Photography by Colin Michael

Hello new Blog!

2009-07-11T22:23:00.000-07:00

After 3 or 4 years using blogspot, I have now switched over to a custom blog. I imported everything to the new blog so please visit my new blog and note that I will no longer be posting here. All the old posts are there as well.
Thanks!

Sarah and Ben in Golden Gate Park

2009-06-26T19:06:00.000-07:00

So funny! I've had a couple people tell me they can't access my blog from work because my previous post from Nettie and Leon's engagement photo shoot includes the word "wicked." I guess the work filter blocks it in case it's a cult website! How funny is that?

It was an engagement photo session marathon the other weekend in San Francisco! Somewhere in the middle I had a mountain bike race too (I did well, 3rd place in Cat. 2) so it was a very exhausting weekend! Stephanie was along helping out so it made it so much easier, thanks Steph! We met with Ben and Sarah in Golden Gate Park and while I grew up in the Bay Area and drive through the Park all the time, I haven't actually been in the park since probably the early 1980's! I vaguely remember a museum and something about King Tut then going to the SF Zoo and riding a camel. I was probably 4 years old at the time. Funny thing, when we met with Sarah and Ben the King Tut exhibit was back at the de Young Museum! That's gotta be a good sign!

We explored the park and found some locations that made it look like we ventured far into the outback (Ben in from Australia so I had to throw in an Aussie reference somewhere!) though we were actually right in the middle of things. Ben is a fellow bike rider so we had a great time laughing at all the $7K bikes being cruised around the park as if they are made for such a lowly existence!

Sarah and Ben have a great connection and had a great time just doing their thing. Plus they are both super mellow and wonderfully warm people so it was a very pleasant afternoon. It made me really excited to shoot their wedding, fortunately, I don't have to wait long as it's about 2 weeks away!

A Wicked Engagement Session!

2009-06-24T22:43:00.000-07:00

I love musical theatre, I really do. Some people think it's funny but it's actually in my blood as my grandparents were opera singers. When I did a study abroad in London I must have seen 15 plays, it was awesome! Being in San Francisco has the advantage of getting to see lots of show being tested for potential runs on Broadway so we try to get to a couple shows a year. But I have to admit, I pale in comparison to Nettie and Leon! My first clue was the meeting place: the classic Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco. The next was that they brought their own playbills as props. Then I found out they have seen Wicked 17 times! Okay, they win!
It was a really fun day and Leon and Nettie are a gorgeous couple and a ton of fun. Leon I hardly recognized as he's gotten himself super fit over the past few month, nice work! And Nettie just can't take a bad picture, she's just so elegant! They have been together for years and have a maturity in their relationship thats really great to see, I'm very much looking forward to what is sure to be an awesome wedding!

Yes, the hill really is that steep! Nettie is showing off her heel skills here!

Day wouldn't have been complete without this shot!

Mike and Kristina's New York Wedding

2009-06-18T13:08:00.000-07:00

Last month I was invited to come shoot Mike and Kristina's New York wedding with my friend (and awesome photographer) Angelica Glass. Angelica is way too much fun so there was no way I wasn't going to make it! I arrived late Friday night in time to have a bit of fun before heading over to the wedding in Long Island City around noon. I show up and was very pleasantly welcomed by Mike and Kristina and all their family members. I didn't start shooting until the ceremony as the festivities were scheduled to last far into the night so it was interesting to shoot a wedding without doing the getting ready part. Of course Angelica shot the getting ready which meant only she had to work the 14 hour day...I guess that's the privilege of being the guest photographer!
After the ceremony we headed over to a hotel rooftop lounge overlooking the East River and the Manhattan skyline, it was stunning! Mike and Kristina were a ton of fun, as were their friends and family so we got some amazing images. Angelica rocked, as she always does and her clients just adore her!
The reception was held out in, well, I'm not exactly sure what they call the area! lol I heard some people call it Long Island, other said Queens and yet I saw signs that said something about Jericho! For those not familiar with that area, apparently though Queens is on Long Island it is still considered part of New York City as one of the five boroughs. Even after several weddings there and having stayed there, I'm still not sure where Queens stops and Long Island starts!
Anyways, the reception was beautiful and everyone had a great time. Thanks so much to Angelica for bringing me out, Mike and Kristina for being such gracious and wonderful hosts and to that cab driver who took me back to the city who informed me of everything that is wrong with every professional New York sporting team LOL!

Lisa and Rob's Berkeley Wedding

2009-06-01T12:28:00.000-07:00

Rob and Lisa's wedding was just as much fun as I thought it would be after their engagement session, there is just nothing like getting to work with people who are passionately in love! We started out at the Claremont Resort for all the getting ready. The Claremont is always a wonderful place to shoot and we were blessed to get some gorgeous weather! Lisa and Rob did their "First Look" at the Claremont then we headed up to Tilden Park for the wedding and reception.
I had a great time getting to know both of their families before the ceremony and have to say that the Rabbi was pretty funny! He definitely kept everyone laughing. It was a beautiful ceremony overlooking the mountains and the reception was wonderful. After all the festivities winded down we headed back to the Claremont for some night images that I think came out really well.
Thanks again to Rob and Lisa for having me!

wow, what a month!

2009-05-24T14:11:00.000-07:00

Someone please tell me what movie this line is from (paraphrased): "I thought I was just lazy but it turns out I have Mono!"
Yeah, good times! After 6 weeks of having a cold and Kyla getting a skin rash when she took Amoxicillin, I realized we all have mono! Steph got it real bad this past week and also got strep throat (and pink-eye!), which is when we got a verified diagnosis so it all came together. I spoke with my doctor yesterday who said he just diagnosed another guy this past week with mono and how odd it is to see an outbreak in adults. Haha, great!
So please forgive me for the lack of blog updates! I have some awesome images from Rob and (E)lisa's wedding, Mike and Kristina's wedding out in New York with my friend Angelica Glass and several model shoots so keep an eye out for that this week.
And if you get a sore throat that won't go away and you are sleeping a bunch... good luck!

Ashley and Brandt in Paso Robles

2009-05-06T15:55:00.000-07:00

Wow I've had a great year of couples! One couple after the next just have this amazing connection that makes my job so much fun! It really is great to get to hang out and get to know people that are so in love.
Ashley, Brandt and I started out at Summerwood Winery, (which is ever so conveniently located at the bottom of my road!) before heading around the Paso Robles for their engagement session. It was pretty windy and a bit chilly, well, actually it was freezing but we toughed it out. Always easier for me to say as the photographer who can wear a hat and jacket lol

Melanie and Nick

2009-04-13T10:35:00.000-07:00

Had a blast last weekend with Melanie and Nick shooting around San Luis Obispo, Morro Bay and Cayucos. They are a great couple who are a lot of fun to be around and obviously very in love. We started out at Cal Poly as the light was perfect for a shoot in some of the buildings around campus. It was spring break so campus was like a ghost town! We then headed over to a cool spot on the beach where I broke out my lighting and got some cool sunset images before heading to Cayucos to the Cayucos Tavern for some pictures and a few drinks :) The wedding is going to be in Cayucos on the beach so it made sense!
I'm really looking forward to their wedding and know we will all have a ball!

Advanced Point and Shooting

2009-04-07T16:37:00.000-07:00

The above shot was taken by my Leica D-Lux4 point and shoot on my road. Not bad for a point and shoot unedited image!

Okay, before I can dive into the features you need on your point and shoot we have to talk photo basics: f/stop (aka aperture), shutter speeds and ISO. I really wanted to write these tips and reviews in the most basic way but I quickly realized that without this foundation a novice isn’t going to really know how to work their Point and Shoot in order to get better pictures. I’m gearing this towards amateur photographers who really want to understand their camera’s better so a little of the techie stuff is necessary.
At least for me, I’ve found that understanding the theories behind concepts is often more valuable than memorizing the actual concepts! What’s the saying “Give a person a meal and they will be fed for a day, teach them to farm and they will be fed for life.” Hopefully I can break it down to the most basic level so you can take better pictures and better understand when to use those special modes your camera can do.
So here it is: f/stop, shutter speeds and ISO all control how much light comes into your camera. I find it easier to think of light in the same way you think about water. Instead of thinking of light coming through the lens of your camera, think about water coming through a pipe. Make the hole smaller (f/stop), less water gets through. Open the pipe for a long time (shutter speed) more comes in. F/stop is the hole, shutter speed is how long the hole is open. I’ll talk about ISO later.
Shutter speed is pretty self explanatory, shorter (i.e. 1/2000th of a second) lets in very little light, slower speeds (i.e. 1/10th of a second) let in more.
F/stop (aka aperture) is the size of the hole inside your lens. The number is actually a ratio of the length of your lens to the diameter of the hole. Smaller numbers (i.e f/2) are actually bigger holes than bigger numbers (i.e f/16). Lame right? Yeah, obviously some mathematician came up with this system! But photography is all based on math so it actually makes sense, it’s just not very intuitive! Some photographers think in terms of golf where smaller scores make bigger money :)
Okay, you don’t need to memorize f/stops or anything but you need to understand the relationship of f/stop and shutter speed in order to properly expose your photograph and to understand their effect on an image. Obviously, shutter speed and f/stop have a inverse relationship; if you open up the f/stop to make the hole bigger, you are going to need to shorten the shutter speed in order to maintain the correct exposure. Pretty simple.
Thankfully, ISO is a very simple concept. ISO refers to how sensitive the the little digital chip that records the image is. A low number like ISO 80 means it’s not very sensitive, a high number like 1600 means it’s really sensitive. So, if you increase the sensitivity of the sensor, you are going to need less light so you can use a faster shutter speed, then why not use a high ISO all the time then? The answer is something called “Noise.” A little noise is fine, too much can be bad. On Auto ISO mode, a good P&S camera will keep your ISO low enough to not make objectionable amounts of noise. Noise is also one of the main things to look at when buying a camera, I’ll talk about that more in future reviews.
Now, why would you want to change any of these controls? And that takes us to the entire point of this discussion! Yay! You can actually understand what all those special modes (like “Sports” and “Night Portrait”) actually are! It will also lead us into knowing how to use the most valuable tool on your P&S camera; Exposure Compensation and how to not take blurry pictures. More on that next time (I know, what a tease!).

Lisa and Rob (Too!)

2009-03-20T11:44:00.000-07:00

I had a blast this past weekend shooting Rob and (E)lisa's engagement session up in the North Bay! They were so much fun to hang out with and get to know, not to mention their connection is so strong it made my job a breeze! And yes, for those of you following my work for awhile, they do have the same names as Rob and Elisa! How funny is that? Plus, you gotta love facebook because now they are friends!

Point and Shoot out/tips for better photos

2009-03-12T09:00:00.000-07:00

I can't even guess how many times I've been asked by someone who's not a photographer "What camera should I get?" I'm often at a loss because, frankly, my working camera's do everything...problem is they are huge and heavy. Recommending a camera for other Pro's is easy as we need to have the best, most rugged equipment made. But I have very different needs from the average person so I can hardly recommend my cameras. Professional cameras are tools to get a job done, considerations of form come far after function! Combine that with the fact there are 100's of new point and shoot (P&S) camera's every year which makes it impossible to keep up and recommend anything specific.
I recently purchased an awesome new camera, the Leica D-Lux4. It looks like a point and shoot camera but has the performance of a pro SLR. Well, to be fair, maybe more like a pro-sumer SLR :) But that said, I'm so impressed with this little guy that I thought I would spend a week or two with it and then write up a review.
But this got me thinking, why not start a short series of reviews and tips for the average person to take better photographs and what features you might actually need in a P&S? I don't need to review every camera out there, just tell you the features I think help a non-photographer take better images so you can make informed decisions. I will start with reviewing this and my other point and shoot which will reveal the features I think the average person needs in a camera (yeah, I'll also mention things that make a little camera good for a pro too) and then I will get more into what it takes to make better images. I'm not going to turn you into the next Annie Leibovitz but hopefully you will enjoy taking pictures more and get more keepers.
Okay, I'm off to shoot!

Winter planning and album design

2009-03-10T17:58:00.000-07:00

February tends to be the month that I catch up on album design and evaluate where my business is and where I want it to go. My BS from Cal Poly taught me that taking a step back and looking at the big picture at regular intervals is one of the most important parts of business. 2008 was a spectacular year for Photography by Colin Michael and I want to thank all my wonderful clients for that! I had the opportunity to shoot weddings in San Luis Obispo, Carmel, San Francisco, New York City, Seattle and Santa Barbara, what a blast it was! 2009, while being a bit more volatile than previous years, is still shaping up to be a banner year for us thanks to what I believe is a high value to cost ratio for my services. I intend to continue to offer a great value in 2009 and do everything I can to continue to have the best clients in the world!

The hottest topic of conversation at the recent WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Photographers International) conference and trade show I attended was (surprise!) the economy. With much consideration and evaluation, I went into the trade show with the intention of finding the highest quality products and services that are still great values. I am happy to announce that I will be offering a new line of albums for engagement sessions and parent albums that are not only a great value, but also beautifully made. I greatly respect the fact that times are tough for a lot of families out there and yet you still only have one wedding day and only one opportunity to capture the emotion and beauty of the day. Because of this, I'm offering more flexibility in how clients can pay and even offering a registry so your friends and family can contribute toward your package. Personally, I think most couples would rather have a great photographer than another bread-maker! lol

As for my day to day going's on, I just finished the design on the 7th album I've designed in the past month and a half! I think I've designed something like 300 or so pages in that time! Album design is really tricky, I spend a lot of time making sure that the overall feel of the album fits the personality of my clients as well as meshes with that of the wedding day. Some designs are more classic, some contemporary and some are somewhere in between. Here are a couple of my favorite pages from recent designs.

Mud!

2009-02-11T14:26:00.000-08:00

I've been working on a pumptrack (sort of like a mini bmx bike track) at my house in Paso Robles for the past couple of months and finally finished it the day before it started raining. It would ruin it to be ridden while wet so after all that work all I can do is make sure the water is draining well and wait, bummer! Oh well, at least I got one day or riding!
Caiden wanted to help me do some trenching today but I think he really just wanted to stomp through the mud! We went out just after it stopped raining and he just ran back and forth, falling several times. He ended up getting really cold so I had to toss him in the bath! lol, it's great to be a kid!

Lori and Bobby in Santa Barbara

2009-01-26T09:31:00.000-08:00

I love shooting engagement sessions in locations that have real meaning for the couple, Lori and Bobby have tons of history together at UCSB so what better location to shoot? You don't have to twist my arm to get me down to the beautiful town of Santa Barbara! In the middle of a January heat wave with a hot couple? Even Better! I went to Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara for photography school so it's always nice to get back there.
Stephanie (my wife for those that don't know) decided to join me to assist. It was her birthday so we figured we'd go out after the shoot (at Los Olivos Cafe). We met up in Isla Vista and headed right into campus. There must have been 20 new building on campus, it was pretty crazy. Sure would be nice to sit in class and look down the beautiful Santa Barbara coast line!
Lori and Bobby were super nice people and a ton of fun to get to know. We went all over campus and even shot in the library where Bobby worked for several years. Next we went to a couple different beaches (that were packed because of the gorgeous weather) then back to campus for some night shooting.
I can't wait to shoot the wedding this summer at Gainey Vineyards in Santa Ynez, it's going to be amazing!

Gotta love night shoots!

Lori looking gorgeous

super wide angles sometimes are fun!

Out in the fields...well, actually not but it looks like it :)

Making out in the library... If only all studying was this fun!

Gotta love sunset in California!

I love this shot, so much fun shooting at night!

This is a totally funky building with all these fluorescent lights that cast some very interesting colors.

We had a blast hanging with you guys and can't wait for the wedding!

Desiree and Chris Day After Shoot in Carmel

2009-01-23T16:26:00.000-08:00

After all the rain at their wedding in November, Desiree thought it would be a great time to do a nice sunny day after shoot back in Carmel. We scheduled and guess what? It rained! So we rescheduled for mid January and, as my West Coast clients know (and my East Coast clients are very jealous of!) it was just about 80 degrees every day!
We met up in Monterey and shot at Fisherman's Wharf before heading over to Carmel Beach then around Carmel. Desiree and Chris are always a pleasure to work with and we had a ton of fun!

Not bad for 3!

2009-01-19T13:32:00.000-08:00

Caiden has been riding a bike with training wheels since he was 2 1/2 so about 2 months ago we decided to go for no training wheels (he's 3 years old now). He loves riding his bike with me and tries things (like going down big hills) that really surprise me! I got him real excited about trying no training wheels as on a previous attempt he got frustrated because he is used to riding all over with no effort but without the training wheels he didn't have that mobility. We went over to a nice slight downhill lawn and we tried for a few minutes. I put my hand on the small of his back and he gave it a shot. The key is for me to keep him moving but not to hold him up or else he doesn't learn balance. The lawn was too hard to roll on so we went to a quiet parking lot and he picked it up in no time! Pretty impressive I think :)
This bike is his reward for the hard work. I'm in the process of building a BMX track for both of us along with jumps (big for me, small for him). He's jumping off curbs and (as long as he's wearing pads) doesn't mind crashing too much lol
Oh, and 80's fans just got to love the glasses in this pic!

Getting back to actual photography for a second, look for a bunch of posts in the next week as I've had some awesome shoots in Texas, Carmel, San Francisco and Santa Barbara. Also, I will be in Las Vegas for a week in February so if you want to do your engagement session or day after session out there let me know, it's an amazing city to shoot in!

Nicole and James Long Island NY with Angelica!

2008-12-19T12:21:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks back I headed out to shoot Nicole and James' wedding out on Long Island with my friend, and AMAZING photographer, Angelica Glass. If you aren't familiar with Angelica's work you have to check it out, she is a true artist. Her work is so true to who she is, very cool to see that authenticity.
I got to New York City on Thursday evening and immediately headed into town to a couple of bars that I was not even close to cool enough to be in lol! I kept looking around and thinking "I remember the 80's and this is more '80's than the '80s were!" We also ate at some BBQ place that really did a number to my gut, it took me over a week to get over that food poisoning! Good times, right? Gotta love being super sick 2,500 miles from home and having to shoot a wedding!
Well, the good news, besides the fact that I felt okay for the wedding day, is that Nicole and James ROCKED! They were such an hot couple and truly in love with each other. Funny thing; they met because of a prank phone call, how great is that! They were totally down to shoot whatever we wanted and were not shy about their vices at all...quite a refreshing change from all those who go sneak a cigarette out back haha!
One fun fact about me shooting this wedding (for any tech geeks out there); I shot the entire wedding with my 1DsMKII, a 50L 1.2 lens, a set of pocket wizards and a 580 flash! Lol, I've always wanted to just shoot an entire wedding with just one focal length!

Great dress, great shoe, beautiful bride; what more could I ask for!?

This picture really sums up the weather, it was a cold day!

Nicole figuring out her dress

Yeah, nice to have good looking grooms too :)

With the cold, finding a good spot for the guys was tough but we made it work

I tried to adapt my style a bit so it would work better with Angelica's

Beautiful details! You should have seen how much food there was. It was like, eat, dance, eat, dance, eat, dance and on and on!

In addition to his day job as a banker, James and his buddies all do a bit of DJ'ing so the company brought in quite a setup, it was rocking!

Every had a great time. I had to throw in the groomsmen dancing, too funny! They were a great group.

I had to throw in some Colin Michael style while I was there :)

Thanks to Nicole, James and their families for being so gracious. And a huge thanks to Angelica for flying me out to shoot with her, can't wait to do it again!

New Site!!!

2008-12-18T22:07:00.000-08:00

Okay, I went underground for the past week and finally got my website update done... Yay, what a relief to be done!
If you haven't seen it, check out ColinMichaelPhoto.com and see the new design. Many thanks to my friends at Big Folio (especially Jeff, thanks Jeff!) for all their help getting switched over to this new design.
I chose to organize my images there in a totally different way and added in some new content. I think the design is much more dynamic and showcases my work better. I also added in an Engagement/Day After and Boudoir sections as I'm always shooting those but didn't put up a lot of it as I already had 100's of images up. There's so many great images from all my awesome couples that I had to make some room!
Over the next few months I will add many more new images so check back often as with my new site it is so much easier to add in new content!

Family Photos

2008-11-29T12:38:00.000-08:00

One of my projects for this wedding "off-season" is to shoot much more commercial work so I had to clean up my studio to get it ready for some larger set shots. I finished cleaning it out on Thanksgiving morning so Steph started bugging me about doing some studio shots of the family. I was trained in the studio at Brooks Institute of Photography some years ago and while I apply my lighting knowledge to all my work, I generally stay away from standard studio family shots. But I have to admit, there is a certain appeal to shooting like this! Don't worry though, I'm not giving up my fashion/photojournalism anytime soon! Here were a few of my favorites.

Desiree and Chris' Carmel Wedding

2008-11-26T17:32:00.000-08:00

I've been so lucky with rain...I guess my streak had to end some time! I've had it rain just after we finished shooting and I've had it pouring while everyone was getting ready but this time my luck ran out! Not to fear, Desiree and Chris were so awesome and it hardly even bothered them! Luckily, we made it through the ceremony and had just started the family photo's when it started really coming down. Of course I was prepared with umbrellas and all my lighting equipment so we jumped back into a hallway (there weren't a whole lot of covered areas at Rancho Canada Golf Course!) and went to work. Of course as soon as we finished the rain stopped! lol At least it let me get some use from the umbrella's that normally just sit in my trunk!
Thanks Desiree and Chris, you guys totally kept your cool and were so great to work with! Can't wait to do our "Day After" shoot next week!

Sophie and Brian's Carmel Wedding Photo's

2008-11-20T12:43:00.000-08:00

This was just good times!
At the beginning of November I traveled up to Carmel Valley to the beautiful Gardiner's Resort for Brian and Sophie's wedding. November is such an odd time in California because you never know if it will be warm, cold, sunny or raining! Oddly enough, we got warm and rain! The other thing about this time of year is that plants and gardens tend to be out of their prime. However, I was amazed at how beautiful the staff at Gardiner's keep the grounds! I'm not normally a flower picture kind of guy but it was just beautiful and amazing to see at this time of year.
Now, for those that remember from their engagement session, Brian and Sophie are biologists from the Monterey area and Brian is a great bird photographer. Sophie's actually originally from Belgium by way of Mississippi (I knew that rhyme I learned in 3rd grade to spell Mississippi would come in handy sometime!). Brian is originally from New Jersey so pretty much everyone traveled quite a distance for their wedding! Both their families and all their friends were so much fun, great people all around. We had a great time and the rain held off (mostly) until the reception started so that was perfect!.I went out in the rain at night to get some night shots of the venue that I think are kind of cool. Besides, I need to give my tripod a workout every now and then!
Thanks Brian, Sophie and your families for making me feel so welcomed! And thanks to David Lee who did a great job helping me shoot!

Stephanie and Blake's Santa Cruz Mountain Wedding

2008-11-19T17:40:00.000-08:00

This past August I was on my way up to some meetings and a commercial shoot in San Francisco when my friend Sara called me up to see if I could help her out with Stephanie and Blake's wedding in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Having grown up just a few miles from the venue I just couldn't say no! It was a beautiful and very warm day up on the summit. I do find that I'd much rather be the primary than the secondary photographer but I do think it's fun to try to emulate the other photographer's style so the client gets images that really work together.
Stephanie and Blake are a great couple and very gracious, I especially enjoyed that blue shot that is in the picture below, that was delicious! lol

New York City Wedding Photography Seminar

2008-11-12T09:45:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago I flew out to New York City to help my friends Jason Groupp and Gene Higa with their East Meets West Photography workshop. Ah, who am I kidding, I just went out for Jason's pre-PhotoPlus party! lol. You can see in the last pic that I was having a good time!
Jason and Gene totally rocked the workshop and I got a chance to meet a lot of great people and see more of New York. The workshop was all about teaching photographers to get even more creative and to push themselves to be even better by both thinking differently and doing practice shoots. It's too easy to get stuck in a rut so practice shoots are a great way to give yourself a chance to not just take the safe shot but also get angles and lighting you wouldn't normally use. I even got the chance to work with some others on their lighting setups and explain how I light like I do on location. I love getting to share knowledge especially when it's a collaborative effort where I can learn too.
Oddly enough, while we were shooting in Times Square, I ran into my buddy Mike Larson who was shooting an engagement session for one of his clients. Too funny! We live 20 miles apart in California but I only ever see him out of state! Last time was in Vegas!
I love walking to get to know a city, I estimated that I walked about 15 miles in 2 days (not in comfortable shoes!) while exploring, it was great! Don't get me wrong, San Francisco is still my first love with London a close second but there is just no place on earth like New York! Even better, I get to go back in just a couple weeks to hang out with Angelica!

Thanks Corey for this pic of me double fisting! lol

Tom and Jennifer's Santa Ynez Wedding

2008-10-29T08:53:00.000-07:00

Wow, have I ever been blessed with being a part of some awesome couple's lives this year! Jenny and Tom's wedding day started out at the beautiful Wine Valley Inn in Solvang, which is near Santa Barbara, with the ceremony at Old Mission Santa Inés, also in Solvang. Jenny is one of the sweetest people I have ever met and has a great sense of style so we were able to capture some wonderful moments while she was getting ready. She had this great cottage where a lot of her family and friends were getting ready and having a great time. Her family was so much fun and such a big group! The amazing part is just how close everyone is with each other, it was amazing to see all the love!
Tom and the guys were also at the Wine Valley Inn. Tom's a great guy and a perfect match for Jenny, you often hear people say "they were made for each other" which may sound a bit cliché but is so true for these two! We got some great shots of Tom and the guys before heading over to the Mission for the ceremony. Tom is this burly looking guy but he is also one of the nicest people I've been lucky enough to work with, it's so funny! The ceremony was beautiful and I found a great spot for the family photos out in the courtyard.
After that we headed over to the reception....WOW! Jenny, her family and Alyssah from Save the Date did such an great job with the design! Relatives were at the venue late into Friday night transforming the hall into an exception venue, very good work everyone! Lani at LBPS Events did an AMAZING job with the lighting, everything looked fantastic! Being a photographer who loves using lighting to enhance a scene, I can really appreciate what they did, it made my job even easier! Check out the dancing shot below, that was in the middle of the day which shows how good of work they do, all I had to do was add in some off camera strobes to balance to their accent light and it was beautiful!
The reception was a ton of fun and they even had a Photo Booth which is always a good time!
I will be getting together with Tom and Jenny again in about a week for a "Day After" shoot (yeah, I know, it's not really the 'day after' :) and can't wait to get to work on their wedding album as it will be delicious! I had such a great time, thanks to Jenny, Tom and their wonderful families!
This is such a small sampling of how many amazing image there are from this wedding! I want to put up more but I think I'll save it for my website :)

Website Update

2008-10-16T19:59:00.000-07:00

For everyone who hasn't already noticed, I'm in the process of updating my website. Seeing as it has been several months I figured it's about time! I just switched out all the intro slide-show images and added a gallery to the weddings section, I think it's much more representative of my total body of work. I'm going to be changing over the whole look of my website in the next few weeks (don't worry, the blue is staying) so that's all the changes for now but once I do the big change then you can expect to see several new weddings and a new engagement sessions section. A big thanks to my friend TJ for introducing me to "Buddy," the band who plays the first song on my site.

Dajin & Cecylia's San Francisco Wedding

2008-10-14T15:29:00.000-07:00

Dajin and Cecylia's wedding on October 4th was so much fun, I LOVE San Francisco weddings!
We started out at the Marriott on 3rd st with Cecylia and the rest of her bridesmaids in a beautiful suite overlooking downtown. I actually parked over at The Palace Hotel as we would be headed over their later but I had no idea that I would have to cross the Love Fest Parade! haha, you just never know what's going to happen in that town, that's what makes San Francisco such an awesome place! So after wading my way through thousands of people in various levels of undress, I headed up to Cecylia's and got to shoot for a couple hours before heading back to The Palace Hotel to shoot the guys and then Dajin and Cecylia's meeting.
They were so funny when they finally saw each other and their connection was so apparent that random people who were walking through the hotel were stopping and making well-wishes. I love it when we can have the bride and groom meet before the wedding because it gives a relaxed time for them to talk and admire each other. After we finished up at the hotel we headed over to Notre Dame Cathedral where Dajin and Cecylia were married. It is a beautiful Catholic Cathedral with so much great detail and they even let me set up a flash (very rare) to get some fabulous light!
When the ceremony was completed, we spent about an hour around the area shooting before heading over to one of my favorite restaurants, E&O Trading Co. The food was fabulous! The funny thing is that I have always wanted to shoot in the basement at E&O and I finally got my chance!
Dajin and Cecylia were such gracious hosts and super fun to be around. Thank you so much for having me! We got so many great images that I don't even know what to do with all of them! lol

Yes, I shoot weddings!

2008-10-08T15:45:00.000-07:00

Haha, I was just reading my last post and then looked back and was laughing because it looks like I shoot everything BUT weddings! In the past five weeks I have shot 5 weddings (and will hit my limit of 25 for the year in just a couple more weeks) and have shot various commercial and portrait jobs as well so it's funny to not see any wedding images here! I've been super busy getting all these weddings and other jobs turned around in a timely manner so I've been slacking on my postings. I also had a wonderful couple a few weeks ago who'd images I can't post because of the grooms job but I have 2 more weddings that I will be posting up her in the next few days.
I often am asked where I find inspiration and truly I find that the best inspiration comes from within when you feel challenged. And what better way to feel challenged than to shoot with some of the best photographers in the business? I don't get to do it all that often but I really love second shooting with friends as the pressure is off me and I can just experiment and try things I would never have the time for when I'm shooting for myself. Wether it's setting up 3 off camera lights for a reception or just finding new angles that I wouldn't normally try, second shooting can be awesome. Combine that with the fact that I am super fortunate to call some of the worlds top photographers my friends and that's a recipe for some great times! They challenge me to push myself and I usually end up quite inspired! A big thanks to all of my friends who have invited me to join them at some amazing weddings!

Here are a few images from Jennifer and Ming's wedding with Gene Higa. To all the Photographers who read my blog: GO SEE GENE SPEAK! It will help your business so much you won't believe it! I know he and Jason Groupp are having a workshop in NYC in just a few weeks and I think there is a spot or two left!
This first one is from the garden area in front of San Francisco City Hall (where the ceremony and reception were held).

Outside the beautiful St. Regis Hotel in San Francisco.

Jennifer and Ming's reception was AMAZING! Top SF coordinator Michelle Martinez showed why many consider her the best coordinator in the Bay Area.

This is from Shannon and Barney's Seattle wedding with Chris of Chris+Lynn. They were such a great couple! Not to mention that the wedding was at the most beautiful cathedral I've seen outside of Europe!

I had to throw in some night shots! We were at a beautiful members only club just up from the waterfront and the building was just too gorgeous not to include!

This is from much earlier this year when I shot with my good friend John Griffin. Charles was THE MAN! He was a ton of fun and really liked this "Godfather" look!

I shot Craig and Mary's wedding a couple months ago with the incomparable Ann Hamilton. I LOVED shooting with Ann, she is so laid back and it really puts everyone at ease! Craig and Mary were totally game to do just about whatever so we threw them behind a broken down street car on The Embarcadero in San Francisco and they really worked it!

Canada!

2008-10-08T15:10:00.000-07:00

Last week I headed up to Seattle to shoot with my friend Chris of Chris+Lynn. We had a great wedding and then headed up to Chris and Lynn's place near Vancouver. The first day we headed out to Stanley Park in Vancouver and road bikes around then went to some great places for dinner and drinks. Then next morning we all wanted to go hike so Chris, Lynn, TJ and I all headed back across the border so we could hike around Mt. Baker.
It took us awhile to get there but once we got on the trail it was truly beautiful! We hiked up to the side of a glacier and then just enjoyed the view. Here's a couple pics from the trip. I'll post some images from the wedding later this week.

Chris and Lynn just can't get enough of each other!

There's about a 200 foot drop just to my right, do I look nervous?

TJ trying out for a job for an outdoor clothing model!

I tried to get them into the water but seeing as that water was glacier about 5 minutes ago it was a bit cold!

Enjoying the view

I should have brought a reflector to fill in those shadows! lol

It was hard to not just sit and enjoy

This is Bob. Bob is our new cat, his brother Tom also lives with us. I forgot what a complete pain in the ass kittens can be! lol

Caitlin's Senior Pictures

2008-09-23T20:34:00.001-07:00

Stephanie's sister Caitlin lived with us this past summer while interning at a local CPA firm. We did a senior portrait session here in San Luis Obispo but the funny thing is that though she looks like a High School Senior, she is actually a Grad Student at the University of Tennessee! We all give her a hard time about looking so young but when she's 40 and looks 21 and we all look, well, older then she will get the last laugh!
Anyways, she was a great help around the house and was fun to shoot with. We'll all miss her this year but rumor has it that she might be coming back here for a job. I know our 3 year old Caiden will be extremely pleased!

Andrew and Sara at Robert Hall Winery

2008-09-15T08:32:00.000-07:00

I had a great time shooting my friend's Andrew and Sara's wedding! Andrew and I had worked together about 6 years ago at a winery in Paso Robles and have stayed friends since. With him being in sales and my work all over the country plus a family we don't get to hang out that often but it was fun be at he and Sara's wedding!
We started at the Paso Robles Inn with both Andrew and Sara getting ready in separate rooms before meeting up to spend some time together and doing some of the family pictures and a session of the two of them. I have to admit that I was a bit nervous as it was 108 degrees just two days before the wedding but it cooled off to a very comfortable 80 and sunny, it was a beautiful day! I know a few of Sara's bridesmaids so that made it very comfortable and a lot of fun to catch up with them.
Andrew was his usual easygoing and fun self, I swear I would freak out if I ever saw him stress out because the world would have to be coming to the end for that to happen! After some very funny moments when they met up out in the gardens, we shot some of the family photos and then a quick session of Andrew and Sara before heading over to Robert Hall Winery for the ceremony and reception. Robert Hall does a lot of weddings and it really shows. They are quite organized and it is a truly beautiful venue. Add in some great people, excellent food and perfect weather and you have a great wedding! The party lasted into the night and everyone had a great time.
Here's wishing Andrew and Sara many years of happiness!

Sara looking amazing!

Mr. Jones himself

The ladies in the cafe, gotta love the light here!

Sara's father is a High School photography teacher so she knows how to pose!

I love this shot of Andrew about minute before the ceremony. It's as nervous as I've ever seen him!

The ceremony was on the West side of Robert Hall looking over the vineyards

We did a quick session in the vineyard at sunset

Then I did some of my signature night shooting at the fountain. Every photographer uses this fountain but I think my take on it is very different from what others do! haha, how many shoot in total darkness!?

Robert Hall's rear patio at night, beautiful!

Weddings, Wineries and commercial, oh my!

2008-09-09T16:09:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, I haven't been updating my blog twice a week like I normally do! LOL, I know! This is by far the busiest time of the year for me, in the past month I've shot 4 weddings, 4 engagement sessions, 6 commercial jobs, 3 boudoir sessions and several portrait sessions. I've put another 5K miles on my car (the guys at the oil changing place know me well!) and have shot everywhere from San Francisco to Santa Barbara and pretty much everywhere between! I promise to catch back up on my blogging when things slow down but right now my priority is getting jobs turned around in a timely fashion. Sorry all you blog readers! haha!
But to keep you all satiated, here are some images.
This first image is from a boudoir session a few weeks ago. I love the mood of this image and it fits Mallory's style really well. Boudoir sessions (think Victoria Secret style shoots) are becoming the hottest thing since the Engagement Session. Many of my brides are doing them as gift albums for their husbands, it's a nice little gift that means a lot to the grooms. I also have done several sessions with brides and their bridesmaids where I go out to their bachelorette party and we spend a couple hours with each of them shooting their own session. It's a great gift from the bride and everyone's significant others are always very happy with the results!

This first one I created for the trainers at Urban Fit for their new website that should be out any day. Frank is the tough trainer who gets right in your face to work hard, Kandi takes more of the therapist approach! It a real "good cop, bad cop" thing they have going but I know some people who train with them and they swear by their results! Just looking at them makes me want to go do some sit-ups!

This next one is for a great newer winery that specializes in Port style wines, Roxo Cellars. These wines are fantastic, if you haven't had a good Port lately you should give these a try, awesome!

So I'll try to get an update with some of my weddings in the next few days. I have weddings in San Luis Obispo, Pismo Beach and Seattle Washington in the next couple weeks with some awesome couples so I will be sure to catch up soon!

Linda and Jack

2008-08-18T12:14:00.001-07:00

I had the privilege of getting to spend the day with Linda and Jack at their beautiful wedding up in the Oakland hills a couple weeks ago. I had such a good time with them and all the family and friends, it was a really great group of people! We got our start at the beautiful Claremont Resort where both Linda and Jack were getting ready. The Claremont is a classic resort originally built at the turn of the 20th Century for the Bay Area elite to play so there is a ton of historical images on the walls and fun places to shoot. Linda and Jack were both a bit nervous but were having a lot of fun while getting ready with their friends then they met up before the ceremony for some family images. It was so funny to see how much they relaxed when they finally got to be with each other. Haha, they are obviously perfect compliments for each other!
The ceremony was at the Piedmont Community Center which is a gorgeous park and ballroom in the Oakland hills. It was great to get to be so close to the city yet have a ceremony in the redwoods! Linda looked absolutely stunning and kept everyone guessing by starting out in a beautiful wedding gown, then changing into more traditional Korean dress before ending the night in a very hot Chinese dress.
It was a great evening and I can't wait to get started on their album. After I went through the wedding and selected only my very top favorites, I had over 200 images to go through! Haha, that will make for a fantastic album!
Linda and Jack, I had a great time and wish you many years of happiness together! Thank you and your families for having me.

Desiree and Chris's Los Gatos Engagement Photos

2008-08-06T10:36:00.000-07:00

Desiree and Chris are the kind of couple I just love to be around; when they are together they both just light up and become more than when they are apart. Probably 2 seconds into our session I saw not only just how in love with each other they are but also how much one of them is truly a part of the other! They are that couple that we all say "they were made for each other!"
We met up in Los Gatos, which is beautiful town about 50 miles south of San Francisco and near San Jose. I grew up just over the hill in Santa Cruz so it felt nice to be "home." We started out by heading up Highway 9 out of Saratoga into the Santa Cruz Mountains until we found a turnout on the side of a stream that had PERFECT lighting! It was right on the side of the road but the lighting was just amazing and the images were beautiful. Desiree and Chris were great, not even caring about the cars driving by with some even honking approval!
We then went just a little ways back down the road to a regional park then to the beautiful The Mountain Winery for an amazing view of the Silicon Valley before heading back to Los Gatos for some night shots downtown. We were expecting it to be pretty quiet, it being a Sunday evening, but downtown LG was hopping! I had shot down there not too long ago for a commercial so knew of a couple cool spots that would be a bit more quiet. Funny thing is, I don't think Chris and Desiree would have cared at all if I set them up right in the middle of main street! lol
I had a great time with you both and I can't wait to shoot your wedding down in Carmel!

This is one of my favorite images, the beautiful light and the overall feel really help illustrate how passionate Chris and Desiree are for each other

They couldn't stop having a good time!

Here's some of that gorgeous light

If you look closely, I think you can see them melting together!

haha, I love how Chris is checking out Desiree here!

Mark and Viviana's San Luis Obispo Wedding

2008-07-28T12:58:00.000-07:00

Mark and Viviana's wedding was last weekend at the Mission San Luis Obispo. You probably remember their engagement session which was shot all around the mission that I posted back in May. The big day finally arrived and they were both really excited. I started with Viviana at the Madonna Inn which is always a trip! If you've never been there, it is the funky hotel with the bright pink sign at the base of Cerro San Luis in SLO. There are underground rooms, nautical themed rooms, western themed rooms and pretty much every other bit of funky-ness you can imagine!
After Viviana was ready we headed over to the beautiful Mission San Luis Obispo, where I always enjoy shooting. It is a beautiful wedding venue and Father Miguel always performs a meaningful ceremony. After some family pictures we headed out for an hour of Bride and Groom session then back to Madonna Inn and got some really fun group and individual shots from inside the hotel.
Thanks so much to Viviana and Mark for having me, I had a great time!

Viviana looking amazing!

This was shot pretty much at the spot where Viviana and Mark met

All the ladies looking amazing at the bar at Madonna Inn

The guys trying hard to one-up the ladies, sorry guys...

I couldn't resist this composition, so surreal!

My take on a classical couple

I love this shot of the cake, it reminds me of Alice in Wonderland and is totally fitting for Madonna Inn!

Brian and Sophie in Carmel

2008-07-17T16:37:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I headed up to San Francisco for a beautiful wedding with my good friend John Griffin (more from that wedding later) and stopped by Pacific Grove to meet with Brian and Sophie for their engagement session. The smoke from the Big Sur fires was a concern but seeing as it ended up being super foggy it didn't really matter in the end!
Both Brian and Sophie are Biologists by trade and by lifestyle. They thoroughly enjoy the outdoors and being in nature, being that I am an avid cyclist we all get along really well! Brian is a self described "Bird Nerd" who not only works tracking bird populations but he is also a bird photographer and avid bird watcher. It was really cool to be walking through the forest and he knew the names of every bird we saw and could even identify them by their call. I might just borrow his bazooka of a lens, the Canon 500mm f/4, just to have some fun with at the wedding. Being that the combined weight with my camera would be about 13lbs, I might have to bring a third assistant just to lug it around!

Sophie and Brian were a ton of fun to work with and have such a great time with each other.

Walking down Asilomar Beach

I couldn't resist the comparison to birding, lol

Wasatch leading the way!

In front of the Carmel City Hall

Even time/a couple recent FILM (gasp!) wedding pics

2008-07-08T17:45:00.000-07:00

With all the pics of Kyla we haven't seen much of Caiden! Here's a funny one I shot with my trusty Holga film camera. I love this shot, if I ever had a band it would be my band's poster! I have not edited this image, this is how it came out of the camera.

And here a couple shots from a recent wedding with my friend Gene Higa. I have to also congratulate Gene on being named Top 10 Wedding Photographer of 2008!
It was a beautiful wedding out in the Livermore area with a very fun couple, Will and Andrea. I shot a ton (of course) but these are just a couple of my favorites from the film I shot. I find it really funny that I will take 1,000 digital images and yet my favorites are usually from the film though I only shoot maybe 100 frames of film! Part of what I love about film is the amazing and soft skin tones I get. The other part is that you can't look at a LCD to see what you captured so you really have to concentrate and trust your skill as a photographer to get great images! Plus, at more than $1.75 for every time I push the shutter button, you want to be sure that every shot is a great shot!

It was really windy so we had a fun time trying to keep that long veil under control!

I love this shot of the Fathers talking. There is something so amazing about the look of a good and grainy black and white film when combined with a rangefinder camera! I love the mood and feel of this image.

LOL, yes, I even use my $12 Holga camera for ceremony shots!

Hanging in San Francisco

2008-07-01T15:44:00.000-07:00

Ok, I hear you...I've been terrible about updating my blog! I know, I know! LOL. I've got several weddings, a couple boudoir shoots, 3 engagement sessions and many more pictures of Kyla to blog about, now I just need to find the time to get them up here!
I'm in San Francisco right now hanging with my friends Gene, Ann and Bogie (above) and had to get a picture of these crazy little Jamaican rum bottles. They're definitely one of those "Only in Jamaica" kind of things (Gene and Ann just shot a wedding there ). I'm thinking they would make good chess pieces... hmm, rum and Coke is sounding kind of good though!

ouch!

2008-06-16T10:45:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I raced my first mountain bike race in 13 years and had a really fun time. I headed up to the CCCX race in Monterey and raced the sport class (there are 4 classes; Beginner, Sport, Expert and Pro, with the non-pro categories broke up by age groups 19-34, 35-44, 45+) and actually did fairly well all things considered.
The race started out pretty fast, climbed up a hill then a fast descent. I came off that descent in about 4th place, reached down to grab my water bottle and found nothing there! It had bounced out of my cage in the first 5 minutes of racing! I had a small 16oz bottle but that's how much I normally drink in 1/2 an hour and this would be a 1 1/2 hour race! About 20 minutes into the race I remember thinking "Wow, this is really painful, why am I doing this?" LOL After the first lap I settled in and started to feel better.
The 3rd lap (of 4) I took it kind of easy hoping to put in a really good time on the 4th but the lack of water really caught up with me so I couldn't push it but still actually enjoyed being out there. It definitely cost me a few minutes by loosing my water but I made the best of it and was satisfied with my performance. All said and done, I placed 8th of 14 riders in my class and was 6 minutes behind the winner on a 22 mile course.
While I have no illusions of "going pro" this sort of racing is really fun and gives a great sense of accomplishment. That was definitely one of the hardest 1 1/2 hour rides I've ever done and I plan on heading back in 2 weeks for the next round of the series!

Mark and Viviana's SLO engagement session

2008-06-12T13:30:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess it's time to make some non-baby related posts again! lol, life has been a bit nuts with two kids but we're all adjusting to the demands. Kyla sleeps fairly well (for a newborn) but likes to be held ALL the time! Stephanie always wanted Caiden to be more cuddly but I think she's thinking she needs to be careful what she wishes for now! Good times.

Mark and Viviana are getting married next month at the Mission in San Luis Obispo so we figured what better place to do their engagement session than at the Mission. Wedding day's can get so hectic that taking the time to do an engagement session at or near where the wedding takes place is never a bad idea, especially when you are right next to the beautiful downtown of SLO.
We started out on the steps outside the Mission and then ended up wandering around the next couple blocks shooting all we had time for. That part of town has a real Chinese influence so we got some images that reflect that as well. Mark and Viviana are awesome people who are great together. They are both Architects so I was sure to incorporate plenty of interesting architectural features in the images as well! Their wedding is coming up real soon so look out for more. They are having the reception at the wacky and fun Madonna Inn so check back for some super fun...and pink!...images!

Kyla's birth story

2008-05-27T14:27:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick slideshow I made from the day of Kyla's birth. I prefer the look of film for really emotional times so I'm super happy with how this all came out as the prints are stunning and it shows an amazing day in our lives. Sorry, I had to put down the camera for the super hard contractions :)

Kyla one week old

2008-05-22T20:24:00.000-07:00

So some of you think it's really fun to give me, as a photographer, a hard time about not getting many pictures up right away! Explanations about how the film is at the lab and will be back Thursday just don't seem to appease you so here you go, all the baby Kyla pictures you can handle! I will still post up the stuff from our time in the hospital as soon as it gets here. These are just some quick pics from bath-time.

Kyla Janette is here

2008-05-14T20:06:00.000-07:00

After a long 9 months and 12 hours of intense labor, Kyla Janette is here! 7lbs, 2oz of healthy baby girl arrived last night around 1am after Stephanie went through a 12 hour induced labor with no pain medications! I can't believe how tough Steph is, I was truly amazed by her incredible strength! I will post much more about all this later but wanted to get a single image up now of Caiden enjoying becoming a big brother :)

Game Time!

2008-05-12T23:34:00.000-07:00

The Doctor decided that considering all the complications Stephanie had the first time around that she will be induced tomorrow. So if I'm a bit behind this week now you know why!
I'm sure I'll have a long story to follow :)

Jenny and Tom in San Luis Obispo

2008-05-08T12:26:00.000-07:00

Jenny and Tom are an awesome couple whom I met out in Avila Beach last week for their engagement session. We started at Mr. Rick's playing pool and having a couple drinks before heading over to an old barn and then on to San Luis Obispo. I love starting engagement sessions an hour or so before sunset so that we can get great afternoon light, beautiful sunsets and a bit of night time drama where I can break out all my off-camera lighting. It also gives us plenty of time to cover several locations.
It was really funny, Jenny thought Tom might be a bit shy in front of the camera but he was a natural! They have a great connection with each other and it really shows in their images. I can't wait to photograph them again!
I'm really looking forward to their wedding later this year. It's going to be a beautiful affair down in Santa Ynez, Jenny has some awesome plans that are going to make for some amazing memories!

Shooting Film in Napa with John

2008-05-04T13:47:00.001-07:00

About two weeks ago I headed up to Calistoga Ranch (which is in the Napa Valley) to shoot a wedding with my buddy John. John could easily have handled this small wedding himself but his wife was due the following day with their first child so I went up just in case he got "The Call." Luckily that did not happen; John and Jody had their daughter several days later, congratulations guys!
Calistoga Ranch is a beautiful location and was a joy to shoot at. It was super windy but Jenny and Daniel braved the elements and still had an outdoor ceremony. I wanted to post a couple of B+W film shots I took with my new rangefinder 35mm camera. Both these images were shot in almost total darkness inside a wine cave with just a few candles for lighting. It was quite a difficult shoot, technically, but these two image really capture the feel for the wedding.
For anyone curious, I do shoot both film and digital. Both have their strengths and weaknesses but I believe that combining them to only use the strengths gives a much broader look than shooting all of one or the other.

OK, I couldn't resist posting just one digital shot :)

Linda and Jack Engagement Session

2008-04-26T23:45:00.000-07:00

First of all, let me apologize for being so bad about blogging lately, I've been so busy, sorry! I've actually only been home 1 day in the past 8 and have been working like crazy. Lots of exciting stuff to talk about, but more on that later.
Last Sunday I met up with Linda and Jack for their engagement session. Let me just say that these guys were a blast! If that first picture above doesn't say everything about our shoot then nothing can. We headed out from Alameda over to San Francisco on a crisp but sunny day but by the end the wind was really blowing which made for some really fun shots! Jack and Linda were really game for whatever so we went to several locations and had a great time.
And a big thanks to Linda for noticing so quickly I left my reflector in the car before I got too far away! I'm really looking forward to their wedding, it is going to be amazing and they are such fun people that I know it's going to be a highlight of the year!

Photoforthepeople.com Interview

2008-04-16T16:50:00.000-07:00

My new friends, and awesome photographers, Michael and Anna Costa just interviewed me on their up and coming photography forum, Photoforthepeople.com. In it I share a bunch of behind the scenes stuff about how I using lighting to create some of my images. You can see the interview here.
Thanks so much to Michael and Anna for featuring my work, I am honored!

Here's the diagram for the above image. I shot this image while helping out the awesome duo of Chris+Lynn last fall up in Vancouver. And no, I don't know how to quickly draw a nice curved line so don't laugh at me! :)

Cool shot

2008-04-14T17:30:00.000-07:00

I don't talk about it much but I actually do quite a bit of photography for commercial clients like wineries, manufacturer's and restaurants. Normally it's all pretty boring stuff (thus why I don't mention it!) but I do enjoy the challenge it presents. Technically, commercial shooting is way more difficult than shooting portraits or weddings but it mostly lacks the creativity that I really enjoy. But every once in awhile I play around a little bit and get something I really like this this shot of Jim Kish of Kish Fabrication welding a bottom bracket on a custom titanium bike.

Vegas Boudoir

2008-04-08T22:31:00.000-07:00

I've been getting lot's of requests lately from my brides for boudoir. Now, I don't do the old-school glamor boudoir you might be thinking of, nor do I shoot nudes, but I do shoot fashionable and beautiful images that husbands really seem to love! :) We've done these in all styles from this sort fashion sexy look to classic '40's pinup; it's really fun and makes a great gift.
Here's a little sample from a recent shoot in Vegas, we rented a suite at Planet Hollywood and had a great time. Kasia's husband was very pleased with the results!

2008-04-01T11:20:00.001-07:00

Before I headed out to Las Vegas I swung by San Diego for Steve and Suzanne's engagement photos. They are a really fun couple who's wedding will be in Yosemite next year so we wanted to get some variety by also shooting down there. We met up in the morning near Balboa Park and ran all over the place getting some great shots. They even brought their dog, Tanner, who was a riot! That dog had so much energy it was amazing, both my dogs are older so I had forgotten just how much energy a 2 year old can have! He pretty much took over the shoot but my favorite shot is that top one so I can't complain...he knows how to work the camera!

I'm really looking forward to Suzanne and Steve's wedding! I love shooting in Yosemite and it sounds like they have some really great plans!

This shot here is on film. I shoot mostly digital but find some shots just look better on film as the softness and color is just impossible to imitate with digital. It looks even better printed!

Vegas! WPPI '08

2008-03-27T15:26:00.000-07:00

Wow, I've now been home for exactly one week and I'm am just now feeling normal again, what a great time! I left on Saturday afternoon to head down to San Diego for an engagement shoot. The drive was kind of brutal but I had my latest book on tape from audible.com so it was all good. Saturday night I met up with my friends and past bride and groom Angie and Brian for some drinks and dinner. The next morning, after the engagement (I'll post those soon!) I drove out to Vegas where I had a shoot then the festivities began.
I met tons of great people and had an awesome time. Not much sleep though! The convention is the largest of the year and brings together pretty much everyone in the wedding and portrait photography industry. It is a far cry from my everyday life in little San Luis Obispo! I get the chance to hang out with many good friends, meet the vendors I use and check out new products that are offered. Basically, it is the same as any other tradeshow but you know me, I always manage to have a good time wherever I go :)

Brian and Angie

Jason Groupp,Aimee Cooper and Me at some party...not sure who's as we went to a ton of them but I think it was at my new friend Sara France's.

Gene, who I have far more embarrassing images of but I won't do that to him! We're making fun of modes...sorry, the patron was flowing so it seemed funny at the time...

The San Francisco Crew, left to right
Jesse, John, Augie, someone I don't know (sorry) and Gene

John with his girlie drink our server set him up with!

Gene and Angelica oh my, after this we had the most wild limo ride ever! That was too fun!

My new favorite Southern Girls! Amy Martin and Mary Beth Tyson. That isn't my arm, but that would be funny if my hands were that feminine!

Jason got a really weird fortune out of a giant fortune cookie...only in Vegas!

Almost missed this one so I'm adding it in. Jefferson Todd, me and Aimee

What a great time, I'm looking forward to next year! So much more fun stuff, I had 7 shoots over the past 2 weeks so I've got tons of blogging to catch up on. But you know how it goes, you leave for a week and it takes a month to make it up!

WPPI Photo Contest Winner

2008-03-21T10:47:00.000-07:00

I just got back from the annual Wedding and Portrait Photographer's International convention in Las Vegas and yes, I'm exhausted! I will post more about it after I get some rest.
One thing I am very excited about is that I got an "Accolade of Excellence" in the 16x20 photo contest for the above image of Becky! Becky is stunning and looks great in this image and I'm honored by the recognition!

Eric and Hayley's Paso Robles Engagement Session

2008-03-11T13:02:00.001-07:00

Last week Eric, Hayley and I headed over to a couple of local Paso Robles wineries for some engagement photos before their June wedding. Conveniently enough, Hayley is an assistant winemaker at Summerwood Winery so we had access to all of their beautiful grounds and vineyards. Heck, we even used the production facility!
It was a beautiful and warm afternoon, the kind we wait all winter to enjoy. So warm in fact that Eric and Hayley were wearing flip-flops! You have to love California's Central Coast in March! They are both really quite funny, especially around each other. It was cool to see how they would communicate more with glances and body movement than with words, it's the kind of thing only people truly in love can do and it was beautiful to watch.
After running around Summerwood we headed across Highway 46 West to Peachy Canyon Winery just as the sun was setting. The light spilled through the trees and into the vineyards creating a very surreal environment. I did not know, but Peachy Canyon is now accepting weddings at their facility. It's a beautiful venue, I would love to shoot a wedding there sometime. We even found a fun little tunnel and played around in there before getting some night shots and wrapping it up.
Thanks again to Eric and Hayley, I'm really looking forward to hanging out with you again and am excited for your wedding!

Christina Bridal Images

2008-03-01T15:06:00.000-08:00

Last week I headed over to Eagle Castle Winery which is just over the hill from me in Paso Robles to shoot some Bridal images with the beautiful Christina. Eagle Castle is a newer winery with a ton of great spots to shoot. They also have some fantastic wines as well...you didn't think I would go and not try them did you? They are quickly growing to become one of the premiere wedding venues in San Luis Obispo county and after shooting there I can see why!
We started off inside in the Library which is baroque in design and quite stunning. The fabrics and interesting metal work made for a wonderful setting that just needed some touches of my lighting to really make them come out. We then headed up the grand staircase for some natural light shots. I have to say that I wasn't expecting to get much natural light inside a castle but the architects did an great job of keeping the design but also adding in windows to allow for beautiful natural light. I was completely prepared to shoot all with strobes and ended up hardly using them at all!
We then headed out onto the patios and then the vineyards themselves. The sun went behind a hill just to the west of Eagle Castle and shaded the entire venue (which would be awesome during the hot summer months) but left the far hills lit and gave us some of the best natural light I have ever had. It was a great shoot, Christina was amazing and the venue was perfect! I love my job!

The dresses are from Central Coast Wedding Center in San Luis Obispo. Kim, the owner, is fantastic to work with and has an amazing selection. I was very surprised by the wide selection when we were picking out the dresses for this shoot, she's got everything, I'm going to tell all of my brides to check there before driving to Santa Barbara or San Francisco!
Thanks again to Eagle Castle Winery for allowing us to use the facility for this shoot, it was amazing!

Death Valley

2008-02-25T13:13:00.000-08:00

Last week I headed out to Death Valley to meet up with my friends for some fun and photography. Meeting me there were Jason Groupp, John Griffin, TJ Cameron and Tim Halberg. It was a great opportunity for a bunch of wedding photographers to get together and do something different! We got there on Tuesday afternoon after stopping at one of my favorite diner's in Mojave, Primo Burgers. Note: when you go to a burger place, stick with the burgers! haha, some of us learned that lesson the hard way! It was pretty overcast and the light was flat so we just kind of setup camp and hung out. I cooked up my "college special" of macaroni and cheese mixed with chili and corn, mmmmmm!
The next day we were up early and headed over to the sand dunes but the light was completely flat, we couldn't even see our own shadows. Most of Wednesday we spent sightseeing by checking out old mines and ghost towns. I got some kind of cool shots in the rain (yes, it was raining!) of one of the towns but it's all on film which I don't have back yet. That night we consumed plenty of frothy adult beverages then woke up at 6am to shoot at Zabriski point the next day.
Zabriski is well photographed but the light was good so we shot away. It was pretty funny to see all the other wannabe nature photogs out there (I definitely include myself in this category!) as people were taking pictures of all sorts of things! It was a total nerd pack! LOL
I had developed a real bad cold by this point so I was taking it pretty easy and didn't really get to shoot as much as I wanted but the light was hit or miss so it was not big deal. That afternoon we jumped in my Jeep and motored out to the Racetrack. The Racetrack is that weird dry lakebed where the rocks somehow slide along and leave tracks behind them. It is a really cool place but there were high winds so we didn't stay all that long. We did manage to get some good shots of all the wildflowers that are starting to bloom which was beautiful. I think I will head back on my way home from Vegas next month as all the other colors of flowers ought to be blooming by then.
If you have never been to Death Valley I strongly recommend checking it out. It is the least visited National Park so you are guaranteed no crowds which makes it worth it right there!

These pics are just what I shot as extra's from my digital camera. When I get my film back I will get some more fun shots up.

The flowers aren't quite all that thick yet, it needs another rain. This was near Salt Creek.

The view from Zabriski Point

Laying on the ground was the only way out of the relentless wind out at the Racetrack!

Some sort of interesting desert plant. I love how everything in the desert is all about texture and form.

Here's a pic of the moon just before the total lunar eclipse. It was pretty amazing, it completely covered the moon for about an hour. It got super dark so the stars became very vivid, it was one of the most star filled skies I have ever seen!

New Look!

2008-02-15T12:10:00.000-08:00

If you have been to my splash page or my main website you will probably notice a new look for me. I've been working for quite awhile on this stuff and finally finished the new logo in early January. Then it was a matter of picking out the right colors and then doing the html coding to make it all come together. Phew! This stuff is harder than it looks!
I would have been done sooner but January was an extremely busy month for wedding and commercial bookings so I want to take a moment to welcome all my new couples and clients and say how excited I am to be chosen as your photographer! I am blessed to be shooting some really awesome couples at some incredible venues and also to get to shoot some great products and beautiful models.
Soon I'll be heading out to the desert with my friends Jason Groupp of New York, TJ Cameron from Portland and Tim Halberg of Santa Barbara. John might even join us too! These are some of the top wedding photographers in the country so we are all going out to do some nature photography and enjoy some time shooting purely for fun! I'll be shooting mostly film so it will take a bit to get pictures up but I fully expect to get some great new shots for my office and home, maybe I will even put out some limited edition prints while I'm at it :)

Some fun video

2008-02-09T12:48:00.000-08:00

I've never posted video here before (I am a still photographer afterall!) but I thought it would be fun to post up this video of a jump I build behind my house. This is the sort of silliness that I can't do during the wedding season as I don't want to risk breaking my arm! ...As if it's okay to break my arm in the off season LOL!

Caiden's bike

2008-01-24T08:09:00.000-08:00

Most everyone knows that I ride my bikes everyday, but did you know that Caiden does too? Wether it is with me in his trailer, his new "blue bike," or his indoor stationary bike/video game, he rides for hours every day!
The attached pics are from Christmas day when Caiden took his first ride. We went almost 2 miles!

Christmas morning- Caiden rode his bike around the living room and kitchen until I could get him calmed down enough to put on some clothing for a ride outside!

Looking down a bit too much!

He's really having fun now, he picked it up really quickly.

We rode a big loop to the park where Caiden was riding his bike from one play structure to the next...and back...and forth...and back...and forth!

I'm thinking he will have the training wheels off sometime this spring (he'll turn 3 in April). He loves to follow me around the driveway and try to bunnyhop and do wheelies like daddy. Funny thing is that with all this time of cruising around the driveway I'm actually starting to get pretty good at wheelies :)

Busy times...

2008-01-14T09:02:00.000-08:00

I thought I would share a couple more modeling shots just for fun. It is only a very small part of the year that I get to shoot purely for myself so I'm squeezing in as many of these as I can manage between meetings with brides (this is the busiest time of the year for wedding bookings).

This February I have some very interesting fashion shoots planned with some very talented designers as well as a trip out to the desert with a bunch of other top wedding photographers to "recharge" ourselves with something different. Knowing the group who is coming, I'm guessing there is going to be some pretty funny blog material from that trip!

I often get questions from other photographers about my lighting so I'm going to start explaining a bit more. Sorry to anyone who isn't interested, you can just skip this part! :)
All three of these images were shot at iso 320
The top shot used 2 lights; one strobe bounced from an umbrella as the key from camera left and a smaller one shot directly at the model from camera right to create the accent light. f/6.3 @ 1/60
The second shot used basically the same lighting but both lights are un-diffused and from the opposite sides. f/7.1 1/50
The third shot used 2 lights, each at about 45 degrees to the model, both un-diffused and shot at about a 1:4 ratio. f/7.1 @ 1/80

A bit of fashion

2008-01-05T09:10:00.000-08:00

This being the slow season for weddings and engagement shoots, I figured I would post up a couple images from some recent fashion shoots. Many wedding photographers take the winter months to relax and enjoy some much deserved time off after a long wedding season. However, I find this is the best time to push myself creatively by taking jobs in fashion and doing fine art work for myself, it is kind of like recharging my creative batteries! I really enjoy the challenge and love to continually push myself to be an even better photographer.

A bit of change

2007-12-23T20:54:00.000-08:00

I mentioned a couple months ago that change is in the air. Well, after quite a bit more work than I was expecting my new look and some much awaited updates will start happening this week! I'm really excited as these updates will do much to better represent me and to serve my clients.
The first thing most people will notice is my logo update. The background pattern will show up in many places as will the "Colin Michael Photographer" logo. The frame around "Colin Michael Photographer" will be used where appropriate. I really like the background as it has the look of vintage wallpaper to me, I love it! Be aware that the page that comes up when you type in www.colinmichaelphoto.com will soon be changing so don't be surprised!
The next major change is to my client area where I have just introduced a new e-commerce site. The new system is much more user friendly and offers so much more flexibility! I will now be able to offer gift registries, gift certificates, and even albums directly to registered users. Registration is super easy, just name and email so that the system can keep track of your favorite images and any orders you place. If anyone has images saved on the old cart, I can email you the link to that site which I will keep running through mid-January. As a special promotion, I am offering a 20% coupon as a "thank you" to everyone who orderins within the next month, just enter "SLO" into the coupon code when checking out. The coupon will be good for one month from today and can not be combined with other offers.
I should mention that some events are hidden and others are not yet posted. If there is an event you wish to see, please contact me.
I also recently added a couple of new weddings to the site and will be adding a couple more in the coming weeks. I also plan to launch a new website with personal art from my fashion work and landscapes, but that is a bit further down the line.
I'm really excited about all the changes and hope they better serve all of you. If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please contact me or leave a message here.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone!

Brenna and Joshua's Pismo Beach Wedding

2007-12-11T19:35:00.000-08:00

There is just nothing like a good beach wedding! Don't get me wrong, I completely take for granted that the beach is right here and I shoot several beach weddings every year, but in the end I always love them. There is just something so unique about getting to photograph a wedding at the beach, I always remind myself that it is such a privilege to be able to a photographer who gets such amazing venues to shoot. The light has a magical quality that permeates every image and inspires me. Add two people very much in love and it makes for some great images!
Josh and Brenna were married in Pismo Beach just about a week ago and I had the opportunity to share the day with them. They are a really great couple and are just perfect for each other. Everyone was a bit concerned as the day before the wedding the weather was very cold, windy and a bit rainy, but it cleared up and was a beautiful December day. Everything went really smoothly, the weather was great and their families were awesome! Thank you so much for having me!

Knocked up!

2007-12-10T09:30:00.000-08:00

Nice title, right? :)
So in case you were wondering why my blogging has been so bad for the past month or so it is because Stephanie is pregnant with our second child. Check out that thumbs up in the ultra sound! Uh, at least that's what I see!
We are stoked on having another kid (we find out the sex this week) but unfortunately Stephanie has been having a really hard time having been diagnosed with Hyperemesis Gravidarum. She spent a bit of time in the hospital and has been on bed rest for about a month now. She had it with her first pregnancy too but thankfully this doctor is taking it much more seriously than her last one. She is at 17 weeks right now so hopefully she will start to get well enough to move around soon. The good part is that Steph says the delivery is actually the easiest part of pregnancy!
Anyways, thanks to everyone for the well-wishes we have already received and know that they are very much appreciated!
I also attached an image of Caiden who loves to put on daddy's bike gear and pretend to be a bike rider, it is pretty funny. Walking around Avila Beach in bike shoes with big plastic cleats on the toes isn't easy for a 2 year old!

Yosemite Wedding

2007-11-27T12:10:00.000-08:00

A couple weekends ago I headed up to Yosemite to help my friend John Griffin shoot Emily and Will's wedding. I arrived Friday evening after dark and checked into our cabin. After a bit of confusion because of some odd bugs in our beds (yikes!) we switched rooms into the bug free cabin you see in the pictures. We headed over to the Ahwahnee Lodge to meet with the couple, who were incredibly nice people, and to get a bite to eat. When you are out in the woods you don't really think about dressing nicely so we actually weren't allowed into the dinning room because we didn't have collared shirts! The bar suited us just fine however :)
When you arrive in Yosemite at night then wake up in daylight you are so awestruck by the cliffs, it is stunning. The next morning I did the standard, "walk-out-the-door-look-up-stand-with-jaw-hanging" that every tourist does. My intention was to run 4 or 5 miles but I got caught up in the beauty of the place so ended up running more like 10 miles. I can see my friend TJ Cameron shaking his head at that after our extended run in New York City a couple months ago! But it was gorgeous and the weather was perfect, what was I supposed to do!?
What a great place for a beautiful destination wedding! We started off shooting the ladies at the Ahwahnee then headed over to the Yosemite Lodge to shoot the guys. The ceremony itself was by the Ahwahnee with the reception inside one of the dinning rooms. The surroundings at the ceremony was breathtaking. I had a great time and have to thank John again for inviting me along. Thanks to Emily and Will and their families for being such gracious hosts as well.

Front of our cabin

Here is what my run was like, can you blame me for staying out too long!?

Will is 6'5" so it seemed appropriate to frame him with Half Dome!

The view over the head table

The details were perfect

Just a fun portrait

I always get a variety of portraits so parents have something they like too

John posing while I check the lighting setup

The results of the lighting

Bowling and Halloween

2007-11-13T18:29:00.000-08:00

It must be in the gene's because Caiden loves bowling! Not that either Steph or I are avid bowlers but back in college we both took bowling for PE credits and used to play whenever it was a rainy day. The only problem was that Caiden doesn't want to wait his turn for his frame so we had to get him his own lane! He played 3 games in the time we played only one!
The other pic is from Halloween night when the downtown merchants in Paso Robles hand out candy for kids. We found Eli and Calista (and their parents of course!) while we were walking around and they all had to stop to try some candy.

Rob and Elisa's Sacramento Wedding

2007-11-11T19:48:00.000-08:00

One of the great things about shooting weddings at destinations away from home is finding great new locations to explore, even better when they are not all that far away! Sacramento is overlooked by many on the coast as most people think of LA and San Francisco as being the centers for excitement and urban life in California. Well, I can now add Sacramento to the list of great California cities with nightlife filled downtowns, beautiful and historic neighborhoods and plenty to do.
I headed up to San Francisco the night before Rob and Elisa's wedding and stayed with my long time friend Jen and her husband Rodger (thanks guys!). The next morning I headed out from their place for a quick run down to Baker Beach and then headed out to meet Elisa at the Sheraton Grand Sacramento Hotel which is just down from the State Capitol Building. Elisa is part of a large and extremely fun Portuguese family so there were tons of fun moments and everyone had a great time. Elisa is probably one of the funniest people I know and she is so well balanced with Rob, they are perfect for each other.
The ceremony was at a beautiful church in Mid-town, Sacrad Heart Parish. Rob's choir performed all the songs, I wish I would have gotten an recording because they are truly amazing! After the ceremony when headed back to the Capitol Park for some pictures then the party began at the reception.
I had a great time and have to thank Rob and Elisa for having me as well as Chris and Danielle for helping out. I can't wait to head back up there to hang out with everyone again!

Email Issues

2007-11-02T18:56:00.001-07:00

I love where I live but the one problem is that my internet is a bit unreliable! Unfortunately, my ISP has been having issues so much of my outgoing email has not been getting through. If you have tried to contact me in the last couple of weeks and are waiting for a response please let me know as I have no way of knowing what is getting through and what isn't.
Know that I am doing everything I can to resolve this and should have everything back to normal next week.

Mike and Beth's Carmel and Monterey Wedding

2007-10-30T12:36:00.000-07:00

Last week I had the privilege to shoot Mike and Beth's wedding in Carmel, California. I was really excited coming into the weekend because this would be my smallest wedding of the year with less than 10 people. It is so fun to shoot intimate weddings because I really get to share in the day and get to know everyone who is there.
We started out at the Salon at Lincoln Lane where Beth and her daughter Laura were getting their hair and makeup done. Gaspar and Carrie took great care of us before we headed back to the beautiful Old Monterey Inn. The Inn was an amazing location that I can't wait to visit again and provided a great location for bridal shots! It was so good in fact that I'm going back to shoot a bridal fashion shoot there later in the year.
We then loaded up and headed down to Carmel Beach for the ceremony. Is was pretty breezy but warm enough and the light was gorgeous! It was so cool to have a very free ceremony where everyone was very much a part of the wedding and yet could feel the sand between their toes. Everyone was so happy for Mike and Beth and had a great time, I was totally honored to be a part of such a beautiful wedding.

Down time

2007-10-23T21:59:00.000-07:00

My friends Tim and Cheryl Halberg stayed a night with us last weekend. It was a quick visit as they had dinner plans Friday and I had a Carmel wedding on Saturday but it was still great to see them. Tim ran up my back hill in flip-flops and got a couple quick pics of me showing him one of my trails. The jump is a little step-down jump that doesn't look like much but really puts you in the air for a long distance, it's pretty fun for a little guy. I'm all laid up with a nasty cold right now so I can't do much of anything, including riding my bike, so these pictures are making me even more anxious to get back out and ride!
And yes, my dogs get to go on rides with me, aren't they spoiled!

Meghan & Richard's Paso Robles Wedding

2007-10-22T11:47:00.000-07:00

I am often far off shooting destination weddings but last week I had the opportunity to shoot Meghan and Richard's wedding in Paso Robles at the River Oaks Hot Springs and Spa. It was great to be a part of their day and being just 15 minutes from home was even sweeter!
We started the day at the salon with the girls then headed over to the beautiful Villa Toscana where the girls got ready. The guys went over to the steakhouse for lunch and drinks then met up with us for pictures before the ceremony. I am very respectful of tradition but I also really enjoy mixing it up! In that vein, we had Meghan and Richard meet before hand so that we could shoot more at Villa Toscana and so that we could have the ceremony just before sunset for the best lighting. It worked out really well as the sunset really made for some beautful moments during the ceremony.
A big thanks goes out to my friend Tim Co. for flying all the way from France to shoot with me!

Change is in the air...

2007-10-15T08:14:00.000-07:00

Now that things are starting to slow down a bit I finally have time to catch up on some things...and in the interest of never getting any real down-time...I am now in the middle of a make-over of Colin Michel Photo along with my logo and other branding. I'm really excited about this as I have not really updated my website with new images in almost a year! I am going to do my best to make all the changes over-night and will let you know as soon as it all happens, so keep your eyes out for some exciting new things over the next few weeks!

Elisa and Rob's foothills e-shoot

2007-10-14T21:18:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, after my Tahoe bike ride, I went back down to Placerville and met up with Rob and Elisa for their engagement shoot. We met up at Starbucks (which is always difficult as there are so many different Starbucks even in a small town!) then headed up the hill to Boeger Winery which was really pretty and had some amazingly red colored vines. There is so much iron in the soil up there that, combined with their climate, it allows some of the vines to have even more intense fall colors than most other regions. The winery was actually first started during the 1850's gold rush so there were some really interesting old buildings to work with, we had a great time and even tried some wine :)
We then headed back into town and had some dinner then headed back out to do a bit of night shooting which is always my favorite time to shoot! I'm really looking forward to shooting Elisa and Rob's wedding here in a couple weeks as they are really fun people and they have an amazing connection with each other.

Like Father, Like Son!

2007-10-09T10:10:00.000-07:00

After my last post you all know that I love riding bikes so I had to share these pics from this morning of my son Caiden learning to ride his tricycle. He has been riding in the trailer behind my bike for over a year and loves to push his tricycle around but has only just learned to pedal it.

You can just about see the 'wheels' turning in his head!

"My feet are on but now what?"

He's trying really hard here :)

Now he's rolling along!

He is really getting the hang of it and now is asking me to let him take it on the jumps! I'm sure In no time he will be up on two wheels hitting my jumps, berms and drops!

Lake Tahoe

2007-10-08T22:35:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a real quick trip to Sacramento and Lake Tahoe for an engagement session which was a blast! But more about that later :)
I stayed with my long time friends Ian and Casey and their two kids at their home just above Placerville. Ian and I rode and raced mountain bikes together all through high school and both still ride as much as possible. We headed up the hill to Tahoe with Ian's friend Jerry (also an ex-racer) at the wheel to squeeze in a ride before we all had work to do. As soon as we pulled up we knew we were in for a pretty unique experience as there was way more snow than we expected! The ride started at about 7,000 feet, dropped down to the town of Meyers, which is near South Lake Tahoe, then headed up to about 8,500 feet where Mr. Toads trail begins. As we got close to the top the snow went from patches to a solid blanket but was only about 4 inches deep and offered enough traction to still ride.
Truly, the downhill was the most fun I have ever had! The downhill is about 5 or 6 miles long and was completely snow covered 3/4 of the way down. I managed to only crash twice and had the time of my life. All said and done, we rode just about 30 miles with a little more than 4,000 feet of climbing in about 3 1/2 hours which wasn't bad considering how much the snow slowed us down.
I can't wait to ride that trail again though I have a feeling that it will never be quite as much fun as it was yesterday.

Sorry I didn't take more pictures but I was way too busy having a great time! This first picture was what we saw getting out of the car. The snow was pretty patchy so the trail was easy enough.

I was wearing a ton of clothing, I look like a marshmallow but I was warm! It was 25 degress when we got out on the trail and probably about 30 in this picture. If you look real carefully you can see a couple tire tracks that showed us where the trail is. We were very lucky in that someone who obviously knew every corner of the trail had gone through the day before and we could follow their tracks.

Here is Ian showing off his bike handling skills. What you don't see is that he has to make a 90 degree left turn right at the bottom to avoid going off a 30 foot drop-off into rocks!

Scott and Paige San Francisco Wedding!

2007-10-02T17:05:00.000-07:00

Scott and Paige did it! With just two months to plan they managed to pull off an amazing wedding! Not only did they get their friends and family from all over the country to their beautiful San Francisco wedding but they also put a lot of their personalities into it. I feel so blessed to have been asked to shoot this wedding as they are both very into the arts and appreciate fine photography.
I started the day with Paige in her suite at the luxurious Hotel Griffon near the Bay Bridge on the Embarcadero. The lighting was fantastic so I was able to really push my lighting techniques to get some amazing portraits! We then headed over to the Swedenborgian Church on Nob Hill for their beautiful ceremony. September is a beautiful time in San Francisco, it was about 70 degrees and sunny, you really couldn't have asked for better weather!
The reception was at the St. Francis Yacht Club right on the water in the Marina. Everyone had a great time and we pretty much closed the place down but not before I got in a few great night shots!
Huge thanks goes to my friend Jason Groupp for flying out from New York to help out!
There are way too many great images from this wedding to post here...so I will put my favorite 30 or so up on my website later this week!

Paige looked amazing, and wasn't the light phenomenal?

Pretty hot shoes :)

Beautiful dress (I'm totally blanking on the designer but am sure I will remember as soon as I post this!)

Jason shot this great image of the guys

Jason's amazing image of the groom just before he headed into the chapel

Paige having a great time just as she is about to walk down the aisle

They did!

We took a convertable down the hill to the Yacht club, it was a perfect day for it

This is one of my favorite images from the wedding, it really shows how passionate they are for each other!

No Posts!

2007-09-27T19:35:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know...not enough new posts lately!
I got home from a wedding in San Diego with John Griffin and realized that I haven't had a single day completely off in over 5 weeks! My plan was to take the middle 3 weeks of this past month and have a break by shooting with other photographers but it turned out to be a lot of work with all the travel and shooting so I never really got a break because as soon as I was home I was back to work on my own shoots. Don't get me wrong, it was great to shoot with friends and learn how others approach weddings but next time I probably won't do so many destination weddings without a break! So today I turned off my computer and spent a day doing...well, nothing at all! It was great! I feel so much better!

I am headed off tomorrow to shoot Scott and Paige's wedding at the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco and promise to get images up real quickly as enough of you have emailed to let me know that I'm slacking! I will also be posting some of my favorites from the past month so keep an eye out for those as well.

New York, Take 2!

2007-09-22T09:11:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I headed back to the New York area to shoot Mac and Ashley's amazing New Jersey wedding with my friend Jason Groupp. It is so much fun to go second shoot with other photographers because I get to do more experimentation with my shooting than I do when I am shooting my own weddings. Not only that but I also get paid to go to some really cool locations with my good buddy Jason!

Here are just a couple of images from the wedding, there are tons more but I am just too swamped to post any more! I have to admit that as much as I enjoy all this travel, I am ready to get back to San Luis Obispo and a more regular schedule!

The details were really beautiful

This is the kind of experimentation that makes second shooting worth it!

The church was beautiful. It was originally build in 1717 but rebuilt to its current building in the early 1800's.

I love this shot, it shows the emotion and pride the father of the bride goes through on the wedding day.

This shot really cracks me up.

The groom's family is Scots-Irish and went over to Scotland have these kilts made for the wedding.

I have other more "clean" shots of the reception but this one illustrates just how much fun was being had

Thanks again to Jason for flying me out there for this beautiful wedding!

New York...take 1!

2007-09-10T20:25:00.000-07:00

It never ceases to amaze me that one day I can be riding my bike through remote vineyards in the mountains above Paso Robles and the next day strolling down Broadway in Manhattan!
This past weekend I headed out to New York to shoot a wedding with my friend TJ and got a few hours to do some exploring. It was a whirlwind trip; left home at 4am on Friday, returned at midnight Sunday, but we still managed to see a bit of the city and shoot a very cool wedding in Harlem.
We stayed at the very hip Hudson Hotel. This place is so hip, in fact, that it doesn't have a sign out front or even an address! At night the entire lounge area becomes a pretty happening club with socialites galore. The first night we just relaxed a bit then Saturday we went out for a run around Central Park (which was just a block away). I got a bit carried away and ended up running a bit further than we planned. So after about 6 miles we grabbed some lunch and headed out to a very cool wedding with Susan and Alan. It was a very nice New Yorker wedding which was so fun to shoot despite the high temperatures and high humidity!
The next day Jason and TimCo picked us up and we all headed down to Jason's studio for breakfast. Haha, I love how New York diners do breakfast! There is definitely no veggie omelet and when they say bacon omelet be assured there will be more bacon than eggs!
Good thing I love to travel and have some great friends to hang out with and shoot with when I'm there because I will be back there in just a couple of days! Stay tuned for more pics from that trip!

The view from our room

Looking over the Jacqueline Kennedy reservoir

I love that you can get just about any meal delivered at just about any time to just about anywhere in the city! And even better that they deliver in "I love NY" bags!

L to R -> TJ, Me, Jason, TimCo

Angie & Brian's Avila Wedding

2007-09-05T13:29:00.000-07:00

Nothing is as compelling to me as seeing a truly dynamic and loving couple like Brian and Angie! I have been blessed to get a chance to not only shoot their incredibly beautiful wedding but also to get to know a couple of the most fun and warm people I have ever met. Honestly, being at their wedding was an absolute privilege.
The wedding was a the See Canyon Fruit Ranch near Avila Beach. The location is a beautiful and lush garden set at a narrow spot in the rugged See Canyon, it was a perfect compliment to Angie and Brian's vision for their amazing day.
The connection between these two is what really set the mood as these guys are absolutely in love with each other. The passion and deep connection was totally contagious as so many people were affected by their love, honestly, I don't think there was a dry eye in the house through the entire ceremony!
There are so many great images from this wedding that you will soon see it featured on my website so look out for that. And a huge thanks to Sara Heinrichs for doing a spectacular job (as always!) shooting with me.

Canada

2007-09-02T22:07:00.000-07:00

Phew! Tons of fun stuff has been happening these past few weeks, it is really exciting! I just got back from Canada where Stephanie and I spent a couple day up at the Whistler Bike Park then headed down to Vancouver to visit with my good friends Chris and Lynn and to shoot a wedding.
After just 6 hours of travel we arrived in Vancouver around 11am on Tuesday very excited to be there. Whistler is just about 120K (I'm still stuck in the metric system so that's about 80 miles) from Vancouver so we figured that it would take about 2 hours drive on a fairly curvy 2 lane road. I remembered the Winter Olympics are going to be there in 2010 and had heard about the road construction projects but 4 hours later I knew them all intimately! At least it was a beautiful drive.
The first day I headed up to the bike park to do some jump runs and experience a bit of the lift-accessed adrenaline rush that is Whistler. I had tons of fun and got to ride trails that are nothing like what I normal ride. The next day I went for a more normal, for me, cross-country ride of about 30 miles. On the way up one of the trails I found myself riding across ladders and bridges, like you see below, and down some kind of crazy rocks. I forgot how much better my own bike is than the rental I was on when I headed down the narrow spine of a boulder and proceeded to do a swan-dive about 6 feet onto my chest and face! I was SO lucky to land on a very soft spot and not get too hurt!
The next day we headed down to Chris and Lynn's place where another friend TJ Cameron was also hanging out. We had a great time fooling around in Vancouver and having a great time! Thanks so much for letting us stay C+L, we had a great time and can't wait to do it again!

It rains so much that regular trails turn into bogs thus the creation of wooden trails!

Hmm, this sign probably should have been my first warning...

I came down that rock from right to left on the highest point...but ended up at the lowest just outside the frame in front of my bike!

Scott and Paige San Francisco Engagement Photo Session

2007-08-24T20:30:00.000-07:00

Last week I headed up to San Francisco to meet Scott and Paige for their engagement photo session in the city. They invited me into Scott's amazing loft near the AT&T Park for their planning session and to hang out a bit. I knew on my way there that I was in for an amazing time as that area has more incredible locations for photo's than I know what to do with plus I could tell in our conversations that we would all get along famously!
Scott and Paige are such nice people; very genuine and tons of fun! Both are very appreciative of the arts so it was totally flattering that they hired me as I see that a such a great compliment! One of the most important things in getting great photos is the connection between the subjects and Scott and Paige definitely have an awesome connection! We all had a great time cruising around the neighborhood and I was like a kid in a candy shop with all the great locations. We ended up shooting for quite awhile, this is just a small sample of the shots we got. I had to warn them that I might be back as their neighborhood is like a giant studio!
The wedding is coming up really soon, it is going to be a blast. I love weddings in the city!

Josh and Brenna in Avila Beach

2007-08-20T20:08:00.000-07:00

Last week I headed down to Avila Beach for Josh and Brenna's engagement photos. One of the things I like best about being a wedding photographer is getting the opportunity to meet so many different people. Brenna is studying to become an archeologist and is already doing digs out in the desert quite regularly. Josh is studying to become a writer and, from what I have heard so far, he has some amazing concepts and story-lines he is working on. They are high-school sweethearts who will be getting married this December in Pismo Beach, which is fitting because Brenna's family has come to Pismo for many years on vacation! How cool is it to get married where you spent your vacations growing up!
Both were a bit shy getting started but really warmed up after a few minutes and had a great time. A big part of being a good photography is getting people to open up to me so I can capture who they truly are and get a glimpse of what their relationship is like. I'm really happy with these images as I think they tell a great story of a great relationship!

New Lens test

2007-08-16T08:11:00.000-07:00

I received a new lens (the Canon 85 1.2L for all you camera nerds out there) and was testing it out during dinner last night. Steph glanced up just as Caiden was throwing his food and I got this shot. What a beauty, I'm a lucky guy!

Revolution: NYC

2007-08-14T13:51:00.000-07:00

You can probably tell by my lack of recent posts that I have been really busy! I had 2 weekends off of weddings after shooting 16 of the last 18 Saturdays and really expected to have a bit of a break. Funny how that never works out! Senior portraits, commercial work and some exciting new personal projects that I will be announcing soon all ate away my time! I have some really exciting weddings in the comming weeks (8 of the next 10 Saturday's) in some really exciting locations; Avila Beach, Vancouver, New York, San Francisco, San Diego, Paso Wine Country, Carmel...I'm really looking forward to each one!

I know a lot of other photographers read my blog so I wanted to let everyone know about a pretty exciting workshop happening this October. Those who know me know that I rarely get excited about workshops but my good friends, and amazing photographers, Jason Groupp, TJ Cameron, and Chris+Lynn have been working very hard to put on a unique and exciting workshop in New York City October 15th-17th. Check out the website at Revolution Workshop. It is really rare to have this level of talent all get together and offer to educate other photographers in small groups. If you are thinking about going to a workshop to boost your creativity, learn new skills and develop your business, be sure to check it out!

Haha, I had to post this hilarious shot I got of John Griffin from a wedding I shot with him in Mendocino County last weekend! Don't worry, all saftey measures were taken and we were very safe but still, DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!
I will post a few more from this beautiful wedding when I get a chance.

Amanda's Senior un-portraits

2007-07-25T13:51:00.000-07:00

Last Friday I shot a great senior portrait session in San Luis Obispo. Amanda is an ideal client; she told me to just do my thing and was totally comfortable in front of the camera, I really can't ask for more than that! She is very warm and fun to be around, I think that her great attitude really comes through in her images. We mainly shot around the Cal Poly campus, utilizing some of the interesting colors and architecture that is available. Amanda really wanted to do something non-traditional, which is exactly what I love to to, and I think we really collaborated well! Don't worry, I did get some for her mom too!
Those of you who know me well might be asking what I am doing shooting senior portraits!? Well, I had a great time and have decided that I will accept a limited amount of senior sessions with select clients this year. So if you are looking to have your senior portraits done, are looking for something different and are ready to have a good time then give me a call or visit me on Myspace. Sorry, I have the security on my myspace page but I will add you :)

I love this wood wall

I don't think we could get any less traditional of a senior portrait than this!

Yeah, the 80's are back! Amanda had this sweater with her and I found this cool blue light so I thought I would go full 80's with this one.

Richard and Meghan in Paso Robles

2007-07-24T21:01:00.000-07:00

Meghan and Richard are a great local couple who's wedding I will be shooting in October out in the vineyards of Paso Robles. It looks like we will get a chance to shoot at the beautiful Villa Toscana before the ceremony so that should be a lot of fun! For their engagement session we actually just cruised around near my house as the light was beautiful and they both enjoy the outdoors. As you can see, they have great chemistry together and were a lot of fun to hang out with, I can't wait for their wedding!

Brian & Angie's Engagement Party

2007-07-20T08:50:00.000-07:00

Stephanie and I were honored to be invited to Brian and Angie's engagement party last Saturday. You may remember Brian and Angie's engagement pictures from back in May. They are an awesome couple and just generally fun people to be around so I knew this wasn't a party to miss!
At first I was worried about making it because I had a wedding up in Livermore but as luck would have it, it was a day time wedding so I was able to race home (hope none of my CHP clients just read that!) and just be fashionably late :) Because I had to be in Livermore at 10am I had to leave home by 6am so it was a really long day!
The party was themed around the Rat Pack (you know, Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra) so we got all dressed up as Frank Sinatra was known to kick people out of bars and parties he was at if they weren't dressed nicely! Haha, thankfully that wasn't the case. The party was a ton of fun, and The Damon Castillo Band was perfect for the mood. Brian and Angie have a great (and very large!) group of friends, I'm really looking forward to their wedding in August.

The house was in this really cool develpment that looked like a Mediterranean village. There were even pathways that weaved through the houses and cobblestone streets. Every once in awhile I get the urge to do some more architecture work...

This picture cracks me up, what the heck is that guy doing in the background?!

Angie's good friends. Sarah, on the right, helped out with Angie's bridal shots, she was great!

Stephanie looking glamourous! The decorations around the house and even outside were amazing!

2007-07-18T14:37:00.000-07:00

On 7.7.07 I was on my way back from Arkansas and stopped in Los Angeles for Whitney and Daniel's wedding. I rented a car and headed up to the Four Seasons in Westlake Village where Whitney was getting ready. Well, I actually came up the night before and stayed at the Hilton which was quite a nice place in its own right. While I was killing some time in the gym on Saturday morning there was this huge guy working out with his wife who I started talking to (it was a very small gym). Turns out he was there for a wedding and he is a player for the New Orleans Saints NFL team, kind of cool! On my way back to my room I was in the elevator with some people going to a wedding. I went to a coffee shop and the girl in front of me was a wedding coordinator and the people behind me were talking about the wedding they are going to. Haha, I guess 777 really was a popular date to get married, everywhere I went there were people going to weddings!
Anyways, we started with the ladies getting ready at the Four Seasons before heading over to the ceremony and reception at the Westlake Village YachtClub. It was a beautiful day and luckily there was a good breeze as it was about 90 degrees.
Of course as soon as we started the group shots the wind died and we all started sweating like crazy but it was kind of fun because we were all in such a hurry to get to the AC that we powered through it and had more time for the shots of Whitney and Daniel together. Plus, we still managed to get some great shots like the bridal party shots below.
Whitney and Daniel are a great couple and were very gracious hosts. Whitney told me that it was actually an coincidence that they were getting married on 777 because they didn't even think about the implications of the date, they just wanted to get married the first week of July! After getting to know them I can honestly say that they really don't need any extra luck because there are an awesome couple and obviously already very lucky to have found each other.

Family Vacation to Arkansas

2007-07-15T16:00:00.000-07:00

Steph's family is from North West Arkansas near Fayetteville (University of Arkansas Razorbacks, go SEC!) so every couple of years we head out there to visit. The Ozark mountains are absolutely beautiful, it seems like you are in the tropics! The heat and humidity really help with that illusion :)
Stephanie's mother rented a house on Beaver Lake which is just a few miles north of Fayetteville. The lake is huge! I forget exactly how big but it is something like 50 miles from one end to the other.
We had a great time visiting with family and relaxing. It was our first time on a commercial airplane with Caiden and he did really well (better on the plane than in the airport actually) so all went pretty well. He loved the boat! As you can see in the pictures he got "boat head" from all the wind! He really liked it when we hit bumps and would tell me to steer over to where any bumps were from other boats, it was pretty funny.
Arkansas gets so much rain that they can have some really great fireworks without the worry of starting a fire. The are almost like the stuff you see at a professional show. Steph's uncle Rick is a pyrotechnician so we had our own show with up to 6 inch shells, it was wild! I didn't bring a tripod with me so I don't have very good pictures of the show but I have to say that it was absolutely amazing! The entire sky was lit up, neighbors came from all around to watch.
On the way back home I stopped in LA for a 777 wedding while Steph and Caiden went back home. The wedding was up in Westlake Village just north of Los Angeles starting at the Four Seasons then on to the Westlake Village Yacht Club. I will put up some photos from Daniel and Whitney's beautiful wedding as soon as I get the chance but right now I am trying to make up for being gone for a week! Isn't it funny how you go on vacation but you have to work twice as hard to make up for it?!

Boat head!

Trampoline

What are you looking at!?

It was the slowest tube ride in the history or tubing...

These are the tubes the fireworks launch out of. I told you we weren't messing around!

Caiden loves riding the tractor mower. In Arkansas, it rains so much you don't have to water your lawn so everyone has to mow their entire yard every week.

It was more impressive in person :)

What a week!

2007-07-06T19:36:00.000-07:00

I have been on a family vacation out in Arkansas (yes, Arkansas) for the past week and am now in Westlake Village for tomorrow's wedding. We had a great time out at Beaver Lake hanging out with my wife's family and everyones significant others. I will definitely be posting some images soon but I'm trying to catch up with the 100+ emails I missed this week! Everyone is going to get a big kick out of the crazy fireworks show we had at Uncle Rick's place! Did I mention he is a pyrotechnician?!

Even better New Best Friend!

2007-06-29T19:57:00.000-07:00

Okay, so here is my real new best friend, my new bike! I got it today and took it for a ride on my trails and will get up real early tomorrow for a real ride. I will be traveling for some family vacation and then off to Whitney and Daniel's amazing wedding at the Four Seasons Westlake Village over the next couple of weeks so I won't have much time to ride. I'm going to have a ton of fun but I will be ready to get home and put in some miles on this guy!

I have to give photo credit to Stephanie for the above shot. We skipped the lesson on focusing and went straight to artistic flare usage! :) And please no comments about my cool outfit, it was first thing I could find, I just wanted to ride!

My new best friend (for the moment)

2007-06-27T09:55:00.000-07:00

Meet my new best friend, the Samsung SCH-u740... catchy name right!? It is the same size at the Motorola Razr but can fold out sideways and has a complete QWERTY keyboard for quick typing of text and email. The keyboard looks really small but it is actually easy to use even with my big hands because the keys stick up pretty well. Ok, I admit I haven't figured out the email bit yet but I'm getting there! Steph and I were both due for new phones and Verizon had a promotion going so we got both this one and a new LG 5300 for free, can't beat that price! Now I just hope the weird hinge that allows the screen to fold out like it does can handle two years of my abuse!
I have been crazy busy lately. I had a super fun wedding up at Cline Cellars in Sonoma a week ago. Check out my portfolio for Bridgetta and Mike's beautiful winery wedding. This past weekend I shot a wedding for another photographer who was unable to make it. Clients often ask what happens if I have an emergency and can't make it to their wedding and I tell them that I have a great network of talented photographers I work with who all cover for each other. This was my turn to help out someone else, hopefully I never need the favor returned!
I also have another bit of very exciting (to me) news...my new Santa Cruz Nomad mountain bike will be here Friday!!! I have been waiting for almost a month and it looks like it will finally be delivered. I built a couple new jumps, berms and drops on my trails behind my house in preparation for this day! Too bad I will be gone so much in the next month that I will hardly get to ride it :( I will post up some video as soon as I have some, hopefully there won't be any crash sequences!
I will be traveling all over the country over the next few weeks so I will try to get that phone email working in case some of the remote areas I am headed to don't have WiFi!

Good advice!

2007-06-19T23:03:00.000-07:00

In general, I can say what needs to be said without resorting to spelling it out for the viewer but this was just too funny! Check out those shoes too, how fun are those!?

Roller Derby

2007-06-18T11:51:00.001-07:00

The past few days have been really busy...I know, what else is new, right?
On Thursday Steph and Caiden joined me for a trip up to the San Francisco Bay Area for few shoots and a little time with Grandma and Pop's. On Friday I shot the Sonoma County Roller Derby Girls for a cookbook they are making, Saturday I had a wedding at the beautiful Cline Cellars (keep an eye out for more from Brigetta and Mike's wedding), then Sunday we finished up the Roller Derby shoot at a great dive bar in Sonoma County. Thank goodness for Red Bull!

Here are a couple of my favorites from the Roller Derby pics. The ladies were all a ton of fun and we got some great shots. I am looking forward to coming up in the fall to watch them in action. From what I understand it is pretty serious competition!

Erin and Sam Tie the Knot!

2007-06-13T20:55:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I shot Erin and Sam's wedding at Palmdale Estates in Freemont, CA. We started out at a local hotel with what must have been every relative of Erin and Sam possible! I swear there were 30 people in the room at times, it was hilarious! Despite being a cheerleader and totally gorgeous, Erin is a bit camera shy so I had to be gentle :) It was actually pretty funny, especially given how outgoing all her bridesmaids were, we had a bunch of fun! Erin really warmed up to the camera and totally forgot I was there in no time, I was very pleased with out getting ready shots, I love the one above, what a moment!
Sam and his buddies were just down the hall in another suite and in typical guy fashion were totally late and in a huge rush after their golf game took longer than expected. They were so fast to get ready that we ended up having plenty of time to just hang out before the girls headed out. It was "rush, rush, rush, WAIT!" Sam took it all in stride and was super fun to work with. Did I mention that Sam was the star football player and Erin was the head cheerleader? Yeah, disgusting, I know, LOL!
The ceremony was beautiful and everyone was super excited to see a long time couple (7 years!) tie the knot. I have to say the reception was off the hook! Everyone was dancing and having a great time, it made for some great shots and even I got into the groove....no pictures; your welcome :)
There and tons more great images from this wedding that will soon be up on my website...whenever I get a chance to to an update that is!

Erin and Sam, I wish you many more years of bliss, you are great people and are an even stronger couple.

Erin's dress was amazing!

But putting shoes on with a dress like that is a job for three!

Sam and his boys

Erin's mother was awesome! Such a sweet lady and she had a great group of friends

Beautiful first dance

Marathon Weekend

2007-06-11T08:31:00.000-07:00

I just finished up yet another long weekend of travel and shoots; I love it but I need some more sleep! I drove up Friday to San Francisco for a engagement session with Jon and Gina at Baker Beach right near the Golden Gate Bridge. We had a ton of fun in the typical foggy evening and then I headed over to my old friend Jen and her husband Rodger's house to stay. They were very gracious to have me at the last minute and even took me out to dinner with their friends, it was really fun!
The next morning I jumped on my bike, road road across the Golden Gate to the Marin headlands then had some breakfast in the beautiful town of Sausalito. I love my job though I have to admit that it would have been even more fun if Steph and Caiden could have been there. I can't complain too much though as it is still 10,000 times better than a desk job!
I then headed down to shoot Erin and Sam's wedding in Freemont. It was a beautiful event and everyone was really fun. Let me tell you, there was some serious dancing at the reception! I am a bit behind in my other work but stay tuned for some pictures of both the shoots and be ready for some crazy fun stuff in the next week! I have a fashion shoot with a rollerderby team who is doing a cook book, it ought to be wild! They really want to go all out and get some edgy shots, it is going to rock! I also have a wedding at Cline Cellars this coming weekend that is going to be amazing.
Lots of fun stuff!

Laurie and Alan's Santa Fe Wedding

2007-06-04T09:18:00.000-07:00

I got back from Santa Fe last night and I'm exhausted! Thankfully we had a smooth and uneventful flight home and got to stop in Sedona again for breakfast. I still can't get over how gnarly the landing is there! The 5,000 ft runway is perched on top of a 5,100 ft long, 700 foot tall plateau so when you land you come in over a cliff and when you take off you fly right off the edge! Between that and some really gusty and unpredictable winds and the amazing rock formations It is a pretty wild place to visit.

Laurie and Alan's wedding was beautiful and they were such nice people, we all really had a great time. I have to thank Jason Groupp again for bringing me out there to shoot. Getting to work with such a talented photographer and one of my good friends is such a treat, I can't wait to do it again. Did I mention that Jason was recently named Best of Photographers in New York by readers of the Knot?! That is a well deserved honor for him.
We started off the day with lunch at the beautiful El Dorado Hotel with Alan and his brother-in-law Anthony. Both of them are great and genuine people who it was a joy to get to know. We then split up with Jason heading over to the Presidential Suite to shoot Laurie getting ready and me staying with Alan. We shot some getting ready stuff and then headed over to the historic downtown area of Santa Fe for a session with Laurie and Alan together. Laurie had the most amazing Vera Wang Gown, it was beautiful and a perfect dress for her.
We ran all over town and got some great shots, then headed back to the hotel for touch-ups before the ceremony. After the ceremony cocktail hour and dinner were held on the huge patio at the El Dorado Hotel's Presidential Suite with views of the sunset over downtown Santa Fe, it was spectacular! Cake and dancing were across the street at the Georgia O'keefe Museum where special tours were arranged and the DJ was rocking.
It was an amazing day and tons of fun! I'm looking forward to my next trip out to New York to hang out with everyone again :)

On my way to a Santa Fe Wedding

2007-06-01T07:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I flew out to Santa Fe, New Mexico, for a wedding I get to shoot with my friend Jason Groupp. My father offered to fly me out here in his small plane so we headed out pretty early as it takes about 5 hours. We had a smooth an uneventful flight out to Sedona Arizona (where the below picture was taken) but then had a very bumpy ride from Sedona to Santa Fe! I should mention that in the above photo the thing going into my fathers nose is his oxygen supply as we were flying at 13,000 feet.
I had never been to Sedona before and would love to spend more time there soon, it was an amazing location. The rock formations and contrasting green vegetation were stunning! I did manage to get a good breakfast burrito though!
Santa Fe is a another gorgeous South Western town! I shot some of the rehearsal dinner last night and will be scouting locations later today in preperation for tomorrow's wedding with Alan and Laurie. I also get to ride my mountain bike all through the hills this morning, which, at almost 7,000 feet, ought to be really hard!
More to come...

Tahir & Sarah

2007-05-28T08:53:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure of shooting Tahir and Sarah's wedding in Berkeley this past weekend, it was an amazing experience! We started off at Sarah's parents beautiful home in the Berkeley hills where Sarah and her friends were getting ready. Sarah is so nice and has a great group of friends and a wonderful and warm family, I was so happy to be welcomed and brought in to be a part of the experience. Unlike Western tradition, Indian wedding celebrations typically run for several days, and this was the fourth, so Sarah and Tahir are allowed to see each other before the ceremony. Tahir came over and, according to tradition, had to pay the family of Sarah and drink a special kind of milk before he was allowed to enter. It was really fun and everyone was laughing and having a great time!
I have to admit that I this was my first Muslim ceremony in a Mosque and it was very different from a typical Western ceremony. It started off with a public civil ceremony in the outer hall of the Mosque then moved into the private inner chambers where the religious part of the ceremony took place. It was a beautiful ceremony and I was very grateful to be allowed to witness and document it. After the ceremony things are very different from what I normally see as the bride and groom are pretty much mobbed by their friends and family who wish them well and congratulate them! It was a very exciting and happy time and was truly beautiful!
We then headed back up to the beautiful and historic Claremont Resort for the reception. We took lots of family photos and some fun photos of Tahir and Sarah that you see here. At the reception they performed several Indian traditions and moved on to a great meal and some pretty hot dancing!

Outside the Claremont...I always find the strangest places to shoot :)

Some haute Calvin Klein shoes

Beautiful (and tasty!) cake

Outside Tahir and Sarah's room on the way to the reception

Heading out for some air

Thank you so much Tahir and Sarah and your wonderful families for having me, I had a great time and loved the new experience! I wish you a lifetime of happiness and joy!

Brian & Angie, Caliente!

2007-05-21T11:29:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I had the pleasure of shooting Brian and Angie's engagement shoot. They are such an awesome couple and a ton of fun, it is so great to hang out with people that are so in love with each other.
We started out in a secret location near San Luis Obispo and then went up to a beautiful building I recently discovered in Atascadero. Angie had told me to just do my thing and make it dramatic so we started at dusk and shot into the night. There is nothing more exciting to me professionally than to have clients trust me and put total creative control in my hands. That creative affirmation is the highest compliment I can get! I am very pleased with the results as I think they show the amazing and passionate connection between Brian and Angie. They were totally laid back, completely in love, and worked really hard to get great shots, we had a great time!
I am so excited for their wedding, which will be near Avila Beach later this summer, I know it will be an amazing day. I'm looking forward to hanging out with you both again soon!