Photography by Joe and Vickie

Happy New Year, everyone!  Joe and I wish you all have a fantastic Christmas and wonderful new year! May you all be blessed with all the sweetness and goodness in life at the promising 2012! Recently we got connected with a very talented interior designer Tom Charnock and his wonderful creative team to celebrate their fruitful 2011 at their staffs appreciation party. The party is simply a scene from barefoot contessa, the atmosphere was so relax and the decor was elegant and tasteful.  We had so much fun photographing each person and got to know each individual well while interacting with them for their creative head shot.  Tom had an unusual journey in 2011.  The same time last year, Tom was robbed and had a serious injury.  At his most challenging time, Chris took care of him.  Kathy and Sheri as his left and right hand took care of his business.  They not only survive, their business thrive as well.    It was one of the most inspirational small business successful stories Joe and I ever heard.    Yes, no one is a lonely island.  When we care for people, people care for us as well!   After hearing Tom’s touching speech and seeing his grateful tears, we had a terrific visual result created for this amazing team!

To learn more about Tom and his company, visit http://www.charnockandcompany.com/

I am a big fan of classical music since elementary school.  As WQXR‘s passionate audience, I am really excited to having this opportunity to work with Anita Chen, a rising star who is multi-talented as a soloist in both piano and violin.   While doing this photo session, Vickie and I got to see Anita play her piano closely and completely in awe when witnessing her pristine playing.  This photo session experience was one of a kind by itself and we still talked about this at home after days.

Anita performed in eight concerts on both violin and piano with the St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble at the Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall in New York  at age of 11.  At age of 15, She made her recording debut on the Bel Air Music label with the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra under Dmitry Yablonsky, featuring E.Grieg’s Piano Concerto, and J. Conus’s Violin Concerto and Formosa Capriccio by Albert Markov in 2006.  As a young artist, she travels & performs extensively in the United states & Europe, maybe that’s the reason why she was so relaxing and confident in front of my camera.   As photographer, I am so used to give clients instruction to help them look the best in front of camera.  However, while working with Anita, I noticed her confidence & personality and decided to let her express herself  freely rather than posing her too much. Many times at the production meeting, clients may have unspoken needs.  It is up to photographer to observe and interact with client to dig out the essence & uniqueness in each individual.  After interacting with Anita during the photo session for a few hours at a relaxing pace,   she and I are pleased to have a visual result that is beyond our initial discussion & expectation.

To learn more about Anita, visit Anita’s official website.