dn.jy | Blog

I love Danielle Kurant.

Now that that is out there, I can go about my usual blogging :)  I’m super excited that Danielle is coming out with a second CD!  Her first CD, Beginnings, is fabulous.  I also cannot believe that she trusted me enough to do her album portraits and layout.  I have included some samples below…I get nostalgic seeing pictures I took with my first DSLR, a Rebel XT.  We had so much fun on Clearwater Beach for that shoot!

Anyway, these pictures are from the recording of her second album, which is highly anticipated by yours truly (I cannot emphasize this enough!).  Sometimes, I blame the fact that I like to do everything interesting on my friends.  Danielle is one such lovely soul.  She is in medical school and still highly active with writing and performing music (shout out to Trey Penton, another close med student/photographer/artist/musician/filmmaker friend!).  All of my friends inspire me SO MUCH!

Also noteworthy in these pictures are Jed Mootsey on the guitars and Brody Murakami, the sound mixing magician!  Danielle has such a way of drawing awesome people into a little movements of awesomeness and beauty :)

BTW, that gold mic is like super duper expensive because it has GOLD on it. what!

Music lights up Danielle like nothing else :)

Check out the video of her in studio, even her “warm ups” are amazing :)

Graphics from her first album, portraits shot at Clearwater Beach, FL:

Canon 7D with 16-35 f/2.8L, 50mm f/1.4, 70-200mm f/2.8L IS, Speedlite 430EXII

Canon Rebel XT with 300mm f/4

One of my favorite things about being alive is experiencing friendships with creative people.  Mandy is one of these people, loving photography, graphic design, the blogosphere, etc. etc.  Her laugh is contagious, and we share a severe addiction to loose leaf tea :)  We wanted to get some portraits of her made in order to showcase how gorgeous she is and so that she can use some for her sites.

All these pictures were taken by Dan :)

Am I the only one who thinks these pics are straight out of an Urban Outfitters’ catalog?!  Incidentally, Mandy works at one :p

Juxtaposing some industrial shots with nature to see both sides of her personality :)

We love pictures of people and/or things levitating :)

Ahhhhh levitating!

We love Mandy!!!

Canon 5D Mk II, 24-70mm f/2.8L, Rokinon 85mm f/1.4

I’m excited to introduce our first shoot of 2012, featuring Dan’s family!  Yes, this is THE “DN” in DN.JY and THE Dan Nguyen of Simplexity Studios :)  This family is definitely near and dear to me, and it is fitting to start of a good year with some perfect subjects :)

We decided to do a morning shoot in the neighborhood, as the sunlight in Florida can get really harsh very quickly.  As it turned out, the morning light was gorgeous for such an awesome family with such great personality :)

Enjoy!!

One thing characteristic of Florida landscapes is the Spanish moss…I usually resent them, but I now love how they frame the portraits!

Feet shot of the three brothers — nguyening!

Found a worn gate that looks like a studio setup! whoa.

killer jumping picture, Aidan! 

Honestly, what an awesome family!!  Thanks for letting me make portraits to celebrate the new year!

Canon 5D Mk II, 24-70mm f/2.8L

There has always been a lot of debate about what makes a photograph beautiful. Some people claim that it’s the finest lens or the latest camera while other people ramble on about composition and the “decisive moment”. I’ve come to decide that all of these people are wrong, because the secret to a great photo is beautiful people and sparklers.

This was a truly unique wedding and it was a pleasure to shoot it. I hope you guys enjoy. Congrats Aric and Monica :)

Canon 5D Mark II // Speedlite, 50mm Sigma f/1.4

Dan and I have always loved shooting weddings, but this one was special for the both of us.  Not only did this shoot stand out because Brent is a good friend of our studio (he is a stand-up comedian!), this was the first time Dan and his brother Aidan shot the wedding in Florida and sent the files up to me in Illinois for post-production.  

Dan is a stronger photographer than I am in many ways, but it is obvious that I learned much of my feel and documenting from him (and also, Angel He).  I’m glad to see that we can run the studio in two different places and stay on the same page with our level of work :)

Brent and Colleen, thank you so much for letting us take care of your wedding portraits!  I wish I could have been there — it looks like such a fun and unique wedding!  Brent, are you aware that your wife is smokin’ hot?!

This cake is fantastic!

Colleen, here’s your man :)

Some details of the amazingly planned wedding - so many cool ideas executed so well!

Like I said earlier, GORGEOUS!

Simply together :)

The wedding posse:

At the Reception:

Just getting started…

Partayyybooth, anyone?!! *</:)

Too much fun? No such thing.

Epic ring shot to wrap up:

Canon 5D Mark II // Speedlite, 100mm f/2.8, Rokinon 85mm f/1.4, Canon 24mm TSE f/3.5L

In May, when a friend contacted our production team about helping out a middle school chorus teacher with simple videos, I couldn’t help but jump on the project, even though I was on severe project overload :/ However, I do not regret taking on this project at the least, especially after I met and got to know Esther, known by her students as “Mrs. Grondahl.” She is genuinely passionate about music, teaching, and life, and definitely brought my musical days from King High Pride back to memory. I’d have to say that the world does need more teachers like her — compassionate, caring, and creatively bold.

This first video features Esther and her 2nd period Chorus, singing to a song they wrote together as a class, called “Things Have Changed.”

As Dan and I headed back a week after to show them this video, we also shot some more footage, this time for all her chorus classes. Since a few of the classes are HUGE (40+ kids?!), Esther’s friend Stephen helped choreograph the group dances, while the smaller groups came up with their own little dances :) Also, I hope you guys enjoy the all-guys’ group, dancing to Kungfu Fightin’, choreographed by our dear friend, Emily Wilson!

Esther, thanks so much for letting me make these simple films to showcase your kids, I’ve had a great time working with you and meeting everyone! And to all the students in the videos, thanks so much for being so patient throughout the hot/humid shoots and for taking direction over and over again! :)

Please do leave some comments, I hope you all enjoy these simply fun videos! :)

Deets:

- Location - Martinez Middle School (Lutz, FL)
- Gear - Canon 5DMkII / 16-35mm f/2.8L / 50mm f/1.4 / Jib 

Last Saturday, in what was arguably the hottest day ever, tens of thousands of people stayed in their respective air-conditioned homes. Tens of singles of other people gathered at Medard Park in Plant City, Florida to film a music video for hip-hop sensation Allison Weiss! The video was directed by Sarah Wilson Thacker. Shot by Sarah and Sean Brown. Starring Cameron Thacker, Dan Bakst, AJ, and Allison. Bounce-board held by DAN NGUYEN! … that’s me. 

Our trusty 5d mark II was being used to film the actual music video, so I was unable to take pictures with all that full frame goodness you folks are accustomed to. Instead, Adam Bettencourt was kind enough to lend me his Rebel XT to snap a few shots behind the scenes. (That was the camera I learned on :) !!!) However, nostalgia was quickly replaced with frustration. IS ANYBODY AWARE HOW SMALL THE LCD IS?!?! Shooting with the XT is a lot like shooting with film … as you can’t really see the pictures you took until you load it on to your computer. fun stuff. Anyways, on to the pictures … not that anyone reads this stuff anyways. 

Sarah and Allison doing their respective “thangs”

My personal favorite :) APS-C Bokeh ftw.

Some closer shots of the coolest guitar I’ve ever seen.

These were both taken with a photographic technique called “no-look”, it’s very scientific … I’d try to explain it but you probably wouldn’t understand

More of Allison Weiss can be seen here. Also be sure to hit us up in the comments, and any other questions can be directed to dnjyproductions@gmail.com

Techinical Stuff

Location: Medard Park

Equipment: Canon Rebel XT - Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro