December 18, 2011 NY Chess Kids Tournament at PS116

Photo Credit: Corky Lee

New York Chess Kids Tournament video from December 18, 2011. Video features interviews with parents and students: Stu Wasserman with River and Owen, Yassi and Father, Jordan Dentz with two sons and Trophy winners.

PS 77 Chess Tournament Web Video, Dec 2011

December 6, 2011

December 6, 2011 tournament at P.S.77 had a great turnout in which over a hundred kids attended to play chess. Check out this video and see what went on at Lower Labs School PS 77 for gifted and bright children.

Watch exclusive interviews from parents and children that talk about their first time at NYChessKids tournament and how much they love chess.





I am proud to present these bright, wonderful children in a web video produced by Together visuals.


Interviews with Parents and Students

• Alex and Nathaniel Shuman
• John and Micheal Ackerman
• Ken, Alex and Julia Miyasaka

Running time: 00:13:50

Every month Together Visuals is producing a web video to honor children who prove and demonstrate their hard work and motivation to learning chess.

For edited web videos for your event, contact Together Visuals.

Chess Tournament Web Video, November 2011

Every month Together Visuals is producing a web video to honor children who prove and demonstrate their hard work and motivation to learning chess.

Credit: Corky Lee Photography

I am proud to present these bright, wonderful children in a web video produced by Together visuals.

• Liana Stern
• Akira Nakada
• Kevin Ourvan
• Dylan Challenger

Parents featured in web video

• Darryl Challenger, Computer Architech
• Jessica Jiji, Author
• Ellis Wood, Dancer

Shooting location PS 116. Mary Lindley Murray School

Chess Tournament Web Video, October 2011

An exclusive interview with a parent and their feedback about New York Chess program.

Credit: Corky Lee Photography

Reni Mimura Maid Show

Originally, Maid cafe concept originated from Japan. Due to its popularity, Maid cafe's have been opening around the world. For example:

• MeiDolls in Philippines
• CosCafe in Singapore
• Maid Cafe Brno in Czech Republic

And now, New York City has its own Maid Cafe. Every month Reni Mimura performs at Amber Cafe in West Village of New York City. 

So what is Reni Mimura Maid Cafe like?

Reni Mimura Maid Cafe offers a menu similar to those of more typical cafés. Customers can order coffee, other beverages, and a wide variety of entrées and desserts. However, in maid cafés, waitresses service customers with a Moe attitude which adds to the image of the waitress as an innocent but pampering maid. For example: Everyone is greeted with "Welcome home, Master (Mistress)" (お帰りなさいませ、ご主人様！ Okaerinasaimase, goshujinsama).

About 40% of customers where female. The rest were young men. The average age was about 20 years old. Everybody sits down at small tables with a drinks to watch Reni Mimura sing and dance with her partners. There is lots of audience participation with Reni Mimura as well as other customers. Games and activities include:

• Thank you for being born (Celebrating birthday of the month)
• Welcome to the Maid show (Welcoming new guests)
• 30 second speech time (Guests can promote their talent, work website whatever)
• Congratulation Achievement (Guests can announce their achievement)
• Moe Moe Jyanken (Cute Akihabara style of Rock, Paper and scissor and a winner gets a free gift)

Customers attending Reni Mimura Maid Cafe participate in the performance. In addition to food and beverages, the audience participates in the show. Everyone has opportunity to introduce himself to the audience, sing and dance with Reni Mimura.

The performance included the hit "My Shy Master."

Maid cafés were originally designed primarily to cater to the fantasies of male otaku, obsessive fans of anime, manga and video games. Otaku (おたく / オタク?) is a Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests, particularly anime, manga, or video games.

The image of the maid is one that has been popularized in  manga and anime series, as well as in gal games. Important to the otaku attraction to maid cafés is the Japanese concept of moe (萌え, pronounced "moe") , which generally describes a love for anime, manga or video game characters. More specifically, moe refers to adoration for young or innocent-looking female characters who are adorable and cute in appearance.

Another song I like is Shining Star.




DNA Song

Visiting a maid cafe in Tokyo not convenient for most people, but now everyone attend a Reni Mimura Maid Cafe in New York City.

Today, the maid café phenomenon attracts more than just male otaku, but also couples, tourists, and women. Though the waitresses at maid cafés are sometimes interpreted as objects of romantic or sexual desire, they can also be viewed as simply aesthetically appealing figures. One female patron of maid cafés explains, “Sitting here and admiring how pretty the girls are is like admiring a flower”.

If you have never been to a Maid Cafe, then you must experience Reni Mimura Maid Cafe at least once in your life. If you are visiting New York a tourist, Reni Mimura Maid cafe is an act that your whole family will enjoy. Especially teenagers who are fans of anime and manga.

Reni Mimura performs every month at Amber Cafe in West Greenwich Village of New York City. She has been in New York since 2009 and is the only Maid Cafe show in New York.

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We Love you Japan, Never Give up!

Message to victims of Fukushima tsunami and earthquake of March 11, 2011 from Japanese American, Japanese in America (JAJA) group in New York City.

Asian & Pacific Heritage Festival 2011

Nina Sophia Mojares performed at Asian & Pacific Heritage Festival 2011 in Union Square Park. Her performance was amazing. She is only 12 years old!


Click image below to view movie.








The other members of the group include 

• Genna Rae Basalatan
• Jill Lugtu 
• Gabriel Basalatan
• Morgan Taylor Lopez 
• Mattie Lopez

About the Event 

The 32nd Annual Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Festival was held on May 8, 2011 at Union Square Park from noon to 6 PM. Organized by Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans (CAPA) since 1979, this annual festival is the longest running and largest event celebrating Pan Asian heritage on the east coast. This year's festival is themed around the journey that Asian Pacific American ancestors have taken to bring us to this moment that celebrates not only the value of families but also our heritage that make us proud to be Asian Pacific Americans.

More than 20,000 visitors are expected for an impressive line-up of performances, fun activities for children and adults alike, and savory samples of Asian cuisine. Numerous Asian American organizations will be present to inform visitors about useful services, volunteer opportunities, and resources to get involved in the community.

The executive director of Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans is Stephen Chen.

• Special appearances by Mr. John Liu, Comptroller, City of New York and Council Member Margaret Chin
• Emcess by Ti-Hua Chang, Richard Lui, CeFann Kim, Michelle Yu, Kelly Tsai, and Jen Kwok
• Music performances by the Hsu-nami, PaperDoll, Reni Mimura, Nina Sophia Mojares, 'Nuf Said' band and Dana Leong ft. Le Zhang.
• Dance presentations by Polynesian Dance, Bollywood Axion Dance, New York Chinese Cultural Center, and Yosakai Dance
• Martial arts demonstrations by the Chinese Freemasons Athletic Club, Kyakkokan Dojo, Blue Dragon TKD Demo Team, World Martial Arts Center, Asian United Sports Club, Moy Ving Tsung, City Wing Tsun Kung Fu and Gao's Kung Fu Academy.
• Japanese tradition by Soh Daiko, critically acclaimed taiko group, specializing in Japanese drumming technique and other unique instruments. Also performing will be Kaoru Watanabe Taiko Center and Taikoza.
• Asian Traditional folk arts presentation by Rose Sigal-Ibsen, Kavita Vyas, Ye Xun, Jampa Youden, Doung Trung, and Ming Liang Lu.
• Magic show by Rich Kameda

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New York Arabic Orchestra benefit concert for Japan

I was commissioned to do a video shoot about 3 hours before the event.
I arrived at the site five minutes before the start time. I was able to shoot
about 45 minutes of video before camcorder battery died.

The show was still going on, so I decided to shoot still photos. I was in
a pew in second column on left side of church. I could not move from
the position without disturbing the patrons watching the concert.

So instead of using a stand, I quickly used the video tripod as a stand.

Strobe setting for second curtain flash to capture motion of musicians.
Used an bounce flash technique I learned from Niel Van Niekerk.

Strobe was bounced of a white area of stone wall on camera left.
Furthermore, the strobe was gelled to match the hot lights on the subjects.

Ambient light was measured using a light meter and off camera strobe

was used as fill light. Shutter speed was very low, under 1/15 second,
but compensated by camera's image stabilization.

Flash triggering was done using camera's built-in wireless triggering
instead of radio triggers.

Light level was so low, camera could not auto focus. All shots
were take with manual focus. Luckily, the viewfinder has focus
confirmation indicator.

Camera was set to auto white balance and corrected in post processing
using Olympus Viewer2 software. In addition fine tuning of exposure,
contrast, picture mode and lens correction was also done in Viewer2.


Equipment used at shoot:

• Olympus FL-36R strobe 
• Mounted on stand with adapter.
• Gel strobe using Cinch Strap
• Polaris Meter to measure ambient light 
• Lens: 40-150mm zoom

New York Arabic Orchestra raised over $1600 in donations to help victims of the Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to the Japan relief. 

• Bassam Saba - a leading figure of Arabic music
• April Centrone - Percussionist
• Nobuko Miyazaki - shinobue player
• Sonny Ochiai Ensemble, Classical Okinawan music
• New York Taiko Aikokai

The benefit concert was held at The Park Avenue Christian Church.

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New York Day of Rembrance 2011

In recognition pf the approaching 10th anniversary since 9/11, Japanese American United church continues the important work of healing and reflecting over the internmentm while simultaneously considering how we as a community can stand next to another in a similar time of peril.


Program Title
9066 / 9-11: Japanese American and Muslim and Arab American Communities

In Crisis,In Solidarity,In Justice,In Compassion

Program Content

• Moment of silence for Japan
• JANM Video: 9066 to 9/11
• Janan Delgado, Park51
• Enemy Alien trailer
• Musical Performance
• Remembrances: Frank Emi and the resisters
• Candle-light ceremony

Shot was done using available light in the church. The lighting was a mix of fluorescent and tungsten. There was a projector screen in the background and it was used as a reference color to white balance all the photographs using Olympus Viewer2 software. 

• Olympus 40-150mm Zuiko Digital Telephoto Zoom Lens

Performance: Composer/flutist Nobuko Miyazaki performing an original piece reflecting shared experiences of Japanese Americans and Arab and Muslim Americans, featuring poetry by Janice Mirikitani and Suhei Hammad. With April Centrone (percussion), John Vergara ( oud - Arabic lute), Olivia Oguma and Nora Armani.


The New York Day of Remembrance Committee is a non-profit, as-hoc committee of volunteers whose primary mission is to organize an annual "Day of Remembrance" commemorating the experiences of the over 120,000 Japanese Americans unjustly incarcerated during World War II.


The New York Day of Remembrance Committee members

• Michael Ishii
• Tsuya Hohri Yee
• Mariko Masaoka-Drew
• Donna Tsufura
• Alix Mariko Webb
• Stan Honda
• Naomi Iwasaki

More information on William Hohri, Frank Emi and the resisters.


Event held at Japanese American United Church.


Please participate in JustOneCrane project of Save the Children Japan. There cranes symbolize our hope that Japan will be able to start healing on this long journey to recovery, and the donations will go to support the younger generation of Japan who will become an integral part of the process.

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Saturn Series Poetry Reading

Featuring poet Tina Chan and singers Stanley Wu and Andrea Parodi.
Show produced by Su Polo. Hosted at Nightingale Lounge in NYC.

Products used at this shoot.

• Olympus FL-36R Strobe
• LumiQuest Gel Holder  
• Olympus 14-40mm Zuiko Digital Wide Angle Zoom Lens
• Olympus 40-150mm Zuiko Digital Telephoto Zoom Lens

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2011 Lunar New Year Event / Fashion Show

AsianInNY hosted “Lunar New Year Event / Fashion Show” in New York's famous Chinatown. 
Shots were taken at very low shutter speed with fill-flash mode and high ISO settings. 


Products used at this shoot.

• StroboFrame Quick Flip 350
• Olympus FL-36R Strobe
• Olympus FL-CB05 Off-camera flash cable
• LumiQuest Gel Holder  
• LumiQuest Pocket Bouncer
• Olympus 14-40mm Zuiko Digital Wide Angle Zoom Lens
• Olympus 40-150mm Zuiko Digital Telephoto Zoom Lens

The 2011 Lunar New Year Event / Fashion Show featured artists, designers,
models, performers and dignitaries.

• MC/rapper Young Kin
• David Shen Dance Group
• Jack K. Eng
• Air Tabigue
• Way Zen: Designer for JSong Collection
• Teresa Lee and PaperDoll band
• Pamela J Powel
• Janet Zheng: Designer for Janet Zheng Menswear

The event was hosted at Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA) at 62 Mott Street in New York City in cooperation with

Greater Chinatown Community Association (GCCA).

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