I have never been a crazily popular person in my life, and I don’t have a crazy amount of friends. However, what I can say for sure is that I have a few very good ones, including this guy from Puerto Rico whom I called “Fab”, as this is pretty much his name as well as the fact that I think he is truly “Fabulous” (the same way as I use the word “Fantastic” to explain my name when ordering take-outs on the phone). Something that I have learned with time is that fabulous people always introduce you to other fabulous people, such as this time, Edgar and Fiona.

Now after this session is over, I think I can be honest here on my blog: I was so fr**king nervous before this session! Fiona and Edgar would love to have their photos taken in Central Park and the Brooklyn Bridge, two of the most well-known icons of New York City. Don’t get me wrong - I love both places to death (esp. given that Blowfish is a landscape architect, I kinda have to…) However, as for an engagement shoot, what do I do with the people in the background? More importantly, just as I ask myself before every session: how do I get some photos that are very “Edgar & Fiona”, and “Edgar & Fiona” only? However, the reality proved that I worried too much, as this fabulous couple made it super easy for me.

Of course, at the beginning, there was this little “Man... this is awkward” moment, for all of us - even I felt weird at first when Blowfish and I did the self-portrait! So I used these moments for the standard yo-we-are-engaged-and-look-at-that-thing-on-my-left-hand poses. Once everybody got over this hump, the authentic “Edgar & Fiona” stuff started flowing out... and man, it never went back :P

Oh, did I also mention that Edgar basically gave me a free concert by humming Salsa music throughout the entire session? Although it appears that he thought he was only keeping it to himself. I am not sure if he used that tactic to ease his “photo anxiety” but that made me wanna dance almost immediately… You might wonder what I think is the most “Edgar & Fiona” moment of this photo shoot? Com’on, what beats it when a Puerto Rican grabs the hand of his love and starts dancing salsa in Central Park???

As we were walking out of the park at the end of this session, Edgar finally told me that they were moving to Seattle this fall and these photos would be the memory of their life together in this city. To Edgar and Fiona, Central Park and the Brooklyn Bridge are New York. Then I couldn’t help asking myself: after spending six years here, what does “New York” mean to me? What photos would I want to take, one day, that symbolize “my” New York?

Hmm… Maybe it is the Halal Cart downstairs that almost became my "cafeteria" when I first moved to New York; or maybe it is the countless subway encounters that were either amazingly lovely or unbelievably crazy. Maybe it is Cafe Lalo where Blowfish and I go grab our favorite Tres Leches cake at 1am… A friend visiting from Hong Kong last week told me that she still gets butterflies every time she is in New York. I didn't ask what her butterflies were like, but that made me think, for me, maybe it is not really the chicken over rice, the South-Ferry bound 1 train, or the 3-layer cake that make this city so special to us, but the people, the moments, the stories, and the emotions that we have already secretly captured in our hearts …

My friends, next time when we meet, tell me about your butterflies, will you?