200th post! Giant Recap!

I have been a faithful blogger since 2004 using Xanga.  Sadly, I no longer have that account on Xanga.  I was Random_Pepperhead and then the great mango (which is still there I think…)  Then I switched to Blogspot for a little while.

My first blog entry was this: My trip to Ireland

I blogged entries from my travel journal to start with.  Then I moved to WordPress and imported all the entries.   And was so much more happier with the design and ease of use of wordpress.

Over the course of the years, since 10/19/07 (start of blogspot), I traveled to California twice, Seattle, and Italy, prior to that it was Thailand and Ireland.  And my camera gear has changed as with my shooting habits and styles!  It is quite interesting to see how much I have changed.

I went to California with my brother, sister in law, and nephew to see Yosemite, Mojave desert, disney land and some other places in between.

My very first portrait session was … for lack of better terms a “failure.”  It was with this one guy I contacted on craigslist and it just didn’t go so well and the photos ended up … bleh.

But a little afterwards I was contacted with these two friends and I did much better with their portraits.  I am a quick learner so all the mistakes I did in my first session I fixed for this one.

Yeah.. I totally overdid it with watermarks….  don’t stone me!!

And right after that I photographed my first wedding!

The thing with that wedding was that the bride and groom are my parent’s friends and knowing that I wanted to get into weddings they told me to bring my camera gear!  So

But right afterwards, another family friend gotten married and wanted me to shoot the wedding.  My first two in one weekend wedding!

Because I had FF miles, I flew off to Seattle for a week.  And had a coffee and Thailand food delight!

Then a little bit later, I worked with a singer/actress from around work and tinkered with my portrait and lifestyle photographs.  I did tone down my watermarks!

Although it is fair to say that, I still need to work on controlling people’s expressions, at this point.   So it was fair to also say, that I was more of a candid photojournalistic style shooter.

By the time I finished working with her photographs, I was following Vincent Laforet’s blog and usage of the new Canon 5D mk II!  And was stunned with what he did with it!  Little before the camera came out, I purchased a 100 mm macro lens planning to get the 5D Mark II much later.  But I happened to have walked into a best buy, that had the body in stock.  At that time, hardly any retailer had one in stock!  And then and there I picked one up!  My most unplanned purchase!

Stoked with both the 100mm macro and the 5D2, I also signed up for bludomain for my own site.  www.tednghiem.com.

And then … I stumbled upon a wedding site and got some eSessions!  My first eSession was with Kara and Bryan

I did more eSessions afterwards, but in between those eSessions and my boudoir, I went to Italy!

I had the time of my life out there in Italy!  Two weeks of pure gelato and exploring bliss!

Then I did some boudoir!    I did two prior to this next show, but they did not want me to show their photos.

Boudoir

Right afterwards, I went to Florida to spend time with my brother, sister in law, and nephew in Disney World.

I came back refreshed after having a ton of fun with my nephew, brother and sister in law, to get right back into another boudoir.

Then a little later, I was in contact with Pat Furey to 2nd shoot for him!

So within 200 blog posts, I was able to accomplish this much!  I still have ways to go to be an awesome wedding and travel photographer, but i know I will only keep getting better!

Surely I should wait to make this post when the year ends, but 200 posts is a pretty big number!

Blurb and WHCC

I just recently self published my eSession and wedding portfolio using blurb!  My profile at Blurb can be found here: Click Me!

Here is a quick preview of the Blurb album.

Now that I am a client of WHCC, I will be testing out their album designs and printing.  So expect to hear about that in the future.  I want to have the best albums for my wedding clients.  I am not saying that Blurb isn’t good, I just prefer the option of different binding.  I got my sample prints from WHCC the other day, (it came in with my lens rental!  Nice!)  And the prints are amazing!  They are exactly the same as I see on my lcd screen, which is color corrected btw.  I think it is more cost effective if I send out to print instead of in house printing for portfolio and client work.

My photo printer, though no slouch, is the Canon i9900.  But its consistency is missing something.

First meeting!

I met Meghan and Brian tonight.  Although they said they would get back to me in 2 weeks to hire me as their wedding photographer, I can’t help but feel optimistic about this!    Well.. maybe I shouldn’t count my eggs before they hatch.  But, whatever.  haha!

I am certainly willing to negotiate the prices or create a custom package, as I told them I would be willing to do so.  Well if in the end I end up not being their wedding photographer, , I will have some experience!!  First time meeting a couple, the other two times I was thrown into it head on!!  I wasn’t a deer though!  I swear!

Hmmm…

Now that I think about it, I really don’t want them to NOT hire me!!  Come on, Meghan, you said you liked my work!!  DO IT!! haha!!

Hmm..  I think my sales pitch needs to be stronger, I went in conversing like I usually do.  More fun than serious.  Hmmm… wait… that might be better.  haha!