Begin Anywhere

My husband Bradford often asks me where I'm heading in life. When he first asked this, I was not sure what he meant. This is the kind of thing that parents ask children before they choose a field of study. Do you want to be a doctor, a chef, an astronaut, or a taxi driver? We all got these questions many times in our younger years. But what do you say when someone asks you where you are heading now? You are a doctor, chef, astronaut, or a taxi driver already! Now what?

Where are YOU heading? What's YOUR answer to this?

If you are not heading anywhere particular, it basically means that you are just waiting to die. You are just wasting this one-time opportunity called life, keeping yourself from boredom while approaching death. You go to work, you eat, watch TV shows, have sex, play video games, sleep, and repeat. Is this all you will ever do while you live on this planet?

I hope the answer to the previous question is a "no". But what else shall you do? You have creative ideas, right? How about you make them a reality? Don't know where to start? Begin anywhere. That's right. Anywhere the hell you want. Not knowing where to begin is a common form of paralysis.

Want to learn about how to get into a productive way of thinking? Read this post containing an incomplete manifesto for growth.

Where are you heading now?

Elevator Romance

Evan lived on a third floor of a dorm at the University of Washington where he studied computer science. As most of us, he did not want to strain his precious legs, so he chose to ride an elevator. Meena joined him for few rides as she was heading to her friend's room. They stood there quietly, going up or down, over and over, until Meena decided to break the ice and make her move. The move was successful, ice melted, and Meena and Evan started dating. They've been together for ten years before they tied a knot last Saturday at a gorgeous estate in Pasadena.

I shot Evan's and Meena's engagement photos and I also have been fortunate to join them at this memorable day and capture few of these moments. I met many familiar faces (Googlers and ex-Googlers) and also made few new friends including the awesomely fun Deena Selbak who was the main photographer (and my buddy for the weekend). I can't wait to hang out with Deena, Meena, and the rest of the crowd again soon!

Meena looked breathtaking in her minimalistic look reminding me of old Hollywood glamour.

Meena's youngest siblings were a lot of fun. Especially her youngest brother Jonah who learned some new Michael Jackson dance moves later that day.

Tina (in the foreground) was Meena's maid of honor. She gave a great toast, telling Meena that she is not only her sister, but also her best friend.

Meena's parents Bashar and Zahra are leading Meena to her groom.

Evan's mom Carol is giving the couple her blessings.

I loved the adorable look at Meena's face during the ceremony. I had hard time keeping myself from crying.

Meena and Evan are listening to Tina's toast.

Meena surprised everyone when she busted out some pro moves.

Our friends Tessa and Dan set up a photo booth. See the huge softbox on the right of the photo below? Tessa created custom props, moustaches, beards, and given that Meena is a dentist, she also brought few oversized dental accessories. I can't wait to see the goofy photos we all produced.

Meena, Evan, thank you for inviting me to Pasadena. You are extremely bublibicious! I loved your company and I loved the picturesque venue. I also hit my own personal record -- I shot 28GB worth of photos. No wonder, you both looked adorable and so did your siblings, family, and friends. I wish you many many years of love ahead!

Angry Mob in a Rose Garden

About seventy of my coworkers and I volunteered at the Google Serve 2011 today. We went to the San Jose Rose Garden, weeded, deadheaded, and swept the rose petals. Rose Garden is a volunteer maintained garden that was created in 1932. Although the volunteer list is very long, only about a dozen of regulars come to work in garden almost every day. Some already spent over 1700 hours trimming the roses.

It was insanely hot, insanely bright, and I struggled to photograph in such harsch light conditions. I desperately searched for shaded areas, and was forced to shoot most of the photos against the sun, blowing up the background for the sake of properly exposed faces. Here are few of my favorites:

We split into small groups, each group taking care of one part of the garden. I photographed all groups in a "angry village mob" fashion. We did not have pitchforks, but the rakes looked equally as intimidating. This is the most convincing angry mob group of the day:

The photo of union hands was a co-worker's idea. I love it!

Susan working her magic with these lucky roses.

Finding our groups of Googlers was very hard since they were kneeling so close to the ground. I had to walk around bushes to discover Googlers to photograph.

Herb is one of the regular volunteers at the Rose Garden. He collected a lot of star pins -- each representing ten hours of volunteering.

This is my favorite rose shot of the day. Which shot did you like?

The rest of the photos can be found here.

Wind, Salsa, and Skeleton

Ha! I got your attention now. You probably wonder what do these three things have in common. Read on.

I am standing on top of Bernal Heights Park in San Francisco, second-guessing the choice of location for the engagement shoot. George, a Shih-Tzu dog next to me is trying to stand still, keeping his eyes closed. He has that "wind tunnel" expression on his face. Kind of like Falkor mid-flight. I am wondering if the leash is strong enough to pull him back if the wind picks him up. Next, my headband flies off my head and my eyes start watering. Angela and William show up, all dressed up and we debate whether to give up on this location. "Well, we are here already. Might as well take few windy shots" I say as I'm changing the lenses.

William kept resiliently grooming Angela's hair, in spite of the strong wind.

Angela and William met at a Salsa club ten years ago. They were brought to the club by their friends, and the "set up" worked. They still love dancing salsa together.

As soon as we got to the mural of La Calavera de la Catrina (a symbol of the Day of the Dead), they busted out some salsa moves. Catrina is their favorite mural in the Mission District. In fact, Angela and William paint their faces as Catrina for the Day of the Dead parade each November. Now that would be a great photo shoot! 

I will end this post with a picture of George, a good furrus, who was waiting patiently until the end of the shoot.

Luscious Earrings

A little box was staring at me from the very back of the mailbox after coming back from a long vacation. It contained these custom earrings made by Natha Perkins from Luscious Metals. They are going to join my 72 pair big collection of earrings, but I have a feeling they will be my favorites.