model . Emily Taylor
mua . Emily Skoggar
photographer & illustrator . Angela Lau

models . Emily Taylor and Gerrit van de Riet
makeup artist . Elizabeth Bjerkseth
photographer . Angela Lau

I believe the direction here was “Now when you jump, i want you to remember your face.”

*
Above: a little reminiscent of psycho or titanic… whichever creeps you out more.

And of course, the normal shot on white.

Mike was great enough to make us all brunch before the shoot. Blueberry pancakes, fruits, bacon and coffee! Awesome hosts.. the bar was set back at Linsay’s Maple Ridge home. so now we’re all going to be competing for the title of Hostess with the Mostest.

*disclaimer: this is not an engagement shoot lol

models . Tam Vo . Mike Greencorn
photographer . Angela Lau
lighter . Sydney Wong

models . Oksana Lutte . Parisa Narenji . Gerrit van de Riet
makeup . Tea Scott
photographer . Angela Lau

location . Huntsville, the brunel lockes
photographer . Angela Lau
lighter . Sydney Wong

And a big difference in the look with using just modeling lights below.

model . Emily Taylor
makeup . Tea Scott
photographer . Angela Lau

Tim, Syd and I have been long time friends, we use to ride our bikes and hang out at the park, long before we knew how to drive. The countless sunrises and days hanging out at the Scarborough bluffs which included a 3 hour walk on the boardwalk to downtown Toronto is some of the best childhood memories i remember. Tim was also our chosen friend to officiate our wedding.

Tim has been there for me in the best of times and the worst of times. We’ve survived through high school and university together, so it wasn’t surprising when he decided to do his engagement shoot at UTSC.

We ran into a room full of studying students and Syd had the idea to announce Tim and Vivian’s engagement. The entire room started applauding.

We will definitely be honoured to watch these two tie the knot in the summer of 2012

location . UTSC University of Toronto at Scarborough campus
photographer . angela lau
lighting . sydney wong . jeff wong

Earlier this year, my long time carney friend June, had the most amazing idea to give her entire extended family a photoshoot as their christmas present.

The families of Russells, Colomas, Moyas, Baldemors, Mg Haide, Domingos, Domingos, Likajs, Brunos, Bulataos, Kalalos, Stonehouses, and Gaskins got together in November of 2011 to capture photos and new memories from 4 generations.

A Blurb from June’s photoshoot request:
“This Christmas instead of giving my huge family gifts Andrew and I would like to have our family portrait done. The last time they did a FULL family portrait was in 1980 *i wasn’t even born* and I’d LOVE to do one for them.”

When June first asked me to photograph this present, I was extremely happy to be  involved in such a wonderful gift. Afterwards, June revealed that an additional motivation for this photoshoot came from her family’s recent and ongoing battles with cancer. It was a way to bring the family together and a reminder of the important things in life. I was honoured to be a part of it.

venue . Berkeley Church
photographer . angela lau
lighting . sydney wong

venue . Berkeley church
models . Tracy Hong . Crystal Hong . Janet Hong
photographer . Angela Lau
lighting assistant . Sydney Wong

Shoot at Berkeley Church resulted in a lot of creative side projects. Image of penguins in the background is by a photographer from National Geographic but served as a great idea to start experimenting with composite photography.

The man of the hour arrives in his finest outfit
Awesome food. awesome music.

Alexander was very polite while wrecking the cake.

photographer . Angela Lau
lighting assistant & “look at the balloon!” guy . jeff wong

Reception to come in a separate post.. i’m posted out

Ceremony . Russian Orthodox Holy Trinity & High park
Photographers . Angela Lau . Jasmine Lin . Tommy Lo
Makeup . Gigi
Hair. Daniel Spa

for more info on my work, please see www.angelalau.com

Thanks to our dear friends H & A, who were amazing models. I’ve worked with Hanna before and a few years later, we’re not coworkers anymore, but still friends and helping each other with our weddings. I think that’s pretty cool.

And of course, who could forget our “Hey Hold This!” guy – Jeff Wong. Thanks so much for all your spontaneous jobs.

To-be-bride . Hanna
To-be-groom . Andrew
Photographers . Angela Lau . Tommy Lo
Lighting . Sydney Wong
HHT guy . Jeff Wong

venue. Baba’s banquet hall & 1 King West

location Hyatt in Yorkville, Toronto
photographers angela lau . tommy lo . sydney wong

Most beautiful wedding to be apart of. Thanks Knat.

The mother of all photo reunions. 40 years.
The aunts and uncles really got into getting the stances and expressions just right.
Upfront on the chair is my grandmother and grandfather. My grandfather passed in 2000, altogether my grandmother had 7 kids, 6 surviving.
The picture on the left was taken in Hong Kong and now the entire extended family is living in Toronto. You can only imagine what happened in-between.

This photo only shows some of the kids, next time our family gets together, I’m hoping to get a photo with all of them in it and maybe sprinkle in their own kids and grandkids.

The whole team made a safe arrival with the exception of 6 missing hockey bags of supplies at the airport. Les Enfants du Roi came out to greet us.

The big lug made me speechless…

And apparently we’re representing UTSC ’05 and Yamaha. Not to mention, i’m bringing half a cat in fur goods. Thanks for all the well wishes. See you all when we get back.

Not a lot is given away. Congratulations to the newly married couple.
Laura, I will have to work on these photos when i get back. stay tuned
Have a happy honeymoon.

We were walking by Eaton center and saw this dude.
I joked, we should take his picture, and syd’s like YEAH!

Honestly, he really freaked the hell out of me, I didn’t know who he was or what he was up to, but the moment syd went up to him and asked him if we could take his picture, he only nodded enthusiastically and posed. His hands gave him away with his awkward gestures – he was just a kid, and he loved the pictures.

We ended the night with our lovable concierge.

photographer sydney wong
tag alongs angela lau . jeff wong

Together this small group brought in:
$1500+ in cash donations
300+ pairs of reading glasses and sunglasses
100+ toothbrushes and dental hygiene tools
7200 prenatal vitamin tablets
various amounts of hats, toys, and medical equipment

I haven’t captured everyone’s portrait yet, so there will be more to come.
For more information on how to donate, please visit STIMMA.

next steps packing light!

Yung is a YouTube partner who creates kickass fight videos as GakAttack in an animé style. Check him out, you’ll see why he knows exactly how to pose in the following sequences. He did some pretty awesome mid air kicks and really committed to the shots.

That’s his twin brother Hua that he’s beating up.

Introducing Patrick, Parkour enthusiast.

And then the boys decided to start a fight.

Did you check out the pointer on the right who tries to make a break for it in the end but is intercepted?

More on yung, hua and patrick later on.

models yung lee . hua chang lee . patrick de perio . tommy lo . sydney wong . eric au
photographers sydney wong . angela lau

MEDICAL STATISTICS IN HAITI:
- 40% of the population has access to basic health care
- 50% of the children are unvaccinated
- 90% of the children suffer from waterborne disease and intestinal parasites
- 2.2% of Haiti’s adult population is infected with HIV
- nearly 50% of deaths in Haiti have been attributed to HIV/AIDS, respiratory infections, meningitis, diarrheal disease (cholera and typhoid)
- 30,000 people in Haiti suffer each year from malaria
Statistics as sourced here.

We are fortunate enough to be able to travel with some old friends. This is going to be an experience to remember.

Angela
Art Director at FUSE Marketing Group.
Photographer for STIMMA.

Sydney
General Surgery Resident at University of Toronto
Medical team for STIMMA

Jessica
Pharmacist in Toronto
Medical Team for STIMMA

Kevin
Nuclear Medical Technologist at Humber River Regional Hospital
Medical Team/Construction Crew for STIMMA

We’re vaccinated and ready.

1995 . 2011
Unbelievable, the first photo was taken on my 13th birthday, and now we’ve skipped to 28. Time flies. I’m thankful for all the people i’ve met throughout the years and are still able to keep in touch with.

And for those of you who missed the last photo reunions, enjoy! More to come.

And here is the making of.

Alright i know mewmew’s munny looks like he has shit smeared on his face, and he tried to wipe it off with his arms and legs.. sigh. poor dude… but i think its charming!

I had to wave some treats above their heads to make them look at the camera (and as you can see, they are not really looking at the camera), it is not very hard to get animals to do what you want when food is involved.

This was a lot of fun and I actually had a really good experience with the contest peeps. My images were cropped after they were submitted and some guy over at kidrobot actually reached out to me to recrop them. Love that they care about the design.

Anyways, here’s where you can view the entries, vote for your favourite:
MunnyWorld Entries

models (in order of appearance) wally . mew mew . dennis
design angela lau
photographer angela lau
post production the angela lau show

About the model: Jess is a recent graduate of the University of Toronto Bachelor of Pharmacy program. Expressive, speculative, cat-lover Jess.

model jess lam
photographer angela lau . tommy lo
model coach jeff wong
lighter sydney wong
post production sydney wong

I am the surgical resident/lighting enthusiast known as the RESIDENT STROBIST. With my BASIC knowledge of medicine and RUDIMENTARY understanding of lighting, I will likely save 1 to 2 lives and/or produce (possibly) some nice looking pictures eventually.

Finally out of my cage! The new strobe (Canon 430 EX II speedlight) arrived via our friend/courier from B&H New York and we (read: I) couldn’t be more excited to get it. Armed with the Yong Shuo triggers (only $50 from dealextreme.com!) we set out to conquer the world of off camera flash…

We managed to get a few good shots – most of them with the speedlight shooting at 1/4 power set to 24mm in a Westcott Apollo 28″ softbox.

Looking at the pictures – you can really tell that it was dim in there and we really needed some rim lighting as a lot of the model’s hair detail is lost. In the fourth picture from last above you can see what the addition of rim lighting does (thanks to Tommy’s second speedlight).

All in all, a pretty successful first outing with our new lighting kit, and a pretty good debut for THE RESIDENT STROBIST

BTW, “Strobist” is trademarked by David Hobby – amazing photojournalist who popularized off-camera flash techniques. It’s not really an issue since no one reads this, but someday I’m hoping this blog will be popular enough that I’ll have to change my name to the Resident Probist. Until then, KEEP ON LIGHTING, FRIENDS.

Medical tip of the day: Avoid standing in the direct line of fire during colonoscopies.