In front of thousands of people and against some tough musical competitors, Noel Kunz was voted by 4 judges ast the best performance at Kollaboration 11's annual show at the Nokia Theatre at LA Live.  This amazing venue hosted some talented performers on Saturday November 5th, 2011 including the headliner Korean Pop Star G.NA (Gina Choi.)  But even with such talented musicans competiting such as Lions Ambitoin, Inch Chua, Emanon Dance Crew, Monsters Calling Home, Afterschoolspecial, Andrew Figueroa Chiang and the Blazing Rays of the Sun, and Dawen, Noel Kunz jumped to his trophy win and prize of $1000!!

Now you might be wondering what dows Noez Kunz do if he doesn't sing.  Well check out his videos here and you'll see why his talents won him the trophy on Saturday.  Noel also also won Kollaboration Tulsa in 2010 so he's no stranger to the Kollaboration Spotlight.   Yo-Yo Wiki and all, Congratulations to Noel Kunz for an awesome win!

More Photos of the show to come so stay tuned.  Or visit Kollaboration's website to stay updated at http://www.kollaboration.org

Click to read more ...

Click to read more ...

3 Hours of fun on the beach then off to downtown Los Angeles for awesome night photos.  Awesome time, awesome couple.  Coming soon!!

The Kyoto Grand Hotel and Gardens has an amazing reputation for elegant weddings, beautiful scenery, and just all around nice staff.  I couldn't agree more with all of those statements as I was very happy to capture Grace and Nick's wedding there on July 10, 2010.  Not only were Grace and Nick a fantastic couple, but they had an amazing wedding with close friends, loving family, live performances, a photo booth, and even Boba Tea.  With a perfect scheduled day, we started with getting ready photos, then photos in the gardens.  Both Nick and Grace were kept separate but given 30 minutes with me to capture a few fun wedding party photos before their guests arrived.  The ceremony soon began overlooking downtown LA on top of this gorgeous hotel in a beautiful Japanese garden.  A small water stream trickled through the ceremony site and ended up at a waterfall on the other side near the cocktail hour.  A few I do's later, and everyone was all smiles.

Family photos were taken then 45 minutes of location shots down in the lobby.  Inside the lobby of the Kyoto Grand Hotel was just too beautiful a location to not take a few photos.  Amazing light sculptures on the ceiling, red walls, a piano, and a fairly empty bar made this area a perfect setup.  Grace and Nick are not only extremely nice, but they've got great attitudes and a great sense of humor.  With a few typical romantic shots, we also managed to get some hilarious photos of them acting in their usual fun personalities.  Their wedding party was just as entertaining as they helped make a few of our stylish photos something a little bit different.

Amazing food, Grace's brother as DJ, and Instabooths rocking the props and photos, they continued the night with dancing, drinking, and eating.  I'm pretty sure everyone had fun, and even their friend Vudoo Soul sang a few songs for the crowd.  Great times, great people, and a great location.  Thanks Nick and Grace for making it a fun and smooth wedding day and I wish you both the best in San Francisco!

Event Planning:
Nicole & Gaby - Stacy Porras Wedding Consulting

Photo Booth:
Tuan - Instabooths

Second Photogrpaher:
Erich Chen Photography

Makeup:
Amy

If you're getting ready to move away from Los Angeles with your 19 month old daughter, what would you do.  Well I'd probably do exactly what Jaime and Janet did, hire me for some California-esque photos.  For their last month in Los Angeles, Jamie, Janet and CJ met up with me in Manhattan Beach at a lovely little park overlooking the water.  With some fun photos on the grassy area, we also got a chance to get a few fun photos with props.  Janet did her homework and looked through lots of photos online coming up with some really cute ideas and fun things to keep CJ entertained.  With bubbles, a soccer ball, flowers, and more, we eventually headed down to the beach as well to get some near the water.  With a warm sun starting to set, we played in the sand, captured CJ's beautiful eyes, and got a few fun moments with dad.  I honestly have to say CJ's eyes were some of the most beautiful little eyes I'd seen, and I wanted to take a macro lens and just take close-ups all day long.  :-)

It was a perfect session that I hope will be long lasting memories for the family after they move.  Thank you both and safe journeys on your trip back East.

Great Couple, Great Location, Perfect Weather, you can't ask for much more than that.  Amy and Rolando came to our E-Session ready with smiles and love.  They love artistic photos, and were really willing to try anything.  So we started in Temescal Gateway State Park and wandered around there.  This was my first time photographing here, as I usually find larger more open parks.  But when I had previously hiked here it had attracted me because of the trees.  I wanted a more forest feel, secluded, but still a few cabins and places to sit.  Not only were their plenty of spots, but I really think it challenges a photographer to find great spots out of nothing.  Far too often will we find ourselves in a location without grand architecture, expensive landscaping, and we have to make the place work for us.  This is one skill I feel good photographers should have, cause it's not all about the location, it's about the couple.  I'm never afraid of a location, and I'm always finding new ones, so keep your eyes open as you never know what hidden gems you may find until you photograph there.

After the canyon we briefly stopped for a picnic setup down the street.  A lovely tree silhouetted in the background made this spot amazing at this time of day.  We then wanted to do some Beach photos in front of the Santa Monica Pier and play on the swings.  Again, great suggestion from Amy and Rolando as I've always enjoyed silhouette shots of the Santa Monica Pier since actually going on the pier can sometimes be tricky with a "Professional" looking camera.  Security guards will sometimes shoo you away.

Thank you to Amy and Rolando for a great evening and for being a laid back fun couple.  I'm looking forward to your wedding next year and thanks again for everything!