Glamorous at 40

You wouldn't believe how old this mom, wife, and nurse who works night shifts for the past decade. When L.A. turned forty, she booked me to photograph this milestone year. (Folks, I have permission from L.A. to put her age in the blog.) L.A says, "I just turned 40 and never felt so great!" There are things that we people always want to do but never get the chance to do it. For LA, she always have wanted a glamor/fashion photoshoot, and she finally had the time to do it. I am honored that I photographed her. When the pictures came out it was great, she loves it. When Phoebe and I were processing the photos, Phoebe just had to ask LA her beauty secret because her skin just looks so fresh. LA says, "I didn't pay close attention to my skin and face until I turned 35! My bestfriend told me then, we owe it to ourselves to look beautiful and feel empowered! Since then, I made a conscious decision to fight the signs of aging...like I load myself with foods that are high in antioxidants and I drink lots of green tea everyday. I also learned the importance of sunscreen and now I use Revale`skin products for my face." Here are some of the photos and quick slideshow. Make up artist is Rose Tomas http://www.rosellatomas.com.




Slideshow:

Inspiration

Phoebe and I get our inspirations from almost any thing - animate and inanimate. We are also inspired by magazines, especially movies(!) and joining photography competitions worldwide. Last June 19, 1 hour before the deadline of Wedding & Portrait Photographers International ( WPPI ) 2009 First Half competition, we submitted few entries in different categories. Today, July 1st, 2009 WPPI informed us that Phoebe's entry in Glamour Category won 2nd Place and my entry in High School Senior Portrait category won 1st Place. Four of my entries also got Accolade of Excellence. What a blessing! We're inspired even more.. :)


1st Place - Sisters - Portrait/High School Senior category


2nd Place - Masquerade - Portrait/Glamour category


Accolade of Excelence - Quintessential - Advertising/Fashion category
Quintessential by Qscents Philippines


Accolade of Excelence - Window - Portrait/Glamour category
Model: Jaja Bolivarof TFC's Adobo Nation



Accolade of Excelence - Lauren - Portrait/High School Senior category


Accolade of Excelence - Blindfold - Portrait/Individual category

Fanny + Shang = A Funny Engagement Session

Fanny and Shang both studied at UC Berkeley, and it is just right to have their engagement session done in the campus to relive the old school days, where they first met and fell in love... and it all started when Shang borrowed an eraser from Fanny =).
We had a lot of laughs during the photoshoot, we surely had a great time with this fun and easy-going couple.
Here are some of their photos and don't forget to watch their cute slideshow at the end.








Slideshow:

A Passion for Life's Moments

We're in Asian Journal =)

When writer Malou Liwanag-Aguilar told us, that the weekly Asian Journal (Northern California edition) would come out on May 29, 2009, we eagerly waited to get the first copy of the newspaper. We headed to the nearest Asian store and got a dozen (or so) =). We were blown-away when we saw the coverpage of the lifestyle section. There we are, our photos in full page glory, holding our cameras. We can hardly stop staring at it, ironically, us photographers have a few photos of ourselves on display, so we savor the sweet moment of being on the newspaper. =)
Malou Aguilar writes, "...photographers could capture moments in a matter of seconds, and yet it would amount to a lifetime of memories. Marc and Phoebe Aviles, through their camera lens, continue to celebrate life in passion." A lot more of good stuff in there, and we're glad our clients are happy to see their photos on the newspaper as well. Read on...

Cover Story, Page 2
Cover Story, Page 3

Weddings Across Cultures

Whenever I fly with Philippine Airlines(PAL), I always scan their in-flight magazine "Mabuhay", which has travel photography and articles worth staring at and worth reading. Last year, I had the chance to start working with PAL as a freelance photographer. I shoot assignments at SF, travel photos in Santa Cruz, and Monterey. It was like a dream came to reality when my photo of the Golden Gate Bridge made it to their Cover Page.

This time, in the month of June, the wedding season, I am glad that our studio got featured in Mabuhay. The magazine featureds cross-cultural weddings that we covered - Indian, Korean, Lebanese, Vietnamese, Chinese among a few.

Gary Singh of Metro, Silicon Valley's weekly newspaper wrote the article.
To see the article please visit the following links:
Page 38
Page 39
Page 40
Page 41

Gary also published an article about us with different slant here at Meto Silicon Valley Newspaper .

We're on TV!

One afternoon, I received a call from Marc, he can't contain his excitement, "Honey, ABS-CBN is going to feature us on tv! They are going to the studio today to have a short interview." I too was in panic, I checked my watch, just a couple of hours left, oh no, I have another bad hair day, no time for hair rescue, clothing change. What am I going to say? What are they going to ask? Restless. It's not everyday this happens, and we must be one of the most video-shy people in Bay area. Definitely we are not camera shy, but video?

ABS-CBN is a Philippine tv network, delivering news, entertainment and content from Manila and US through TFC (The Filipino Channel). The show which we would be on is called Pera Mo Pera Ko (Your Money My Money) and they feature new businesses in a 2-minute segment. Came the writer Mouse Munoz, who interviewed us and he immediately made us at ease. And the segment producer Sam Simbulan was as cool and nice. So here is the video that was aired, credits go to ABS-CBN's Sam and Mouse, for the wonderful edit =). Thank you guys, for this unusual opportunity. And for our good friend Sir Norman who brought our business to the producer's attention.
(In the photo: left to right: Phoebe, Sam Simbulan, Mouse Munoz, Marc)

May + Simon - Cherry Blossoms and more

During May and Simon's consultation with us last year, one of the areas we talked about is their engagement session. We asked what they wanted to do for the engagement session, like we often do, we suggested doing a theme that the couple like, or something that they are passionate about. May had an idea, she wants parasols and a cherry blossom photoshoot. And so cherry-blossom it is! They planned for a perfect timing when the cherry blossoms are in bloom at the Japanese Garden @SF. May was dressed in an off-white wedding gown filled with lace reminiscent of Kate Winslet in that movie Sense and Sensibility.(She will wear a different gown on her wedding day.) Simon does photography as a hobby. He conveyed to us what he wants for his photos, and his wish is our command. Hats off to May and Simon's excitement and energy, it was our pleasure to photograph you. Looking forward to your wedding. Here are some of the photos and watch out for more.

We Made It!

Marc made it to the stage, accepting his trophy for winning 1st place at the recent 16x20 print competition for this year's WPPI Convention held at MGM, Las Vegas. When Marc's name was called out by Jim Garner and Bambi Cantrell, and I saw his winning photo projected on the big screen, I was blown away shocked, "Honey, you won 1st!". The Awards Night is like the Oscars of wedding/portrait photographers, and a great way to end the week-long WPPI convention, which was attended by more than 10,000 photographers worldwide.
This is it Photography also earned eight Accolades of Excellence for the categories Wedding, Portrait, Children, Advertising, and Landscapes.



Marc's "The Modern Woman" won 1st place in the Glamour category.

We made a handful of friends at WPPI, one of them is the cheerful Louis Pang, who is a multi-awarded photographer based in Malaysia, and he conducts photography workshops too. Louis took awesome shots of the event, including this photo of Marc on stage. Visit Louis' informative blog.
Photo by Louis Pang

We learned megatons in this year's WPPI.
I took Yervant's class for 2 days, and I learned from a master. Yervant is one of the top wedding photographers in the world. Brought up in Ethiopia, with an Armenian descent, his father was the official photographer for Ethiopia's royal family. Fast forward, Yervant owns an upscale avant garde photography studio in Australia. He is a funny guy, very approachable. He took the time to know his students, I think there were 20 of us 'students'. Then he showed us how he photographs. The next day, he generously shared his digital darkroom techniques. That was priceless.

While I was taking Yervant's class, Marc was taking Jerry Ghionis' class, another Australian photographer, who is considered one of the top wedding photographers. Marc was inspired by the Jerry's unending creative thoughts.

And another speaker I listened to was Marcus Bell. Marc and I have always admired his works. I was blown away with his presentation. He shared about his troubles when starting photography, and how he arise and passed each adversity. He incorporates video and photo stills, which intensifies the impact of a wedding story. A standing-ovation from the audience, when his presentation ended. With our love for movies, Marc and I are working on combining video and photographs, now that we have our Canon 5D Mark2 camera which has HD video, the possibilities are endless.

We are very excited for this year 2009. We can't wait to work with our clients.

Celebration of Change

President Obama Inaguration - 20 Jan 2009 -
We celebrated this historic moment, with a night of art, live R&B and Reggae, and comedy at Club Avalon in Silicon Valley. The Inaguration party was presented by Robert Warren Enterprises, and hosted by Joey Wells, with celebrity DJ General Lee. Musicians LZ & Ezell, Vacano, and Cali Cuz'nz are bands to watch out for.
To commemorate this event, we setup our studio lights with a backdrop of President Obama's hand painterd protrait done by Bay Area artist Carlos Rodriguez. Party people who wanted their photos taken with Obama, strike a pose at our booth, and we print their photos on the spot. Here is a glimpse. (Thanks to Morian Walker for inviting us.)