[[Show as slideshow]] ]]> http://www.wenphotos.com/blog/chicago-blizzard-2011/feed/ 0 http://www.wenphotos.com/blog/floating-village-of-tonle-sap-cambodia/ http://www.wenphotos.com/blog/floating-village-of-tonle-sap-cambodia/#comments Tue, 01 Feb 2011 18:28:28 +0000 Wen http://wonder-wan.com/?p=231 When I travel, I absolutely LOVE watching the locals. I spend more time walking around town and simply observing my new surroundings, than visiting museums, famous landmarks, or tourist spots. For my trip to Cambodia’s floating village, we booked a day tour through Tara River Boat Tours. Our tour guide picked us up from the hotel in the morning and drove us to the pier where we hopped onto a small boat that then took us through the floating village. Along the way, we made several stops, including at the home of a family who makes fish sauce for a living, a lady who slays snakes and dries the flesh on her roof (they’re for sale, to be eaten; and we bought a piece!), a crocodile farm/restaurant (yeah, odd combination, I know) where we had the restaurant cook the piece of sun dried snake for us. Our last stop was lunch on the giant Tara Boat.

Oddly enough, prior to arriving, friends have told me that the floating village was nothing to shout about, and that it wasn’t worth the trip there. I really beg to differ. I think it really has to do with your tour guide. Firstly, always get a private tour. This way, you can make as many or as few stops as you like, and ask anything anytime. Secondly, rather than having to follow a set schedule of a group tour, we were able to take our own sweet time at every spot, even hanging out doing nothing on the boat after lunch, enjoying the riverview from a hammock.

We stopped by the home of a local family who made fish sauce. It all starts in this big well filled with tiny little fishes, which gets fermented, boiled in high heat and strained. (I’ll talk about how the fish sauce is made in next week’s post)

We took one of these boats to the floating village.

On our way there. We had the whole boat to ourselves. Our guide invited us to go sit by the edge to enjoy the view. My legs were trembling. I can’t swim, you see!

Firewood is still used for everyday life.

Another leg trembling moment. We went to visit the snake lady, who makes a living selling dried snake meat. She chops off the heads and tails, then slays them, before drying them on her roof, to be sold for consumption. The snakes are all caught in the area.

Snakes drying on her roof. We bought one to go!

This is typical in this part of the world. It’s very sad.

Floating basketball court!

Need clean plates? Just wash them in the river!

Kids in school uniform, probably on their way home from school

Snakes seem to be the thing here. We got to the restaurant, and there’s a little girl with a giant snake around her neck – inviting us to hold her “pet”

The restaurant deep fried our snake meat for us. It tasted like beef jerky.

The view overlooking our restaurant. All these are individual homes and businesses.

Kids having fun in their floating village

Fruit lady selling coconuts and bananas

Paul enjoying the view from a hammock on the boat after our lunch.

Our wonderful tour guide!! If you go to Cambodia and need a local tour guide for Tonle Sap, you must check out Tara River Boat

Here’s what you can look for this year:
Monday: Marry Me? Mondays are all about engagement sessions, getting engaged, proposals, and of course, tons or engagement photos to go with it.

Travel on a Tuesday. I’m a photographer. I take lots of pictures when I travel, and believe me, I’ve traveled ALOT. In fact, Paul and I went on a little trip for our honeymoon, where we literally circled the globe over a period of about 5 weeks. But no one knows that. Because I never show people my pictures. It’s sad isn’t it, that the photographer herself has her photos stashed up in the drawer where they never see the light of day. Well, every Tuesday, I’ll be posting something from past travels.

Wedded Wednesday. Of course. Wedding photographer. Wedding pictures are in order. ‘Nuff said.

Tell me….. Thursday. This will be dedicated to your questions, or questions I’ve received in the past. Every Thursday, I’ll post answers to one of these questions. I hope this will help clients – prospective or current – answer any question you have on your mind. Photographers are welcome to post questions as well. Everyone: feel free to post your questions in the comment section.

Friday is freeday. This means Friday is open. Open to anything. I might just post a picture of a cake that I recently baked, or a video of my kitty doing funny things, latest wedding finds..____(fill in the blanks)____. Anything.

So that’s it. Having a daily blogging schedule would also mean that my posts will be much shorter (if you follow my blog, you know I write. alot.), but it will have more variety, and hopefully more fun! If you’re reading this, please tell me! I can use the encouragement! Hahah!!

We did a thorough post about e-sessions recently, so for this post, I will show you a few more pictures from a recent Chicago engagement session – places we went, why we went there, and what we did.

Introducing: Tara and Jason (p.s. I just want to say, I can’t wait to blog their wedding. I cried at their wedding!)
E-session location: We spent most of the session at/around the Chicago Riverwalk. We finished up at the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago in Michigan Avenue, where Jason proposed to Tara!!

We parked at the Grand Hyatt, and walked to the Riverwalk. On our way there, I made them stand in the median of a road, right in front of a crosswalk, and started shooting away when the pedestrian lights turned green! Its not easy for first timers to immediately shoot in public with people all around them, but they took it very professionally! And it was an easy way to break the ice. Look at it this way, the session can only get easier from this point on!!

On the way down to the stairs that lead to the Riverwalk. I told them to go ahead of me and stop in the middle section of the stairs. And..MAKE OUT! while I shoot away right above them. Hahah!! Did I say this session was going to get easier from this point on? Just kidding. No really. It will be easier after this!

We got the Riverwalk. First things first – ICE CREAM! I told them to get some ice cream, enjoy it by the cute seating area. I shot away from far while they enjoyed their dessert.

At the Fourth Presbyterian Church, I pulled out my lights. Paul was in the background (hiding behind the wall) with a remote flash. I loved the effect of the light.

For this one, I had them stand on the sidewalk, with traffic zooming by in the background. I shot this with a low shutter speed (technical speak, sorry) to create the background effect in this shot (it was a bus that was driving by quite slowly)

Tomorrow: Travel on a Tuesday! Fun!! Please check back tomorrow!

- Wen -

Then, they decided on the reception space: Eaglewood Resort and Spa. Wait. That’s in Itasca. The Shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii is in downtown Chicago on Lexington. When I heard this, I thought – what?! did they really expect their guests to fight traffic going back and forth Itasca and Chicago? Their solution – a comfy, stress-free, no-need-to-fight-traffic chartered bus from Midwest Transit Charter System. The good is that both Eaglewood and the church are located right off of I-290 – it’s basically one straight road from church to reception. Guests had the option to travel on their own, but always welcome to hop on the two scheduled bus rides departing from Eaglewood (where out-of-towners were encouraged to stay), that will also take them back to the resort after the ceremony. No-brainer, and totally pampered!

View directions on Google Maps in a larger map

Why the logistics acrobatic move? Well, once they found the church that met their requirements and budget, it then occurred to them that a downtown reception location near the church was not going to play well with their budget, particularly because they wanted to give their guests the fantastic experience, a fun and comfy cocktail hour space and..great food. Being in the hospitality industry themselves, they knew that their dollars would go much further if they chose a suburban reception space.

And this wedding reception definitely did not disappoint! I’ve shot at Eaglewood before, and I’ve seen this ballroom before, but I have never seen it transformed they way Noly had done – custom red lighting, innovative seating, custom drapes, live band, beautiful flower arrangements and crystals, dance themed table names, and not to mention Eaglewood’s always fantastic menu!

Enjoy the images!!

Wedding info:
Church: Our Shrine of Lady of Pompeii | 1224 W. Lexington St. Chicago, Illinois 60607 | 312-421-3757
Reception: Eaglewood Resort and Spa | 1401 Nordic Road, Itasca, IL. 60143 | 630-773-1400
Transportation: Midwest Transit System Charter | 708-448-7822
Live Band and DJ: The Stu Hirsch Ochestra | 847-914-0444

An e-session is an engagement photo session. And no, it actually doesn’t have to be shot during you engagement, or anytime near when you got engaged. Quite counter-intuitive is you asked me. But my guess is that e-sessions started back when people still posted engagement announcements in the local newspaper. Some smaller town newspapers still do, actually, because I’ve actually received several requests in the last year.

These days, e-session is a whole other animal. I personally don’t think that e-sessions are the absolute essential in your wedding photography, but I do think that if you can, definitely do it. Because:

1. If you’re camera shy, it’s a first opportunity for you to experience what it will be like to have paparazzi surround you
   
2. You get to experience me at work, get used to some of my terminology when I give you instructions during the shoot, and well, get used to spending some time with me, because after all, I will be the one person who will be right next to you all day at your wedding
   
3. You get to use your photos in FUN ways to complement your wedding plans – guestbooks, wedding website, Save-The-Dates, invitations, table cards, thank you cards, slideshow, the list goes on. Personalize your wedding. Let your guests see the two of you together. You know what it’s like – many guests have only either met the groom or the bride but not both. You want your guests to get to know your new significant other.
   

The cost of an engagement session is typically included in your wedding photography package. If not, just ask. It NEVER hurts to ask. Unless you’re with a big chain photography company, chances are, it will cost you very little more, or if you’re lucky, your photographer might even throw it in for you. For me personally, I really enjoy e-sessions, when the couple enjoys it. This is why, I include it as a complimentary option. If you want it, we’ll do it. If you don’t want it, then we won’t. It’s that simple. Over the years, I have met couples who simply do. not. want. an engagement session. In that case, doing an e-session might actually hurt your relationship with your photographer, and create unnecessary stress, on top of all the other stresses of wedding planning. Yes, they’ll loose out on all the benefits that I listed above, but I respect and trust that they are happier people without those things, so we’ll keep it that way.

So let me introduce Teresa and Wilson. They did their e-session June – it was a nice, comfortable Spring-Summer afternoon. Perfect timing for an e-session!

First, I ask them if there is a special place they’d like to shoot, and whether they have plans to use the images for anything in the wedding (e.g., if they q
want to make a Save-The-Date with their images, I will plan the shoot/poses accordingly, and may even bring a few props). This is also when I toy with them the idea of having a themed shoot.

Then, the question that I get 100% of the time: What to wear????!! And my 411 to everyone is…

Dress up, dress nice, dress comfortably. Be cute, be fun, but DON’T LET YOUR CLOTHES DISTRACT, which means:
~NO to all black or all white (the little black dress is an exception!). All white attracts more attention than the people in the photos. All black makes you look like a blob of black
~NO to distracting patterns (plaids, stripes) and logos (imagine “Aeropostale” in every photo!)
~DO wear neutrals, jewel tones, pastels, but feel free to add a pop of color to reflect your personality. Just don’t let your clothes be louder than you
~DO wear comfy shoes (especially in the city) and bring an extra pair of flats if you want
~You don’t have to match each other in terms of colors. But do dress to complement each other in terms of “dressiness” (e.g., a cute black dress does not go with shorts and sandals)
~ DO dress appropriately for the weather, even if that short skirt is cute in the snow – you’re gonna regret it later.
~ DO accessorize
~ MUST leave the big handbag behind! The last thing you want is photos of you holding a big bag.
~ MOST importantly, bring your happy mood! =)

And then, the next most popular question – “what poses do you suggest?” Uh..no. It’s 2011, and we don’t do poses anymore. Poses – is not my thing. But I will give you some guidance on what to do and how to interact with each other, that will make for good photos. I will tell you places to stand, sit, “hang out,”..etc. and, I give you “things” to do while you’re “hanging out”. Not poses.

So back to Teresa and Wilson. They took full advantage of making the session THEIR OWN. Teresa took us to Pilsen, the neighborhood where she grew up. The area was also full of murals that carried alot of meaning for Wilson, who’s a professor in Sociology and American Studies. This was perfect backdrop that represented BOTH their personalities!

See the images and captions for more details on what we did during the shoot and the story behind each image!!