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We met up with Denise & Jameson again, the lovely Spur Shooters couple, and completed their 2-location engagement session. Dana Point was the location of this shoot. With 1 session under their belt, the happy couple seemed like professional models this time around!
Denise & Jameson are now in the thick of wedding planning. A Chinese/Traditional American wedding…its going to be beautiful. Congratulations again, we’re looking forward to the big day!!
Spur Shooters sequel:
This past weekend Marc & I did our 2nd engagement shoot. We had a lot longer than last time to shoot. We used every minute.
We shot an adorable couple, who might as well be a real-life cowboy & cowgirl. They met on eHarmony and things moved swiftly into a beautiful engagement. And who knew asian guys could own Buicks, wear ostrich boots, fancy belt buckles, and carry a cowboy hat wherever they go!? The bride-to-be admitted they hardly have any photos of them together! We sure fixed that.
We shot with a few props and stumbled into a semi-styled shoot. I’m always reading about styled shoots…and as I reviewed our shots, I realized my subconscious shot the couple as if we were following them around on their ranch. With the entrance of a mere cowboy hat and a few square dancing moves, it transformed this shoot into something magical and western.
I shot with 3 different lenses. 50% was shot with my new 30mm 1.4, 35% with the trusty 28-75 2.8 and the remaining 15% was shot with a 10-22 (which was my first time snapping shots with this lens). My favorite to shoot with was the 30…but I am intrigued now with the 10-22.
Here are some of my favorite shots.
Tamron 28-75mm 2.8
They always say the successful big shots are the little shots who keep shooting. I’m so there. Marc of “Mondoy”(I dubbed his videography company, “Mondoy”) and I have our 2nd engagement photoshoot this weekend. We’re shooting at Quail Hill again in Irvine. The couple just happened to pick the same place we were at last shoot. I have unfinished business at Quail Hill, so I’m excited to return and challenge myself to not shoot a single shot that mirrors the last session. I borrowed a Canon 10-22mm just for fun…its going to be interesting incorporating that into the shoot. Can’t wait!!
New Eye
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to shoot with Canon’s L series 35mm 1.4, which goes for $1500. It has been on my lens wish list for the longest time. I’ve been comparing that to the Sigma 30mm 1.4 The $1000 price difference between the Sigma and the Canon was no match. The Canon was not $1000 better than the Sigma.
I found a sweet deal online from Unique Photo for the Sigma (the discounted price shows up when you put it in your cart), and the store ended up beating everyone else’s price by $50. The pretty Sigma 30mm 1.4 came last week and I’ve been learning a lot from shooting with it.
I thought I loved my 28-75, and then I met the 30. I love you new lens. Here are some test shots:
clean black cars steal the show
We went up to Big Bear for our friend’s birthday/wedding anniversary. They’ve been married for 10 years! Makes you feel old when your friends are celebrating their 10 year. LA is so amazing, this trip made me thankful to live in such a beautiful city. Just a couple hours and we’re deep in the wilderness hanging in a boat on a huge beautiful lake.
I haven’t been shooting as much as I’ve been wanting to lately. So I made up for it at Big Bear. Here are some of my fav pics from the restful weekend:
As I said in my last entry, I have a lot to say about my return to the drift track! Time stops for no one. Benson is coming home late tonight, which gives me exactly 20 minutes to write this entry. Whew.
Background
Two weeks ago I finally made it back to the drift track. Its been shamefully, almost 4 years since my eyes have been hit with tires and dirt. Between getting my life together after having Elise, raising a teenager, working on my accounting career, running Drifting Pretty, buying a new house and keeping the family happy…where is there time for drifting? There isn’t. But as my old buddy Yoshie preached a long time ago, “if its that important to you, you will find a way to find money and make time for driving.”
The biggest hurdle was getting my car to the track. I can’t drive it and I have no truck and trailer. I am very lucky to have friends that will bend over backwards to tow the Drift Queen to the track. Thank you Chris. He lives near the track and made 2 trips back and forth from Lancaster to Temple City. THAT is friendship.
I made it to the track finally. Big thank you to Chris Martin at ACT for trailering the driftqueens to the track <3.
I have a lot to say. But for now, I will let my photos and videos speak (vids are at the bottom).
Nadine Hsu 2011 – Drift Feature by Mondoy from Nadine Hsu on Vimeo.
Nadine Hsu is back! 2011 from Nadine Hsu on Vimeo.
This past weekend, some of the Drifting Pretty ladies gathered in my garage to log more hours working on cars. Just a few weeks ago the ladies were at Temple City Auto Repair installing new coilovers on Cathy’s S14 & learning how to use power tools! This time, the guinea pig was my race car. A brake system install & wheel re-facing were on the agenda.
Each of my students showed up right on time and ready to work. With the increasing popularity of our twitter account, I tweeted the play-by-play of our tech day. For you, here are the play-by-plays (taken with my iPhone):
10AM: we take an inventory of the Stop Tech big brake kit we’ll be installing, elect project managers and go over functions of each part
Nissan 240sx
Infiniti G35
Mazdaspeed 3
