Portraits 26/52 Thailand University graduation

I attended a graduation pre-ceremony of a cousin-in-law in Thailand. 

This prestigious Thailand university's graduation gown is sheer white chiffon material with gold trim.  I can see it will be a lot more weather appropriate. Not all Thailand universities though.  Other Thailand universities are wearing classic black gowns. 

Portraits 25/52 Being a successful parent

My husband once told me that one way to know how well you did as a parent is when your children come back home and take care of you when you get old. 

Un's grandma above has been in hospital with paralysis for 2 years without a word she can speak. Her children and grandchildren's warmth and care during these whole time, and seeing their love for her with my own eyes brought  me to tears that night. 

I wish my kids will still love me and care for me half as much when I am 95 and lying in bed semi-unresponsive for 2 years. 

Portraits 24/52 Great style at any age

The tiny butterfly clip on her silvery hair caught my attention as I walked pass her. I'm inspired by her care to her hairstyle. So I had to get her picture.
She was quite happy that I noticed the clip and laughing genuinely while I was taking her picture.

Take a lot of pictures

I was going though my checklist of to-do items with my parents while they are here, and found this note from last year.  "Take a lot of pictures"

I did take a lot of pictures with my family last year. But this year, I didn't. Now when I look back, I feel like I don't have enough pictures of our family moments during my sis's wedding in Yangon, her wedding in California, our outings with my parents, her graduation.  I took less than 100 frames at each event.  I didn't even have a picture of the bride and groom to post on FB!  Of ocurse I left it to their photog, Lawrence, without any doubts. I just wish I snap more moments of my family and inner circle.

Since I started Portraits52 project, my mindset is in getting someone look pretty and perfecting that portrait rather than snapping moments.  It's unbelievable how my mind thinks differently now.

I definitely got a lot of nice portraits of individuals during those events though, including a frame-worthy portrait of my parents together which has been on my mental checklist for so long. (And my dad loves it!)  At least I'm not totally at a loss.

Now when I see my checklist "Take a lot of pictures", I realized I do need to remind myself to take a lot of pictures to not miss the memorable moments. Pretty portraits don't make up for memorable snapshots I missed. Need to prioritize my goals based on situation.  Lesson learned.

Yellow weekend: Yellow mustards and yellow bridesmaids

On Friday, my work has beach clean-up at half-moon bay beach as part of GoogleServe 2013. We pulled out lots of yellow mustards that are endangering the other wild plants in the area.

I didn't know these pretty yellow flowers, which I've been always wanting to create romantic portraits, are actually bad (at least in that area).  Too bad. They are so pretty. Lots of them too.
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On Saturday, it was my sister's wedding. No, I'm not her wedding photographer. I took portraits of family and friends.

Portraits 23/52 Napa trip

On Sunday, we had a day trip to Napa to hangout with our college friend, visiting from Singapore.

Dress up for wine bottles. Isn't it cool?

Too bad I can count  only one for this week's Project52 (according to the rules I made up), and can't ration the others for the lazy weeks toward the total 52. 

Natalie & Lin Engagement Photos

Natalie & Lin's Engagement

I need to work on smoother flow from one pose to another, from one location to another.  I need to do more mental homework on the flow and locations before the shoot next time. Other than that, I'm quite happy with the results; I got some of my-style shots, some quiet/romantic shots that I want.

Thanks to Natalie and Lin for their time and patience.

Portraits 22/52 "Beauty from within"

An old friend from 10 years ago. 

And her youthful mom. Mom! Can you believe?

It's always very rewarding to see people happy with their portraits. She said "you can bring out the beauty from within" Thanks A Ma!
Now I'm motivated again to shoot portraits and engagement photos. 

Thingyan (Burmese water festival) 2013

Burmese water festival, organized by Burmese community of Bay area, in Union City, CA.
Over memorial day weekend.

Matchy-Matchy

All our siblings never liked wearing same clothes since we were little.  We wouldn't get out out the house with same/similar outfit. We never wanted to look alike. We still don't.

But lately, we've been really into dressing up with same tops or dresses when we are together. We even took extra effort to go change quickly on finding the other(s) so we matched.  We thought it's quirky and fun. My mom should be proud.