Life is Edible

Our Fate

2010-07-27T01:56:00Z

Model: Alex D.
Assistants: Jake Thach and Yenju Tseng

We all share the same fate... it follows us where ever we go. It's with you in the past, in the present, and certainly in the future.

The number 4 is an unlucky number and associated with death in Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and possibly in other Asian cultures too. I wonder if people will understand all the symbolism I use in my personal work if I don't explain? Or do people just look at my work and say "Oh she's holding balloons! Oh she's holding a mirror and lipstick got onto it! Oh she fell in the water and looks sad!" etc etc

Anyway, this was a fun shoot. I tested out a new assistant for this shoot and HE IS AWESOME. I wasn't really much help, I'm a tough teacher. The way I teach is "Here take this. Now figure it out until you get it right." lol Jake pretty much taught him everything and Yenju already surpassed him!! Very good!!!

Both Alex and I have sensitive skin or something because we both got rashes and getting eaten by bugs. My allergies were also killing me. My nose and eyes were endlessly dripping haha I felt like I was going to die! The torture was worth it though. She's such a wonderful model and did an excellent job conveying the mood and message. As always, as a way of saying thanks for modeling for my somber work, I do some simple beauty shots for the model. She's so pretty

I hope you enjoyed!

Out and About in Tacoma

2010-07-10T08:59:00Z

So this hair stylist from Federal Way had this concept he wanted to do for a photo shoot.. he came up with this colorful, funky 80's theme with a female model and a male model, but he wanted the male model to be a breakdancer. I said, "Oh! I can find a breakdancer!" I wanted a new face to shoot just so I have different models in my portfolio. I went to my b-boy photo album on Facebook since a bunch of them were tagged in it. I didn't want to pick a total stranger, so I chose a dude that I had a bunch of mutual friends with, asked him if he'd model for me ...AND HE REJECTED ME T____T

SO SAD.

But it's ok. Rejection still hurts though!!! lol so I didn't want to go through the feeling of rejection again.. I just asked my former b-boy super model, Byron, who I did a shoot with before because I know he wouldn't reject me!!!

BUT BYRON CUT HIS HAIR.

The hair stylist wanted someone with longer hair because... well he's a hairstylist. He needs hair to style. Juan offered to model and saved the day! I replied back to the hair stylist and we started planning the shoot... clothes, date, time, location and he was in charge of finding the female model. A few weeks passed and the shoot was coming up... but no word from him. The day before the shoot and still no word from him... hair stylist flaked out -__-

I didn't want Juan to have save the date for nothing, so I headed down to Tacoma anyway to shoot some videos and photos and hung out. MY FIRST TIME IN TACOMA COOL!!!!!

Juan from Dance Broomz:

Byron told Juan that if he looks to the side, ladies find it more attractive. Weird, but I think he's right!! I do find it more attractive when I guy looks to the side in a photo!!

Byron came to hang out too and brought along his friend Jeremy so I took pictures of them too

Byron aka RyBonix from Misguided Steps:

Jeremy from 17.42:

Battle scars

So after all the picture taking, Juan had to go to a music video shoot. We rode the train thingy there... did you know Tacoma has a train thingy and it's FREE??? Amazing!!

So Juan parted ways with us because we're not cool enough for him Byron became tour guide and was going to take us to the zoo but it was closed.... so we came here instead to look at a fort:

But the fort was closed too

So we just jumped over fences and played with sticks.

Photo taken by Byron

Then Byron decided to drive us to some beach (I forgot what it's called) but before we left, I SAW A DEER and made Byron park his car and we all got out to walk over and find it but it disappeared. Apparently I was the only one who saw it. I'm not crazy We found banana slugs instead, then went to the beach.

The clouds looked pretty!

The stairs to nowhere.. :O

Jeremy now knows not to slide down trees.

Ewwwww wtf kind of gun is that suppose to be??!

We found a tree so we played on it. Well actually the boys did and I just took pictures. I had flip flops and a skirt on so.. no tree climbing for me.

Jeremy now also knows not to sleep on tree branches or else you'll fall.

Boys just being boys.

Byron actually wasn't posing for this shot. He was watching some kids walk by and I thought he looked cool so I snapped this. Dude looks like a badass in this shot!!

Aww so romantic <3 lol

We thought this was the place that makes sodas the old fashion way... but it wasn't. So we just awkwardly left the shop without buying anything haha

Now here's the video of my trip! Enjoy

Claws Out II Seattle

2010-07-09T05:06:00Z

UGH I'm over a month late in putting this up but I've been insanely busy. I need to get done with all my pictures before this weekend because this whole month is booked full of shoots. I have absolutely no days to sleep in noooooo!! Work 7 days a week!! Oh man. Time for a mini vacation in September -_-

Claws Out II was at EVO in Fremont and the line was ridiculously loooooooooooong. When we drove by, we were like OH SHIIIII- and no one wanted to wait in line in the rain to get in, so I just got dropped off and they went home LOL so lonely. It's so lame going to a battle by myself!! I felt like a loser with no friends. I had a press pass so I didn't have to wait in line and just went right in THANK GOODNESS but people in line were giving me a death glare. Thank you Mr. Mike Huang for the press pass <3 <3 <3

It was also insanely CROWDED inside!! I managed to push myself into the center front though so it's all good I coincidentally happened to sit next to Mr. Canh Solo too. He tapped my arm to say hi, I stared at him like wtf who are you, he said he was Canh and I'm like ohhhhh yeahhh and so I had someone to talk to yay! No more loneliness!

Judges

Junior vs El Nino

Def Ro vs Suspence

All Styles Final

3 vs 3 Final - AOM/Super Cr3w vs OTOOG

Go to my youtube for more videos from that night: www.youtube.com/pinksmileytv

Now onto pictures! I don't think these are in order. I tried my best to get a picture of every crew but they move too fast. Sorry to those I missed T_T

Thanks for the surprise pose for the camera!

Thoughts going through my head: "Wow I think I got some good shots of him. It's like he's posing for me!"

OH.. I guess he really was posing for me! haha thanks

Does Jalen have a girlfriend? :O

Conner sent me a stalker text saying he sees me, then he came over and sat next to me lol

o hai Jonathan!

o hai Conner!

o hai super model Byron!

I didn't recognize Hyun! He looks like a different person with facial hair!

Aw how cute!

So cute! Giving his dad his gum before he battles. They were reaching right over me so I had to take a picture ^_^

Free stuff getting thrown around

Winner of Claws Out II = Art of Movement/Super Cr3w! I only got a picture of Jalen though I don't know where the other two scattered off to.Then...I FORGOT I WAS THERE WITH NO WAY HOME. I called Jake asking if he'd come pick me up and so I waited outside in the cold, bored out of my mind, for 30-40 minutes until he finally got there. SO SAD AND LONELY.

EvoFest III

2010-06-18T05:26:00Z

This was sooooo last month ago, but I've been too busy to have time to get to these. I was distracted by fashion shows! Vacation! Skydiving! Ahhh!!! Anyway, since this was too long ago, I don't remember anything so no captions. Enjoy the pictures and videos

Some videos of open circles:

Annnnnnd to the finals! I filmed video of them.

Footwork Finals: Free vs Thesis

Winner: Free

All Style Finals: Savage vs Phenomejon

Winner: Savage

Power Finals: Randm 1 vs Thesis

Winner: Randm 1

So on my way home, I saw this neat license plate:

Yeah why not? So I decided I'll jump out of a plane. More on that later

Next post... Claws Out!!

Seattle Fashion Week 2010

2010-06-07T04:22:00Z

I am probably the last person to post up photos from Seattle Fashion Week and no one probably cares anymore, but here they are anyway! I was there for Seattle Fashion TV so I shot both photos and video. You can view the videos by visiting www.seattlefashiontv.com

The editors wanted me to wait a couple of weeks before posting anything on my personal site, also another delay because I was on vacation this past week AND I JUMPED OFF A PLANE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you can't tell, I'm excited Ok enough of my blabbering. Here you go:

Click the image above to go to my gallery to view photos I shot at Seattle Fashion Week on May 13, 2010 for Emerging & Independent Designers night.

Isaiah Whitmore
Nomadic Wear
Nor Jack
Anar Couture
NES Fashion
Cocoa Couture
Voss Rock
Banchong Douangphrachanh

Click the image above to go to my gallery to view photos I shot at Seattle Fashion Week on May 15, 2010 for Established & International Designers night.

IDCW
House of Versatile Styles
B'ZMA
Vera Wang by Marcella's La Boutique with Apolo Ohno
Richard Blayne Walsh
Eva Chen
MONAPALI
Catalin Botezatu

And me at the end hehe thank you to the random stranger who took the photo of me!

If you would like to save any of the photos, just rick click on it,open in new window, then save! Email me if you'd like me to remove thatannoying logo on the center of the photo. Enjoy!

And of course, my video blog. This isn't part of Seattle Fashion TV, just me goofing off when I had some free time. View full videos of each designer's work on the runway at Seattle Fashion TV !

A Solemn Stillness

2010-05-13T03:29:00Z

This shoot is inspired by an old painting I did back in high school. How many years has that been? I think I was 17 or 18 when I painted this. I'M OLD!!!!

This whole painting is 19 x 22 inches, painted with acrylic and my fingers except for the little plants in the corner. If you're the type who likes to visit galleries and showings in the Seattle area, you might have seen this up in a couple of galleries in 2002 - 2003. This has sentimental value to me which is why I refused to sell it. Actually that goes for all my art. I can't part with any of them! They are my babies.

Anyway, about my painting.. This is suppose to show thefigure as being the most pure and beautiful being on the earth, butno one is there to see her or even know about her because she is allalone in this dark, but serene dwelling. Since no one has ever knownabout her or has even laid eyes on her, her beauty has gone to waste. No one has ever, or will ever, know of her. It's sad really... but also gives a little glimmer of hope that there is still something so pure and good in this cruel world.

The lovely Ashley Sarah Brown modeled for this shoot and she is such a good sport for going in the water even though something was bubbling near her legs trying to eat her. I also sewed the dress for this shoot! It's nothing great. I'm no clothing designer.. I just had a certain look I wanted for this shoot so I gave it a try haha it's less than $20 worth of fabric. It beats spending $100 on a gown just to destroy it by putting in in muddy water! Now onto the photos

So after she got out of the water, the train to the dress was all muddy, brown, and had sticks and leaves stuck to it. It was kind of a water back to the car, and it would just drag even more dirt onto the dress, so I just took the train off the dress and stuffed it in a plastic bag. I forgot to bring a towel for her to dry off in, but good thing it was a beautiful sunny day!

There's no meaning to these grass shots. She just has the most gorgeous eyes! Plus I wanted her to dry off before getting back into the car haha

I hope you enjoyed

Self Portrait - Approach Happiness With Caution, Embrace Disappointment

2010-05-09T08:20:00Z

Approach happiness with caution; embrace disappointment. This is what I learned from experiences in my life. If something is too good to be true, then it probably really is too good to be true. Whenever something good seems to happen to me, I get suspicious because nothing ever comes easy in life and I have been disappointed too many times.

The red balloon symbolizes joy, something that I want but never fully hold onto, which is why the black glove is there. I am cautious. It protects me. I don't want to welcome that joy if it's not real. The other hand is bare and holding onto dead roses, meaning it fully embraces the hurt, pain, and disappointments in life.

The image of the red balloon symbolizes the happiness that I want can't be obtained. The feeling of being happy and free isn't possible. It's being held down by the fear of hurt hidden in me which is represented by the dead roses hidden in the grass.

I hope you enjoyed I got a lot of bug bites from this shoot and now I'm itchy all over >_<

Reality Check - April 24, 2010

2010-04-28T01:29:00Z

I had a photo shoot that day so I got to the Vineyard 2.5 hours late gosh darn it!! The battery in my camera was pretty much dead so I only recorded whoever battled between 8:30 - 9:30pm ish.

1 vs 1 All Styles:

The 1 vs 1 were my favorite that night. I wish they did these all style battles more!

2 vs 2:

So after that, my battery died. I found an outlet and charged it for about an hour and started recording again at 10:30pm ...just in time for the semi finals yay!!

1 vs 1 semi finals:

2 vs 2 semi finals

It pretty much cleared out by the end so I decided to head downstairs for a better angle... BUT I FORGOT TO SWITCH LENSES BEFORE I WENT DOWN THERE. So sorry about that... everyone is super zoomed in. I FAIL LOL but enjoy anyway ^_^

1 vs 1 final:

2 vs 2 final:

Yuppp so that's it from that night. Until next time!

Studio Shoot - April 2010

2010-04-26T04:56:00Z

I have a list of photo shoot ideas written down and sketched out from over a year ago that I never got a chance to shoot. I was too busy shooting for other people in 2009 that I never had time to shoot my own ideas. Rylee modeled for me again and now I can check off the sultry black & white studio shoot that I envisioned.

People say my personal work is gloomy... I guess it is. I've just been in a melancholy mood the past couple of years. Maybe someday my personal work will be bright and happy!

I told Rylee she can bring whatever clothes she wanted to wear and I'd do some shots of those after I get my black & white ones, so here are hers:

I hope you enjoyed!

Breaking the Silence - March 20, 2010

2010-04-26T04:11:00Z

OOPS. I forgot to update my blog. This was over a month ago... but better late than never! I got here late so I couldn't find a good spot to take pictures so it's not much of a picture update, but enjoy what I managed to get.

The lovely judges

Everyone on the 2nd level cleared out near the end so I went up there and got a great spot just in time for Kent vs Marysville. Is that what you think it is?? Yup I finally decided to get with the times and get my own youtube account haha so no more linking low quality Facebook videos onto here. Enjoy the videos woo~

4

2010-03-31T06:04:00Z

Originally a self portrait I've wanted to do since last year, but I never had to time to do... plus it's too difficult to do a self portrait with a mirror since I can't see how the shot looks or where to position the camera so I got a model instead

Sometimes when you're always giving, you forget you give more than you have. When you put other people's feelings before your own, you forget about yourself. When someone wrongs you, you don't say anything, because you know what it feels like to be hurt and in turn, don't want anyone else to feel that pain. You just play dumb. Just pretend. Just smile like everything is ok.

People will use you. They will step on you. They will steal from you and leave nothing but scars behind, but you just smile and pretend everything is ok. There's no need to burden anyone with your problems.

Your biggest enemy is that person in the mirror because she cares too much about everyone except you. She never puts you first. She never cares about how you feel. If only she disappeared. You wish she'd disappear.. but you don't want other people to be sad. That's the only thing stopping her.

Model: Rylee Cho
Hair Stylist: Jessica Grandemange
Photographer/Wardrobe Stylist: Diana J. Lee

"My role in society, or any artist's or poet's role, is to try to express what we all feel.. not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all." - John Lennon

There's Nothing More Beautiful Than a Mother and Her Child

2010-03-30T04:00:00Z

An idea I've wanted to shoot for over a year!

I know most maternity photos are white or pastel colors and most people will think red is a strange choice. Red is the color of our hearts. It's the most important organ in our bodies. It lets us live, it lets us love and in this photo, it flows above her to indicate that a love a mother has for her child is greater than any human emotion.

I've shot numerous models, fashion shows, experienced the glitz and glam but no beauty quite compares to that of a mother. Looking at all those magazines and models on the runway, sometimes we forget what true beauty is.

The Westlake Shoot - March 13, 2010

2010-03-26T06:58:00Z

So it's Saturday morning and as usual, I never wake up early enough to experience Saturday morning XD

I woke up around 1pm and saw that I received a text message from Connor, a neat-o photographer, asking if I'm going to the shoot.. and I'm like, what shoot? O_o Text back and apparently there was going to be some b-boy filming going on at Westlake at 2pm. I was tired and wanted to roll over and drift off into sleep chasing cupcakes again but I figured it would be kind of rude to not go since it was like a ...non formal invite haha. So off I goooooo~

And here I am! I wasn't really sure what was going on but I stayed on the side so I wouldn't get in anyone's way. I looked around to see where Connor was then I spotted a dude who looked like Byron. He stared back at me at that same moment, so.. it really was Byron haha. He's like in all my blog entries. I FEEL LIKE SUCH A CREEPER LOL I'm sorry I don't do it on purpose, I swear!!

I pick you, Pikachu! (@ ' . ' @) <~Yeah I know, my Pikachu emote is nifty

Yup, so that's it! Well, just the ones that weren't blurry. It was dark down there so I was shooting at a high ISO and slow shutter speed. Blurry messes!! XD