Hey y’all, I know things have been a little quite around the blog. I’ve been doing family sessions, a few late-season weddings, and working on this website for a personal project I’ve been working on for some time.
‘Here’, is a series I’ve been working on for about a year now, of environmental portraits of transgender, non-binary, and other gender identities along with personal statements from the folks I’ve worked with. Thank you for taking a look!
I couldn’t wait to share some pics from my latest wedding on Vallejo’s Mare Island.
More below, including a peek at a surprise on the bottom of the bride’s super cute pink heels.
Continue reading “Sneak Peek, Lola and Rizzo’s Romantic Vallejo Wedding”
This wedding was truly epic!
I was really excited when Avren and Digby contacted me with details of their plans for a masquerade-theme wedding to celebrate their partnership. Avren made most of the decorations, and their choice of venue was ideal for the size and type of party they wanted to throw. The Chapel handled the catering, incredible lighting design, custom cocktail, and were extremely easy and fun to work with.
Avren’s makeup by the fantastic Evan at Oui Three Queens Productions, and their suit is by Jake Clothing. Crown by Chelsea’s Flower Crowns. Wedding was officiated by (another) Evan, of Buddhistweddings.
Catering was done in house by The Chapel, pies were from Niles Pie Company, Dj Fox kept folks on the dance floor all night and he was accompanied by Paul Oliphant on the drum kit.
Many more pics below..
Continue reading “Avren and Digby’s Rock and Roll Wedding at The Chapel, San Francisco”
Wasteland Weekend is a four day long apocalyptic theme, Mad Max style campout and festival. This was our first year attending and it won’t be the last. I love desert camping.
My goal wasn’t to spend too much of my time doing photography, but I couldn’t resist once I arrived and was glad I brought the Fuji X-T20. All these images were shot with the 18-55 and 35mm 1.4. I was extra charmed that someone camping near us got married out in the desert complete with a stylish vehicle to take them to and from the ceremony location.
I used to be more of a writer, thankfully (for my audience) that ended. These days I keep a running ‘to do’ list and rely on photography to remind me of what’s happening in life. This is one I shot last week from my office window.
The scope of these fires burning in California at the moment has been so huge that I feel the need to take a moment to pause in respect for everyone affected by this situation. My brother and his family live in Santa Rosa, and have come to stay with us in Oakland for a few weeks. My parents had to evacuate my 92 year old Grandfather from his care home. We’re the fortunate ones. So many people have lost everything, including their lives, in this fire. ‘Heartbreaking’ doesn’t even begin to describe.
Yesterday was also the anniversary of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, and another reminder of how quickly things can change. I grew up in Stockton, in the Central Valley area of California and we felt that quake all the way out there. It was terrifying, and so was watching the news footage of how it impacted the Bay Area. This is to say.. Everyone should have an emergency kit. Food. Water. There is a wealth of information on this online, as well as places to purchase fully stocked kits. Much of what is in ours I was able to find via amazon.com, which made it much easier to make sure we are well supplied if when the inevitable occurs.
Thank you for taking this little pause with me, it just didn’t feel right to continue the stream of joyful wedding photos when so many people are still evacuated and uncertain about the future.
This was one epic, gorgeous wedding.
Thank you to The Chapel for doing a terrific job of handling the whole event, from lighting, to catering this is a terrific venue.
Continue reading “Avren and Digby at The Chapel, Sneak Peek”
I’m looking forward to photographing Lola and Rizzo’s wedding in Oct, their tea party theme engagement session was a lot of fun.
Cupcakes are from Sweet Dee Cupcakes in San Leandro and they were delicious!
I’ve had an eye on my neighbor’s magically overgrown backyard as a potential shoot location, it’s full of nasturtium, blackberry brambles, and trees in desperate need of a good pruning. Model and artist Valentine is one of the most adventurous models I know, and she didn’t hesitate once to crawl through all kinds of overgrowth for our time together. The flowers are from Mille Fiori, a small flower stand on Piedmont Ave in Oakland which has some of the best prices on quality blooms in Oakland. Our concept for this session was a gothy alternative bridal summer look.
You can check out Valentine on her Instagram (Heads up, some of her other work is a little less clothed than this session! ) or reach her via twitter if you’re interested in booking.
My beloved Xpro-1 died on our recent trip to Paris, so while I’m waiting for it to come back from repair I pulled the trigger on a long-needed camera upgrade. After a lot of reading/research/fretting, I finally pulled the trigger on the Fujifilm X-T20 after seeing some results from a friend who has been shooting with it quite a lot. One of the best pieces of advice a teacher gave me in regards to photography gear was to invest in good quality lenses in whatever system you were shooting; there’s no point in constantly upgrading your camera body if you aren’t shooting with decent glass. I currently own four of the Fuji Lenses (18-55mm, 35mm 1.4, 56mm 1.2, and 14mm 2.8). After only a week of shooting with the T20 I’m kicking myself for not upgrading sooner, as the Fuji system has improved in leaps and bounds since the Xpro-1 and I’ve been wasting these amazing lenses on such an outdated system.
I’ve been falling more and more in love with this system and am going to invest further in a few more lenses for wedding work. I’ve been a canon shooter for much of my life and career, but I love the low profile and quiet shutter of the Fuji and it’s become my only go-to travel kit camera. Just for fun I challenged myself to shoot first with the 18-55mm kit lens, as it’s a lens I’ve never really liked much and was considering selling. It’s optics come across much nicer on the Xt20 and while I’m happy with these results, I’ll likely sell it and invest in the 16-55mm 2.8 next.
