The event hosted by representatives of UCLA Facilities Management at one of the prestigious banquet halls of the famous UCLA De Neve Plaza counted with delicious food / refreshments by  UCLA Catering Services .

Family and friends gathered in celebration of the class of 2012

After many years of hard work, determination, on-the-job and classroom education a selected group of apprentices in their respective trades  (Elevator Mechanics, Electricians, Engineers and Plumbers ) completed their educational requirements and certifications to become journeymen.

UCLA Facilities Management and SETC – United congratulates de newly appointed journeymen and wishes them success.

Additionally, during the celebration, the committee thanked Assistant Vice Chancellor Gail Cowling for being instrumental in establishing these programs and for her continuos support.

Further, UCLA Facilities Management thanks Directors Jerry Markman, Leroy Sisneros, Sandy Guerrrero, Asssistant Director Douglas Grode, SETC – United, the members of the committee plus sub-committees for their support and participation in making the program a total success.

To conclude here’s a highlights slide-show of the event.

Here are some samples…

The Big Day – A, sort of related to the wedding photography industry Kickstarter Project for which I am a proud “Backer”. Why? Because not only I found it very interesting but also because I’ve always been a Movie-A-Holic inclined to  foreign, independent, short productions.

Here is a direct copy from the project itself and, as usual, a video which explains more in detail. Hope you become a supporter  or better known as “Backer”…

(Directly from their Kickstarter site) :

We are seeking funding for a feature film that revolves around a wedding night gone awry. When a group of High School friends now in their late twenties gather and reconnect at a wedding, old flames rekindle, old secrets resurface and new secrets are made. These friends come together and fall apart, but will the friendships survive the night? Will the marriage?

There is a shift happening in Hollywood, and micro budget pictures such as this are beginning to be noticed, watched, purchased, rented, streamed and talked about. There is a paradigm shift happening in which a film can be just as successful premiering on the iTunes store as in a theater. We want to be a part of the first wave of that change, and we want you to join us in being a part of it.

This feature film is based on a dramatic improv created by Erin Cardillo at Warner Loughlin Studios. The film will be shot in it’s entirety over the course of three days. We will be following a strict story outline, but all of the dialogue will be improvised during the shooting of the film. We are planning for a scheduled shoot at the end of April through early May and will be finishing the film in time for the major film festival deadlines in the fall.

Your pledge will be going toward paying crew, renting a location, renting lights and cameras and feeding everyone, as well as editing the film and hiring a sales agent to help us gain exposure. Everyone will be working for free or next to nothing, so know that we are investing our time and crew and equipment from our favor bank to match the backing that we receive here.

$15,000 is the bare minimum needed to create this project, and should we be lucky enough to exceed our goal, the money would go toward better post-production and more publicity for the exhibition and distribution of the film. Thank you so much for your time, your money and your good energy. If you like the project and want to pledge, please check out our unique incentives and perks from the list.

• Producer/Acting Coach: Erin Cardillo (http://erincardillo.com/)
• Director/Producer: Noah Harald (http://www.noahharald.com/)
• Producer: Eric Goldrich (http://www.ericgoldrich.com/)
• Executive Producer: Warner Loughlin (http://www.warnerloughlin.com/)
• Director of Photography: David McGrory (http://www.davemcgrory.com/

Cast:

ENIGMA was the chosen name for this night of music, laughter and unforgettable images captured in Photo Booth style.

Enigma at Ramona Convent Secondary School

By definition, Enigma is One that is puzzling, ambiguous, or inexplicable. Nothing could be more “Enigmatic” than Love and February is considered “The Month of Love“. Therefore VOX Photography decorated its Photo Booth-less with some allegory items and along with some props plus the enormous energy, enthusiasm and posing creativity of the participants we gather some interesting funny loving images.

Everyone had fun at this party….even the crew of VOX Photography…..

 Here’s a quick highlights slide show of the event

“Chúc Mừng Năm Mới”

For those of you that have not been or are not part of a Vietnamese family, that phrase roughly translates to “Happy New Year,” and hearing it signals the beginning of Tết, or Vietnamese Lunar New Year. (Based on the Chinese Calendar)

2012 The Year of The Dragon

The Year 2012 is the 4709th Chinese year…is the year of Dragon…2012 is a Black Dragon or Water Dragon year. This is because the Stem-Branch Calendar is connected to the Five Element theory. Chinese calendars used the Stem-Branch system to count the days, months and years. There are 10 Stems and 12 Branches in this system. Stems are named by the Yin-Yang and Five Elements (Metal, Water, Wood, Fire and Earth)…The Stem sequence order is Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit/Cat, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep/Ram, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig… Stem and Branch are used together to form a cycle of 60 counting systems which begin with Wooden Rat and end with Water Pig. You can see the entire sequence from the Chinese New Year’s page. From 1924 to 1983 is a complete cycle. Year 2012 is Male Water Dragon the 29th of the Stem-Branch in the system. BecauseWater is connected to Black in the Five-Element system, Year 2012 is also called the Black Dragon year.

Tết Nguyên Đán,

More commonly known by its shortened name Tết or “Vietnamese Lunar New Year”, is by far the most important and popular holiday and festival in Vietnam.

Unlike the Western version of New Year, where the traditions are usually limited to a midnight countdown, Tết has a number of specific and symbolically important customs.

Although for the non-Vietnamese it may be hard to fully understand all the significance attached to Tết, it is easy to see the pride, and joy, and energy that Vietnamese people put into this wonderful celebration of culture, food, family, and life in general.

It is the Vietnamese New Year marking the arrival of spring based on the Chinese calendar, a lunisolar calendar. the festival is often called Hội xuân (spring festival).

The name Tết Nguyên Đán is Sino-Vietnamese for Feast of the First Morning, derived from the Hán nôm characters 節元旦.

Tết is celebrated on the same day as Chinese New Year and takes place from the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar (around late January or early February) until at least the third day.

Preparation for Tet starts weeks before New Year’s Day. Homes are cleaned to get rid of bad fortune associated with the old year. Families paint their homes to give it a new look. Everyone gets new clothes and new shoes. Pay your debts and resolve differences between family and friends.

On the last day of the old year, the preparation of food to offer to the ancestors is of special significance. Dishes to offer to the ancestors differ in the Northern, Central and Southern parts of the country, depending on their respective weather conditions at the time and on different local agricultural products available. What is common in all regions of the country during Tet holidays are the varieties of soups, fried, boiled, or stewed dishes, meat, fish, vegetable… The foods that the Vietnamese eat at Tet are varied and diverse, but the people throughout the country all want to have the best and the most beautiful looking food on this occasion to offer their ancestors and to treat their friends and guests.

During the middle of the day an offering is placed on the altar of the household for the ancestor’s of the family. This is done every day throughout the New Year Festival and along with that incense is burnt at the altar. This last tradition is what gives Tết an interesting balance. Though it is a forward-looking renewal of sorts marking the arrival of Spring, it is also firmly rooted in the past, with an important emphasis put on paying respects to ones ancestors

Tết is also an occasion for pilgrims and family reunions. During Tết, Vietnamese visit their relatives and temples, forgetting about the troubles of the past year and hoping for a better upcoming year.

Like other Asian countries, Vietnamese believe that the color red and yellow will bring good fortune, which explains why these colors can be see everywhere.

Children receive a red envelope containing money from their elders. This tradition is calledmừng tuổi (happy new age) in the north and lì xi in the south.

Many Vietnamese prepare for Tết by cooking special holiday foods and cleaning the house. There are a lot of customs practiced during Tết, such as visiting a person’s house on the first day of the new year (xông nhà), ancestral worshipping, wishing New Year’s greetings and giving lucky money to children and elderly people.

They also believe in the custom of the first person through the door in the New Year will reflect the family’s future luck and wealth.

Monster, as per definition, is an imaginary creature that is typically large, ugly, and frightening. However when used as an adjetive this expression can be used  to describe something of an extraordinary and daunting size or extent. That is the case of the 28 October 2011 Ramona Convent Secondary School Dance Night! It was totally a Monstrosity of fun, music, celebration and amazing photographs.

Once again VOX Photography  was honored to be part of such incredible event relevant to the “Halloween Night” celebration and with some allegorical props and backdrop decorations we all have truly a blast in our Photo Booth (less) style.

A short highlights slideshow of the event…

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