LEAP Day and the Tacoma PUG!

Well, today is Febrary 29th--otherwise known as Leap Day. Since Leap Day only rolls around every four years, we'll share a few jumping photos of the guys at the Tacoma PUG this past week. We met at the home of Ella Blue Studio on Wednesday and since we had a smaller turnout due to the change in location (b/c Me Ra's vacation), we stayed up late and played with our cameras. The guys were certainly in rare form, and it was quite entertaining!


Gerald executing a nearly perfect cannonball....
Yuriy, taking one for the team...
Jason, showing us how to take care of the bad guys...

And some other random shots from the evening...
So close, Gibson!!!
the Manchik
Erwin showing off the new toy (the Canon 1D Mark III)...

More to come soon...check out the photos on Ella Blue & Erwin Wijanto's sites!

Gerald & Airika

Tacoma wedding photographer

Maternity Photos

Over the weekend, Airika and I went down to lovely Toutle, WA (near Mt. St. Helens) to visit our friends Lynne and Bryan. Lynne and I met when we were 5 years old back in NC. We went to the same church and the same school, and I was very excited when she and her husband moved out to WA a few years ago. Airika and I like to go down there visit whenever we can--to hang out, relax and watch the wildlife, and do a little fishing. My plan for this past weekend was to catch my first steelhead (an elusive fish that I have been trying to catch for years), and shoot our first maternity session.

Let's just say that one out of two ain't bad...

Congratulations Lynne and Bryan, we can't wait to meet the little guy!

Gerald

Our first photo contest...and we WON!!!

For the past two years, one of the things I have been meaning to get around to (which really means Airika has been pushing me to do it) is entering some of our photos in contests. Well, last month we did get around to it, and we entered a few photos in a new contest at www.openphotocontest.com. This is actually an amazing contest, because it is actually judged by the general public--although most of the people going there to vote are fellow photographers.

Anywho, the only reason I bring this up is because we actually WON! Here is the winning photo, which you might recognize from our blog last fall...


They had a few different categories, and we won the "Stellar Brides" category, which I believe was the featured contest this month. This would definitely make sense since this category offered the best (and most expensive) prize for winning--a Canon 85mm f/1.2 lens! YEAH!!! I have wanted one of these things for sooo long! When it arrives it will be really tempting to go out and buy a new camera body to permanently attatch it to!



Airika is hoping that I will listen to her more often now that we won this contest (because I listened to her). Hmmm... we shall see...

Thank you OSP and David Jay!

Gerald,

A unique art.

I just saw this video on Eddie Bojorquez's blog (who found it on Dane Sander's blog) and wanted to share it with you! Living art done well can truly change the way you view the world. This is one of the most unique projects I have ever seen--I absolutely love the responses of the crowd. Go ahead--take a look!



This was put together by Charlie Tood from Improv Everywhere, who comes up with ideas for "missions" like this one and organizes people to execute them. Pretty sweet-I love it!

Airika

The "Dave Hill" style...

A couple weeks ago Airika and I got to hang out with a few of our photographer friends at Ella Blue's house along with Sarah Rhoads and Yuriy Manchik. We had an absolute blast eating dinner, playing games and of course talking shop. One of the topics of discussion that evening was Dave Hill. He's photographer with a unique style of photography which I can only describe as illustrative; that is, they almost look like cartoons. You should really check out his stuff, it's very original, something which is very hard to come by with the saturation of photographers out there. I've been pretty intrigued by his work ever since I was introduced--mostly because I wanted to figure out how he does it. One thing is for sure, it's not a simple process! From what I can tell, the two main components are the lighting and the post-processing. The lighting is typically a fairly complex studio setup that essentially surrounds the subject with light from every angle. The postprocessing however, seems to be a very closely held secret. A search on the internet will quickly reveal nothing but a lot of other people asking the same question as you.


Anyway, I had a chance to play around with some studio lights that I use at the PRO Sports Club (working on ideas for a future cover shot for the magazine) to see what I could come up with. I actually got with some pretty interesting results--as long as you can get over the goofy look on my face, my silly work uniform, and the fact that I am leaning way forward to trip the shutter on my own. I hope you get a good laugh at my expense. Unfortunately, I didn't get a shot of the lighting setup... I will do that next time!





Gerald

Breaking news for GP Photo!

Hey everybody!

I have some exciting news to share with you. Effective March 14th, 2008, I will be working full-time for Gerald Pope Photography! Many of you know that Gerald and I both work "day jobs" outside the home--Gerald as the photographer for the Pro Sports Club and the Pro Pulse magazine in Bellevue, and me as the Program Manager for Fuller Seminary's extension site in Seattle--but our business has been growing so incredibly fast, that it is time for me to "come home!" We are so excited about this for many reasons, but the primary one is that it will allow us to serve our clients and other photographers even better, and give us more opportunity to connect with all of you in"real time."

Over the next few months, I will be intentionally connecting with local wedding vendors (planners, florists, venues, etc.) to find some of the best people in the industry. I am committed to providing all of our clients with an exceptional wedding photography experience with Gerald and I from beginning to end, but I also want to give them/you the resources they need to help make the wedding planning and the wedding day as smooth and enjoyable as possible. If you have any vendors that you would like to recommend, please shoot me an email at airika@geraldpope.com or post a comment here and I will check them out!

We greatly appreciate all of you--our clients and our photographer colleagues--you have played a huge role in helping our business grow so quickly, and we look forward to growing in our relationships with all of you in the future.

Have a wonderful week,

Airika