Month: May 2009

  • I’ve Been In The Mind Of A Genius – Melissa & Brent’s E-session w/Tauran Photography

    The title is a quote from Benjamin Martin in the movie the Patriot.  He says that after reading the diaries of General Cornwallis.  Having read those journals gave him a deeper and better understanding of the man and how he thought about things.  Well a little while back I got to be in the mind of a genius of sorts too.   My friend and fellow Scott Robert crony Tauran of Tauran Photography was up here in the Bay Area to shoot some sessions.  I went out to help him with an E-session he was shooting in San Francisco.  It was a blast hanging out with him and also a real learning moment for me to watch him in action.  Tauran creates some truly beautiful images for his clients and it is invaluable to see how other photographers go about doing what they do, especially if they are as good as Tauran.  Melissa and Brent were a joy to work with and a great couple to run around with.  Hopefully I brought something to the session, if nothing else I helped to recreate Mr. Toad’s Wild Adventure in the streets of San Francisco.  Ha ha…sort of an inside joke there. 

     

    Tauran was running the session so all the poses are his creations.  Here are a couple of the second angles I snapped off .  If you want to see more Tauran has their session up on his blog now.

     

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  • Sweet @ 16 – Dana’s Preview

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    When I was shooting Joyce & Vince’s Wedding (my previous post) with Scott Robert, I realized that I sort of knew Vince’s sister Vivian from way back.  We always joke about some of the circumstances of our past interactions.  Vivian’s daughter turned 16 this year…actually back in December of 2008…but Viv wanted to have some pictures taken of her, sort of like a Sweet Sixteen kind of thing.  Well between their super crazy schedule, try having two kids that are competing at the highest levels of their sports, and my semi-busy schedule; we just never could hook up.  Well finally we managed a little time the other day.  Dana or DMAC as she is known to some is an awesome gymnast (she just came back from NIT where she won the floor and vault in her division), but she is also just a sweet, cute sixteen year old girl as well.  I think we forget that sometimes when we see what these athletes can do.  Well it was a lot of fun working with her and getting to know her a little better.. 

     

    Here are a few shots from the day.  I will get more up once I finish processing them.

     

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  • Joyce & Vince’s Bay Area Wedding Celebration

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    Joyce & Vince had a beautiful wedding in Paris which was covered by my fiend and mentor Scott Robert.  His images are beautiful and it truly looks like it was an amazing event.  Well Joyce & Vince had another small ceremony back here in the Bay Area.  Again Scott was covering the event but this time he had me along to give him a hand.  Hummmm….I think I missed out on something some how.  =P

     

    It was a nice day of friends and family with a casual but classy feel to it.  It was totally funny too because it was one of those “This is such a small world” kind of things since it ends up that through the years I and my family have had different interactions with Vince’s family which we never knew until we all got to know one another better.

     

    Here are some shots from the day.  The artistic poses were directed by Scott and I grabbed the second angles.   Congrats again Joyce & Vince!

     

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  • Return To The Scene – Emma & Howard’s E-session (Tease)

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    Saturday I got a chance to go out with Emma & Howard to shoot their E-Session.  I had a great time with them as we returned to the scene of the crime so to speak (where Howard proposed).  Parts of why I love being a wedding photographer are times like this, because I get to know and be part of a very special time in my client’s lives.  Howard must really love Emma because from what I heard he risked life and limb to propose to her!

     

    I in particular love doing e-sessions because I get to spend time with the couples without some of the crazy time constraints that inevitably come with a wedding day.  In reality, the time and effort that I put into these sessions and the post processing after makes this one of the least profitable things I do in a wedding package, but to me it is all worth it.  I really look at these times as a get to know one another session.  Not just from personal information shared but really so that a couple can see how I work and also so I can see how they react and also to get them used to what I do.  Yes, producing some great images for them is also a goal but more importantly the comfort we develop on this day hopefully will translate to even better images on their wedding day since they will know what to expect and I will have a better idea of how to help them to be comfortable with what is going on.  Emma mentioned to me she had fun running around and being posed because she never does it.  I told her no one does, that is why it is so helpful to go out and experience it before hand.  Let’s face it unless you are like a supermodel you don’t normally have a photographer running around taking pictures of you. 

     

    Well here are a couple of images.  I have not really had a chance to work on all the images yet.  I will put them up when I finish, so hopefully this will give you little taste of our nice little afternoon together.  Thanks E & H for making it such an enjoyable time. 

     

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  • Mother’s Day

     Yesterday we had a good Mother’s Day.  Next year will be totally different since we are expecting another little girl in June, so we wanted to enjoy the day since we will probably have our hands pretty full next year with our two little girls.  We started the day by going to church where they served a nice brunch that everyone, not just the moms, enjoyed as we attended worship service.  Of course we had service in our social hall and not in the sanctuary since we can’t have food in there.  =)

     

    Well for dinner we decided to go and try our friend Louis’s new restaurant Noodle Theory.  Some of you might think “Noodle Theory…that is not new.”  Of course you would be right in one respect because the first Noodle Theory is in Oakland, CA, on Claremont Ave right at College Ave.  There is now a new one in the Marina District of San Francisco, located on Scott Street right by Chestnut.  They just had a soft opening this past Thursday and soon will be ramping up into full operation.  I love the Oakland one but must say the SF one is pretty cool looking inside. Of course they have the same great food but….they also have desserts!  So if you happen to be near either of them, try them out, especially if you are near the SF one it is a cool little restaurant. 

     

    Here are some shots from our little outing.

     

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    Louis & Yvonne

     

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    Niman Ranch Beef Udon

     

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    The Bread Pudding with an Almond Tapioca Panna Cotta behind it.

     

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    Someone loves the desserts

     

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    The kitchen cranking out the meals.

     

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    What’s that over there Mama?

     

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    Seconds before someone squirmed out of my hands.

     

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