Yesterday, I had an amazing time in SD where I participated at the San Diego Photog Shootout. There were a number of photography leaders coordinating their respective stations. I just hoovered around and took a few pictures here and there.

These two models had the best chemistry xoxo

Despite the male model’s masculine appearance, he snorts whenever he laughs, which makes him super endearing. “Woosah,” he would remind himself while rubbing his ear lobes.

Don’t get deceived by Roxanne’s (Pixel2Canves) sweet demeanor. When she’s serious, she’s serious.

Confessions of a Shopaholic

In the evening, I was graced with the opportunity to share with everyone my brand spankin’ new presentation on understanding our target audience and maximizing social media for generating business.

During my talk, Amber Fox asked me an interesting question – what book would I suggest to read to better understand marketing.

“Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella,” I quickly responded.

While everyone chuckled, no one asked why. After returning home, I realized that I should have said something.

Rebecca Bloomwood (protagonist) is the true epitome of a consumer. While she humorously delves into her reasons (or non-reasons) for compulsively buying things, the better we understand how a consumer’s mentality works, the better we can create a marketing campaign for that specific audience (or any audience for that matter). Plus, it’s a really fun book to read!

Don’t stop at this book – read the entire series!

LA SmugMug Meet

Peter Garr is so gracious to have me as a guest speaker for LA’s SmugMug meet on February 18th, 7pm – 9pm!

Global Cafe
February 18, 2010 @ 7pm-9pm
11002 Ventura Blvd,
Studio City, CA 91604

So if you missed my presentation in San Diego, I will be giving the same one that day on understanding our target audience and maximizing social media

More details here. So, who’s going?

See you all there!!!

Lawrence Chan

P.S. Sorry for being MIA recently (even on Twitter) because I have been super busy with various projects; this includes next week.

P.P.S. If you are attending the San Francisco SmugMug in February, the Bui Brothers have a lighting workshop for $99 – details here.

P.P.P.S. I finally joined the gym! I was going strong for 3-days straight and then I cheated tonight at Island’s Burgers. @Bullysaurus and I are guilty dieters. It wasn’t my fault! She coaxed me into it. We’re trying to look fit for a wedding I’m shooting in Jamaica in May. Ahhh not much time!

Hello everyone!

If you are a bride, please visit my website at www.lawrencechanphotography.com, but feel free to check out our 5-day adventure in Cancun, Mexico.

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What a fun weekend! Although I must admit, shooting two weddings and a day after session consecutively was pretty exhausting.

Resuming – yes what a trip! I am so happy that the Bui Brothers came along and graced us with their good humor and awesome footages.

Day 1 – Arrive in Cancun

Day 2 – Isla Mujeres Wedding – Colleen and Hector

We photographed a beautiful wedding at Isla Mujeres – “Island of the Ladies” – nice name! We also hooked up with the island coordinator – Laura – and she was so impressed with our work that she wants us to be the official video/photo people – woot!

Day 3 – Marriott Cancun – Tiffany and Ly

Tiffany and Ly are such lovable people! We photographed their engagement in New York a couple of times and always enjoyed their company – session one and session two.

Below is a same day edit fusion video! We placed it in their iPod and Ly watched it all night. He even brought it around with him and showed it to random guests in their hotel lobby, which cracked us up.

Here are some still images from their destination wedding! GIVE US SOME PROPS – seriously! It was SUPER WINDY and we still pulled it off.

My favorite (below)! Mom and daughter walking with gusts of winds blowing made quite a cool picture.

Day 4 – Day After Session at Tulum – Tiffany and Ly

Tiffany and Ly wanted to do a day after session at Tulum. Since we were rejected due to permit issues, we were like screw this! We’re still going to get pictures so we rented boats!

Doesn’t this look like a scene from the “Most Interesting Man in the World” except that the dude is Asian? Stay thirsty, my friends.

Isn’t the water gorgeous? Made me want to get a cup and sip from the ocean.

Here is one of many super duper awesome stills! We used a mobile tripod with a custom built frame that held one Pocket Wizard and two 580EX II. We will be hosting workshops on this soon, so stay tuned.

What was so funny was that a group of Italian tourists saw us taking “professional” pictures you can say and thought Tiffany was a super model. Axiomatically, we are professionals, so no sneering please. Anyway, the tourists all pulled out their cameras and started photographing her and us. We told them not to be shy and to come sit with them. I think this picture adds real character!

Despite the afternoon sun, we still pulled off a perfectly exposed image with two Canon 580EX II flashes. We had one pointing at Tiffany and Ly at 75mm 1/2 power and one for the whole group at 24mm 1/2+0.7 power. Final result = awesomness!

Since the sun was setting and we were all getting burnt, I took one last picture with Tiffany showing off her Fendi sunglasses.

Afterwards, we had tacos at Taco Factory, which was fantastic!

Day 5 – Climbed Coba – Tallest Mayan Ruin in the Yucatan Peninsula

Right before Coba, we decided to explore a cave in a giant cenote (underground river).

Lan has vertigo so I am extremely proud of him for braving his fear.

Vu’s take on Coba below -

Once we were on top of the Mayan Ruin, Doug setup the camera while I callibrated the remote light and ta da!

Day 6 – Go Home While Bui Brothers Played in the Waters

Overall a great trip! Again, thank you SEO for making these weddings happen.

I’m on a boat!

Lawrence

P.S. I love reading the Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella.

P.P.S. I think Toblerone chocolate is divine!

Hello,

I was going to make a video post, but decided otherwise because my eyes are really red (since it is late in California). In a few hours, I will be flying to Cancun, Mexico to photograph two beautiful weddings and one trash the dress session consecutively. What coincidence! I am grateful to be graced with good company -

• Douglas Chan (from Furious Photographers)
• Lan Bui and Vu Bui (from The Bui Brothers)

Therefore, I will not be able to respond to emails and etc. until I return on April 29th. The Bui Brothers intend to make video recordings of our trip, so please check back (maybe daily) for updates!

This is the coolest part – we NEVER photographed a wedding Cancun before. How did I book three destination shoots? Simple – SEO.

I made a blog post 1.5 years ago about going to Cancun for vacation. That’s it! No joke – seriously. Gene Higa and I (Lawrence Chan) will be addressing and sharing our trade secrets after this summer via workshops.  We would have done it earlier, but I am going on vacation all over Europe for 1.5 months. If I can book weddings based on one blog post for Cancun, imagine what I will do when in Europe. You can almost call my vacation “work” – boo hoo.

Just FYI, the blog post is really nasty, which is why I did not link to it. Try to find it If you do, comment the link and I will pick one lucky duck at random to receive my cheap airport souvenir from Mexico!

SEO Workshop – (details coming soon)

SUBSCRIBE for updates – It’s worth adding! Trust me, I won’t spam. Also, I will not email you about every blog update, only cool ones. So check it whenever you need some toilet literature (granted you have a laptop in your restroom) :O Just kidding – there’s always cool stuff on Tofurious (at least I deem so).

@tofurious – Join me in Twitterverse!

Anyway, I wanted to share a cool clip I saw a few days ago about design. As photographers (or artists), we should ask ourselves whether shooting weddings/pets/families/portraits/etc. is solemn or serious. It is all right to be both. Just find balance in your lives lest you will burn out. In lieu of shooting the same thing all of the time, try mixing it up a little. Try adding some typography!

Hope you enjoyed the clip! It is a little long, but worth viewing. For those interested in our itinerary -

• Friday – Dinner and cha cha cha
• Saturday – Wedding at Isla Mujeres
• Sunday – Wedding at Marriott
• Monday – TTD at Telum (picture below taken by your very own Lawrence Chan of Tofurious / Furious Photographers)
• Tuesday – Rent a car and drive amuck
• Wednesday – Have lunch and go home

Cheers,

Lawrence

P.S. I love fish tacos (especially from Mexico)

P.P.S. “His beard alone has experienced more than a lesser man’s entire body. His blood smells like cologne. I don’t normally drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis. Stay thirsty my friend.”

UPDATE: PHOTO BOOTH AVAILABLE HERE

First off, thank you everyone for being so patient.  I tried my best to answer everyone’s emails while working full time at my WPPI booth and helping some friends out – the Bui Brothers – on the Epic Hunt (I will making a blog post about them soon so pay attention). If I could clone myself, I would totally do it. There are over 3,000 people using my blog themes right now, so that can give you an idea of the amount of emails I have, so again thanks for being patient

What a week! This was my first time attending WPPI and my first time ever having a booth – what a wicked experience. As much as I would have loved to peruse the convention floor, I had to rely on fellow mates to gather materials for me. For those who did not attend, Tofurious debuted a new photobooth software (created in conjunction with Made By Simple, LLC, which is another company I am partnered with) that had live view and touchscreen! It was encased in a full plexi-glass frame that was completely transparent. Why? We wanted to show how simple it was to create one – three items: camera, computer, [any] printer. We even let our competitor take pictures and video clips because we had nothing to hide.

Hopefully, in the near future I can have the booths mass produced in full sheet metal. The best part is that it will be collapsable. The last thing I want to do is to lug it around on a truck with hydraulics.

Last week’s theme: Digital Awesomeness

So many people came by to take pictures and so many people were ready to purchase a license right there and then! Unfortunately, there are still a few tweaks that need to be done before releasing it. I talked to an old buddy who works for UCLA and he was also interested in getting a few licenses for the university! I was like wow that would be stellar!

Anyway, due to a mountain of emails I am trying to respond to, I will just posting a recap video done by two genuinely cool friends – Aaron Dieppa and Brian Khang. Aaron is attempting to post one video a day for 365 days! It is like a television show that I tune in every night and I suggest you do the same Thanks Aaron for the recap video! Without this, all I have is one picture that Danny took for us.

Aside from that, I had lots of people come by to take pictures, many of which were posted on our clear photobooth. Check them out! I made them all black/white except for one that Doug liked a lot.

Sorry I have to point this one out because it is so funny – hah look at Becker sticking his head in with Danny, Doug and Jasmine Marie!