Here are the photos of this awesome party! Congratulations Hugo !!!

BTW, don’t miss to go to my facebook fans page to see the “behind the scene” video

ceremony: JCC HK
party: Cafe Deco at the Peak

congratulations !!!

the ceremony in the morning at JCC, Hugo and his parents

the blessing

being playboy is the the theme of the party – interesting table setup

the cocktail session at the roof

the signature board – photo taken early aug

we had some games

and fire performance !!!!!

wow !!! let ’s welcome the playboy hugo

let ’s dance !!!!

speech by hugo ’s brother and sister

that made him laugh

and cry

time for hugo ’s own speech

good speech, good speech !!!

crazy boys

love this shot!!!!

awesome band !!!!

great party, belinda !!!

father and son dance !!!!

with only a few photo sessions in august, I had more free time to clean up the photo editing and album backlogs. Apart from it, really enjoyed the extra time I had with shulin. We went to different playgroups (little gym, ballet junior …. …) or went to swimming everyday – this was such a wonderful time (you can see some photos and video on my facebook fans page) !!!!

Before writing this blog, I was packing my equipments to prepare the photo session tomorrow – the bar mitzvah party of hugo. This is the kick-off of the peak season and my schedule was fully packed before the Chinese new year. Hopefully, I can update the blog more frequently in this season … …

In this and the next few posts, I ‘d like to share some photo techniques that I frequently use

I love shooting in available light, especially on a wedding day. But I also use a lot of off-camera flash, especially during the portrait sessions.

Here is an example – the bar mitzvah portrait session for hugo I did early this month. This is one of my fav image of the day – I love his expression a lot. You may think we had wonderful sunset light in this shot … …but … …

click here to see how this photo was created.

but, in fact, the light was created by a large  softbox held by Canly (as you can see in the 2nd photo). In the 3rd photo, the flash is off, and Hugo ‘s face was in shade actually. There was sunlight in the photo, but the sun was at the opposite side of the camera and it gave a rim light to hugo. The tricks here are , we have to control the power, the color and softness of the flash carefully, so that it can mix with the sun light well and make the light look natural.

more other techniques will be shared in next few posts. Any comment is welcome.

I am going to shoot the bar mitzvah of Hugo end of this month, and had the chance to shoot some portraits of him last Friday. Love this session, lots of fun. Skateboarding, football, rugby … … what a sporty boy !!!!

Look forward to the bar mitzvah party this month !!!!

So what about the last 5% ?

Bar mitzvah is definitely my favorite photo event, especially the celebration party!!!! These people just know how to party, there is always so much fun taking photo for them. And the party for Leo didn’t disappoint us, I took photo of his brother Enzo last year and felt so happy to see their family again.

theme of the night: Hollywood and Oscar
event management: Berge Studio
venue: JCC HK

Leo – the super STAR of the night !!!!

the table setup

We had Oscar prize that night

the reception area  – great job from Berge Studio!!!

the party area

the bar mitzvah boy – Leo

Leo ’s family – Enzo, Sophie, Leo, Manou

the speech

this must be a very wonderful speech

Leo giving out Oscar prizes to his family and friends

Let ’s dance !!!

The "Chicago" dance !!!

dancing Sophie

Look at Leo, he ’s a very good dancer !!!

Saturday night fever !!!

Oh !!

date: 16 march, 2008
venue: JCC HK
event management: click marketing

the jeremy notes !!

the reception area — great job from click marketing

the bar mitzvah boy !!!

the dinner area

lots of games !!!!

I win !!!!

Mr. Lieberman – speech from the father

Let’s welcome the CEO of "jeremy resort and casino"

Let’s celebrate !!!!

the grand parents

Mr. & Mrs. Lieberman

Isabelle became the DJ

look at that !!!

singing a song for jeremy

wow !!!

don’t stop dancing !!!!

The theme of the evening was "Fire and Crystal", the whole ballroom of AMC was partitioned into two areas – "Fire" and "Crystal". When I asked Fiona who is the decoration company, I was so surprised when she told me that she didn’t hire any decoration or event company and she designed all by herself — amazing !!!!!

the celebration — James and Father dancing on the table !!!! So excited !!!!
It was lucky that I could capture this pic — once they started to do that, you ‘d be in the middle of the crowd and you couldn’t move at all. The tricks are "anticipation" and a little bit of "luck".

Let me introduce — the Walton family

"Fire" — the cocktail . The whole area was in red

Looking from outside, fire and volcano movies ‘re projected on the "big" screen

the "crystal" area — everything was in white

James and his best friends !!

watch out !!!!  We had real fire to play !!!!

the opening of the dinner !!

James ’s brother — Robert was the mc of the night

speech from the father

Look at James!!!!

the two brothers

Wow !!!!

Fiona and her sister & mother

James ’s speech — one of the best bar mitzvah ’s boy speech !!!! And he even offered an open question session for all the guests

James ’s playing his favorite musical instrument — human beatbox !!!

a band by James ’s  best friends

James listening to the band.

Going to Fiona ’s party, she never ever disappointed you at the dessert time

Let’s dance and sing !!!

special dance

Look at me, James !!!

the mother and son

a happy moment!!!

a family time

As James is a rugby lover, we planned to take photos of him playing it on the beach.

Look forward to the part II (the party) in March !!!!

he looks great, doesn’t he?

Look at that !!! I am risking my life to take this photo !!!

My head (and my camera) are full of sand !!!

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A very nice chapel with lots of details Ohel Leah Synagogue

I like this pic as we can see both Enzo and his mother sophie upstair

the blessing

A corner … …

Enzo at Ohel Leah Synagogue

The 13 years old Daniel 

Handsome boy

The start of the celebration

I learned from Laura that a Jewish boy becomes a bar mitzvah automatically upon turning 13 years old. A distinguishing mitzvah that the bar mitzvah starts to observe is putting on tefillin. Daniel ’s mother and sister (Laura & Leaah) ‘re looking at Daniel putting on the tefillin for the 1st time

A few words specially for Daniel

The Metoudi Family

When clients love my work and the pictures recall their memories, this is the kind of job satisfaction that I couldn’t get in my previous job. I believe I made the right decision to become a photographer in the middle of my life. It is not just money, it is about helping people to crystallize their good memories.

I am already looking forward to James ‘ barmitzvah in March 2008 !!!

Robert ’s giving his speech and Fiona started to cry that night.

There is so much love … …

Steven holding Fiona ’s hands

Fiona prepared a "dessert room" for all the guests, it ’s full of chocolate !!!

Fiona said her whole family is addicted to Chocolate. You can tell from this picture, can’t you?

Let’s dance, everyone !!

I love this picture a lot. It is full of motion .. …

James and Robert

Everyone is having fun !!!

Fiona and Steven

As Robert said in his speech, he ’s a lucky boy — his parents prepared such a great party for him, best location, very unique decoration, families and friends coming from all over the world and celebrating together.

Robert ’s giving his speech

Robert ’s brother — James ’s good at making joke in his speech 

Robert and his friends
 

Robert ’s party

I had a lot of fun in the the dancing session, everyone danced for over 2 hr.

A moment for Steven and Fiona
 

The whole family ’s celebrating