Lori and Bobby’s wedding was such a great day; the weather was perfect, the details were amazing and Lori and Bobby’s love for each other was center stage! The day started at a hotel in Solvang then we headed over to Gainey Vineyard in Santa Ynez for the ceremony and reception. Gainey Vineyard is a great wedding venue as there are a ton of great spots for photographs all just a short walk. They even planted a lawn between the rows in the vineyard which makes vineyard shots much more beautiful! Add in the fact that Lori really went all out on the details and this made for a truly beautiful and memorable day!
Besides the amazing level of detail, and Lori and Bobby’s passion for each other, I think the most memorable part of the day for me was the school bus! Rather than limo’s or trollies they rented a school bus to take us over and it ended up making for some amazing photo opps, good work Lori!
Thanks to Lori, Bobby and all your family and friends for being such gracious hosts! And also a huge thanks to Riley of A+R Photo in Phoenix for coming out to help and for getting so many great shots.

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
Looking forward to the wedding at Robert Hall Winery!

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!

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!

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

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!

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!