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If you are a BRIDE, please check out some of the top San Francisco / Napa Valley wedding photographers [in the world].

Did I ever mention that I normally live under a rock? Coming to San Francisco to do a talk to some of the world’s top wedding photographers was quite frightening. I had to prepare all week for this private workshop. I will elaborate more on this, but here were the attendees! A special thanks to San Francisco wedding photographer Gene Higa for graciously lending his beautiful home for us to use.

Overall, it was a pleasure to be working with these San Francisco based wedding photographers. Please check out their wedding photography websites as they are inspirational!

Everyone got one of of these cool leather portfolios! After a five hour workshop, I am beat.

Images courtesy of Lan Bui

Here is a little plug for some other San Francisco based wedding photographers:

Kameron Olds – http://shootinggalleryphoto.com/blog

Ashley Summer – http://ashleysummer.com

Sara Goetz – http://saragoetzphotography.com

Outtie,

Lawrence

P.S. Gene’s house is really really really nice. It is very cozy. I could fall asleep here.

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Here is another round of simple and minimal wedding album designs. This set is a little different than the previous set of psd designs. This new collection of complex, yet simple, designs more or less lack perpendicularity and some contain contiguous images. If I were to give it an “artistic name,” I would call this collection “Simplistic Chaos.” Sounds intriguing, right? LOL!

The goal of simple and minimal designs is still maintained. Check out some of these wedding album designs!

Purchase 220 Pages (110 Slides) – $60
10×10 Album Templates scalable to 12×12 or 8×8 (confirm with lab)

Sample 1 – Contiguity

Design

Template

Images taken in Isla Mujeres!

Sample 2 – Minimalism

Design

Template

Images taken in Cancun!

Sample 3 – Lack of Perpendicularity

Now how one image took two slots…just an idea! You are welcome to use two image, but this technique gives it a different look.

Design

Template

Images taken at Tulum, Mexico!

Purchase 220 Pages (110 Slides) – $60
10×10 Album Templates scalable to 12×12 or 8×8 (confirm with lab)

SUBSCRIBE for newest updates
TWITTER me
Other Album Designs

Best,

Lawrence Chan

P.S. I love the mall because I get ideas there.

P.P.S. Probably last square album design for a while.

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.

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.

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, I 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!

Here is 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
• 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.”

First off -
YOU WANT TO ADD YOURSELF TO MY MAILING LIST
(I will not spam nor sell your email).

You can be the best [wedding] photographer in the world, but if you do not have exposure, you will never be discovered. And I use the word “discovered” loosely because it can be applied amongst other photographers or more importantly potential brides.

From one perspective, it is critical that you gain exposure to your clientele! Imagine if you can optimize for any location, any venue, any country, virtually anything and ultimately shoot there! I have been graced with the opportunity to photograph various celebrities (sadly can’t post it) and at various destination locations all because of SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

Realizing the need for these valuable and priceless resources, I decided to offer a workshop that expounds on these points. It will change the way you do business thereafter (even if not in photography). Having the knowledge of SEO and effective marketing can make you successful in any industry. I debated about the price of this workshop and still have not settled on one. As you can imagine, I am literally revealing my secrets to [almost immediate] success!

Cities TBA

Location and price is not finalized yet. I can promise you that this is like no other workshop. There is no model shoot or anything. It is 100% interaction and lecture of techniques to be awesome!

Anyway, to demonstrate a fraction of my web presence -

The list goes on…Just to give you an idea, I get about 2-3 inquiries a day for weddings.

Please subscribe AND follow me on twitter @tofurious! Please show the love and tweet!

Also, for those who bought the SEO videos, thank you for your patience. I am seriously trying to put everything together in one lump. They will no longer be available soon or price will be super high, so be glad you got them [cheap because they will no longer be $250].

Sincerely,

Lawrence
A fan of sushi and cold tofu

P.S. If you have a studio in a big city and can host over 30 people, leave a comment with your address. We need locations to have the workshop. Hosts will get free admission to the workshop.

ANNOUNCEMENT:

The plugin is done! Please visit here

My buddies at Made By Simple created a trial plug-in for WordPress. Here are the limitations:

1. limited images
2. limited sizes (small and large)
3. MBS tag

The future version will have unlimited images and there will be more sizes to pick from to fit your blog. This is an awesome addition because you do not have to individually add 80+ images or something anymore. Just add one line and it magically makes you a slideshow – can’t complain about that! 

By far, the coolest feature is FULL SCREEN! Imagine your brides or clients looking at their images as a screen saver.  This is definitely wicked – agree? Just make sure to upload larger sized images like 1600px wide and etc. It is based off a 3:2 ratio so standard 35mm cameras.

[mbspremium slideshow=1]

The images are from a recent trip I took to San Francisco where I photographed Aaron Dieppa’s engagement session with his spunky and beautiful fiance Barbara “soon to be” Dieppa.

We were very fortunate to have Gene Higa and Ann Hamilton come along with us! Just from watching the two of them shoot, I learned so much!

Anyway, you can get your own slideshow plugin from http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/made-by-simple-slideshow

Make sure to import the zipped file through WordPress’ dashboard and follow the instructions from the link above. You can also rearrange pictures by hitting the “gallery” tab after uploading. The premium version is coming out shortly per our last conversation.

I will be heading to a wedding in San Jose tomorrow and then to Vancouver, so I will be gone for over a week. I know you all will miss me dearly (I hope haha), so please do not email me questions about how to use the plug-in. Read the instructions!

I will, however, make tweets so follow me on twitter – @tofurious as you know I will post pictures about my dining experiences hehe!

Also, please please please subscribe because my list is a little small and it makes me glum.

Have a good weekend,

Lawrence Chan

P.S. Please retweet to spread word –
RT @tofurious check out this awesome WP slideshow plugin! http://bit.ly/XFXsD

P.P.S. Got suggestions? Twitter / email me!

I just finalized a complete new set of white designs a black keyline. I have it available in Photoshop and InDesign!

Anyway, for those who did not take advantage of the other super simple album templates, please check them out here – Album Templates Category!

The designs are for 12×12 albums (applicable for 10×10 and 8×8). Reasons for square? Look at our previous post. Link again – http://www.tofurious.com/2009/02/wedding-album-templates/ – also contains a set of FREE samples. With these templates, you can seriously crank out a 60 page album before lunch – you can do the math on how much you will profit.

Keyline Templates

Again, they already have crop marks for cut zones and splits. Just plug in pictures. They are completely different from the first 120 pages, so it’s not the same templates with key lines, which gives you more template’ing power!

Sample Images

Other Album Designs

Yours fondly,

Lawrence Chan

P.S. Chipotle fanatic!