angie + marvin wedding photos

December 28, 2019 in film, wedding

my cousin angie asked me if i could take some photos of her and marvin on their wedding day. “we don’t want much. just a few of us in the ceremony and around the courtyard”, she said. so of course, i said “yes”. this was an opportunity to service them, and for me to get outside of my comfort zone and learn something new through the process.

for wedding photoshoots, its pretty common to have wedding dates booked months in advance (sometimes over a year!). considering there wasn’t much to be expected (although there always is, especially for your wedding day) other than some “basic” photos , five weeks notice was fine i suppose. :)

we had 30 mins before the ceremony to take some pictures, and about 30 mins after the ceremony to take a few more plus the obligatory extended family pictures. no planning, no scouting. just the three of us walking around to find good well lit areas to make some photos.

in hindset, i wish i’d have been a bit more prepared with some high speed film to capture the ceremony since it had very low light. its an absolute must if you’re shooting film. film definitely has its advantages with the unmatched tonal range and color, but it really isn’t as versatile as digital, particularly in this case where there was no advance prep time with limited time.

all in all, it was fun and a good experience. i’m happy with some of the photos we made. below are a few favorites.

cameras:

mamiy rz67
mamiya 7

film:

kodak portra 400, 120mm
kodak tri-x (400tx), 35mm

autumn in the sierras

December 05, 2019 in travel, film, documentary

november 2019: autumn / eastern sierras

here are a series of photos made from a trip to california’s eastern sierras in november 2019.

my friends zak, phil and i took a trip up to the sierras this past november in hopes to catch the autumn colors in full bloom. due to its unpredictable weather, every day counts when chasing colors.

we explored parts of bishop and mammoth over the course of 3 days. in mammoth, we noticed immediately that we were maybe about a week too late as the leaves had started to turn brown and wither. there were a few areas around convict lake that were just past peak, which was good enough to capture some color. in bishop, we couldn’t have come at a better time! it was at full peak and the colors were outstanding. this was interesting because last year bishop peaked before mammoth! with the help of @monocountytourism, we were able to time our trip to near perfect.

note: if you don’t already, i would recommend you follow them on instagram as they give you up to date “autumn color” reports, among other useful information based on season. their page can save you a trip or two!

gear: i brought with me about 15+ rolls of 120 film and a handful of 35mm film (color & b&w), and shot all of them before the end of my trip. bummer. in hindsight, i should have brought more 35mm film and paced myself with the 120 film. all in all, i’m happy with the outcome of some of these photos.

excited to head out there again in a few weeks! its snowing a ton. :)

enjoy the photos!

-j

medium format/120 film

cameras: mamiya 7 and mamiya rz67
film: kodak portra 160, kodak portra 400, and ilford delta 3200

lake sabrina, bishop ca

35mm film

camera: contax g2, 28mm lens
film: kodak portra 400, and kodak tri-x (400tx)

Drive-By: Big Sur on Film

September 05, 2019 in film, travel, documentary

It’s been a little over a month since my family and I relocated to Los Angeles. Things are going very well, and we’re really excited to jump into life over here!

A couple weeks prior to our move, I made a solo trip to LA to prepare the home for our official relocation. I drove down HWY 1 with my cameras and some film and took as many photos as I could. I arrived in Monterey, CA around noon, and slowly made my way down south until sunset and created a “drive-by” photo log of what I saw. Time was of constraint since I needed to get to my destination later that evening.

It normally takes me approximately six hours to drive down from the bay area to Los Angeles, but this time it took me well over ten hours due to all the stops I made. I was tired, but an opportunity like this won’t present itself again for a while!

Things went generally well, but never perfect. If there was one thing I could have wished for was a nice spot for sunset. I made my way to the SLO area for sunset, but was quickly met with intense fog which ruined my plans. I also wished I had more time to linger in and around other coastal spots within Central California, but time was limited.

All of the pictures I took were shot on:

Contax G2, 35
Mamiya 645, 120
Mamiya 7, 120

The film stocks I chose for the trip were:

Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 800
Solaris Ferrania 400 (expired)

Anyways, here are some stills from the short trip. Comment below and let me know what you think!

Cheers,
j

Featured

BTS: Camping in Yosemite National Park

May 25, 2019 in camping, film, behind-the-scenes (bts)

Earlier this month, we and some friends took our families to Yosemite to camp for 3 nights. 6 adults, 10 kids total. For some of our friends and their kiddos, it was their first time visiting the National Park. Needless to say, they were blown away by the beautiful landscape and the natural beauty that surrounded us.

We had a lot of fun! We visited the main scenic spots, hiked Mist Trail to see Vernal Falls, and biked through and around the park (yes all 16 of us!). All 3 families meal prepped and split the meals for our entire trip. I’m not sure why, but camp food always tastes great. I’m sure it has something to do with the excitement of being outdoors, especially with loved ones. After dinner, the kids gathered around the fire and made s’mores. For breakfast, I attempted to make “good” coffee and it was terrible. Friends were gracious and still drank it.

My goal for the trip was to be purposeful behind the camera and document the time we had together in this beautiful place — all on film.

Cameras: Contax G2 and Pentax K1000
Film: Portra 160, 400, 800 and Ektar 100

As always, if you like the content, like and comment below and please bookmark/subscribe! Thanks for reading.

Cheers,
J

New York on 35mm Film

April 26, 2019

This past November, I visited New York City for the first time. I’ve always wanted to visit the city to experience the sights and sounds we’re all accustomed to seeing on the big screen. As a photographer, I’ve always thought it would be an amazing opportunity to capture the city through the lens of my camera. There is so much culture to capture.

We spent a few days walking around Manhattan and Brooklyn, just enjoying the company at hand and taking in the beautiful city as we moved from one block to another. Walking through Central Park had to have been one of the top highlights of our trip. Not only was the park grand and beautiful, but we also experienced the season’s first snow while walking through the park. Talk about a moment from a movie scene!

Here’s a short set of stills from a roll of Kodak Tri-X 400. The camera used was my Contax G2 with 28mm Biogon Carl Zeiss f2.8 lens. Film was scanned and developed by Indie Film Lab.

This was my first trip shooting film. Happy to say I’m glad how things came out and excited to share more.

Would love to hear from you in the comments box below. Let me know if you have any questions.

Enjoy!

Cheers,
J

Gordes: A village in Provence, France

September 29, 2018 in travel

I love Gordes.

The sights, sounds, and smell. All of it. The homes and buildings are made with white stones and it’s perched on top of a hill facing the Luberon. The charming cobblestone roads, narrow alleys, and window shopping along the cute storefronts, while inhaling the smell of fresh crepes are a few reasons why Gordes will be one of my favorite places in France.

This charming and historical village is located in Provence, about 30 miles east of Avignon, and approximately 150 miles west of Nice, which is where we were stationed for the second half of our trip to France.

Since the mid-century, movie stars and famous artists have made Gordes their home.

As we slowly immersed ourselves deeper into the village, the more we wanted to explore every nook and cranny of this beautiful place. Every intersection created curious excitement, and every turn did not disappoint.

As we were slowly walking through the village, we immediately noticed the doors and window sills, and the general decor of plants seemingly placed so perfectly.

I also really enjoy and appreciate places with historical importance. This place holds a lot of history starting back from the Middle Age-Renaissance period to the more recent WWII, when the Roman empire occupied this site and Gordes was used as a resistance village:

Here’s a quick snippet of history from Wikipedia:

“On 21 August 1944, almost a week after the beginning of the Operation Dragoon on the Provençal coast, a German patrol was attacked by the resistance. The day after, 22 August, the village was subject to violent reprisals. The Germans forced the inhabitants to enter their homes, shooting those who were late or that were not cooperating, and started to shoot from the rock on the other side with a canon and destroyed a dozen houses. On the other side of the village, the rest of the troops set fire to a chariot, pieces of wood and houses, blocking potential followers. More than twenty houses were destroyed. After the Liberation the resistance destroyed another part of the village, including the notarial house with all the archives. All this destruction brought the municipality the sad privilege to appear amongst three "stricken cities" of the Vaucluse department. By war's end, thirteen persons had been killed or executed in Gordes, twenty inhabitants had been shot by the enemy and five inhabitants were deported.”

Below is a local cemetery of past Gordiens. There is a special section in the cemetery to honor the graves of those that were martyred during the war.

We stopped for lunch at a small hole in the wall (literally) in the village and had one of the more delicious meals during our trip. It was a pasta dish with stew meat topped with some kind of mushroom sauce. I forgot to take a picture of it before it was devoured.

Just another storefront that caught our eye. It even lured adults like us in. I believe this was the only toy store in the village.

Here are a few more scenes of the village and my (pregnant) wife.

I often think about having a simpler life. Being part of a small community, with great food, coffee, art, and some pétanque, doesn’t sound bad one bit.

Residents still occupy this village! Here are a few stills of a few Gordiens playing pétanque.

Well, that’s all folks. Hope you enjoyed this quick journal entry about our trip to Gordes. I 100% recommend visiting if you’re able. Make the drive. Take your time and walk around as the sights, sounds and smells infuse your heart and soul with nostalgia even soon after you’ve left.

My wife and I are planning to write several more entries from our trip to France, and we’d love for you to subscribe below and follow along!

- jimmy

Interview with Jimmy, by HippoMagazine

September 10, 2018

Hello folks,

First off, welcome!

It's always difficult to determine what to write for your first post, but I thought it be fitting for you to get to know me a bit more.

I did an interview with Hippo Magazine (@hippomagazine) and it’s currently live on their website and Instagram.

Take a look if you haven't and let me know what you think!

Cheers,
J

Hippo Magazine

Sep 9

Jimmy Chung

Interview, Gallery

Would you mind introducing yourself? Sure, my name is Jimmy and I’ve been shooting since August 2017. Still learning, still evolving and having a blast. I’m based in the San Francisco Bay Area where I work full-time in the tech sector. I’m married to my beautiful wife Sharon and we have four children.

Jimmy's Instagram - @jimmyychung

Where are you from, and where do you currently live? Born and raised in Los Angeles, but relocated to the Bay Area almost 6 years ago.

How would you describe your style of photography? This is a tough one to answer. I like a variety of different styles, but never my own. I suppose my style is constantly evolving and changing. It's a bit frustrating, but its part of the process. You’ll see a lot of landscape on my IG, but I’d like to get into more street, lifestyle and portraits.

When did you first fall in love with taking photos? I’ve always enjoyed taking pictures, but I didn’t love it until I decided to pursue this hobby August of last year. To be quite honest, I didn't know if I’d like it this much, but I was inspired by some of the content I came across on IG and thought it would be fun to try and create something similar.

Do you have a favourite photography related memory, whether it be in front or behind the camera? It was probably when my family and I made the trek up to Yosemite for a day-trip - our first time visiting as a family. This was probably a month or two after I bought my 6D - I wanted to put it to the test, and Yosemite wasn’t a bad place to do it. My pregnant wife at the time, along with our three kiddos woke up at 4 am to leave for Yosemite so we could catch sunrise. We spent the entire day in the valley, and caught sunset at Taft Point and got home close to midnight. My pictures came out like crap, but the fact that we experienced something special like this together was the only thing that mattered.

Who/What inspires your photography? I get inspired by the Creator Himself. Everything that is captured through our lens has already been beautifully created for us to document. My wife is a great source of inspiration. She is super supportive. There aren’t a lot of folks in this world like her. Its a family effort to get out and do what I do, and I appreciate that she’s down for whatever. We also both desire for our kids to love and appreciate the outdoors, and capturing these current moments for us to re-experience later together is something that pushes me to create.

What kind of camera do you use? Canon 6D, iPhone 7+ & Pentax K1000.

What's your editing process like? Most of the time its Lightroom > Airdrop to my iPhone > Post. I use VSCO quite a bit for my iPhone shots. If needed, I’ll make small tweaks on the IG editor before posting. Composition and colour are important to me, but the edit has to invoke some kind of feeling for me personally. That’s the most important thing when I approach editing my pictures.

Are there any tips you would like to give to anyone out there who would love to create similar style photos to yours? My most basic tip would be to shoot in RAW format, and learn how to use Lightroom (or any other editing app). You’ll hear it quite often because its true - the single most important thing for an amateur photographer is to go out and shoot as much as you can. Shoot all different types of genre and see what you like. Commit yourself to getting better. I don’t have as much time to create as most photographers do, but I’ll grind it out and make the effort to get out as much as possible - and my family usually comes along. I also live 40 miles from SF and over 50 miles from Mt Tam (one-way), so you have no excuse. Just get out and shoot! Follow photographers that inspire you, and emulate them - see if you can replicate their work to a certain degree. The best athletes in the world today have emulated some of the greats when they were amateurs, and it can certainly apply to creatives, too. Doing this will get you closer to where you want to be as a photographer, and in your own form.

Who are some of your favourite photographers? Lots of good ones out there. Legends such as Ansel Adams, Steve McCurry (@stevemccurryofficial) and Joel Meyerowitz (@joel_meyerowitz) are always inspiring. Joe Greer (@ioegreer, @ioestreet) and Lucy Laucht (@lucylaucht) are my current favourites. These two are the best all-around photogs in my opinion. Sam Alive (@samalive), Forrest Mankins (@forrestmankins), Samuel Elkins (@samuelelkins), Jake Debruyckere (@jaquib), Emilie Ristevski (@emilielula), Dan Tom (@dantom), Andy Ross (@andyyross) and Nicholas Maggio (@nicholasmaggio) are some other favourites.

Are there any photographers here on Instagram that you wish more people knew about? @hambyd, @zakmauger, @lea.savvides, @jessetalavera - there are probably a few others.

What would be your number one dream destination for a photography adventure? Anywhere colourful, culturally rich, and near the water. Maybe Thailand or India.

Which time of year is your favourite for taking photographs? Fall probably, but generally anytime other than winter.

The coolest place you've ever been? Paris and all the cool villages in southern France. Gorges du Verdon was breathtaking. I’ve never seen anything like it. My wife and I also spent a few weeks in the Czech Republic to teach in an English Camp before we had kids 10yrs ago! Currently, we’re in a season of life where its difficult to travel (by plane) and also very expensive, so we settle for day trips, and short road trips.

Do you have any upcoming photography trips/sessions that you would like to share? Did you know 4th graders get free admittance to all U.S. National Parks? That includes everyone in the car. My oldest will be in 4th grade this Fall so we are planning a road trip through some national parks for about a week or two. Not sure where yet, but we’ve have been planning to visit the Southwest, or Montana for a while now. Would love to cross the border and make it up to Canada as well.

I’m also interested in collaborating with companies for brand/product work - especially family friendly brands! If this is you and you’re reading this, let's create something amazing together!

Anything extra you would like to share? Nothing replaces hard work. If you want to get better, you need to grind and get at it.

I have some prints for sale at https://jimmy.darkroom.tech. 30% off for hippo fans with code ‘hippomag30' at checkout! I also do custom prints, per request. Reach out for more info if interested.

My website will be up soon: www.jimmyychung.com. Some of my work along with my contact info will be there. I also plan to blog - pretty excited. Keep an eye out and subscribe!

Lastly, I really appreciate everyone’s support! I still don’t get why people like my work, but it's encouraging and fuels me to keep at it and get better.

Cheers!
Jimmy

Don't forget to follow Jimmy on Instagram! (@jimmyychung)