Happy New Year

2007 has been a great year! It was filled with challenges, joy, and pain. I have reached all of the goals I set for myself and more. So here is a short recap:

• Invited to present at a video conference in Florida
• Won 3 international video awards from WEVA & 4Ever Group
• Joanne broke her leg and I was Mr. Mom for 4 months
• Launched new website
• Created new business card
• Went to New Orleans for the first time
• Got my dream home theater completed
• Made alot of new friends in the video world
• Made alot of new friends in the photography world
• Started a dinner group for local videographers
• Refined the Blog
• Started the use of Super8 film

2008 will be even better!!! I have got so much in line this coming year so stay tune for the announcments.

Happy New Year !!!

my kids...Nicholas & Serena

My two little ones were part of their school talent show. I was really proud as I was filming them on stage. I hope that you will find the words meaningful and profound..."Jesus Paid It All"!

Huiwen & Daniel

were married in Walled Lake and had their reception at Brentwood Country Club. We worked with Ray Anthony, who was the photographer for the event. This particular wedding was special to us as the couple was from our church, Faith Baptist. It was nice to see familar faces as Pastor Woody was the officiant for the ceremony and Mark Kerr played the piano. Huiwen's parents and sister came all the way from China to attend the celebration! Daniel's family had a special bond and his dad was his best man....how cool is that! You could see the love and joy on Huiwen and Daniel's faces all day.

Danielle & Augustus

were married at St. Joseph's Church in Downtown Detroit and had their reception at the Detroit Athletic Club. The day was sunny and windy which made shooting outside a little challenging but we were able to get some great shoots in the alley. Jessica Johnston and Nathan were the photographers of the day and we had a great time working with them. I'll post some of Jessica's pics below once they are available.

While creating this trailer I had two songs in mind...one was fast and the other slow. I couldn't make up my mind which one to use so a made two trailers. Have a look and tell me which one you like better in the comment section.

HERE IS THE SLOW ONE

HERE IS THE FAST ONE

November 8, 1991 was the Best Day Ever

Why? Because that was the day I married Joanne. Yesterday was our 16th wedding anniversary. We dated for 6 years before getting married so that is a total of 22 years being with each other. Do you know what’s cool, after all these years I still get excited seeing her every day just like when we were dating. Yes I'm a blessed man. Yesterday we went to our favorite restaurant, The Tribute, to celebrate.

I have shown numerous wedding videos on the web but this one is special. Its mine! This is from a VHS tape so the quality is not too good. Digital video was not around in 1991. My kids love watching it! To me and my family this video is priceless! Now don’t laugh too hard when you watch it.

I Love You Joanne!!!

Emerald City Designs

We were invited to the Grand Opening of Emerald City Designs new location yesterday. One word...WOW!!! That place was amazing! The show room was packed with beautiful table setups and the offices were really cool. David Mcknight is a great designer. I've done many events where David and his crew decorated the reception hall and they never fail to impress me with their creativity.

At the party we ran into Cheridy from Arising Images. She is expecting in 3 weeks and we are praying for her and her soon to come baby.

Here are some pics:

Cheridy and her belly :)


David McKnight

New Orleans meeting

I met up with some of the best wedding film makers in the world in New Orleans for three days. Not only did I have a good time partying with those guys but we had 2 long days of discussions on what we can do to better the wedding video industry. More to come on this in 2008.

Here are some pics of the gang:

From the left: Kristen* - Bliss* Video Productions, me, Julie Hill – Elysium Productions

From the left: me, Terry Taravella – Studio Vieux Carre, Chris Jones - Mason Jar Films

From the left: Joe Taravella - Studio Vieux Carre, Alex Hill – Elysium Productions, me, Victor Sizemore (cool photographer) – VCS Photography

Bruce Patterson – Cloud Nine Creative

Mona in Flash

I've posted this before in windows media format but I think it looks so much better in flash.

Sorry I've been away for a month. So much is going on and doing long hours of editing. So I'm popping in to say "hi" so you know that I'm still alive. I got an iphone last week to help me keep in touch with everyone easier. I love this thing!

I will be going to New Orleans this coming week to meet up with some of the best videographers in the world. I'll blog while I'm there with my iphone :)

Marissa & Kevin

were married in Birmingham and had the reception at Oakland Hills Country Club. We finally had a chance to work with Carolyn R. Hefner of The China Closet. We have heard so much good things about Carolyn from other planners. The dinning room was beautifully decorated by David McKnight's crew from Emerald City Designs. We also worked with Ray Anthony who we haven't seen in a while so it was nice working together again.

Bridal Fashion

This is what I will be offering in 2008.

Real Films...Real Super...

I have been wanting to produce weddings with film for a long time but I have never had the courage. Well I finally stepped up and did it! I just love how film looks. It's just so romantic, so sexy, so nostalgic, so warm, so beautiful. Don't get me wrong, digital video is great especially with HD. But film has a unique feel that can not be duplicated with any special effects...believe me, I've tried.

I am making preparations to launch Don Pham Films next year with film in concert with HD as part of my productions. So here is a film clip for you to enjoy.

I'm a Cool Dad today

Those of you who know me knows I'm a workaholic. I get around 5 hours of sleep per night with all the things I have to do. But don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I have been blessed with this crazy schedule and I welcome it. However I do stop working from time to time to spend quality time with my kids. After all, they are the reasons for me to work so hard.

Three months ago I planned to take my boys to a Tigers game without telling them. I wanted it to be a surprise. However, good tickets were so hard to come by cause the Tigers were so hot. In addition, I wanted to go to a day game cause I wanted to pull the boys out of school to go to the game. But the plan went south due to no tickets available other than nose bleed seats. How cool will that be to have me show up at the school and tell my boys "Get your stuff son, we're going to the Tigers game RIGHT NOW" in front of their class mates. My wife thought it was a BAD idea to pull the kids out of school but hey...I wanted to be a cool dad :) .

My prayer was answered when the Tigers added a makeup day game on September 11th. I quicky bought the tickets and boy were they great seats...11th row behind home plate! Yeah Baby!!

I picked up the boys in the middle of class today and they were very surprised. We went to the ballpark and had a great time. One of the rules of the Pham family is, when we go to a pro sport game, we must eat all the junk food we can handle. And boy did we...no dinner for me tonight.

Oh and the score was 13 to 6...Tigers got killed!!!

facelift of The Blog

I have made some changes to the blog. Hope you guys like it.

Katie & Michael

were married at Cherry Creek Golf Club. It was my first wedding at Cherry Creek but I have played golf there many times years ago. The weather was perfect! We worked with Prem and Cheridy from Arising Images again. Those two made us laugh all day :)

Here are some cool pics from Arising Images.

Kristie & Michael

We had such a unique venue to film at this wedding. Kristie and Michael were married at the Herry Ford Museum. The ceremony took place on a theater stage and the reception was in the center of the museum. Talk about cool decorations! You had an airplane flying overhead, train coming down the hallway, and an old vintage McDonald sign. It was definitely a reception site like no other. As a guest, you get to take a step into the past while celebrating a new beginning with the bride and groom. Kristie and Michael, along with their children, celebrated their new life together.

Kasey & Jordan

Kasey and Jordan had a wonderful outdoor wedding at Meadow Brook. The weather was just perfect. Kasey and her bridal party got ready at Royal Park Hotel. She then met Jordan on the beautiful grounds of Wyndgate Country Club before the actual ceremony. The reception was held outdoors under an elegantly decorated tent....it even had a cool lounging area! I am still at awe by the tent...it just took my breath away! The night was filled with great music by the band Joyride. We had such an enjoyable time filming the wedding too with Arising Images. It was definitely a beautiful wedding!!

Here are some cool pics from our friends Prem & Cheridy of Arising Images.

Wahoo!!!

Found out late last night that I won a Creative Excellence Award from WEVA, the largest video association in the world. Weva is having their annual Expo out in Las Vegas this week. Last night was the opening ceremony where they announced the winners of the International competition. Regarded as the most prestigious video award in the wedding and event industry, the Creative Excellence Awards Competition honors those who display outstanding achievements in creativity and technical excellence.

I was blessed with a Silver Award in Short-Form Wedding Production. I would like to thank Illana & Noah for allowing me to produce their wedding which was the winning entry. Boy I wish I was there last night to receive the award but I have too many weddings to edit.

Here is a sample clip of the reception party of the winning entry. Illana & Noah rented a night club to have their party. How cool was that!

Christina & Brian

What a cool couple! They were so laid back and fun. The ceremony was at the beautiful Ukrainian Catholic Church in Hamtramck and the reception was at the Ukrainian Cultural Center. We headed to Belle Isle for a photo session with Deborah Lambrecht after the ceremony and ran into some skate boarders. A light bulb went on inside my head as soon as I saw them. I asked the skaters if they could do some freestyle around Christina and they agreed. Check out the footage!

Vote for Us!!!

We have been nominated as one of the videographers in “Vote 4 the Best” contest that channel 4 (WDIV Detroit) is sponsoring. We are very excited about this opportunity. We have been very blessed to have worked with many wonderful couples. We truly enjoy being able to capture the memories of one of the most important days of your lives. If you feel that we qualify to be voted “The Best”, please go to the link provided below and vote for us. You are allowed to vote once per email address. If you have multiple emails, you can use them and vote again. The voting process is very easy and fast (less that a minute of your time). Once you have voted, an email will be sent back to you to confirm your vote. You have to confirm it for the vote to count. If you have any friends/families that have seen your video and just loved it too, please forward this and have them vote for Take 1 Productions. We appreciate your support! Please provide any comments too.

Vote Here

Trash The Dress

So what are you going to do with the wedding dress after the wedding day is over? How about Trashing It!!! Trash the Dress has been a growing trend. So much so that it has been on The New York Times, Good Morning America, ABC News, Entertainment Tonight. So what is it you say? Well…it is a photo and/or filming session of the Bride wearing her wedding dress posing and playing in unique environments. If you are working with a good professional, the outcome will be amazing.

Trash the dress is not for everyone. You either Love it or Hate it. There is a website that photographers and videographers around the world submit their work to get posted. I was fortunate to get my Trash The Dress video posted yesterday. Go to the website and see some amazing work by really talented artists. But first a word of WARNING. If you get queazy seeing wedding dresses costing thousands of dollars get dirty, wet, muddy…don’t go there. If you Love what you see and want to Trash your dress…we can help you! :-)

The website - trashthedress.com
My post – Trash The Dress Detroit

Here are some photos of my TTD session and some cool pics from the TTD site.

feets

I was reading over my blog entries when I realized that I write about weddings too much and hardly anything about my life, my interest, my thoughts, my family. Well I should...I think. I'm going to start anyways.

First thing I would like to announce to the world or at least the cyberspace world is that I LOVE my wife. She is more than I deserve and ever dreamed of. God was truly generous to me when I married her. My three kids are great! Each is truly unique in character which makes parenting fun and challenging. Here is a pic of the kids.

Melissa & Ryan

got married at St. John Lutheran Church and had their reception at the beautiful Royal Park Hotel. We had some time between the ceremony and reception so we went to downtown Rochester for some cool shots. Prem and Cheridy from Arising Images were the photographers of the wedding day and they were so fun to work with. Check out some of the pics at the end of this entry. And now, the Teaser…

Here are some cool pics by Arising Images.