Grand Central Station

The San Francisco Bay Area is a great place to live; however, there are other cities that are just as interesting, exciting, and offer some great opportunities for photographs. A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I took a short trip to Manhattan, New York. It was great to get away and to do some exploring in another fantastic city.

NYC really goes the extra mile during this time of year with decorations for the holidays. The lifestyle there is fast paced compared to SF. The streets are bustling with people and crammed with traffic. Yellow taxis zipping around and many with their horns blaring. The tourists are from other parts of the country, but many we met are from other parts of the world as well.

We met couples from England, Germany, and Canada. Some very friendly NYC locals gave us some tips on some great street food near our hotel (Halal Street Gyro Vendor at 53rd and 6th) – and yes, just like the photos on the above link, there was a line of customers twenty people long. Do not be fooled, the vendors on the other three corners of the street just do not have the same recipe. Not sure what the secret is, but I have to say, the food platter was great, especially for just six bucks.

We enjoyed the typical visitor activities like seeing a show (Wicked), a NYC movie premier, and running around on the subways to various parts of the city and Chelsea Market. I even made a trip out to B&H Photo to pick up a new memory card and to just to see the place. Lots of cool gear there.

Although we wished we could have spent a few more days in the city, I still had a chance to take a few photos while walking around midtown on the West side near the park. These photos were taken with a Nikon D700 and a Sigma 12-24mm lens and a Panasonic LX3. The D700 was used for most of the images; however, the LX3 was great since it was small enough to fit into my cargo pant pocket (barely.) I hope you enjoy the photographs, and Happy New Year to all of you.

NYC Subway Station

Trees in Central Park

Park Bench

Reflection

Tree & Stone

Man & Dog

FDNY

FNDY Ladder 10 Engine 10

Holiday Lights

Wall of Snowflakes

Holiday Trees

Cartier NYC

Yellow Taxi Ornament

Skating at the Rink

Tree at Rockefeller Center

Hye Jin and Ashish met through some friends through their work. To be honest, more people were worried that Hye Jin (a former UW Cheerleader – yes, she’s very cute and super spunky) would break Ashish’s (this guy has the most cheerful smile) heart, but thankfully, they simply fell in love. They’re made for each other and it’s obvious to anyone who has seen them together. The way that they look at each other, and the fact that they simply “get each other” is clear. This was going to be an incredible wedding celebration. It all started with a rehearsal dinner on Thursday, July 31, followed by an culturally Indian wedding celebration on the 1st, and a Christian wedding on the 2nd.

One thing I noticed was that this was a great group of people to work with. All of the bridal party (you can see individual post of them on the link listed above) were excited to see this day of celebration. They all wore culturally authentic clothes and participated in the morning’s traditional pre-wedding blessings. I knew this was going to be a blast to shoot. Even though the previous night brought some rain (my first experience with rain in Seattle) the next day proved to be a bit windy, but still beautiful. I found some great locations nearby, and we didn’t need to drive very far for our session. The bridal party was also game for a short walk, so it was fairly easy to find a few nice locations for our photographs. On Friday, the Indian wedding day, one of Dawn Shield’s assistants (Becky) worked along side me. She was great as a second shooter and got some great images as well. Although Dawn was out shooting an assignment in Missouri that day, she was a traveling champion and made it back the next day to Seattle for the Christian wedding day.

The Christian wedding day was almost like shooting a whole different group of people. They were either in suits or nice cocktail style dresses, and they all looked great. This was going to be another fun day of shooting. Dawn and I were excited since we actually knew the areas that Hye Jin and Ashish were using for their wedding reception which is where we used for their photographs, so it all came pretty naturally. On top of it all, the two of them were just as excited on day three as ever.

Their wedding day on Saturday was amazing. The venue was the EMP in Seattle, and it was like attending a very exclusive party (which is was.) The interior was gorgeous and lit with gorgeous colored downlamps (photographers love this!) and I was psyched to be able to be there to share in this huge day with them. The stage area had a gigantic led covered screen that was constantly changing depending upon the mood or in sync with the music that was being played. During dinner it was subdued, but when the band was playing, it was like being at a live rock concert. So slick!

The photos you see here are simply some that I liked, but there were so many great images of them, I had a hard time whittling it down to these few. I hope that you all enjoy them. Congratulations again to Hye Jin and Ashish! Best wishes to you.

Image #1 | Hye Jin & Ashish at Pike Place Public Market

Image #2 | Hye Jin with Indian Cultural Sari

Image #3 | Hye Jin and Ashish

Image #4 | Hye Jin & Ashish in Hall

Image #5 | Look at my Henna!

Image #6 | Do I Look Silly?

Image #7 | Beauty in Black and White

Image #8 | How can she not love Ashish? Look at that smile!

Image #9 | Waiting for the bride...

Image #10 | Together at last

Image #11 | As high as the Space Needle

Image #12 | Kissing in Black & White

Image #13 | Hye Jin with Lori, Felicia, Su Jin, Kelli, Sarah, and Julie

Image #14 | Ashish with Janos, John, Jeet, Robert, Sachin, and James - and then getting pummeled

Image #15 | Living like ROCKSTARS

Image #16 | Hye Jin & Ashish - Congratulations!

Image #1 | Nice beach house!

Image #2 | Jim and the girls enjoying the patio

Image #3 | Getting some Seattle sun

Image #4 | Jim and Katarina enjoying the summer beach

Well, a couple weeks ago, I spent a few days up in Seattle with some friends (i.e., Dawn Shields and her friends most of whom are also photographers.) I realized that my last few postings have been a bit light on photos, which isn’t great for a photographer’s blog is it? So… I figured I’d show you what an incredible place Seattle is, and how it kind of reminds me of the Bay Area.

When you drive on the freeways it looks a lot like driving on 280 (a local freeway here) and the scent of the open water is very familiar as well. The loading docks in Seattle remind me of the ones we have here in Alameda. The people are friendly there as well. All in all, a fun place to visit – especially, when it isn’t raining (it’s only rained on me once in all the times I’ve been there.) But the good photos are the ones of Jim and Katarina’s beach house.

This place is an incredible beach house that we stayed at up at Whidbey Island which is located right next to the Navy Air Station. Let me tell you, there is nothing that sounds as cool as Navy Jets blasting overhead. Very cool indeed even when we had to shout to talk to each other. The trip was really dedicated to share some of Jim’s business tips and techniques, and to enjoy the leisure of the beach house. Another great part of that trip is that I got to see some great locations in Seattle for shooting. Why is this important to me? Well, it’s because I just shot a wedding there this past weekend, and I got to go back to my favorite spots! I’ll be posting some of those images as soon as I have a chance.

Jim and Katarina, and their staff, made sure that this was like a luxury trip.  We had specialty cooking done by Katarina’s brother, Stephan. He’s a trader by day, and a culinary chef on his off time. I have to say, the food was awesome! Kayla is not only a great photo assistant, she’s an amazing barista as well. Thanks for all of the americanos and espressos!  Jim was also tireless as he stayed up each night eager to share his ideas and tips with us. All in all, it was tiring, but so incredibly inspiring as well. Thanks Jim and Katarina – you can sign me up again for next year ]]> http://www.michaelmuramoto.com/blog/2008/08/summer-in-seattle/feed/ 0 http://www.michaelmuramoto.com/blog/2008/07/heading-home/ http://www.michaelmuramoto.com/blog/2008/07/heading-home/#comments Fri, 25 Jul 2008 19:14:57 +0000 Michael http://www.michaelmuramoto.com/blog/2008/07/heading-home/ Whew. I’m writing this from my iPhone, so if it looks a little wonkey that’s the reason why. The photos are from the iPhone too. Right now I’m exhausted, but so inspired and invigorated. That’s the result of spending a week with other great friends and photographers, and to see the results of our work together.

This week I’ve been in Seattle as a special guest of Jim and Katarina Garner – who are rated and known as one of the World’s Top Ten Photographers. Jim is the eye behind the camera and Katarina runs the business. It is really an honor to be in their home town in their home/studio and beach house (which is absolutely AMAZING btw.) My good friend Dawn Shields arranged this week for herself and her close friends.

To be honest, I already knew that Jim is charismatic and a blast to be around, but I had no idea just how much! This man has more energy than anyone I know. We’d be up after midnight and he’s still coming up with amazing solutions to share with all of us. All this and the fact that he’s so humble about his success makes him even more impressive.

Even though it was a trip of a lifetime – especially as a photographer – I’m excited to be heading home so I can implement his techniques into my business. And of course, to celebrate my anniversarry!