A couple weeks ago I shot this session before I went to China… After a night on Bourbon Street we had an awesome shoot! We started about 7:30AM, early… Alex and I had two great models. We shot with Evan about three hours in two dresses and Lauren about an hour with one dress. Stephanie James Couture (Huntington Beach, CA) provided the 50′s style vintage dresses. They went so perfect with the style we wanted in the French Quarter. The whole purpose for this shoot was to get a little photo/video collateral for the “ImageX-New Orleans” workshop that will take place next October at the Omni Hotel in New Orleans. There’s a crazy photographer lineup for the seminars. The format is very different than what’s out there now. Stay tuned for another post once the website is online!
Brett and Steve’s wedding was simply spectacular! They had 137 people out from the mid-west for a destination wedding. You might remember their Chicago engagement session from a couple months ago. The weather in Laguna seemed to cooperate just enough on Sunday. We felt a few drops at times and it got a bit chilly but nothing we could handle! I couldn’t decide what to blog so I posted a ton. Below is a list of all the vendors that put this amazing event together! Enjoy…
You can also watch the same day slideshow HERE - http://www.vcsphoto.com/slideshows/Schwartz
Montage, Square Root, Elysium Productions, The Cake Studio, Chameleon Chairs, Mi Media Productions,De Bois Music, Susan Davidson and Robbin Shapiro Coordinators
It’s been a great experience traveling to China and being able to shoot! Yesterday I shot Lu and Alan’s engagement session around Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. First was started in Wong Tai Sin where we went to the temple and an awesome garden by the Chi Lin Nunnery! Next we went over to the Hong Kong side and shot a little bit in Aberdeen, it used to be a smaller fishing village but now the main draw is the floating “Jumb” Restaurant. Then on to Central and Soho area for some urban action. Finally, we ended the daylight with a crazy view from Victoria Peak.
Floating “Jumb” Restaurant
This has to be my favorite photo from the day! The city lights, the wind, and the couple!
The day I arrived in China and Saturday the weather was unsually nice, clear, and blue skies. I figured it would be the same today but instead I woke up to the cloudest, haziest day I had in a while. I was leaving for the Commune by the Great Wall at noon so I wanted to squeeze in a Peking Duck at lunch. The origanal place I wanted to go was too far away so the doorman sent me with a slip of paper with Chinese writing to a closer place. I really didn’t know what to expect except for a whole roasted duck being brought to my table. However, it was much, much more… This goes back to the traditions and methods again. The chef cut the duck into what looked like 120 pieces and arranged them a particular way with the sliced and crispy skin on top of the meat. Then there was sauce, onions, cucumber, and wraps on the table. So the server showed me how to eat the famous dish. You can some of the skin dip in sugar and with your wrap made you eat the skin and then a bite of wrap with everything inside. The combonation of flavour was awesome!
Next I was off to the Commue! This place is very unique and is rated as a four star hotel. They have 47 building that have anywhere from 6-10 rooms each with a common kitchen and living roof. I was in the Chavalar 3 with the best view or the Great Wall. They have a spa, resturant, trendy bar and even their own private section of the Great Wall. This particular section has been un touched and not renovated.
Quick Great Wall facts:
- It was started over 2000 years ago and different sections were completed and linked by different Emperors.
- Close to 4000 miles of wall, ranging from 3-15 feet wide, and up to 25 feet tall
Did I mention it was foggy!
Commune buildings, mind is the red one on the right about half way up the photo.
I didn’t do much on day one except for sleep! So I made the most of day two…
Saturday, November 3, 2007
I started off the morning around 9AM to hit all the major sites, mainly the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. I chose to do a walking tour suggested by my Lonely Planet guidebook, which seemed ideal but I was quickly off the beaten path. First I caught a cab to a popular shopping area to begin my tour. The next stop was “Snack Street” for lunch. This is a little hidden area tucked in an alley literally behind huge stores like Gucci and etc. Snack Street was packed with people, food, and trinkets! My first snack I got bated in by a guy who spoke English so I bought a plate of fried dumplings and a coke for about $3. (21 RMB) After the quick bite I kept walking down the alley when something else interesting caught my eye. From a distance it looked like candy on a stick but when I got a little closer and to my surprise it was an array of tiny creatures on a stick. I’m talking seahorses, bugs and scorpions! I opted to go with the beef it was delicious! Next I passed several more food huts, kitchens, stands that were all jammed with people eating and cooking. The next thing I ate was a candied fruit on a stick, yummy!
I made my way to the end of the ally out of the food and into the flea market type area with tables and booth spilling with knickknacks and trinkets. Of course I stuck out like a tourist with hair and the baseball cap is a dead give away. I got approached by everyone to see everything. After I bought a few old Chinese coins for the boys it was worse! Since you’re a tourist you get quoted an outrageous price and then you have to bargain and when in doubt walk away or pull out the cash value of your final offer. For example one guy wanted 80 RMB for a pack of ten postcards I got them for 15… (Approximately $11 to $2) Before I head to the airport I’m going to stop back and get the boys a couple carved Chinese soldiers, a chess set and a few Olympic souvenirs.
My brain was overloaded after making it out of Snack. I was back on the main shopping plaza street, which was foot traffic only. There was a Toys R’ Us type store having a sale out front so I scoped a couple Transformer toys, one Optimous Prime helmet with a voice changer and a descent size Bumble Bee that played music. They were both way over priced. At the end of the plaza I headed West by the night market which I never got to experience because it doesn’t get started until about 5PM and goes into the wee hours of the night. My hotel was too far away to make it back at night. It’s an open market of tents and carts down one side of the street, there had to be at least 200-300 food carts.
I finally reached the Forbidden City wall and corner guard tower after ducking in and out of little shops along the way. Here I just took a few shots of the tower but the light wasn’t quite right to get the best photos. So my plan was to tour inside the Place but to get to the entrance I had to walk back across the moat and to the main gate (Heavenly Gate) on the South side by Tiananmen Square. However, this is where I got lost/sidetracked! I was supposed to go one more street which would have lead me through a park by a temple and eventually to the entrance. I went do a different street that was sort of like the arts district in San Juan Capistrano. There were shops, restaurants, and everything you could think of lining the streets but then behind the storefront was a somewhat connected home. I kept walking and peaking in several places. After looking in a one window someone came out and approached me in Chinese. I gave them the I don’t know and no,no,no but then another person came out, then another… Finally, a couple that had just arrived came out and explained to me that this was a Traditional Chinese Tea House. They wanted me to join them for the experience. Why not… The couple was super nice! She was from Shanghai and he was from a smaller village that was famous for Kung Fu. I can’t remember the name but it’s about 7 hours inland from Beijing. He also noted there were a lot of Monks and both Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan were students of his village.
The Chinese culture has been established for so long it’s amazing the traditions that are still going. There is a way to do everything, even in the Tea Ceremony. I had to hold my cup a certain way, no cheers like alcohol, smell the tea first and drink three sips to finish every cup. The cups were no bigger than a 2 oz shot glass. In all we sampled 11 different kinds of tea from all parts of China. There was green tea, black tea, Jasmine, leafs, one that looked like rice and smelled like chocolate, one that grew on the top of a mountain with no sunlight and it was neon green, one that looked like flower pedals and was purple and tasted like juice, and there was even one that expanded into a whole flower. They all looked, smelled and tasted completely different. It was pretty amazing! Betty translated everything for me to understand.
After tea I finally made it to the Forbidden City, I walked around the entrance and in the court yard for a while and took a few snaps but decided on to go in.
For dinner that night I met up with William and some of his friends there was 7 of us in all. I had to go across town to the Eastside. We ate at a pretty fancy, tablecloth type place. The service was phenomenal and you don’t even tip in China or most other parts of the world. Anyway, we were all to ourselves in a room for dinner. I thought that was kind of neat. The regular restaurant was downstairs and then a bunch of breakout room upstairs. A couple of the girls ordered for everyone, we had like 15 different dishes. However, there was one thing that everyone came to eat and it was the “Big Gate Crab” or “Hairy Crab”, it gets the name from actually being hairy. They’re claws are covered in black hair and the legs with red. They have to come from Yangcheng Lake and be eaten in the fall when they’re a certain size. The female crab is filled with roe and is much sweeter tasting than the male, but you get more meat from the male since the claws and legs are bigger. There is a certain way to open the crab and break it apart so you can eat the orange roe first while holding the legs like a spoon handle. All the dishes at dinner were good but one other favorite was the baby eel in mushroom sauce, yummy!
I started my journey from New Orleans at 3:30PM to get on a 5:00PM flight to Los Angeles. Then after an image back-up and luggage exchange with Caitlin I was on my to Tom Bradley International Terminal for a 1:20AM flight to Hong Kong. Then 14 hours later and across the international date line I was changes planes once more to final destination, Beijing! I arrived at the Westin at 15:30 (3:30PM) local time. That means in the last 36 hours I was flying 21 of them, WOW!
