A New Album!

I'm so excited to introduce a new album into my collection!  The book is completely different than the other two albums I offer as it has more of a modern coffee table book feel.  It's a hardback book with photos printed directly onto the pages with bright archival inks and matte (or glossy) pages.  These books are perfect for creating a truly custom book, and they'd be a great choice for guest sign-in albums for all of your engagement photos (stay tuned for a guest sign in as the next sample).  It's made by Vision Art Books, and for my first sample, I outsourced the design to Brandon Peterson of The Album Design.  I plan to use Brandon for all of my album designs from now on since I am not a designer and it takes me sooooo much longer for me to design books.  Brandon did an incredible job, and I love his clean, crisp style!  I created the sample from Ashley and Adam's lovely San Francisco wedding last fall.

All the album photos were taken by Adm.

Dana + Marc in Santa Rosa, CA

Dana and Marc were married in late June at Kenwood Depot, an old train station in Santa Rosa.  When I arrived, I was immediately greeted by a flurry of family and friends who were helping decorate and set up everything for the ceremony and reception.  You can't come away from this wedding without feeling the immense love not only between Dana and Marc but also for Dana and Marc by their friends and family.  So many people happily pitched in to help out with the wedding - from good friends acting as parking attendants to helping set up and clean up to DIY reception decorations made by the mothers to heartfelt beautiful toasts by close friends to the lovely bouquets made by Dana's sisters to Marc's brother as the MC and train conductor extraordinaire to the gorgeous quilt used for the Chuppa and made by Marc's mother.  I don't normally blog a lot of details, but since there were so many that were so personal to this couple, I've included a number of them in this post.  Additionally, Dana and Marc had the best ceremony intro - a complete recreation of the marriage scene in "The Princess Bride."  Everyone involved in the ceremony was in on the skit and had their own line.  Here's a snippet to refresh your memories:

"Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday. Mawage, that bwessed awangment, that dweam wifin a dweam...  And wuv, tru wuv, will fowow you foweva...  So tweasure your wuv."

OK, enough yammering.  Dana and Marc, I wish you two all the best with lots of laughs for years to come.

Marlene, Rhonda and Max

I had the pleasure of photographing Rhonda with her mother Marlene and their sweet dog Max at their lovely home in Oakland about a month ago.  Rhonda is the Director of Marketing at the San Francisco Design Center so naturally, her style (both for herself and her home) was sophisticated and beautiful.  I always love photographing people in their personal spaces - most people are not used to having their photograph made so it can be a bit unnerving posing for the camera, and being in a space that is comfortable and familiar helps to put people at ease.  Additionally, people's homes are so revealing about who they are which only adds to the sense of themselves that I strive to let shine through in the photos.

Ginny + Sep in Fremont, CA

Wow.  Summer is flying by!  It seems like just last week when Adm and I were jumping on the bouncy bushes at Ginny and Sep's engagement session, and now it's been more than a month since their wedding!  These two have been so nice and fun to work with throughout, and their wedding was no exception.  Adm was still recovering from his back surgery so his father and veteran photojournalist Al joined me.  This was my second time photographing at the Palmdale Estates in Fremont, and just as before, the light was spectacular, especially for the portraits.  I don't say it enough, but I am so privileged that people let me into their lives to document their special moments and intimate relationships.  When I met up with Ginny and Sep a week before the wedding, Sep had a black eye (casualty of playing indoor soccer), and when he was getting ready with his guys, he was sarcastic, a little rough around the edges, and throughout, he hasn't totally been into having his picture taken.  But, when I swept Ginny and Sep off for their portraits, Sep almost became a different person - he was so sweet and loving towards Ginny, totally in love with his new bride.  I love that I get to see all these facets of people.  Ginny and Sep, thanks for trusting me with these memories, and Sep, I'm sorry if I've blown your cover.  You're such a great guy with a fabulous woman!

Photo below by Al:

Photo below by Al:

Photo below by Al:

Photo below by Al:

Photo below by Al:

Christy + Miguel in Half Moon Bay, CA

Remember Christy and Miguel?  Here they are again as a newly married couple, and they looked more beautiful/handsome than ever on their wedding day!  They had a beautiful ceremony at St. Cecilia Roman Catholic Church in San Francisco (which is really lovely) followed by a reception at the Golf Links in Half Moon Bay where everything (weather, scenery, and people of course) came together magnificently.  Chris Jordan joined me again to second shoot while Adm was still recovering, and he did a wonderful job as you'll see below.

Photo below by Chris:

Photo below by Chris:

Next two ceremony photos by Chris:

Dancing photos by Chris:

Little Lu

I'm happy to introduce May Lu, or rather "Little Lu" to everyone.  Momo gave birth in May, and I met up with her, Thay Thay, and the rest of their family for pictures of May Lu when she was one month old!  Of course, Thay Thay hammed it up and was the life of the party, but he's just getting geared up to be the best big brother ever!