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A Wicked Engagement Session!

June 25, 2009

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!

Tags: Bay Area Wedding Photographer, Engagement Photography, Golden Gate Park Photography, San Francisco Wedding Photographer
Posted in City, Engagement Sessions, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Mike and Kristina’s New York Wedding

June 18, 2009

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!

Tags: New York Wedding Photography
Posted in City, Uncategorized, Weddings | No Comments »

Nicole and James Long Island NY with Angelica!

December 19, 2008

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!

Tags: Long Island Wedding Photographer, New York Wedding Photography
Posted in City, Uncategorized, Weddings | 7 Comments »

New York City Wedding Photography Seminar

November 12, 2008

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

Tags: New York Wedding Photography
Posted in City, Travel, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Dajin & Cecylia’s San Francisco Wedding

October 14, 2008

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

Tags: Bay Area Wedding Photographer, Bay Area Wedding Photography, San Francisco Wedding Photographer, San Francisco Wedding Photography, San Luis Obispo Wedding Photography
Posted in City, Uncategorized, Weddings | 1 Comment »

Linda and Jack

August 18, 2008

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.