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Scout the location. In preparing for an upcoming wedding shoot, Randy and I drove across the Dumbarton Bridge to the Ardenwood Historic Farm. Ardenwood is a picturesque complex that accurately recreates what farm life was life a century ago. Tractors, farm animals, corn fields, and railroad cars populate Ardenwood, drawing visitors from all over the Bay Area.

I had never heard about Ardenwood until I signed on to shoot this wedding at the end of September. I’m beginning to understand and appreciate the importance of scouting a location before wedding shoots. It helps to know the area before shoot. That way, you can better visualize how to record this special moment in two people’s lives. Randy and I wandered around the farm for about an hour, taking shots and shooting video of the complex.

I like to take photos in a photojournalist style. Capturing that decisive moment that Cartier-Bresson speaks about it a challenge that I take on with relish. There’s this one picture shown below that was especially fun to take. This little girl was taking a picture of her family. Seeing her hold the camera to her face and watching the beaming smiles on her parents faces made me just smile while I took the picture. What will become of this little girl? What will she grow up to be? Was this the start of a budding photography career for her? Who knows, because I’ll likely never see her again.

Stanford Thoughts

After we went to Ardenwood, Randy and I drove to Stanford to check out stuff in the Bookstore and to grab some grub at the Treehouse (not to be confused with the Teahouse). Randy and I stopped by the Jamba Juice on our way to the Treehouse. When Tresidder Union started to become more commercialized when the Unversity brought in Jamba Juice, Pollo Reys, and Starbucks Coffee to the CoHo, I proclaimed a strike on Jamba Juice. vowing at the time never to step foot into the Jamba Juice on campus. I had no beef against Jamba Juice (I do get them from time to time at Town and Country in Palo Alto), but I did have a beef with the University bringing in commercial establishments at the same time it was shutting down student-run organizations like the Teahouse.

On our way back to his house, Randy and I stopped by The North Face store in Palo Alto, where I looked at a number of two-person tents and sleeping bags. It’s that time of year again, and I’m thinking of upgrading from my solo backpacking gear to two-person backpacking gear. I took a look at a number of tents, including the Slickrock, the Talus, and the Rainer. I’m looking for a tent that’s lightweight, easy to pitch and freestanding. Because it needs to be staked to the ground, that eliminates the Rainer. The Slickrock is a fine tent, but it’s half-fly design means that it’s probably not well-suited to very rainy conditions. The Talus looks like a good tent, but I’m going to continue my research to other brands. Can’t stay a North Face poster boy forever, you know!

Dinner at Mike’s

On Saturday evening, we went over to Mike and Hesh’s place in Menlo Park, for dinner. Rae joined us after attending the protest of the US-Japan Peace Treaty event in San Francisco. Over some cajun-flavored chicken pasta, we talked about the mystery Stanford students call The Draw. The Draw is Stanford’s term for the housing assignment lottery that happens every year, fulfilling the destiny of thousands of college students at the Farm on the other side of the Dumbarton.

Prime real-estate at Stanford is usually situated on the Row, a aptly-named row of houses along Mayfield Avenue. Xanadu, Bob, 557, and Storey House are but a handful of houses that go early and low in The Draw. If you’re fortunate to receive a low draw number and have one of those houses on your list, congratulations! Otherwise, be prepared to be banished to the Siberia that is Governor’s Corner or the prison known as Stern Hall.

There’s an article in the latest Stanford magazine about 6 undergraduate males who try to find success in The Draw. Unfortunately, their quest to get into some swank housing fails, and they end up in Lagunita Court (sorry guys!). When I look back at my experience in the Draw, I have to chuckle. I never drew below 2300 (in my time, draw numbers went from 1-3000/4000), and I was able to live in houses such as Xanadu, Delt House (Narnia), and the French House. How’d I do it? The Waiting List! My sophomore year, I drew into Okada, the Asian American Theme Dorm. At the time, I was working at the Teahouse and doing publicity for the Undergraduate Chinese American Association (UCAA), and that was enough Asian stuff for me. Although Okada was a fine dorm, I didn’t want my Sophomore year to be experienced through Asian-tinted glasses.

So, I put myself on the waiting list and during the summer, I found out that I was going to live in Xanadu, one of the most sought-after houses on campus! Although I can’t know for sure, I’m confident that the experience at Xanadu altered my Stanford career more so than living in Okada would have. The next year, I studied abroad in Paris, which meant I was on the waiting list again for my return to Stanford in the Winter. My number was again above 2000, but I drew into the former Delt House. Turns out the Delts neglected to pay about $40,000 in bills, so Stanford Housing kicked them out. What made that house cool was the fact that nearly everybody living there came from studying abroad. The house definitely had an international theme to it, with students coming from Oxford, Paris, Chile, and Berlin. My final year was spent at the French House, where I was the academic theme associate along with Andreea. Because I was chosen to be the ATA for La Maison, I didn’t have to go into the Draw. Somehow, I think that I would have lucked out once again. Count me among the lucky ones.

To close the evening, Mike, Hesh, Randy, Rae and I jumped into the house’s hot tub. With the jets of hot water pulsating against our backs, we talked about old school games from the Atari 2600, like Adventure, Pitfall, and Empire Strikes Back. We wondered whether or not kids today were losing something by playing too many computer games. I got out as a kid, riding my BMX bike in Rose Canyon with Rod, John, and Casey, playing sports, and hanging out at the mall. I guess kids today do the same things, though they might spend a little more time glued to the computer screen. So as long as it doesn’t stunt their social development, it’s all good, I figure!

Santa Cruz

Sunday brought about the start of the football season and a drive to the Santa Cruz coast to hang out with Rae’s friend Pertrice, Pertrice’s sister Tanya, and Mel. In downtown Santa Cruz, we ran into a longtime friend of Rae’s, Crystal Chang, and her friends Eric and Ama. Crystal, it turns out, was in the same year as I was at Stanford! In talking with her, I found out that we knew a lot of people in common and that she ate often in Xanadu, during our sophomore year. Rae and her siblings used to babysit and play with Crystal when they were little. How strange is that?

In talking with Rae, we’ve found out that there are many points of intersection between the two of us. In 1995, we both were at Zellerbach Auditorium in Berkeley (Booo Bears!), watching the Beijing Wushu Team strut their stuff to an awestruck American crowd. Rae worked at the Moma a few years ago when they had a Star Wars exhibit that I went to. Now, we find out that a childhood friend of hers and me have crossed paths before. How strange is that?!?

We had dinner at the Royal Taj in Santa Cruz, followed by a walk along the beach boardwalk to the Santa Cruz lighthouse. After taking a bunch of pictures as the sun set in the West, we went to the Casino Fun, a gaming arcade next to the boardwalk. We all played all the arcade games we used to play as kids, including a four-person driving game and the shooting gallery. To end Sunday evening, we engaged in deadly battle on the air hockey and pool tables.

Now that was a long weekend entry. So many fun things happened, so many pictures taken. Enter the photogallery below to see the rest of the best photos that I took this past weekend at the Ardenwood Farm and Santa Cruz.