The last 6 weeks have been incredible! I want to welcome all my new clients (there’s a ton of you!) and introduce everyone to Lisa and John who’s engagement we shot up in San Francisco. This was our second or third attempt at shooting as we kept getting rained out but it finally worked out to shoot during the Superbowl. If you aren’t a huge NFL fan, then Superbowl Sunday is a great day to hit up all the normally crowded locations you wouldn’t normally go to!
Lot’s more fun stuff coming up in the coming months; New York weddings, Biltmore Resort in Santa Barbara, Napa Valley engagement session, San Luis Obispo family sessions… tons of exciting shoots!

I know, no posts in awhile; I’ve been busy! Seems everyone got engaged over New Years so I’ve been super busy meeting with some really fun brides, welcome to all my new couples!
We had a great time in Mexico over Christmas and now I’ve been working overtime on albums and adding a few weddings to my wedding photography site. 3 weddings are now featured and I’ll finish up by adding another one or two in the next couple weeks. 2009 had some really amazing weddings so it’s been tough to choose which make it!
I’ll update my blog as soon as I can with some pics from Mexico. Here’s a couple of my favorite pics that just went up plus a page from a sample wedding album (above).

Had such a great time getting to know Tamara and Joe a few weeks ago for their engagement session! Being a wedding photographer my favorite part of the job is making clients happy, but that is closely followed by just getting the opportunity to meet so many great people! Tamara and Joe were a ton of fun and their interactions with each other was so great to see. The wedding is just a few weeks away at the stunning One Fort Mason in San Francisco and we are expecting some beautiful weather!
The best part of the shoot was when we were talking about places to get a good view of the city at night and we talk through a couple locations before Joe says “Oh yeah, my office has a nice roof-top if you want to check it out.” We head up there and it’s stunning! Check out the shots at the end, there was even a giant sculpture of a heart!

What a year it’s been so far! Awesome weddings with beautiful people, what more could I ask for! Nettie and Leon were married at the beautiful Saint Patricks Cathedral with their reception at The Intercontinental Mark Hopkins in San Francisco. Nettie and Leon have been together for a long time and really wanted the day to reflect their personalities. If you remember from their engagement session, they are huge fans of the theatre so there was lot’s of little details from shows they have seen and even some super dramatic music from Phantom of the Opera!
The day started at the Mark Hopkins (you know, the hotel with “The Top of the Mark” up on Nob Hill). Everyone was having a great time and I knew it would be a great day when I saw that Taylor Pham and her team were doing hair and makeup. Great makeup not only makes everyone look their best but also makes my job easier!
Everything went totally smoothly and though the fog completely stopped us from getting a good shot of the Golden Gate bridge, we still managed to get some great shots downtown and at the Palace of Fine Arts. Wedding Photographers abound at The Palace of Fine Arts but that didn’t worry me as I always know that the couple’s love and my vision are what makes for memorable shots; the shot below with the red tree against the wall is one of my personal favorites! Not to mention that hot series of Nettie and Leon making out!
Nettie and Leon were awesome hosts and totally devoted to getting great images, thanks and congratulations!
I also want to put out a huge thanks to my friend John Griffin for helping out, thanks John!

My friends Kandi and Ronnie asked me to shoot their wedding in San Francisco at St. Dominics Cathedral and Bimbo’s 365 Club. Kandi is my sister in law’s best friend (Courtney is second from the left in the above image) and the entire Garcia family has been friends with my wife’s family for a couple of decades. Funny enough, Stephanie and I lived just a few doors down from the Garcia’s when we used to live in Petaluma! Because of this, pretty much Stephanie’s entire side of the family was at the wedding so I knew it was going to be a pretty wild night!
We started the day at a hotel next door to Bimbos 365 Club and that was something! Hair and makeup went pretty late so we were in a huge rush to get everything ready in time. The really funny thing was that Courtney told Stephanie and Caitlin (my other SIL) they could get ready in her room, but that turned out to be the room Kandi and the rest of the bridal party were getting ready in so it was a bit of a surprise for them! It all worked out so we then headed over to St. Dominics for the first look with Ronnie. St. Dominics is probably my favorite cathedral in San Francisco as it is just a stunning building and the staff there is always nice to work with.
We got a few minutes to run down to the Embarcadero and get some shots of Kandi and Ronnie but we all knew the real action was at Bimbos so we got back there pretty quick! The night was a blast and everyone had a great time! Kandi really wanted a nightclub-party feel to the reception and I really don’t think it could have gone any better. I’ve included plenty of fun party pictures and will have to put up the even funnier ones on Facebook (don’t worry other clients, I only do this with friend’s weddings! lol).

Big thanks to Riley of A+R Photo in Phoenix for helping with the wedding! Check out his great shot from the garter toss, nice!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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