Newsflash!

Want to get beautiful portraits for your family, yourself, or with a friend?  Interested in professional lifestyle portraits or capturing a snapshot of your life, but you can’t seem to be able to afford them?  Here’s your chance!

This winter, I’m offering to shoot portraits and design a card for you: all in one package.  For $120:*

• 1-2 hour portrait session (this can be yourself, with a friend, or your family)
• 15-3o digital images for you to keep ( full resolution )
• 1 custom design for your card
• 50 professionally press-printed cards (flat cards, with print/design on both sides, printed on textured art paper)**

Does this seem like a screaming deal?  Well, it is!  The whole package is worth about $300 ( photosession, postprocess+designwork, and cost of printing)  but I am offering this price because: 1.  We all need a good deal these days, 2.  I need a reason for people to hire me, and 3.  I want you to be willing to take a chance at some quality work.

*I really want to offer a quality service to people that they can choose to afford, and I also want to give people the chance to give a little extra as a tip, if they feel the work is outstanding.  This has been a great way to work with past clients, and given people a chance to respond to the work at hand.

** I’m open to making a package that fits better for your needs (just digital work for online posting or printing photographs too)

On top of this, I will be offering my services for free to people in our community who cannot afford to pay for professional photographs.  You are also invited to donate to this cause.  Any money donated will be added to a fund that will cover costs of printing, and help to recoup some costs of my own labor.  Please email me if you’re interested in this opportunity.

So hurry, times running out until Christmas or the New Years!  Please contact me here: chiafrica+hope@gmail.com or you can leave a comment below.  If you want to see some of my work, check out my Flickr page, some sets on Flickr, and some of my Wedding and Portrait work.

From Shauna:

Ben’s photos are AMAZING.  He was able to make all of us look good — even our two-year-old, who did her best to hide from the camera the whole time.  When we sent out the Christmas cards he did for us last year, people were commenting on them for months.  In fact, a friend in Guatamala said she wanted to pack up her family and fly to California just so Ben could photograph them, too.  I can’t recommend him highly enough!!

Here are some samples from last year’s session with the Olson-Hong family.

Portraits:

Albert, Shauna, and family.

The little one.

Rest assured.

Together

Final Cards:

Front of Card One

Back of Card One

Front of Card 2

Back of Card 2

So, I guess, in that way, it’s a good thing, complimenting both the bride and groom. So, all that to say that I’m sticking to my guns on this one.

Colin and Carla are great, and they’re definitely missed over here. I’m really glad how these photos turned out. I had a bit of trouble during the ceremony, with my new-fangled flash, but all in all I had a good time documenting the event. It’s really nice to be able to work for folks you know and actually like. I think it helps for a long day.

Here are some of the pictures. I hope you enjoy them.

We had the rehearsal dinner at the house that Colin’s family rented. It was a great spot with pool and a big yard. A great summer day.

Before I knew it, it was go-time. I came back from and errand just in time to start taking pictures of Colin’s brothers getting ready. I like the anticipation before the ceremony.

The ceremony was really beautiful. Carla looked really great, and Colin was nervous but totally excited to get married. I really liked their choice of the Sonoma Mission for the ceremony. All in all it turned out really well.

And the reception was fabulous! Great food, super great light ( what a relief ), and a really fun time of eating, dancing and relaxing. I think this was my favorite part of the day.

I am humbled again.

This time, from a photographer’s best friend:  natural light.

Well, after a crash and burn weekend, I’m grateful to be able to shoot an semi-outdoor wedding for a couple dear friends.  Here’s a sample of Colin and Carla’s wedding.  I just started picking through the pictures, and I figured I’d put a couple up for kicks.  The picture on the left is Colin from a couple years back, when the New Hope kids went to Yosemite together.

More after the jump…

Carla and Colin were great hosts to a really fun and meaningful party.  Their wedding was a great mix of sentiment, care and good intentions.  It was neat to spend the whole day with them from the rehearsal on Friday night all the way to the last farewell on Saturday.  I haven’t had such a productive day of shooting since Mel’s wedding in September.

In some ways, being the Photographer for an event is quite an honor.  When shooting weddings for friends, I’m blessed to be up-close at every moment, looking, waiting and capturing the intimate, funny, and touching events of the day.  (Also later, I’m digging through the whole day with time in front of my computer.)  This is to say that being a Photographer for anyone’s wedding turns into an intimate sharing of space and experience.  I even feel a sense of bond with couples that I don’t even know.  It’s even more rewarding for people that you already know and care about.  I definitely felt privileged to be Colin and Carla’s Photographer.

I’m feeling a sense of renewal these days.  One thing I’ve learned, is that there is a lot more for me to learn about photography, and low-light management.  Like clean, fresh water on a hot day, I was rewarded with a bit of light-relief this weekend.  This was quite a respite to my fumblings (literally) in the dark last weekend.  I know I have a lot to learn about managing a flash, and to shoot quickly.  The natural light gave me a bit of leeway this weekend, which is what I needed.

I have about 30 hours before I get knee surgery ( finally ).  I’m feeling nervous, yet ready for this.  I know that life will change for then next 6-9 months and I’ve been rushing to prepare for the change.  I’m not all the way there, mentally, but, as I told KJ’s dad, “It is what it is.”

Well, there’s more to come ( pictures and posts ).  Here’s just a quick hello, and goodbye.

There isn’t more after the jump, but more to come.

Here’s more on this past weekend.  It is the first I’ve shot back to back weddings.  Granted, I’m doing it with Darryl, so that’s a big relief.  Still, I’m totally worn out by being on for two events in a row.  I’ve also struggled mightily with the low/no light conditions of indoor weddings.  It’s a whole-nother beast, and this time, I think I’m hiding out in the caves waiting for the dragon to fly away.

I’m not afraid to admit my shortcomings, and I think this weekend was a good test for met o see where I can grow.  I definitely learned a lot from shooting with Darrell, and I’m going to add that knowledge to my arsenal of tools.  I’m also getting some advice and help from Nancy Rothstein, who’s been helpful in expanding my scope of Photography knowledge.  She’s helping me with my flash questions on a photo-shoot we’ll be doing later in the week ( before Colin and Carla’s wedding ).

Well, that’s it for now.

I was able to visit my good friend Mikey when I went down to San Diego.  It was really good to catch up, to see his family and to spend time together.  Mike is an avid martial arts instructor and student.  He leans towards the greatness of Bruce and others who follow the code.

I really like the raw and gritty feel of the high – grained black and white shots.  I black and white photography can be quite elegant and raw at the same time.  Click below for more pictures from the garage session.

Check out more here.

Mountain View Cemetery is one of my favorite places in Oakland.  You’d think: you’re morbid, a cemetery?  But seriously, it’s a really cool place.  It’s a mix of death, life, beauty, rich people in fancy graves, poor people in simple graves, flowers, gravestones, grass and trees.  All that you could leave behind, and none that you can take with you.

It was designed to invoke a sense of man in his natural setting.  Thus, the cemetery is more of a park then of a death bed.  A place where a soul, in some ways, comes to rest.  It’s really romantic, not in the I’ll-buy-you-flowers sense, but more of an emotional way to connect man, life, and death.  An idealized sense that humans, at the end of their time, come to connect back in peace with the earth.

(more after the jump…)

KJ and I went to take pictures, and here are some of the noteables.  In general, going on photowalks has been a really good way for me to engage with the environment I live in.  For example, in my neighborhood, it’s really grimy and kind of boring and dirty, but it’s been a good exercise for me to really find beauty in my living area.  At the cemetery there’s always a strange sense of paradoxes:  Life and death, rich and poor, beauty and ugliness.  This time around, there were all of these beautiful flowers, planted for the sake of tradition.  The made great subjects to focus on.    And if you want to see more, you can check out the rest of the set on my Flickr.

Here are some notable shots:

Multicolor tulips.  The light was overcast, and slightly rainy, which made for really great color and even light.  I was really lucky that day.

These hanging flowers were really delightful to my eyes.  I think it’s the combination of the pattern of shapes from the flowers, and then flowing downward shape of the plants.

It was interesting to take pictures of the leaves that were dying off.

I was really intrigued by the shape of the tulips.  Nature has a way of expressing a sense organic perfection.

I cranked up the ISO ( film speed) on my camera, so I could shoot at a higher speed.  I think these pictures of the water fountain really express this sense of the camera as a machine that catches moments.

Again, the patterns and shapes were interesting from all angles.  There’s a lot of color contrast going on here, too.

KJ in action.

Check out the 6 black hands reaching out of the stamen.  Creepy!