Seeing as UC graduations start this weekend, I thought it’d be fitting to share another one of my more recent senior portraits sessions! About 5-6 years ago I went to a program at UCSD called “Academic Connections” and as I studied at their campus over  one summer, I met a ton of wonderful people! If you saw Lisa’s portraits session (view here), she was one of the many people I hung out with and played volleyball with. A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of photographing another dear volleyball-playing friend I met at the program named Josh!

Now a couple years after the program Josh & I found ourselves attending UCR together! Awesomely enough, we ended up in the same fellowship with one another (Asian American Christian Fellowship), and our friendship continued on. I was so thankful that he contacted me to photograph his senior portraits to help commemorate his accomplishments as an engineering major at UCR!

For his portraits session, Josh requested to have his portraits taken in Los Angeles instead of in Riverside since he was planning on moving out of state after he graduates! He wanted memories of the city of LA, which reminds him most of California! Our trip to LA for his shoot was a ton of fun! I love times of catching up with friends from college and hearing about their lives! We also saw the original old yellow Camaro from Transformers (Bumblebee!!!), and the Mystery Van from Scooby Doo, being transported on the freeway, which definitely added to our shoot day being awesome! Honesty hour… we both squealed pretty loudly upon seeing them on the road next to us! For those of you who know me, I have an odd fascination with Transformers, so seeing Bumblebee was REALLY really exciting! Haha! And yes, I definitely posted about seeing them on my Facebook page!

Now Josh is one tall guy! He towers over me quite a bit, so let me just say that some of these photographs were a bit challenging for me to get on his level! Haha He was such a natural in front of the camera! As we progressed on, I noticed his inner model started to definitely show! ;)

Well, without further adieu, meet Josh! :)

 

 

 

With the help of a good friend (Wilhelm), we ventured out around the Arts District for the beginning of our shoot! The area has so much character to it, so it was fun shooting around it! :)

 

 

 

I can’t help but appreciate the graffiti art around the Arts District! Some of it is definitely beyond me and not images I’d particularly like, but man… they are truly artists… I can’t imaging painting at such a large scale… Nonetheless with spray paint… I can barely draw/paint things that are life-sized!

 

 

 

 

We thought the “Love Strangers” writing was pretty interesting! Not because it looked cool… but it reminded me of showing God’s love, and  being a testimony & light to those around you. :)

 

 

 

 

We saw the angel wings and couldn’t stay away…. haha! ;)

 

 

 

 

John came and met up with us after work and we explored LA a little bit more! Normally, I would’ve came down earlier on my own or with John to scout more locations, but this session was booked a little rushed, so I did most of my exploring via Google maps ahead of time! :) I was so thankful for the extra locations we stumbled upon! :)

Josh used to be in band before college and started picking it up again his senior year, so he he decided to bring it along for his shoot, as well!

 

 

 

 

He played a couple tunes for me and John, which was pretty sweet! I love when my clients play for me! ;)

 

 

 

 

We ended our shoot around and on an awesome bridge overlooking the way to LA! I loved this portion of the shoot the most! :)

 

 

 

 

Oh the Los Angeles skyline when it isn’t too smoggy…. :)

 

 

 

 

Now here’s when his inner model started to really show! ;)

 

 

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS JOSH!!! :)

 

Happy Friday!