So after an awesome weekend in Philly with Devon & Daisy, I flew back to Chicago, repacked, then flew back east the next day out to NY. This time I had an important business meeting out there. But if you know me, I try to kill not just 2 birds but 10 with one stone. 
So in the short 2 days I was there, I got so much done.
For a while, I’ve been trying to speed up my workflow inorder to post process all my wedding orders on time. I’ve been doing okay in getting them back to the clients but I wanted to speed and automate the process without sacrificing quality and creativity of my photos. It took awhile for me to find someone I can trust to do that but I think I finally found a solution.
My friend DJ has been drilling me about how we need to automate and outsource things in order to make time for more important things. I know I’ve been wanting to do this for long time but had hard time letting this go. But just recently my friend and fellow photographer Andres Valenzuela shared with me about how he outsources all his weddings. He then encouraged me to do the same told me about the person he was using.
So I decided to give this a try and so far it’s been awesome! I wanted to take this time to introduce a new addition to the KK team – Katie Ball. She will be coming on board to assist with post production and album design. I cannot explain how excited I am about this move. This short trip was mainly to meet with her to go over things and to make sure that we are on the same page. Katie does not have a blog so please leave her welcoming comments here.
She is from New Jersey and is happily married with a beautiful daughter named Sunny. Did I mention that I’m really excited to have her on board? We’ll be living across the States but still be able to work together. How cool is that?
I also had a chance to meet w/ my future couple Bryan & Christine. I’ll be shooting this wedding and the talented Ms. Vanessa Scavone will be second shooting w/ me. (Her website is not complete yet but I’m posting her link so that she’ll get on the ball and finish it. )
Going back to Bryan & Christine – they’ve dated since Junior year in high school and went to same college. After graduation, they finally decided to tie the knot. I can’t wait for their wedding in October. Thank you for treating me to an awesome korean dinner!
Bryan is trying to look all gangsta here but he has not yet perfected the KK pose yet. Notice he forgot to raise his thumb…
Wed night I got together with my new editor Katie, Andres, Vanessa and my new friend Tim. We had dinner asian style by having some Thai food. Vanessa and I managed to get some desert even though we were so full. I had sticky rice for the first time. It sounds gross but it’s actually pretty good dessert.
Tim is not a photographer but decided to tag along since he’s good friends w/ Katie & Andres. He also didn’t eat much and decided to take his food home. Talk about a well-balanced diet. 
Ms. Scavone is a school teacher by day and a photographer by night. Can’t wait to shoot with her again!
After dinner I came back to Andres’ house. We were both dead tired from driving but we decided to have a Wii tennis rematch. I think Andres looks like Roger Federer. Even though I don’t look like Rafael Nadal, I pretty much “nadaled” him in our match. Keep practicing so that I can have some decent competition next time! Here’s Andres “Mr. Federer look alike” dodging one of my killer forehands.
Finally, I got together with one of NY’s finest – Mr. Jason Groupp. I love hanging out with this guy. He’s a seasoned veteran but still cool like a newbie starting out. We had lunch at this studio and he took me along with him on his “secret editorial photoshoot” that he’s been working on for the past couple of months. I can’t talk much about it except that it’s huge. Look for something in late august.
I got to help Jason shoot a gorgeous model Anna Khasanova. She modeled for him couple of times before so she was super cool and easy to work with. I managed to snap a few of my own shots in the midst of helping out Jason and got his & Anna’s permission to post some of them on my site.
*Disclaimer – some of the photos you might see here are not my typical wedding photos. I just wanted to warn any one ahead of time so that they are not shocked by the photos that you are about to see.
Here’s Jason in action…
Jason: “Good Times!!!”
Finally – last but not least – Totally Rad Action 2!
From the makers of TRA 1 comes another set of photoshop actions that will make any one look like a superstar! I just downloaded mine and it rocks my socks off. The model shoot above was edited using TRA2. Doug & Chenin really out did themselves with this new release. Go check out their site to find out more and order your copy today!
Okay that’s enough for now. whew…
