On Sunday, my friends were involved with the Vietnamese Association Show(VSA) at Orange Coast College.  I tagged along to see what the show was all about.  Initially, Mongoose was suppose to take care of the photo shoot.  But he got sick over the weekend so I took over his duty.  I’m not as good as Mongoose when it comes to photography but I’m comfortable enough to shoot with a DSLR.

Getting ready for the show

Putting the final touches

I shoot best when it’s candid. I don’t like to shoot when people pose for the camera.  Since there were so many models at the event, it was tough to shoot candidly.  The models must have some kind of sensors because everytime I’d point the camera at them, they were already posing beforehand.  I still got some candid shots and captured the chaotic backstage.  Maybe next time, I’ll have to be sneakier.

Cast and crew look on

Focused on the target

My favorite shots were the silhouette of the the backstage cast and crew caused by the stage lighting.  Some pictures turned out too dark and blurry.  But I just shot as much as possible because I had a 4 gb memory card, the beauty of shooting digital.  You have nothing to lose by snapping away.

SteveO escorting the models

Center of attention

Another dilemma was the lens.  I shot with my fast 50 mm backstage because I needed as much light as possible.  The problem was that the models wanted group shots after their performances.  I tried shooting with the 50 but not all of the models fit into the picture.  I quickly changed to the 18-55 to capture all of them.  That worked, kind of.  I hate using flash so I used natural lighting.  This was a pretty bad idea because some girls turned out too dark.  Lesson learned: Sometimes you have no choice but to use flash.

Notice the models being cut off?  – Used the 50 mm

Using the wide angle lens, should have used flash

My friend SteveO was into my camera and took some cool shots.  I told him he should buy one since he enjoyed taking pictures.  Even though the event was stressful, I enjoyed it because my friends were part of the show and it was a good experience.

Make sure to check out the gallery for more pictures.

SteveO’s pic.  Me in the center, John Spartan on the right

Ready to leave

SteveO with his buddy

Goodbye and goodnight

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