Smile, It's the Best Makeup - Los Angeles Transformational Beauty Photographer

On one of the expeditions in the Antarctica trip, a group of girls asked me to make a photograph for them with the beautiful glacier as the background.

I immediately went into portrait photographer mode and the next thing I heard myself say surprised (or rather, impressed) even the most critical me - "Smile, it's the best makeup!"

I've long believed in being authentic in what I do and this "incident" is further proof for that.   It was not preconceived, so it must have come from what I truly believe.  You think a trip to Cagliari, Sardegna, witnessing the religious procession of Festa di Sant'Efisio might have put the thought into my head? 

They say "a picture is worth a thousand words".  I'm going to show you two thousands words.  I hope you see the point clearly demonstrated by them.  These were made on the first day of Festa di Sant'Efisio, where thousands of people from villages and towns of the whole island were in the procession, dressed in traditional costumes.

A. With a smile:

Girl-in-Traditional-Costume-Festa-di-san'Efisio-Cagliari-Sardegna-Italy-Copyright-Jean-Huang-Photography

B. With no smile:

Woman-in-Traditional-Costume-Festa-di-san'Efisio-Cagliari-Sardegna-Italy-Copyright-Jean-Huang-Photography

Now, do you or do you not agree, smile is the best makeup?  

I Transformed this Wild Beauty at Falkland Islands - Los Angeles Transformational Beauty Photographer

The Falkland Islands are known to have one of the largest populations of Southern rockhopper penguins.  I've long looked forward to meeting such unique "people in tuxedos".  Although the rockhopper penguin is one of the world’s most numerous penguin populations, it is estimated that the population has decreased almost 90% since the early 20th century.  At the census conducted by Falklands Conservation, the total Falkland Islands population was estimated to be 320,000 breeding pairs  in 2010 vs. an estimate of 1.5 million breeding pairs in 1933.   

When we arrived on New Island, the most westerly inhabited of the Falklands archipelago, we were in such treat to meet a colony that's in nesting season.  Many were busy foraging, nesting and/or incubating their first of the two eggs.  So, this is the state in which I met them:  

A-Hopping-Southern-Rockhopper-Penguin-New-Island-Falkland-Islands-South-Ocean-Antarctica-Copyright-Jean-Huang-Photography

Wouldn't you agree that one tends not to be the most elegant when busy?  So, I thought I'd do a representation of this species in the "Transformational Beauty" kind of manner:

Transformed-Beauty-Southern-Rockhopper-Penguin-New-Island-Falkland-Islands-South-Ocean-Antarctica-Copyright-Jean-Huang-Photography

Do you think that I've done a fine job of transforming this cutie-ful into a beautiful?

Thank you and happy holidays from us to you - Los Angeles Travel Photographer

Wow, what a challenging and rewarding year 2015 has proved to be!  

Family, client and friend have been afflicted with illnesses.  I faced the subject of death on many levels and were reminded what a precious opportunity that I have to spend in this world.  

This year, me and my Assistante continued our exploration of our curiosity in Italy, for the third time.  And this time, it began with tears, tears of hurt and disappointment (a little bit of what happened here).  Luckily, we did not let that incident put a damper on our trip and rose above the circumstance.  Our love for this wonderful country and its people not only stayed, but grew.     

Speaking of exploration, we are still at loss on how we ended up going to a part of the world that we never thought we'd be willingly stepping on -  the Antarctica.  We have learned so much about the beauty of this continent, and about ourselves, especially of our ever-expandable limits.  Thanks to the other-worldly challenges that we had to deal with, we have become both physically and mentally stronger.  I feel that we are more open to getting out of our "comfort zone", which used to represent moderate temperatures.  

Friends, when you are immersed in the joy of family and friends this holiday season, I want you to know that I appreciate your being you, from  a liking of our post, to a comment of how you feel about our work, to the supportive words sent to my email, to even taking the time to share our posts/website to your family and friends.  For that, I thank you!    

In case you haven't noticed, our newsletter is turning one!  Without all my engaged audience like you, it wouldn't be this grown up.  And some of you have received a special thank-you in the (snail) mail.  You know who you are. :-)  If you are reading this and wonder what I'm talking about, the first step in becoming my VIPs next year is to sign up with our newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/_-A9v.  :-)

Now it's time to have that toast with my family.  With my renewed license in this world, for every additional day of my life, I will strive to share beauty, spread love and inspire changes.  And I look forward to seeing you along. 

Ciao!