As I recently mentioned I have been a bit MIA due to the arrival of my second daughter.  I have to say that I was not sure how it would be to have two and you know I still don’t know half of it but so far things have been different than I think I had expected.  I was not sure how I was going to love another one as much as my first daughter but really it is like many have told us.  You just do, you love them each differently.  I have to say that I had thought the no sleep and changing diapers would be the big adjustment.  Don’t get me wrong it is a tough adjustment and I thought we generated a lot of diapers before but now…  I must say though that what has been hard is watching my oldest try to adjust to having a baby sister.  I know at some point she will be a great big sis but for now she is trying to figure out how things all work and where she fits in. 

Well, I have always said my favorite model is my oldest daughter but now with the arrival of the second I guess I have another subject to work with.  Here are a few of her birth and a couple once she got home.  So watch out, there is a new model in town.  =)

Just a quick shout out to all the Dads out there to wish them a Happy Father's Day.  I have been a little MIA since I just had another little girl about 2 weeks ago.  So I have been a bit busy.  Well to all you Dads I hope you have a great day!  Here is a shot of all my girls.

(CLICK ON IMAGE FOR SLIDESHOW)

Dana aka DMAC turned 16 back in December of 2008 at which point her Mom had thought about having some portraits taken of her.Well as I said in an earlier post, their schedule is just crazy.Dana competes at level 10 in gymnastics which to my understanding are the folks gearing up to hopefully one day go to the Olympics.If that were not enough her brother is an awesome tennis player, so as one can see they have some crazy schedules.Originally the thought was to go running around to get shots for this session but due to the difficulty in scheduling things we ended up with a bit of time limitation, so we just stuck around near their home but I think that we had some pretty good stuff to shoot around.

Well I hope that this year truly is a sweet one for Dana.It was great working with her and I hope I get a chance to shoot with her some more in the future.Hummm…they should need a photographer with them when she makes the Olympics right?=)Here is a slideshow of images from our session.

CLICK IMAGE FOR SLIDESHOW

Being a San Francisco Bay Area resident I know how unpredictable the weather can be here sometimes. When Emma & Howard mentioned that they wanted to go out by the Legion of Honor and Lands End for their E-session it crossed my mind that we could have some cold and foggy conditions.However, it was quite the opposite and we had a beautiful day to hike around the trails in the area.As I mentioned in an earlier post, this is where Howard proposed to Emma.Howard orchestrated a nice little surprise for Emma and popped the big question in a beautiful location.I must say it was a bit of a trek to make it out to their “Spot” but it was totally worth it.

Thanks to Emma & Howard for being troopers.I appreciate the stories they shared and am looking forward to being part of their big day later this year.To see their slideshow click the top image.

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.

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.

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!

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. 

 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.

Louis & Yvonne

Niman Ranch Beef Udon

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

Someone loves the desserts

The kitchen cranking out the meals.

What's that over there Mama?

Seconds before someone squirmed out of my hands.

I have known Christine for a few years now, as we attend the same church.In fact for a couple of years we actually served together in a leadership capacity.As it is anytime you have to be responsible and lead, there were times that we had to deal with some pretty heavy stuff; but aside from her totally being able handle all the stuff that was thrown at us, one of the best things about serving with her was how she could lift your spirits when she flashed one of those big smiles or broke into her infectious laugh.I just recently met Joey but right from the start he was one of those folks you just can feel comfortable with.So I know I keep saying this but it was such an honor to be part of their special day.

The weather kept threatening that day but we were lucky enough to have it hold out, that is except when I was trying to photograph them outside.Then it would start to drizzle forcing us to take shelter to keep everyone dry, comfortable, and in tact especially since it was still before the ceremony.So I wish we could have gotten a couple more shots outside the Claremont but hey how can I complain the inside of the Claremont is gorgeous.One of my favorite moments of the day was at the church; I was with Christine and the bridesmaids.The ceremony was about to start and we realized, “Hey we should pray before going out.”My friend Jackie, who was the Maid of Honor says, “Eric can you pray for us?”Actually it was more like, “Eric…” but I embellished for clarity sake.=)But regardless it was a great honor to get to lead them in prayer just before Christine went out to be with Joey.Ha ha…so see I am a full service photographer!

In any case, here is their slideshow.Thanks again to Lynn-Kai for helping me out.It was great to have him present to assist me, although, as he mentions on his blog being a second is pretty nice sometimes.I was going to post some blackmail pics of him kicking it and having a good time but really he worked hard and helped me in exactly the ways I needed him.Congrats again Christine & Joey!