So as I mentioned in the last post, I’ve partnered up with a couple photographer friends to open up a studio. The studio is called Coco Gallery. It’s been an intense six or so months of research, planning, meeting, brainstorming, and implementing! Quite the learning process especially when I’ve been a solo entrepreneur for the past four years to now having accountability and responsibility along with my business partners. So what does that mean for my existing clients? Nothing really but a name change and an even greater client experience!

But wait, there’s more! To kick off this new venture, we’ve partnered with BuyWithMe.com to offer this amazing deal to our existing and new clients. This deal only runs from May 22 to May 29 so you gotta act fast! Spread the word to your friends and if you get three of your friends to buy, you get yours free!

Click on the image to see this deal!

So now that it’s out in the open, and we’re finally starting ramp things up, stay tuned for news and progress on the studio. Can’t wait to share with you all!

• I’ve merged my photography business with two other photographers! We’re in the process of opening up a studio to better serve our clients and to allow us greater flexibility in our creativity. You can find out more about us here: Coco Gallery
• I’m starting to do a lot of video work with my DSLR, again, along with one of my photographer friends Thomas Pellicer. We’re slowly adding more videos to the site (LOTS of editing!) but you can learn more about us here: Mango Cinema
• I have one more project that I’m working on with a few other people that’s going to be pretty EPIC. I think it’ll be a major game changer in the event services industry..
• This blog will still be alive. Promise. I’ll be posting more personal, business, and other creative related stuff on here. Subscribe to my RSS feed to get updates easier!

Well that’s about it in a nutshell. I got a few more posts coming up to fill you all in a little more.

I can’t write a blog post and not post up some sort of eye candy.. Well, here’s a one take video of Mike Wilson. This was one of our first live one take music videos and I’m pretty happy how it turned out! Hope you enjoy. Thanks!

Sorry by Mike Wilson from Music In The Raw on Vimeo.

I’m still amazed at the quality of the photos that are pumped out of my HTC EVO. The amount of control and customizability of the phone in general makes me 100% satisfied in pitching the iPhone. Face time? Got it. And I can even face time with iPhone users using a cool app called fring. And no, it doesn’t require WiFi! All the apps that I depended on on the iPhone, I have on my EVO: Remember the Milk, Bump, Google Voice, Shazam, Seesmic, and even WordPress. I’m typing this post on my EVO via the WordPress app while on the go!

Enough geek talk. If you’d like to talk more about the Android OS, phones or how much the iPhone sucks now, hit me up via Twitter, Facebook, or email. Even better, leave a comment below for others to chime in on the discussion!

Here’s the original straight out of the phone image.

Here’s my edit via the Vignette app.

Here’s one of the photos from the series. I caught this one of my littlest one looking out the window waiting for mommy to come home. The glare from the sun makes this photo very surreal. For this photo, I believe I used the app Vignette for processing.

Hope you all have a great weekend! Nothing major planned this weekend, but I will be shooting some video at a wedding reception tonight. Grand entrance includes a Rolls Royce Phantom! Yeah, I’ll be snapping some phone pics FOR SURE!

The old adage of “You get what you pay for..” is very true. If you want to only pay for photography at K-Mart prices, well that’s what you’re going to get.

Anyways, here’s the link to her post. Your thoughts are appreciated! Leave a comment on this post or on her post.

– Link: Hiring a Professional Wedding Photographer? Is it worth it?

I can’t write a post without a photo! This photos is from the City Center, Las Vegas this past weekend. I was there in Vegas helping out by friend Jason Zalameda shoot a wedding at the Mirage. The entire place screams expensive. We walked around that place pretty lost and it felt like we were in an airport.  I guess I gotta give it some time to grow. The mall still had plenty of empty shops and it is still fairly new.

]]> http://www.alfredbertulfo.com/photography/lifestyle-photography/weddings/true-cost-wedding-photography/feed/ 1 http://www.alfredbertulfo.com/my-life/camera-phone-friday/iphone-fridays-diamond-bar-sunset/ http://www.alfredbertulfo.com/my-life/camera-phone-friday/iphone-fridays-diamond-bar-sunset/#comments Sat, 12 Dec 2009 02:00:36 +0000 Alfred B http://www.alfredbphotographer.com/?p=1144 Diamond Bar. I took this from the driveway at South Pointe Middle School a few nights ago while dropping off my son for a Wind Ensemble performance. I can't imagine what the sunset was like from the Diamond Bar Center. Next time I see a sunset like this I'm bringing the big]]> A rare beautiful sunset in Diamond Bar. I took this from the driveway at South Pointe Middle School a few nights ago while dropping off my son for a Wind Ensemble performance. I can’t imagine what the sunset was like from the Diamond Bar Center. Next time I see a sunset like this I’m bringing the big camera and heading straight over there!

Image processed by BestCamera.

So back when I was a little guy, if I wanted to go out and play with my friends, I would run up the street, knock on the their door and ask their mom if they could come out and play. Simple as that right? If they didn’t, well, then I’d just walk back home or see if any other kids in the neighborhood were out playing and join them. Then right around junior high or high school, it became a little more difficult. Friends were a little more spread out across town and that meant calling them up, first seeing if they were home, then seeing if they wanted to hang out, and eventually making the trek via foot, bike, or ride via some parental unit over to their house. If they weren’t home, that was that, no questions asked. Then towards the end of high school and beginning of college, this awesome gadget called the pager was made available and not just to doctors and lawyers. Now we could page our friends and amazingly they would call right back (“Yeah did someone page me?”) and we can chat on the phone to see where the next party was going to be at or where we were going to hang out. And I know you know what all came next. Yup, the cell phone! Wow, you mean I can talk to someone while in my car looking cool like Zach Morris? Wait you mean they have portable ones that can fit in the pocket of my baggy jeans?!?! That was just plain cool. Now my college buddies and I could get in touch with each other anytime to find out where the action was gonna be. Nothing could get better than this!! Oh wait, there’s texting…

Fast forward through the years as the internet was born and progressing at a ridiculous rate, past AOL chat rooms, past IRC, and college BBSs this crazy thing called social media evolved. The first hit was MySpace. Come on, you know you were on it. This was the place to connect with old friends, or to just see what happen to all the cool people from high school. And then this competing site called Friendster popped up. It was a lot nicer and cleaner! No more ugly flashy animated GIFs and horribly designed MySpace pages that would crash your web browser. And it wasn’t where all the people that just wanted to “hook up” hung out. You could actually meet nice people there. Then all the way coming out of left field this small little site called Facebook, that was predominantly made for college kids, became insanely popular. Like, as in, major companies are now advertising their Facebook page on their TV commercials! Everybody is connecting with people they haven’t seen or talked to in years, even decades. They’re finding family relatives they’ve never met! Parents (yes, mine too!) are joining this social media revolution because it connects us all with this giant spider web of family, friends, relatives, mutual friends, pasts, presents, and even futures!

And then there’s Twitter. Micro-blogging at its finest. It’s even simpler than Facebook. No need to setup a fancy profile. You could follow who you’d like to read their status updates and people could choose to follow you and keep up with your updates.

At any second, hour, minute at any day in our life, we could see what was going on with whoever was on our “Friends” list and maybe, just maybe care for that split second. Now don’t get me wrong, there are occasions when status updates are appropriate and we should really really care. Like a friend’s loved one passing away, a birth of a new child, a family member whose cancer treatments are making things a little more painful, or even just a simple prayer request. These are people sharing their heartfelt and genuine emotions to their “Friends”. And then there are the status updates you wish you never read or the ones where you just think to yourself or even out loud, “WTF?!?! Do I really need to know this?”

Anyways, what I’m really getting at is, I’ve noticed ever since this social media phenomenon began, I’ve lost some real, and genuine friendships. Seriously. Why? Because I can see everything I need to know about them on the web, what they did this weekend, where they went on vacation, video highlights from their kid’s soccer games. You name it, it’s all there. And vice versa. I’m just as guilty of it!! No longer do I need to call them to see how things are going, or even wish them happy birthday! Heck, I can do it on Facebook or Twitter!

So if you’ve made it this far, I thank you for your genuineness and taking the time to read this. For the next two weeks, I will be fasting from Facebook and Twitter to reconnect with friends and disconnect myself from our society’s need of nanosecond instant gratification and knowing anything and everything all from our computer or within the palm of your hand. I think this Thanksgiving holiday is the perfect time. Friends from afar are coming back home to visit families, work is a little bit slower which lends to a little time to connect with old friends and even family members. On top of all that, it gives me even more time to spend with my wife and children!

I actually encourage you, my blog reading friends, to do the same. Facebook and Twitter will still be there after a few weeks, I can almost guarantee it! Now I know I’ll probably get mixed reactions about my thoughts on this. Especially from my photographer friends. We add or follow each other even though some of us have never even met! Well it is my goal to have a genuine conversation with those who I am already friends with or are following me. If I don’t, then does that mean we’re still friends? Sure for the sake of community, but there can’t be a community unless you have something to bring to the potluck. Believe it or not, EVERYONE has something to bring to the table! Regardless, I do hope that we have a chance to connect. This goes for future friends who request/follow me or those who I request/follow. From here on out, there needs to be some reason for us to connect, right? Other than just being someone in the industry who feels we should be “friends” for the sake of increasing our “friend” count!

If you agree or even disagree, leave me a comment below. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this! Because that’s at least start in connecting and growing as a community…

Oh and obviously, you can’t reach me via Facebook or Twitter until December 7th, but you can reach me via email. It’s up on the very top of my site. Or dare I say, you can even reach me via the phone! Number is up above too!

Anyone that has met Erika knows we’re polar opposites. We’re talking the extreme opposite ends of the spectrum! You just wouldn’t think we were together considering how far apart we are from each other on the spectrum! Well it’s true. I think we compliment each other very well. Almost too well at times. We’re like each others counterbalance. A well oiled machine! Now I hate to break it to you, but no marriage is perfect. We’ve had our roller coaster of ups and downs, struggles, triumphs, heartaches and heart to hearts. And that roller coaster is never ending, neither of us able to anticipate the next turn. The one thing I know that has been the magic formula to keeping our marriage going strong is having a Christ centered marriage. I’m not trying to preach or anything, but considering all the good times and difficult times that we’ve been through, the Lord has been there and been the answer and guide to solving our every situation. I am blessed beyond imagination to be given Erika as a gift from God. She is an amazing mother, wife, and best friend. I love you baby!

Having said all that, we have been truly blessed with three AMAZING children with qualities and characteristics totally unique from each other. A few weeks ago we were hanging out at the Huntington Beach pier to get our family photos taken by my man Jack Ratana. While Jack is working his butt off to get all the photos of his hundred or so other clients he had that day, I though I’d post up the ones I took with my camera before and after our session.

First up Baby A (Yes, on the internet, I refer to my children by a nickname and initial..) This little man is turning six months this week! It’s crazy how fast the time has gone! It’s around this age where you really can’t miss a moment. He’s learning so much and quite the inquisitive one! He has a fascination with ceiling fans and loves watching football with me. No lie. He will sit still during a game!

Next is our middle child, Princess A. It’s impossible to not know her personality by these photos. A larger than life, totally girly attitude, all rolled up into a tiny little package. But don’t let that cute little face fool you! She can be a hard headed one at times! But does it bother me? No! She’s daddy’s little girl!

And finally, the oldest, tween A, or shall I say, teen A. The fact that he will be a teenager frightens me!! Not really. Honor roll, plays the bass clarinet in the wind ensemble at school, such a huge help at home as well as at church and an extremely loving big brother. I see a lot of me when I was his age! Despite our similarities, he’s such a momma’s boy!

Along with my wife, these three are the drive and motivation for doing what I love to do!

This photo was edited with PhotoCurves Free and Chase Jarvis’ new Best Camera App ** A must get iPhone app! **.

I don’t know about you but, September came way too fast! Kids back in school, the fires are back, and well, I can’t say the same for the weather! Next thing you know, we’re at the grocery store choosing a nice plump turkey and getting ready for the holiday shopping rush. The holiday season is typically the time for families to come together and of course, the BEST time for some portraits!

Below is my Fall Mini-Session Promotion packages. I am only booking these packages between October 1st through November 21st. All sessions require a 50% retainer based on the package you select in order to secure your date/time slot. To book your mini-session, please contact me on my Connect page, make sure you mention this Fall Mini-Session Promotion and which package you are interested in.

Mini-Session Package A – $475

• 30 minute portrait session on location.
• 10-15 edited proofs for viewing and ordering.
• (1) 16×20, (2) 8×10 prints.
• (10) mini-prints (8×10 or smaller).
• (1) High resolution digital file for your own personal prints or holiday cards.