WHY THE NAME SARAH-JI?

It's what my husband calls me (pronouced SAH-RAH-JEE or SAH-ROW-JEE with a soft J like in French).  It's a shortened version of Aquamarine Sarah Jean (my real name is Sarah Jane), which is my color name that he and his siblings and close group of friends use.  He's Red Ted, his eldest brother David is Green Deeve, 2nd brother is Blue Chuke (Chuck), sister Orange Loren, youngest brother Grey Jay, sister-in-law Chrome Alisome (Alison) and bro-in-law Rouge Douge (Doug).  Friends include Brown Johwn, Teal Pheal (Phil), and Modra Jozka.

WHAT EQUIPMENT DO YOU USE?

I got a Nikon D90 on Dec. 31, 2008, and that's what I shoot with currently.  Before that was my beloved D50, which is currently my back-up body, and before that was the D40. 

More important than the camera body, however, are the lenses I use, or I SHOULD say LENS.  I shoot with the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 lens 99% of the time.  I sometimes use the Nikon 50mm f/1.8D.  I also own the Nikon 18-55mm f/ 3.5-5.6ED and Nikon 55-200mm VR, Tokina 11-16mm F/2.8 AT-X PRO DX and a Lensbaby Composer.

For lighting, I have Nikon's SB-600 and SB-800 speedlites.  I've just started using Presslite VerteX diffuser to control how I bounce light with my flash.

I do all my post-processing in Adobe Lightroom 2.  I seldom EVER use Photoshop, but my photos would not be what they are without the power of Lightroom.  Post-processing to me is part of my art and helps to capture not just what I saw, but the ambience or mood or my own feeling at the moment I clicked the shutter or even how I felt about the photo sometime in the future.

DO YOU DO WEDDINGS?

Occasionally.  I generally prefer to do weddings for friends (online and offline) as a second shooter, unless it's a very simple wedding in which case I don't mind being the primary shooter.  Beginning March of 2009, I have a shooting partner named Justin Goh for wedding and special events.  Currently, our wedding packages start at $1800 for both of us unless I tell you otherwise.  You can see our wedding website here.

HOW ABOUT PORTRAITS?

Again, I prefer to shoot people I know, and generally in a candid setting.  I have done portraits at the request of friends and have gotten positive feedback.  Right now, I'm not actively looking to book any more portrait sessions except for my friends.

I REALLY LIKE ONE OF YOUR PHOTOS.  CAN I GET A PRINT?

Yes! Email me at sarah[at]sarah-ji[dot]com and we'll work something out.  You can check out more details on prints here.

HOW DO YOU PROCESS YOUR PHOTOS TO LOOK LIKE THAT?

I use a software called Adobe Lightroom which basically functions as a digital darkroom.  I can do all kinds of things on there to my original photo to get it the way I want it to for conveying a specific mood, etc.  I've bundled up some of those effects into Lightroom Presets, which you can look at here.  Feel free to download them if you use Lightroom.  If you haven't tried Lightroom, I highly recommend it.

CAN YOU HELP ME PICK OUT A CAMERA?

I can try.  Feel free to email me with what your experience level is, your budget, and what you want to do (portraits, landscape, goofy artsy fartsy stuff) and I'll do my best to make suggestions.