Nguyen Huu Thanh Hai's photostream

I hope everyone had a great weekend. Mine was pretty good, busy but good. I had another family portrait section last weekend so I’ve been busy trying to catch up on the editing. However, after work last Friday I did had time to explore the city of Seattle a bit more. It’s funny how I sounded like a tourist when I’ve lived here for the last 18 years but it’s true. I didn’t really see the beauty of Seattle until I started looking through the lenses. There are so many places within the city that I take for granted and not pay any attention at all like the DNA Bridge I shot a couple weeks ago but I’m glad that now I tried to carry my camera everywhere go.

After shooting the DNA Bridge I’ve decided to search for more bridges around Seattle so I visited the “George Washington Memorial Bridge” AKA Aurora Highway 99 Bridge. This is one of the oldest bridges in Seattle and in fact it was registered as the National Historic Places of America. This bridge was completed and opened to traffic on February 22, 1932 which was a tribute to America 1st president George Washington 200th birthday. Yes, this bridge does contained lots of history to Seattle as well as to America. So enough with the facts which was collected from Wikipedia :-)

Who said Seattle does have a similar bridge to The Golden Gate in San Francisco or The Brooklyn Bridge in New York? :-) J/K I’m sure there are more similar looking bridges like these around the country. I've always admired the architecture of these old school bridges so I was glad to have found one very similar. It was definitely a good night, the sky was clear, minimal clouds and the water was actually calm. This might be my favorite bridge so far :-) Do you guy think this will look good on a 24X36 black frame? :-)

Well, everyone have a great working week and I'll be catching up some more this week.

D300s
Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8
Tiffen CPL

© Hai Nguyen Photography | All Rights Reserved | Please do not use without my permission, thank you.

This was our 1st snow storm this year happened a couple weeks back in January. Seattle doesn’t get snow that often. In fact we mostly get rain more than 250 days a year. Therefore when we do get some snow, some of us get excited to encounter this rare condition but at the same time other people were afraid of driving in the snow.

Last year when I was here captured the same snow scene. The condition was not this rare because it was during an early morning. The color wasn’t there, I didn’t get any clouds formation and most importantly I did not get any light streaks because no one was there on the road. Last year I was standing here alone but this year I was accompanied by 2 of mine friends, Dene and Aaron.

Each time when I shoot next to Dene the shot often turned out to be a surprise :-) When I got here Dene was already there an hour before braving out the cold and my usual spot was taken by another photographer. Dene was standing south of him so my only choice left was to stand south of her. After 10-15 minutes later the other photographer left the scene and Aaron came took his spot. The spot I was standing south of Dene was actually fine because now I can include the headlights S-curve in the shot. Yes, I do like this comp and thanks to Dene for leaving a spot next to her again :-)

It’s always fun shooting with the Seattle crew and Aaron usually encounter strange people that make us laugh so hard. Definitely was a cold day but nevertheless, great times.

Everyone have a great rest of the week and I’ll be swinging by your streams soon. As always, thanks a lot for the great comments and deeply appreciated.

Below are links to their stream and if you haven't already feel free to check out their work. Both are great friends and great NW photographers.
Dene - www.flickr.com/photos/denemiles/
Aaron - www.flickr.com/photos/sicalufakiss/

D300s
Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8
Tiffen CPL

© Hai Nguyen Photography | All Rights Reserved | Please do not use without my permission, thank you.

It's been busy in the last couple weeks. Working almost 7 days a week including 5 days in the office and weekends with photoshoots. Yet of course I enjoyed every moments of it.

I haven't post any portrait shots lately so this was one of my latest photoshoots here with Ms. Inez Carter. For this shoot, I rented the Nikon portrait legend 135mm f/2.0 DC lens and I'm loving this lens maybe even a bit better than the Nikkor 85mm f/1.4G that I rented last time. At f/2.0 it is insanely sharp and it render the background so creamy and smooth. Working with Ms. Carter was a joy because we made each other laugh so much.

Last week was also Lunar New Year's weekend. Happy Belated Lunar New Year to all of my friends here!!! Wishing everyone a wonderful year of the Dragon with lots of joy and prosperity!!

Thank you so much everyone for the constructive comments on my last post as always. Much appreciated!!!!

D300s
Nikkor 135mm f/2.0 AF-D DC

© Hai Nguyen Photography | All Rights Reserved | Please do not use without my permission, thank you.

It is the 3rd week in 2012 and I was blessed to witnessed one of the most extraordinary and rare sunsets to ever happen in Seattle City. Last week was a special week in Seattle, we had a weird weather system that came in and came out like it would rain 1 day, sun break 1 day and rain the next day. In between those days some of my buddies (Dene, Aaron Reed and David Irons) have captured beautiful sunrises and sunsets but unfortunately I was stuck.

Last Friday I brought my camera to work with no expectation to use it since I figured all of the crazy lights were probably gone by now. As I got off at 4pm I ran straight to Kerry Park and did not see anyone with a camera and the sky looked like it’s about to rain. I was discouraged and decided to go visit my parents instead.

On the way to my parent’s house the sky started to lid up bright orange. I stepped on the gas and raced as fast as I could to 12th Avenue, Dr. Jose Rizal Bridge. Within 3 blocks to this bridge I was stuck behind a Toyota Prius that was going 15mphr like the car was looking for an address on a 1 lane street!!! I looked out the window to see if the light was still there and I looked back the Prius is still in front of me. Right when we both turned into a 2 lands street I accelerated, parked and ran to the middle section of the bridge and there it was. The entire sky was bright red, orange, purple and pink. Even the grass and the ground were reflected with the same colors as the sky. Not only that the textures and the ripple effect in the clouds were quite nice. That was definitely a humble experience for me to capture this rare unexpected light from this location.

Seattle is now blanketed in white snow. Yesterday I came out for a model photoshoot in the snow and as the sun came down my friend Dene called so I met her at same location again to capture Seattle’s blizzard.

I hope everyone had a great weekend too. Thanks so much for the critiques and comments as always. Stay warm and dry my friends.

D300s
Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8
Lee FDK holder
Hitech 3 stops Soft GND
No CPL (I left it in the car that time)

© Hai Nguyen Photography | All Rights Reserved | Please do not use without my permission, thank you.

There are myriad famous bridges around the world built to look like DNA, the 3-demensional double helix design. One of the most stunning and the first double helix bridges in the world that we all know is located in Singapore. Well, recently I discovered that Seattle also have a double helix bridge named “Amgen Helix Bridge” located just 5 minutes away from heart of Seattle downtown. Amgen is known as one of the biggest Biotech Company in the world and they have spent roughly 10 million to build this bridge.

I worked in Downtown of Seattle for the last 6 years and always drove by this area but never really notice the bridge because it is kind of hidden away from the main street. Until I saw a video clip that was recorded at this bridge and the cool twist and turn of the steel appearance have captivated me. I’ve always admired all the architects how they have transformed everything into life with a bunch of large cables and steels and with everything else we’ve seen around the world. So after seeing the video I finally drove back here with a buddy to shoot the bridge and man it is definitely one of the coolest looking bridges in Seattle.

As for this shot, it is a single exposure processed in CS5 with minor saturations, curves, blacks and lots of lens distortion correction :-) However, lens distortion is not really a negative thing for me because that is what unique about a wide angle lens. A while back I was inspired when I read this quote online from a photographer, he said “a wide angle lens is not all about getting everything in but it’s about getting close capturing the in your face perspective” and that is one of the main reasons why I love my ultra-wide lens. With that being said this is how I’ve been able to approve my photography was by reading online blogs and thanks to all of my Flickr buddies for sharing your work and all the critiques and comments you’ve given.

Well, another 3 days weekend is coming and I’m looking forward catching up on your streams. Happy shooting and thanks again for all the New Year wishes my friends!

Same to you all!!!

D300s
Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8

© Hai Nguyen Photography | All Rights Reserved | Please do not use without my permission, thank you.