Simran & Gravinder are to be married in April 2011 and they wanted to have their engagement session done this year as oppose to next year. They contacted me by email and we were able to arrange an engagement shoot on November 10, 2010. They are such a beautiful couple and it was easy to make them comfortable in front of my camera. To see more of their shots, you can click on “more and comment”. Thanks Simran & Gravinder for an awesome engagement session!

A couple of weeks ago, Janelle and I bought a new Late 2010 11.6″ Macbook Air. Since we knew that the computer wasn’t user upgradable (meaning you can’t open it up and change its internal components like its RAM, processor, and disk space), we decided to get the highest spec’ed configuration possible. This macbook has a 1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, 128GB of internal flash memory and 4GB of ram. If you hit “more and comment” below, you can view my video review of the Macbook Air!

In part 1 of the review video (below), I go over what is included in the macbook air box, what the product is, and how the product performs.

In part 2 of the review video (below), I talk about the reinstall USB drive that is included in the box and how it compares to my original Early 2006 Macbook.

I just wanted to say how impressed I am with this macbook air. Its performance is snappy due to its internal flash drive. I’m sure that three years down the road, these macbook airs will soon hold at least 1TB of flash memory and we can finally get rid of those spinning hard drives that continue to fail us.

Yesterday was just awesome. The weather was perfect for an e-shoot and I was able to coordinate a date with Simran and Gravinder to do their engagment shoot. This is a teaser shot of their engagement shoot and I hope that you guys enjoy it! I just wanted to say congratulations to Simran & Gravinder on their recent engagement!

Maria, Leah’s sister, came to me one day and asked if I could take her sister’s engagement photos. We ended up booking a Sunday afternoon in the middle of October to get them done. Even though it was a little chilly outside, the weather didn’t affect me so much as I was feeding off Peter and Leah’s energy! They are such a cute couple and it’s easy to see why they are meant for one another. They make each other laugh and throughout the shoot, they were so naturally in love that it made the photoshoot a blast! Hit “more” to see the rest of their shots!

This is a teaser shot of an engagement shoot that I shot today! I just wanted to say congratulations to Leah & Peter on their engagement.

Literally five minutes ago, I decided to take a quick break from studying to blog about Red Robin – the restaurant! Whenever Janelle and I can’t find a place to eat, we always go to Red Robin! They have the brightest and most red interior interior that I’ve seen and it’s always such a delight to take photos in the place. This time around, I had the right camera with me – not the iPhone.

-Read on to find another photo of Janelle!-

Anyways, I’m endorsing red robin because their burgers are too good to pass up as they also offer bottomless yam fries and drinks – which is always a deal! Hmmmm… Yam fries…. Hmmmm….

If you have another burger restaurant that you think is a lot better, comment below so that I can take Janelle there!

John & Liz met at Our Lady Seat of Wisdom which is a small Catholic university in rural Ontario. They were engaged on July 21, 2010 and are set to be married next year on July 16, 2011 at Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel at St. Michael’s Catholic Church, in Douglas, Ontario which is Elizabeth’s home parish. With John and Liz, it was easy to see true love shine. I asked them one simple question and that was “What makes your other half so special to you?” So rather than talking on their behalf, I’ll let them share their own replies.

Click “more and comment” to know their replies & see their engagement photos!

“She’s sweet, faithful, and simple. She’s exactly what I want in a future wife and mother.” – John

“I respected John a lot since the first moment I met him and started to get to know him. He is one of the greatest men I have ever known; he treats everyone he encounters with respect and attention, and loves them just for who they are.” – Elizabeth

“When I first met her, I was struck by her earnestness and sincerity. You could tell she was very genuine – very special. ” – John

“He brings with him a very peaceful presence, and I feel secure when I’m with him.”- Elizabeth

“What made her especially attractive to me was her values. She valued her relationship with God and with her family – The two most important things for me.” – John.

“He’s my best friend, and we laugh all the time when we’re together.” – Elizabeth

To end this post, I just wish John and Liz a happy marriage filled with love!

On August 29, 2010, Janelle (my girlfriend) and I attended Scoop’s 2nd Year Anniversary and all that we can say is that we loved the place! When we entered Scoop!, we felt right at home. We were very relaxed, and we were able to enjoy the rest of the sunny Sunday Afternoon (whoa… that was hard to say).

Check out our experience by clicking on “more and comment” below.

Scoop had a wood store front and it felt like a tiny lodge – which is the coolest thing ever because you rarely get that type of store these days. Anthony Lam from The Others was the one who invited us to the event and since we loved frozen yogurt, we just couldn’t pass it up! As most of you know, Anthony and I met when I took photos of him during the The Others photoshoot for JustALilHype. Anthony Lam and Andrew Lau worked with Scoop to create their 2nd year anniversary tees – Janelle and I bought one each!

So the way it works at Scoop! is that you order the frozen yogurt you desire (I went with mango and Janelle went with the original) and the toppings are self served! You can go nuts on the toppings and sauce! When you end up visiting the place, I HIGHLY suggest the fresh mangoes and strawberries! They are just too tasty to pass up!

The frozen yogurt was amazing and in my opinion, it was the perfect mix of sweetness. I highly suggest that you try it out! We were so enthusiastic about the place that we invited another friend of ours, K-anne Guray and she too, loved the place.

So that’s pretty much it for me! Make sure you check scoop! out! The place is situated in Kitsalano on West 4th Avenue. Their address is 2050 West 4th Ave. Vancouver, B.C. and you can them out at scoopyogurt.com.

Take it easy!

This summer, I took the time to learn theory, write notes, draw lighting diagrams, scout for locations, and talk to local portrait photographers. Once I got out of clinical on Aug 4th, it was time to apply what I learned! Immediately, I was booked for a shoot with JustALilHype – a Vancouver based online magazine. They contacted me, and asked me to shoot a clothing retailer named “The Others”.

Read on to see their shots!

I met Andrew Lau and Anthony Lam, the creators of “The Others”. We had a great time shooting and I look forward to working with them again. Here are some shots Highlighting their Brand and who they are. Click Here for JustALilHype’s interview with The Others.

I’d like to say thanks to the others for a fantastic shoot!

Update: Quick Twist Photography & The Others have new ideas that we are bringing to the table to better advertise their goods!

Today, I wanted to talk about upgrading my wireless triggers. I plan to go from those cheap-o ebay triggers to prosumer (professional/consumer) grade triggers like the alienbees cybersyncs produced by Paul C Buff. Professional triggers like pocketwizard are too expensive for me, and I really have to draw the line somewhere.

So let’s talk about Wireless triggers!

I am going to start a new series called upgrade rant! This is only part 1, but since I am a major gear whore, I’m sure that it wont be the only upgrade rant that i will have. At this moment, these upgrade rants are just rants. So don’t think to much into them as I can already hear my girlfriend getting angry at me for thinking about spending for more photography gear. Well someone has to control my addictive habits and I’m definitely glad that she does. I wont be buying any new gear right now since I am financially unstable due to the fact that I have school. But on the bright side, when school is over, at least I will have a list of material goals that I need to complete [and of course there are things that are not photography gear related that I do want to buy (ie. a car)].

So back to my post – Why upgrade? As I grow as a photographer, I become extremely critical of my own work. With that, I start to accumulate what specific equipment I need. I also grow to understand what the extra dollar I spend will get me. I have very high standards of what types of photos I’d like to produce and how I’d like to produce them. Money put into photography also gets you convenience and flexibility and with that, I can focus more on the task at hand as oppose to wasting time by finding alternative ways around a limitation. Basically, if it will benefit my photography work flow, I’ve got to have it. If it means cutting down on production time, I’ve got to get it as it’ll benefit me and my clients. This is what today’s upgrade rant focuses on. It focuses on spending money for cutting down on production time.

So first of all, what do wireless triggers allow you to do? Well they allow you to take your flash off your camera and place it in a remote location. You can then use the trigger to fire the flashes. Why would you want to take them off your camera? Well, when you take them off the camera, you can shape your lighting to create dramatic effects that are close to impossible to create with on-camera flash. There are two parts to a wireless trigger set. There should be a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter goes on your camera’s hot shoe and when you press the shutter, the transmitter sends off a radio signal to the receiver. The receiver is connected to your flash, and it fires the flash. Its as simple as that.

So anyways, at the beginning, I was not really too sure if I would use flash photography that often so I decided to buy these cheap-o wireless eBay triggers (pictured above). They cost me next to nothing, and at $10 per receiver and $10 per transmitter, they were easily replaceable. As I started falling in love with the professional look of off camera flash, I put them through extensive abuse. The costs started to accumulate as (a) I was continuously replacing them as they kept breaking down on me (b) since they werent energy efficient, i kept replacing the batteries that they utilized (AAA batteries and 23A security batteries). That was okay with me, but the thing that bugged me the most about them was the fact that these triggers have a limited range of 10-15 feet (3-5 meters) in which they worked reliably (which is 90% of the time). After that range, its a hit or miss really and that’s where I have to cross my fingers. This proves to be a huge problem for me because it affects my production work flow for all of the types of photography services that I offer to my clients.

It is a big inconvenience that I face when I am shooting events. This is one of the main reason as to why I put my photography event services on hold. As most of you know, moments only last for a second and if those flashes don’t fire within that second, its one less photo that I can present to my clients. It’s really frustrating not being able to take that perfect shot just because your wireless triggers don’t work. Also, it’s hard to focus on your work when in the back of your mind, you always ask yourself, “will my flashes work when I am this far from them?” And when you go to squeeze the shutter button, you pray that they do. Shooting events is stressful enough, and praying that your flashes will work just adds to that amount of stress.

So what is the solution? Obviously, an upgrade!

These are wireless triggers produced by Paul C Buff. They are called Cybersyncs (pictured above) and after testing them for 2 days now, they seem to be holding up their own in terms of value. First of all, the price of these triggers prevented me from buying them in the first place. Each transmitter (the small one above) costs 59.99 USD and the receiver (the larger one) costs 69.99 USD each. When i started to replace my ebay triggers with more ebay triggers, I realized that i should have gone to purchase these instead. I am sure that I wont make that same mistake again.

Now what does spending more get you? Well first of all, you get reliability. These wireless triggers work at a maximum range of 440 feet (134 meters). I have tested them at 200 feet (61 meters) and they work at a 100% with no misfires. The transmitter (known as the CST) utilizes a CR2450 button battery and has a lifespan of 2 years. The receiver (known as the CSRB) takes AA batteries, and has a battery lifespan of a year. It amazing when you compare these values to the ebay triggers – whose reliability is close to crap, and it’s battery lifespan is just slightly over a month.

There are small things about the cybersyncs that bug me. First of all, build quality is average. In fact, I prefer the build quality of my cheap-o triggers. The is because the cybersyncs have small gaps in their fit and finish. Second, there is no on/off button on the receiver (CSRB). When they are turned on and/or fired, they stay on for an hour on “standby” mode. After the hour, they turn off automatically. This bugs me because it drains the batteries. That’s pretty much all that I can say about these triggers.

In conclusion, I’m definitely sold on these triggers! They are reliable at 100%, they work past my required working distances, and they have an amazing battery life which reduces my long-term costs (batteries and replacement costs). I will be buying these to decrease my stress and cut down on my production time. Now since the underlying message is, “buy it once, buy it right”, why wouldn’t I buy professional-grade triggers like the pockewizards. The only benefit that I see from buying these professional grade triggers is that they work up to 500 meters (1600 feet) or more. At $180 per transmitter/receiver, I just don’t find the benefit to be justifiable as I will never be working past 60 meters away from my subjects.