Recently I was notified that one of the weddings on which I assisted Kim Fox a while back has been published in Grace Ormonde Wedding Style magazine! Kelly and Mark had the most amazing wedding cake that was designed by Kelly, so Grace Ormonde decided to feature this cake in their latest issue. You can see Kim’s post about this here.

Looking back at that cake, I remembered just how lovely Kelly and Mark’s wedding was. It took place at the Adamson House in Malibu. This is such a great beautiful venue that features gorgeous grounds and a beautiful old home set steps from gorgeous Malibu shore.

I remember saying to Kim sometime after the ceremony, “This is the most beautiful wedding I have ever photographed.” It was true. Kelly and Mark’s whole day was completely them, and their love and commitment to one another was evident in every detail of the day. Kelly designed all of the details herself, making the day that much more special. They were a lovely couple and their wedding was a fantastic celebration with family and friends. Because I shot that wedding before I had my blog, I never posted their wedding. So, in celebration of Kim’s photo of the cake being published, I thought I’d post some of my favorite images from day that I shot.

Here is the amazing reception site overlooking the ocean.

The First Look.

Some sweet shots of the ring bearer and the flower girls watching Kelly walk down the aisle.

Kelly and her dad.

The lovely and talented Kelly.

The bride and groom. I absolutely loved shooting here at the Adamson House! The lighting was great and the backdrops were so beautiful and interesting to photograph.

After the ceremony while people were walking over to the reception site, I was able to capture the guests’ reactions to the stunning cake. Fun Fact: The narrow part of the cake in the middle is actually a vase that served as Kelly’s inspiration for the rest of the cake’s design.

Another great reaction to the cake. This guy was in awe!

Last but not least, this is one of my favorite images I’ve shot. These kids were enjoying their Icees down by the fence of the property and I was able to capture this adorable moment.

4 Comments » Posted by admin / Weddings

As I mentioned on yesterday’s post, I have so many images that I abosolutely love from Nicole & Matt’s Engagement shoot! So, I decided to do a second post on their shoot.

I also wanted to take this opportunity to say how awesome it is to be able shoot at this time of day. I always plan engagement sessions so that we can shoot during the 2 1/2 hours before sunset. This is when the light is the best and most interesting for photographs. This is also why I love shooting the romantic photos of a bride and groom on the wedding day at about this time of day. I always highly recommend to my clients that if they are having an evening ceremony, to do their romantic photos before the ceremony so that we can shoot when the light is best. I understand and appreciate the tradition of the groom seeing his bride for the first time when she walks down the aisle, but I find that planning a first look before the ceremony can be just as special. Some brides actually prefer it because once the photos are taken of the initial reveal, the bride and groom have a moment to be alone together before they take their vows, which turns out to be a very memorable moment.

Lighting is such an important element in getting beautiful images, so always keep that in mind when planning your wedding day!

Okay, enough of my ranting… here are the other photos from Wednesday’s shoot that I love:

Here is Matt waiting patiently for Nicole.

Two more great shots with Cal.

2 Comments » Posted by admin / Engagement Sessions

Rain, rain and more rain is the news of the week here in Southern California. The rain began late last week and is expected to continue for at least a few more days as storm after storm rolls in. Normally, I love the rain. However, this weekend the rain has interrupted my Internet service in our neighborhood as the towers set up in the nearby foothills have been bombarded with snow causing a power outage. So, I’ve been forced to venture out to nearby Internet hot spots like Panera Bread to do such simple tasks as check email. Though inconvenient, I’m actually liking blogging from somewhere new. Creativity flows differently when you put yourself in new situations.
This week has been a very busy week, but really fun at the same time. Thursday, I went to the Light & Fast photographic lighting seminar with John Mireles and Jules Bianchi, two incredibly talented L.A.-based photographers. (Check out Jules’ post about the seminar here.) It was an entertaining and educational opportunity to meet photographers from all over the country and to learn some great lighting techniques from two of the best photographers in wedding and portrait photography. I initially learned about the seminar from a newsletter I receive from John every month regarding business topics for photographers. It’s a really informative newsletter that covers everything about the business side of photography. (To learn more, click here.) A few months back I saw that he and Jules were planning a seminar together. I had heard of Jules many times from Kim Fox, who just adores her and her approach to photography, so I signed up. By pure coincidence, Kim herself had already singed up, so we were able to attend the seminar together and are looking forward to utilizing the many lighting tips we picked up while we were there!

Also this week, I had the pleasure of FINALLY shooting Nicole and Matt’s engagement shoot. I say “finally” so emphatically as Nicole and I had tried to schedule the shoot two times before, but were forced to postpone until now because of rain. Can you believe it? It hardly ever rains in the Palm Springs area, but each time we tried to get together there were major storms! We even thought we’d be rained out again, but were lucky to get beautiful weather on Wednesday.

Nicole and Matt are getting married this November in the Palm Springs area and were referred to me by Mandee and Doug. They are such a nice, fun couple and we had a lot of fun shooting on the ranch where Matt works in La Quinta, CA. Matt is a horse trainer so they decided that doing the shoot on the ranch would really fit them. I love doing shoots in locations that really mean something to the couple I’m shooting. It makes the photographs that much more special and interesting. Here are a few shots from our shoot. There were so many great photos, so I may end up doing a “part II” post in another day or two.

We started out doing a few shots with Cal, this two-year-old horse that Matt is currently training. He was beautiful and didn’t seem to mind the camera at all.

He was actually pretty interested in the sounds the camera was making. I love this shot.

And here’s a great moment of Nicole and Matt. What a lovely couple!

Then after a quick change of clothes, we gave Cal a rest and ventured out onto the grounds of the ranch. What a gorgeous place! … and isn’t Nicole’s dress adorable?!

This is my absolute favorite shot of the day. Because of the clouds moving quickly across the sky, our lighting was constantly changing. I was able to catch this shot and seconds later, the sun was gone again.

Finally, a simply lovely portrait of the happy couple.

Thanks guys! You were so great. I look forward to the big day in November!

I have a bunch of shoots coming up soon, so I’ll be able to blog more in the coming weeks.

4 Comments » Posted by admin / My Life and Engagement Sessions

 I was notified the other day by the wonderful Kim Fox that a wedding I second-shot with her last year had been published in The Knot Magazine. The Knot is a premier bridal resource for couples getting married across the nation, and it is a huge honor that they asked Kim to publish Jennifer and Maurice’s wedding. She submitted quite a few images for publication so we didn’t know exactly what was going to make it in the magazine. I am pleased to announce today that some of the detail images I shot were chosen.

As you can see in this blog post, Jennifer and Maurice’s wedding was so lovely. It was definitely one of my favorite weddings to shoot in 2007. They were such a nice, fun couple and made their wedding day a great celebration with friends and family.

Here is the article that is now out in the Winter 2008 issue of The Knot Magazine that can be found at Barnes & Noble and other news stands.

This image of the ceremony site inside the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion is one I personally shot. Very exciting.

I also shot the flower details below.

 I believe that another wedding I shot with Kim this past year will be published in yet another wedding magazine, so when I have the information, I’ll be posting that as well.

This year is off to an exciting start for me! I hope the same for all of you!

4 Comments » Posted by admin / Just a thought...