shoot and learn with photographer Boon Vong

This past Saturday my long time high school friend Phalatda and I went out with Photographer Boon Vong for a shoot and learn, it was a fun and exciting day, I was able to lean some pointers from Boon and get to see him in action with his camera, shoot and learn are always best, it’s like hands on learning, my style of learning. I recently found out that Phalatda is also into photography so he had invited me to go out and shoot with him and were suppose to just hang out and shoot, but then Boon happened to be a friend and mentor for Phalatda so we ended up stopping by Boon’s place and then we started talking about photography and ended up doing some shoot. I had a great time and also enjoyed it a lot.

Here are some shoots that was done by Boon. Enjoy!

 
I shot this of Boon(white) and Phalatda (red)

Below are images taken of me by Boon

HMB photoshoot:the river

Here is the river part of the HMB photoshoot/meetup.  Again we all had a blast and the river was nice and cold. Truth be told we didn’t care about the photoshoot, we were having too much fun to pose and what not.

These were taken right before the sun was gonna set. ENjoy!!

Oh I am not a big fan of photoshopping too much so I only slighly photoshop! ahahaha

my visit to Yosemite National Park

Again I made this trip well worth it by visiting one of greatest place of all, the Yosemite National Forest! I too have lots of great childhood memories here at Yosemite. The first time I went to this park was when I was around 7-8 years old, I felt instantly in love with the beautiful mountains and was in awe with the Half Dome. When we first went to Yosemite it was a family trip with all the cousins, I couldn’t believe my eyes; I never knew there were such beautiful place in this world. Then in 1995 my aunts and uncles came to visit us from  MN, my dad took the whole family including my aunts and uncles to Yosemite and we spent the whole day touring around the many beautiful locations at this park. I was so amazed by it once again.

Too bad during this trip the weather was not on our side. Once we reached the park area the clouds were getting dark and the sun wasn’t as nice. I guess I must had brought the Georgia weather to Yosemite that day. It wasn’t suppose to rain, not in California, not in June at least. There was a point when we had a down pour, but we still stick around, but we didn’t stay for too long. I wanted to tour around some more, but becuase the weather didn’t like me very much we left the park. I still thought it was well worth it. We were able to hang around and enjoy the park as much as we can. I was able to capture some decent images therefore so I am content.

I’ll try to dig up old pictures of us at Yosemite and share them once I find them, but believe me I looked super dorky as a kid with no style what so ever. Heck, I thought my style was cool, but honently funkie as ever. LOL

Few of the pictures I had taken while at the yosemite national park in Cali! It’s still as beautiful as how I remember it! TOo bad it freaken rained on us! But we still enjoyed it nonetheless!!

Sorry I was too lazy to color correct this picture since the color is way off. ahaha

Stockton waterfront, Lodi lake and Mokelumne River

Here are pictures taken during my trip to California. These were the first set of photos I had taken. It was taken on June 12 2009 at the Stockton waterfront, Lodi Lake and Mokelumne River in Lodi Ca.

The last time I was around the Stockton waterfront must had been a good 10 years ago. I remember when I was visiting Stockton 5 years ago I wasn’t able to do much so I didn’t get to see the waterfront, but this time I didn’t waste my trip at all. I was able to visit many of the places that I wanted to. They had done a lot of work on this waterfront and many entertainments including the new movie theater, well to me it’s new because it was built after I had moved 10 years ago. Downtown stockton had looked a lot cleaner than how I remember. In fact certain area of Stockton had changed a lot while others not so much.

This was my first time at Lodi Lake, but it was beautiful. I loved it! I had a great time at this lake. They had a natural walk trail that was very nice and very peaceful, but most of all very very beautiful. I enjoyed the walk down the trail, it was a long walk but wel worth it. 

I remember as a child we had called the Mokelumne River the “cold river” (Sorry I can’t write in Hmong), we called it the “cold river” because this river flows straight from the mountains so the river is very very cold all year long. As kids we used to go to this river and just play in the river and pick berries along the river. I had great memories at this river, I remember one year my aunts and uncle from MN came and visit us, I was very upset because I wasn’t able to go to this river with them because I had to go to school. It was in July when they had visited us, but because the school I was attending at the time was a year round school system, I wasn’t able to go with the family. But I do remember one year, I must had been in the 3rd grade, my dad took my older brother and I to the dentist and then he took us to the Mokelumne River, I remember my mouth was so numb but it didn’t let that bother me, I still had a great time at this River. Also another year, I must had been in the 2nd grade, we had a class field trip to the Mokelumne River. They had a Salmon farm at this River where they raise salmons and then release it into the Mokelumne River, on this field trip we learn how fishes mates and how they were raised and what not, then they release some of the fishes for use to see. It was a great field trip and a great experience. I had lots of great memories at this lake.

 

Stockton Waterfront

Lodi Lake

 

Mokelumne River

HMB photoshoot

Here are some of the photos from our HMB photoshoot BBQ and meeting. We had a great time there. I am glad that we had a great turnout although we did had couple flakers. But nonetheless, we still had a great time!

Thanks to Haze for her awesome photography and Thanks to Bee for his work also, just kidding, for a starter, Bee did a great job! ehehe

ALl of the pictures are edited by me, well except for the last few that as edited byHaze, the ones she took, of course. I am not a big fan of doing great editing, i just like to edit it to bring out the pictures so sorry if it’s not perfect. LOL

These are pictures taken by Myself, Bee and Haze, I hope you guys enjoy them as much as we enjoyed our moment at the meet.

Here are the rest of the photoshoot pictures. I still got the river photos coming in a bit, as soon as it finishes uploading I’ll post them up, but for now here are the regular photoshoots. Enjoy them. Sorry about the million pictures of me, there was this whole set of me, psh kick Simon for that! LOL

TO the readers who has not seen my picture, or know how I look like, this is I. Yep, thats me, mozemoua!! Sorry I looked fat and dorky! LOL

The below pictures are from Haze of HKYAAJ PHOTOGRAPHY always gotta have a jumping photo ^^ (will make a .GIF) Holding hands <33

HMB meet:Grilling and setting up

I have plenty more pictures to share from my trip but thought I should go ahead and share the pictures from the HMB photo meet. Here are just pictures from our grilling and setting up, more to come with the photoshoot and the lake pictures. I’ll also share pictures of the other places I’ve went to just as soon as I work on them.

 

Here are photos of us setting up and grilling. Thanks to Trent, Bee and Fresh and a bit of myself for grilling the meat!!! Thanks to Pakou, Karen and Trent and I bit of myelf for setting up the Volleyball net although Pakou and Kao ran into it. LOL great moment. if I wasn’t in the game I would had caught it on camera! LOL good times guys! good times!!!

Thanks to Vameng and Thai for the corn and the patatoes. And it was Teem who burnt the corn, not I. LOL

Thanks to all the members who came!!!

***EDIT with a picture of our facial expression when Tempo and Kao knocked out the Volleyball net! LOL NVM.. this picture was the second time that the net was knocked out! LOL. We had lots of accident with teh volleyball net!
THanks to karen for the wonderful picture love!

Trent and Pakou setting up the grill

Trent getting the valleyball net set up

Karen setting up the volleyball net

Trent setting up again

Pakou and Karen working on the net

The chicken wings I had marinated, in fact I marinated all the meat

Trent grilling

Pakoua

Kao

Zua

Karen

Sara

The ladies, minus me since I was the photographer

Bee

Vameng and his girlfriend Thai

Zua playing

Teem and Trent

Vameng and Thai setting up the second grill

Teem grilling

Bee

The ladies enjoying the nice weather

Trent, Teem grilling while I wait for the finish ones and Pakou watching

more of us

YUMMMMMM

Picture was taken by Karen when the net was knocked out the second time. This was our facial expression when the net was knocked out. LOL

the story of my vacation:compare and contrast with Bee’s

So lame simon put up his story, so i decided to put up my story next to uhi. LOL In red is my story and in black is his story from his thread. Here is two point of view from my vacation. LOL. Sorry for all the writting. Pix will be up soon, I promise!!

Here’s is what happened from the first day to today.

Thursday, June 11th
I picked up Moze at the airport. She’s much prettier in person than her pictures. I almost didn’t reconized her. I had a great time just talking in the car on our way back to Stockton.

Bee picked me up from the airport, nice ride home, we had a great talk on our way to Stockton.

Friday, June 12th
I show Moze around Stockton and took her to see her old neighborhoods and place that she been to when she was still living here in Stockton. So much has changed since she moved out of Cali. Through the day, Moze and I just kept on fighting about letting Moze drive my car. My answer is still NO. Although, she can drive stick, I just don’t trust a women driving my car. hehehee…

Bee showed me around Stockton and what not. I notice a lot has changed, but there were a great deal that was still the same. Fought about driving his car. Bee is scared of me driving his car cause he knows I am a better driver. LOL. I did had to tell him to shift his gear cause he either didn’t know or he didn’t hear it. LOL. Had smoothie at a smoothie place although I thought Saigon Café (in Georgia) is much better lol. Had an awesome time just cruising around my own places. 

Saturday, June 13th
Moze, Sara and I went to Yosemite. The three of us tried to corrupt Karen’s mind by telling her to lie to her parents just so Karen can tag along with us to Yosemite. Unfortunately, Karen didn’t want to lie to her parents so it was just the three of us. Although the weather at Yosemite was gloomy and there were slight rain, we tried to make the best out of the day. One our way back home to Stockton, Moze to visit one of her good friend in Madera. We missed the exit off the freeway and had to get off on the next ramp and turn around. The next ramp isn’t until another 2 miles away. hahaha.. What’s funny is that her friend live out on the farm land on a street called 29 AVE. Supposely, it’s the third stop sign. We came across the second stop sign and the street is 29 ave!! We both thought her friend didn’t know her stop signs well enough. Then we notice a 1/2 right after the 29. It was crazy! There’s a 29 1/2 ave before the 29th ave!! Moze was laughing like crazy!!

Bee, Sara and I went to Yosemite national park, too bad Karen the goodie girl couldn’t make it. It was beautiful as how I remember it! It was nice until it started to rain, but then we made the best out of it! Sara and I were sharing my little brown blanket under the tree while it rain LOL. I brought the Georgia weather to Yosemite, how sad, oh well we still had fun! Went to visit my friend in Madera, stupid Bee missed the exit cos he was too busy thinking of me. LOL I did told him the exit was next but he was too busy thinking of me so it was waste of his gas and millage not mine. LOL. It was funny seeing 29 ½ ave. LOL I couldn’t stop laughing and I had to comment it to Hnub about it too! LOL Gosh I must had worked out on my stomach laughing so hard! Had a nice long talk and catch up with Hnub! Finally met her newest member of her family, he was soo adorable!!

Sunday, June 14th
Moze and I took a trip to San Francisco. We visited the Academy of Science Musem, China Town, Japanese Tea Garden, Pier 39, the beach and ofcourse Golden Gate bridge. As Moze stated in one of her earlier thread, Yes I’m afraid of heights. We walked from one end of the bridge to the other. Moze was just making fun of me the whole time of my fear of heights. I didn’t care cause fate took it’s course and Moze ended up with a blister on her foot. ahahahahaha… That’s what she get for making fun of me. However, we had fun that day. Also, we got kicked out of the beach by the police cause it was getting dark.

Went to SFO. It was nice and beautiful! I couldn’t stop laughing at Bee and the “HILLS” lol. Goodness, I must had hurt his feelings about it.  Oh well. LOL So we visit the Academy of Science Museum, Japanese Tea Garden, Pier 39, china town, Golden Gate bridge and the beach. It was a great experience although my feet and legs were killing me. We had walked the whole day!! Took lots of photos and just really enjoyed my stay. But honestly, I had never walked that much and that far before, whew, was I tired from all the walking and what not. The sun set at the beach was amazing! I’ve always wanted to walk along the beach at night but stupid police had to kick us out the park. Darn him!!!

Monday, June 15
I had to go to work for the rest of the week so I dropped Moze off at her cousin’s house.  Before that, we went to visit Mozes baby cousin who was resting at a local cemetary. Took us a while to find her but we did.

Bee took me to go see my little cousin Alacia (and yes it’s spelt correctly although it is pronounce Alicia). It was very sad to go see her at her resting place. She was only about 2 months old when she was taken away, she was a beautiful and wonderful child, I took care of her when she was bored, but I never got to say my goodbyes, but I finally felt the burden taken off of me when I finally went to see her! I had to call my aunt like 3 times to see exactly where Alacia was, but we did finally found her!!! Bee dropped me off at my cousins house and I just enjoyed the day with the cousin. When all the cousin were finally over we went to the mall then came home, got dress and then went to this Sushi place next to the theater downtown and had dinner. We all dressed up in nice dresses and just enjoyed each other’s company and sushi. Nuly drove down from Ureka to see me, Jah drove from Chico to see me and Linda drove from fresno and then the other cousin from town. Nuly and Jah are from Stockton too but they moved up north for schooling.

Tuesday, June 16
Moze called if I wanted some Papaya since she and her cousin were going to buy some. Since I haven’t had lunch, might as well accept Moze’s offer. At about 7pm Moze and her cousins pulled up to my work. Moze came out of the car with a huge bag. Instead of just the papaya salad, Moze brought the whole menu!! The food was great, though.

All the cousins went to the waterfront, took lots of pictures and then went to Saigon next to the theater in downtown for snack then we went back home. We went to the mall then we went to8 street park where I used living distance to, drove pass my old house and then went to the park and played like kids. Loved it! Ate lots of good park food which consist of Papaya Salad, Kongpong, Nava, KaowPia and some other stuff played some more than dropped food off at the theater for Padua and then also brought Bee some food. Went back to 8 street park to find Nuly’s brother’s phone, but we never found it. Ahahaha. We then went to sleep over at Padua’s place.

Wednesday, June 17th
Nothing happened this day.

Work up early, went back to Nuly’s parent’s house, got dressed and met up the cousins for Pho. It sure was yummy. Funny thing was, we were suppose to meet up with Chalee, but she never made it, things came up for her part. LOL After Pho we stop by Padua’s house to grab some stuff then we went to buy some chicken wings at the store and went to Jah’s house for a BBQ. It was nice having the cousins together. We then went to the Lathrop park and played like old time. Got the boys to go pick some plum at the park. LOL. Went back to Jah’s house, played some fun games and then we head out to Pacific Street for some bowling. It sure was fun! After that I was dropped off at Padua’s place and slept over there. Was on the phone all night. Ehehe.

Thursday, June 18th
Moze, walked to my work place (her cousin lives in walking distance) during lunch and we just had lunch together.

Padua took me back to Nuly’s mom’s house. Hang out with the boys then my old middle school friend came pick me up for Lunch. Had a great talk with her, it was nice catching up with her after 10 years. She then dropped me back at Nuly’s mom’s house and then I hung out with the boys some more, came online slept then walked to Bee’s work place during his lunch since it was only walking distance.  Walked back to my cousins house and did almost nothing. lol

Friday, June 19th
Moze went with me to the Dentist and we spent the day shopping for the HMB meet picnic then we watched a movie at home. Also, I creeped up behind Moze and scared the heck out of her. Wish I could of caught it on camcorder. She literally fell on her knees and covered up her face like a baby. hahahaha…

Hummm Bee and I went to the store to buy food for the HMB photo meet. LOL got into some lame silent fight with him. LOL dude the guy and I are like cats and dogs, we can’t stay around each other without arguing lol . Came back to his house and then watch a movie then I went outside an stupid Bee scared me twice! What an ass hole! Marinated the food for the BBQ.

Saturday, June 20th
The HMB meet. It was wonderful seeing, Lalalolo, Tempo, Fresh, Lychee, Sara, Karen,Haze, Mayo and her friend Kao. We had a great time and it was an awsome turned out, despite that we had to relocate park since Williams Land park was all filled up.

Didn’t want to wake up at all. LOL. But I did. Went to pick up Sara and Karen then off to Sac we went. William Land park was full so we went to another park but they only have one picnic area so we went to Discovery Park and it was awesome. We had a great time at the HMB meet. Everyone looked good and came as wished. We got some flakers but we had a great turn out. Vameng was awesome enough to run some errands for us since we didn’t have enough charcoal and I kept bugging him for ib diam lev, but he went back and brought two. ehehe

Sunday, June 21st
Moze and I took a trip to Calavares Big Trees and the Stanislaus river to do some Photography. On the way there and back, all we did was criticize and argued with each other. hahahaha…

Went to Calavares Big Tree National Park and the Stanislaus River. On the way there Bee and I gave each other the “silent treatment”. Ahahaha. IT was so different from how I had remember it, but nonetheless it was still beautiful. So during the Big Tree walk through we were bickering at each other. Ahahaha. At Stanislaus river, I almost pushed him into the river cause he splash some water at me. Darn him. If I wasn’t a nice person I would had pushed him in there, and if I didn’t have to wait for his ride home. LOL. On our way back we were bickering at each other again. Gosh us. We fight like cats and dogs!! Had Pho. It was yummy!

Monday, June 22nd
On the way to the way to the airport, we argued and criticize each other again. Just dropped her off a few hours ago. Moze was so hoping that there wouldn’t be any delayed so she can get home on time to get some rest before going back to work tomorrow. Half way home I got a text from Moze that the plane is now delayed because of weather conditions in GA. hahahahahaa… That’s what she gets for making fun of me. She’s on her way home now and should be on HMB in the next 6 or 7 hours.

Bee cooked me breakfast, I think that was the sweetest thing he had done since my visit! LOL. Took me to go pick up my little brown blanket at Padua’s work place and then we headed towards SFO. Aww. The ride there was sad because it meant vacation was over. Darn it. I almost missed my flight for being dumb. I waited at my gate not thinking they were calling my flight since they kept saying “To Tampa FL” but then I didn’t realized that Atlanta GA was the connecting flight for the Tampa people. Good thing I snapped out of “moze’s dumb moment mood”  LOL. Fight was delay due to Georgia weather. Grr. But we made it to ATL on time.

Now I am back at home. Blah.. I miss vacation so very much!!

Vacation is over!!

Man, I am not ready for vacation to be over! I flew back into Georgia late last night and here I am back at work on a Tuesday. Honestly, I did not want to come back home. The California weather was nice with the nice cool breeze; the sun wasn’t so hot and was just beautiful! Now I am back to the hot and humid Georgia weather. Blah! But then again, I do miss the Georgia weather.

So towards the middle of my vacation I ended up with a cold sore due to the weather change. But I hope this cold sore will go away soon, it’s bugging the heavens out of me.

School starts next Monday and this whole week including the weekend is filled with work and more work! It’ll be another busy quarter for me. How suckie, that just tells me that vacation is over and I am now back to my normal daily life. I am glad I went on this vacation! I needed this break and this change although I do not want to return to the familiar life of mine. Then again, Welcome back to Georgia, Ze!!!

Vacation pictures will be up soon!!

The ride To California

Still on vacation and got some free time. Whew it’s been a good relaxing but a bit boring day.  So today I decided not to do much. I just stayed at my cousin’s house and did almost nothing. Tomorrow should start another fun weekend for my little vacation. Gosh I can’t believe it, it’s almost time for me to go home, and that means vacation is almost over. Just got another weekend and back to work and back to my normal life again.

Okay I got a stupid yet funny story. So when my aunt dropped me off at the airport I brought out all my stuff and then I had to weigh my suitcase in. Well the maximum capacity for a suitcase is only 50 lbs, yeah since when did they change it to only 50 lbs? I remember when I used to travel it was at 70 lbs. Anyways, well the guy weigh my suitcase and it was at 58 lbs. He told me I’ll either have to pay $90 for the extra suitcase or take out 8 lbs. I was like WTF? Dang it. So I called my aunt to come back with a bag so I can take out 8 lbs of item. Dang that totally sucks butt! So that’s what I did. I know that was pretty lame! Blah!

Our plane ride was delay for about 45 minutes because we had to wait for the people who had connecting flights. I was suppose to arrive in SFO at about 8:45 pm, but didn’t land until almost 10 pm. I saw San Francisco at night and it was way beautiful with all the city lights. The ride from SFO to Stockton wasn’t so bad since my friend who picked me up kept me company throughout the ride. More like I kept my friend company throughout the ride. It was only an hour and 30min from SFO to Stockton, not a bad ride.

Stockton had changed so very much, well never mind, I meant downtown Stockton had changed a lot, but Stockton itself is still the same. All the houses and stores are still where I remember them. I think it’s a bit cleaner now, that must had been the biggest changed. LOL

I am loving California! The weather had been great, it’s not so hot and there is also breeze, it was beautiful! I swear, I do not remember the weather here being like this. My cousins did said this year the weather had been a lot cooler than the last few years, must had been global warming.

So far I was able to trace a lot of my childhood memories. I guess more info on that when I return home. I’ll be back home next week and I’ll be fully back with blogging and with lots of pictures to share so stay tune for more from me!!! Til then everyone have a good week and weekend while I try to have fun.  Enjoy All!

Cali Trip Teaser

I am still not fully back yet, still on my vacation, but I got some free times to here I am giving some little updates!!
Here is just a brief sum and teaser for you guys about my trip thus far.
So far, we’ve been too…

Friday 06/12/09
Stockton’s water front
Lodi’s Lake Park
Mokelumne River

Saturday 06/13/09
Yosemite national park
visit Hnub

Sunday 06/14/09
San Francisco-
The Science Academy
Japanese Tea Garden
Fisherman’s wharf
Pier 39
China Town
Golden Gate Bridge
Beach

Monday 06/14/09
Relaxed
Visiting little cousins at her “place”
Now I am at my cousin’s house waiting for her and the rest of the cousins to get into town

That’s my teaser so far! When I come back it’ll be in full! ahahaha

Stockton Waterfront

Lodi’s lake park

Mokelumne River

Yosemite national park

San Francisco-
The Science Academy

Japanese Tea Garden

Fisherman’s wharf
Pier 39

China Town

Golden gate bridge

Sunset on the Beach