Moving fabric and people are perhaps two of my favorite subjects to photograph and dance just happens to be the perfect avenue for that. Then I realized slow-mo video would be really cool too so I compiled some of my recordings in the first slide backed by some epic music from a legendary video game ;)
Unfortunately I couldn’t have the music continue playing beyond the first slide, but if you’re interested, it’s called Emil - Despair from Nier Automata, I highly recommend playing it in the background while you scroll through the 19 other slides, it’s very worth it with all the dramatic lighting, colors, and poses.
Also I just wanna say some quick thanks to @independentchinesedancers for allowing me into the fold and to all the new friends I’ve made here that make everything possible and fulfilling. If anyone’s interested in joining, performing, and/or helping out, I’m sure you can just DM them! (You get paid for each performance too wooo!)
Very late post from my annual Taiwan trip. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to post these since a lot of the photos are just me goofing around with my friends and my cousins… but they convinced me to share them nonetheless since there were some pretty good photos, especially the landscape photos (and here I thought I was never going to be a landscape photographer… which is probably still true)
Embarrassingly, I was finally able to figure out how to leave Taipei after three years, but I’ve only made it halfway down the island and even so I have not explored enough of each destination I went to this year. Perhaps next year I can go further down south. Oh, and a big thank you to @aheng.eda for being my tour guide everywhere outside of Taipei. These photos were taken at various locations around Taiwan so if anyone’s curious, feel free to ask me about them!
PC:
@helen_dimples (green border)
@aheng.eda (yellow border)
@amaris_mei (purple border, technically Hannah’s mom took the photo if I remember correctly… but only after being told how to frame the shot, so… who’s the real photographer?)
As a kimbap aficionado, a historical kdrama fan, an East Asian traditional fashion enthusiast, and as a Bay Area native who has not seen snow in two decades, I could not imagine missing an opportunity such as this. The Korean winter is way more beautiful than I had imagined and it’s been a pleasure to experience it with all the friends I’ve made from throughout the years. And of course, I am ever so thankful for Tiffany and Tess who let me have their photo taken by yours truly :D
PC: @thetiffanycheng (blue border)
Mini kimbap recipe: Prepare rice with salt, vinegar, and sesame oil. Scramble and fry an egg, no seasoning, slice into strands, let sit to cool and dry. Slice carrots into thin strands. Slice yellow radish into strands enough for one strand per roll. Fluff up cooked rice and mix with more sesame oil. Cut seaweed sheets into quarters. Apply rice foundation, add carrots, radish, and egg. Roll. Brush sesame oil onto roll. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Done... I think.
I’ve been to Korea twice and I’ve legit never seen mini kimbap until now. I gotta try it. It tastes just as good as my own normal sized kimbap recipe (that I’ve developed over the course of 8 years, very delicious, always requested at parties, loved by Korean moms everywhere). This new recipe will just be a budget and time friendly version while maintaining the flavor and texture of kimbap :)
Oh also I forgot to take the bottle of bamboo soju home as a souvenir... oops.
Dice and Tux are two very derpy, awkward, and all around very cute cats. Oh to live a life of leisure and loafing around…
Have I decided whether I’m a dog or cat person yet after these series of cat photos? Nope. They’re just all too adorable to say one’s better than the other.
For the best pet photos, I just need to remind myself to bring treats for dogs and catnip for cats.
Prepare yourself for a litter of cat photos! My cousin’s family went on an Asia trip during the summer and I was asked to take care of their cats, Biscuit and Gravy. Biscuit’s the larger one while Gravy’s the one on the cover. It was the perfect opportunity for me to accompany the dog photos I have with some cats. And as I’ve mentioned before, I do believe pet photos fall under the same umbrella as human portraiture. I don’t restrict myself simply to photos of people, my primary motivation is to capture grandeur and emotion, and I believe our pets can be just as expressive as we are!
Also, they were really adorable, shy at first, but they got familiar with me by the end of the week. I’m very thankful @michelle.1.24 (yes, the grad client who wouldn’t stop talking about cats) was there to mentor me on their proper care :)
Unfortunately Biscuit recently passed due to respiratory issues, but hopefully he’s having fun chasing other cats and rolling around the catnip fields of kitty heaven.
So there was a client from the previous grad season who wouldn’t stop talking about cats…
I really wanted to practice framing my shots in a wider angle and getting familiar with my 35mm prime lens. Even though I despised landscape art in the past, I think it does add quite a bit of context to my portrait shots. Michelle and Catherine were particularly fluent in taking photos of the local scenery, much better than I can. I’m proud to say I’m learning from the best, and it’s great to be able to familiarize myself with all the popular photogenic locations in the Bay Area with some new friends just in case my clients would want photos there in the future… and to find out where all the free parking spots are in SF :)
PC: @michelle.1.24 (blue ribbon) and @catherineyeh__ (green ribbon), and they both also took all the photos in the backdrop
Also this is a nice segue to my next three posts about cats. Look forward to that soon :)
This was my very first elopement shoot from earlier this March. Bea and Johan reached out and of course I was very interested to dive into the romantic photography genre. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I’m glad they were willing to let me tag along and figure things out. Despite knowing them for only one debriefing, I felt two lifetime’s worth of love between them. I kid you not, I was tearing up through the whole elopement ceremony and uhhh... I regrettably missed a ton of photo opportunities... but I was still able to make the best of what I got.
They also drove out to Jenner for their honeymoon and invited me to come along. I think the biggest appeal for me when it comes to photography is that it gives me the best excuse to travel. I loved the road trip up Highway 1 while blasting music I could belt along to, I loved seeing the sights along the shoreline and countryside, and I loved indulging myself at classic American diners that dotted the route. But ultimately, there is none more fulfilling than photographing the love and companionship we can have for one another.
Thanks Bea and Johan for the opportunity, I wish you two the best in your marriage!
Fei Tian Dancers had our Spring 2025 big showcase this May：
✨Generations✨
Thanks for all the audiences for coming by, cheering for us, and enjoying our performances together. Thanks to all the guest performers that helped us make this show complete. 💜
Special thanks to @jujubeleaflet for taking these wonderful pictures and generously letting us use them!
Join us in the upcoming Fall and Spring semesters! Stay updated with our Instagram for further announcements! 😉
Final graduation post this year, Katie! We met through Trouper’s Fan Club and since then we’ve become good friends.
Katie forced me to buy 50mm and 35mm prime lenses for her photos… and then proceeds to reschedule our shoots over and over again smh. I have a feeling she was tricking me into familiarizing myself with the new lenses with other clients first before I take her photos. It worked :)
I absolutely love these new lenses, particularly the 50mm. The new prime lens gives me rainbow lens flares (you might’ve noticed my two previous posts also had such artifacts). I don’t know how it works, but I’m all for it. My old, shorter zoom lens produces red and green lens flares which are cool… but this is way better. They also give my photos a more professional look since the aperture can get much wider, and they work quite well in low light situations too.
I’m so glad Katie was there to encourage me to spend thousands on all my new camera equipment this year :)
Thanks Katie!
PC for… I’m sure you can figure out which photo Katie took: @katieqle
Last year, Isabella was one of the very first people to let me practice graduation photos on. This year, she’s returned with a masters and I couldn’t be more proud and honored to take her photos once again!
Also her photos with Dinesh are super cute and I wanted to share them :)
The business manager of @fcsacappella herself, Bibi! I was really worried we weren’t getting any “normal” photos, but... in all honesty I’m a little tired of normal grad photos so... BUBBLES!!! I also wanted to try some new things here, including incorporating the slo-mos I’ve been taking for fun and for the oo-s and ah-s. While we still managed to get some normal photos for professionalism’s sake, it was the 283 other unhinged photos Bibi didn’t post herself that made this photoshoot special (no one needs to see them all, but I may have leaked some at the end, don’t tell Bibi plz thx) :)
I met Bibi through FCS and may I be the first to say that I’m so glad they’ll have two business managers moving forward. From what I heard, the position carries tons of responsibilities, more than one graduating senior should hold. Fortunately they had a massive influx of new members last semester so perhaps there’s now the capacity for a larger leadership team. Either way, she did great and I’m glad to be able to work with the acapella group through her.
Outside of FCS, I really admire Bibi for her attempts to invite me to church and join her Christian fellowship’s events (@a2f.berkeley ), and though I did not attend the group’s events regularly, our meals together where we share our thoughts on our faith and our lives are always something I look forward to and enjoy. Getting to know Bibi has been a blessing and a privilege that I am extremely thankful for.
I pray the Lord bless her church planting efforts and I wish her all the best in the future.
Drone video credit: Alex in slide 6 (he randomly pulled up and asked to take video of us with his drone. It looks pretty cool, maybe I’ll get a drone in the future, I heard they have tracking capabilities, it would be nice to have an autonomous cameraman)
