SOJOURN FOTO » Events

Dina & John: An Incredible Denver Wedding. Part Two, The Western Ceremony.

Kimsua — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 08:23:24 +0000

No need for words in this post. This is a huge one and for those of you who are viewing this on anything slower than a high speed internet connection you might want to reconsider or give yourself plenty of time to let the photos load up. Otherwise I hope everyone enjoys part two of Dina and John’s Wedding, the Western Ceremony!

Dina & John: An Incredible Denver Wedding. Part One, The Cambodian Ceremony.

Kimsua — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 15:29:11 +0000

The 4th of July weekend has always been one of my favorites since I could remember. I’m sure that had something to do with growing up as a little boy who had the pleasure of watching things blow up in spectacular fashion. This weekend; however, was a different. Over a year ago I got the great news that a close friend of mine, Dina, was just engaged to her then boyfriend John. Not too long after that we had an engagement session which was posted on my blog here. The story of Dina and John continued this last weekend with a two day wedding as friends and family came from all over the country not only to celebrate the birth of an incredible country, but the birth of a new journey for two incredible people. Congratulations Dina and John, it was a honor to be able to cover your wedding and I wish you only the best with this new journey in your lives and I am thankful to be able to say that I am your friend. Enjoy!

Gordon Getty Concert: From Heaven’s Mirror

Kimsua — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 23:17:51 +0000

Last week I had the pleasure of attending an incredible performance by Charya Burt and Ho Chan as part of the Gorden Getty Concert Series in celebration of the new Gods of Angkor Exhibit at the Getty Center. The only downside to the performance was that there was a no camera policy so I wasn’t able to secure permission to cover the actual event itself. However, the bright side to that was simply being able to enjoy the show as an audience member for once and I was still able to shoot the tech rehearsal as well as the behind the scenes backstage preparations just for the fun of it too. Enjoy!

Date: March 12, 2011
Venue: The Getty Center
Dancers: Charya Cheam Burt, Sophy Julie Nuth, Sophanmay Nong and Reaksmey Lath.
Musicians: Ho Chan, Dyna Chan, Navy Bee Chhim, Sokheathra Chhim, Song Heng, Bun Heng Ung and Song Soeurn.

Nelsy + Jeff: A Beautiful New Beginning for the New Year. Part Two

Kimsua — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 05:32:29 +0000

No need for words here. Enjoy the photos!

Date: January 14, 2011
Venue: St. Bonaventure Catholic Church
Ceremony Location: Huntington Beach, California
Reception Location: The Garden Room, Garden Grove, California

Nelsy + Jeff: A Beautiful New Beginning for the New Year. Part One

Kimsua — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 17:25:55 +0000

The start of a new year and the start of a new life together. I can honestly say that I can’t think of too many better ways to bring in a new year than to start a new chapter in your life with the person that you love most. With that being said, I can’t think of too many better ways to start the new year off as a photographer than to have the privilege of covering such an event for such an incredible couple as Nelsy and Jeff.

I also want to add that Nelsy and Jeff’s Wedding also marks the date of a new collaboration between Sojourn Foto and Orn Thang Photography as we work together to provide some new unique services and products for all of our clients. More info to come on that at a later date as that’s enough from me for now so without further adieu, here are the photos! Enjoy!

Date: January 14, 2011
Venue: St. Bonaventure Catholic Church
Ceremony Location: Huntington Beach, California
Reception Location: The Garden Room, Garden Grove, California

A guest of a Southern Wedding with two of my best friends

Kimsua — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 03:48:01 +0000

Sometimes it’s a really small world. Back in 98, when I was a senior in high school, I had a part time job working as a sales representative in the computer department at Best Buy. One of the managers in a separate department back then was a guy named Jeremy, and from what I can recall of my limited interaction with him, he was a pretty nice guy. Fast forward to 2007 and I’m in Destin, Florida hanging out with one of my best friends, Ryan, who coincidentally happens to be living with his older brother Jeremy whom I’m now just meeting for the first time. That’s the same Jeremy from when I was working at Best Buy back in high school. Sounds funny doesn’t it? We’ll I’ve got a perfectly good excuse for it as I met Ryan through my other best friend, Ron, at the end of senior year in high school a few years after he had moved to another town and changed high school along with it. So by coincidence, I just never happened to run into Jeremy simply because I barely knew Ryan back then.

This trip to Destin was also special for another reason. Jessica and Jeremy’s wedding also meant that I would be reuniting with two of my best friends, Ron and Ryan, together all at once for the first time in a few years. It’s amazing to look back and think that I first met Ron back when we were freshman’s in high school and that I eventually met Ryan through Ron at the end of my senior year. We’ve gone through a lot together and have had some crazy fun times together but the one thing I realize most is that as we get older, we have (to include 3 different deployments to two different war zones) and we will always be there for one another even though we’re now separated by thousands of miles between us. Or at least me anyways as Ron has recently relocated to Southern Florida while Ryan is still in Destin, Florida.

But that’s enough sappy stuff from me. Though before you skip on down to the photos, I just want to add that I attended this wedding as a guest and I only shot a limited amount of what I could without getting in the way of the paid photographer (whom I’m going to link to as soon as I receive her contact info) while still being able to enjoy the wedding as a guest. So because of that freedom I decided to play around slightly with the look of some of my photos so don’t be surprised if you see something different from me. Enjoy!

A Cambodian New Year

Kimsua — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 06:02:39 +0000

Sou sdey, chnam tmey! Which for those of you who don’t speak Khmer, translates into Happy New Year! Yes I know, it’s April not January or even February like Chinese New Year but there’s a reason for that. Cambodians celebrate their New Year from April 13-15th (or whatever weekend falls close for those not in Cambodia) as those dates typically land at the end of the harvesting season.

Traditionally the New Year is celebrated with blessings that involve wiping powder on peoples faces and water fights while the hard working farmers take a moment to enjoy the fruits of their harvest and relax before the rainy season begins. Now as you can imagine, the celebrations are quite a bit different here in the States and abroad than they are in Cambodia but the partying is still there nonetheless. Here in Long Beach, the celebrations started with the 6th Annual Cambodian New Year Parade which took place on April 4th followed by the annual New Year Celebration at El Dorado Park on the 10th. Now normally I would have been out there documenting the celebrations with my camera, but this year I told myself to just simply enjoy the party instead of taking photos of everyone else enjoying it. But with that said, I couldn’t stop myself from snapping a few photos so here are some shots from the New Years Parade and a few more from KAA’s performance at El Dorado Park. Enjoy!

And as always, you can find the rest of the photos from KAA’s performance at SOJOURN FOTO’s Online Gallery.

Rise of a New Empire

Kimsua — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 05:40:47 +0000

Last Saturday, April 3rd, marked the 26th Annual Cambodian Student Society Culture Show. For those of you who aren’t familiar with either the Cambodian Student Society (CSS) or their Culture Show; the Culture Show is an annual show hosted by the members of CSS at Cal State Long Beach to showcase and preserve the Cambodian culture and customs within the student body at Cal State Long Beach. For more information about CSS and their mission you can visit their website here.

Oh and before you go, be sure to visit my gallery here for the rest of the photos from the Culture Show!

A Dirt Lot + A Cambodian Exile + Cain and Abel = “Expulsion”

Kimsua — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 03:53:15 +0000

A family torn apart by war only to be reunited in a far away land. A brother’s jealously leads to the death of another. A dirt lot in the City of Long Beach plus the creative minds of the Collage Dance Theatre and Khmer Arts Academy equals modern day story of those two tales: Expulsion.

And if you’d like to see the rest of the photos from Expulsion, you can find them here!

Expulsion

Kimsua — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:54:20 +0000

So what’s there to do on a Sunday afternoon in a vacant dirt lot on a nondescript corner of Long Beach? Plenty if you’re one of the Collage Dance Theatre or Khmer Arts Academy dancers practicing for an upcoming performance. About two months ago Heidi Duckler of the Collage Dance Theatre approached the dancers of Khmer Arts Academy with an offer to collaborate on something new and different for The Arts Council for Long Beach’s A LOT series. The product of that collaboration is Expulsion. Which is, as quoted from the Collage Dance Theatre’s website:

“Expulsion”, a new work from Heidi Duckler and Collage Dance Theatre will activate a vacant lot in Cambodia Town. Based on the themes of immigration and displacement, this cross-disciplinary site performance will explore the temporary, often fragile nature of “home.”

So I don’t want to spoil it for you but it’s definitely going to be something new and different if you’re expecting a traditional performance from KAA. Part of the collaboration between the Collage Dance Theatre and KAA was meant to push both groups to their creative boundaries as both groups had to be able to adapt to and create a new performance to fit not only fit the theme of Expulsion, but location and setting as well. So while you’ll probably recognize a lot of what’s taken from traditional Classical Cambodian Dance, this performance features new choreography that was created exclusively for Expulsion. I should also say that the new dance combined with the acrobatic performance of the Collage Dance Theatre should definitely keep you entertained. But that’s enough for me, on to the photos!

Anyways I hope you enjoyed that little sneak peak. If you want to see the rest of the performance in full you’ll have to show up to that nondescript vacant dirt lot on either March 19th or March 20th at 6 pm. For more information about Expulsion or the Collage Dance Theatre you can visit their site here or just take a look below.

Date: March 19th and 20th, 2011.
Time: 6:00 pm.
Location: 1546 E. Anaheim Street, Long Beach, CA 90813. At the intersection of Anaheim and Walnut across from Mark Twain Library.