Busy month! Funny how every season in this line of work is so different. In the Winter I meet with potential clients, Spring is engagement sessions, Summer and Fall are all about wedding photography. But there’s always these transition times when I’m doing a lot of each! In the past 2 weeks I’ve shot 3 engagement sessions and 4 weddings everywhere from Dolphin Bay Resort in Shell Beach to Mayacama Resort in Santa Rosa (and a lot in between).
This engagement session was with Sean and Sandy, a wonderful couple who’s gorgeous Vintner’s Inn wedding will be later this fall. We decided to mix things up and do a morning shoot so if the light looks like it’s coming from the wrong direction that’s why

James and Sarah pretty much have a great time at all times; I think they could be standing in line a the DMV and they would both have huge smiles on their faces and be laughing and getting others to have a great time. I love being around people who’s fun is so infectious!

I had a great time meeting up with Janet and Ryan up in Napa Valley last week for their engagement session. It had just finished up about 2 straight weeks of rain so everything was VERY muddy so we were a bit limited with where we could go but when you shoot in Napa you make it work! Helps that there are thousands of great locations so not being able to go into the vineyards isn’t as limiting as you might think.

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!

A couple weeks ago I headed up to Canada to visit my good friends Chris+Lynn, shoot an amazing wedding (thanks Sonny and Sandy!) and ride my bike at Whistler. The wedding was enormous and a ton of fun, some of the most friendly people I have ever met! Here’s a couple highlights and some fun ones of me doing stupid stuff at Whistler

Here’s a couple from Whistler Mountain Bike Park. The first couple days there it was beautiful but we didn’t break out the camera until the weather got really nasty! lol Thanks for joining me Bill!

Jumping in the rain was pretty sketchy, especially as I had so much mud in my eyes that I could barely see!

See, I told you it was a bad idea! Thankfully I was wearing body armor, without this I would have had a broken knee for sure!

Bill going off the GLC drops (about 6 foot drop). A minute later I followed with about $5k of camera around my neck, probably not the best idea ever!

We had a day off in the middle of the 4 days of wedding shooting and it was a beautiful day so Chris, Lynn and I headed to the sea shore for lunch, it was a beautiful day!