faye bernoulli photography

Birthdays and Israeli food

2010-10-30T20:51:00.002-04:00

These past couple of days have held birthdays of a few people close to Chris and me. On the 28th, it was my parents' 28th anniversary and my aunt's 54th birthday. Last night, we celebrated our good friend Wes' birthday at an Israeli restaurant in Philadelphia called Zahav.

Five of the six of us had never been to this place before, and we were all pretty much blown away by how good the food was. Plus, it was tapas style, so we were all able to taste a little bit of everything. My favorite presentation, though, had to be the starter salatim, which had eight different salads.

While the portions were small, we had so many dishes that we were all stuffed after the meal...but not stuffed enough to decline dessert! Cashew baklava, yum...

And here's Wes blowing out the candle from his dessert (the Halvah mousse):

Happy birthday!

Binh & Chen: Engagement

2010-10-24T19:37:00.000-04:00

We had the pleasure of shooting Binh and Chen's engagement photos this past weekend at their alma mater, Rutgers University. We were pretty excited, as this was our first e-shoot, so THANK YOU, Binh and Chen, for trusting us with your photos!

These two were in the same physics class when Binh was a freshman and Chen was a sophomore. During an after-exam review, Binh and her roommate noticed Chen, and they referred to him as "The Physics Guy." They ran into each other randomly on the Rutgers bus, but Chen never noticed Binh sneaking glances at him as they rode to class.

One day, Binh's roommate intervened and dragged her to the computer lab (where Chen worked) under the guise of making photocopies for a class.

Finally, a year later, they met, and the rest is history.

After walking around campus, we headed to the famous Rutgers grease trucks for lunch, followed by I's Cafe for bubble tea (we on the west coast call it "boba").

Slow-roasted salmon

2010-10-11T21:43:00.002-04:00

I absolutely love seafood. I can eat it raw, roasted, baked, broiled, fried (although not my favorite prep unless it's calamari), sauteed, you name it.

I recently found a recipe for slow-roasted salmon from the Cooking for Friends cookbook from Williams-Sonoma. My friend Steph is an avid cook and she and I like to scour the internet for recipes and trade. I saw this book at WS, fell in love with the photography first, and realized that this was a book we BOTH needed.

Chris and I decided to (and by Chris and I, I mean I decided to...he just agreed) try out this new recipe. It sounded healthy, very simple, and absolutely delicious. I paired with smashed potatoes from Simply Recipes, using red potatoes instead of new.

Verdict on the salmon was...well, let's just say Chris bought 1.8 pounds and we ended up eating 95% of it. It was THAT good (and good for you). Rubbed with olive oil and seasoned with only salt and pepper, it was simple enough to let the freshness of the fish shine through. We did squeeze some lemon on, after garnishing with chives and parsley, and pair it with a little bit of creme fraiche, and that just catapulted us into a whole other level of bliss.

Pam and Ray's wedding

2010-03-24T00:17:00.004-04:00

This past weekend, we had the pleasure of flying out to California to attend the wedding of our two good friends, Pam and Ray. Chris and I met them in college (I was in a co-ed service fraternity with them and Chris worked in student government with Ray), and they were also in our wedding. Ray was Chris' best man and Pam was one of my bridesmaids. It made us so happy to see two of our favorite people start their married lives together!

Kiss from her dad...

...and kiss from her groom!

I love this photo of the two of them, mainly because we've never seen Pam look at anyone the way she is looking at Ray in this picture.

During the dragon dance

Classic Pam and Ray: Ray was laughing at her during their engagement video, and Pam puts up with Ray's shenanigans. :D

First dance

Spicy Asian Crab Cakes

2010-02-04T20:10:00.002-05:00

When it comes to adding anything hot or spicy to a recipe, I tend to go a bit overboard. Not that whatever I'm making becomes inedible, but enough to make Chris and me hiss a little when we take our first bite. Nothing wrong with a little kick though! ;)

Tonight's dinner is courtesy of the Steamy Kitchen cookbook.

Happy 1st birthday, Jake!

2010-02-01T23:52:00.006-05:00

Last Friday, Jake turned one year old. As Chris and I were taking pictures of Mike and Charlotte opening the gifts, we commented that we still remembered taking pictures at the baby shower!

After braving through a crazy snowstorm, we arrived to the party a little late, but just in time for cake and presents. Jake's party had a Paul Frank theme...I absolutely loved his hoodie!

After all the guests cleared out, Chris got this shot of one pooped Jake...

I got the sear!

2010-01-28T22:30:00.003-05:00

One of my other passions (besides photography, traveling, and anything diabetes related) is cooking. Don't get excited now, I hate spending lots of time in the kitchen, so I appreciate quick, easy recipes. The last thing I want to do when I get home after a full day at work is cook something that takes three hours. No thanks.

Today, I found a simple recipe for scallops and pasta by one of my favorite food bloggers Jaden Hair. I thought I'd give scallops another try, because a few months ago, I made a dish with scallops purchased from the market. The guy lied to me and said they were dry packed, when in fact they were not. I was so disappointed that I gave up on trying again— it was a fairly expensive mistake. The total cost of ingredients that time around was about $20, which is a lot when you're accustomed to paying $5-7 for dinner.

This time around, I decided to go to a high-end market (Di Bruno Bros.) on the way home, pony up the extra dollars, and give it another shot. I got some tips from the seafood guy, who said, and I quote: “Pat it dry, then sear the f*ck out of it.” YESSIR! *salutes*

Imagine my joy when I did exactly what he (and Jaden) told me to do. I got an AWESOME sear (the apartment filled up with smoke, but let's ignore that). I whooped and hollered (literally; I scared Chris) when I flipped over the first scallop.

Chris snapped this while I was plating. For the record, we each had six jumbo scallops, but I only put four on so you could still see the pasta. ;) Total cost of dinner tonight: $25, which includes the scallops, pasta, tomatoes, onions, and other items.

Naya

2009-12-14T15:44:00.002-05:00

Naya is my coworker Jess' daughter. She's so full of energy, just like her mom. Naya's dad told Chris and me on our way to their house that she absolutely LOVES taking pictures and that she'll totally ham it up for the camera.

Not only did Naya deliver the cheesiness, she obliged to her mom's request for a more "toned down" smile. After all, these would be going on their Christmas cards this year!

Chris caught this one as she was preparing to smile for me

The Windy City

2009-12-01T00:10:00.003-05:00

This year, Chris and I spent Thanksgiving in Chicago with our cousins Jenn and Fred. Jenn is the sister of Charlotte, baby Jake's momma, and Jake's godmother. I explain this relation to friends by saying we were staying with Chris' cousin's wife's sister and her husband. Imagine the weird stares I got!

Chicago was great, as always. It definitely tops my list as one of my favorite cities, and it's right up there with San Diego and San Francisco. There's just so much to do, and no matter how many extended weekends we take (this will be our second), I don't think we'll ever run out of things to discover.

Take, for example, the Sears Tower Skydeck. Or, more specifically, the GLASS BOX OF DOOM. I'm not normally afraid of heights, but there is something about being 103 stories above the ground with nothing but concrete below you. Chris, on the other hand, got light headed when he stepped on. He's not a huge fan of heights.

He is, however, a fan of awesome views, such as this one. This is the view from Jenn and Fred's 15th floor balcony. The sky was crazy cool that night, so I just stood out there with a tripod.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Vanessa: Boudoir

2009-11-21T11:10:00.003-05:00

A few nights ago, our friend Vanessa instant messaged Chris, asking for anniversary gift ideas. She and her boyfriend are celebrating two years together, and she wanted to surprise him.

Chris threw the question at me, and I jokingly yelled out, "BOUDOIR SHOOT!"

One thing you should know about Chris and me is that, when we joke about something, it always comes true in one way or another. Case in point: our trip to Italy, which started off with me sending him the link to Expedia.com's promotion on cheap flights to Rome.

That being said, we totally did not expect Vanessa to think it over and agree (all within about 20 minutes). We warned her it was our first time doing such a shoot, and she said that it was fine, because it was her first time doing one.

For both our first times, I think it turned out pretty well. Here are a couple without getting too risqué!

Jake's Baptism

2009-10-11T20:15:00.002-04:00

Last month, Chris and I made our way down to Virginia for Jake's baptism. As you dear readers may remember, we did a maternity shoot with Jake's parents, Charlotte and Mike, and another shoot when Jake was a few weeks old. He's now a growing happy baby, and we were so glad to see him after a few months!

Here are some shots from his baptism over Labor Day weekend.

The poor guy fell asleep before and after the water was poured over his head! So cute.

Knocked out.

The proud parents, Charlotte and Mike.

The proud godparents, Jenn and Fred.

Man of the day!

Jefferson 2013 White Coat Ceremony

2009-10-11T12:51:00.002-04:00

Sorry for the semi-long hiatus, folks! We're back with

This past Friday, Chris attended Jefferson University's White Coat Ceremony for the Pharmacy class of 2013. He's in the inaugural class (2012), so last year I was taking his class' photos. This year, however, Chris was behind the lens! Here's a sampler of the reception afterwards...

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-12T00:50:00.003-04:00

Happy Mother's Day to all you beautiful mamas out there! I know I'm a little late, but Chris and I were in NYC all day yesterday so I wasn't able to do a proper post. Here's to my own beautiful mom!

taken by eWed Photography

And of course, Chris' mom:

taken by eWed Photography

Both are the strongest, most inspirational women we know. I'm so blessed to have both the best mom ever and an awesome mother-in-law. We were a bit sad that we weren't able to spend the day with either one of our moms (thus the most recent photos of them are from our wedding back in January).

To all you moms out there, especially to our own...thank you for what you do. Thank you for the never-ending patience and wisdom you have. I can't wait to become a mom myself one day (hopefully in the next couple of years, cough), and when I do, our kids will have the fear of both grandmas instilled in them. *evil laughter* Seriously though, we wouldn't have gotten where we are without you both (tough love sometimes, but definitely necessary!). We love you!

Elaborate Plan of Deception and the Carlsbad Flower Fields

2009-05-03T19:07:00.006-04:00

Last weekend, I flew in to Orange County to surprise my dad, who was visiting San Diego and Irvine for work. Thank goodness for Southwest vouchers, because I was able to book, rebook, and change itineraries about three times before finally flying out on Friday, April 24th!

I had an "elaborate plan of deception," as my boss called it-- I told my dad I had to work late on Friday night because a donor was doing a site visit/reception/dinner, then emailed him earlier that day saying I had forgotten my cell phone at home and would call him after the event. Chris and I even went so far as to change the outgoing message on Chris' phone to my voice in case my dad called him (and I forwarded my number to Chris' number during the flight). All was well when I got to Phoenix and called my dad, who I ended up waking up from a nap. He had no idea I was pressing mute after everything I said because announcements were cycling through the airport like crazy!

When boarding time came near, I quickly said goodbye to my dad, saying I needed to get to bed because I was exhausted and had a huge headache. Anxious to get back to his nap, he didn't keep me for long.

I landed in Irvine, hightailed it across the airport and into a cab, and called my dad from the hallway of our condo building. I said a friend of mine had dropped off the package he was waiting for (she's taking care of our place while we're gone) and that she didn't ring the doorbell because I said he was asleep. He said, "Okay, I'll get it now...go back to sleep; I know you're tired!" I said okay and hung up...and waited for the door to open.

I heard the lock turn and waited eagerly for my dad to step out. He emerged from the door, looking down at the ground for a package. I popped out from my hiding place and said, "Hey Pa, what's up?!" The look on his face was PRICELESS. I wish I had a video camera on me!

We had a great time that weekend. There's really nothing like hanging out with my dad one-on-one; we haven't done that in a while, and I think we both really enjoyed having an uninterrupted conversation at Yard House that night, him trying out the house beers and not having to worry about driving himself home (I, btw, drove for the first time in seven months, haha).

On Sunday, we stopped by the Carlsbad Flower Fields on our way down to visit family. In the 18+ years we lived in San Diego, we had never visited the flower fields. Here's to making up for lost time!

excuse the mean mug...bright sun! :)

And for you inquiring minds, YES, I did get my Mexican food fix! Yay for carne asada fries! ;)

Spicy Shrimp with Coconut Rice

2009-04-29T23:30:00.003-04:00

I was inspired by Jenny Sun's post on how career women do make dinner, so I decided to post pictures of a meal I haven't made in a while-- that's what a limited kitchen will do to ya!

Spicy Wok Shrimp is one of my favorite recipes; I found it a few years ago when I was perusing food blogs for dinner ideas. It's pretty quick to make, and although it is a little on the expensive side (compared to good ol' chicken or beef, that is), it's a nice treat. The only funny thing is, I used to make it in this giant wok I had when we lived in Irvine. Since our kitchen in Philly is a joke, it's really Spicy Pot Shrimp. It's yummy, nonetheless! :)

It's Chris' and my dating anniversary tomorrow (don't even ask how long; we find many reasons to celebrate, and this is our "official" dating anniversary, lol), it calls for a little celebration.

bubbling away happily in the "wok"

plated with the coconut rice

I love tinkering around in the kitchen. :)

Lynn & Fred: Anytime

2009-04-19T00:54:00.008-04:00

We shot our first couple today!

Lynn and Fred are our fellow Californians and Chris' pharmacy school classmates. They graciously agreed to be our guinea pigs for our first couple shoot, and while Chris and I know we have quite a bit to work on (such as posing people, haha), I think we did a pretty good job! Of course, it didn't hurt that it was a beautiful day in Philadelphia! Plus, Lynn and Fred are goofy as hell, so it really made things easy. :)

Thanks, Lynn & Fred!

I couldn't resist, haha

We were intrigued by the dingy alley we passed by after lunch.

She really loves him, I swear!

I thought it appropriate to end with these two shots, as it really captures the essence of these two. This is what we dealt with during the entire session: all smiles and jokes. In fact, we got a LOT more funny shots than we bargained for, enough for a blooper album for them! It was a very relaxed environment and they totally put us at ease!

we're still alive!

2009-04-12T21:10:00.003-04:00

Sorry everyone, I've totally been neglecting this blog! Now that winter is finally on its way out, we have a few photo shoots lined up to beef up our portfolio. Stay tuned for those in the next few weeks!

Happy Easter to all :)

around Philly and UPenn

2009-03-19T20:03:00.003-04:00

Last weekend, Chris and I walked around Philly, scouting for places to take photos and places to take visitors. We ended up at the Art Museum (and Rocky Steps!) just people watching. I never realized how popular this place is for wedding pictures! In less than half an hour, we saw three different wedding parties take their pictures near the giant columns. I didn't snap any of these because well, I didn't want a confrontation with a photographer. They were hard at work and the last thing they need is some n00b taking pictures of their work!

Before we started our adventure, we stopped by Tbar to get, in my opinion, the best boba in Philly. That's a lot coming from a California Asian. ;)

We found some pretty good spots for portraits and whatnot. Here is Chris modeling them:

I love his cheesy smile here!
Then yesterday, my coworker Liz wanted to go to Locust Walk at UPenn to practice her photography. I also asked our other coworker Paige to join us because I wanted to get some portraits of her and her beautiful eyes.

There's a mini Love sign on campus.

There a lot of beautiful old buildings on Locust Walk, but since it was such a nice day out, SO MANY people were milling around! This was basically the only free spot of doorway I could get.
This last shot is my absolute favorite of any portrait I've taken (not like I've taken that many). This is one of those shots that look fab straight out of the camera and need very little tweaking. I think this is the first one I've taken that needed about 2 minutes of post production. I'm pretty happy about that. :)

these are a few of my favorite things

2009-03-13T19:48:00.006-04:00

Ahh, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I fell in love with the combination during our trip to Italy in spring of 2006, back when Chris and I conquered Italy with nothing more than a passion for traveling and a Canon PowerShot SD500.

I knew he was going to be my husband when we both went to Costco, very early in our relationship, ate our hot dogs plain (Polish sausage, yum!), and used the condensation on our soda cups to "wash" our hands. Of course, I didn't tell him that. But it was in Italy (Florence, to be specific) when I realized I loved Chris-- overlooking the Arno River just as the sun slipped below the horizon. Of course, I didn't tell him this either, but now he knows. ;)

Anyway, we went to Di Bruno Brothers on the way home from work today, and aside from the cheese samples they always have out, there was a table set up with pieces of bread, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. "OoOooohhhhh!" we exclaimed, grabbing a piece and dipping generously. As I popped a dripping piece into my mouth, I prayed people were kind enough to refrain from double dipping.

The explosion of taste in my mouth took me straight back to Italy. Now, I'm no expert in olive oil or balsamic vinegar, but this stuff was GOOD.

A store worker came up to us and started explaining that the olive oil was Di Bruno's own, in celebration of their 70th anniversary this year. He hadn't even finished his spiel when I grabbed a bottle of balsamic vinegar and attempted to grab a bottle of the olive oil. I failed in that regard, because my vinegar-less hand was holding a container of shrimp doomed for tonight's dinner. Chris helped me out, haha. He also grabbed a loaf of Italian bread sitting in a nearby basket.

We're super full from dinner (whole-wheat spaghetti with vodka cream sauce and shrimp, heyyyy), but eventually, when we eat this wonderful combination, I will be taken back to Italy...to where I fell in love with my future husband.

Jacob + new logo!

2009-03-10T21:15:00.008-04:00

I'm proud to announce our new logo, created by the wonderful Stefanie Montemayor, one of the most talented graphic designers we know! Stef was one of my roomies during my third year of college, and I remember she would always be tinkering around on Photoshop and Illustrator. We lost touch for a couple of years, until the powers of Facebook brought us back into contact. Through her profile, I found her Flickr and samples of her work. Well, it was around that time where Chris and I were tossing around ideas for our logo, and we finally relented that we aren't graphic artists. I'm so glad we found Stef's work when we did...or else you'd be stuck seeing that plain text that was up previously. ;) So thank you, Stef, and here's to you and your wonderful work!

On another note, Chris and I had a great time shooting with Mike, Charlotte, and baby Jacob the other weekend! They were so fun to work with, because they're new parents, and you can totally see the excitement, wonder, and quickly-fleeting awkwardness.

You can't tell by these photos, but the storm outside was pretty bad. In fact, we got stranded in Virginia on Monday. We slowly made our way back to Philly later that afternoon.

Despite the last cold blast of winter, these pictures make us warm and fuzzy inside. Enjoy!

Jacob was doing a whole lot of eating that weekend...every 2-3 hours, to be exact!

He also did a whole lot of this.

Chris got this shot with Jake's eyes open...right before he closed them again!

I love the look on Chris' face here. He's like, AHH I'M HOLDING A BABY!!! Note Jake looking at him (O_o).
I can't wait to see how he looks when we have our own. ;)

Mike taking a break from feeding and leaving it to Charlotte.

The next day, we shot in the early afternoon to get good lighting. Because it was a little more gray than sunny outside, it wasn't the best, but the effects were pretty cool.

A couple with Daddy.

We tried to get him to turn towards us, but he was too intrigued by the design on the pillows.

Circles?

Jake's grandparents (Charlotte's parents) were visiting for the week and got him this SUPER CUTE outfit for St. Patrick's Day. Mike was joking how he wanted to bring Jake to a bar on March 17th, shove him in everyone's face, and say, "Kiss him!" Hilarious!

I'll end with this shot, simply because it reminds us how tiny a baby is. I'm always so amazed looking at newborns; I can't believe how something so tiny can grow up to someone our size!

backing up

2009-03-07T00:41:00.007-05:00

I recently joined POTN and one of the very first threads I replied to was about archiving photos.

Now, I'm quite paranoid about losing photos. You can break my laptop, and I could care less about losing music, movies (unless they're home movies), or programs. But my photo collection means the world to me.

Chris and I were married on January 10, 2009. We were on such a high from a wonderful wedding; virtually nothing had gone wrong...or so we thought. On January 16th, we got a call from one of our photographers (a husband-and-wife team). The wife's first memory card was corrupted, and gone were the photos of my bridal prep, solo portraits, and most important to me, the shots of my parents walking me into the church, down the aisle, and meeting Chris at the altar.

Words couldn't express how I felt when I hung up with our photographer. I was blubbering in Chris' arms, trying to wrap my head around the fact that memories of our special day were lost. Our photographer apologized profusely and offered us a partial refund. Still, I didn't care about the money-- I wanted the memory card. We're still in the process of trying to get them to mail it, even after several unsuccessful attempts on their part to recover anything more than the middle portion of our ceremony (read: the middle of mass).

Anyway, that happening was a swift kick in the pants, reminding us to back up, back up, BACK UP. Granted, this loss of photos was due to equipment failure and not failure to back up, but nonetheless, I would hate for that same thing to happen with anybody we work with. Which leads me to our backup process...

1) Download photos to my MacBook Pro. Each event has its own folder, named accordingly. Chris also downloads the photos to his iMac.

2) DVD (either regular or dual-layer, depending how big the folder is) burn x3-- one copy stays with us in Philadelphia (or wherever we happen to be living), another copy is mailed off to my parents in Japan, and the third copy is mailed to Chris' parents in California. We don't mail the off-site copies every single time we shoot an event; once a month works well for us.

3) Every few days, Chris makes a backup of our computers using Time Machine, plus he copies the photos off both computers onto another hard drive.

I also save Photoshop files as I edit the photos, but this is mainly because sometimes I can't remember the recipe I used for TRA.

At the end of the calendar year, Chris does another FULL photo back up. Again, we have both on-site and off-site copies. Once we're absolutely, 150% sure that everything is good to go, that year's photos are deleted off the MBP and iMac. Ready to start the new year fresh!

I know, a little (or a lot) excessive, but I've lost photos before, and it was not my favorite thing in the world. I'd rather have 6 copies of a photo than realize later that there are some missing ones.

Come to think of it, my dad has a similar plan for backing up his machines (multiply and you can't go wrong). Maybe I got it from him? ;)

Mike, Charlotte, and baby Jacob: sneak peek

2009-03-03T18:09:00.006-05:00

Chris and I have a new nephew, and he's a cutie patootie! I absolutely love babies...we can't wait to have our own one day, but that'll come in due time. ;)

We love the look on Charlotte's face here. Chris says the caption should be, "Did we really just have a baby?!"

More to come soon. Also, watch out for a new logo in the next few days! :D

logistics and maternity

2009-02-24T23:19:00.010-05:00

We're looking into professional print labs, and the choices are making our heads spin! So far, I've researched collages.net, Mpix, Pictage, and SmugMug. And so far, I'm liking collages.net, mainly because it offers everything we need and more. Does anybody have any other suggestions out there? They would be greatly appreciated! :)

In other news, we have our first newborn/family shoot this weekend in Virginia-- Chris' cousin just had a baby (well, his wife did), and we're excited to snap photos of the little guy! Mike and Charlotte were gracious enough to be our guinea pigs back in early December and let us do our first maternity shoot with them:

Given that Chris and I had virtually no idea what we were doing (apart from Googling images of maternity shoots), I think these turned out pretty well! It also helped a lot that Charlotte was the cutest pregnant woman I've ever seen. I'm excited for this weekend! :)

sayoonara, wordpress

2009-02-20T09:31:00.008-05:00

I had the WordPress blog up for a couple of weeks, but I kept getting spam comments (to approve or deny)! Hopefully we'll have better luck with Blogger-- I don't forsee it though, as we've had good experiences with Blogger in the past!

Anyway, here's a photo of last night's dinner: flank steak with asparagus and bell pepper, tossed in an amazing stir fry sauce. According to Chris, this is one of his favorites. ;)

I think this tasted better than it looks; we have horrible lighting in the apartment. :(

In further preparation for our launch this spring (I'm keeping my fingers crossed), I calibrated my MacBook Pro a few days ago and am currently going through our portfolio images to see what's going on in terms of color, specifically warmth. Still getting used to the settings-- my images look way warmer than I'm used to! For example, Chris took a picture of the view from our hotel in Hilo, HI, last year...and the sky looks almost purple! Aside from that, it's very frustrating because what looks good on the MBP doesn't necessarily look good on another monitor and vice versa.

Oh yeah, and I have to brush up on post-processing too. :)