HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BEAUTIFUL BOY

March 8 was our son Justin's 4th birthday.  Here's a little something I put together on my iPhone to celebrate our young prince.

Music: Bon Iver - Lump Sum

AMARISSE // SEOUL, KOREA FASHION PHOTOGRAPHER

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and wonderful holiday season! Just stuffed ourselves on an amazing turkey dinner, courtesy of my friend David Kim. Here's a quick preview of a shoot with Amarisse we did a few weeks ago in an abandoned Alice in Wonderland theme park. More on that in the New Year.. ^^

SEOUL KOREA PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP

We wrapped an amazing weekend workshop here in Seoul with my good friend and co-host, Fer Juaristi, a few days ago. Special thanks go to our models and couples, and our guest speakers Vincent Sung and David Kim, and everyone that attended.

Kim and Oojin are two of my favorite people in the world. Oojin was one of my high school roommates half a lifetime ago, and remains one of my closest friends. They stopped by to see one of my presentations on Sunday afternoon, and quickly switched gears to be one of our model couples when another couple was running a little late. Here are some of my favorites from our mini-session.

I shot this with Fer's Leica M9, 35mm Zeiss and 90mm Elmarit.

More photos from the workshop to come soon!

SHIFT/TILT: NYC WORKSHOP TEASERS

We just wrapped our SHIFT/TILT workshop at the ACE Hotel in New York City with some lovely and amazing students, talent and staff.

We're holed up at the hotel for a few extra days while Hurricane Irene prepares to rear her ugly head.  It was planned as a two-day workshop, but we decided to consolidate the bulk of the workshop into a single day, just in case things were to go crazy on Sunday.  At this point, every out-of-town student who was planning on coming decided it best to stay with their families and play it safe.  It was a tough pill to swallow after months of planning and much personal and financial investment, but we all have to play the cards we're dealt.

A handful of local students decided to weather the storm and join us for a day of sharing, shooting and running through the empty streets in the rain.  In the end, we were able to get some amazing photos (think 'I Am Legend' or 'Vanilla Sky') because the streets were deserted.

Props go to Jove Meyer for coordinating the weekend, Tony Yang for being my partner in crime, our amazing models Ali, Maya and Kelly, my gifted brother, Riky, who provided video coverage -- and most of all the dedicated students who stared a little girl named Irene in the face and kept shooting anyway.

STORY

It's all about story.  You are not a photographer.  You are a storyteller.  Instead of a pen and notebook, the primary tools of your craft are a camera and your vision.  You are a technician and an artist in one.

I want you to know that you have the capacity to heal hearts and mend souls with your storytelling.  It's one thing to think, "I want to make kick-ass imagery."  It's another thing altogether to think, "I want to create imagery that has the potential to save a troubled marriage."

"Everyone has beautiful stories; not everyone knows how to tell them." - Jesh de Rox

That's where we come in.

Leica M6 + 50mm f/2 Summicron + Kodak TMAX 400