New York 2013

In June I got the pleasure to travel to New York to photograph a wedding, but I did get about a day and a half to do a bit of sightseeing and experience the city. Here's just a snippet of what I saw.

Karen & Ajay, Married. | The Swan Club in Roslyn, New York Wedding Photographer

Almost a year ago, Karen contacted me telling me that she had always been a fan of my photography on Flickr and if I would be willing to travel to New York to come photograph her wedding. Needless to say, I was stoked. I haven't been to the east coast since I was a little girl on a family trip traveling via one of those Asian tour buses. For the remainder of the year up until it was time for me to hop onto the plane to meet Karen and Ajay for the first time, we kept in contact, and they even whipped up a little “Things to See In New York” list for me.

Karen and Ajay are such a sweet couple. They got married at the beautiful Swan Club in Roslyn, New York. Beautiful as the venue and the day was, you can't beat moments like when Ajay's mother choked up during her speech, Karen listening to her maid of honor recall their memories together and shyly brushing her hair out of her beaming face, and when all the kids gathered together on the dance floor to watch a slideshow of Karen and Ajay that the cute couple made themselves. It was so endearing, and one of my favorite moments of the wedding.

I can't wait to see these two again in the future!

Let's Talk About the Instax 210

Let's talk Instax 210! It's my favorite instant film camera right now. It's inexpensive, the film for it is pretty cheap as well, and it gives me the same consistent results. I tried to get into instant film with the Impossible Project film and the Polaroid SX-70 camera, but I found that it was too expensive and the film was really, really finicky. I love that the Instax 210 develops in just a few minutes and is SUPER fun to use.


I also have the Instax Mini, but I don't really use that one anymore. Sure, it's smaller, but that's about it. The bigger Instax 210 lets you have a bit more control over the image. For example, you can change its focusing distance, set the image to be lighter or darker, and force a flash. Also, you can't beat having a bigger photo!

Here's an example of when I used all the options to have more control over the image. I set the distance to 0.9-3m, set it to "lighter" exposure since automatic cameras with fixed tiny apertures tend to underexpose, and forced a flash to bring some light back to Peanut's face since he was backlit. Peanut was moving quite fast towards the camera, so unfortunately he moved right out of focus, but I still like how this came out.

Seriously loving this camera. It works best in bright sunny light and you often have to compensate the exposure by setting the option to "L" for "lighter." After a day of exploring the fields of northern California or going to the San Francisco, I love having a nice stack of little prints to pin up to my wall in my room. I just sometimes forget to digitize it as well!

8x10' Portable Photography Background Backdrop Stand Kit | THELASHOP.COM

 I recently got an 8x10' portable photography background backdrop stand kit from theLAshop.com. I've always wanted to have a portable backdrop in my arsenal of gear, but my area of photography never really lent itself to something like that, so I dilly-dallied and never got around to it. However, I think it's a pretty handy thing to have no matter what kind of photographer you are, because let's face it, your family and friends will one day want some portraits with a black backdrop because they know you as a "photographer," (and ALL photographers shoot in a studio with a black backdrop *eyeroll*) and you can't say no to your dear mum.

Priced at $69.99, it's a decent backdrop stand kit that you can use for various amounts of people. What I like about it is that you can remove one of the bar sections and make it shorter to save some space, or you can include all the sections to accommodate lots of people. It's DECENT, for that price. It's decent enough to use indoors with a muslin backdrop, but it doesn't seem strong enough to support a big roll of seamless paper backdrop. Also, it's best not to use it outside, because a little bit of wind can knock it over once you've got a backdrop on it. I'm not even sure the stands can really support the weight of sandbags.

This product isn't for someone who's going to do studio work constantly and needs something strong, reliable, and long-lasting. It may be a good starting point for someone who wants to dabble in studio work to see if it's something they want to continue in. It may also be good for someone like me, who just wants a portable backdrop kit in their arsenal for the occasional shoot in a controlled environment. To make this last (including the bag it comes with), you need to be careful handling it.

The backdrop stand and the bag it comes with.


The product doesn't come with any instructions on how to assemble it, but it's pretty self-explanatory. One section of the bar didn't seem to lock when twisted 90 degrees, so that was a bit iffy. I think if I struck down hard enough on the bars like I was doing a karate chop after they were assembled, I could make it come apart. Again, this is for the occasional light, careful use.

Here's what it looks like when it's assembled - with its minimum and maximum height. It's easy to assemble, and it's even quicker if you've got someone to help so you can raise the stands at the same time.

Definitely portable. Here's \me carrying the kit on my 5'3'' frame.

Of course, you can't use a backdrop stand kit without a backdrop. So, I ordered a 9x6ft black backdrop from theLAshop.com. I gotta say, the customer service and shipping has been great. Somehow the shipping address was wrong, so I emailed customer service at 11:30pm asking them to change my order. About half an hour later I got an email saying that my order had been changed and I would get my package at the correct address. Whoohoo! I ordered it Thursday night and received it the following Tuesday. Pretty quick! 

I was excited to use a black backdrop with my new stand kit, but I was severely disappointed. Let me just show you what I mean. For $25, I felt ripped off. I might as well have bought a black, opaque bedsheet from Target for less money and it wouldn't have been this see-through. 

It was way too unstable to use outside, so we decided to bring it inside. Still very see through. I guess you have to put this thing against a blank wall that doesn't have any light illuminating on it.

Holy see through Batman! I burst out laughing.
I hope I can return this, but their return policy only allows you to return something if it's completely new and unused.
We decided to try to give it the benefit of the doubt. We decided to wait for it to become nighttime so that no sunlight would come through those windows towards the back, but in the third photo down (below) I think you can see still see some of the brighter bits of the background to the left of the backdrop.

The backdrop was a disappointment, but the backdrop STANDS aren't too bad for what they are - a simple, affordable kit that lets you set up a backdrop and has the ease of portability. They're great for the enthusiast who will take the occasional portrait and one day might upgrade to a real, professional kit. They're definitely not for the working professional who takes portraits against a backdrop constantly. The kit isn't strong and stable enough for constant use, but good enough if you only use it occasionally (like for the annual family Christmas photo) and if you can take good care of your stuff. 

If this sounds like something that could be useful, take a look around theLAshop.com! For a limited time they are offering 10% off your purchase if you use the code "BLOGGERS"