ST Photography

American Cancer Society Discovery Ball 2011

2011-05-23T06:33:00.000-07:00

Each day almost 4,000 people hear the words, “you have cancer.” They all have family members, friends, and colleagues who care about them … just like the more than 1,400,000 people who will also receive that devastating news in 2010.

Since its inception in 2007, the Associate Board of Ambassadors (ABOA) has raised over $850,000 in the fight against cancer. The Associate Board of Ambassadors is a young professionals group whose primary fundraiser is the Skyline Soiree held each summer. The group also assists in the American Cancer Society’s Discovery Ball silent auction and volunteer efforts.

I have the opportunity to shoot at the Discovery Ball silent auction in the prestigious renowned Chicago landmark, Civic Opera Building as part of a corporate event.

Enjoy some of the beautiful decor and ambiance of the night.

Willow Creek Sound Check

2011-05-08T19:44:00.000-07:00

I once read that one of the seven habits of highly successful people that is often overlooked is capacity. It's the practice, practice, and practice before the big game. It's the preparation, a by product of hard work, and working hard. People often take it for granted when a great baseball hitter makes it look so easy to hit run, not realizing that they practice hitting the balls thousand of times. So I am intrigued when I had the opportunity to capture the Willow Creek worship team practice. The team works hard, spends hours rehearsing the songs, the intro, and the closing. Check out the pictures that I took during one of their sound checks.

My Image Featured in the RedEye Chicago's Newspaper

2011-05-04T21:07:00.000-07:00

Perhaps, it's just a sheer luck, but I participated in a photo challenge, and my name got picked in the hat. I submitted an image of The Bean, arguably the most photographed object in the city of Chicago, or perhaps the entire state of Illinois. It's gotta be!

The EDITOR'S noted the following about my image, "The use of HDR is nice, but the angle at which the familiar Bean was shot in this case just makes it look larger than life. We've seen a lot of Bean photos, but we've never seen one this nice, this big."

What's interesting is that my image will be shown next to Bin Laden's compound, and The Royal Wedding image. I keep telling my friends that this week is like a fairy tale, the bad guy got killed, the prince got married, and the Beanstalk got to be in the talk? Okay, I maybe pushing it with the last one.....

Could this be my five minutes of fame? I certainly hope not. Imogen Cunningham, a famous American photographer in the early 1900's, was asked, “ Which of her photographs is her favorite? and she replied, 'The one I’m going to take tomorrow'.

"Never be fully satisfied with what you’ve done.
Never stop photographing. It is very likely that your best photograph has not yet been captured."

With that I leave you with some of the Cloud Gate images. Until later!

The winning picture shown on the left

Taken using my Lensbaby Sweet Spot 35

Spice it up with a little reflection....aaaaah

May is Chicago Police Department Month

2011-05-03T12:16:00.000-07:00

In order to commemorate the servicemen and servicewomen of the city, our fine police department in the city of Chicago, many of the high rise buildings in downtown Chicago are decorated with "Chicago Police Department" signs. Some buildings bear mark of the officer numbers of those who died in the line of duty. Since Saturday, April 30 was such a great night to be out, I brought my family out to accompany my shooting in Buckingham Fountain area. The kids were content with just running around the park, while my wife occasionally ordered them to stay close. As for me? Just leave me alone with my camera and tripod, and I was at peace.

Enjoy some night shots of the city's skyline.

Happy Easter - Willow Creek Community Church

2011-04-25T19:50:00.001-07:00

I have the privilege in shooting the Easter celebration at Willow Creek Community Church, my beloved church. It continues to amaze me how talented and creative the people that I have the privilege of working with. May God continue to use their lives and this church to expand His kingdom on earth. Enjoy some of the pictures!

Lensbaby Composer

2011-04-20T11:08:00.000-07:00

So I finally decided to upgrade my lens selection and get myself a selective focus lens, called Lensbaby. The Lensbaby is a unique SLR lens that has a sweet spot of focus with blur all around the sweet spot. After further research and contemplation, I took the plunge and got myself a set of Lensbaby Composer with double glass optic and their new Sweet 35 Optic. I am particularly interested in the effect that this lens created with its selective focus ability.

With this lens, I will loose the auto focus ability. In fact none of the selective focus lens, even offered by Canon or Nikon have any auto focus capability. This lens is priced at $250 in www.lensbaby.com, compared that with Tilt-shift lens offering by Canon, such as TS-E 45mm f/2.8, retail priced at $1,349. I tested the 45mm lens, and this is one professional lens. It's built like a tank, not as strong as the L glass, but you can tell that the quality is up there. One benefit of getting Canon lens is obviously the ability to switch the aperture on the go. With the Lensbaby, you would actually change the diaphragm with its magnetic wand. I recommend that you plan ahead on the aperture settings that you want to use and have that particular aperture set already. In wedding shoot, I can imagine that changing the aperture would be quite a hassle process. So what's the difference between tilt-shift versus selective focus you may ask?
Unlike a tilt-shift lens, which has a flat field of focus and a slice of focus from end to end, the Lensbaby field of focus is curved, producing a circle of focus.

For the new user of the lensbaby, I recommend many practice, just like everything else in life. The lens have a very shallow depth of field. Without the aperture ring, the Composer has a standard f/2 which provided very narrow depth of field. I personally like using the f/4. I have not tested this for night shooting indoor. I imagine I have to boost my ISO to 3200 or more to get clear picture.

I cannot wait to test drive this lens! For now, this lens is going to be my walk-around lens.

Canon TS-E 45mm f/2.8

Lensbaby Composer

Lindsey and Mac's "Skydeck Wedding"

2011-04-15T18:34:00.000-07:00

From time to time, I got one of those surprising wedding engagements, unexpected, full of surprise, and quite an adventure. Lindsey asked me to shoot her wedding in the Willis Tower, formerly Sears Towers' sky deck, followed by a trip to Chicago landmark. We met in the sky deck in an unusually cool, but clear day.

Due to miscommunication, Lindsey, Mac, and the priest managed to be ready before I was there. In fact, I had to be quickly escorted up to the Skydeck, passed the baggage screening test, and the ticketing booth. I must looked like a VIP before the queuing visitors that day.

Lindsey and Mac are just so cute. Lindsey and Mac were wearing the fifties' dress and outfit, complete with their stylish sneakers.

Lindsey looking gorgeous that day!

Mac is a looking preppy in his black on black with white tie and hip sneakers.

The defining moment. I just love their reaction and Lindsey's tears of joy.

Their kiss after pronounced husband and wife

Some shots we took at Chicago landmark.

Lindsey and Mac allotted some time to shoot at the Bean in a cool yet beautiful day. I am happy to comply. Lindsey, you are a brave one that day enduring the cold with that summer dress....and still managed to look gorge!

You guys are so playful...

May their marriage be long and full of happiness! You two are so cute together!!

Leticia and Gus' Wedding

2010-12-04T20:20:00.000-08:00

I have the privilege of shooting Leticia and Gus' wedding. It was a beautiful and classy wedding. Gus is Greek and Leticia is Hispanic. Two cultures that embrace family and tradition. As expected, their reception is full of dancing and music. I am attaching some of the highlights.

My favorite picture is one where Gus kissed Letty's dad's hand before he handed her in to Gus. Very touching!

Enjoy it!

Leticia HD Slideshow

Riphal and Megha Engagement Session

2010-10-28T18:12:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, I had the privilege of shooting Ripal and Megha's engagement session. Ripal is from Florida and Megha is from Toronto. It was a busy weekend for the couple, stopping over in Chicago, but we took some time to enjoy beautiful Fall weather in Millenium Park and Navy Pier area.

We met in the Union Station, and took advantage of its magnificent Great Hall. I love the barrel-vaulted atrium ceiling and decided to use that as our background.

I love to see the moment they kissed among the Corinthian columns. Very classic.

Megha looking fabulous.

Another lovely picture of the couple in the Great Hall.

Navy Pier as the background? Why not!

Bean there done that. The couples asked for some Chicago signature places, so I think this is appropriate.

I end the series with this image. May their marriage be full of romance and everlasting!

MacBook Air Released......And I can't stop drooling!!

2010-10-20T20:21:00.000-07:00

Today, Apple released a new MacBook Air (drool...drool.....)

I checked out its graphic card, and video support, and found that they are promisingly fast.
Under the hood, you will find the following.....

Battery and power⁵

Built-in 35-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery
45W MagSafe power adapter with cable management system
MagSafe power port

Up to 5 hrs
wireless productivity
Up to 30 days
standby time

Processor and memory

1.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB on-chip shared L2 cache; or optional 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB shared L2 cache

800MHz frontside bus
2GB of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM onboard (4GB maximum)

Mini DisplayPort

Pure digital video output

DVI output using Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter (sold separately)
VGA output using Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter (sold separately)
Dual-link DVI output using Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter (sold separately)
HDMI output using a third-party Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter (sold separately)

Just look at the inside of this Mac Air....

The space is fully maximized by piecing the components, battery, and naked flash storage on the board, to free up room. With a bigger battery, Macbook Air is claimed to crank up to 5-7 hours of battery life depending on the model that you selected.

Very neat! Apple touts that this would play even graphic intensive games well. I wonder if I may be able to run Adobe photoshop application in it. Certainly would love to get my hands into one of these puppies! But for now, I will just have to gawk at this fine piece of machine.

Fall Day in Chicago

2010-10-17T11:03:00.000-07:00

I just simply love everything about Autumn in Chicago. The leaves turning color, the cool and light breeze, the crisp air. We took this open weekend and enjoy it with family.

Happy Autumn!!

Motivational Speaker Diane Randall

2010-10-11T11:33:00.000-07:00

Here is a recent photoshoot session with Diane, a motivational speaker. To learn more about Diane, please check her website at Diane Randall's Wellness Coaching. Here are some of the shots that we did several weeks ago.

Purvi and Neel's Baby Shower

2010-10-08T08:49:00.000-07:00

Several weeks ago, I had the opportunity to capture Purvi and Neel's baby shower. The reception was held at Meadows Club in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. Purvi and Neel were so joyful of the upcoming newborn.

Since this is considered to be a Gujarati event, no celebration is complete without the traditional Indian dances: Garba and Raas. Garba consists of participants, guests included, dancing in a circular direction, while Raas is dancing using sticks, a.k.a as dandiyas. I dig this as it takes a heck lot of hand eye coordination for you not to hit other dancers.

Meadows Club

All of the tables are named after baby products. Very Cute.

Parents-To-Be

Dandiyas = Raas Stick

Raas Dance. Seriously, after several cold ones, this may not be the best activities to do.

Garba Dance

Henna Tattoo

Congratulations Purvi and Neel!!

It's Official!

2010-10-07T13:27:00.000-07:00

This is an overdue project that I 've been procastrinating. But yeah, I finally gave in and decided to release the ST Photography blog page. Whether you are a potential bride and groom, or fellow photographers, I hope you enjoy your visit here!

So instead of putting a blank page.....what fun is that in the inaugural release, I figure I'll post some of the past projects for your viewing pleasure! Additionally, you can view my website at http://www.stphotogallery.com/ for sample of my work.

This is one of my earlier projects. I have the privilege of capturing the love, engagement session style between Jaclyn and Brew - a lovely couple.

Jackie and Brew were just easy to work with. Their love and affection show in their body languange. "Aaaah....can you feel love in the air?"

My favorite picture is the one when they were walking down the pier and a boat just happened to sail by....a picture perfect indeed. May this be a sign for their future live together.

ST Photography

American Cancer Society Discovery Ball 2011

Willow Creek Sound Check

My Image Featured in the RedEye Chicago's Newspaper

May is Chicago Police Department Month

Happy Easter - Willow Creek Community Church

Lensbaby Composer

Lindsey and Mac's "Skydeck Wedding"

Leticia and Gus' Wedding

Riphal and Megha Engagement Session

MacBook Air Released......And I can't stop drooling!!

Today, Apple released a new MacBook Air (drool...drool.....)

Battery and power5

Processor and memory

Pure digital video output

Fall Day in Chicago

Motivational Speaker Diane Randall

Purvi and Neel's Baby Shower

It's Official!

Battery and power⁵