Sunscreen Report is Out
I saw a news report on Sunscreen lotions and their effectiveness. What’s more important was that they had a list of dangerous sun block lotions. They say some lotions may be Cancer causing.
It was exactly a year ago that I bought a half dozen bottles of Hawaiian Tropic sunblock lotions. I thought they worked pretty good. I wore it religiously before I leave home for weddings. I keep on bottle in my backup gear bag. Sometime I don’t put on Sun-block lotion when I leave home, because the weather is gloomy. And then, when I arrive at the wedding site, there may be a full blast of strong Sun light. So, Sunscreen lotion is an absolute necessity for outdoor photographers.
Anyway, I am now finding out that all my Sunscreen lotions are listed in “dangerous” category. Yikes.. this is not good. So, I’m going to have to trash everything I have and buy a whole new batch. This time I’m going to have to buy expensive stuff, not just the ones that are on sale.
I have a wedding coming up in 7 days. I need to act fast and get something that will not kill me. I need to avoid Hawaiian Tropic and stick to “California Baby” or something that doesn’t contain poison. I cannot believe Hawaiian Tropic would sell such bad products. The concern is with Oxybenzone. They say Oxybenzone “MAY” mess up your life.
Wedding at Simi Valley – Hot
Sorry, I am too busy to keep up with my blog. I had three photography jobs this weekend, including two weddings. Heatwave is still the biggest news in Southern California. Today’s wedding was at Simi Valley. Look at the thermometer. It was hot.
Gunga Din, Bring water…
Above is my water supply I bring to every wedding during the Summer season.
With this; I can drink, wash my hand/face, cool down… it’s a life-savor. If I want to bring a soda, I make sure they do not contain caffeine (dehydrant). Caffeine will defeat the purpose of drinking water, because caffeine takes water out of your body (we call it dehydration).
John Park Saves the Day Again:
The bride was getting ready at the second floor suite at Grand Vista Hotel. I was taking photographs of the bride and the bridesmaids getting ready and having fun. They lost the groove when they realized that they didn’t have any bobby pins. The grooms mother was going to go downstairs to get the bobby pins. That’s when I produced my bobby pins for them. You see, I always carry some bobby pins and safety pins in my pocket. The bride also needed some safety pins as well. I wouldn’t say I “saved the day”. But I came in handy for sure. :) And we went on with the wedding.
Light box
Because of my low price on wedding package, I am worried that some people might think I use substandard photography equipment. I would like to make it clear that I use 100% professional equipment. Below is my “light box”. I keep my wedding flash kit in this case.
Anyway, you should see me setting up these lights in 5 minutes for formal photography session. I like 2 wireless flash setting. Sometimes I use a background light. I literally run corner to corner, measure lights, and still manage to keep people smile and have fun.
4 Flashes, 3 remote transceivers, light-meter, & hardware.
Hacking my $400.00 flash
** Geek Blog Warning **
In addition to my AS degree in Photography, I have a BS degree in computer. As much as I enjoy photography I also enjoy computer and electronics. When I was 12 years old I made myself a transistor radio (by soldering tiny electronic parts on the circuit board).
Photography is both art and science (and business). This blog shows my left brain at work.
I needed to make some improvement to my existing flash light. I thought it would be nice to install a remote trigger jack on my Canon 580EX. I have a wireless flash system for normal wedding situations already. With this modification, I will have more flexible lighting configuration without carrying extra flash unit. It’s all good and fun. I could not resist the urge to crack open and see what I can do.
This flash light is a $380.00 unit I purchased less than a year ago. But no sweat. The whole project was simple and fun. I wished it was more challenging.
PS. The project took place because of two recent events: 1.) I didn’t have Internet for a few weeks. So I had some free time to enjoy other things. 2.) I had a wedding photography job at Santa Barbara a few days ago. The ceremony location was very dark. I felt the need for adding one more remote flash in my line-up.
Before drilling a hole
Case Closed
Finished Product: Now I am able to use it as a wireless system when needed
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Completed overhauling 3 cameras
It took me 3 weeks to overhaul 3 cameras.
They were all EOS-3's, my main film cameras.
No, I didn't work on the cameras myself.
I took them to Pro Camera at Thousand Oaks.
It was a hassle to find time to drive to Thousand Oaks after work.
I have non-stop wedding schedule, so I checked in one camera at a time.
I spent over $400.00 on this project, yikes.
It's good to know all my cameras are rejuvenated.
Side note:
I'm in the middle of non-stop weddings season.
I have a wedding this Saturday as well.
The bride and groom for this week's wedding ordered a 20×24 signing board and an easel.
We took pictures only a few weeks ago.
And I just received the 11×14 reprint today.
I need to mount this on a 20×24 matt board tonight.
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VenturaPhoto.com – Photographer Santa Barbara
Camera overhaul – booked 1 wedding
I had to get off work early to take care of 2 jobs.
I went by a camera repair shop and picked up my second camera and dropped off my third camera.
I am over-hauling all my 3 film cameras for optimal performance. My cameras are pretty clean, but I cannot take chances with wedding photography. I do routine checkup every year or so. And I do complete over-haul every few years.
After picking up my camera, I went to the city of Reseda (San Fernando Valley) to meet a possible wedding client.
We met at Starbucks.
The meeting lasted about 1 hour. The entire meeting seemed like a stand-up comedy session. We cracked a lot of jokes (well, I did).
Some people come to the meeting all serious (with a notepad full of check-list).
Some people come to the meeting with the signed check in the hand (decision already made).
Today's bride and groom spent long time researching for wedding photographer and they spent enough time communicating with me via email. They have already made a decision to hire me before coming to the meeting. They came to the meeting to confirm that John Park exists, so they can make a deposit. Wedding was booked on the spot.
The bride is an artist. I am a little nervous about that. It's not that normal folks don't know photography. I am nervous because artsy people have specific taste (preferences).
During the meeting I showed her different styles of photographs. She told me what she liked and what she didn't like. I took a note. 
Wish me luck.
Getting Ready for Summer Season
Wedding photography is an extremely physical job.
I often stand under the direct Sunlight for hours at a time.
I cannot wear a hat or Sun-glasses, I want to look proper for the event.
I cannot rest in the shade or get a drink of water.
I get my rest when everything is over.
I must prepare for any kind of situation and weather I will face.
One of the toughest challenge is the hot weather.
You have no escape but taking that full Sunlight for several hours. (and keep happy face, AND take good pictures)
One item you cannot forget is Sunblock lotion.
I went to K-Mart yesterday.
There, I found $2.00 off coupon for Hawaiian Tropic products.
So, I bought 4 bottles.
Next day, I went back and purchased 2 more bottles.
Business License & Liability Insurance Renewal
 "Photographer's Insurance")
Click here for my copy of Liability Insurance Policy
It’s been one year already.
I have received bills for Business Linces and Liability Insurance renewals.
They never forgot to ask. (just like I never forget to ask my clients )
Business license and liability insurance is due this month.
I should hurry up and cut them checks.
I will scan my Liability Insurance policy and post it here.
Some wedding clients ask me to show the proof of liability insurance (I always show them at the meetings).
I think it’s a good idea that I display the policy on my website so people can see right away.
New Business Card
It took me about 5 hours to design this business card.
They were printed on double sided glossy color stock. I printed 1000 of them.
I had my old business card for about 3 years. It was getting old.
Also, I wanted the backside of the card to work for me.
It works for me now.
New Hobby – Custom Mat Boards
I have a new hobby. I make custom mat boards. At first, I wanted to hang a few of my personal pictures on the wall. I thought the most economical way of hanging pictures would be the mat boards. Quickly I discovered that custom mat boards are expensive.
I thought “I can cut those on my own”. So, I bought mat board cutter, T-Square, spray glues (x3), and a lot of different boards. I even bought a table and a shelving unit just to dedicate to mat board cutting.
I don’t usually get excited on anything. But I when I find something I like, I tend to get obsessed. I was cutting mat boards all night. I went to sleep around 6am this morning. I had a lot of fun.
I will be adding custom mat board to my wedding package.
Now I can make a fancy signing board for the wedding.
PS. Happy Thanksgiving~!
Film Quality Test
I only use professional equipment, including film.
I test all my film, and I store them in refrigerator.
Nothing in life is guaranteed, anything can happen.
Both film and digital photography have their own elements that can go wrong.
One thing I worry about is quality of film.
I buy films in boxes, each box contains 20 rolls of film.
From that box of 20 rolls, I sacrifice 1 roll.
I do a test shoot. I want to make sure if the films are good.
If the test is bad, I would discard the entire box it came from.
Today, I tested 4 rolls of film.
They all seem pretty good.
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4 rolls of film & processing $32.00
Time spent = 2.5 hours.
Film in refrigerator
Actual Test Image from Film – Negative Scanned, full frame
Cropped image from above
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