#satoriie

[satoriiephotography-blog]

Just a couple previews from my recent photo session with The Prototypes dance team. Ngl, I’m kind of in love with how the edits turned out. Getting closer to that cinematic style every day ;D

[satoriiephotography-blog]

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of reconnecting with an old old friend from UCI, the lovely miss Pheobe Bui. We technically met *before* freshman year at SPOP, but like most early college friendships, we added each other on Facebook, life went on, and we ended up not speaking again until, well, now. A darn shame too, because truth be told, Pheobe is seriously one of the coolest, sweetest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of shooting. Sensitive and deliberate. Creative and confident, but not pushy or overbearing.

For this shoot, we trekked through the El Moro Canyon part of Crystal Cove State Park, braving the rugged terrain, blistering heat, and tragic lack of face blotting sheets to bring Pheobe’s vision to life, and I’m so excited to finally share these images. Hope you guys like them. :)

[satoriiephotography-blog]

Decided to do some cathartic photo editing to get the creative juices flowing. Featuring a shoot I did a couple months back for my longtime friends Veronica and Tucker. Also experimented a bit with my shooting and editing styles, bit filmier and more underexposed than usual. Lmk what you think. :)

[introvertproject]

Evan Zhou, 24, Web-Developer, Co-Founder of STEEZY (thatsteezy.com)

"I studied mechanical engineering [in college], but I just kind of did it just to do it. I had the vague idea that I wanted to make something that people enjoyed. But to be honest, I was a terrible student, didn’t study hard enough, danced too much. So because of that, I didn’t get a good job. I worked for a lighting company, and I fucking hated it. They weren’t even the cool LED lights you see at raves, they were like, street lights. I wanted to create something people would actually use. So I started looking into startups and thinking of things I could make and put on Kickstarter, and that eventually led me to coding and front end web development. I figured, if I’m going to have all these ideas, I should at least have the ability to prototype them, otherwise they’re just going to stay ideas.

Anyway, I figured intersecting the coding stuff with something I’m passionate about would be a good way to start. So I started looking at different dance sites and I realized there’s a lot of information choreographers have in their heads, that as a dancer, you just kind of pick up along the way. They’re trying to teach you these moves and get this choreography into you, but behind that, there’s all this other knowledge, these other philosophies and ideas. And none of that was available in any kind of centralized resource.

For example, the very first article I wrote [for STEEZY] was, ‘5 Tips on Picking Up Choreography Faster.’ I started as a bboy so I was terrible at choreo, you wouldn’t even believe. But over time, I picked up all these tips and tricks on how to make it easier. And that’s something all dancers need to learn, but it’s never explicitly passed onto you. Even when you join a team or you learn from a choreographer, you just kind of have to figure it out along the way. And so thinking about that, it was like, ‘why doesn’t anyone try to pass on that knowledge?’  

And that’s basically how STEEZY was born. I reached out to a couple friends and had some friends reach out to me, and from there we just came up with content we thought dancers would appreciate, but in a way that balances Buzzfeed style with actual substance and knowledge.

I think that’s what’s helped ground us. We don’t try to be the cool kids. If anything, we’re the opposite. We want to make everything more accessible, more ‘human.’ Let’s say we’re writing an article. In that case, the ‘human’ part would be to think, ‘well, why would anyone else care?’ vs ‘I’m just gonna write this thing because I think it’s cool.’ And that’s what our focus is on, providing something that would be valuable to other people, rather than just being a cool name.

So far, feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Our readership right now is 60% in the U.S., 40% international, which is cool. STEEZY’s still pretty small, and sometimes we can’t churn out articles as quickly as we’d like, but with this, we can still provide a place to showcase what’s good from the community, as well as a platform for up-and-comers to share. So I started ‘Dance Video of the Day.’ Last week, some people from Indonesia emailed us, and were like, ‘we have a lot of interesting stuff happening in the Indonesian dance community, but we don’t really have like a platform to share it.’

And that’s kind of where we are now, experimenting with different ideas, trying to find a way to turn it into a sustainable business so we can continue to provide a good knowledge base for the community. My life is way better now. I enjoy what I’m doing. And it’s crazy. Doing something you’re actually invested in, your growth is so much more exponential than trying to do something just to do it. I’m constantly working, studying, reading, listening to podcasts, audio books. I just consume so much information about startups. It’s great, I’ve become kind of the poster child among all my friends for changing careers. I study harder now than I did in college, which is a great sign because I still enjoy all of it, and I love learning. Which is something I couldn’t imagine saying three years ago.

As for the name, I remember cleaning at GRV rehearsals and David Lim would say ‘make it look steezy and easy.’ I realized that that word epitomizes what the best dancers should be since it's a combination of ‘style’ and ‘ease.’ The best dancers do what they do and still make it look effortless. At first, there were a lot of people who weren't too keen on the name since it's kind of along the same lines as ‘swag,’ but we're working to shape people’s perception of ‘STEEZY’ into what we want it to mean."

[introvertproject]

— Dan, 26, Law Clerk

"The California Bar Exam has been the great equalizer. High school was a breeze. College was a joke. Law school was overhyped. But then I failed the July 2014 Bar Exam.

I felt pretty lost both academically and personally. Pouring months of tireless studying into a failed pursuit really shits on your confidence. Fortunately, time does heal all. More importantly, I had my friends and family there to keep me sane.

So, how do I feel about the upcoming February 2015 exam? I don’t know, to be honest. At least I've found some inner peace. There's no turning back now. Whatever happens, I can only keep moving forward. I will become an attorney . . . and a damn good one."

[introvertproject]

Ryan Marsh, 29, Sparky, and Joey Marsh, 27, Household CEO

artwork by Jackson Marsh, 3 and a half

"Our funny story that everyone thinks is crazy is that we got married ten days after we started dating. We knew of each other before that, but we didn't like, date. At the time we were in Lake Havasu and he was like, 'I know you're the one, let's go to Vegas and get married.' And I was like, 'you're full of it, and maybe you feel that way now, but in an hour you could change your mind.' 

But we got back and yeah, literally a week later he asked again, 'So, when are you off work next?' And I said 'Wednesday and Sunday.' And he said, 'The courthouse is closed on Sunday, so we should go Wednesday.' And I said 'okay, why not?'

Which is totally crazy and probably the most irrational thing I've done. Normally I'm super organized and super type-A. My lists have lists. And for for me to just say yes. It was completely illogical. I mean, it totally worked out, but I always tell my little sister, 'don't go off doing the same thing I did, because there's only enough luck in one family for that kind of stuff, and I think I used ours up.'

Before Ryan and I started dating, I remember him saying that he didn't think marriage was for him and that it was just kind of like a business transaction. A brings something to the table, B brings something to the table, and that's what it is. And so when he was trying to tell me, 'I know you're the one, we're meant to be,' I was very skeptical. This was the same guy who was saying marriage was a business transaction. That's not romantic at all. But he was like, 'you changed my mind.'

And that's not saying I'm one of those super romantic, fall-in-love types. I don't know what it is, he swears he's charming, but we'll see. It was just one of those, let's go on blind faith things. If you think it'll work, I guess I have no reason to doubt you.

Believe me there were days when I didn't think we were gonna make it, but here we are two kids, two dogs, and a house later, and we're still here. I'm a true believer that everything works out for a reason, and that's just kind of our story. It's a little chaotic, but that's just the way it was supposed to be written, and it works for us."

_________

Photographer's note: "When you give a child some macaroni . . ."

So the idea behind this shot was to do a twist on those old-timey daguerrotype portraits by letting Ryan and Joey's three year old son Jackson cover the "serious" photo with macaroni art. Originally I'd hoped he'd do something cute like give his dad a macaroni mustache and his mom macaroni hair, but instead we got macaroni legs, weird macaroni blobs, and a couple things that are supposed to spell "mom" and "dad." I actually kind of like it better this way though, more "authentic." Hope you guys like it too. :)

[satoriiephotography-blog]

It's been less than two hours since I finally got home from today's all-day photoshoot with Kaba Modern's junior team, Kaba Kids, and while I'm totally exhausted, I'm still so, so happy.

Ever since I was on Kreative Movement back in 2010, I've done at least one photoshoot per year for these kids, and I've always considered it a kind of test, to see how much I've grown over the past year. And comparing 2010 to now, I have to say I don't think I'm doing half bad.

Anywho, this year's themes were "GAP" and "Gossip Girl," and I'm pretty stoked with how everything turned out. When I think about how amazing these kids are and what a huge impact they and the whole KM family have had on my life -- there are literally no words. Congratulations on another successful year Kaba Kids. Can't wait to show you guys the rest. :)

[satoriiephotography-blog]

Moar Survey Corps teasers <3 This time, group shots from their award-winning "Bollywood" set from Maxt Out 2014. Enjoy guys!