Despite my best intentions, I still fell behind on blogging! I’m sorry, guys! We met for this session back in March, on St. Patrick’s Day, in the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. The flowers were in full bloom, and provided a beautiful backdrop for this new family. James was almost 6 months old at the time and was a smiley, happy baby for a whole one hour before deciding he’d have enough of play time and would like some milk PLEASE!
I hope you had a happy first Mother’s Day, Jessica!
Marisol fell in love with my photos when I was hired to take engagement photos for her friends, Angie and Marlon, last year, and then again, when I was at Angie and Marlon’s wedding. We made a day long trip up to Napa Valley for this shoot, and wandered around the Castello di Amorosa, though we didn’t stop to sample any wines. Tragic, right? Still, the day was beautiful, sunny, and warm, and the castle overlooking the yet-to-bloom grape fields was just about perfect for Edgar and Marisol’s engagement photos. The sun coming down and lighting up Marisol’s hair just about bowled me over, she was so pretty!!! I can’t wait! I’ll be doing their wedding in another month or so as well, so, no worries! More of this gorgeous couple to come!
I met Cheryl and Rui last year, when they were getting everything out of the way with wedding planning a year in advance! Talk about prepared. As I walked up to the Municipal Rose Garden in San Jose, California, I was a little skeptical – there wasn’t a blooming rose in sight! Not unsurprising considering the time of year, but still! In the end, as the sun filtered through the giant trees, providing beautiful backgrounds and shade for the shoot, it really all worked out. They’re getting married in just under a month, and I’m super excited to finally see them married!
Rui worried that his friends are going to see these photos and wonder “why does he look so serious? what happened?!” so I was sure to include some goofy photos just for them.
Fair warning, y’all – this story has a small, sappy ending, but it’s tough to get through. Don’t want a downer on your Monday? Skip the read! I’ll be posting a new engagement session on Tuesday!
My friend, Taylor, and I, dressing up and posing for the camera at Otakon 2007, one month after we met.
In some ways, nothing has changed since March 11, 2011 – I stayed up late, trying to get work done, but mostly refreshing my google rss feeds. An eternal insomniac. The difference between now and two years ago is that while I watched the tsunami flood Sendai Airport on the news, I didn’t know that my best friend was already dead. (more…)
Sitting around, watching facebook’s stream-of-consciousness updates usually serves to keep us grounded in the moment. Still, every so often, something will pop up that throws us far back into the past, and remind us of long dormant memories. This 90s gem is a prime example.
For a few short years in preschool and elementary school, I took ballet. I was stalking a friend’s facebook timeline last week, and someone had posted this photo (in all its unblurred glory – I wanted to protect everyone else’s identities)! The original poster had no reason to know I was also in this photo – I was in a younger class, but yes, that is me as a raindrop. Out of the 5 girls in a row in blue, I am the middle (the one kid I didn’t blur), a particularly flamboyant, and overly showy springtime raindrop. If you squint, you can see that most of my counterparts were pretty bored. In short, I’ve clearly been awesome since childhood. (more…)
This is a bit old at this point, but Topher and Oscar were featured on 4 Real Equality Weddings back in mid-January. Thanks for the feature and sorry for the delay in posting about my excitement!!! Emily, who runs the site, is super friendly and I loved exchanging e-mails with her. You can view the whole post at the above link, and if you missed their post here, you can see more photos from their engagement here on the blog as well.
Incidentally, Topher is of Topher Simon Photography, and he is a talented, wonderful photographer with a real gift handling kids. I did some second shooting for him last year that’s just sitting on my hard drive (woe! the dangers of not second shooting for a living!), and I’m always grateful for the kindness he’s shown me in this business. Topher, you rock!!! (more…)
I feel like I say this every time I post, but Bo and Karin might be my new most favorite people. It’s always a special treat when you get to work with people that you would be friends with in real life. Having people not thinking I’m off my rocker while I stand around talking to my camera is a plus as well!
For Bo and Karin’s engagement session, they hemmed and hawed a long time trying to decide where to go when, apparently, Bo suggested Big Basin Redwoods State Park, about an hour south of Saratoga. Karin, finding a photo of a fallen tree trunk online, was inspired, and we were off! Even as the sun set and the forest changed from a bright, beautiful day, to a cooler, mysterious and freezing cold grey, they kept their spirits high, and we got some fantastic shots. The way the light just wrapped itself around them in these photos just makes my heart go pitter patter! I am thoroughly looking forward to shooting their wedding in a month. Karin, Bo, you know I love you guys,right?! See you soon!
About a month ago, one of my beau’s friends came to visit, and I took the inevitable redwoods hike we went on as a chance to rent and try out one of Nikon’s PC-E lenses, the 85mm tilt-shift, the results of which you can see in this post! Click on through! (more…)
One of my most neglected resolutions of the New Year so far has been my resolution to add a little bit of more personal flair to my blog. I give everyone a little bit of information about me here and there – you know I love wine, for example, if you visit my About Me page, or you know about the bunny rabbit we welcomed into our family last year, Blackjack, from this post. He’s all grown up now, by the way. Still tiny, but definitely double the size seen last year (d’awww). But mostly, I’ve only posted about my weddings and engagements! I’ve really found myself asking, what’s the point of a blog if I can’t engage you (oh ho ho) as a person?
At any rate, in that spirit, I spent my Sunday with a few other wedding vendors in Scott’s Seafood. There were a fun variety of people – a band called Diminished Blue, a bridal shop, Nouvelle Bridal Boutique, and a color specialist, Color Insight. There were also booths for the Paper Source, Scott’s Seafood, and Jen’s Cakes, although none of the vendors attended personally. It was a small show, but I’m always inspired meeting new people. You can see that Jen’s Cakes was right next to my booth. She’s on the east coast finishing up her time at the reality show, the Next Great Baker. I’d been watching it on and off all season, so I was a little starstruck just by being *near* a booth with her cakes in it. I’m sure her price tag will go up when she finally returns to San Jose, so many hearty congratulations to her!
London and Steve originally contacted me about two, maybe three weeks, before their wedding, hoping I was still available. As luck would have it, I was, and boy, what an adventure. The Fairmont San Francisco hosts a gorgeous penthouse suite, with, as you’ll see below, a fantastic view of the San Francisco skyline. Steve noted that they booked the location because, “Well, where else can you get this view??” All in all, it’s an impressive space to hold your wedding, with beautiful bedrooms and fascinating decor.
As for London and Steve themselves, with such a close, fun family, it was hard not to take great photos. With no prompting, people tackled each other, fake punched, air guitared, and leapt into each other’s arms. I don’t think a photographer can ask for anything more in a portrait session! Congratulations, London and Steve! I hope that you’re both doing well!
