Crystal Did It Again!

It's that time of the year again. During the month of November, Crystal auditions in two piano competitions, one is the Cecilian Music Club and the other one is the New Jersey Music Teacher Association (NJMTA) Young Musician competition.

While Cecilian Music Club audition does not differenciate placements (1st, 2nd, or 3rd), it does select the best performers according to age groups. Last year, Crystal was the only six year old selected and this year, she was the only seven year old selected as well! She will be performing at the prestigeous Zenkel Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall, NYC.

NJMTA Young Musician competition is one of the more challenging competitions because this competition is very well-known and a lot of piano teachers send their students to compete in this competition. Last year, Crystal took home the 1st place trophy in the six year old group. This year, she did it again and took home another 1st place trophy!

What a rare treat!

It was tough preparing for these competitions. Crystal worked very hard on perfecting the audition pieces. While trophy was a nice reward, it was not the sole purpose of these competitions. Crystal wants to compete in these competitions because she enjoys them and she has fun with them. Win or lose, she walks away with a big smile on her face knowning that she did her best. Trophy was merely an icing on the cake.

Trophy or not, we are always proud of Crystal in her piano achievements!!!

Here is some pictures from the NJMTA Young Musician Winner Recital and a video clip of her performance.


Quick portrait before the performance


Come on, give me my trophy!


Crystal and her piano teacher


Crystal and Mrs. Lin, piano teacher and conductor


Crystal and Courtney, her music theory teacher, who is also an fabulous cellist

Here is the video clip of Crystal playing Haydn Sonata in D, XVI:4 - Moderato

First time as a Wedding Photographer

My friend, Roy Wang, and I were recently given a rare opportunity to be the back up photographers for a church friend's wedding. Needless to say, it was exciting and at the same time, nerve-recking. while this was "pro-bono" gig, Since Roy and I are both photography fanatics, we jumped at this opportunity without even given a second thought.

I never realized this, but, being a wedding photographer is no a stroll in the park, and we are only the back ups. I think we did a pretty good job. The bride and groom were given a final DVD picture slideshow of their wedding. The couple loved it. They even think the quality of our pictures and DVD were of better quality than the main photographer had produced. I'm not sure if they are just being nice or if they were serious.

Here are some sample take at the wedding, processed in PS CS2 for color, noise-reduction, sharpening and framing.