Diligent Women are Beautiful: events

events

April 27, 2008

Flash Photography For Real Estate

I have been looking for a Real Estate Photography workshop since two years ago when I started to become more serious about Photography. No luck. I did find a couple of Architectural Photography workshops but they were all out of state and some of them even require previous experience. Although I did have a Photographer willing to have a private class for me, the class didn’t happen because I couldn’t find seven Realtors who wanted to sign up for it. It was very discouraging but I was not ready to give it up. I see that many Realtors and sellers today are widely accepting the fact that Staging is very important for today’s real estate market, and I believe it won’t be long for them to realize that good photos are equally important. How could you sell a house for more money in the shortest time if buyers can’t see the values of the house from the photos online?

I came across a blog called Photography For Real Estate (PFRE) – the blog owner Larry is based in Seattle and he helps his Realtor wife shoot all of her listing. His original target readers were other Realtors but recent surveys have shown that the majority were Photographers, which surprised him (I wasn’t surprised). Then he started the PFRE Flickr group, where people from all over the world could share their experiences and opinions.

Last month I noticed that he is going to have a one-day flash light photography for real estate with Photographer Scott Hargis and Thomas Grubba in Seattle in April -- I signup right away. I know that using multiple flash lights will be more efficient, easy to carry and setup, and also more economical than using a softbox.

There was a cocktail gathering the night before the workshop for people to meet and chat, especially since some people already “know” each other from all their Flickr discussions. We had 30 people coming from all over the country for this workshop (two from Canada), 4 females and I am guessing that more than 2/3 were Photographers.

The day of workshop started at 8am for breakfast where organizer Ron Kenney told us the schedule. Basically we will carpool to a model home in a newly built community. We will then divide into three groups – one group goes with Scott and Thomas to see the demo of how the flash is setup and the results, one group goes with Phil Meadows for Photoshop and Lightroom demo, and one group goes with the equipment sponsor Bruce from Glaziers to try different cameras and lenses. Every group has one hour and then rotates. What I like the most is, of course, the actual flash light setup because I have no idea about flash. They show us how they would setup the lights and why, and we could see the actual results with different settings.

We were taken back to the hotel for lunch around 1pm. After lunch, we have another sponsor Stephen Anderson from open2view to show us his services (including photos, virtual tour, elevated photo shoots, floor plan) that was very interesting. Then Scott answered the most common questions that we have, and Larry shared the business side experiences and the license agreement conflict with MLS. In the end, Larry asked our thoughts about certain features and plans for the Flickr group. The schedule ran a little longer than my time allows since I have a plane to catch so I left before the discussion ended. I am very thankful for Larry, Ron, Scott and Thomas for this wonderful workshop because I got to meet some wonderful people, and I am hoping we will have more workshops in the near future.

ps. The breakfast and lunch in the hotel were great but I forgot to take photos, sorry.

Posted at 11:06 AM in events, photography | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

February 02, 2008

The East meets West Married Couple Meetup Group

I am Taiwanese, and my husband is white American. Since we are an interracial couple, we have many friends who are also interracial couples. I found that interracial couples over all are a very interesting combination because Eastern culture and values are very different from Westerner’s. The one thing I found in my marriage is that we don’t make assumptions of things in life because we know we are different – language, values, mentalities, perspectives, eating hobbies, etc. I also found that those differences gave us interesting interaction toward everyday life. We are always learning about each other, not only as individuals but also as a country or culture.

So I started looking around to see if there are other social groups focused on people like us. I joined two photography groups on Meetup.com but didn’t see any Asian and White couples in the group. So I am thinking why not starting a group myself and see how many people are interested. 2008 is a good year to start something new so I set up my first meetup group called “The East meets West Married Couple Meetup Group” which has 22 members so far.

We had our first meetup event today at John’s XLNT Food in downtown Willow Glen for breakfast. We had five couples show up which was very nice. We had four American husbands, one Swedish husband with two Chinese wives, one Taiwanese, one Singaporean and one Vietnamese-American wife. Since this is our fist meetup, we started very gently on conversations. We start with where people live and where they work, etc. This didn’t last long because by the end of the breakfast, we have all kinds of subjects and conversations going on, and our voice and laughter was also getting louder. It was a great time and I am sure next time we meet would be even more fun.

Building a strong and supportive friendship takes time and effort. I left my long time friends in Taiwan and start over again in the States. This is my 8th year in the States and I finally start seeing the fruit of the seeds I planted when I moved to here. I have started having friends here that I have known for quite some time. I start to feel belonging.

I start to feel that here is my home.

As my husband would say, “You have come a loooooong way, baby.”

Posted at 08:30 PM in events | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

December 30, 2007

2007 Food Network Party - Part 2

Hosting a party is a lot of work, from the prep work, to the party day, and to cleaning the next day, it takes a lot of effort. However, the fun to be around so many good friends is like an addicting drug. Since some of my friends couldn’t come for the monthly wine events, I really wanted to have a year-end party for them.

I have hosted many parties, so I know how to plan one but this year I wanted to do it a little bit differently which drove me to come up with the crazy idea – Food Network Potluck Party. What was even more exciting is that my crazy Potluck idea, which asks people to bring a dish from the online recipes I choose, has won me an award from MaoBao’s website called Dream Party event. It was a wonderful surprise and gave me some great encouragement.

The day before the party, I used wine corks with a small wood block to make a dish nametag stand for each dish. I printed out all the dishes on paper, stuck them to a red paper and then glued it on the cork. I then placed them next to each dish. This 2007 Food Network Potluck Party turned out to be a great success – totaling 27 dishes, 9 bottles of wine with 35 guests.

I thought I should have an easy night and enjoy the party since I am only making 2 dishes, which was the reason why I wanted the party to be a potluck-style. I was wrong, because I need to take a photo of every dish before serving them. Now, every one came in the door one after another so my shutter never stopped. The serving table was not big enough to serve 20+ dishes at once, so I had to watch and exchange empty plates with a new dish. I feel so sorry that I was so busy that night and didn’t even get a chance to taste any food. However, the good news is that there was no food left over at all which also made me happy because it means all the food was great!

I really appreciate seeing so many people up for the challenge and playing along with my crazy idea. Thank you everyone for your participation. You guys are brave because this time you are making something totally new and you should be proud. Please share your thoughts about the recipes you tried, was it easy to understand the process, did any problem occur, or would you suggest any changes, etc. I think this is the best way to test 20+ recipes at once.

Thank you all. I hope you all had a wonderful time that night, not only meeting new people but also enjoying the great food that everyone prepared. I can see this is a great start for the New Year.

Happy New Year to you all!

ps. To see all the photos, please click HERE.

- 2007 Food Network Party Potluck Final Menu -

DRINKS

Santa's Sleigh Cocktail - Delia & Julio
Holiday Mulled Wine Cider - Mark E.

SALAD

Holiday Salad - Amy & Doug
Pear, Stilton, and Chicory Salad with Crispy Chestnuts - Jonathan, Dianna, and Matt
Five-Spice Chicken Salad in Wonton Shells - Min & Bill
Orange Juice-Braised Sweet Potatoes - Julia & Jason
Eggplant and Mozzarella Roll-Ups - Shira & Jory
Crab Salad with Ginger and Dried Orange Peel - Pamela & Luke
Parmesan Cheese drizzled with a honey infused truffle oil - Delia & Julio
Tomato, basil,and mozzarella kabobs - Delia & Julio

LAMB

Lamb Meatballs with Mint Mark E.
Leg of Lamb with Caper Sauce Jonathan, Dianna, and Matt

BEEF

Beef Stew with Belgian-Style Pale Ale Linda & Greg
Beef Yakitori with Eggplant Sabrina

PORK

Spicy Pork Kabobs with Moorish Flavors Heather & Eddie

CHICKEN

Herb-and-Cheese-Filled Chicken Thighs Annie & Chi
Honey, sesame and ginger chicken Sabrina

SCALLOP

Seared Scallops with Tropical Salsa Anita & Michael
Scallops in a Saffron and Rioja Wine Sauce Julie & Harry

SHRIMP

Shrimp Marinated in Lemon and Olive Oil Tao & Anders

DESSERT

Apple Coffee Cake Catherine & Bruce
Orange Cardamom Cookies Tao & Anders
Tapioca Pudding Linda & Greg
Berries with Balsamic Vinegar Anita & Michael
Ginger Bread House Laurel & Howard
Wine Michael Wen
Wine Bob Brooks

Posted at 06:02 PM in cooking, events | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

December 05, 2007

2007 Food Network Party - Part 1

The Holidays are coming! This year my husband and I are going to do something different for the year-end party. We are going to have our first 2007 Food Network Party. We came up with a GREAT idea for our Holiday party this year. Listen up…it will be a POTLUCK. I know what you are thinking right now, but no, this is not a normal potluck.

I have chosen many recipes online for each of guests to pick one to prepare, and bring it with them to the party. This is not an Iron Chef contest but I thought it would be fun to try some new recipes, and come share them with everyone so we can sample the food and enjoy the experience. I am also going to take photos of each dish, so people who can't join us can still share the fun.

And I will make some cookies and pack them into a clear bag for guests to take home. I think it would be a fantastic party. I will post photos here to share with you.

- 2007 Food Network Party Potluck Menu -

DRINKS

Pomegranate-champagne punch
Jasmine Spritzers
Pineapple Cosmopolitans
White Wine and Sparkling Cider Sangria

SALAD

Holiday Salad
Pear, Stilton, and Chicory Salad with Crispy Chestnuts
Ginger, Green Apple, Sweet Onion and Coconut Salad
Papaya, Cashew and Frisée Salad
Tropical Fruit Salad with Toasted Coconut
Five-Spice Chicken Salad in Wonton Shells

SOUP

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
Sweet Potato and Apple Soup
Broccoli-Leek Soup
Carrot Soup with Orange and Ginger

VEGETABLE

Orange Juice-Braised Sweet Potatoes
Plump Turkey-Stuffed Tofu Dumplings
Eggplant and Mozzarella Roll-Ups
Foie gras with date puree and pomegranate

LAMB

Jicama, Kirby and Carrot Salad with Charred Lamb
Lamb Meatballs with Mint

BEEF