It has been too long. You are probably going to be reading that from my blog often. The past two months have been hectic. A few days ago I got to sleep in a little and have a peaceful, quiet start to my day. In what seemed to be months (or literally was months), I picked up my camera and photographed things in the home.

So, in these photos I portrayed that feeling of peace and serenity that I felt that morning. Enjoy. :)

Mother, daughter.

See you

M Kat

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Last week I had an opportunity to photograph perhaps the happiest baby I've ever seen in my life and her incredibly sweet mother. Yes, I can say "incredibly sweet mother" because I'm lucky to be know for myself because we are friends. She really is incredibly kind. Her adorable little girl was really full of smiles, her purity easy to see. 

Since I'm not the best with words please see how I see the tender relationship between the mother & her precious child via my photography. P.S. The last is not the least. It's my favorite picture :).

赤ちゃん："Akachan"

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Some of you may already know that I've fallen in love with the double exposure technique. I love it so much because it allows me to give more meaning into a photograph which I am creating. Double exposure photos help me speak my mind with more expression while also more concisely. Verbal expression has always been difficult for me, but in contrast I've always loved the forms of expression such as dance and photography so much. It allows me to truly express myself without using any words. 

So, this image was inspired by this photo that I saw on Pinterest. When I saw it, the simplicity and beauty of it immediately captured me and I knew that I had to try creating something similar to it myself. I would try to describe it, but again, explaining  is something that I'm actually quite bad at. Let me just describe to you that this photo was created using my husband's arm (on the right) and mine on the left. It may mean one thing to me, but maybe it can mean something different, something personal to you.

"Here."

Masumi

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Last weekend my husband and I drove out to Palos Verdes to attend a wedding reception for a church friend. On the way there we stopped by a bakery that I had been wanting to visit for almost years at this point that was in Torrance: Patisserie Chantilly. It was located in an average looking, small Japanese plaza but the quality of what that bakery had to offer was nothing short of amazing. Chadsen & I are huge on finding little fine foods, especially when it comes to dessert and this place, Patisserie Chantilly surpassed our expectations. There I ate perhaps the most delicious cake I've ever tasted. It was like a delicacy. 

I ordered Gateau Fraise, which was a chiffon cake with strawberries and their special cream. It tasted pretty good. What blew us away was what Chadsen ordered though. He ordered a cake named Lyon, which according to the description was "Lemon-infused white chocolate mousse with banana cream." When he took the first bite Chadsen put down his hands away from the cake, closed his eyes, looked down as if in silent prayer, thanking the wonderful creator from above for blessing us with this cake and quietly said to me, "Nothing else exists right now" as he  floated into bliss. Without me. When it came my turn to taste Lyon, I completely understood what he meant. The combination and delicate mixture of the various flavors - banana, white chocolate, a little bit of lemon & the whatever-it-was crunch at the bottom was seriously made to perfection. If I weren't so sweets-satisfied I would have went up to the counter to order my own cake. In the end, not knowing when we would exactly be back we couldn't help but order one more item to finish our stay there- their popular black sesame cream puff. That too did not disappoint. Not too sweet!
I cannot wait to return to Patisserie Chantilly. :) 

This cake is it. The cake masterpiece.

Chadsen asked me to take a photo of it mid-eaten so he can remember what it looked like. So silly.

The black sesame cream puff.

M Kat

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This past weekend I got to tag along with Stephen Clint Photography to photograph a married couple who is expecting their first child: a baby boy. What an exciting time in life. That shoot being my first time doing a maternity photo shoot, feelings of nervousness and excitement filled me that day. The couple was so warm and sweet and Stephen, let me just say that anyone who gets to work with him is lucky. I had a great time with them. It was a great day :).
The photos will tell you how I felt about the sweet couple's anticipatory occasion.

Soon.

Masumi

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Hi again, it's been a while yet again, hasn't it? Last month's Project Ten Challenge was Nostalgia. When this theme was given I knew exactly what I wanted to portray. It just took some time to get the photos and time to finish this project. One day late from the due date, but it's done :)

Google defines Nostalgia as "a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations." Many look back at the past and think "The good ol' days.", "Wouldn't it be nice to be a kid again." Although many may truly smile when they look back at their good memories of the past, with this project I challenge the idea of nostalgia and bring to light the notion that nostalgia perhaps does not apply to many individuals that you and I interact with everyday. I believe that though we may not think about it often, people may not have any memories in the past to feel nostalgic about. Having stated that, I wanted to portray a few individuals and have you, the audience look beyond what you see and ask, "Nostalgic, or maybe not?" Can you ask yourselves, "How did this individual grow up?" "What was their life like before they got to this point?" I did not personally ask these individuals about their background so I cannot even tell you if they have a nostalgic past. We'll just have to wonder together.

Regardless of whether one's past can be one of nostalgia or not I believe the path that has led one to be who they are today... 

is beautiful. 

A special thank you to the classmates from my dance class from my summer course for doing such a great job at modeling for me for this project. 

Sidenote: Expect more photos soon. :) You'll be seeing more soon.

M Kat

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Hello, it's been a while.

Hopefully you're not tired of hearing that! I'm sorry, it's again been a really busy past few weeks. You know what though? I've learned throughout these years that busy doesn't necessarily mean bad. When things get busy I've noticed that it often serves as a time to test my dedication to my family by making time to do housework, taking care of the chinchillas, and making meals etc. It also serves as a test of my dedication to my Heavenly Father, who understands what my own life entails at the moment and trusts me to do my best in serving His children (particularly at the moment my role is in working with the young women of my local church).

So uh, going back to the fact that I'm back on the blog I'd like to share with you some photos of my first Quincenera that I got to attend. The celebration was for one of my beautiful young women from my church. Boy did I feel special to be invited to such a great event in her life. The place was decorated so nicely, and she looked just like a princess, in all honesty! Her tiara and dress were such a accentuation to her beauty. I want to tell you though, that what's more beautiful about her is what's within, there is a beautiful soul within her. She is such a sweet, kind, fun-loving girl! Lucky me to be able to work with her :)

For her celebration for turning 15 I got to see her and many other men and women dance many fun routines. Very quickly it also became time for us to dance. For those who know me, I LOVE dancing. That night I had some nice friends teach me new kinds of dances, many to be used for Hispanic songs. It was so much fun, I wish I could have stayed all night.

Celebrations are a beautiful thing. It honors an individual, for her life lived so far, for her accomplishments, for who she has become and who is she is continuing to become. That night, a few Saturdays ago many people gathered together to to throw a celebration for my young woman, to honor her, to feel so happy for her and to cheer her on to her future. :) I hope when my next celebration comes around (probably my birthday) I can think about what else besides my progression in age is can celebrated about me.

I'm not really an event photographer, and I almost never take pictures in our church cultural halls but I thought I'd like to take a few shots to remember this day. Here are a few of the pictures that I'd like to share with you.

Beautiful girl. :))

Loved the decor.

And beautiful cake.

This looks like this party was held for them, huh? Caught a good moment for these two.

See you soon, promise!?

Masumi

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Last Saturday, outside of one of my favorite markets Target, I experienced something that had me crying on the drive home.

It happened last Saturday, at around 5:00P.M.. I had driven over to Target after first visiting my go-to Japanese market Marukai. I was planning to hurry through Target to get home on time to prepare dinner. While driving up to the parking lot, I noticed a young man standing in the middle of it with a box. In my subconscious I knew that there was chocolate in that box, and I very much knew he was trying to raise money with it. I drove a little farther than usual to park somewhere that was farther off from the young teen. After parking, I realized what I had done: I had purposefully avoided him so I didn't have to give him money. Guilt immediately followed, along with a fond memory of several scriptural verses that I read from the Bible and Book of Mormon. The verses asked to give to those who ask, to those who are in need without worrying about yourself. Through several experiences of practicing my faith in those verses in the past, I remembered that God had always provided for me when I give to someone in need. So the thought immediately followed, "What am I doing?" After that occurrence in the car, I stepped out and approached him myself to see how much his chocolates cost. He said $2.99. Having only $2 in my wallet at the time, I walked away with a promise that I'll buy a chocolate after doing my grocery shopping in the store.

Sure enough, after walking out of Target he was still there, selling the chocolate. I went to him and bought one chocolate bar for $2.99, the one he recommended. As I interacted with him during our chocolate sales transaction I noticed that his manner of speech was a little different, maybe a little slow. I sensed his nervousness as he looked away from me a lot. Something about him and the situation he was in made an impression on me.

Earlier that morning, as I scrolled through different photos online I asked myself, "What kind of photography do I want to show?" I knew while walking away from him, that this was something I wanted to show the world. With each step taken toward my car, a sense of relief came over me as I remembered that my camera was in the car that day. Before heading out to the markets I told myself to bring my camera because oftentimes I would see something that I wanted to capture but would feel disappointed because my camera was not with me, so that time I had brought it.

About a minute after this young lad says bye to me he sees me returning towards him. I wonder if that scared him at all, seeing this small Asian girl practically marching towards him. After explaining who I was and what I wanted to do, he, who we can call "J" allowed me to photograph him selling his chocolate bars. For the next 20 minutes or so, I saw how he would stand in front of Target, waiting, hoping that somebody would buy his chocolate. As this young teen stood there alone, I could only imagine the thoughts that ran through his head. "Would anybody really want to buy chocolate?" "Would they really care to help me raise money?" I were if he felt scared, if he felt lonely at all standing in the middle of a parking lot by himself. I saw many people walk purposefully away from J to avoid being approached by him. I also witnessed several people walk straight towards him to buy the chocolate, or even to just give him money. It was a pretty hot day; I felt the sweat on my body in the meager 20 minutes of standing around him. I don't know how long J had been there.

After getting the shots I wanted, I said thanks and goodbye to J. Then the drive home.

There was something about that situation that made me really want to photograph him, there with his box of chocolate. He made such a strong impression on me. On the road I thought about all the times I would hesitate to go out in the sun because I wouldn't want my skin color to darken. I remembered his skin color: dark brown. He must've been out there for hours. How foolish I am. I thought about how young he must be. I thought about how he was spending his Saturday working, working for his goal. He was learning the value of work that day. I thought about why he was in the organization. He must come from a situation that brought him to join that group. I thought about how I have always practically refused to work on Saturdays because I want it for either a date day or free day. He was willing to give up his weekend to sweat out in the sun selling chocolates to strangers in his vulnerable state, alone because he was trying to raise money to go to Six Flags with his group, his friends. I practically refuse to work on weekends because I want a free day. How foolish have I been. Having been working since my mid-teens, I've really come to value work because of all of the important life lessons I've learned from it. Many of us at his age may have had kind parents who would easily just give us the money to go to Six Flags. He worked for it. I could not help but think about how he felt, how he was battling fear with hope that day, hope that he can go to Six Flags. Tears welled up as I thought about the many life lessons he was learning that day, about the importance of working, interacting with people, about how to do business, about fighting fear with hope,

I used to be one of those individuals who would avoid giving money, feeling skeptic that the organization that I was giving to was fake, but that day I felt a little part of me change. Especially when it is a child who is clearly working for something, I felt that God will ensure that I'll be alright in financial terms even if I were in a financial pinch. I hope to be able to remember that short amount of time I've spent with J, because I saw something so beautiful that day. I learned something that Saturday. Maybe, hopefully I will remember those scriptures that gently brought to my remembrance the importance of giving back to God by serving his children when opportunities arise to practice what the scriptures ask me to do. It doesn't even need to be money that I give, but I know that giving what we have teaches me about the importance of life. I learned something invaluable that day, a piece of wisdom that you can't buy. But I guess for me it cost $2.99.

It was a pretty hot day. He stood there on the right for most of the time that I photographed him.

The parking lot.

$2.99. Two for $5.

Many times it seemed scary to approach the people.

 Many time they said no.

But sometimes they said yes. Maybe even more than yes.
This man approached him and asked, "You got change for a $10? I just wanna give you some money. I don't want chocolate."

I ended up learning so much from that short 20 minutes, and he was doing all of the work.

Thanks J.
I hope you can go to Six Flags with your buddies.

Masumi

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