Yummy treats...

Our clients are awesome. We don't blog about the really unnecessary gifts we get from them as often as we'd like to but here's one we recently got from Alex and Maria... yum!

While I was taking the shot, there was somebody else who were more interested in the cake...

Mum's the word...

People oftentimes comment that being photographers, we must have a ton of photos of our lovely daughter, Mikka. That we do, that we do... Unfortunately, we haven't had as much chance working on them to share with you. We try our very best not to spend all our time in front of the computer, we want that last bit of free time just hanging out and having fun with our sweetheart. But it's mother's day and I want to say I am proud to be a mum. So, here are a few taken in the past week...
Mikka lounging on the grass at a nearby park...

One of the hazards of being photographers is that we don't have a lot of photos with ourselves in them.

Mikka has grown so much in the past few months since I last blogged about her. While motherhood is no easy feat, I savor every second that she holds on to my leg, totally dependent and looking up to me to keep her safe. And I hope I can make that promise. I know I will try...

...the same way that my mum has kept me safe and sheltered. If only I can do half as good a job as she's done with my sister and me.

I need to photograph my mum more often. This was taken today at dinner.

Moi with my little girl...

Mikka cuddling with Lola (pronounced law-la, meaning Grandma)...

Although this isn't my first mother's day as a mum myself, it's the first one I'm spending with my mum and my daughter...

Happy Mother's Day to all mums out there... you all rock this world!

Extra! Extra! Read all 'bout it!

Got my new fave show - Extras. When I found out that Comedy Central picked up the show, on it went on the Series Recordings on our PVR. The first episode with star cameo Kate Winslet was bloody brilliant. Ricky Gervais and Ashley Jensen (who I also love as Christina in Ugly Betty) are perfect as Andy and Maggie but my favorite laugh-out-loud scene was the one with Stephen Merchant as Andy's agent Darren Lamb.

If you have some time, check out the episode below with Orlando Bloom...
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Catch it on Comedy Central, Tuesdays at 10pm.

ONE

Our baby is turning ONE!

Mikka a few days old...


Mikka a few weeks before her birthday...

Not-so-secret Admirer...

We always try to push our creativity beyond what is traditional. While our style is most definitely our own and may not be for everyone, it is such a great encouragement to even get a hint of recognition by someone well known in the world of wedding photography - David Beckstead. This is yet another brush with one of American Photo's Top 10 Best Wedding Photographers on the Planet.

David has put up a site called Admired by Beckstead where he gathers images from various wedding photographers that made him go "hmmmm....". Needless to say, we've been admired! You can check out two of our images from Rick and Sarah's wedding featured on his site. Move your mouse over the image to see David's comment but we've quoted him here as well...

Rico's ring shots - Beckstead says: Wow, great concept with the light, rings and invitation! Love the cast off rays the rings made with the light!


Gracci's first dance shot - Beckstead says: The simple, close composition is what I like. It draws your eyes to the ring. Nice PS work.


Yay! Thanks, David! This means so much to us and we hope to get a chance to shoot with you in the future.

Oh, the first snowfall of the winter...

This was not Mikka's very first snowfall but it is the first one that she can enjoy. So, when we saw that the snow wasn't gonna let up, we thought we'd step out quickly onto our backyard and play with the good white stuff.

As my mom would always say, babies use their mouth as their primary sense to know more about their environment. Here, Mikka pretty much knew to stick her tongue out to catch some of the flakes that were getting bigger by the second...
I just love baby kisses... mmmm....
All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...
Warming up with daddy...

NBA back in Vancouver

... only for an exhibition game. Living in an NBA-deprived city, it was good enough for me and luckily, the Phoenix Suns was playing. So, got my tickets from Ticketmaster (which was highway robbery for all the fees I had to pay!) and met Manuel and friends at GM Place that Friday night. Of course, I couldn't leave my camera at home so I brought it with me not knowing that NBA policy does not allow SLR cameras during the game. I had no choice but to leave it at the security the entire time!

I still went on to enjoy a game that I love... Steve Nash was really awesome even during the pre-game shoot around. The game was pretty good considering that it is not part of the official NBA season. Everybody was pumped up and couldn't get enough of Nash. While he was sitting out in the fourth quarter, fans wouldn't quit doing the "waves" for almost 10 minutes asking Nash to re-enter the game.

Good thing Manuel asked me to leave early so I rushed out and got my camera in time to snap some photos before the players headed for the dug out.

And who is that donning the Suns jersey????

For those who do not know, I'm a huge Grant Hill fan! After college, I started collecting his NBA cards and still have some of them right now. I'm thrilled that I was still able to see him play live despite the injuries he's had.


Hopefully, this is the year that the Suns will go all the way! Go SUNS!!!

- Rico

Disclaimer: Rico's NBA team is wherever Grant Hill is. Can't believe how the Suns are sucking right now... Lemme see, what's different with the team now???? Hmmm.....

-gracci

Addicted...

Before we launched Pelaez Photography, I had no interest whatsoever on blogging. Now, not only do I have to blog about our gigs, I find myself frequenting other blogs (mostly wedding photographers). Apparently, I'm on my way to being an addict - I have subscriptions to other photographer's blogs and a good couple of hours a day just going through their posts. And while reading Justine Ungaro's blog, I found that I should get a diagnosis on how addicted to blogging I have become...

60%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

No, I don't need an intervention yet, but Rico could beg to disagree... now back to editing...

This is home...

Hey everyone! The new, scrubbed up Pelaez Photography website is now LIVE! We would like to send HUGE, HUGE thanks to all our lovely couples who entrusted us with their momentous occasion. The images we captured from your weddings are what makes our new website and we couldn't be happier!

There are more changes to come! But in the meantime, we hope you enjoy the new http://www.pelaezphotography.com!

Peek-a-boo! I see you!

Tee-hee! Here's a sneak peek at what's coming "home"! Sit tight, my friends. It won't be long now...

Revamped!

Since we officially launched this business last February, we have built everything from the ground up. Slowly but surely, we're hitting the goals we've set out to accomplish working with the resources we have at hand. As some of you may have noticed, about a month ago we changed the look of our blog to showcase our images better. While we don't believe this is the ultimate look we want to go with, we're living with it for now. In the meantime, we have refocused our efforts on a vital part of our business that we have unintentionally neglected - our home www.pelaezphotography.com. Yes, that's right, our home will be undergoing a major overhaul. We will give you bits and pieces of what's to come so sit tight. Until then, here's a little sumthin-sumthin...

Proud Fan

We weren't really planning on seeing the Pride Parade this year but our students, Jenny and Young, wanted to have taste of the local culture before they head home to Fuyang, China in a week's time. However, this post has nothing to do with the actual parade (my shots of the participants are rather naughtier than nice). It's just a photo of different kind of spectator on that hot summer day - the k-9 type.

This dog obviously has two sides to his personality - good vs. evil.

And in case anybody's wondering, no, we don't have plans of getting into pet photography anytime soon. Sorry!

Three to tango!

Rico and I try our best to cover every angle and every point of view possible whenever we shoot weddings. There were situations when we wish we had another photographer with us to capture every second from one, two, three possible points of view. It would've also given us license to be much more creative knowing that we had got more than two pairs of eyes documenting the event.

Late night Friday, our good friend Ritchie Jo (yes, that's him on the right - photo courtesy of Ritrato Photography), will be flying in from Salt Lake City for some R&R here in Vancouver. Early Saturday, however, we'll be cracking the whip to put this bad boy to work instead. We'll be covering Sarah and Rick's wedding in Vancouver so it's going to be another long day for us. Having Ritchie there won't make the job easier for us, it just means that we'll be delivering more quality shots for Sarah and Rick to remember the day by. Watch our blog for that! For sure, we'll be showcasing some of our fave shots of the day as well as feature a link to Ritrato's blog for Ritchie's exposures.

-gracci

Details, details, details...

Project Catwalk, the UK version of Project Runway, is one of my guilty pleasures on TV. It's down to the 3 finalists - the larger-than-life cross dresser, Wayne; the ambitiously "wicked" 20-year-old fashion student, Luke; and the outspoken anti-thesis of a fashionista, Monica. I don't really have a favorite and I don't really see a clear front runner which is why I can't wait to see their collections on the runway in the season finale next Monday.

In last Monday's episode, Every Girl's Dream, their challenge was a project that I'm familiar with myself - a wedding gown for a local UK celebrity. When I was planning my wedding 4 years ago, I leafed through a number of wedding mags before I found the one which served as the inspiration for my wedding gown. Below are photos of the gown from Romona Keveza's Legendary Brides collection 2003.

My designer and I made some minor modifications to the design. Instead of the gown being done in pure satin, I asked for the ruffles to be made from organza and added a sprinkling of shiny beads on the bodice and the train of the gown. Here's the sketch of the gown and photos of the dress on our wedding day.

This day is supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime event, thus the pressure and stress that every bride feels to make every detail perfect. I wouldn't say my gown was perfect but looking back now, I still would've chosen the same simple design.

While the gown may be one of the biggest and probably the first thing brides think about as soon as The Question is answered, there are still hundreds of other decisions to define that one fine day. Here are a couple more "small" details from my own wedding:


My wedding shoes - I was inspired by Max Azria's daughter (if I remember correctly) to print our names and our wedding date on the bottom of the soles. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the shoes I copied the design from. Solea, "borrowed" it from me because they loved the design so much they wanted to make a sample for future clients.



My bridesmaid's dresses - I was inspired by the Watters Bridesmaids dress on the left to hand paint flowers on my bridesmaid's dresses.



My flowergirl's dresses - inspired by a flowergirl's dress I saw on theknot.com.



I can't wait to check out these details on our clients' wedding day. I hope we capture them well for our brides to remember and wonder "now, why did I even stress about that?"

- Gracci

Keiko's Cake-o's

We went to our friend's daughter, Julia's 3rd birthday party yesterday and one of the highlights of the afternoon was the arrival of her birthday cake, homemade by another friend, Keiko. She has really outdone herself this time. Here are photos of some of her latest creations... yum:

got video?

We've already had a couple of brides ask us if we know any wedding videographer from the Lower Mainland who we could recommend. Personally, there's one that we won't hesitate to recommend, the man, Jason Magbanua. Too bad he's not from here. You'd have to spend a little bit extra to fly him to Vancouver from the Philippines. He doesn't come cheap as well (around CAD$2500 for all day coverage). The quality of his internationally-acclaimed work speaks for itself and demands the cost. In fact, his team is considered One of the 25 Most Influential Videographers in the World.

We were fortunate that we were able to book him as our videographer for our wedding in 2004. At the time, he offered us a free "Onsite MTV" that we got as part of our package. Onsite MTV is a same-day editing (SDE) of video clips shot earlier in the day from the time we prepared for the day up to the end of the ceremony. During the time between the ceremony and the start of reception, Jason and his team will spend every second compiling video shots together to come up with a short MTV. The video was shown the same day during the reception. Our guests were treated with a view of how the day started and how the ceremony went. It also served as a teaser for how the final video will turn out which didn't come until after a few months later. At least we had something to show of our wedding when we returned to Vancouver while waiting for the final video.

I heard that he's now including clips from the reception as well. His video is then showed towards the end of the reception program. That's just wicked. Obviously, these guys don't get a moment's rest and we don't know how they do it. What are you waiting for? Check out his blog to know what we mean.

Hello World!

Business Registration? Check.
Business License? Check.
Official Website? Check.

We are officially launching our new business - Pelaez Photography. We are taking our love for photography on a new level. This is very exciting and scary for us. We are looking forward to capturing shots of human interest in the weddings we have already booked this summer but the great responsibility of documenting a momentous event for our clients is not lost on us. We just pray that this will inspire and challenge us to do our best in each and every one of our gigs.

In the meantime, here's to our new endeavor... we need this drink to calm our nerves anyway.