Marissa's Wedding

Last weekend my cousin Marissa got married in San Francisco. It was SO much fun! Not only did I get to see family from the East Coast that I haven't seen in probably 10 or 12 years, but the wedding itself was fantastic. Marissa is one of the most creative and unique people I know, and the wedding reflected her and her husband, Peter's personalities perfectly.

Held at the Swedish American Hall in the Castro District (a day before the Gay Pride parade, no less!), the event was full of surprises. Marissa and Peter high-fived in the middle of the ceremony, a Japanese butoh dancer acted as the flower girl, and the ceremony ended with a brass band-led "Just Married" parade around the block. It had to be seen to be believed!

But a few hours before the wild festivities began, Marissa was as peaceful a bride as anyone could imagine. Here are a couple shots of her getting ready:










Butoh dancer Kinji Hayashi:



Just Married!



Congrats, Peter and Marissa!! :) Love ya!

Melissa's Graduation

I've spent the last three weekends out of town with family visiting from Hawaii, and am finally catching up on posting all the pictures I took.

Here are a few of my sister Melissa's graduation from Stanford University on June 15 in Palo Alto. We're so proud!! She majored in Earth Systems and is soon heading to Ireland to work on an organic cabbage farm and galavant across Europe. I sure wish I could go with her!

One thing that's really neat about Stanford's graduation is the "wacky walk," where all the undergraduates walk into the ceremony dressed in completely wild and utterly brainy outfits. We saw graduates tossing around arm chair-sized paper mache planets and circled each other like a solar system, there were swing dancers, sun bathers (who literally disrobed and laid out on the stadium grass during the procession), a giant, rasterized photo of Oprah, the commencement speaker, and a whole bunch of human-sized crayons (yay Purple Foothills Melissa!)

Congrats little sis!! I love you! :)



Twins! My mom and my aunty Eileen walking towards the Baccalaureate Celebration. Click here for an absolutely incredible and motivating speech by Rev. Peter J. Gomes. He comes on at around 23:50. Wowee!



The beautiful graduate:



Wacky members of Stanford's marching band:




Melissa as a purple crayon:

Mikey Headshots

Mikey and Tera

Washington DC

While I was in DC for a work conference last weekend, I had the opportunity to check out some of the places most associated with our United States of America. I had been there once before, years and years ago for a family reunion (my dad grew up in DC), but I wasn't quite old enough to know what these monuments stood for. As I walked up the steps to the Supreme Court, it hit me that that this is where everything in our country happens. These are the places where America was shaped into what it is today. It's the site of many of our proudest-- and weakest-- moments. Yet what shook me most wasn't the feeling of standing on those hallowed grounds, it was the sense that even a place as important as this was trivialized by the thousands of tourists who arrive each day, and stay just long enough to snap a couple photos before leaving. The most important place in our country seemed just another tourist trap.

My greatest hope for the next year is that we elect a leader that will make us proud to be American again, and proud to visit national monuments where we can feel the weight of the struggles and achievements of the people who came before us. We are a country in need of change and inspiration.

Here's to November!

Photo Homework: Final

As promised, here is the finished cd case that I will be turning in as my final project for my digital photography class. This was a really great project because not only did we have to combine everything we've learned this semester in terms of taking the photo, but we also had to consider design, layout and text, too. Morgan, my model, was incredible and I hope she likes the end product as much as I do!






A closer look:

Hans...again :)

Anyone who knows Hans will agree that we just had to do some pictures that captured him in character. He's from the midwest, so a cowboy theme was natural. But, much to my delight, he also wanted to do some vintage-inspired shots. As luck would have it, there was an awesome old Dodge pickup parked outside his apartment and old-school diner down the street. If you're ever in the mood for a good cherry pie, check out Paty's in Toluca Lake.... deelish!