Sighting of the Very Rare Puddle Penguin!

Found only after the rain, the puddle penguin (Penguinicus aqueous-puddlicus) is a very gentle & peaceful creature that likes to recline on rocks. It astounds onlookers who cannot believe it is naturally forming, and is extremely elusive due to it’s highly developed talents of camouflage & transparent coat. Not much else is known about it, except that it is very cute.

It also likes to wear leaves as hats.

Erin-Shimazu-Photography-Puddle-Penguin.jpg

Hope everyone is staying dry & having an amazing day!
~ e :)

Google Translate is the Best

Google Translate is the Best

Although I am easily amused by a great many things, not many things have amused me so greatly in a very long while.

I think I spent 20 minutes having it read this box of fish cookies & laughing hysterically LOL
(That’s literally what this post is about haha - so just a warning - but for my fellow friends who are similarly inclined, I present to you the top picks! And btw, they were pretty tasty!)

Read More

Because of You, I Spam

And because Mom makes the best Spam musubi. Ever.

Erin Shimazu Photography Because of you I Spam1.JPG
Erin Shimazu Photography Mom.JPG

Happy Mother’s Day Mom <3

And happy Mom’s Day to all the other super Mommys out there too :).
xoxo,
~ e

IMG_E1262.JPG

I got this amazing Spam shirt from the Go for Broke Educational Center - whose mission is “to educate and inspire character and equality through the virtue and valor of our World War II American veterans of Japanese ancestry.”

I am very proud that my Grandpa, Tom Shimazu, was a soldier in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team - 2nd Battalion, H company (heavy artillery).

As most Japanese Americans were after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, he was suddenly uprooted from his home (and college career, as he was studying to be an engineer at the time) & forced into the internment camps, specifically Jerome, Arkansas, after the signing of Executive Order 9066. My Great Grandpa had been taken away the earliest, since he was a professor and a kendo teacher, & therefore was deemed “very dangerous” in his community. We were lucky that the family had some good friends to look after the house during this time, as most families lost everything after being interned.

Photo source: Wikipedia article

Photo source: Wikipedia article

Photo credit: Clem Abers

Photo credit: Clem Abers

Seuss_cartoon.png
Photo Credit: Dorothea Lange

Photo Credit: Dorothea Lange

After being interned Grandpa went on to fight for his country (also overseas in Italy & France) - he was an American, and his loyalty to his country super-ceded all of the racism and injustice surrounding the situation. The motto of the 442nd, “Go For Broke”, was actually a popular saying in Hawai’i when people went gambling: when the player was risking it all and putting everything on the line in one effort to win big. This was true for the soldiers too, not only to win their more immediate fight, but also to try and conquer the prejudice they felt at home.

Photo credit: U.S Army photo by Staff Sgt. Teddy Wade

Photo credit: U.S Army photo by Staff Sgt. Teddy Wade

The 442nd Regimental Combat Team & the 100th Infantry Battalion, comprised of almost all Japanese Americans from mainland USA & Hawai’i, soon became known as the “Christmas Tree Regiment” since they were the most decorated unit in the entire army for its size and length of service. The 442nd earned more than 18,000 awards in 2 years, including 21 Medals of Honor. It was also nicknamed the “Purple Heart Battalion” because of the 18,000 men who served, 9,486 of those earned Purple Hearts.


There was also a special group of Japanese American soldiers who made up the MIS (Military Intelligence Service”), and were called “the human secret weapon for the US Armed Forces”. If you might like to read a bit more about them, click here to learn more!

A year or so before he passed, my Grandpa began telling me stories about the war and the camps. Being able to hear his story is invaluable to me. Racism of all kinds, for any group of people, is something that we all need to fight against - and remembering what has happened in the past is so important in order to move forward to a more beautiful future <3.

Grandpa :)

Grandpa :)

Happy <3 Day!

We ate at a place that looks like the Titanic lol!!

Am I like Rose?

Hahaha don’t answer that! (And what’s in my hand?? smh lol!)

Hahaha don’t answer that
(And what’s in my hand?? smh lol!)

Aw, but he’ll always be my “Jack” :).

My Jack.JPG

Wishing everybody lots of <3 today & every day!
~ e
xoxo

Arigato Japan :D

Yay!

A16A7B7D-C2D6-4C57-A6B1-EA61F95D75BF.JPG
IMG-9893.jpg
IMG-0171.jpg
IMG-9777.jpg
IMG-0071.jpg
682A11FD-30F4-4B36-9C3C-D8338110F026.JPG
IMG-0112.jpg
IMG-9132.jpg
870E2BB2-5913-4AA5-AC79-9760FD323BBA.JPG
3EF0ACB3-845E-43C2-9DEE-4EBD096C6A8B.JPG

PS - Also, a big thank you & shoutout to JAL! The airline attendants on our return flight found out we were on our honeymoon and one of them totally Macgyver’ed us such a sweet, amazing card from the airline pamphlets! So cute :D. Best surprise ever after the 8th hour of flying back to the U.S. LOL! You guys are awesome!!!

Omg where did you guys get stickers? LOL so cute!

Omg where did you guys get stickers? LOL so cute!

They gave us some sparkling wine too! (LOL you can kind of see my “wedding spec” pinky finger nail in the photo! This was the first time I had ever had them done/been in a nail salon - they are never like that XD)

They gave us some sparkling wine too!
(LOL you can kind of see my “wedding spec” pinky finger nail in the photo! This was the first time I had ever had them done/been in a nail salon - they are never like that XD)

IMG-0108.JPG

What Time Is It :D?

Me: Silly, it’s Always frozen custard time! Yay!

Special shoutout to @jackiemakeup11 for such amazing makeup &amp; hair :D

Special shoutout to @jackiemakeup11 for such amazing makeup & hair :D

So many congrats again to Ava & Danny on their engagement!! So super excited for them, they are such an awesome, fun couple. And what a great way to celebrate hehe ~

I really loved the look of the Pier Burger building at night, and knew that everything would really pop with their outfits &amp; give them the fun, colorful vibe they were looking for :). It’s always a fun challenge when my couples ask for a night s…

I really loved the look of the Pier Burger building at night, and knew that everything would really pop with their outfits & give them the fun, colorful vibe they were looking for :). It’s always a fun challenge when my couples ask for a night shoot to showcase the city lights!

I am quite happy to say that our pier shoot also led to my very first ever frozen custard experience! And let me tell you, I am now a super fan :D. The vanilla custard with bananas from this place is ridonkulous (and they actually hollow out part of the custard to make room for maximum banana-y goodness).

I hope you all have a wonderful summer’s day, and see you later at Pier Burger :D!
~ e
(haha really seriously, my husband & I are totally going to go back there tonight XD)

#9 - Jump the Millennium Falcon! (w. Cool Guy from Batuu!)

"Jumping Awkwardly In Front of Impressive Objects Until I'm 80"

Jump the Millenium Falcoln.jpg

"So. Although I don't take a lot of photos of people jumping, I started this collection a couple years back and am going to continue to do this until I'm 80 - so eventually there is going to be an 80-year-old woman jumping. 
Not sure why, but that never stopped me before anyways Lol!"

Bright Suns, everybody :D! We drank the blue & green milk. My husband & I were pilots on the Millennium Falcon ride & I crashed us all into a large rock. I bought a new Porg :D!! I ate Tip Yip (aka “chicken” in the Batuu language - husband says, omg why don’t you memorize regular names like street names lol?).

Thank you so much Mary for doing my hair into Leia buns! And for getting us our reservations omg. Yay!!

Have an awesome day everyone, and…..May the Force Be With You.
~ e

Screen Shot 2020-02-13 at 4.03.45 PM.png

By Our Shakas Combined.....!

Hi guys!!
As of “May the 4th (Be With You)” 2019, we are now officially married!! Yay! :D

IMG-7739.JPG

We just wanted to say “Wow! Thank you so much!!!” for all the congrats and warm wishes from everyone - we are so happy and you all are too sweet! It truly means the world to us :).

And yes :D! The little photo-bomber was most definitely present at our wedding too - he and his other little Porg friends worked hard to make sure everyone was well taken care of at our bar:

Just for the record: I am most definitely, unequivocally a whiskey girl. Since Shinji represented with our Old Fashioned, I did opt for a Hemingway instead to give our guests a little variety (since I really do love this too) - so don’t judge me too…

Just for the record: I am most definitely, unequivocally a whiskey girl. Since Shinji represented with our Old Fashioned, I did opt for a Hemingway instead to give our guests a little variety (since I really do love this too) - so don’t judge me too harshly whiskey gods LOL!! You are still my favorite XD.

IMG-2483.JPG

They also went to the trouble of dressing up a bit - just bc a wedding is a little dressier than a non-hatted Porg.

To all of our family & friends: you are awesome and we love you more than you will ever know <3. One of the most important things about the wedding (other than getting married of course LOL!) was that it reminded us again of just how lucky we are to have such wonderful people in our lives. Our hearts were so happy that we got to spend the day with you ~ never before have we had all of our special people all in one place!! We will cherish this always.

Big Mahalos to Adam (my second shooter) for photographing our wedding - I would never have wanted it any other way :).
More photos to come later!

And now I can also say from personal experience to all of my amazing couples: You will have a Blast on your wedding day, & it truly is one of the most special & wonderful days of one’s life journey.
Enjoy every single minute <3.

So much love from me (and the Hubby),
~ Mrs. e :)

"Bragh!" :D

Traditionally I send the annual “Bragh!” text to friends & family on St. Patrick’s, but this year I have this nifty shirt!
So in honor of this:

“Bragh! :D A very, very Happy St. Patty’s Day to you all!”

erin-shimazu-photography-st patricks.jpg

I actually do have two Irish names, Erin Courtney, and then a very Japanese last name XD (Courtney being my middle name, although I did read today that it could also be of French origin as well!).

Fiancé <3 and I also found this card last night while on a RiteAid ice cream trip:

Erin-Go-Broccoli.jpg

Maybe next year I will try this variation but I’m not sure it will be quite as fun LOL.

”Sláinte!”
~ e :D

We love underpasses :D

Erin-Shimazu-Photography-Stephanie-Kevin1.jpg
I love downtown because it has so many different personalities - on some days, even an underpass can look almost heavenly :).

I love downtown because it has so many different personalities - on some days, even an underpass can look almost heavenly :).

Reading that again, it’s kind of a random thing to like, huh - Lol! But truly, they are pretty darn cool - super urban, Super light!

This was the first spot that Kevin, Stephanie, and I hit up to shoot on our adventure/walk through Downtown :).

Cannot wait for their wedding later this year! Yay!
Thank you guys so much for being so awesome and chasing the light with me.

Have a great day everybody, and safe travels to wherever it takes you!
~ e :)

"Happy Hobbit-Days!" From our family to yours ~ aka Gingerbread House #2!

“But what about second gingerbread house?” :D

Merry &amp; Pippin, our Hobbit bouncers, are making sure only the best of partiers come inside!

Merry & Pippin, our Hobbit bouncers, are making sure only the best of partiers come inside!

The holidays are here.
And so, the time for making the annual gingerbread madness house is upon us! Wahaha!

Last year (our inaugural year) the Millenium Falcon was the product of much graham cracker carnage LOL:

Not sure what structural issue was on the righthand side Lol, but nothing a little bit of water and chocolate frosting won’t fix, that’s what I say XD!

Not sure what structural issue was on the righthand side Lol, but nothing a little bit of water and chocolate frosting won’t fix, that’s what I say XD!

This year after some deliberation, Mary & I decided what better and a more homey home to make than a hobbit hole :D?

Exhibit B: even more gingerbread messes LOL

So much green food coloring was used, but it was pretty fun to make edible grass LOL! Many green fingers also resulted.

So much green food coloring was used, but it was pretty fun to make edible grass LOL! Many green fingers also resulted.

I too would love to grow fruit snacks in my own garden.

I too would love to grow fruit snacks in my own garden.

And so from our family to yours, so much warmth, happiness, and peace :).
(And also plenty of delicious ale & maybe some wizard magic too hehe!)


Merriest of Holidays, e <3

Green Dragon - Hobbiton, New Zealand

Green Dragon - Hobbiton, New Zealand

Trish & Chris's "Epic After-Ceremony Wedding Walk" in Italy Complete!!!

Trish & Chris had an awesome plan.

Their plan was to get married in Italy.

Their plan was to get married and then walk all around Florence with their entire wedding party and shoot photos at so many amazing places!

When we heard their plan, we said:
“Wahaha! We Are So There!!!” :D

Erin Shimazu Photography Wedding Italy Destination Trish.JPG

So two hours of shooting later, along with 10 cups of gelato consumed, 1 carousel, 10 flights of crazy gravity-defying stairs, 1 river, 4 piazzas, & 1 ridiculous sunset, we totally smashed their plan & it came true!!
Go team go! Yay!!! :D
(This walk also happens to include the time when I stood in the middle of the road above the Arno river between many passing vespas, tourists, and cars to get the shot lol! Good times XD.

Trish & Chris, you guys are so awesome. In so many ways I can’t even fully say.

So many congratulations again and so much love,
~ e xo

Ciao Bella! We're Back in Italia! (aka Scouting beside Pacman & Ryan Reynolds Lol)

Ciao Firenze! Didja miss us :D?? Boy, we sure did miss you LOL!

We are back in Italy again - Yay!! - and we simply cannot wait to shoot Trish & Chris’s wedding on Thursday :).
(And also eat so, so much gelato XD)

firenze1 Erin Shimazu Photography.JPG

After arriving in Florence we dedicated the rest of the day to scouting wedding shooting locations and searching for all the photographic awesomeness that we could find for our couple and their wedding party!

Ciao, Duomo! Hmmm. I think mayyybe we can find a good place to shoot here XD

Ciao, Duomo! Hmmm. I think mayyybe we can find a good place to shoot here XD

Pacman, why don’t you abide by the traffic rules Lol?

Erin Shimazu Photography Florence Wedding Pacman sign.JPG

Well, I guess that’s okay ~ everybody has to eat after all :).

Then suddenly while we were walking back from the ceremony space at Giardino Bardini to our hotel, we heard gunshots and screeching cars in the distance!

After getting closer to the river we found out the reason:

IMG-4374.JPG

Michael Bay & Ryan Reynolds were totally shooting “Six Underground” around the corner LOL!

What makes Michael Bay movies so special?

IMG-4375.JPG

They had so many of these green cars all lined up on the street since they kept smashing them lol.

IMG-4270.JPG

A much more peaceful view at the villa where the bride & groom will be getting ready! Ah, Italy. You are my favorite.

Whattt? A window? Just for Wine? Italia, I really like the way you think hehe.

Whattt? A window? Just for Wine? Italia, I really like the way you think hehe.

You have my heart!! &lt;3

You have my heart!! <3

Jump in the night!  aka Where did my arm go Lol?

Jump in the night!
aka Where did my arm go Lol?

To conclude for the day - We love you, Firenze, and it’s so good to be back : ).

Big hugs,
~ e