Went out with my man Mike again, it was time for him to get a different look for his portfolio.  A few things have changed with him since our first shoot together.  One is that he has become much busier with his acting…I like to think that my photos have helped get him a few more looks.  The other thing is that he has taken to photography and is even taking classes.  I really appreciated him sharing with me that as he learned more and literally looked at different photographer’s sites daily he actually appreciated more what I was producing.  Definitely better than him saying, “Hummmm… now that I have some knowledge I realize your stuff is no good.”  So it was definitely a nice bit of encouragement for me. 

Well here are a few shots from our time together.  Hope that everyone is doing well out there.  Feel free to leave a little comment or say “Hi”, it is nice to not feel like you are in a bubble sometimes.  =)  Take care and have a great day.

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Awhile back I took a little jaunt down to Newport Beach, CA to shoot Karen & Alden’s Engagement Session.Originally we had thought to shoot it up in San Francisco since their wedding will be here later this year, but after some thought they felt it would be nice to have the session shot down there since that is where they are living.I was game as I figured it would be nice to have the engagement pictures from down there and then wedding pictures from up here.

I flew down and actually met them face to face for the first time at the airport when they picked me up.To that point I had only communicated with Karen over e-mail and a couple of times on the phone.Interestingly it semi-mirrored how their relationship started as they were set up by a friend, so with their busy schedules, Karen and Alden first got to know each other without seeing one another.They shared with me how they had been talking and e-mailing and then suddenly realized that they had not even ever seen each other yet.

Well, as soon as they picked me up they made me feel totally welcome and they were great hosts.Needless to say they took care of me the whole day.It was a great time as we ran around Balboa Island, had some lunch.Then took a quick visit to UC Irvine and finished up at Crystal Cove.They were both totally great sports about the whole shoot and did great.Here is a slideshow of our adventures (click on the above image).Congratulations to Karen & Alden and I am genuinely looking forward to seeing them again recording their special day.

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For those of you who don’t know Louis is the owner of Noodle Theory, located in Oakland at the corner of College Ave and Claremont Ave.I met Lou many years ago and I always thought he was just a funny guy and really good natured.Well in recent years I discovered that he was an awesome chef as well. Occasionally we he would cook something up for us and we would be amazed at how tasty it would be, it would almost be like drugs since we would want more!

Well I always thought that Lou needed to find someone great since I thought he was a good guy.Well one day he comes over to cook for some friends and…well…there is this girl tagging along with him.My wife and I are wondering who is that?Well it turns out that it was Yvonne and you know what she is great.It was a joy to see them together since they share the same passions and are so funny together.

They had their wedding at Healdsburg Country Gardens and it was just beautiful.I’ll admit it was a bit of a challenging photography location with all the spots of shade and sun mixed together but in the end it was awesome to be there recording all those moments filled with so much love and fun.Congratulations Yvonne & Lou, may your marriage be bless beyond what you can imagine.

Assistants: Ellis and Brian

Venue: Healdsburg Country Gardens, Healdsburg, CA

Make-up: Jocelyn R. Gomez (www.jocelynthestylist.carbonmade.com)

Cake: Michele’s Corner Custom Wedding Cakes (www.michelescornercakes.com)

The other weekend I had a little change of pace and shot some family sessions. It is always nice to spend time with some very nice families. I shot with the Kim’s and Chang’s last year so it was nice to hook up with them again. The Nobunaga’s I know since I used to go to the same church with Dean & Alyssa. We have not actually seen each other for a few years so definitely it was great to see them.

Why is it such a change of pace? Well first off we did not have a full schedule as is usually the case when shooting a wedding and lets see…by the end of the day I had shot 9 little ones all with very different temperaments. Some a bit challenging to shoot but all very fun.

Thanks to each family it was great to see everyone and share a piece of your weekend. Also thanks to Jason and Michelle for coming out to lend a hand.

The Kim Family

The Chang Family

The Nobunaga Family