Archive for April, 2007

Monday April 30, 2007

April 29th, 2007

EDIT: Scroll down for some old photos! :END EDIT This past friday CFC had their farewell service where they recognize those that graduate from school and say goodbye to some that are leaving. Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to attend it since I was away shooting a wedding. But it made me think about [...]


Posted in: Uncategorized
Expand Close
| No Comments | See Full Post
 

EDIT: Scroll down for some old photos! :END EDIT

This past friday CFC had their farewell service where they recognize those that graduate from school and say goodbye to some that are leaving. Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to attend it since I was away shooting a wedding. But it made me think about my time down here at Champaign. To my shocked it just occurred to me that I’ve been down here for almost 15 years now! My how fast time flies. It just seem like yesterday that I was running around as a freshmen getting chased my older guys for being such a goof ball. I guess time does fly when you are having fun.

So I decided to take a walk down the memory lane trying to remember some of my CFC highlights:

(sorry, this entry might be very boring/scary. this is more for myself to help me recollect my memory)

FRESHMEN YEAR: 1992 – 93 (ISR)
Small Group Leaders: Pastor Joe Lee & Mary Kim
Revival Speaker: “Undying Love” Rev. Victor Kim
Retreat Speaker: Pastor Min Chung
Summer Small Group Leader 93: Did not stay
Misc info: First CFC Mini-Olympics held at Allen Hall pond (a field used to be there). There were less than 200 people in CFC and I knew every single one’s name. Elected CFC officers by showing up to a meeting early in the morning on saturday. We voted by raising hands.

SOPHOMORE YEAR: 1993 – 94 (ISR)
Small Group Leaders: Seung Bok Cha & Jean Kim
Revival Speaker: “Serving the Purpose of God in my Generation” — Rev. Jaime Kim
Retreat Speaker: Alpha Omega reunion (Steve Lee, Paul Kim, Peter Kim & Rev. Young C. Kim)
Summer Small Group Leader 94: Jack Song & Chung Cha
Misc info: First Summer League tournament began with 8 teams and just one league. CFC added 2nd service (3pm). Alpha Omega band breaks up. CFC praise band begins. The last year that Lock-In was held at the basement of CUCC.

JUNIOR YEAR: 1994 – 95 (FAR)
Small Group Leaders: Jeanette Kim (Lee) & Sol Bahng
Revival Speaker: “Undivided Heart” — Dr. Charles Zimmerman
Retreat Speaker: David Yang, Steve Kang & Rev. Joseph Yang
Summer Small Group Leader 95: Jack Song & Chung Cha
Misc info: Michael Jordan comes back from his first retirement. My roommate was in the shower when he found out about it – he reacted by jumping up and down and screamed in the shower. First time CFC did not send a summer missions team.

SENIOR YEAR: 1995 – 96 (FAR)
Small Group Leaders: Yun Choi & Young Ah Seo
Revival Speaker: “You Will be My Witnesses” — Rev. Young Chul Kim
Retreat Speaker:Rev. Young C. Kim & Rev. Steve Kim
Summer Small Group Leader 96: Jenny Chung & Mike Lee
Misc info: OJ Simpson declared “not guilty” Mini-Olympics moved from Spring to Fall.

FIFTH YEAR: 1996 – 97 (FAR)
Small Group Leaders: Jeanette Kim (Lee) & Andrew Jun
Revival Speaker: “Holy Love” — Rev. Jaime Kim & Father R.A. Torrey
Retreat Speaker: Rev. Victor Kim
Summer Small Group Leader 97: Miryung Kim & John Barger
Misc info: Mike Park joins the band. CFC had their first and only back to back Revival Meeting. Bulls win 3 more championships starting this year. Pastor Milo marries Natalie – first official “CFC” wedding. My last year as a college student.

SIXTH YEAR: 1997 – 98 (FAR)
Small Group Leaders: Chung Cha & Jae Ha
Revival Speaker: “Precious Pearl” — Rev. Young Chul Kim
Retreat Speaker: Rev. Jamie Kim
Summer Small Group Leader 98: Susan Nam & Me
Misc info: Pastor-to-be Sean Lee used to be a fringe member. Life as a working person begins.

SEVENTH YEAR: 1998 – 99 (FAR)
Small Group Leaders: Jeanette Kim (Lee), Ray Diaz & Me
Revival Speaker: “Passion for Jesus” –Dr. Charles Zimmerman
Retreat Speaker: Dr. William Harding & Pastors Young Chul Kim
Summer Small Group Leader 99: Joyce Lee, Grace Chen & Me
Misc info: Service times switched from 12:30 & 3:00 pm to 9:30am & 12:30pm.

EIGTH YEAR: 1999 – 2000 (ABEL)
Small Group Leaders: John Lee, Eleanore Lee (Park) & Me
Revival Speaker: “In Christ Alone” — Prof. William Harding
Retreat Speaker: Pastors Young Kim, Victor Kim & Dr. Steve Lee
Summer Small Group Leader 2000: Haeny Yoon, Sam Hyun & Jiehae Lee
Misc info: I officially shaved my head this year. No turning back since then.

NINTH YEAR: 2000 – 2001 (ABEL)
Small Group Leaders: Esther Cho, Joyce Ku & Cecil Choi
Revival Speaker: “Lead me to the Cross” –Dr. Charles Zimmerman
Retreat Speaker: Pastors Won Sang Lee, Young Lee & Dr. Steve Lee
Summer Small Group Leader 2001: Tiffany Jon, Damian Lay & Praise Lee
Misc info: Matt Lee joins the band, introduces the electric guitar and reinvents the praise band. Quit my first job and join another software company.

TENTH YEAR: 2001 – 2002 (ABEL)
Small Group Leaders: Mike Kim, Esther Kang & Annie Moon (Eleanore Lee (Park))
Revival Speaker: Pastors Paul Kim, Seth Kim & Dr. Steve Lee
Retreat Speaker: Dr. Steve Lee, Dave Lee & Rev. Henry Koh
Summer Small Group Leader 2002: Harold Huang & Missy Minert
Misc info: Career Bible Study is introduced. Purchased my first digital point-and-shoot camera (NIkon Coolpix)

ELEVENTH YEAR: 2002- 2003 (CAREER)
Small Group Leaders: 2002 – 03: Esther Cho, Missy Minert & Me
Revival Speaker: Dr. Charles Zimmerman
Retreat Speaker: Dr. Willam Dunbar
Summer Small Group Leader 2003: John Kim & Esther Cho
Misc info: Men Tennis team goes 32-0 – wins NCAA singles, doubles and team championship

TWELFTH YEAR: 2003- 2004 (FAR)
Small Group Leaders: Ellie Kim, Mike Yoo, & Vivian Lee
Revival Speaker: Dr. Steve Lee
Retreat Speaker: Dr. Steve Lee
Summer Small Group Leader 2004: Sean Lee, David Chang & Mina Choi
Misc info: Leave the software company. Begin the lonely road as an independent freelance designer. Dr. Steve leaves for missions. ABEL wins Mini-Olympics for the first time in CFC history. Pastor Paul Chi traded from GCC to CFC. Roger Powell Jr. joins our summer small group.

THIRTEENTH YEAR: 2004- 2005 (FAR)
Small Group Leaders: Mike Park, Dan Ko & Joomi Oh
Revival Speaker: Pastor John Teter
Retreat Speaker: Dr. John Yenchko
Summer Small Group Leader 2005: Josh Kim & Caroline Yun
Misc info: Illini basketball goes to the NCAA finals for the first time in history.

FOURTEENTH YEAR: 2005- 2006 (FAR)
Small Group Leaders: Josh Kim & Irene Jang
Revival Speaker: Dr. Charles Zimmerman
Retreat Speaker: Dr. Paul Borthwick
Summer Small Group Leader 2006: Chris Sotelo, Grace Sue & Song Eun Han
Misc info: Started picking up wedding photography.

FIFTEENTH YEAR: 2006- 2007 (ISR)
Small Group Leaders: Chris Sotelo & Karen Seo
Revival Speaker: George Verwer
Retreat Speaker: Dr. Roy King
Summer Small Group Leader 2007: ???
Misc info: For the first time, I did not receive a single mission support letter. I guess this means I do not need to pray for the Summer Missions Team!

Now here are some photos w/ captions:


Jinbae & KJ before they grew taller than me | Me, Jessica, Cindy & Hamin – I don’t think we won that year
   

Small group reunion | Ginna, Nancy, Pat & I at FFH/Jennifer Knapp concert
   

My first OIL small group | A bunch of us including P. Min going to see the first episode of Star Wars in 99
   

Christmas party @ Cindy, Jaehee, Joyce(?) & Jessica’s place | Ian Segovi(Ha) & I (Ian created the most nicknames for himself)
   

Joe Han & I before when we used to have hair | My roomates in college: Harold Kim & James Han
   

Me, Jeanette & Ray Diaz served together one year | Pics w/ Jipsanim
   

This might be the only proof that Pat Yoon shaved his head in college (I shaved it for him – Pat what were you thinking?! ) | Me, Sean & Rich Park
   

YooC still looks the same | Grace Kohng & I when we used to baby sit Joshua & Daniel Chung
   

Our gang celebrating Anna Kim’s first bday | Summer small group 01?
   

Rich “aka Rookie” Woo’s freshmen year – ahh, miss those Unicomm days! | Small group w/ Esther, Joyce and Cecil
   

It was someone’s birthday at Alexanders | Summer BBQ at Unicomm
   

Working w/ 2 Johnny’s at Wolfram | P. Min & I at 2nd J-Gen
   

Small group w/ Shabba, Esther & Annie | My first small group leaders: P. Joe & Mary
   

Jennie Lee’s birthday | My sophomore year
   

Andy “Andiana” Koh’s birthday (I’m the guy covered in Andy’s shirt) | Intramural tennis team (Jr year)
   

My sophomore small group (mini-o champs!) | Our freshmen class night / first official class photo
   

James’ birthday sophomore year | hanging out w/ the older guys @ lock-in
   

My sophomore year – taking pictures of the freshmen class | late night @ Denny’s for Wookie’s birthday
   

One of the many controversial photos taken of Mike Park | My junior year birthday
   

Intramural 5’9″ & Under champs – I don’t think I got any playing time that game – my team was stacked! | KASA volleyball team – back when volleyball tourneys were popular
   

My senior year birthday at FAR | A tribute to Jack Song – photo taken w/ all the people that were in Jack’s small group
   

Fun days of organizing KASA tournaments | some of my class guys at farewell service
   

Summer small group 96 | KASA 5’9 & under champs again
   

My 29th birthday party | Newsboys concert w/ some friends
   

This picture really doesn’t have anything to do w/ me but had to post it here. This was one of many games that Jim Han & Harold made up that were controversial. As you can tell by Jenny’s face – she was very heebed out. Eric also felt awkward doing it. This was the last time Harold and Jim were asked to MC or lead games again | OIL small group 2002 or 03?
   

Good ol days of living at Vawter | @ Peter’s wedding – Elbert snuck out and got us Wendy’s right before the ceremony
   

2003 Small group w/ Ellie, Mike & Vivian | Lived with Jim Han that year
   

This is my first attempt at wedding photography – P. Milo & Natalie coming out of UAG. This was CFC’s first official wedding.

Let the good times roll!!!

Tags / Categories / Comments

breaker

Saturday April 28, 2007

April 27th, 2007

EDIT: Just got done with Mike & Jane’s wedding! Had a great time there. It was great seeing some old friends as well as making new friends. Here’s just a couple of shots from the wedding. I will post more later.     By the way, I think it’s cool that girls down at CFC [...]


Posted in: Uncategorized
Expand Close
| No Comments | See Full Post
 

EDIT: Just got done with Mike & Jane’s wedding! Had a great time there. It was great seeing some old friends as well as making new friends. Here’s just a couple of shots from the wedding. I will post more later.

   

By the way, I think it’s cool that girls down at CFC got together on their own to have a area/class wide powder puff game. I wish I could’ve been there to capture the moment for them. But good thing our church has other photographers – these guys are like the unofficial AP photographers – they are everywhere to cover the event.
Check out some cool football photos at Dan Lee’s xanga
END EDIT

I’m up in chicago (again) this weekend to cover Mike Zimmer and Jane Lee’s wedding. I came up early to attend their rehearsal. If possible, I try my best to go to them. I love showing up at reherasals to meet the family members and the bridal party. It’s a great way to get to know them little bit and get them relaxed/comfortable with me before the big day.

Because Mike and Jane both went to U of I, there were lot of familiar faces there. So it was a great way to catch up, relax while getting prepared for tomorrow’s wedding. Here are some shots I snapped while I was there:

Jane kept telling Mike to go slow while walking down the aisle. But Mike couldn’t hide his excitement to get married – they are such a fun couple

The ring bearer and flower girl had their game face on – they are ready for the big day – Bring It On!

I haven’t seen Cheryl in couple of years. But it’s good to see that some things don’t change – she still has that great smile! She’s the maid of honor.

Dave couldn’t be more proud and happy for his younger brother! He’ll be the best man.

The groomsmen are practicing their smile for tomorrow’s photoshoot – they are almost there!

The ladies obviously don’t need any practice – they are ready to go!

It’s going to be a blast hanging out with these guys tomorrow. Can’t wait.

2007

Tags / Categories / Comments

breaker

Wednesday April 25, 2007

April 24th, 2007

EDIT: XANGA now allows anonymous comment feature. So you no longer have to have a xanga account to leave comments. Just select the anonymous feature when you are about to leave a comment. This is pretty cool. I actually thought about leaving xanga to have this feature on my blog. Pretty sweet! Here are few [...]


Posted in: Uncategorized
Expand Close
| No Comments | See Full Post
 

EDIT: XANGA now allows anonymous comment feature. So you no longer have to have a xanga account to leave comments. Just select the anonymous feature when you are about to leave a comment. This is pretty cool. I actually thought about leaving xanga to have this feature on my blog. Pretty sweet!

Here are few more images from the concert:

   



END EDIT

This weekend began the first of my series of concerts which I will be shooting this year. Michael W. Smith, an iconic figure in Christian and perhaps even in main music industry graced us with his presence. I feel like this man doesn’t need an introduction, but for the young-ins out there, here’s a brief description of Smitty:

He is a renowned contemporary Christian songwriter and artist. He has produced eighteen albums, ten books, and has won both the Grammy and Dove awards. He is one of the spokesperson for Compassion International and is on the committee of advisors for the President of the United States.

The concert was blessing. He covered various tunes from his current album and pulled out some of his classics. He also mixed in some praise and worship songs that got the whole audience involved. Being able to enjoy the music that I like and shooting at the same time is a double bonus! Here’s a quick recap of the night:

The man is almost 50 and he looks like he’s in his late 30′s and early 40′s. What a stud! Unlike Wililam Shattner, he definitely aged well. (I had to put this in here in case Mr. Smitty reads my blog)


Every famous music artists wears these classic converse shoes. What is it about them? Hmm…I might have to go out and buy a pair.

Watching him tickling the ivory made me regret again not taking piano lessons as a kid…

I was very please to find out that Smitty’s computer of choice was a Mac.

Michael Olson is a new upcoming christian artist. He played couple of his songs for us. I really liked “On the Third Day”. Click on his name to check it out.

Christa Black was another artist that was travelling with Smitty. She wowed us by singing and playing her violin at the same time. I have hard time doing either one but to do both… like I said, wow.

More shots of Smitty

This one is my favorite…

As I mentioned, I don’t think the younger crowd appreciated him as much…

Smitty thanked the audience as they gave him a standing ovation…

The ovation didn’t stop for several minutes so Michael came out for an encore and finished the night by singing his classic song “Friends”. I’ve always wanted to hear him sing this live – so this made me extremely happy.

I ran into Stacey Kuo, Emily Chan and some of her friends (sorry didn’t have time for introduction) during the “meet and greet” time so I took a photo for them. Looks like they have some connections!

The next concert I will be covering is Hillsongs United (5/30 Hoffman Estates). Anyone going to that one? Looking forward to seeing you there if you are. I heard the tickets are going fast for that one so I’d hurry if you didn’t get yours yet!

2007

Tags / Categories / Comments

breaker

Friday April 20, 2007

April 19th, 2007

During my two week trip, I got to attend one of my good friend’s wedding out in the east coast. James and I were roommates for three years in college so we had lot of memories together. It was sad as we parted our ways after college but I believe that sometimes being apart tests [...]


Posted in: Uncategorized
Expand Close
| No Comments | See Full Post
 

During my two week trip, I got to attend one of my good friend’s wedding out in the east coast. James and I were roommates for three years in college so we had lot of memories together. It was sad as we parted our ways after college but I believe that sometimes being apart tests the bond and strength of a true friendship. Whenever we get together I feel like we pick up right where we left off.

This time, I wore the hat of being the “uncle bob.” The couple decided to hire another photographer because he wanted me to just enjoy the wedding. But that’s like telling a bird not to fly and just enjoy the view. James is a special friend of mine so I decided to snap a few photos for him. As my friend/mentor Becker describes it, I became “the family member with a fancy camera” at this wedding.

The celebration took place at the Pleasantdale Chateau. This beautiful mansion is a hidden gem located in the heart of West Orange, NJ.




   

A quick rehearsal before the real thing…




The bride looked graceful and elegant decorated in this gorgeous dress designed by Vera Wang

James couldn’t keep his eyes off her



   

The ceremony center quickly transformed into the reception hall while the guests mingled outside








John and Semi – can’t wait to cover their wedding in June out in Philly!


   





Even though I had just met Grace, it didn’t take me long at all to figure out that they were perfect for each other. Congratulations guys!

2007

Tags / Categories / Comments

breaker

Thursday April 19, 2007

April 18th, 2007

EDIT: The Champaign shootout on the quad is postponed again due to weather! We will try to do something next week END EDIT What happens when you take a Dutch boy and a Korean girl and put them together? Love. James and Jane celebrated their wedding last month in front of all their family and [...]


Posted in: Uncategorized
Expand Close
| No Comments | See Full Post
 

EDIT: The Champaign shootout on the quad is postponed again due to weather! We will try to do something next week END EDIT

What happens when you take a Dutch boy and a Korean girl and put them together? Love. :) James and Jane celebrated their wedding last month in front of all their family and church members.

By the way, I’m trying out this new and bigger image size. Let me know what you guys thinks (too big, just fine, etc.). I am also going to try to cut down on number of images per wedding and try adding in captions for few photos. I would like to hear your thoughts on that as well.

Their ceremony was held at their home church – Bethel Presbyterian Church in Chicago.



James’ grandmother admiring the mother of the bride’s dress

The father couldn’t wait – he wanted a sneak peak of his beautiful daugther!

I knew that James played the piano but I didn’t know how good he was. Rather than waiting at the altar, he played this beautiful piece on piano that blew everyone away while Jane walked down the aisle.







James made a valiant effort to say his vows in korean. It was a mixture of humorous and touching moment

Even though Jane’s korean is perfect, she decided to stick to English for her vow

James’ brother couldn’t be more happier for the couple

Parents giving their blessing to their union

The kiss



Boys will be boys…


Then we headed over to The Seville for the reception. Someone obviously did not win the spelling bee contest



Rather than getting introduced one by one, the groomsmen decided to be creative and make a “different” entry


I think Arturo Garcia looks much better with his head shaved

The groom wasn’t too shabby either

Hmm…who’s happier – James or Jane?






Sorry ladies – he’s already taken!

They just found out what the money dance was – Arturo loves the idea!



It’s a rare occasion that a wedding party will consist of Dutch, Korean, Hispanic, and Indian – talk about a fusion of culture! So we decided to go to O’hare international airport to do a quick photoshoot!

This wedding took place right before my crazy two week long trip so it took a while to get these posted. Look for more posts coming up in the near future.

2007

Tags / Categories / Comments

« More Entries