Archive for the 'Engagement Sessions' Category

Jan 6th 2009 An Engagement Session Preview

You know those days where you particularly love life? Today was one of those days for me… and I was lucky enough to pour some of that really great energy into a really great engagement session for Ashley and Tim!

Here’s a quick preview of our shoot today in the lovely Los Angeles neighborhood of Los Feliz Village… it’s a brief moment I caught that sums up what I think a great day is all about. :)

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Happy Tuesday, everyone!

1 Comment » Posted by Heather / My Life and Engagement Sessions and Just a thought...

Nov 23rd 2008 Jill & Dan: The Engagement Session

So, I’ve already shot Jill and Dan’s wedding and I cannot wait to post some of those images. What a great wedding! But, first thing’s first… Here are the rest of Jill and Dan’s engagement photos!

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Nov 14th 2008 Jill & Dan’s E-Session: A Preview

Jill and Dan got married last weekend, but I have yet to post their engagement session because we shot it so close to the wedding and right smack in the middle of my crazy October-November schedule. So, here’s a preview of their engagement photos. The rest will be posted soon!

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Have a great weekend, everyone!

2 Comments » Posted by Heather / Engagement Sessions

Aug 28th 2008 Annie & Joe’s Engagement Session: Santa Barbara, CA

Santa Barbara is a special place to Annie and Joe. Not only have they spent a lot of time there, making frequent weekend trips throughout their relationship, but it was also the city in which Joe asked Annie to be his wife. So, they couldn’t think of a better place to shoot their engagement session! I was more than happy to get out of the heat and make my way to the coast last Sunday where it was a lovely 81º!

Annie and Joe will be getting married next June at a winery in Temecula, and after spending the day with them for their engagement shoot, I know their wedding will be so much fun! They are both so kind and funny and it is obvious to everyone around them that they have a very special connection to one another.

We did a whopping three wardrobe changes and four locations for this shoot. Here are a bunch of my favorite images, and I’ll be posting a slideshow of more photos in the next couple days.

We started our shoot by just walking up and down State Street looking for interesting backdrops. I just loved this doorway. And check out Annie’s dress! I love that blue and green! I actually have tried this dress on before… sadly it didn’t look as good on me as it does on Annie.

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How cute are they together?

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LOOOOOVE these blue shoes! I was so excited when Annie got out of the car wearing these babies! :)

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In an alleyway off of State Street.

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A fun series that is very representative of them.

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This guy was just standing there on the street with this sign… Yes. It’s a bit weird, but how could I not take a photo?

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After a quick change, we made our way over to this little park area. Great light.

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And I was able to fulfill one of my fantasies of doing a shoot on a carousel! Thanks so much, you guys, for letting me play around with this!

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I always like to try to get a photo of me with my clients on our shoots. This was a challenging one to try to get.

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Then we made our way down to the beach where Joe actually proposed, which was right near the amazing Bacara Resort & Spa.

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I love this shot. Great light!

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Joe was definitely not ready for the wave to crash in so close!

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I’m pretty sure this is my favorite shot from the whole day. Love the colors of the warm sunset light.

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Aside from having a great time on this shoot, we all learned a little something about this particular beach… it’s covered in tar that is hard to detect until it’s stuck all over your feet! I was fortunate enough to have kept my sandals on while were walking around down by the water, but Annie and Joe unfortunately did not. While walking back up the beach to the parking lot, we all realized that the tar had covered their feet (and had gotten on their clothes a bit). If you’ve ever known anyone who has had this happen, you know it’s nearly impossible to get off! (Good thing Joe is a handy guy and ended up having some organic degreaser stuff they use to clean engines in his truck. It worked like a charm.)

Seeing this was truly shocking and made me feel awful for the wildlife of the ocean… I can’t imagine how bad the problem is beyond just the amount of tar on the beach. So, I did some research when I got home from the shoot and, as far as I can tell, the tar was caused by a giant oil spill in 1969. You can read an article about the incident here: http://www.sbwcn.org/spill.shtml

Does anyone know if that’s the actual cause of why this beach is so covered in tar? I’d love to know more information about it!

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Thanks so much, Annie and Joe, for being so great, despite the tar issue. I hope you enjoy the photos… and enjoy your new place!

3 Comments » Posted by admin / Engagement Sessions

Jun 25th 2008 Thuy & Marc: Engaged!

As I posted yesterday, I spent Sunday in and around Cerritos, CA with Thuy and Marc. Thuy is the sister Viet (of Viet and Amanda whose engagement shoot can be seen here) and will be marrying Marc in August. Unfortunately, I will be unable to shoot their wedding, but I was still able to shoot a great engagement session for them.

Fun fact: Thuy and Marc met when they were both in the Army stationed overseas. I so admire them both for their time served in the military. It is something I know I could have never done, but I appreciate and admire all the people who make that commitment to our country — including my amazing cousin Maribeth who is currently serving her 4th year in the Army (she can be seen in this post).

Thuy had the brilliant idea of starting the shoot at their house by doing somewhat of a lifestyle shoot of them just hanging out. Here are a few shots I got at their home…

I think this is my favorite one of Thuy. Check out those amazing eyes!

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Hanging out at the dining table.

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We tried to get a simple portrait of them with their dog Obie, but he was just too full of energy to sit still long enough! I think this one is great and shows the little guy’s energy.

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After shooting around the house, we went out to brave the heat (I’m sure it was 100º) and shot some photos at the nearby Cerritos Library.

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We took a break from shooting so that we could take a break from the heat and visit the neighborhood Jamba Juice. It was the perfect treat on such a hot day. Can you believe that Marc has never tried a Jamba Juice before this day?

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After our break, we went back to the library for some more shooting in better light. :)

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I love this shot.

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This is possibly my favorite shot from the entire shoot of the both of them.

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Great light.

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At the end of the shoot, it was still pretty warm outside and well– there was this great fountain… Earlier in the shoot, Thuy had mentioned that she wouldn’t mind going in the fountain. Um, never tell your photographer (especially if I’m your photographer) that you’ll do something wild and crazy for a few shots if you don’t totally mean it! Haha. Luckily, Thuy and Marc were totally game to dance around in the fountain for a bit at the end of the shoot. I so love my clients!

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I loved that the little boys playing in the fountain were totally oblivious to the fact that two adults were splashing around in the fountain fully-clothed.

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A great moment right before we left totally soaked.

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Click here to view the slideshow and more images from this great shoot!

Congratulations, Thuy & Marc! I’m sorry I can’t be there for your wedding, but I have no doubt that Lillian will take great care of you. :)

Thanks for a great Sunday afternoon, and for the Jamba Juice!

4 Comments » Posted by admin / Engagement Sessions

Jun 23rd 2008 Thuy & Marc: Coming Soon!

I spent a very warm evening in Cerritos last night with Thuy and Marc for their engagement session at Cerritos Library. More will be posted soon! :)

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Apr 28th 2008 Amber & Nathan’s Slideshow

I asked Amber if she had any ideas for what song to use on their slideshow.

“How about ‘Walking on Sunshine’,” she said.

Heck yes! That song is so perfect for their cheery, bright engagement session from last weekend.

Here it is! Enjoy!

1 Comment » Posted by admin / Engagement Sessions

Apr 25th 2008 Amber & Nathan: Engagement Session

Finally, I’m finding time to write the proper post for Amber and & Nathan’s engagement session I shot last weekend. I’ve already talked about how much fun we had together (and I think it’s also evident in the photos), but I have yet to say how I met Amber & Nathan…

Amber was referred to me by my friends Brandon and Amanda. Brandon and I went to high school together, and Amanda was his high school sweetheart who became his wife a few years ago. Recently, I bumped into Amanda and their brand new baby boy Hayden at a restaurant. After catching up a bit she told me of this friend she had that needed a photographer. Little did I know that this friend would be the wonderful Amber! This girl had me at “hello” when she called me to set up her shoot and told me that she wanted a bright, fun shoot at her fiance’s fire station! Hello! A fire station? Not to mention our discussion about the importance of shoes… ah, soulmates…

Nathan is a firefighter with Kern County (just north of Los Angeles County), so he was able to make arrangements for us to shoot in his station. We were able to do pretty much whatever we wanted, and Nathan and Amber were up for anything. So, not only are they good-looking, fun, energetic and kind, they had confidence in my ideas and trusted my vision when it came to where we should shoot. What a combo!

Here are the photos (and there are MANY) that I really love from our day together.

We started out inside the station where the light was just great thanks to those huge garage doors! Here’s the lovely Amber.

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Because Kern County fire engines and trucks (and yes, there is a difference between engines and trucks…thanks for the knowledge, Nathan!) are blue and white instead of the traditional red, I encouraged Amber and Nathan to wear some bright colors. Perfect choices, guys!

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I loved the way the yellow and green went with the vibrant blue and white of the truck!

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A sweet moment of Amber and Nathan just enjoying each other’s company.

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Ok. So it was my idea to give Amber an axe. Nathan went along with it, though!

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The coolest thing about my job is definitely the people I get to meet. The second coolest thing? The places I get to go and experiences I get to have because of the people I meet. Case in point: I got to ride in a fire engine! Plus, I got to wear the headset so that I could direct the driver of the engine where to go for our “on-location” portion of the shoot. How cool is that?

Thanks to Nathan’s firefighter buddies at station 52 for making this possible! They were so great and were willing to help out in anyway! What a great group of people to work with.

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Here’s Nathan… I’m pretty sure this is right when we got a call… That’s right. We got a call while we were riding in the engine!

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Here’s Amber’s reaction to the sirens going on. My face was much the same at this moment! And on the right, you can see people having to pull over for us through the front window.

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A few moments later, the call was canceled because fortunately the traffic collision was minor and the engine on-scene said everything was okay. So, we went back to our location and started shooting again. Here’s one I love… I was determined to get those guys in at least one shot!

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We then went back to the station and Nathan changed into his turn-outs for a few shots. You can’t be engaged to a firefighter and not have a shot like this!

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This is one of my favorites… There’s just something about Nathan’s expression.

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For the final part of the day, we went to downtown Bakersfield for a few non-fire station photos. I love this one.

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I love Amber’s expression here. And sweet sunset light was great, too!

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A mini individual portrait session with Amber. When she was in front of the camera with Nathan she was fine. Put her there alone, all of a sudden she’s shy!

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Love this series.

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Whew! That was a monster post!

Amber and Nathan,

Thank you so much for an awesome day! I had such a great time with you guys and look forward to seeing you soon!

The slideshow of the rest of the shoot will be posted soon.

8 Comments » Posted by admin / Engagement Sessions

Apr 23rd 2008 Amber & Nathan: One Quick Image

I’ve been playing with some of Amber and Nathan’s engagement photos and have experimented with a concept I saw once on a photography site, but I don’t remember which one! As we were walking by this wall, the photo concept popped into my head so I thought I’d give it a shot.

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Many, many more photos from this shoot coming over the next couple days. See, I told you this week would be “Engagement Post Week.” :)

7 Comments » Posted by admin / Engagement Sessions

Apr 22nd 2008 May & Shawn’s Slideshow

As the week of awesome engagement sessions continued, I have put together a slideshow of May & Shawn’s engagement session from Saturday. Enjoy!

In other news, Happy Earth Day! Go out and recycle. Green is the new black, everyone!

No Comments » Posted by admin / Engagement Sessions

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