Last blog for the year

I like to wish you all a Happy New Year. 2008 has been an awesome year for myself and my family. I am so looking forward to 2009 with new plans on our menu (both photography business and family). So be sure to read about it.

Happy New Year!! Be safe!!

Happy Holiday

Later tonight we are driving down to Georgia to visit my in laws for the holiday. Its gonna be a long ride. Normally it would take us about 16 hours from NYC to GA, but since we have Dylan with us, we are hoping to get there under 20 hours. I'm just happy to be on vacation. YAY!!!!

This has been very special year for me and for my family. For sure, Dylan was the biggest part of the 2008. I also got to meet many great and awesome photographers like David Jay, Kenny Kim, Lisa, Amanda, Becker, Bob & Dawn Davis... and many many others. and of course I cannot forget all the brides & grooms. Thank you for letting me be part of your special day!

I like to wish you all a very Happy Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year!!! Here's a card I created for this holiday season... I actually got yelled at from this picture because Dylan was touching the xmas lights... but my wife like the picture so much that she decided to use it as our xmas card. heheh!

Next year, I will have two websites: johnlophotography.com and jklimagery.com. Johnlophotography.com will be focus on weddings and jklimagery.com will go back to showing my love for photography. Stay tune!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!!!

Helen & Brady's Wedding 10-11-2008

I didn't realized that I never posted any of the images from their wedding... so here they are.






















and the most important person (the Mother) who found me online.. Thank you!!! :D




Thank you Helen and Brady and Congrats to you both...

Important Day that will change your life and future...

Go out and vote today....

Pictures of Dylan

Here's some picture of Dylan for Halloween... and some others we took awhile back.


HaHaHaHa!!!!!!




Here's a photo that will be use for my advertising. :D




The cutiest monkey ever.




Guess we found the one he wanted...




Thank you.

New Bags

I don't like it when people know I am carrying a camera. So about two years ago, I purchased a Crumpler 7 million dollar home. It was a great bag, hold a lot of gears.... But I also find my shoulder hurting after a long day carrying it. So after some heavy research and also being at the PPE, I found the bag i want. Its the Kata 3N1-20 Sling Backpack. I love the bag. Looks cool. Well built and padded. And Amanda love it too. :D. Now I just need to play around and try to set it up to my liking.



I also got the Boda Bag. It's a lens bag. Works great while shooting weddings, especially when I normally shoot with one body.




I did get to sell the Crumpler 7 to another photographer from one of the forum I visit sometimes. Thanks Sarah.

So now I have total of three bags, the third being the Lowepro Vertex 200 AW. Great bag for when I need have all my gears. I am thinking about getting another smaller under $50 bag for few flashes I will be investing later. We'll see what happen.

My buddy Bill also purchased the same bags I got, as well as selling his crumpler 7 which I helped. Now if we work together again, we're gonna look like twins. Just like the movie Twins. Guess I don't need to tell you who I am. Hahaha!

Domain Name

When I first started photography, I didn't want to use my name, so a friend and I came up with JKLIMAGERY, JKL being my initinal. I purchased the domain name in 1998 I believe and never looked back. Hmmm, i think next year it's time for renewal

All my life, people has always called me "John Lo" instead of just John. Later I started to introduce myself to other as John Lo.... I even go as far as spelling it as one word, johnlo. Hahaha! I have no idea why or how that came about. It's not like the people I know that i hang out with were name John.

In the last five years, I've been branding myself as John Lo Photography. And since johnlo.com is taken, I decided and finally purchase johnlophotography.com.

You can now use www.johnlophotography.com as well as www.jklimagery.com to access my website. For now both names will see the same stuff. Later I will make it into two different site, one for the wedding business and the other just my portfolio gallery.

There is only one johnlo, so it only means one 'johnlo photography'. He's a short Asian guy from new york with a beautiful family and a HUGE heart. :D. So if anybody else out there using johnlo photography, that's not me.

Photo Plus Expo in New York

Attending PPE has always been a yearly thing for me. One of my college buddy, Victor works for the Renaissance Albums and it's always nice to see him there. This year was a little different attending PPE. Maybe its because I really got into wedding photography much more then I have in the past.

Lisa drove to NYC with her daugther, Raquel from Ohio to attend the PPE and and of course to see David Jay again. :D I did hang out with the both of them. Fun people to hang with!!! The last time when DJ was in town, I didnt get to take a picture with him, so this time I made sure I got one. Thanks Lisa for taking the picture of us. Look! DJ aint that tall comparing to me. :D



I also had the honor to meet one of the best wedding photographer in the world, Joe Buissink. This guy's stuff is amazing. And listening to his story and seeing some of his images just make me tear. This guy is truly a great artist.



Thanks Lisa for taking these pictures for me.

Dawn Davis has been following my xanga blogs for years - my engagement with Amanda, then our wedding, and now little Dylan. So of course I had to go meet her in person. We chat about family and about Dylan. It was nice talking with Dawn. and of course it was fun just hanging and finally meeting her in person. I am just sad that I forgot to have a picture taken with her. I guess it will have to be done the next time we see each other. Of course I did listen to Bob Davis when he was showing us about Canon E-TTL flash. Thanks Bob. and Nice to meet you too Marie Monte. :) Dylan said "Hi Dawn"

Oh, I cant forget Bill Eng. This guy was sick Friday morning. He txt me to inform me that he cant get out of bed, cuz of 24 hour flu. But after me texting him all morning telling him what they have on the showroom, he decided to show up for few hours. and because of him, i ended up spending money on Boda Bag. :D WOOHOO!!!!

I also bummed into Kenny Kim a few times walking around. He is such a cool guy. Next time I need to hang out with him. I did see a few other photographers who I dont know, but know who they are... and also because they are on my facebook. heheh! Like Gustavo Fernandez, he was updating his status on FB about J Garner speaking while I was standing next to him listen to J Garner too. hehehe!!!!

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I got Dylan a new car seat... Thank god he loves it. because he's gonna be sitting on that for the next 4 to 5 years. heheh!

Helen & Brady's Wedding Slideshow (Teaser)

Thank You Bill for shooting with me, you did such an amazing and an awesome job as always.

Family Day

Since I didn't get to spend my Saturday with my family cuz of the Helen and Brady's wedding. On Sunday we spent our day at the Queens County Farm. We had a lot of fun. Dylan really enjoyed himself as you can see from the pictures below. We didn't bother with the corn maze, maybe next year when Dylan get a little older. I didn't even know we have farms in NYC. Hahaha Good time with the family.

Helen & Brady's Wedding - 10/11/2008

This past weekend I have the honor to photographed Helen & Brady's wedding in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York. Before I go into the wedding day, I need to start by telling you how they found me. Early August (or was it late July?) I received an email from this person by the name of Helen. She informed me that her daughter (who is also Helen which I found out later) will be getting married in Prospect Park and wanted to know if I was available on October 11, 2008 and what my rates were. I email her my inform and decided on the package that will best fit them. During that time, Helen and I beging talking about other things in life from myself being a Dad to her becoming first time grandma. I did asked Helen Senior how she find me, she said she googled "Brooklyn Wedding Photographer" and I was right on top of the list. The Power of Goggle and free advertizing. heheh! Anyway a month later, she email me and to inform me that they like to hire me and asked me to give her daugther a call. I got in touch with them and met them for some coffee in Park Slope to talk about their wedding day.

Helen and Brady are two of the most down the earth, most nicest couple I have ever met. They are so casual and earthy people. Such good heart and great friends to have.

I invited Bill Eng to help me with this wedding as my 2nd shooter since Amanda wanted to be home and babysit Dylan. Bill and I got to the park around 1ish and talked about the location of the ceremony. The Ceremony was very small... about 20 people and all family members. The offician for the ceremony was Brady's Uncle, David - and boy, he did a wonderful job with the ceremony.

The reception was held in DUMBO, called the Water Street Restaurant & Lounge. There were about 60 guests..... verylow key type of receptions with good friends and family having fun and celebrating a good day... and of course having open bar, it helps. ;-)

Something normally dont happen... I went into a friend at the wedding reception. Well not actually my friend, more like Amanda's friend from Grad school studying to be a teacher.

I havent finish processing all the images, hopefully will have something by the week end. But here's one photo from the park... Also I like to Thank Bill again for coming to help me out. He really did an awesome job helping me to cover cvertain angles I wasnt able to get...

This Week's Update.

I never realized how much time I don't have anymore ever since my child was born until I look at my blog and noticed I don't post enough. Amanda has been pretty busy at work, so I have been picking Dylan up from my mom. And with Dylan fussing and crying due to teething, I am spending most of my time trying to make him feel comfortable. Not a easy job to do that's for sure.

So this past Sunday we came home after a 4 days weekend in Stone Mountain Georgia for Mandy and Justine's wedding. It was very nice. Totally had an awesome time. Dylan had a white shirt, red vest w/ a black tie on... hehehe! He was so cute and adorable.

I took Monday off from work and gave my mom another day off from Dylan, so my dad can visit his Senior Citizen Center. heheh! I was planning on heading out in the city with Dylan and maybe stop by my office and show him to my boss who still haven't meet Dylan yet. But because Dylan didn't sleep much on Sunday, I decided to put him to sleep instead of a long day out. So I spent the day doing laundry while he was sleeping. I did drive my wife to and from work because I needed the car to pick up my dog, Meko.

About a year ago, I had the honor to photograph Katie & Kenneth's wedding in Aruba. There were a few things that was never completed due to timing of our busy schedule (mainly Prego & then baby). Well tomorrow I will be doing some more photographing, so that we can complete their wedding album. Weather is gonna be nice, so it should be a fun morning.

I really didn't take too much pictures from the wedding, one of the reason was because the host of the church as like a German Nazi. You cant do this, you can do that. Hey I totally know about No Flash Photography in the House of God.... But we cant even stand up to take a pic w/o flash. Because of that I was scare to get yell at. Yes, the lady told this old man to sit down. hahahaha!

Well I don't want to bored you too much. Unfortunately I didn't process any of the images. actually the camera is still in the bag sitting in the living room since I came home on Sunday. hahaha. So looks like the images will be posted tomorrow maybe?! :D

I promised on the next post will be pictures from the trip....

In Stone Mountain/Snellville Georgia

We have a wedding to attend this weekend in Georgia. Normally we drive down here from New York (16 to 18 hrs drive). But because I won two free round trip airfare last christmas from my company, we decided to use it for this trip. Plus with the baby and Amanda being at a new school this year (only asked for one day off). We just figure it would be wise to use it.

Because we flied on the day of 9/11, the flight was very empty. We got to the airport 4 hours early, because I wanted to get a good parking spot in Long Term Parking at LGA, and because we had so much to carry going to security, we didnt want any delay and rush to catch our flight. Unlike JetBlue in JFK, there were no Free Internet access at the American Airline terminal or gate. Since we had so many hours to wait, we decided to pay for it. $9.95 a month for the 1st three month, then $24 thereafter. Note to self, need to cancel after the month is over. It was a very good flight. Dylan did fuss a little, but thats because he was sleepy, but wanted to see everything around him. hehe. We arrived in Atlanta about 9:40pm. Pickup the rental car and drove to our Hotel in Stone Mountain. ...woohoo! Free internet at the Hotel.

Friday morning we rush to Walmart to get some things for the Bridal Shower that my wife is in change of (Matron of Honor). After I dropped her off at the Country Club, I met up with my Father in Law and headed back to the hotel, so he can spent some grandpa time with Dylan. Here's something funny... We were hungry, so we headed to Wendy's for some food. When it was time to pay for the food, I told my father in law, "I got it Dad". The cashier at Wendy looked at me and said, "did you say Dad?" My replied, "yes". She said, "seriously?" I said, "yes seriously" LOL then I said, "its my father in law" LOL. I guess she didnt noticed my chinese redneck or something. HAHAHAH!!

That evening, we had the rehearsal at the Methodist Church in Snellvile, GA. Everyone were saying how cute & handsome Dylan is, and that the combination between Amanda and myself really did an awesome job with him. hehehe! I did went up to introduce myself to Mandy & Justin's wedding photographer, Jared Baker, just so he know who I am. Very nice guy. The Church doesnt allow Flash Photography at all. heheh! I hate that. I guess it is my 1st test to see how I can do without a flash in a church. I didnt bring any of my fast lense. Only have my 24-105 with me on this trip. Guess the ISO will have to be increase to 800 or 1600... and must shoot in RAW. we will see what happen. Its gonna be hard to do much when Dylan will be with me. After the rehearsal, we headed to the Bride's mother place for dinner - Mexican food. YUM YUM!!!!! Later I did give my business card to Jared, just so he has my information, and maybe we can network together and expand our business and industry even wider. Jared is actually a personal friend of the Groom (Justin).

Well today is the wedding day and my wife is about to head over to the Bride's place so they all can get ready to do their girlie thing. The Bride (Mandy) is my wife best friend. They go way back to their college's year at University of Georgia (Bulldogs). Actually Mandy was the Maid of Honor on our wedding. hehehe! well time to get myself ready so I can drive her over. Hopefully I will get some awesome pictures today..

A Day to Remember...

7 years ago around this time, I was driving a friend out into the city to her job because she was late getting up and needed to be in the office by 8:30am for an important meeting. At that time, I just got laid off from Clear Channel Communication, so my schedule are FREE. I decide what the hell, I got nothing better to do anyway. I normally do not take the Tunnel out into the city, because of the $3.50 fee. But because we were running late, she told me to take it and will pay me back, plus the drop off spot was downtown area. So make sense to do that.

I remember traffic were pretty back up. and once we came out of the tunnel I happened to look up and said "oh world trade center is on fire". I didn't think much of it at that time... but once the 2nd plane hit the second tower, I knew at that point New York was under attack. I am not going to get into details anymore, but I will always remember what happen that day. Many of my friends do work in those buildings or in that area. Just so happen that Tuesday, they all decided either to take the day off, or they were running late into work.

Here's some photos of that morning from my camera.

Last day before VACATION!!!!!!

I am officially on vacation right now. WOOHOO!!! I'll tell you tomorrow where I will be heading too. hehehe.

Tonight, I had the honor to meet an awesome couple, Helen and Brady who I will be photographing their wedding in October. I met them at Starbucks tonight just to get to know one another. Hopefully I didn't talk them to death. you know me, talk talk talk. It was awesome hanging out with them talking for 45 minutes. I cannot wait to photograph their wedding. It is going to be great. I already have some great ideas where to photograph them.

This morning when I went into my office, I noticed a good amount of photographers (w/ L lenses) standing around in front of my building, taking pics of the building across. At first I didnt know why, then once i noticed the News truck and more PRESS, then it hit me - Lehman Brothers. Very Sad.. how the hell can you loss almost 4 Billion dollars in one quarter?! Oh well! I wonder who's going to buy them out. HSBC maybe???

Well its time for bed. I got an early morning tomorrow (errands) to start before our flight at 7pm.

nite.

Random Thoughts

It's been awhile since I did some serious writing. The problem is now that I am a daddy, i really don't have that much time anymore. I am NOT complaining. I am totally enjoying and loving every moment of my son. And when I do have time, I am normally on the train heading into the city... and sometime that's when I write - on my ipod touch.. then come home and forget to blog it. lol.

As you know, recently I attended Free to Succeed Tour by David Jay and Jasmine Star. Well after all that information they gave us, I came to realized that a lot of things they mentioned I used to do when my wife and I had our Preschool photography business. We walked into each school and pretty much sold ourselves as who we are.. just two awesome fun people that loves kids who happens to be photographer. At the end of the day, it wasnt about how the images came out. It was all about how great we were with the kids. How much fun they had... and all were captured on paper so that the parents can see it. One thing we made sure was to make a HUGE impression to the teachers, the admin, and the school staff. why?? because they will tell the parents how much fun their kids has.... and when they see the pictures, they dont have a choice but to buy all of them. .... those were the days. Well I got alot of things I need to do to make my wedding photography business better, both myself and for the clients. It will be good. :-)

Over the weekend, Amanda and I werent great parents. Dylan fell off our bed. Thank god he didnt fall on the floor, but to my i guess you can call it a night stand table. he hit his head pretty hard and loud. We ran into our bedroom. Thank god he was ok. It could have been much worst. Good thing it didnt. Scared the hell out of both of us. We love you son. I'm gonna make you a website so i can show you off to the world. :)

We're gonna be out of town on Thursday evening heading down to North Georgia for a wedding. Amanda's best friend, Mandy will be getting married to a fine gentlement, Justine. No I am not their wedding photographer.. but I will try to snap some pics of them. I dont know how much I will be able to get. Amanda will be the Matron of Honor, so that means I got Dylan all to myself. I think my mother in law and sister in law will be coming. Hopefully they can watch him for me. I havent fly to Georgia since the first time I went down to meet her family (4 yrs ago). We normally drive. But because we dont have that much time off, we decided to fly. Plus the airfares are free.. I won it from the company's christmas party last year. heheh!

Well its midnight now, and its time to sleep.. got to get up in 5 hours. Yes this is the only time I have to myself.

nite

David Jay's Newsletter

Today I get David Jay's newsletter..... pretty much letting us know how much he enjoyed FTS Tour and that he has put together a DVD of the tour and T-Shirt if we were interested to buy. As I scroll down, I noticed my pic and my name. I was a little busy, so i didn't really pay too much attention to it. Then it hit me, thats me on his email... why?? So i stopped whatever I was doing and read the email again. WOW!! DJ gave me a PROPS. WOOHOO!!! How cool was that!! I was touch!!! TOTALLY. The last time something similar happened to me was when TechTV (ScreenSaver) contacted me and asked if they can broadcast my website on their show. I was like go right ahead. LOL! that day I got over thousands of hit in 30 minutes. LOL!! sweet!!!! That was almost 10 years ago. Back to DJ's Props to me - I am honored. How I just have to work harder to get to where I wanted to be in my wedding photography business. Also now I really have to do more blogging and networking with other photographers. That should be easy since I LOVE to talk.. and I LOVE to make new friends.

Again DJ, thank you!!!!!

David Jay's Free to Succeed

Yesterday I attending David Jay's Free to Succeed Seminar. It totally ROCK!!! If you haven't hear this man speaks, you better do so. He really made me turn my brain 360 degree.

Jasmine Star was also amazing. Determine is the keyboard to success... and branding is the other of course. heheh!

I also got to meet and chat a few words with Becker. He demo his [B] School to us. Its gonna ROCK!!!!! I cant wait until its officially out.

Kenny Kim was such a nice guy. I email this guy asking him to bring the Boda Bag so i can check it out. Because he was photographing the event, he left the bag with me all night. At the end of the day, i returned it back to him... he responsed. "oh, I totally forgot you had the bag." Now that's trust.

I also got to meet two other photographers Amanda and Lisa.... Have a safe trip home ladies.

Almost forgot to mentioned, my Good Friend Billy boy.

CBS The Early Show

Check out my 1 second fame on the CBS The Early Show.. I'm at about 55 seconds

Amanda's Family

Amanda's mom and sister were in town (from Georgia) this past weekend. We didn't do too much because New York City was having a heatwave. OMG it was hot! Sunday, we walked to prospect park, and we almost passed out. Took the train home instead walking back. It was also Dylan's first time taking our subway system. On Monday evening, we did stopped by DUMBO for some Grimaldi's pizza and to check out the NYC Waterfalls.

4th of July Weekend at Washington DC

We went on our first family getaway for the 4th of July weekend to Washington D.C. It was a great trip. We even took our dog Meko with us. Dylan had an awesome time. And for the most part it wasn't too bad travelling with him at all. Here are some shots I took. Didn't get to see too much stuff. For sure we will be visit there again.