annie c. yu

holler, wild rose!

2009-05-15T13:52:00.012-04:00

i had the opportunity to shoot another show last night, and i had a blast! i met ryan (one of the guitarists) at lisa's studio a few weeks back, and he invited me out to shoot their delancey show. i was a bit nervous about the lighting because it was so dark the last time i tried shooting at the venue, but once i got there, all was well!

earthangels nyc

2009-05-11T23:02:00.009-04:00

my newest photographic endeavor--photographing dogs for a no-kill rescue shelter to help get these babies adopted! my first session was last week in union square. its heartbreaking to hear each of their stories, but its also so moving to hear about how this organization (started and run by one amazing woman and her volunteers) saves these pooches from kill shelters. only problem is that i want to adopt each dog i photograph!

this first gorgeous girl's name is sadie. i don't know much about her history, but she's just so adorable!

this next pooch's name is ivette. her ears had been cut off because her previous owners wanted her to be a fighting dog. she didn't do too well, because she just isn't a fighter. this girl is incredibly sweet.

this last pup was found not too long before i showed up to photograph this past friday, so they didn't really know much about her except that some kids found her tied to a tree in union square, starving. the cops were about to take her to a kill shelter when earthangels nyc stepped in. shes a young one, and shes absolutely in love with people....very very sweet, and really gorgeous. they think she's about 5-6 months old.

if you or someone you know are interested in fostering or adopting one of these babies, email earthangelsnyc@gmail.com, or visit www.earthangelsnyc.org.

mamarazzi live @ pianos nyc

2009-05-11T00:02:00.010-04:00

i made it out to mamarazzi's show this past friday night at pianos, camera AND battery in hand this time! they were awesome, as usual. here are some of my favorite shots from the night!

faith

2009-04-20T19:08:00.011-04:00

a friend of mine just signed with a fit modeling agency, and we decided that we'd give the headshots thing a try to see if we could produce images that could be used for the agency. last thursday was a perfect day for a shoot--gorgeous weather! we went out during late afternoon and took some shots on her building's rooftop and around chelsea. not sure if the shots are good enough for the agency, but we had a lot of fun taking them!

had to throw in the last one for fun...i love shoes.

oklahoma flowers

2009-03-31T11:53:00.008-04:00

after a long and arduous journey, we finally made it to the great state of oklahoma to visit my family. springtime here is rather nice, and the flowers are in bloom! we visited some family friends in norman, and i snagged a few shots of some flowers in their yard.

the party faithful @ delancey's

2009-03-24T14:41:00.009-04:00

went to watch the party faithful last night at delancey's. they were great! it was my very first band shoot (supposed to be second...). even with my iso maxed out at 1600 and my aperture wide open to f/1.8, my poor little xsi couldn't handle the extreme low light at the bar and all i could get were blurry shots. with a little encouragement from the hubby and albert, i continued to shoot, and was able to get a few interesting shots.

rookie mistake

2009-03-21T00:53:00.003-04:00

after my afternoon shoot with tacuma, i came home to rest and recharge my camera battery before the show. at around 9.30, i packed my bag, camera, and 2 lenses that i was planning on using during the show. after i got out of the subway near the venue, i came to the startling realization that i had left the camera battery at home, still sitting in the charger. needless to say, i was cursing myself out for the rest of the evening. ROOKIE MISTAKE. that'll never happen again...

on a more positive note, mamarazzi was totally awesome tonight. they'll be playing other gigs in the near future, so there'll be more opportunities for me to photograph them in all their glory.

tacuma in the park

2009-03-20T19:21:00.009-04:00

got to spend some quality time today with my friend tacuma. after lunch with the lovely bita, we set up shop briefly in washington square park, where he played some tunes on his sax.

his band, mamarazzi, will be playing a show tonight at the bitter end. lighting and space-willing, i'll be attempting to photograph. we'll see what turns out!

more mustardseed, please!

2009-03-16T16:45:00.013-04:00

i did another shoot with more of carollai's gorgeous jewelry. i just have more and more fun each time i photograph this jewelry! this time, i added in some ribbons and more colored paper. you may see some of my photos on carol's site!

more child portraits!

2009-03-14T20:32:00.011-04:00

this past week i visited my friend jessica and portraited her son. i've never ever taken so many pictures of one subject before! i maxed out my 8 gig memory card. that comes out to approximately 550 photos. needless to say, its taken me a few days to go through them all! i had such a fun time photographing him! what a cutie. thanks jess!

mustardseed by carollai

2009-03-12T19:29:00.026-04:00

my lovely friend carol has recently started her own jewelry making business, and her pieces are absolutely gorgeous! she let me borrow a few of them to photograph, and i must say that i had a blast with it! i picked up a few props from home depot, and i also made good use of the wooden figures that i got last month. check out her jewelry site here!

product photography

2009-03-10T19:49:00.004-04:00

i've been toying around with the idea of product photography/stock photography for a little while now, and today i decided to give it a try. as per albert's advice, i went and got myself a nice big roll of white paper and transformed my dining area into a mini-studio. i made apple pie over the weekend, and we had a leftover granny smith sitting around--my first subject!

more portraits!

2009-03-05T22:37:00.014-05:00

jeremiah was kind enough to let me visit him at the french culinary institute today to practice some more portraiture. lighting there was a little bit tricky, but as usual, i had fun. thanks jerm!

in other news, my free trial of lightroom ended yesterday. i plan on getting the student version (significantly cheaper!), but won't have a valid student ID until may. in its place, i've been using digital photo professional (canon's default software), which is severely lacking in comparison to lightoom. i was kind of late in jumping on the lightroom bandwagon (chris has been trying to get me to use it for a while now...), but now that i've tasted it, nothing else can compare!

my first portraits!

2009-03-02T19:36:00.013-05:00

those of you who know me well know that i was never one to photograph people--my eye has always been more drawn to objects. well, last week i decided that it was time for me to expand my horizons! a friend of mine was kind enough to let me photograph her son this past saturday for some portrait practice (thanks wen!). i never realized how hard it is to photograph people (especially children!), but it was really a great experience, and super fun!

more portraits to come (kids and adults!) later this week!

"the opposite of war isn't peace, it's creation"

2009-02-28T01:20:00.008-05:00

i'll give you a cookie if you can pinpoint where that line comes from.

i met up with a friend of mine from nursing school this afternoon for some tea, and we both agreed that recently, we've felt a sense of restlessness, a nagging feeling of "something's missing..." we came to the conclusion that in our line of work at the hospital, our job is (was, for me!) often to keep our patients stable, to maintain status quo. we're keeping things from going downhill, keeping things steady. there's very little room for production and creation, and maybe that's what's missing in our lives. both of us have recently taken up some form of creative outlet--for her, knitting. for me, well, photography.

does everyone feel this way at some point? is it human nature to need to create?

confession

2009-02-27T14:07:00.003-05:00

i must confess that i actually started my head-first dive into photography about two weeks ago. my first post probably made it sound like today was day 1 of my journey. apologies all around. i hope this doesn't decrease readership. and by "decrease readership," i mean from 1 reader to 0 (this means you, chris).

so i've actually learned quite a bit in the past two weeks. i've been making daily trips to the barnes and noble at union square to read up on/study the works of the 'masters' of photography. i think the employees there are starting to recognize me. this B&N actually has the biggest photography section that i've seen at any B&N this far. magnificent.

i find it really cool how many of most famous photographers were extremely passionate about/inspired by each other's work . case in point--berenice abbott (photographer who was commissioned to document 'changing new york' in the 1930's) was, for most of her life, without a steady source of income, and was always struggling to make ends meet. however, she spent a large part of her life promoting another photographer's work because she was so moved by it. abbott was introduced to eugene atget by man ray, her boss at the time. she was so enamored with atget's work that she convinced him to let her portrait him. when she attempted to deliver the portraits to atget, she discovered that he had passed away. she promoted him like crazy for many many years, and her efforts gained atget international recognition as a master photographer. kinda cool, huh?

so what's this all about?

2009-02-27T13:16:00.008-05:00

here's the story-- girl gets psychology degree, works for 2 years, and realizes that psychology just isn't for her. girl goes back to school for nursing. takes a year off to work in hospital as a registered nurse before going back to school to finish the master's part of her nursing program. after 5 months of working, girl realizes that said job has devoured her mind, body, soul, and spirit, rendering her completely and utterly useless to the world existing outside of the hospital. girl quits job.

flashback 5 years ago--setting: cornell university, 2004. girl falls in love with photography after taking basic photography class. after the semester ends, girl busies herself with life, putting the camera away for years.

flash forward to present--girl finds herself jobless with 3 months to go before she has to go back to nursing school to finish what she started. having picked the camera back up recently, her passion for photography is stronger than ever, but she finds herself seriously lacking in knowledge and inspiration. girl sees three months off as opportunity to dive head-first into the world of photography.

so there you have it, folks. my goal is to submerge myself into all that is photography for the next three months. this blog will chronicle my journey. i'll share with you my musings, thoughts, experiences, lessons learned, and of course, my photographs.

thanks for reading!
annie