Blog Uncommon

Kasey + Ryan

2008-10-11T12:41:00.005-05:00

Kasey emailed me one day telling me that she was planning her wedding in Kansas City and if I'm available to become her photographer. You see, Kasey and Ryan currently live in New York city, which is kinda cool since I seem to have a knack of finding, or actually being found by, Kansas Citians who live in the great state of New York.

Kasey and Ryan are one of the few couple that have this certain coolness about them, something that I don't run across every day.

It always takes a few guys to figure out how to fold it ;)

And of course, Manolo Blahnik

Awesomeness.

Kasey's dad happily looks on at the newly married couple :)

These two guys know how to rock. Me think they're the future air guitar champion.

Don't you love it when your friends are always on the look out for you? :)

Kasey and Ryan, you're just too awesome!
Love,
David
Bride & Groom Suite: Intercontinental Hotel Kansas City
Wedding location: The Sawyer Room

Katie + Steve

2008-10-10T09:45:00.005-05:00

I love everything about Katie and Steve's wedding. And I feel so blessed to be able to witness and to document their wedding. The wedding itself was held at around noon time on a beautiful but slightly breezy day in a quaint Simpson House in Kansas City.

On to my favorite images from their sweet and beautiful wedding.

Katie's best friends look on while she's getting ready in the morning.

But I told Katie that she's the fastest bride ever when it comes to getting ready.

Steve and his dad. I love the mood and the juxtaposition of these images.

Steve's nephew reacting to the fact that he needs to put on his shoes. I love this guy, later on during the reception he challenged me to do the camera duel, him with his disposable camera against me with my big black camera.

Steve's grandma seems a little bit overwhelmed.

Simply beautiful.

Look, Ma...neck-tie.

Him, just before the duel.

Almost time.

Steve and Katie, thank you for allowing me to be part of your day.

Blesssings,
David

WPJA Contest

2008-10-09T22:38:00.004-05:00

I'm so stoked that two more of my images placed in the second quarter of WPJA contest.

-David

Kassie + Sam

2008-10-08T18:11:00.018-05:00

We really had a great time shooting Kassie and Sam. I never realized that mortal kombat really influenced a lot of people's lives ;)

I think the girl in green dress just winked at me ;)

I was just walking along minding my own business when suddenly Kassie did this wicked mortal kombat kick...

...and upon impact Sam was thrown back to the stone age.

I love you guys. You guys rock!!!

Blessing,
David

Ayman

2008-10-07T17:42:00.019-05:00

Ayman is graduating this year and med school is already waiting for him. One thing that impresses me is that he's not only book smart but Ayman also has a passion in movie making as well. He has them all...artsy and geeky ;)

So one day he called me and asked if I do senior picture, to which I replied that I take cool photograph and it doesn't matter if it's high school senior or senior citizen. ha!

After several attempts involving his getting lost somewhere in the middle of I-435 trying to meet me, we finally met with Ayman and his brother and dad.

On to my favorite images.

We want to do something a bit different, not the normal smiley-pretty pictures.

Ayman is a smiley kind of guy, but just for fun we went for the sinister hitman look.

Thanks for playing along, Ayman. I really wish we had more time working together. You're awesome!

-David

Preview: Amber + Jake

2008-05-12T01:24:00.013-05:00

Here's a sneak peek from Amber and Jake's sweet and beautiful wedding from a couple weeks ago at Sheraton.

Congratulations, Amber and Jake!
The complete images will be finished in a few weeks.

Blessings,
David

Jessica

2008-04-24T10:37:00.014-05:00

This is Jessica, she is graduating this May as an honor student and will go on to college on full academic scholarship. Not only she's an honor student but she's also a student athlete. Ok now...how do you smart and healthy people do that? I just don't get it :)

On to the images. During the photo shoot we just happened to see the Honor Box parking signs at some corner in downtown Kansas City. It's just too perfect, don't you think?

I didn't make this up...but we, again, happened to see a discarded red couch so we decided to use it. Dragged it to the middle of the street, broken spring and all.

We went for the fashion look. This is too much fun :)

Thanks to Jessica and her whole clans (mom, dad, brothers) for coming along and providing extra help during the photo shoot. You guys are great!

Later,
David

Kaitlyn

2008-04-16T00:23:00.005-05:00

One of the things that we immensely enjoy is to take Katie to her weekly Saturday exercise class. Except it is not something I can do on regular basis now that wedding season has already started and I have to be away from her on most Saturdays.

Katie is a carbon copy of me, minus the long hair, at her age. In fact, one time we showed her my childhood photo of me sitting next to my parents and Katie said "That's Katie with grandpa and grandma" :)

Katie is never the one who jumps into excitement right away no matter how many times we've gone to the excercise class before. Katie would always first observe the other kids as she'll gradually warm up to them. And at the end she won't be able to contain herself with joy. It's just too much fun and blessings for us to be able to watch her being so happy.

Image on right: while slowly warming up to the other kids, Katie is smiling inside. I just know it :) She even flashed a brief smile that's quickly disappeared when her teacher saw it.

I love how she curls her toes while standing and waiting for her turn for the next exercise.

Katie's being silly with mommy. I could live in this moment forever.

We have a few months to come up with the theme for her third birthday this coming August so feel free to share your fun-original-cute ideas with us :)

Blessings,
David

Zack

2008-04-14T00:19:00.029-05:00

Zack had his photo shoot late last year. But Nancy's, that is Zack's mom btw, recent order for commencement invitation cards served as a reminder to me to post some of the images from the shoot.

Zack is an all around nice guy. He plays and starts for Hayden High School basketball team. Zack also plays keeper, that's goalie for you not familiar with soccer, and he is the homecoming king, too. On top of that he's very humble about it all. And here's me thinking...hey not fair, how come he is so good in so many things and looking handsome while doing them? And me, I'm lucky if I can chew and walk at the same time without bumping into things ;)

Zack and Nancy just love this shot. They have a big one framed in their den right now. Btw, I just love the story Nancy emailed me this morning:
"On Saturday Zack was preparing to go to the Royals game in KC. A few of his friends met him at our house before heading out. One of the boys commented on Zack's senior picture (the blue shirt with tie) saying how he really liked that shot. Then another boy said, "Hey, if you like that one, come downstairs and see my favorite picture ever. It is the coolest picture of all time. Only if it was me in it". "

Nancy told me that if you can get 17 year old boys interested in the photos, she'd say that is the best compliment ever. Ha.

We've got so many good shots from his photo shoot. Zack and Nancy did an awesome job choosing which images to include on the cards. And this is how the invite card looks like (and multiply that by 200 pieces). The actual card doesn't show my website address, of course.

Later,
-David

Mei Hwie + Andy

2008-04-10T22:30:00.020-05:00

So we all agreed to have Mei Hwie and Andy's bridal photo shoot on a certain date. Things were looking great all week long, clear blue sky, reasonably warm weather, you know...the works. So came the D-day, and things went the opposite way. Grey replaced blue, warm turned into cold. But Mei Hwie and Andy were such a trooper and decided to go with the original plan anyway.

The king and queen in front of their home :)

It was so cold that day the lady on the right turned into a statue.

Special thanks for Mei Hwie's sister who went with us and provided the future bride and groom with warm beverages throughout the photo shoot.

Mei Hwie and Andy, thank you for putting up with me. And I'm sorry if I laughed at you (just a little bit, and I was laughing WITH you) when you're shivering. You guys are too much fun!

Much blessings,
-David

Windy Day

2008-03-31T23:39:00.007-05:00

Another windy day in Kansas, and another portrait of my wife.

-David

D + C

2008-03-30T23:11:00.024-05:00

Another week, another beautiful wedding.
Here are a few images from a wedding I did recently.

This little girl is completely blown away when she sees the bride for the first time.

Trying to sneak back to the changing room. Just imagine cartoon's tip-toeing sound effect here :)

Trying to work off pre-wedding nervous jitter.

Seeing each other for the first time.

Simply beautiful.

The beaming bride and her proud dad.

The bubbly bride at the altar.

The ceremony runs a bit too long for them.

I thought this is pretty funny.

Party time!!!!

Wheeee!

That's all for now.

'till next time.

-David

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Kansas City

2008-03-25T23:20:00.006-05:00

Today I had the pleasure of photographing the people who are responsible for Big Brothers Big Sister of Greater Kansas City. Please visit their website, http://www.bigbrothersbigsisterskc.org , to learn more about them and the great effect they have on youth across the nation.

-David

Photography Contest

2008-03-23T21:54:00.020-05:00

Hi all,

I'm just so stoked to find that a few of my images placed in WPJA 2007 photography contest. I feel extremely blessed to have been placed among some amazing photo talents not only in the U.S but also all around the world.

This one placed 9th in "Silhouttes, Shadow and Good Light" category.

This one placed 18th in "Reception" category.

And this one placed 18th in "Action" category.

And this one is from the year 2006 that I just found out when a friend of mine sent me a link to it, that the image had placed on the contest. This particular image placed 20th in the "Getting Ready" category.

To all my current and future clients, would it be fun, not to mention it gives you bragging rights, if your wedding images place in the future photo competition? So give me a call, shoot me an email, and let me shoot your wedding :)

Cheers,

David Tsai Tjiptogarsono

Thuy + Greg

2008-03-23T21:29:00.017-05:00

Another fun couple, yea!

Thuy and Greg were such a good sports during the photo shoot, they would do anything for cool shots. And we were having fun time just walking around looking for cool things to do and shoot. They're so goofy and funny like me. Actually, it's like seeing two of me except they are much funnier and better looking, by far.

So Greg and Thuy found this scooter and took it for a virtual joy ride.

They look great together.

Another one that I like.

It's going to be a fun wedding, I just know it :)

Much love.
David Tsai Tjiptogarsono

Olivia + Ben

2008-03-23T18:18:00.026-05:00

Just imagine one afternoon during blistery winter day here in Kansas City and out of the blue I got this phone call from a bride asking if I can shoot her wedding in Los Angeles. Hmmm...was this an excuse I'd been looking for to get out and to escape Kansas cold weather, at least temporarily?

But it turned out I didn't need an excuse at all, had Los Angeles been a colder place than Kansas City I'd have still gone to shoot Oli and Ben's wedding for they're one of the most loving, kind-hearted people that I've ever known.

Since their wedding was on Sunday I arrived in Los Angeles on Saturday afternoon. After a quick introduction, after all this was our first meeting ever, we went out to shoot their engagement portrait with barely enough day-light left.

Here are some of the photos that I took of them.

From their engagement photo shoot

Sweet moment...

Who said Asian can't jump? :)

Ben's watching Oli getting ready. Guys only take like 5 minutes to get ready for their wedding, right guys? :)

Oli's having a good time...

Oli's dad taking a little siesta. It's going to be a long and fun day so everybody needed an extra rest here and there :)

Ben's scrambling...

From the tea ceremony.

Last minute touch up on the way to the wedding

Oh no!!! Broken heel. But Ben with all his coolness, and a little help from Krazy Glue, fixed it for Oli. All is well now.

Just beautiful.

Pay no attention to the people behind the curtain :)
Oli and Ben nervously waiting to be announced.

The blessing by families and friends

Oli and Ben always do things together ;)

The beautiful venue, Cafe Santorini in Pasadena, where they had their wedding and reception.

Oli and Ben, it's truly a blessing and honor for me to be part of your special day.

Much love.
David Tsai Tjiptogarsono

Valentine's Day

2008-02-14T00:18:00.002-06:00

As a part of our project, a group of wedding photographers all across the United States are seeking out couples who are getting married in the City Hall on Valentine's Day. I was fortunate enough to witness and document one wedding today. It's truly an honor for me to witness such event, and to feel the love and joy radiating from the couple.

Here are some of the photos that I took today from the city of Olathe City Hall, Kansas.

Blessings,

-David

Children Photography

2007-05-15T02:22:00.001-05:00

What a week it had been!

At the very last minute I was offered to attend a photography workshop led by Cheryl Jacobs, one of the best children photographers in the business. The workshop is quite unique in its nature since in addition to learning from the best, we were offered to have a quick photo session with the children where each participant had a total full control of what to do with the kids in term of the outcome of the shoot. So none of that "the instructor sets up the pose and we all shoot the same thing" cherry-pickin' here. I also have to add that none of the children are models.

The following images are my rendition of the children.

This little guy is a big fan of Spiderman, and he's showing me how to shoot spider web from his wrist :)

A found moment. He decided that he had enough and so ready to go home.

Another found moment. Tummy tattoo. Too cute.

Happy baby makes a happy photographer ;)

And this young lady has so many stories to tell from her young life.

At one point, we decided to photograph each other just to see how it felt like on the other side of the lens (yeah...it felt pretty weird. ha!). Here's my friend Anne Dillon, awesome photographer from KC.

And Eric Graf, photojournalist extraordinaire from Louisville, KY.

Guys, it's great to meet you all.

And to the parents of the children, thank you for your kindness, your generosity will not be forgotten.

'Till next time.

David

Denise + Shawn

2007-04-24T18:17:00.001-05:00

What a loving group of people!

One of the reasons that I love my job is that I get to hang out with some of the most caring and loving people. Denise and Shawn, it is my privilege to be part of your day. It truly touches my heart to see how the two of you are so deeply in love.

Now on to the images...

Last minute steaming.

Synchronized cooling off :)

The Woodward boys.

The beautiful bride.
Simply in love.

Denise is waiting for her cue to walk down the aisle. Just look at the beautiful train she's wearing.

O'Dowd's holds a very special meaning for Denise and Shawn; so, after the wedding they invited everybody there for a little happy hour.

O'Dowd's is a quaint pub with lots of character.

On the way to the beautiful Brio to join their guests for the rest of the evening.

There's no shortage of love and tears in this wedding.

Party time!

The reason she's on the floor ...

is because she was trying to do this :)

Shawn gets a bit overwhelmed (in a good way, of course) :)

Kid being kid :)

Congratulations again, Denise and Shawn.
And to the Britt and Woodward families, thank you for having me for this wonderful wedding.

Much love.

-David

Kara + Andy

2007-04-20T02:11:00.003-05:00

Last week I finally had the chance to meet with Kara and Andy for their engagement session. Other than the photos Kara sent me over the email, we've never met before. Lucky me they turned out to be one of the super nice and super fun couple that I've ever worked with.

This is Kara

... and Andy.

And we're off to a good start, in a normal way ;)

So obvious...so in love.

Virtual kiss....hey, it was fun to take photo of them kissing the air :)

They're just too much fun to be around. What was that word you told me, Kara? Oh yes, "goofy" ;)

I love how their individualities really show in this shot.

To the tuxedo man, sorry for interrupting your cigarette break, but now I know where to find you next time I need a prop ;)

Tunnel... we all love tunnel.

In my opinion, there's no better way to end the session with something a bit abnormal... The Anti Engagement Session - CSI Style.

Kara and Andy, thank you for having me, and congratulations again on your upcoming wedding.
And also thank you for putting up with my goofiness and craziness :) You guys are just awesome!!

Much love.

-David

Zachary is One

2007-04-08T01:05:00.003-05:00

I have been photographing the awesome Darby family for quite sometime now, and it seems only a shortwhile ago when Sarah called me for her maternity session with baby Zach still in her tummy. And it is my priviledge to see that the tiny baby Zach is not quite so tiny any more as he turns ONE today!

Note: Click on the image to see the bigger version.

This is Zachary.

The proud mommy.

The proud daddy.

Big sister, in her not quite in the tree tree-house.

And the Darbys invited some of their close friends to celebrate Zach's birthday.
Sarah's best friend, and her sister, from Memphis. And yes, they drove all the way to Kansas City.

The too cute Madolyn with her awesome hair-do. Her mom says it doesn't take that long to do the hair, provided she sits still during the whole process ;)

And the hair-do...

The sweet Maggie.

Blake and Kendyl with their mom.

To the Darbys, congratulations and thank you for allowing me to be part of your life. You guys totally rock!!!

And to everyone, don't worry... there are more photos and slideshow to come :)

David

Las Vegas Here I Come

2007-04-03T04:05:00.000-05:00

It's been two weeks ago since uncommon blogsite was launched and I have to apologize for not writing the latest update promptly. You see, we've been away all last week which explains the lack of activity on this blogsite. I was attending the wedding photographer convention in Las Vegas. I had to sadly acknowledge that Las Vegas would be too much for my 19-months old daughter so we decided that my wife and daughter just had to stay with her uncle in Los Angeles area. It was a bit hard for me to see my little girl waved bye-bye from her car seat when they dropped me off at the airport :(

So anyway, this is my third year in a row where I made a regular pilgrimage to see old friends, and to meet new wonderful people during the convention. The relationships that I have made along the line have been rock solid. It's wonderful to see how my friends/colleagues have grown their photography business, but most importantly I was delighted to see that as individuals, I think we all have grown to become better persons.

Without further ado, here are some pictures that I took during my stay in Vegas.

My good friend, photographer extra-ordinaire Kym Skiles of f8Studio, and Jason Clark of Canada, are contemplating what to do with the vast empty land. Oh btw, the next morning I saw Jason still wearing the same clothing and looking somewhat dazed, and he told me that he just finished an 11-hours poker game marathon. Holly cow!!! Eleven hours??? How's that even possible? I can't even sleep for 11-hours straight.

Arranged "PJ" moments with the super talented Rita Wiebner and Heath Sandall. Hey guys, if you read this, it's an absolute pleasure to meet you guys. We should chat more next time we meet.

The uber-talented John Michael Cooper works his bride in the dessert. I have to tell you that the bride and groom are not professional models, they are John's real wedding clients.

And when John is at work, a large photographers crowd tends to congregate. And I thought I have it hard when I have to deal with two or three "uncle Bobs" in my wedding ;) John has to deal with hundred uncle bobs each carrying bigger lenses than his. ha!

I have more photos of the bride and groom from the dessert shoot, but I'd rather not post them since they're not my clients and I wasn't the one who set up the pose either. So, we just have to move on to our, that is my wife and daughter and me, trip to San Diego that followed my Las Vegas convention.

Since our daughter Kaitlyn already showed her love toward animals, we decided to visit San Diego Zoo, and of course once we're there we got lost on our way to the panda area.

We did find the pandas, then took a break and then our baby had a little accident. No worries...it's only water from her sippy cup.

5 minutes later and a spare set of pants, everything is back to normal.

Didn't stay too long at the Zoo, we're all too exhausted and thirsty...

... and hungry.

I'm showing how happy I am to be in San Diego. This taken at a local elementary school. Yep...I'm a total nerd ;)

Soon we had to fly back home to Kansas City, and of course every time we go to LAX we have to patiently wait for our lugages to be inspected by TSA. Yep, that's how long the line was just to drop our check-in bagages at the TSA counter. But no complaint here, we can't demand great security while still demanding quick service and convenience.

We made it through all the security check points, the plane took off leaving the beautiful west coast behind us.

And just because we were sitting down in our plane, it didn't mean we were resting... we still had to entertain our baby all the way to Kansas City.

Hey lookie here, the in-flight magazine always has some wicked thing-a-majig to sell. Can you sleep as well as this guy during flight? Well, I certainly can't say that I sleep well in any of my flights, so maybe these guys are on to something good.

Actually, one time on a different flight I saw a guy using that gigantic airbag to sleep on, it looked so funny and surreal at the same time. But the guy actually was asleep throughout the entire flight, so I guess it works. Maybe I should get me one of those things.

On another musing: Why do they still have the no-smoking sign in the plane? I can't remember the last time any airline actually allows smoking during or before flight. Actually, other than in Las Vegas, I can't remember the last time smoking was allowed inside a building.

Three hours later, we're back in Kansas City air space. It's a rare treat to see Kansas City from above since our flight usually arrives at night time.

Well, that's it for now. I do have more photos from Las Vegas convention, but I shot them all on film on my plastic Holga camera. I have to send the films to the lab, and then wait a couple weeks before I actually see anything. But I'll promise I'll post something if anything good comes out from my plastic toy camera.

Till then. And thanks for reading.

-David

Uncommon News

2007-03-19T15:53:00.000-05:00

Upbeat News #1:
After depressing defeats by unranked 'B' teams two years in a row, our beloved KU team, that is the Kansas Jayhawks for you out-of-staters, actually made it to the Sweet-16 this year, YAY!! I had planned to take a picture of our dusty TV screen showing the final score, but I totally forgot to do that since I was too busy jumping up and down when the game was finally over.

Upbeat News #2:
On another upbeat and uncommon news, after long and arduous hours, and lots of coffee, our new website, LifeUncommonPhoto.com , is finally completed. Another YAY to us!
We're so excited and proud of our new baby - we really think the new website showcases my skill as a documentary, or better known as PJ as in photojournalistic, wedding photographer.

Please check back from time to time for the latest uncommon happenings from us. In the meanwhile, relax, enjoy your coffee and browse our new website. We'd really appreciate it if you can drop us a line or two to let us know what you guys think about our new website, or if even just to say hi.

Here I raise a cup of coffee to you, courtesy of the fine and funky Broadway Cafe. Cheers! Clink!