Save the Date! Nes and Trina are getting hitched this coming July 4. They are our friends from our Singles for Christ (SFC) Community. Jasondeg and I sat down with them a few weeks ago to discuss their engagement and we came up to create something simple yet different. I’ll leave you wedding guests hangin’ and you just have to wait till their wedding reception in order to see what i mean…One cool thing about this is that almost all the major suppliers belong to our SFC community. Trina’s make-up was done by Mela Jimenez. Their wedding coordinators are Junie Romero (my lovely girlfriend btw) and Len Ocampo of Amaris events. Special thanks to Raphy Concepcion for coming along to help us out.

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

I’m about to leave for Singapore today to teach for our Purpose Driven Photographer. I’ll be teaching about Studio Lighting and Posing, two of my favorite topics. I’ll be back by Tuesday next week. There’s lots of exciting things lined-up for me to do there and I’ll be sure to share them when I get back. If you need to contact me, just shoot me an email.

Oh and by the way. We have a lot of events happening this weekend. First, we’re starting our 5th batch of Purpose Driven Photographer here in Manila this Saturday, and we have a total of 24 students, that’s a lot! Second, visit us at Eastwood City in Libis as we launch our LIFE Photography Program at Cradle Magazine’s Mommy and Baby Fair this May 8 and 9 (Saturday and Sunday). Visit our booth and check-out LIFE.  Also, Cradle’s Summer issue just came out and this is my first magazine cover! Third, we’re having our Before I do Worskhop this Sunday for engaged couples.

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

This was my second album cover project with Michelle De Guzman, a good friend and layout artist extraordinaire. When Mitch first mentioned them to me, I really had no idea who they were or the kind of music they played. But during shooting day, I got to hear some songs from their album and I was really impressed. Their music, based on my  opinion, is a mix of alternative, house and R&B…tunes that you can dance to or just chill-out. I shot this a few months ago and when I was with Mitch yesterday, I just casually asked her if the album was already out,  but she did not have any news about it. Just today she sent me a text that Kiss Jane’s album is already out and she sent these to me. Great work Mitch! Support our local bands and listen to Kiss Jane.

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

Purpose Driven Photographer Singapore is our first international workshop. Thanks to Carlo Palma, former Imagine Nation Groom who is based in Singapore, for making this possible. We’ve already started the first session last April 17 with our mentor, John Mateos Ong,  teaching Basic Photography Principles. I’ll be teaching Studio Lighting and Posing for Portraits on May 8 and I’ll be in Singapore from May 7-11 . Also, I’ll be available to shoot prenups/engaments, portraits or anything you can imagine…Just shoot me an email.

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

Summer is here and I’ll be heading to Bora for the long weekend with Junie, my girlfriend, and our SFC friends. Looking forward to spend quality time, do some Landscape Photography and recharge for the work lies ahead. I’ll be back in Manila by Monday night next week. Have a great weekend everyone!

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

Here’s my couple, Jerome and Dotty Cu, who I submitted and got featured on Martha Stewart Weddings’ recent March issue. They can be found on page 67 under the Photo 101 : Picture Perfect article.  Martha Stewart asked our studio if we wanted to submit pictures of real couples for this article a few months ago and submitted this picture below…I completely forgot about it. I did not even know that Martha used this picture but thanks to Dotty for the heads-up and congratulations! There’s just one problem, the magazine made an error and gave credit to another studio for my picture, we already brought it to their attention and hopefully they’ll be able to make the proper photo credit on the next issue.

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

Milton and Des was referred by Melvin and Aileen, my couple I shot last December 2009. They got married last Feb. 27, a day before we left for our Cam Sur worskhop with Manny Librodo. Des was simply stunning that day and wearing a Veluz gown made her so gorgeous. Funny thing is that she kept telling me during the start to use flash, as she believed it that it would  hide her “imperfections.” However,  I always believe that every bride posses a certain “glow” especially during wedding day and it was up to the photographer to unveil that unexplainable glow  and Des had it.  She was a natural in posing for the camera and her playful personality brought a lot of  funny moments while we were shooting. Milton on the other was a cool sport and let us do our thing and be creative with our shots. The mood that day was fun and relaxed and we all had a blast shooting these two.

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

Imagine Nation Photography’s Purpose Driven Photographer Workshop is a different kind of basic photography workshop. One get’s to learn from different photographers and  shoot after each session in order to apply what you learned. More importantly, we integrated the Purpose Driven Life Principles of Rick Warren which will help photographers discover their purpose and develop one’s character and attitude in order to succeed as a photographer.To learn more and please vist our site.

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

After our Single’s for Christ Conference in Davao last Feb., some of us stayed to go sight seeing in Davao. One of the places we went to was Samal Island. Our newly engaged friends’ Tristan and Gen was with us so I took the opportunity of taking a quick engagement shoot. I had limited time to shoot since we dedicated the day to recreation (or more of sleeping I must say since most were really tired from the conference). What can you do in 30 minutes and with a 50mm lens?  A lot if you already have a vision of what you want to shoot. As a photographer there are so many external factors that sometimes you cannot control and you need to do your best with the time and resources you are provided with at a certain situation. Here’s how you can make the most out of shooting in 3o minutes at the beach with one lens. Congratulations Tristan and Gen!

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

Last March 1-3, we trooped to Camsur Watersports Complex (CWC) in Pili, Camarines Sur for an internal workshop with Manny Librodo, an award-winning travel and glamour portrait photographer. Manny is on a league of his own and he has created his own unique style of portraits that has given so many accolades here and abroad. I already featured Manny on my previous article for Manila Standard, which, made me more excited because I know he brings a lot of fresh and creative ideas since he is not a wedding photographer and will give us a different perspective in shooting portraits. The first day was the actual shoot with models, the second day was on post-processing of images and the third day was for wakeboarding!  Here’s some of my favorite images from the workshop.

Kharu, Manny’s favorite and popular model/subject who has won for him so many photography contest awards, was able to join and model for our workshop. I must say she really is excellent at what she does and we we’re all captivated by charm and grace. More admirable is her humility and friendliness to everyone. We had lots of fun hanging-out with her and became our new wakeboard buddy.

We had local models to shoot there.

Monique, our mentor John Ong’s wife, also became our model that day.

Along with our beautiful apprentices who joined the fun and  modeled for us. Here’s Tin…

and Marie…

also Shyla…

After our workshop on Day 2, we still could not stop shooting. We were all inspired by Manny’s teachings that we decided to ask more of our Imagine Nation girls so we can practice some more. Here are the results…

Meet Jaja aka Rihanna

The Empress Jamie

and the water goddess Gracielle

Thank you again Manny for blessing us with your time and talent. We learned a lot from you. Also, thank to Kharu and all the Imagine Nation ladies for being such a cool sport in letting us shoot you all.

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite