I'm not laying down on the blind landing of the jump. As I pick myself up, I felt the all-too-familiar feeling in my left shoulder. A feeling I felt 3 months ago from a motorcycle accident.

I felt my left collarbone crunch. I knew right away that it was broken.

Yeah, you read that right. I broke my collarbone 3 months ago from a motorcycle accident that was ALSO a routine turn. Lost control, flew over the bars, and bam! Broken collarbone, wrist, and thumb. Go ahead, laugh at me, call me stupid, and call me dumb for snowboarding with broken bones. I like to look at it as: nothing can stop me from doing what I love. And to be fair, it was the last weekend for Bear Mountain to be open. I had to get one last hurrah in.

Anyways, here's my x-ray:

2015 has been one heck of a year so far. Seems like I'll be spending the first half of it with a broken collarbone. Fun stuff.

I just thought I'd share this story with you so you can laugh at my misery instead of having to go through with it. Be safe out there people!

The Sexualization of Post-Processing...and Some Other Things

I was already planning on writing this post about post-processing, then I got an e-mail this morning from Digital Photography School to view a post from Leanne Cole who writes about post-processing. You can view her post here: http://digital-photography-school.com/its-your-image-do-what-you-like-to-it/

It's a really interesting post and it addresses the issue of photo manipulation. She has her own thoughts, I have my own thoughts, you have your own thoughts, and everybody else has their own thoughts.

Here's Where I Get Critical

When it comes to photo manipulation, I draw the line at portrait photography. That's not to say we can't color correct or edit the photo to portray a certain mood. I do it all the time. What I mean by drawing the line at portrait photography is the idea of changing how the actual person looks.
Shrinking the hips
Filling the lips
Widening the eyes
Tightening the thighs
Clearing the sags
Removing the bags
All that jazz.

I'm not trying to bag on the people who do this for a living. It's a skill and--as much as I hate to say it--an art in doing this kind of photoshopping. It's understanding the market and creating photos that will attract those people. I just don't approve of it.

Why don't I approve of it you might ask? Well, it feeds into society's view of what is "supposed" to be beautiful. It sexualizes the human body and creates a person that doesn't exist. It makes us desire the wrong things. It makes us shallow.

Let's be real, this kind of photo manipulation mainly happens to females. With that being said, by continually photoshopping the body in this kind of way, women will strive to look like these figures and men will be searching for these "perfect" women. This kind of mentality leads into problems like eating disorders and self-esteem issues. Women who are already beautiful are pressured to make themselves "look better." And when they finally reach their goal? Well, I think they still looked better before.

Take a look at this video. I'm sure you've seen it. A word of caution before opening, it may be a little explicit for some viewers. (Partial Nudity--but you don't actually see anything)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17j5QzF3kqE

This video is just an example of how much photo manipulation can change how someone looks. Yes, the final image makes her more attractive. I won't deny that. But that's exactly the problem! That girl in the finished picture? Yeah, she doesn't exist. It's a whole new person. It's a whole new identity.

This issue makes us focus on the outside. It makes us focus on the shallow attributes of ourselves. It makes us focus on the things that shouldn't matter. We spend so much time on our outer image that we forget about what matters: our character.

That Was My Two Cents; Now Let's Lighten The Mood

This is the part where I talk about why I think post-processing is perfectly fine. Editing, I think, is an art. If you read Leanne Cole's post that I mentioned earlier, it'll help you get an idea of why I think post-processing is an art and why it's okay. She puts it in words that I wouldn't be able to. There is a certain artistic style that each person carries when it comes to editing photos. That style can change over time, just like any other type of artist.

Here is an example of where my style kind of changed. This first photo is the shot out of camera:

This one is the first time I ever made an edit to it a while back when I first got my DSLR:

This is my most recent re-edit where I'm trying to make flatter looking shots:

Okay, okay, the second photo isn't necessarily the same shot as the first and last. It's from the same day though. This is just to show you the idea of how styles of editing can change over time. This is also to say that it's about creating a photo that you envision in your head, like any other artist would. Before, I really wanted some saturated colors and a clear silhouette of the pier. Now I want a more retro/vintage feel to the shot. Neither of these interpretations are necessarily right or wrong, though. 

Photoshop, Lightroom, and any other editing software gives us the tools to create the image we imagined. It's an extension to the camera and helps us create photos beyond the limitations of the camera. It helps us explore our creativity and pushes us beyond our imagination.

I have some other things about post-processing I would like to talk about, but I think that's enough for this post. I've already said a mouthful. If you've made it this far in my post, well thanks for reading my rants and persevering through! You're pretty awesome for doing so.

Family Portraits, Cloudy Days, and Post-Processing

The other day, I had the incredible opportunity to shoot family portraits in Huntington Beach for the most fun, cooperative, and loving family! Unfortunately, it was a cloudy morning and I really wanted to try out some backlighting with them. Can't have it all I guess! Anyways, it was my first time shooting family portraits and it was a fun challenge. I'm glad they helped make it easier on me by being extremely cooperative and energetic!

Although it was a cloudy day, I still made the most of my experience. After reading countless articles about photography, I realize that sometimes we have to deal with the conditions we are given. The way I looked at it, God gave me a softbox so I wouldn't have to deal with harsh shadows. Maybe it ended up making things easier for me! Still didn't get the shots I was planning for, but oh well.

Since I didn't get the shots I wanted, I really wanted to somehow redeem my photos. So I looked up some things I could do in lightroom to give each photo some style and pop. I've fallen in love with the recent craze for flat/matte/retro/vintage style images. The ones where there aren't any true blacks in the photo and things kind of look pale. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.

After looking around and reading countless blogs and tutorials, I did some post-processing myself in Lightroom 5. I'm not going to say they're my favorite photos, but given the circumstances, I really do like them. If you're really into the vintage look, you can download some free presets from: http://www.on1.com/dl/87/

This is a free selection of presets for Lightroom that adds a nice matte finish to photos. It's super handy and can transform a number of images! It's a trend that's really booming, so you don't want to be caught without knowing how to create these style of photos! If you're not into the whole "Lightroom presets" thing, you can also take a look at this blog that will give you step-by-step instructions on how to accomplish that look: http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-create-a-vintage-look-using-lightroom/

Sometimes we can't expect the world to give us exactly what we need, so we have to make the most out of it! In this case, I was able to learn some valuable Lightroom techniques to make a bad lighting day okay!

Work with what you got, then learn from it!

Here are some shots from the day: