CREATIVE ART: "GROWTH"

In the past couple of months I have spent time growing creatively and opening my mind to drawing inspiration from all types of sources. 

There is truth to the saying "stop and smell the roses" and you really have to. 

When I started doing my photography work I was too worried about getting somewhere faster and not really living in the moment. I was too busy trying to schedule photo shoots, pump work out like a robot, and the whole time not realizing that life is just passing me by.

The reality is... I am work a holic! I can be on 24 hour run from working a full time job to doing my photos full time. I am sure that is not how people should live their lives but this is how I have been living mine.

I realized that you can succeed at whatever you do but in order to do that you need to find that balance between work and life. I have spent time really soaking in the simpler things to be happy about and to be inspired about. Family, Friends, Personal Growth, and Service to others.

Yes, I may sound like a hallmark card but I truly love what I do and in order for me to continue to do that then I needed to do something with this talent and was to let people see things through my eyes.

So I did. I layed down under a tree with my ipod on just looking up into this tree that I found really fascinating. 

If you look at its a regular old tree (on the surface) but for me it spoke to me. The one word that kept coming out of my mind was "growth". I was drawn to the lines which represents all the different paths in life, the orange & greens in the leaves represented new life & new beginnings, and lastly the blue skies represented this big world we live in. All of which made sense to me in this one image. 

Allow yourself to GROW and make time for you and JUST YOU ONLY and appreciate the smaller things in life. Let's start with being able to see another beautiful day like this one...

SENIOR SHOOT: Chealsy Voigt!

Hi Everyone! I have been slacking on my blog game BIG TIME! It has been a whirlwind of new projects and opportunities that have been coming my way that I am really excited about! I have been working hard to try and keep you all updated... I promise it will be worth the wait!

Here is a senior shoot that I had with the lovely Chealsy Voigt! Isn't she lovely! Totally had fun with her and trying new things and totally excited for her in attending Fresno State in the Fall!

 Chealsy is also an awesome polynesian dancer! She currently dances for a samoan based polynesian group "Tupulaga" and also loves to play volleyball!  Here are couple of my faves from our session which consisted of conversations like: boys, dancing, college and young adult life. Laughter was definitely in order in this shoot!

Enjoy!

Look Who Came to Visit Me? Baby Maopa!

Look who came to visit this past weekend! My baby niece Maopa! 

I have had a crazy schedule lately which wouldn't allow me to drive up to the Bay Area to visit my family but I was lucky enough to have my niece Maopa come to L.A. and visit her uncle. Woo hoo!

I literally was flying back from Alaska to come back to spend some time with her, my parents, and my sister. My family was visiting to attend my niece's (Yaya) baptism and unfortunately I missed it but I was able to make it back in time to have some laughs, eat, and watch the LAKERS!

I layed next to Maopa while she was sleeping, hoping she would wake up so that I am there ready to snap some photos of her. I started to wake her up by saying her name very softly.

As she wakes up she looks up at me with a happy grin on her face and automatically starts laughing & smiling. It's like she knew I was going to be there ready for her.

What a joy to see that! No grumpy mood unlike her uncle! Haha!

Look at those squishy cheeks! She was not shy at all either! Mind you- she is only 2 months!

Okay enough of this mushy uncle stuff. Here are some quick ones I took of her!

Spoken Word Artist: Ben Falealili!

SPOKEN WORDS DO HAVE IMPACT!

Ben Falealili will sure make you want to stop, listen & inspire at the same time. I had the chance to catch up with great friend Ben Falealili. This young man is making a difference where he can and when he can. He currently attends the University of San Diego. He is the current president of UCSD's Pacific Islander Student Association and is making great strides in bringing forth an awareness of cultural issues and actually putting in work to seek change. The first time I heard spoken word pieces from Ben... I was inspired to meet him and come a year a some change later... I consider him as a brother. There are those that sit and watch things happen & then there those out there that actually put in work to make things happen. That's Ben... a Captain out there to MAKE IT HAPPEN. Oh yeah and did i mention part time model? Haha!

In an earlier blog post with the CENSUS videos Ben is the speaking in the census video. Check it out! 

(See earlier posts below for the video)