Mick Lerlop Photography

Sheree + Tyrell Wedding

Mick — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 13:00:41 +0000

The wedding ceremony and reception were at Prince George’s Ballroom in PG county, MD on a Friday. I live in Northern Virginia and always know to avoid I-495 when possible, especially in afternoons. That afternoon, I knew it was going to be bad being a Friday afternoon so I left more than two hours before the meeting time. As it turned out, the traffic was so bad that I got there just in time. It took over 2 hours for just about 25 miles. Insane. Luckily, it isn’t my daily commute.

Anyway, Sheree and Tyrell definitely know how to throw one heck of a party. The groom even rocked out some massiv tunes with his buddies during the reception.

Shin + Brett Wedding

Virginia Tech

Mick — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 23:37:11 +0000

Visited the Virginia Tech main campus in Blacksburg, VA during the last spring break. The drive is about four hours from the DC metro area.

Shin + Brett Wedding

Mick — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 13:00:40 +0000

A few photos from Shin and Brett’s wedding at Irvine Nature Center, Owings Mills, MD. Hot Spring day but luckily clouds helped quite a bit. The groomsmen were goofy and hilarious. Great people and great time!

Newborn: Ali G

Mick — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 03:48:46 +0000

JG and his wife gave me an opportunity to photograph their newborn Ali G. Personally me is a big fan of the other Ali G. Anyway, Ali was maybe 4 weeks old and she was already a bit too big for newborn pictures. So if you are interested in some newborn photos, please contact me before prior delivery. The earlier the better.

Again, thanks for a great time. Ali is super cute and her bigger sister surely adores her.

Beach Camping at Assateague State Park, MD

Mick — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 18:16:46 +0000

For our first camping trip of the year, we went to Assateague State Park. Well, we wanted to do the national park but it was full. The state park next to it was available. Anyway, it is about a 4-5 hour drive from northern Virginia. There was a storm warning when we got there. Quickly setup our tents. By the time we were done, it started coming down really hard. The wind speed was actually 40-45 mph throughout the afternoon and night.

We had a great time even though alcohol was forbidden on the site (the ban started this year, go figure).

Jimmy was trying to get something from his tent during the big storm but couldn’t find the zipper… lol.

Before and after the storm.

Ocean City

Cindy and Hua Engagement

Mick — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 04:31:38 +0000

Did this engagement shoot back in April. It was a very cold spring day. I was introduced to Cindy and Hua through a good friend. Although they had planned to have their wedding ceremony in China, they wanted to have engagement pictures taken in DC before heading back in May. We did the usual National Mall walk as well as a visit to the National Gallery of Art. At the end of the day, we headed to one of the parks in Springfield, VA. It was a lot more pleasant than the tourist-crowded downtown DC. Anyway, my personal fav is the sunset shot by a lake.

The Scenery Resort & Farm at Suan Phung (สวนผึ้ง)

Mick — Thu, 06 May 2010 13:00:00 +0000

This is the last photo set from the Thailand trip back in February. We visited an up and coming tourist attractive for the Thais called Suan Phung. One of the most famous resorts there is The Scenery Resort & Farm, which is often known as New Zealand of Thailand. Anyway, not going to write a lot because I’m in San Jose, CA this week but my bio clock is still on DC time and it’s 3:00AM there. All I can say is it is another good trip away from the city and the resort is definitely worth a visit.

Getting There

The resort is really in the middle of nowhere. It took us 2½ – 3 hours to drive there. For about 45 minutes, it was just a two lane road. We stopped for lunch at a resort/restaurant called Duan-Lom (เดือนล้อม). I ordered a local steak entree and it came well done…

Around the Resort

There are a bunch of things you can do and see at the resort. We spent an entire afternoon just wondering around, being chased by sheep, etc. Warning: The Scenery sheep are always very hungry. They will jump on you, for reals. I tried running a few laps with them chasing and barking at me. In the end, I just gave up and threw the veggies at them. Personally, the best activity was to relax and do absolutely nothing.

On a related note, I think it is a great wedding location.

Accommodation

The accommodation is really well done…except the bathrooms. The ones in our two-bedroom cottage were damp and smelly.

At Night

Instead of going out or eating the restaurant at the resort, my dad and I thought it would be great to do some BBQ while we were there. So we ordered a bunch of BBQ via email prior our arrival. On the roof of the cottage there is a dining area with a grill. Since it was a New Zealand-themed resort, the only kind of BBQ they offered was the high-end one. And by high-end I mean this. The idea of BBQ in the US typically consists of burgers, hot dogs and maybe bacon-wrapped shrimps, which is quite different from what it is in Thailand. Anyway, everything was good. It was a little too hot even after sun down. The temp was around mid 80s with no wind. This place would be perfect for a December vacation.

In Suan Phung Area

On the way back to Bangkok, we visited an orchid farm and learn about how hard it was to grow and take care of them. Mom bought two. We also stopped for lunch at a candle shop called บ้านเทียนหอม.

Ayutthaya (อยุธยา)

Mick — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 04:31:06 +0000

Getting back to my two week vacation in Thailand, I did a day trip to Ayutthaya. Ayutthaya is the old capital city of Thailand. It was the first day that I started recovering from food poisoning and didn’t feel like throwing up all the time. The drive from Bangkok to Ayutthaya is very easy and only takes about an hour. We had lunch at a noodle place called Wat Yai Noodle House or ก๋วยเตี๋ยววัดใหญ่. It was very good. Definitely a must try when you visit Ayutthaya.

According to Wikipedia:

Before Ayutthaya fell to a Burmese invasion, its vassals included the Northern Shan states of present-day Myanmar, Lanna (Chiang Mai, Thailand), Yunnan & Shan Sri (China), Lan Xang (Laos), Champa (Vietnam), and some city-states in the Malay Peninsula.[1]
Ayutthaya (Thai: อาณาจักรอยุธยา, RTGS: Anachak Ayutthaya, also Ayudhya) was a Siamese kingdom that existed from 1351 to 1767. Ayutthaya was friendly towards foreign traders, including the Chinese, Vietnamese (Annamese), Indians, Japanese and Persians, and later the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and French, permitting them to set up villages outside the city walls. In the sixteenth century, it was described by foreign traders as one of the biggest and wealthiest cities in the East. The court of King Narai (1656–1688) had strong links with that of King Louis XIV of France, whose ambassadors compared the city in size and wealth to Paris.Before Ayutthaya fell to a Burmese invasion, its vassals included the Northern Shan states of present-day Myanmar, Lanna (Chiang Mai, Thailand), Yunnan & Shan Sri (China), Lan Xang (Laos), Champa (Vietnam), and some city-states in the Malay Peninsula.[1]

Although it was stupid hot there, we had a great time. Visiting on a weekday is recommended to avoid crowd.

Amphawa (อัมพวา)

Mick — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 13:00:51 +0000

Amphawa (อัมพวา) or Amphoe Amphawa is a floating market village located in Samut Songkhram province about an hour drive from Bangkok. I spent time there both on the way to and back from Hua Hin. Although I was feeling nauseous from food poisoning the whole time, I very much enjoyed my time there.

I don’t really have much to say about Amphawa. It is certainly a great day trip away from the city and conveniently located on the way to Hua Hin. One thing though – be prepared to flight the crowd, especially on weekends. The food and shopping are great.

It was surprised how clean it was considering the amount of tourists they get every week and the age of the village itself. However, there was this one ignorant dude that dumped gallons of what looked like beef broth into the canal.

According to AmphawaFloatingMarket.com,

Amphawa Floating Market is an afternoon floating market by the canal near Wat Amphawan Chetiyaram. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, during 12.00 p.m. – 8.00 p.m., the Amphawa Canal is occupied by vendors who pack their boats with food and drinks, such as fried sea mussel, noodles, coffee, O-liang (iced black coffee), sweets, etc. Visitors can enjoy a cosy atmosphere and music broadcast by the community members, explore the market, have food, and hire a boat to see fireflies at night.

Shin and Brett Engagement

Mick — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 13:00:07 +0000

This was the only engagement shoot I did last winter. In fact, it was in January and January was cold as far as I remember. However, on that particular day, the temperature was in the 50s. Shin and Brett were so pumped up they ran around in t-shirts.

Anyway, Shin and Brett are recent University of Maryland grads. According to the couple, they met while training to be RAs (resident assistants). They started dating after a semester of rowdy residents and disappointing diner food. As silly as Brett is, he’s the calm one when Shin freaks out. When he asked her out, she freaked out and he very calmly dealt with it and coaxed her into acquiescing. Same for the proposal. They’re trying to navigate their relationship by melding their very different upbringings and points of views… this leads to lots of anguish and hilarity.