Our first Pictage PUG Meeting--as leaders!

Well, the secret is finally out. We are the new Tacoma PUG leaders! Our faithful leaders, Me Ra & Brian, are running in so many directions now with their "Refuse to Say Cheese" DVDs for moms (and dads), their Workshops for Women, and all of their other crazy adventures, that they decided it was time to hand over te reigns. However, they plan on staying connected and involved and our meetings will continue to take place at their house in Tacoma, so they have no choice but to stick around! ;)

Our first meeting as leaders went great--the group was very understanding when I just plowed into "business" without any introduction (Gerald saved me later), and our speaker was a huge hit! Me Ra invited Dani Collins, VP of Columbia Bank, to come and talkwith us about smart ways of financing our businesses so that we build ourselves up for long-term success. Dani, thank you for coming--I learned a lot and can't wait to get to know you in the future.

Tacoma group photo, taken by Brian Koh, of Me Ra Koh. ;) In the photo: Jen Macniven, Marianne Graham, Rebecca Douglas, Laurel McConnell, Dinea Norrell, Julie Watts, Christy Pelland, Tessa Gilbertson, Sara Montgomery, Michael Neugent, Cheri Miller, Amanda Mays, Yuriy Manchik, Heather Gilson, Dani Collins, Me Ra, and Gerald and I. If I missed anyone, then please just leave me a comment and I will add you!

Wow--we have an awesome group. Don't forget about the April contest--email me if you have any questions. Let's get Joe Buissink up at our PUG!

Have a great day--we can't wait to get to know ALL of you better!

Airika & Gerald

"Life" in LA with Karen and Minh

Ending the blog silence...

We are finally back from our travels and are excited to share some new images with you! A couple of weekends ago, we had the amazing opportunity to fly down to Southern CA to hang out (and take photos) with our new friends Karen & Minh. They opened their beautiful home to us and we had an incredible time just hanging out and taking photos together. It was Gerald's first time in LA (we've been to San Diego before), so they planned an entire (awesome) day of photography in downtown Los Angeles. Even though it was a little cool and the weather was iffy at times, we had great time and nearly perfect lighing for most of the day.

Here's one of my favorite shots of the day. This was taken in front of the La Placita Church near the market on Olvera Street. I can just hear my mom asking where their faces are... ;)

We started at Union Station and got some cool shots in and around the train station/subway. LA has an amazing transportation system--something that we know nothing about coming from Seattle (where it takes two hours on a bus just to get 12 miles). Thankfully we don't have nearly as many traffic nightmares as LA, but all our driving around up here certainly can't be very good for the environment!

After Union Station, we took a (MAJOR) detour to In-N-Out because Gerald and Minh had both been craving it since the night before. From the sounds of it, Minh would eat most of his meals there if Karen would let him (Gerald too if we lived in CA)! ;) After some burgers and fries, we drove over to Olvera Street, where there is an open market with lots of souvenier and fruit stands, a variety of hot foods and restaurants, and lots of unique shops, all nestled between rows of cobblestone and historic brick buildings. Photographing Karen and Minh in such a busy place drew lots of attention from curious bystanders, and it started raining on us towards the end of our time there (of course it cleared up as soon as we got in our car to leave), but we had lots of fun on Olvera!

To close out the evening, we went over to SM and took photos of each other on the Pier. I love the background and way that the sky is lit up in this image!

After our day of shooting, Karen & Minh took us to dinner at one of their favorite Vietnamese restaurants. If you haven't had authentic Vietnamese food before (aside from Pho), you simply must try it! Thankfully, Minh not only told us what to order, but he ordered in Vietnamese for all of us. After ordering, he told us that we would eat well that night--we had no clue that we'd need to have someone roll us out because of all the good food we had stuffed into our bellies! Wow.

Thank you, Karen & Minh, for such a wonderful time in sunny CA. We can't wait to see you again for your wedding in July!

Airika

Los Angeles Wedding Photographer

Model Shoot in Downtown Ballard

Two weekends ago, I (Gerald) went out to Seattle with a few friends to scout locations for future photo shoots. We started off roaming the streets of Ballard, and eventually ended up in the SODO district south of downtown Seattle. We really found a lot of cool places, and the entire time we were kicking ourselves for not bringing models with us. Hopefully I will get around to posting a few of those photos because we got some killer shots of each other.

In any case, Airika and I decided to get our own models and hit a few of our newly discovered locations this past weekend! We called up Kelly and Patrick whose wedding we are going to be shooting in April. We had and awesome time with them shooting their engagement photos back in December, and they were more than happy to come hang out and model for us. Thanks guys!

Kelly and Patrick's friend Carol (an aspiring photographer) came along for the ride as well. We all had a blast shooting together!

We are heading to LA later today for Karen and Minh's engagment session, and then it's off to Las Vegas for WPPI (Wedding & Portrait Photographers International)! So, if there is any delay in our response time to emails, please be patient, we'll get back to you soon.

Gerald

ps. Thanks to Airika's Dad for hanging out with our cats while we're gone!

Destination Wedding Photographer

Lindsay & Joe at Pike Place Market

The engagement session we photographed last week was amazing! Joe and Lindsay are just a fun, laid back couple, which really made for a great time together. They gave us a little tour of some of their favorite places around Pike Place Market, and then took us Cutters for drinks and appetizers (some of the best mussels and calamari I've ever had!). Enjoy their photos!

We absolutely LOVE engagement sessions... they not only give us a chance to work and shoot together, but they also let us get to know each couple in a low/no stress environment. The trust and relationships that are built during these sessions make the wedding day go so much smoother, resulting in a more fun and relaxed day for everyone!

Lindsay & Joe, we can't believe that your wedding is only a month away (I'm sure you can't believe it either)--we'll see you again soon! :)

Gerald

seattle wedding photographer