It is not typical of businesses to speak on their weaknesses and struggles. However, this blog and this website is more than just a business to me. Mikecaptures.com is also a documentation of my life and my photography. Photography is more than a business, it is my art, a part of my identity, and more importantly, it is the ministry that God has placed me in. I’m not writing this blog to win anyone over to my business or to inspire people. More than anything, I’m writing this blog to inspire myself.
2018 was probably the busiest year I’ve had as far as photography goes. By the end of the year, I was so burnt out. Photography was no longer enjoyable and I couldn’t picture pursuing it any longer. I even placed all of my photography gear for sale (I ended up pulling those posts down). My art had become work.
Feeling uninspired was more than just a mental state. Losing inspiration affected my closeness to God. God has given photography as a gift, a passion, and a burden. Feeling uninspired affected my faithfulness to God’s calling for me. As it affected my faithfulness to God, it affected my relationship with Him.
For me, being uninspired bred static-ness. I just didn’t want to do anything that related to photography.
It’s also important to mention that I’m leading a media ministry team at my church. In this season, the ministry became bland. I’ve lost sight of what God has called me to do. There is a feeling of guilt in me. How can I inspire my team for the ministry if I’m not inspired?
Have you ever seen the vacation kiosks at the mall? As you approach, the salesman will try to sell you on a cruise or a vacation by the sea. He goes on and on about the amenities, the food, and fun things to do at the resort, BUT HE’S NEVER BEEN THERE.
I don’t want to be that guy. Maybe I’ll update this section once I’ve been there and have overcome this season.
I might not know how to get over this season; however, I know what God has called me to faithfulness.
So, in this time and context, how does it look like to be faithful to the creative gifts that God has given me?
I work a regular 9-5. When I get home, I do more work with my photography business; play with my daughter; cook for the family; manage the bills; do some chores; respond to work emails that come from our overseas team; sleep when I can. It’s a busy life.
For me, my next move isn’t about slowing life down. My next move is about intentionally creating time to go up the mountain. This is both figurative and literal. We see many times that Moses & Elijah climbed up the mountain, and God meets them there. We read about Moses speaking to God as if they were face to face. That is the intimacy that I long for. And if I am to get out of this slump, intimacy with God will be the driving force. So, I plan on making time to take hikes up the mountain. I’ll take my camera to capture my journey, my Bible (because God speaks through His Word), and a snack. I’m maneuvering my schedule this weekend to start this.
The Church is a blessing to believers. It is a place of encouragement. However, if you want to be encouraged, then you have to be transparent. In the next few days, I’ll be reaching out to my pastors, my wife, my team, and my church for prayer.
I need to pray and ask for inspiration & help. The Bible tells us that, “You do not have, because you do not ask.” If that’s true, then the best solution to the problem at hand is to ask God.
Earlier in this blog, I said that being uninspired bred static-ness or inactivity. Even in my season of being uninspired, how do I remain active? I think the answer is to just do it. Being uninspired is not an excuse to be unfaithful. Whether it’s capturing my family memories, doing work for clients, or working in the ministry, I need to learn how to still give 100%.
Writing this blog was my first step in being faithful to God’s work. I believe that God has called me to document this season of my life and I’m excited to see where He is leading me as I try to remain faithful. I have faith that God honors my tiny little steps of faithfulness and that He will bring inspiration to my work as I align myself with the good works that He has laid out for me.
So if you’re feeling uninspired: spend time with God in the mountains, be in community, ask God for inspiration, keep chugging along, and have faith that God inspires those who are faithful to Him.
I feel a little more inspired after writing this.
Where you shoot your engagement photos matter. Your location will determine how your engagement photos look. It sets the mood, the emotions, the colors, and the wow factor. If your engagement session matters to you, avoid the cheesy local parks where the only interesting thing there are green trees or a murky lake. I honestly believe that one of the worst things in planning your engagement session is to choose a boring location. Choose to shoot in the city. Shoot at the beach. Drive up to the mountain top. Hike to a waterfall. I know it may take up an entire weekend, but aside from the photos; you’ll also receive an amazing experience. Use the engagement session as a getaway for the weekend and kill two birds with one stone.
What time of day you shoot at matters almost as much as your shooting location. Fashion photographers prefer harsh light because it creates shadows and defines jawlines. However, that type of light is not popular amongst wedding photographers because we prefer a softer & more romantic type of light.
On a normal blue sky day, it is best to shoot during the golden hours. Now, what is golden hour? Golden hour is the part of the day when the sun gives off a soft light. The first golden hour begins at sunrise and lasts two hours. The second golden hour happens 2 hours before sunset up to sunset. This is the cookie cutter time of day to shoot your engagement photos.
Another popular time to shoot is under cloudy conditions when the sun sits behind clouds. The clouds act as a large softbox to even out the light and prevents the sun from casting harsh shadows.
If you’re into moody portraits, I’d recommend shooting under cloudy conditions. When shooting under cloudy conditions, you’re able to shoot at anytime of the day but I do recommend shooting towards midday; which is opposite from golden hour.
Your outfit will help tell the story of your engagement photos. For example, if your photos are being taken on a mountain top and you choose to dress appropriately for the hike (hiking boots and hiking clothes), the images will tell the story that you and your fiance went on a hike up the mountain. If you decide to shoot at home or AirBNB, dressing down and casual will help communicate a story of authenticity.
Another thing to account for is color science. If you’re shooting in a forest and green is all around you, it wouldn’t make sense to wear a green or blue dress because you’d blend in with the environment. You want to POP out in the photos. In this case, a red dress will help you stand out. I won’t go into the details of color science, but use the image below to determine what colors will help you stand out.
Consider your location and the colors around. If the location is primarily green, choose the color that is directly across in the color wheel. In this case, it’d be red. If the environment is more blue, then an orange outfit will look good. Now, you don’t have to choose solids. Maybe it’s an orange plaid shirt or some type of design that has a splash of orange. Be creative!
If you don’t want to worry about color science, neutral colors are always easy on the eyes. White, Grey, or Black are always good options.
I can’t say enough about this topic. It is said that a great photographer can make a $2000 wedding look like a $20,000 wedding; and a bad photographer can make a $20,000 wedding look like a $200 wedding. The same applies to engagement photos. You can follow all of the rules above but an amateur photographer will give you amateur results.
I think it’s important to make your engagement session important. It tells the world of your love, so hire a photographer who can best capture your love story.
Hiring the right professional photographer matters!
What better way to show the world who you both are than by capturing you and your fiance in your most natural type of love. Posed photography has a place and time, but for engagement sessions, I think it is important to show that you two really enjoy being with one another. This means that you can be silly during the shoot, poke fun at each other, cry, laugh, and enjoy each other’s company while the photographer captures it all.
Let him hold you from behind with arms over your shoulders. Then make him guess what your favorite desserts are, but here’s the catch, he has to say it in an Irish accent.
Stand next to each other facing the camera. Have your fiance hum a song while the other one tries to guess it.
Are you looking for a photographer to capture your engagement session? I have some availability left for engagement photos, so if you’re searching for a photographer to take care of your needs, contact me below!
I’m fat now. Because of my current physical state, I accepted a friend’s invitation to a competition called The Biggest Loser. I’ve been planning to lose weight soon anyways and figured the $1000 prize money would be good motivation to eat clean and work out. 2 weeks leading up to the start of The Biggest Loser (TBL), I had dreams that I was completely faithful to my workouts and diet.
It has been a month now and I just now started my diet and haven’t even started my workout plan yet. The first 3-4 weeks were tough because Faith and I had many visitors from out of town come and visit. In order to be good hosts, we acted as foodie guides (I should be a travel & foodie blogger/photographer instead). Korean BBQ. Pizza. Korean Friend Chicken. Tacos. Wings. Banh Mi. Pho. It was 3-4 weeks of non-stop gluttony. After the fourth night of Korean BBQ, I told myself that I couldn’t live like this.
I was desperate to lose weight and also knew that I needed to work on my spiritual life. My father-in-law has led his church in numerous Daniel Fasts. Although I was never against it, I never participated in fasting. I never thought it was necessary and more than anything, I lacked a theology of fasting.
My body was filled with fat and my spiritual life was lacking spiritual food & nutrients. The Daniel Fast, if done correctly, could be what I needed to help me both physically and spiritually. The plan was to abstain from fatty foods, meat, carbs, and sugars. For my soul, the plan was to read all 4 of the Gospels withing the 21 days. I knew the fast wasn’t easy, but I was ready to change my lifestyle.
In Jesus’s mind, the disciples were to fast once Jesus had died and been resurrected. But as Jesus was still amongst them, there was no need to fast. What does this mean?
Therefore, fasting is longing for the not-yet of the Kingdom. So while Jesus was on Earth, they didn’t fast because the Bridegroom was present. But once He leaves, His disciple’s heart ached for Jesus and His presence. Fasting, therefore, is about longing for Jesus and putting our stomach where our heart is to give added intensity to our ache or longing.
So as we fast, we’re saying, “We want to see people healed, we want to see marriages redeemed, we want to see sinners made new, and we ache and long for this to happen.” When we fast, we’re asking Jesus and the Kingdom to come.
On Saturday, I woke up at 6am to go on a short hike at Arabia Mountain. It was a short hike about 30 minutes east of Atlanta. It was a chilly morning with clouds overhead.
I packed my hiking bag with a banana, an apple, my bible, and my camera. I set out to to reach the top of the peak where I could rest on my ENO Hammock, read God’s word, and pray. Below are the photos from my short hike. I plan on doing this more often. I think its good for my health and spiritual life. Stay tuned for more in the blog!
Digital photography tends to be perfectly sharp, very vibrant and saturated, and perfectly exposed. That’s boring. Film photography is making a comeback. The beauty of film is that it’s not as beautiful. It’s harder to get tack sharp photos. You don’t always get the exposure right. Colors are dependent on the film that you’re using. And each film lens and every film camera has their own unique characteristics.
I recently got my negatives back from my first 2017 roll of film. I dropped it off at Dunwoody Photo, a local film developing shop outside of Atlanta. You see, with digital, you get to see your photos right away. But with film, you have to wait 3 days from the day you drop it off. As you can imagine, I was anxious and excited to see my first roll of Portra 400.
Custom Creations by Cyndi is a Hmong clothes vendor based out of Menasha, WI. Cyndi reached out to me to see if I would take photos of her creations. I agreed and immediately reached out to @___ntxheeyees & @alanna.vangg to see if they would model the clothes.
I met with @___ntxheeyees & @alanna.vangg at a local restaurant, where we carpooled and headed up to the Blue Ridge Parkway in Blowing Rock, NC. We arrived about an hour before sunset. The location was beautiful! We had an overlook on one side and a mountain forest and field on the other side. However, the golden sun was no where to be found. It was cloudy and the light was flat, but we had to work with what we had.
Every shot was captured with a Canon AE-1, Canon 50mm 1.4 SSC, and Portra 400. The lens is stuck at 1.4, so every shot was shot at f/1.4. I like to shoot wide open anyway. Here’s a pro-tip: If you don’t have a light meter, use your digital camera to find the exposure and replicate the settings on your film camera. You’re welcome.
I received a phone call one morning at 7am. I was expecting an employer call that day but didn’t think they would call that early. “Hello,” I said in amy pretend awake voice.
That’s how it started. This company, Kitty Conserve, found me on IG and wanted to collaborate. Kitty Conserve is a t-shirt company that intends to sell shirts in order to help raise funds for the adoption of homeless and shelter cats. The CEO talked to me about the cause and said that he was a start-up. As a matter of fact, it just started. He needed photos to help with the marketing, branding, and website. We agreed on a few terms and I told him I would be able to shoot in a few weeks. I knew who I wanted to shoot with already. A few hours later, I texted @Shiiannes and asked if she would be up for a shoot. You can see the last photoshoot here.
Pictured above is Oona. She’s the beautiful daughter of John and Noy. I had a family photography session them when Oona was 3 months old. 3 months later, her mother reached out to me for another photo session at Piedmont Park. Today, I had the privilege of capturing her first cake session near Buckhead, Ga.
I arrived at their condo and was greeted by the three of them plus the grand parents of Oona. We walked over to a nearby fountain, where we would take our first shots. Oona had on a pretty tulle skirt and a wonderfully crafted boho flower headband. She was happy and smiled for almost all of her shots. It did help that she didn’t recognize who I was because her always were usually on me.
After the shots by the waterfall, we walked over to a green patch of grass. Noy laid the picnic blanket down and Oona down. Oona’s grandfather placed the cake in front of Oona and we waited for her to demolish the sweet pink cake in front of her.
We watched and waited as she sat in front of the cake. She showed no interest at all. Most 1 year olds would immediately reach for the cake just out of curiosity. Not Oona, though.
After a minute of no action, I asked Noy to dab some icing on Oona’s lips. I thought that the sweet taste would trigger Oona to want to eat the cake. Nope. She immediately spat the icing out and started to cry. The cake smash session was a fail.
Just because the cake smash session was a fail, it didn’t have to mean that the childrens photography session had to be a fail also. We still made the most of the situation. We walked over to a nearby pond and watched as Oona interacted with the geese and fishes. It was obvious that the outdoors was her natural safe haven. She was most comfortable as she walked the banks of the pond. That’s where we were able to take the photos on this blog. I hope you guys enjoy these photos.
If you’re in search of a children’s photographer in the metro Atlanta area, send me an email at myang8864@gmail.com or click here.