Length Of A Dream Photography

Aurora's Got a Baby in her Tummy...

2011-08-07T13:59:00.000-07:00

Aurora and Brendan are expecting their little girl soon...

...A tiny little Miracle

Everyone is excited as the delivery date draws near...

Mommy's little tummy package now...

... Daddy's little girl pretty soon

A grand adventure is about to begin.
-- Winnie the Pooh

Aurora and Brendan, thank you for letting us be part of your day! We can't wait for your little bundle of love to arrive!

Baby Angela at 10 days...

2011-07-03T00:58:00.000-07:00

Baby Angela, so precious and sweet

sleeping soundly without a peep.

What thoughts you gather, you make us wonder

as you dwell in peaceful slumber.

A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for.

Karren and Victor,

Thank you for the opportunity to photograph your beautiful little girl. We congratulate you on your new family! God Bless!

Baby Hannah at 9 days

2011-07-01T00:51:00.000-07:00

We had the pleasure of having a photo session with pretty little Hannah. Such an alert little darling, Hannah was awake for most of the shoot and was just as interested with the camera as we were with her...

"I think that I see something deeper, more infinite, more eternal that the ocean in the expression of the eyes of a little baby when it wakes in the morning and coos or laughs because it sees the sun shining on its cradle." - Vincent Van Gogh

"A baby is born with a need to be loved - and never outgrows it." - Frank A. Clark

Kimmie and Howard, thank you for letting us be part of Hannah's day! It was a pleasure covering your wedding, and it was just as memorable taking photos of your adorable baby!

A Belt Test @ American Tiger Martial Arts and Fitness

2011-01-19T18:23:00.000-08:00

I was at American Tiger Martial Arts and Fitness last October and took some photos of the students participating in the monthly belt test for that month.

The test involved some white belts moving up to orange belt, all the way to a couple of red belts moving up to red-black belts (last test before their black belt for these guys). These tests involve exercises, board-breaking, hand forms, weapon forms, and free-styling.

Board breaking using a stomp.

Jeannie in between exercises.

Performing a lesson that involves kicks from a sitting position.

Miss Azieh getting ready to assist a student with a dagger lesson.

Sai kata.

A Broadsword kata by Victor.

Jeannie staying out of the circle in her freestyle three-on-one test.

Victor and Mr Pollack (Instructor) mixing it up during one-on-one freestyle.

Board breaking with a left hooking heel.

Modesta's turn with her left hooking heel.

Dawson with a right hooking heel.

Victor going through that plywood with power and technique.

Goodbye Orange Belt, Hello Yellow Belt!

Technical Notes: Gear used was a 5D with 24-70L and a 70-200 IS L. Most of the images posted here were taken with the 70-200 at ISO 800-1000 and at f 3.5. Not wanting to be a distraction with flash, all shots were with the ambient florescent lighting in the studio with white balance corrections made in Photoshop.

Claudia and Jesus' baby, Joaquin.

2010-10-18T02:34:00.000-07:00

Two weeks young, and adorable as can be! Meet Joaquin. We scheduled this shoot around this little guy's naptime, but as fate would have it, he was too interested in modeling for his photoshoot and was wide awake the whole time. He was mesmerized by the lights we had setup, and was incredibly cooperative. We had a couple of oopsies while we had his diaper off, but it made the shoot more interesting and fun (sorry Dad)!
Without further adieu, here are images from our latest shoot.

"Babies are bits of stardust, blown from the hand of God."
-- Barretto

"O wonderful son, that can so astonish a mother" - William Shakespeare

"A new baby is like the beginning of all things-wonder, hope, a dream of possibilities."
-- Eda J. Le Shan


"Every baby born into the world is a finer one than the last." - Charles Dickens

Claudia and Jesus, thank you for the privilege of capturing memories of your beautiful, young family! We wish you all the best!

Tech Info: Canon 5D, 24-70 2.8, 50 1.8, Calumet light kit, Cowboy Studio light triggers.
Super thanks to my wife for all the help she provided.

A Tale of Three Birthdays

2010-10-03T01:25:00.000-07:00

We were at San Bernardino last weekend for the birthdays of Ashley, Haley and Charisse. It's always a fun time at the Contreras residence, and this was no exception! Got a bounce house full of kids, a plethora of barbecued goodies on the grill, the celebrants and their cousins displaying their singing skills, and friends and family members in attendance to complete the celebration. Effective ingredients for a great time!

Taking photos inside the bounce house was fairly tricky...aside from the constant bouncing and shifting inside, the lighting was either blown out backgrounds or just shadows inside. I was able to snap this shot by crawling inside and bouncing flash over my left shoulder into the ceiling....this caused a bit of a mix of green and red cast on the kids, but since I shoot in raw, I was able to correct the color to make it acceptable....

These next shots are of the girls giving due diligence of putting out the fire hazards on their cakes :)

I switched lenses to a longer tele to get a closer shot, only to realize I was too close :(

Charisse's arm was just a few inches behind Ashley, and that was the sweet spot. This is when my distaste of cropping in post production definitely got the best of me.

Above and below are Chinky, Marina and her daughter Jaimee and Carol. Classmates from Saint Paul's QC batch 88. This was taken with the sun pretty high and bright...for fill in flash, I had a Sunpak 333 firing remotely just to the right. Just enough to lift those shadows :)

That's Haley (above) right as she was opening her gifts. Precious!

Charisse all smiles after she got a SB 600 for her Nikon.

You can feel Ashley's excitement here as she started opening her presents!

These three images of the girls above were shot in a gazebo tent in the backyard past sunset. I had a 550 EX firing remotely into a corner of the canvas roof to give a soft, bounced light. Ambient light was a bit too low to be the only source of light at this point, (and I don't like pushing my ISO when I can still have other means of getting a good exposure) but there was still enough surfaces around us to create soft light.

Jerome and Ana earlier in the day. They are actually laughing at me thinking why the heck I had the flash pointing directly away from them when I took this... I had to convince them that I meant to do that, but I don't think they believed me anyway.

These next images don't do much justice to the singing these girls demonstrated during the party. The girls started off by a dance routine then capped it off by singing a few of their fav songs from Glee.

Pretty awesome stuff!

Techie Notes: A few of the shots here here taken with flash and a few were taken with ambient light only. Which ones were which? There's a few give aways that reveal which is which, but nothing too obvious. No harsh shadows and hot spots. That's the whole idea of the style of photography I shoot with.
Gear used: 5D, 24-70, 70-200, 550EX, Sunpak 330, Cowboy Studio radio slaves.

Emilie, Milan and Echo @ the beach...

2010-09-13T00:18:00.000-07:00

We had a great time photographing Emilie, Milan, and their incredibly well behaved dog, Echo! It was a good day at the beach to be snapping away memories for mother and daughter (and pet). The tide had just gone out, so the beach had left it's magical tide pools and moist, cool sand to keep our feet comfy.

Both mother and daughter were such great subjects with wonderful personalities that make sessions like these incredibly rewarding to shoot. Whenever she wasn't smiling or making faces for the camera, Milan was playing in the sand and checking out the plethora of interesting items on the beach. Echo's discipline was pretty impressive...she was as behaved as can be, stayed calm and collected even though the presence of another dog running around on the beach had her attention and was probably much more interesting than looking sharp for the camera.

Daughter and Mommy toes enjoying the cool sand!

In case you are wondering why a gorgeous beach like this was fairly deserted, it wasn't. There were a good eight or nine other photographers shooting all around us. It was a matter of working around each other that was keeping each other from popping up in each others images...at least I hope I didn't show up in theirs :)

A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts. ~Washington Irving

Emilie and Milan, you ladies have a wonderful partnership of being mother and daughter. Thank you for letting me be part of your world as your photographer for the afternoon. It was a pleasure capturing your precious smiles.

Techie Notes: Gear Used - Canon 5D, 550ex Flash, Sunpak 333 Thyristor, 24-70mm, 70-200mm, a car sunshade for reflectors from Kragen Auto Parts :), ND filters.

Most of the shots here were metered and underexposed by about two stops. The sun was still pretty strong at this time of day and I didn't want blown out skies for the majority of the shots. Every now and then I get blown out skies when the moment is happening and metering is not an option, but for portrait sessions like these when you can control the speed of your workflow, I'll take blue skies over white skies.

Special thanks to my sons Kiefer and Dawson for assisting me on this shoot.

Fall Family Portraits

2010-09-05T19:40:00.000-07:00

Ethan's Birthday Party

2010-08-30T00:01:00.000-07:00

On July 25th, I had the chance to photograph Ethan's Tol. It was a traditional celebration for a first Korean birthday. This was my first time to capture memories for this type of a celebration, and after a bit of research, I had an idea of what to expect.

Ethan in his Tol-Bok. Precious as can be!

The happy father with his adorable son.

Ethan had to check out those rice cake towers...those colorful stacks of goodies were just begging to be knocked over!

Ethan showing off his walking skills...and Lorraine, the proudest mom in LA that day!

There were a lot of colorful decorations for Ethan's party. From his Tol-Bok (traditional outfit), to the colorful rice bean cake towers, to the balloons and his Elmo birthday cake.
Family, friends, and platter after platter of delicious food! That's a grand Tol celebration for you!

The Toljabee was the highlight of the event. This was the part where Ethan would be given the opportunity to pick an item that would help predict his future. A stethoscope would mean a future in the medical world, a book would hint on him being a scholar, a computer mouse would be for something in the computer world, maybe become the next Steve Jobs, a Baseball would be for sports, and a rope for longevity.

Ethan chose the baseball! MLB may be in this handsome little guy's future.

Ethan picks the baseball.

Ieenor, Lorraine and Ethan...a beautiful family!

Ieenor and Lorraine, I am really honored that you chose me to capture memories for Ethan's birthday. I wish you all the great health and good fortune in your adventures in raising your family!

Techie Notes: Being that this was an indoor event and the room didn't have any windows, all shots you see here have on-camera flash. Not direct flash though, all were shot with bounced flash to different areas of the restaurant. No plastic tupperware-looking modifiers were attached to the flash as well (my Sto-fen omni-bounce has not seen the light of day for a few years now...always in the bag, but never makes it out of the bag)...the light modifier I was using drew a few chuckles from some of the guests, as it was a foam mousepad acting as the snoot, and a ponytail holder that I grabbed from my wife's hair accessories. This was an idea I got from a New Jersey Photographer, Neil van Niekerk (unfortunately, I do not know him personally. I was signed up to attend one of his seminars in Las Vegas, but it was canceled, so I never had the chance to meet him in person). I've always preferred bouncing flash, but once in a while I would have some light spill onto my subject directly, and this foam-snoot takes care of that issue. Off camera lighting was not an option for this shoot for me, since I didn't have an assistant with me.

Gear Used: Canon 5D, 24-70mm 2.8, 50mm 1.8, 550Ex, black mousepad as a snoot, and a ponytail holder / rubber band thingy.

A Nice Day For A Ride To The Park...

2010-08-29T03:13:00.000-07:00

It was a very nice afternoon...cool breeze blowing in, the temperature was in the low 70s and friends were visiting. The light was just perfect this afternoon and the colors were just right...

Helmet on, ready to roll...

Basket...check, matching helmet...check...cute-ness....check!

Spending an afternoon biking with friends...memories are made of this.

Got road?

100 and 4 days of summer vacation, and school comes a long just to end it.. and end it soon it will. Enjoying the last days of summer.

With the golden light fading fast, it was time to hit the road again and head on home for some McDonald's cheeseburgers for the kids and some Korean BBQ chicken for The Loft for the moms and dads!

Jino and Carol with rim lighting compliments of the Sun!

Gotta love that bokeh that the 70-200mm 2.8 lens gives. Smooth and silky!

I didn't use any flash for these images because there wasn't a need to lift any shadows ... A reflector would have helped a bit, but not a show-stopper.

I usually have my speedlights handy, but riding a bike and clinging to a 70-200 was bulky enough. I had a nifty fifty in my bike pouch, and that saw a little action too, but it's very hard not to use the 70-200 lens with this gorgeous golden light beaming through the trees in the park...

Gear used: Canon 5D, 70-200mm 2.8 IS, 50mm 1.8

Beauty and the Beast @ Cornerstone Christian School in Murrieta

2010-05-24T16:41:00.000-07:00

Watching a an entertaining play is always nice. Experiencing a great play plants images that turn into memories. I was with family and friends at Cornerstone Christian School in Murrieta to check out my nephews in a production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. It was incredible.

This was my younger nephew as a peasant boy. He also played the part of "Chip" for this performance. I think he was the youngest performer in the show, being in kindergarten and all.

Gaston wooing Belle with his manliness and charm. "Belle, it's about time you got your head out of those books and paid attention to more important things...like me!" -Gaston.

This was my other nephew, Daryl, performing as Lefou, Gaston's right hand man.
"Who, you? Never. Gaston, you've got to pull yourself together.
Gosh it disturbs me to see you, Gaston
Looking so down in the dumps
Every guy here'd love to be you, Gaston
Even when taking your lumps"
... good ole Lefou.

The Beast and his magic mirror.

Mrs Potts, Chip and Maurice.

The Beast and Belle while they dance to the theme of the play...courtesy of Mrs Potts.

This was a great production of this Disney Classic. A lot of hard work put in for a few nights of memorable performances. Hats off to the actors, the production team, the technical crew, the parents and everybody else involved in this play. Great work.

Techie Notes: It was a "no flash photography" zone for obvious reasons, so this is where a steady hand, anticipation of action and fast glass with wide apertures can all work together to bring out some good images. There was really no space for a tripod, and it would only attract unwanted attention.
I was at ISO 1000 for most of the night, switching up to 1600 if it was a really dark scene. Most of the shots were done @ f2.8 unless conditions allowed for f3.5 or f4 just to get more than one subject into focus. Timing was still key here, because I was shooting at very low shutter speeds...1/30, 1/15, 1/60 (while hand-holding the 70-200 IS lens) ...motion from any of the actors was fairly visible in the images i took. This became an added level of difficulty when shooting Lumiere (who did a lot of gesturing with his hands), and Cogsworth (who did his gesturing by moving his head and torso).
The images were white-balanced in Photoshop, but I kept them a close to the original temperature of the mood to maintain the atmosphere that the director setup via the lighting, after all, I am just capturing the images of the show, not re-interpreting via photography.

Girl Scouts Troop 371

2010-05-23T11:59:00.000-07:00

I recently had the privilege to photograph Girl Scouts from Troop 371 in Huntington Beach. This was probably one of the easiest photo shoots that I've been involved in. The sun was bright and high but we had the shade of the Huntington Beach Pier to work with, so all went swimmingly smooth!

Fun in the Sun, Sand, and a little fill-flash! That's what it's all about!

New Look Site

2010-03-14T21:17:00.000-07:00

I've been slaving over the last few weeks changing the design of www.lengthofadream.com ...has a fresher feel to it (i think)...hopefully it's easier to navigate too. If you have any feedback, please drop me a line. I would appreciate it.

I took some photos at the Pack 278 Cub Scouts pine wood derby races last weekend...a very fun event. Helped my older boys make their cars, and we all had a lot of fun. Kiefer's car won the Open / Family class for children, and Dawson's car won the Wolf division.

Kiefer's car was a powered by 3 D-cells :) In case you are wondering if that was legal, this was for the open "no rules" division. I didn't have time to put in a little motor, but maybe for next year we won't procrastinate so much (yeah right) and will do just that.

It was interesting that we finally got to make cars that went fast. We were going for a creative award when we made his Indiana Jones car.

Making A Building "Smile"

2009-08-24T22:26:00.000-07:00

As a photographer that usually gets the assignment of covering weddings, holiday parties, family portraits and engagements, what do you say when asked to tread into uncharted waters by doing some architectural work? What else? "Bring it on."

Gear for the shoot? A trusty 5D, a 24-70 2.8 and a tripod.

In art and photography, it is always mentioned that "the eyes are the windows to the soul". So when shooting a building, would the windows be the eyes to the soul? :)

This was a short-order task. Take photos asap, have it ready by tomorrow, we need it printed in 24 hours. Drive home, get the gear, get good shots while the sun is high...ouch.

I was able to get a number of good ones with the sun melting the pavement with its strong rays, but I was also able to wait it out to get some dusk shots. Most of the images (if not all) were shot at f8 and up. I still shot in manual so that I can crank down the light as needed.

This image (above) was taken at ISO 50, f10 @ 1/80seconds.

Blue skies for the win! Too much brightness at 2 in the afternoon? Crank down the exposure in-camera. Probably do-able via Photoshop, but if you can do it without having to post-process so much, I just feel it speeds up the work-flow.

This image was taken at IOS 50, f11 @ 1/5seconds.

The last 2 images were shot at F9 and F8 respectively. Both at ISO 50 @ 30.00Seconds.

I'd like to believe the building gave a little grin at the very least in my attempts to make it shine.

*RANT Alert*

Tell me if you've heard this one before: "Excuse me sir, but do you have a permit to shoot here?" Have not heard it yet? You're either a ninja that blends well with the surroundings, or you are blessed by fate. I had a brief encounter that was resolved by a quick elevator run (more like a slow-limp really) up 14 floors then followed by a phone call, but it just made me think of an article i read a while back. I guess you're suspicious if you have a SLR (or DSLR), and all is good if you have a point and shoot.

The Outer Banks @ North Carolina

2009-08-22T00:24:00.000-07:00

Sun, Surf and a lot of R & R!

It was pretty difficult to go on vacation with a broken hand...this includes just trying to do regular things I'm used to...all the way to loading and unloading luggage with just 1 arm. This trip would have been disastrous without my incredible wife and my kids helping out.

The hard part about photography with a broken hand is not being able to put any weight on my right hand...then not bringing along a tripod because of trying to travel light was totally limiting my shooting. Knowing that photo ops are being missed left and right just adds to the pain. Shooting with minimal spontaneity is as heartbreaking as it gets in photography.

Me and my family had the opportunity to spend a great week at the beach with wonderful friends; paid tribute and learn about the history of flight at the Wright Brothers' memorial on Orville Wright's birthday; visited the Currituck Beach Lighthouse and join the locals in anticipation of a hurricane in the making (Hurricane Bill).

My kids were learning the basics of body boarding and we got our first experience of splashing in the Atlantic Ocean.

Trying to travel light and shoot with as minimal weight as possible, I left my 70-200 2.8 IS at home and took my 70-300 4-5.6 II (non-IS) out of retirement. Most images were taken with my trusty 5D with the 70-300 and for a few shots with a 24-105 4.0 IS.

Getting close was a bit of a challenge...wearing a fiberglass cast that I'm supposed to keep dry on my right hand, i was wading in the surf up to my waist in some instances, but getting "the shot" seemed to outweigh the risk...although I'd probably be saying something else if my 5D ended up in the drink...

Great conditions for newbies learning to body-board. Conditions were also pretty good for a photographer on the beach.

This next shot was from the top level of the beach house we rented. Relaxation at the Outer Banks from indoors :) The window was showing some condensation from the AC vents and wiping that down turned out to be a mistake. The streaking kept re-appearing after that.

Next up, the Currituck Beach Lighthouse. 214 steps to get to the top. Lots of history is waiting for curious minds on this lighthouse at their home page.

This next shot was taken at the Wright Brothers' memorial at Kill Devil Hills. The sides of this monument look like wings of a plane. This was a very hot and very bright day. Fill-in flash was a must for any photos with people in the composition. Did I mention it was hot?

This was the flight path the Wright brothers took on the day they made history.

To read more about the Wright Brothers' Memorial, you can check out their official site at this site.

Locals were saying that Hurricane Bill was responsible for bringing in the 20 foot swells that kept swimmers off the beach on this day. Surfers were having a ball, but they were gone by sunset.

I didn't have a clear shot at the setting sun...bummer. Had to settle for a view of the path back to the cottages.

This was a pretty great trip, and I am very grateful and surprised that I was able to fire off the camera a few times with my right hand's current state.

Till my next post, cya around.

Donald R

Trash The Dress Session

2008-12-02T23:11:00.000-08:00

I recently attended a TTD session at Robert Evans Studios in North Hollywood. Here are some of the images I snapped.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T15:40:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone was able to find something to be thankful for.
It's too easy to become complacent with what we have, and only see the glass being half empty. Thanksgiving rolled in just in time for me...It's a good slap in the face to realize how wonderful life is.
I'm very thankful for my beautiful wife and my wonderful kids that give meaning to my life.