Can you imagine how difficult it would be to name your favorite desserts? You’d get into a categorical confusion. Do candy bars count as dessert? Or should desserts be expanded simply to “sweets” to make room for all things that can fit under that umbrella term? The faves I can rattle off the top of my head right now: Tartine Bakery’s banana cream pie, egg creams, stone fruit or berry galettes, root beer floats, anything juxtaposing chocolate and peanut butter together, Goody Goodie’s namesake cookies, gas station / convenience store brownies (chewy, cheap, perfect), Polly Ann’s green tea ice cream, chocolate croissants, mint Its Its, cereal, cafe sua da, banana milkshakes, salted caramel, Olea’s gateau breton with amarena cherries, chi chi dango mochi, cannolis…

What are yours?

Here are some favorite shots from a lunchtime quickie assignment today. Perbacco asked if I would take some pictures for them to accompany a Reuters NY piece on it being one of the busiest lunch destinations in the world. Sorta true; it’s a real power luncher’s dream, and I wholeheartedly vouch for the food. I wasn’t particularly pleased with my entire album, but what can you do. I’ll be grateful if any of the photos get used.

(more…)

…and i ain’t got nothin’ to show for it, except:

one of the san hos, michelle, got married in a dreamy fairytale wedding and i’ve basically been shouting to the world that the bride should literally be a bridal gown model. are they a handsome couple or what?

another san ho, regina, got her MSW, and we’re pretty freakin’ proud. we’ve got a do-gooder case manager (and then some) amongst us, and she worked hard to get there! speaking of do-gooders, our east coast san ho jenelle passed her bar. DANG! kinda disgusting, and she’s already a visiting associate professor at a law clinic. double dang.

then there are the birthdays. i’m not sure if you know this, but june is the explosion of uterine expulsion anniversaries. everyone, everywhere, has birthdays in this month. for example, these lovely friends:

peg

susu

eric

ryry

bridge

there are tons more june birthdays.

and let’s not get started on things that have been keeping me over-occupied at work.

lastly, while i was referencing a random song, someone said something to the effect that having me around was like having an ipod shuffle. i found it very charming and sweet.

testing a new flickr app, seeing how it works. so far i dig it.

btw, gimme some love and spread the word about our upcoming samurai exhibition. it’s gonna land this summer. we’re going gangbusters in promoting it and trying out new “guerilla” marketing tactics, such as “spot the samurai.” i sweated overseeing the production of a homemade custom samurai armor and having it get here in time for its debut last thursday. it was painful but now rewarding. what do you think?

props to derek for being the first to pop the armor’s cherry. he was an excellent sport! if you scroll the photos you’ll see he was being perfectly, charmingly hammy. i still laugh when i peek the pictures.

i was recently reunited with two boxes of old photos (thanks, knuckles). sifting through them is such a trip. it’s time consuming and frustrating, trying to sort, organize, and jettison. i realize that wow, even during pre-, mid-, and post-puberty, i took a lot of pictures.

my batman geekery started at a young age, but flourished through high school and to this day. here are my halloween costumes from junior and senior year. i remember getting really into it, going to the goodwill in milpitas to assemble a proper joker wardrobe (i think i did a pretty good job). i got up early for both outfits, spending a lot of time on makeup. when i think about all the energy and earnestness that went into those costumes, it makes me sad because i don’t think i can duplicate that kind of effort or feel that excitement anymore.

here are some teasers from junior high days. i cherish these precious photos of me and the girls i grew up with. holy moly i just saw that i’m holding a rose in the photo with the guy. if you want more you’ll have to go to my flickr. happy friday y’all. i’m beat, got a long work weekend ahead of me.

one of my earliest flickr sets was dedicated to random magical moments with friends. not necessarily random per se, but meant as storage for photos that didn’t warrant their own set. i recently started one solely for 2009 in the same vein, since my original one was getting 600+ pix too heavy (it dates back to september 2005!).

flipping through the aforementioned old album is nuts on nostalgia. dang it if it ain’t a new and crazy sensation every time i look at pictures from the past! old hairstyles, clothes, apartments, relationships, etc. everything.

holidays, birthdays, halloween, parties, special occasions, NYE…celebrations like that were documented and had their own respective albums and therefore did not go into this random one.

here are some that i have exumed from the latter.

2006:

a freakin’ CLASSIC. this one’s for his great great grandkids

whale/shark watching at farallon islands. i got so incredibly seasick

that’s our boy

karuna looks so beijing

2007:

i think most everyone in this photo had just gotten their hair did by my roommate masha. enjoy this, cuz you’ll never see derek’s hair this short ever again

can you think of anything better? the only thing missing is a puppy and kitten

sis and i shared a great day in sunny sf

hellen had an uberbadass cut

one of many adventures

imprompty bbq at my place (one of those nice times where we could rally everyone together)

stockton, en route to a morrissey concert

project runway nights. this was probably our last

the day we saw beowulf

of all the crazy kooks in masters of the universe, merman was always my fave. will you just look at that mug? what a goof. in my bedroom sits an action figure version of him, and it always gives me a smile.

i saw this book at kinokuniya weeks ago. i was really taken with the simple but darling cover. from lazy gleaning it seems to be a cooking / food / home / lifestyle magazine series. the kind of thing that made me wish i could afford to buy beautiful things i can’t even read. ryan? rui? care to translate the text on the cover?

this wknd was a flurry of activity. friday night i had the nervous pleasure of shooting sutro (cliff house) right at sunset — now with celebrity four star chef george morrone at the helm. i was agitated and stressed, but everything thankfully turned out okay. george, like any passionate, hardworking chef, is intense and intimidating. i am terrified yet deeply respectful of these guys (chefs), and have learned that as long as you’re aware of their space and tread lightly, letting them approach you, then it usually works out. he was gracious and playful, all the while acting as master of his domain.

(to see the final product click here)

on saturday i pulled a SFIAA film festival hat trick in san jose. it was exhausting and whirlwind but lots of fun, watching movies with my mom, sis, peg, her mom, and her brother. regina even popped in for the first film. even though it was nice to hang out with such fine folks, i was too busy running around taking photos for the fest, so i couldn’t really take advantage of the time together. bummer. in between screenings, i finally ended the dry spell with one of my favorite SJ restaurants, habana cuba. got back into the city around 1am.

on sunday, i shot giovanni at gitane for eater sf. pretty challenging given the bordello-esque lighting of the dining room. i’m lucky i brought along my light scoop, even though it barely sufficed. it’s time to think about investing in a speed light. anyway, i initially felt guilty that he had to come out at a random time on sunday, but things quickly warmed up and we had a good time.

afterwards i indulged in a three hour nap, which helped in coping with the paralyzing sunday blues. then finally FINALLY watched in the name of the father. DDL is a magnificent specimen.

i’m already looking forward to this coming weekend.

we’ve all been there.

this is my dear friend brigid (a san ho) with her gorgeous, adorable lil’ girl elliott skye. she was born on christmas eve! elliott is brimming with personality and is a real thing of marvel, already armed with a million different facial expressions. i look forward to my auntie training with my first “niece.” she is so amazing.

i know i’m overdue for an update when i can’t even remember what my last post was about.

lots of photography things have happened, so i’ll debrief here. everything’s been thrilling and enriching, but i’m not getting my hopes up. “photographers” are a dime a dozen, and anything good that’s come my way is 95% luck and guanxi. so far, i’ve been dang lucky. i’m having a great time, and that’s key.

en route, the air canada magazine contacted me asking if they could use a photo of mine of dottie’s for a piece they were doing for SF. yes, of course! pretty random, but there’s an example of why it pays to tag the hell outta your pictures on flickr. that’s how they found it. the funny thing is that it’s a totally random, useless photo.

i guess a couple of my photos made it into the april issue of food & wine? in an article about gastropubs (magnolia). i’ll have to hunt down a copy. to clarify, they used photos i had taken for magnolia gastropub awhile ago. it’s not like they hired me to shoot for them, though ultimately that’d be my dream!

and then i woke up this morning i found an email from jeff adachi — our public defender and passionate filmmaker — asking if he could use my photos for his film’s (you don’t know jack: the jack soo story) website.

i also recently bought a domain! jenntakespictures.com
all it does is take you directly to my flickr portfolio page. chintzy but practical. it’s the best i can do at the moment, and anything’s better than giving people a cumbersome, lengthy link to work with.

not a big deal, but for a small fry like me these little things can make or break my day. okay, so on to the recap:

i splurged and purchased a bigtime beautiful lens (60mm 2.8), thanks to all my wonderful friends (and ringleader peggy) for getting me a GC to looking glass in berkeley. this pup’s been especially good for portraits, and i haven’t even taken it for a macro spin yet.

in february i shot for SF Beer Week. dave mclean, the kind owner of magnolia and alembic (both of which i’ve previously photographed), asked me to take pictures so i jumped at the opportunity. i documented nine events, each one a little different. i met many sweet, passionate people (the craft brewing community is not unlike the comics community), and cultivated a deeper appreciation for the craft. i was TERRIFIED with nervousness the first night, fumbled like an idiot poseur, but quickly dropped the whiny little bitch act and acclimated. another bonus was that i had to rent some gear, and that in itself was a big step. learning how to operate a speed light (though very crudely) was nice.

these guys were at a 21st amendment event. i overheard them speaking mandarin and found out that two were from taiwan, and one from china. i enjoyed meeting them.

there was a slight sabbatical from eater sf’s “gatekeeper” series, but it returned with a spotlight on bar tartine’s lovely, hospitable xelina.

afterwards i ate there and awkwardly took some general shots during the peak of their brunch hour.

and then, just this past weekend, i suddenly threw myself into the fire and signed up to be a volunteer photographer for SFIAAFF, thanks to gracious photog albert chau for offering me a chance. it all transpired on friday afternoon. i was hella stressed and didn’t feel adequate, but despite my baggage i thoroughly LOVED the experience! it’s a perfect fit for me — i’ve been a film fest groupie ever since working at the museum, so it makes sense. going year after year after year, you get a strong sense of community, and being able to capture the energy on camera is a pleasurable thing.

the highlight must’ve been seeing older generation asian american folks like these, and being able to photograph them. they were so plucky and cheerful, just having a jolly ol’ time with each other. tugged on my heart strings.

here’s our public defender at his post-screening reception

kiyoshi kurosawa

joan chen

well, that’s it for now. fingers crossed for onwards and upwards…

most if not all of you have already seen wired’s photojournalistic piece on comic store employees. ryan was the first to point it out, and i’ve noticed it’s picking up steam all over the internets. of course, as a former comic store employee, it hits home, and as a comics geek, i love it. conceptually it’s great, but two things (a minor grievance and a statement)

1) WHERE IS COMIC RELIEF?! i’m grateful that the bay area got some love with the presence of dr. comics & mr. games and amazing fantasy in the feature, but seriously, where’s comic relief? it’s a bay area institution, not to mention a real anchor and mainstay in the overall comics community all over the country. i wonder if it didn’t make the cut?

2) if there is a follow up edition, i want to shoot for it. i would really LOVE it, and i think my photos would pass muster. should i write the editors or something and make a pitch? what do you guys think? how do i get their attention?

sigh. that is all.