Gavin and I went to Maui a few weeks ago with two of my high school friends, Danli and Kathryn.  It originally started as a weekend of wine tasting get-away for Gavin and I in Temecula (Temecula wineries).  Then, at a family diner,  after hearing my aunt and uncle raved about their 4 days and 3 nights cruise, we decided to do a cruise instead.  THEN, when we meet up with Danli for sushi (a few days later), she told us about her upcoming trip to Hawaii and the awesome deal she got.  Once again, we were up-sold.  ;) To be honest though, it was a GREAT deal indeed and I was not gonna pass up on such a good offer.  We booked through PleasantHolidays.com and got our round trip tickets (from LAX to OGG) which included hotel for 6 days and 5 nights for only $650 each.  We stayed at an ocean-front hotel at the Royal Lahaina Resort.  It literally took us a minute to walk down to the water and about 10 minutes to walk over to Black Rock (one of the BEST places for snorkeling)!!

As soon as we landed, we took care of the car rentals and anxiously started our merry adventure through the Beautiful Island of Maui!!  This was my first time to Maui and must say… ” i FREAKIN LOVE it!!!”  How awesome would it be if Gavin and I were wedding photographers in Hawaii (and market t become a destination wedding photographers in Hawaii). I would love to do wedding photography in Hawaii and spend a few months out of the year living there just to do wedding photography in Hawaii.  Someday… someday…  ;-)

This is us…excited to find our yellow jeep (which ended up driving crazy, because everything was manual and I’m so spoiled with an automatic).  As I am sitting here, writing this blog and reminiscing… I can’t help but to smile at how great of a time we had in Hawaii.

And at the Hotel room… Gavin had so much fun being a kid and jumping on the bed, he ended with a face plant!! LOL…

I couldn’t help being a kid myself… so I joined him!!

After we settled into our hotel, we all went to rent our snorkeling gear.  Danli also found a great deal on that as well.  We rented our gear (mask, breathing tube, and fins) for $5 a person for the ENTIRE week at Boss Frog.  And now… it’s off to Black Rock for snorkeling!!  Snorkeling was AWESOME!!  The water was super warm and clear and the best thing… we swam with a huge sea turtle.

These next three pictures were taken with my small point-and-shoot underwater Olympus camera.

Hawaiian Law fines anyone $10,000 when caught touching a sea turtle.  This is because they are considered “almost extinct”.  When one touches them, the oils from our hand causes their protective membrane (on their shell) to break down and thus they can die from bacterial growth/infection.

Well… good thing no one was around, otherwise Gavin would have had to file for bankruptcy!!

Nice shot from a point-and-shot camera.  We snorkeled till pass sunset and then headed out for a nice dinner.

The next day, after breakfast, we started our adventure to Road to Hana (aka Journey to Paradise).  This remarkable highway stretches 68 miles long and has 620 curves/turns.  This narrow and winding road passes 59 bridges, 46 of which are one-lane ONLY bridge.  Yielding to oncoming traffic is a must!!!  Road to Hana has many mile markers that can help you find many hidden nooks and gems during the drive.  We recommend getting a audio tour or buying the book “Maui Revealed”.  The most memorable event was hiking through the jungle and finally reaching a pool with a beautiful fall.  There, we jumped into the pool and under the waterfall!  It was an amazing experience.

We also stopped at random fruit stands to try exotic fruits.  WOW… check out the size of those coconuts!! hahaha…

Just a little past mile marker 32 is a BEAUTIFUL Black Sand Beach.  The view is just simply GORGEOUS!!!

On the 3rd day, we woke up SUPER early (2:00am) to start our drive to Haleakala National Park for a breath-taking sunrise.  Being complete morons, we (being Gavin, myself, Danli, and Kat) showed up in shorts and t-shirts.  The park ranger booth showed a temperature of 42 degrees F (without wind chill factors).  Everyone else was wearing windbreakers, parkas, mittens, etc. and here we are walking in dressed like we’re going to the beach.  One of the other visitors yelled out, ” I’m cold just looking at your guys!”  I was so glad we all had a thin sweater ready in the car.

The sunrise was so relaxing… so serene!!

Wouldn’t it be nice to run and jump on these clouds.

Our 4th day was filled with fun beach activities.  More snorkeling, kayaking, scuba diving… we did it all!!  Scuba diving is a lot harder than it looks, but it was REALLY fun!!  I had the hardest time learning how to breathe through my mouth, but eventually I got the hang of it.  After our instructor tested our skills, we were able to go out and explore life under water.  One word… AMAZING!!!!

***take home message***— Wear Sunblock, even if you think you’re underwater the whole time!!!  We all got a pretty bad sunburn for Scuba diving.  It was still SO worth it though!!

After scuba diving, we enjoyed an evening of delicious food & drinks, along with a spectacular entertainment at the Old LaHaina Luau.  With an all you can eat AND all you can drink alcoholic menu… I was in heaven!!  Try Poi, try poi… everyone keeps telling me to try poi.  Well… I did and I didn’t think much of it!  It’s basically mashed up taro.

We got there early enough to see the pig being dug up from the ground!

And of course… we also had a beautiful sunset!!!

And WOW… the dancing was phenomenal.

Flower petals are flying everywhere when the girl was shakin her hips.

Me molesting our server.

Since we didn’t make it to the end of Road to Hana, we spent day 5 finishing up the trip.  This time, we started on the South end of the road and went backwards.  The tail end of Road to Hana is the famous O’heo Gulch (aka the Seven Sacred Pools).  This series of 7 waterfalls and pools is worth driving the distance of bumpy, unpaved, off-roading to get to.

The Captain Morgan pose…

And here’s one of many waterfalls we saw…

One of my favorite shots.  Gavin handheld this shoot at a 2 second exposure.

Yea… watch your head!!!  Gavin got nailed in the head a few times.

We had a wonderful trip… and I can’t wait to go back!!  Add me on facebook to see awesome videos from our trip.

Special thanks to Gavin of Gavin Photography (who is also my wonderful fiance) for taking these gorgeous scenic photos to share!!!

Mahalo Everyone!!!

Check out the entire wedding blog post here!!  Thanks again Heather and Kimberly (at LA Style)… you both are super awesome!!!

ooohhhhhhhhhh…. WOW!!! Miranda and Jordan’s caterer is gonna be Lucilles BBQ!!!  Not only am I looking forward to taking their wedding pictures… but NOW I look forward to delicious food too!!! aahhhhh… I love my job!!!

Remember to check out Vero and Yann’s full wedding post here.

Great news!!  You may remember Veronique and Yann’s unconventional wedding from a couple weeks ago.  Well… it is now featured on LA Style Unveiled!!  YAY!!!  LA Style Unveiled is named one of the best national wedding blogs by Your Wedding Day Magazine (YWD Magazine) and I am honored that they decided to feature Vero & Yann’s Orange County Wedding (Newport Beach Wedding).  Special thanks to Heather (Senior Editor) for putting together such a wonderful layout.

LA Style Unveiled is a very resourceful wedding blog for soon to be brides and grooms.  The blog has tons of tips and advices for wedding planning, vendor searches, wedding dresses,  real wedding experiences (including advice from real couples), etc.  It is a must check out site when it comes to wedding planning.

You can view Veronique and Yann’s full blog post here.

Also, check out Denise and Dennis (my August 30th, 2009 wedding) that was also featured on LA Style Unveiled.

Cheers!!!

In the meantime, are you all ready for some major cuteness overload?!!!?!!  As you may recall, Gavin and I welcomed two adorable kittens into our Tran-Holt family last November.  When we adopted them, these two were in horrible condition.  Button was found in a dumpster and Powder was found wandering around in a vacant backyard.  Well… look at them now!!!  These two are my precious and I think they pretty much OWN me!!  Every time I feel down or is having a bad day, one look at my adorable babies and I can’t help but to smile again!  What’s even cuter is that every time I come home,  Button and Powder would run downstairs to greet me as I open the door.  They are usually upstairs sleeping and it’s SO darn cute when they run downstairs to greet me with squinty eyes because they had just woke up from their nap.

We originally thought Button (first picture) was a Tabby, but the Vet says Button could be a Maine Coon.  Gavin did some online research and OMG we found out that female Maine Coons can weigh anywhere from 15 to 25 pounds!!!  LOL.. and I’m not surprised because she’s definitely put on some weight since we got her.  You can see her their baby pictures here.

This is Button at 5 & 1/2 months.  How could you not fall in love with that face!!!

And this is Powder at 6 months .  I LOVE Powder’s eyes; she’s got some crazy awesome looking eyes!!  A Vet student once told me, “Be careful of white cats with green eyes… they are can be little crazy!” LOL… and boy was she right!!!  Powder is a handful.  She’ll do the most funniest thing you’ll ever see.  One time she plopped on the floor and then started dragging herself across the room with only her front paws!!  ”Weird cat” or “Crazy cat” is her nick name… in addition to “Motorboat” because she purrs very loudly.  We found that Powder is very affectionate and more lovey-dovey with us then Button is.  Powder LOVES to be around people and LOVES to cuddle up and sleep with us at night.  She’ll come up and put her face right next to ours or fall asleep on our chest or next to our shoulder.  She’ll sometime be so affectionate that it becomes annoying when we’re trying to sleep so I’ll Gavin would not let her in our room.  She’ll be meowing ALL night long!

The following two pictures are done using a Ray Flash with a 15mm fish eye.  Cool huh???

Here’s Powder stalking something.  I don’t know what.. but she likes to stalk little bugs and then attack them~!!

Button and Powder likes to rough play with each other a lot!  Sometimes we’ll hear them chase after each other around the house (even in the middle of the night).  I read online that after 4 months kittens hit their peak in rough-playing and begin to mellow out.  Well…NOT these two!! They are so playful and full of energy!

Awww….. And this is Gavin… he’s my third baby!! heehee  Gavin, very much like Powder,  is a social butterfly and is very much like Button in that he sometimes can be quite mischievous.  He loves to be around people but more importantly he LOVES to play video games!!  I found him at Sav-on Pharmacy about 5 and a half years ago!!  And yeah… I think I’m gonna keep him too!!  =)

Peek-a-Boo— I see you!!!

I am so glad to have Button and Powder in our lives!!  They add so much life to our home and so much love to our lives!!  I don’t know what I’ll do without them… they’re my precious! Everyday I pray that other people would find it in their hearts and give these lovable animals a chance and making a difference in their lives as well.  Please let me know if you are interested in adopting a cat or dog!!! I can definitely send over Heather’s information.  She has many dogs and cats who are in desperate need a home.

Cheers,

Judy

For the wedding day, my parents hired a traditional Vietnamese photographer and videographer.  Knowing that this wedding was mainly for my family, Gavin and I pretty much let my parents took over with the wedding planning.  However, Gavin and I still wanted artistic wedding pictures so we found another photographer (Aidan Dockery), to do the day-after session.  Aidan is an English photographer who shares our passion for photography and has a similar style to ours.  He has lived and worked in Vietnam for about 6 years.  We were so lucky to have him agree to photograph our session.  Thank you so much Aidan for the beautiful photos!  It was truly a pleasure meeting and working with you!

You can see more of his work here:

http://www.abdphoto.net/weddings.html

http://blog.abdphoto.net/2010/01/binh-duong-wedding.html

Here are some of our favorites from the day!  Enjoy…

On our way to Dai Nam Park, we saw this beautiful rubber tree orchard!  As wedding photographers, we can’t let the photo opp slip by…

With 3 professional wedding photographers, this was a piece of cake!  LOL…  The only downside was… it was blistering HOT and there were humongous red ants crawling everywhere!  They were at our feet and were not very happy that Gavin and I stepped on their homes and killed family members… so they decided to take revenge!  Not fun… but I thought it was so worth it for the pictures!  =D

I especially love the following two pictures!  It looks so dreamy!

We finally made our way into Dai Nam Park.  It’s a huge theme park that was build a few years ago.  The park has a zoo, a water park, a Buddhist temple, a movie theater, coaster rides, etc…

Love the reflection off the floor!

Gavin has a blue belt in Brazilian Ju-Jit-Su… so every now and then he has the itch to put me in a choke-hold!

We ended our shoot with a beautiful sunset!

One wedding down… one more to go!  I can’t wait to start planning for our American Wedding this coming December!  It’s actually the same date (Dec. 26) as our Vietnamese wedding, just exactly one year apart!!

After donating a $100 adoption fee per a cat (which includes two sets of vaccines for each cat, de-worming and flea treatment, and spraying and neutering service), we were able to bring them home.  I asked Heather about their history and was sicken by where these poor cats have been (before they were rescued).  One was found in a dumpster and the other was found wandering behind some bush in a vacant home.  Sad isn’t it?!?!

So… let’s meet them shall we?

This is Button at six weeks old.  We decided to name her Button because she is cute as a button! =)  Button has a very friendly and playful personality.  Here and there she will just sit there staring right back at us mischievously.  I sometime wonder what goes through her tiny little head! =)

This is Powder at 8 weeks old.  She got her name because she white and soft like baby powder.  She’s somewhat prissy and looooves to cuddle.  Her nickname is “motor-boat” because when she cuddles with us, her purring is super loud.  It’s really cool that Powder has one green eye and one blue eye!

My two babies sleep, eat, and play together all the time!  They seem to be pretty independent for their age!

This is just toooo adorable to not take a picture of.  Powder is sleeping on Button’s tummy as Button is completely passed out with her hand hanging over the side of their bed.

Look at this mischievous little one!

How can you not love that face!?!?!?

Well…  actually…let me take that back….  LOL!!!

And the evil side of this cute little kitten comes out when you piss her off… I’m joking!  This picture was taken in the middle of her yawn!

Well… Thank you for visiting and hope you will come back again soon for more updates on my work (wedding photography) and personal life!  If you are interested in adopting or would like to foster, please let me know and I’ll be more than happy to refer you over to Heather.

Cheers,

Judy

Exciting news!!!  Not long after doing Denise and Dennis’s wedding in August, Susie Chhuor Professional Hair & Make up Team (Denise’s Make up and Hair Stylist) contacted me with the happy news that Heather,  the coordinator of LA Style Unveiled would like to feature me as a photographer on their website!  At LAStyleUnveiled.com couples can find vendors as well as many helpful tips on planning for a wedding.  I am stoked to be “published” on such a website!  You can check out the article on my photography at the link below:

http://lastyleunveiled.com/deniseanddennis/

xoxo,

Judy

I want to take this opportunity to thank our good friends, Vivian Tran (owner and lead make up artist of AllMadeUpTeam)  and Doug of Furious Photographers for everything!

Gavin and I had the pleasure of working with Vivian and her girls a number of times now and each time, her team does an absolutely amazing job.  She is highly recommended on my list for make-up and hair.  As for Doug… he never ceases to amaze me with his photographs.  Not only is he an awesome wedding photographer, but he’s also an excellent fashion photographer!  We are honored to have him as a close friend and as our wedding photographer.  I can’t wait till our big day!  Thank you sooooo much guys for doing such a kick-ass job!!!

For our engagement shoot, Gavin and I decided that we’re going to wear our actual wedding attires.  Here are pictures of me getting ready for the shoot.  Hehehe… after taking pictures of so many brides getting ready, it feels kinda weird being on the other end of the camera and seeing pictures of me getting ready.

While Vivian was doing my make up, Gavin and Doug were playing around and taking silly pictures of each other. Looks like they are having lots of fun with all the hats!  Looks good on you boys!!!

Doug is constantly on automatic pose for the camera.

We started our engagement shoot at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

After the Performing Arts Center, we headed over to Table Rock in Laguna Beach for some sunset pictures!  Here are some of my favorites.

Check out the waves on this one:

It was so romantic! I had such a great time hanging out with my life-long best friend.  I love you Gavin!!!

We now finally have professional pictures of us where we can actually see our whole body and the background at once (without Gavin’s arm being in every single shot).  Gavin and I have so many picture of just our heads!

I love this picture of us! We look like happy little kids…so happy to be sitting on the life guard stand.  Look at Gavin…

Click here to see our entire engagement shoot here.

To all my brides out there… “I am in the same boat as all of you.  I feel the excitement and stress that comes with planning for a wedding.  Please feel free to contact me if you have any question at all regarding photography or wedding plannings in general.  Having been in the industry for 2 years now, I am more than happy to spread the knowledge.”

Cheers!!!

-judy

Our venture starts off at Monterey’s Fish House in Carmel where Gavin and I stuffed ourselves with excellent seafood for Lunch!  We started with 3 dozens of oysters (raw and grilled), and a bowl of shrimp bisque.  For the main course, I had the best crab cake and crab ravoli ever.  Gavin had grill Sea Bass which was also very yummy.  We left that place with our stomachs ready to explode!  I highly recommend those who like seafood to try Monterey’s Fish House if they are ever in Carmel.

This was our first stop through the beautiful 17-Mile Drive.  Once again… I strike-a-pose for the camera.  Every since I was little, I love to be in front of the camera.  As an adult, I just love love love being a photographer and being behind the camera photographying others!

This is pebble beach.

oh… and if you’re wondering, that’s me playing dead from falling off one of the cliffs.

Silly Gavin… what are you doing???  Are you imitating a crab again? 

LOL… I love this picture!

Here is the famous Lone Cypress Tree!!!  The view is just gorgeous… I can’t even find the words to describe how beautiful everything looks!

We made many frequent stops as we drove through the 17-Mile Drive.  Here are some of my favorite spots where we stopped for photos.  Isn’t it breathtakingly beautiful???  The one on the upper left hand corner is called the “ghost tree”.  The one the lower left hand corner is the Bixby Bridge.  The two right images are coastal scenes that were just too good to pass up while driving through.  I love it there!!!

Finally, we stopped by Pismo Beach in time for the romantic sunset.

We then had dinner at Mo’s Smokehouse BBQ.  After having so much seafood, Gavin knew I would totally appreciate meat!  I am a total carnivore and can’t be too long without meat!  Here we had excellent ribs and pull-pork!  This place is also very highly recommended on my list!

Thank you everyone for taking your time to look through my blog and get to know me and my photojournalistic style as a photographer.  I’ll try my best to keep you all posted with the latest and greatest of all my life ventures.