Krystal's Birthday Photo Shoot!!

 

On Saturday night, Sept 25, it was Krystal's birthday. She finally hits the 25 milestone and so she wanted to really celebrate.  A bunch of friends met at Rioja Restuarant in Houston.  it was a Spanish restaurant that serves tapas. The food was awesome and the service we received from the owner himself, Louis, was amazing.  He was so accommodating and the service was top notch.  We will definitely come back again.  After dinner, it was party time at the house. Some cake, lots of sangria and of course, a photo shoot for the birthday girl!!  Last year we did a photo shoot and everyone loved it so much, especially Miss Krystal, so we had to do it again!! This year Krystal provided props for everyone, like the funny hat that I'm wearing.  Anyways, we had a blast and so did the birthday girl!! What a great night with good friends and, of course, chocolate cake to top off the evening!!

Catherine and Justin Engagement Session

This past weekend I took Catherine and Justin for their engagement session  in the medical center area.  They are actually getting married in AZ on Nov 9. I've only been to the medical center one other time to take pictures.  We started pretty early that morning but this morning came a lot sooner than I wanted.  A little coffee and muffin at Starbucks got me going..thanks starbucks...;-)  

We hopped around the medical building and all other crazy areas near the museum district.  It was a gorgeous day!! They were so cute together! They laughed a lot and it made the session a lot of fun. 

Justin is such a joker and laughed a lot throughout the session.

I love the emotion in this shot. 

I just love this shot. It's so cute of them!! It's one of those shots that just makes you smile!

This was her favorite!! Don't you just love that engagement ring!??

Helping others

Every once in a while you work on something that really moves you.  This recently happened to me during what I thought would be another routine shoot at the Downtown Aquarium for the American Bar Association.  I thought it would be a corporate event with speakers and a dinner and just mingling.  Well, the event was actually an awards ceremony recognizing two law firms for their continued pro bono work representing inmates on Death Row.  The organization within the American Bar Association was called The Death Penalty Representation Project.
It is a project that recruits lawyers to provide legal council for inmates on death row that would otherwise not receive fair legal representation.  Apparently the court is supposed to provide a lawyer to represent you if you cannot afford one, but the ones you are assigned apparently don't do a very good job because there are many innocent people that have been wrongly jailed. Many are sitting on death row having never committed a crime. The project is to recruit lawyers to provide these inmate with legal council that can actually represent them properly.  Two former death row inmates that have been helped by this project were there that night.  Their touching and really sad story of how the legal system failed them and they were condemned to death row to wait for execution. The first picture is of Bo and he was on death row for 19 YEARS!! Can you believe that!??  The second gentlemen was on it for 9 years.  It was really moving hearing their stories and really scary that this could happen in our supposedly fair justice system.  At the same time, it was awesome to hear that there was this organization and people there that night that help people when everyone else has given up on them.  That night really opened my eyes and made me thankful for having my freedom. It so awesome the work they are doing!!





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Montage Photographers Promotional Slideshow

I finally created a slideshow that is a good introduction to Montage Photographers.  I hope you like it!!

Trip to Spain - Running with the Bulls!!!

I thought I'd share a little more about my recent trip to spain. I went there with 4 buddies for a guys trip to go Running with the Bulls (or for familiar with Spain Festival de San Fermin).  We spent several days in Barcelona and then a couple days in Pomplona.  It was my first time in Spain and I got to experience it with some really awesome friends.  My friend Jason was turning 40 and so he thought he wanted to go run with the Bulls, again - he's done it once before.  I have to say, everyone thought I was crazy but I was feeling lucky....(famous last words... I know)  Anyways, the streets in Pomplona were filled with people from all over Europe for this week long festival in which White is the color of choice, with red bandanas and sashes, as well as copious amounts of Sangria...nothing wrong with that....I love sangria!!!  Everyone was carrying around leather sachels filled with sangria.  I took video of the trip but keep in mind, I do photos, not movies, so pardon the shoddy videography skills.  Oh, the scenes where we are celebrating in the bar, it happened to be Spain playing Germany in the World Cup Semi's...I couldn't believe our luck that we happened to be in Spain as Spain wins the world cup....talk about extroardinary luck!! it was such an amazing experience, celebrating with the Spaniards!!  I will always remember that moment in time!!

Here is a second video that is actually the restaurant inside our hotel in Pomplona.  The building used to be a cathedral so they used the interior architecture and made it into a restaurant.  It was so cool!!

Blog posting on Houston Weddings Blog!!

My good friends, Eric and Carolina, who's wedding I shot, got married in Puebla Mexico in July.  We posted the images on one of our previous blogs.  I submitted the images to Houston Wedding Magazine and they posted the images and  Eric and Carolina's wedding story on their blog!!Check it out! Houston Wedding Blog 
Everything on the post is great except fo the fact that the blogger called me a girl.."Big thanks to Trung Huynh of Montage Photographers for her beautiful photos..."  too funny... I guess I'll let it slide.

Barbie and Peter's Wedding - Hotel Zaza

This wedding was really cool. Natalie, of Belle of the Ball, was the wedding coordinator. This was my first opportunity to work with them and I thought they were awesome!!  Both Barbie and peter got ready at the hotel and so we got to spend a lot of time with both of them as they got ready. Barbie stayed in the rock star suite. I have to say, that suite is so cool, there are so many cool rock memorabilia in that room and cool decor that you can take pictures in there forever!!  They saw each other before the wedding in their First Look which took place in the Rock Star Suite.  It was quite an emotional moment watching them.  We took pictures with the rest of the wedding party immediately after and had a blast with all of them around the hotel.  Here are some from that fun fun night!!

Katie and Steve's Wedding - The Gallery - Houston TX

For the beginning of my labor day weekend, I had Katie and Steve's wedding at The Gallery.  I've been to this venue many times before and I love it there! I like the decor there and there are so many beautiful little nooks to take pictures in.  The ivy covered walls create an awesome backdrop.  The challenge in going to any place over and over again is not to take the same pictures at the same spots.  I challenged myself with finding new spots, whether they were inside or outside the venue.  What made the day go easy was that they did the First Look.  We had a lot of time with them to do portraits by themselves without the time restraints after the ceremony.  We captured some great shots just by the parking lot and the outside walls.  Here are some of the pictures from that day!!