balancing act

aiden in the morning. orange, california.
© kevin t vu

it has been a hectic start to the new year. work definitely kicked in right when the holidays ended. and on top of that, some of my favorite people from allover happened to be in southern california.

there definitely was a lot on my plate and it was hard to juggle everything. i was working everyday and making very little time for the people that i haven’t seen in months, let alone years.

friends from santa cruz, petaluma, santa fe and torino italy all happened to convene in los angeles, all in the same weekend. it was a frenetic weekend squeezing work and friends together.

but i loved it! it was so great to see everyone! i felt so refreshed reminiscing over good food and good conversation. life can’t get any better than that!

“…it is important to do work that you care about and have a passion for, and then to get it out into the world in any venue possible. If the images are good and the work is meaningful to you, the high quality and passion will come through and clients will want to work with you. So doing work you’re passionate about not only feeds your soul, it turns out that it’s also good for your business.”

~ paula lerner

hope

aiden running around the house. orange, ca.
© kevin t vu

to be honest, a lot of my friends have gotten married over the years, and a lot of them i’ve missed. but fortunately, i was able to attend my good friend’s melissa’s wedding this past weekend at the long beach aquarium.

frankly, i’m not a big fan of going to weddings. but i thoroughly enjoyed myself at this one. and that was due to melissa’s and mark’s genuineness of love (not to say that other weddings dont have that). but there was a love that permeated the room. a love that their families and friends could share with them.

and i was fortunate enough to take part in the festivities. celebrations like these help me to be optimistic about the world.

aiden’s baptism

my sister angie carrying aiden out of church, w/ my brother-in-law hien following in tow. stanton, california.
© kevin t vu

the baptism was on sunday and i have to be honest, it has been a very long time since i was in church. and considering i was the godfather, i’d probably should’ve been to church more often. but i consider myself more spiritual than religious these days anyways.

as for work, july has been a slow month, but things have started to pick up in august. i think everyone took vacation in july. i’ve been working with frank mostly, we did a shoot for the LA Times Magazine on Monday. It was a quick and easy editorial shoot. And he has me on hold for a couple of more days this month.

I was able to go to his studio after the shoot on Monday. It has such a creative energy to it. In fact, his entire house was covered w/ walls of art that the family created. Diane, his wife, is such a beautiful and wonderful person. I had met her in Mexico with Frank. And they have two lovely boys with a lot of energy. i just love people that give you real hugs!

We were able to sit and discuss where I wanted to go with my work and vision. Frank gave me some great ideas and got me in touch with some of his contacts. He is definitely helping me start the right conversations with the right people, I hope I can just keep them going.

On another note, I’m heading to Santa Barbara early tomorrow morning to assist for Embry. It should be fun! Embry is such a great guy to work with. And I haven’t been to SB for a year so it’ll be great to revisit w/ some friends.

old friends in different places

aiden trying out eating with a spoon. orange, california.

staying warm after a bath. orange, california.

he likes to put his whole fist into his mouth. orange, california

hanging out with mommy. orange, california.

i don’t know how long i’ve been back home for now. the concept of time is sucked away from thought when i am in suburbia land. luckily, i’ve been able to work on some jobs assisting with embry rucker since i’ve been back. that has helped me to pay the bills for this month.

but i have also had a lot of free time as well. and i have used that time to hang out w/ my nephew aiden. he is a cute little booger and he drools a tremendous amount.

i’ve also been able to catch up on some work that i haven’t done since i’ve been jumping around. my reality seems to catch up w/ me whenever i’m home. ie. bills and what not.

luckily, i’ve come home at the right time. i have been able to meet up with some great old friends from london who i haven’t seen for a year and a half. i caught up w/ my friends Hubert Kang and Claudia Leisinger a couple of weeks ago. They are both amazing people w/ great talent.

Today, I was able to pick my friend Paige Green. She also has a wonderful blog that inspires me to keep shooting. Once I picked her up from good o’ John Wayne airport, we caught up at my local Irish dive bar and drank guinness that was poured the correct way! It was like being back at a pub in London all over again! I have such fond memories of great conversations about life and photography while I was there. the best part of it were the friends/peers that i shared those with.

and now, one of them, paige is back in my life, only for a week, but i’ll take what i can get. i’ll be assisting her for a couple of days. she’s shooting some university students at Chapman college, which happens to be only 10 min. from me. it’ll be great fun!! She is a wonderful photographer and I’m sure I’ll have a lot to learn from her process. I can’t wait to play!