Archive for July, 2008

iPhone Craze

July 10, 2008

So… I’ve been an Apple fan all of my life. With my parents both being graphic designers, we have only ever owned Macs in our family. I’ve been an Apple advocate ever since I can remember, and I used to get flak for it from friends and classmates because I could never buy the same games as them (games for the Mac were few and far between back in the day) or use the same software. But, I was always proud to be an Apple user regardless.

Despite my affinity for everything Apple, I never broke down and got an iPhone. Not an AT&T customer, I didn’t like the idea of switching carriers and was content having my simple Samsung flip phone. I knew a lot of people with iPhones and thought they were cool, but never was motivated enough to switch and buy such an expensive phone– even though not doing so was somewhat depressing the huge Apple fan part of me.

I made the decision a couple of weeks ago to read some reviews of the latest iPhone and have heard some pretty cool things. I especially like the third-party application availability… So, it looks like tomorrow I’ll be an iPhone user… if I’m lucky.

I’m not going to get all crazy and be at the store at 5am waiting in line… I’m going to casually go over a little before 8 and hope that there is a black iPhone waiting for me when I get there. :) If I do get one, one of the first things I’ll do is post a few photos from it here. I’m sure playing around with it and all it’s new functions will consume much more of the day than I have extra time available. That’s if I can get my hands on one. We’ll see!

Any of you going to brave the craziness and go out and get an iPhone tomorrow??

Ileana & Carlos' Wedding: Santa Monica, CA

July 8, 2008

Ileana & Carlos were married at St. Monica’s Church in Santa Monica with a lovely reception at The Victorian.

What an amazing couple! From the moment Meg and I arrived at the hotel where Ileana was getting ready, she was smiling from ear to ear. She was so excited for the day and was not holding any of that excitement back. The hair stylist even commented to her, “You’re not ‘bridezilla’, you’re ‘bride-chilla’.” Her energy was contagious, and though there were a few mishaps (flower mistakes and a last-minute steam session for the dress), the day was beautiful and perfect and full of fun and very sweet, genuine emotion.

Ileana & Carlos have actually been married for a few months now. Carlos is in the military and they decided to have a simple civil ceremony before his last deployment to Iraq. So, this day was all about being able to celebrate with friends and family, and to fulfill Ileana’s long-time dream of being able to wear her mom’s wedding veil at her own wedding.

The beautiful gown. I loved that flower detail on the side.

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Very fun shoes! I love it when brides have fun with their shoes… the more colorful and funky the better!

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The beautiful bride. And check out that classic veil that her mom wore to her wedding. I just love when special things like that can be incorporated into the wedding day.

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The handsome groom.

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St. Monica’s is an absolutely gorgeous church with surprisingly good light on the altar. I love this shot of the whole ceremony.

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Periodically throughout the mass, Carlos would look at Ileana in such a loving way. I’m so glad I captured one of these moments. Very sweet.

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I loved the colors during the ceremony.

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Mr. and Mrs.!

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The whole style of the wedding was so classic and beautiful. I thought the style of her veil was even more interesting against the style of the architecture at The Victorian.

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A celebratory moment with the wedding party.

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A simple portrait of the couple.

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I just like something about this expression that Ileana had right before we went in for the grand entrance.

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After the grand entrance, Meg and I stole Ileana away for just a few more portraits of her up in the upstairs lounge area of The Victorian. The classic decor and dramatic lighting was perfect to go with the style of her veil and entire wedding day. I think this one is so beautiful and feels very old Hollywood.

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Another lovely, classic portrait.

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The totally amazing cake created by Rosebud Cakes of Beverly Hills. I thought this cake matched the style of the wedding perfectly!

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Check out that amazing detail! And of course Meg and I just had to try it at the end of the night so that we could post whether it tastes as good as it looks. It definitely did.

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A great moment during the toasts.

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The First Dance.

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Congratulations, Ileana & Carlos. I feel honored to have been part of your wedding day. Have an amazing time in Bali!!

Check out Meg’s Blog post for some truly amazing photographs of this wedding!  Always a pleasure shooting with you, my dear!

The Day in San Francisco

July 7, 2008

Here are some of the shots I got when we went into the city for the day during my trip up north. It just happened to by Gay Pride weekend in San Francisco, and we happened to catch the parade. So, there were a lot of interesting things to photograph.

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I was practicing my “shoot from the hip” technique and got this shot. For some reason, I like it.

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17 Again movie

Parade watchers.

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Then we went walking around the city looking for somewhere to eat. While Kevin was in the street shooting a really cool doorway across the street, I found these mirrored doors. I though this was an interesting shot.

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This Bart station brought to you by iPod.

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That Old Feeling the movie

In our aimless walk around the city, we came across this Irish pub called The Irish Bank. All of these people were there to watch the Euro Cup as Germany and Spain were playing for the title. Kevin’s a big soccer fan so we stopped here, actually found a table, and had some lunch. I loved this place, though. The energy there was great and it totally reminded me of my time living in London — eating pub food and being surrounded by people cheering for football…uh, soccer…

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Kevin had a Guinness… because you just have to while you’re in an Irish Pub.

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I left for the long drive home later that day. Here’s a shot of the sky as I was driving down the 5. There’s not much to look at while driving on the 5, so I had to entertain myself by grabbing random shots along the way.

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I came across this somewhere along the way. It must’ve just happened as the firefighters hadn’t even arrived yet. Crazy.

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That’s all from my trip. More weddings will be posted soon!

More from Oakland…

July 6, 2008

More photos from my trip up to NorCal last weekend.

A neighbor’s boots.

 

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Emeryville commissioned an artist to jazz up the electrical boxes around the city. I thought this was such a cool thing for the city to do! Wish I would have shot a whole series of these things.

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I was really into the textures I saw around the city.

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A few from the park…

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I shot this while walking back from dinner one night.

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We walked down to Jack London Square and found this restaurant. I’ve never seen any place named after my last name and spelled the same way. Very cool! Next time I want to eat here to see if its any good…

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I have one more post from my trip that will be all shots from our time spent in San Francisco…

 

Ileana & Carlos: Coming Soon!

July 6, 2008

I spent a lovely day yesterday helping Meg shoot Ileana & Carlos’ very special wedding in Santa Monica. What a great couple and fun family!

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Ancient Relic full

I’ll be posting more from this wedding soon, along with some photos I took on 4th of July. Hope you all enjoyed your holiday weekend!

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