Jeanné & Andy's Wedding Happening!

What an amazing and unique wedding! I had so much fun shooting this one for Studio 101 West. Jeanné and Andy are wonderful people and cyclists as well; as soon as I found out that they are avid mountain bikers and highly involved in the local cycling scene I knew we would get along famously.
The day started off rainy but Jeanné was confident it would clear up (which it did). We started at the Quality Suits in Uptown San Luis Obispo which has some great hallways and gardens. The ceremony was held at the historic Jack House which is a beautiful location in the heart of SLO's downtown area. Beautiful location, beautiful bride and fun groomsmen, what wasn't to love!
Many of the guests were the cyclists that I normally see out on the trails; there were so many ultra-fit people (including Jeanné and Andy) that I didn't eat dinner!
The first Thursday of every month in SLO there is an event called the "Bike Happening" where local cyclists kind of take back the streets from cars. For the perfect end to the wedding we had a "Wedding Happening" in which we sent off Jeanné and Andy via a lap around downtown. I can't say it was the safest thing I have ever done to take pictures with 7 lbs. of professional digital camera equipment in one hand and a 40 year old rusty brake lever in the other but I made it and got a few great pictures as well.
I can't wait to ride with them again!

They Did!

Ok, I am a bit late here (again!) as Clint and Jen tied the knot on September 9th, but better late than never right?
It was a beautiful ceremony at Atascadero Bible Church with everyone in a very relaxed mood. In fact, Jen was so relaxed and ahead of the game that she was actually early to the wedding; who has ever heard of a bride being early?! Something that was pretty touching was a really cool slideshow during the ceremony that had tons of pictures from their lives, both growing up and since they have been together. I was most impressed by a picture of Clint in his truck about 8 feet in the air, though I will remember to never buy a used car from him!
After the ceremony we went to the park in Paso Robles for a few pictures (where the above pic was taken) then on to the reception at the beautiful Park Street Ballroom. The food was amazing, Matthew's at the Airport did the catering and even had a nearly perfect cheese plate. I ate way too much Triple Cream and Stilton with apricots, I almost didn't have room for dinner.
I had a great time and am so glad I got to be there. I was really happy with some of the shots I got everyone dancing, the Park Street Ballroom is a truly gorgeous location.

Moon over Sextant Vineyard

As many of you already know, I do a lot of work for vineyards in addition to my wedding work. Nancy Stoller from the up and coming Sextant Wines asked me to do some vineyard shots including some more creative work using the full moon. I love it when I get a chance in my commercial work to be creative. The above is my favorite image of the shoot.

Joe and Bianca

So this is a pretty random story...I get call from a friend (also a photographer) from Fresno who knows a photographer from New York who is doing a wedding in San Luis Obispo and needs some help. I had the day free and I love to shoot with other photographers so I emailed her. It turns out the wedding is for an old Cal Poly friend of mine Joe Koenig and his longtime girlfriend Bianca. Talk about a small world! Joe is an awesome graphic designer who does lots of work for surf companies.
I meet with Catherine Hall and she is this really amazing and talented photographer and just a generally fun person to be around. You know those people who are just so happy they make you smile and put you in a good mood? Yup, that's Catherine. She does lots of editorial work all over the world, you really should check out her site. To make everything even more fun Catherine is long time friends with the bride, Bianca. It really was too funny.
It was a beautiful day on the beach at Cayucos and they had a great band "The Jammies" play the reception. Everyone rocked out until the wee hours of the morning--that is always a sign that everyone is having fun!




And did I mention that a lot of my friends were there too? I always do my best to make everyone look good! Here's my good friend Brad showing off his dance moves!

Cait, just a bit late

Steph's sister Caitlin and her longtime boyfriend Matt visited last weekend all the way from Arkansas. Arkansas you ask? Yup, her parents both went to the U of A so she kept the streak alive! I didn't have any weddings scheduled so we decided to go out and have some fun. We did some serious shots, but a lot of funny stuff that I use as concept development for use later at weddings--you didn't really think I just came up with new ideas on the spot did you?! Ha ha, I wish!
We all had a great time and got some really fun shots, here are a couple of our favorites.

No, REALLY!

People keep asking me why I like to shoot weddings so much, I tell them it is just so much fun. For some reason they are always skeptical; I guess that show "Bridezilla" on TV really scares some people :) Seriously, as a photographer who put in nearly 4 years at a paper, I have shot SOOOO many people who did not want their picture taken that I began to wonder if there was general camera shyness in our society! Now I get to share in the happiest day of peoples lives, documenting the occasion for everyone to see for years to come. How could I not love weddings!?

UC Davis with Clint and Jen

I rarely do morning shoots (if you have ever been around me before my coffee you know why!), but Clint and Jen are really good people so I decided to drive out to UC Davis campus for an e-shoot. I am so glad I did! Not only were Clint and Jen absolutely awesome to work with, but there are some really interesting buildings out there. There was this one faculty office building nicknamed the "Death Star" that Jen suggested brining food and water for. I thought maybe she was exaggerating a bit until I was so lost I couldn't even tell which way would get me out! I think the whole building was some mean professor's idea of a way to keep freshmen intimidated :)
Seriously though, Clint and Jen were great and their hard work really shows in the images we were able to get. I am really looking forward to shooting their wedding in September in Paso for Studio 101 West.

New Logo

I finally finished my new logo, I am so excited! It has been quite a bit of work and back and forth with the designer, but I am quite happy with it. I think it looks like the end of a lens without being cheesy. I can finally relax because I'm done...*correction* I can get back to editing last weekends wedding!

My first Celebrity Wedding!

I got the chance to shoot Wendell and Jaime’s wedding at the beautiful Dancing Horse Ranch in Paso Robles on June 8th, 2006 . Ok, who is the celebrity you ask? Well, you may not have heard of him yet, but Wendell is going to be big-time. He is the star running back from Fresno State who was just drafted to play for the Minnesota Vikings. Congratulations to Wendell, that is quite an accomplishment! He was a really nice guy even standing in his tux in 106 degree weather!
Jamie was absolutely wonderful to work with, she and her bridesmaids really put themselves at ease with me and the camera so I could catch some truly genuine moments. I am so happy when brides are able to relax and enjoy their own weddings!

4th of July...just a bit late!

I know I am a few weeks behind on this but I have been super busy with weddings. Afterall, this is the height of the wedding season!
Stephanie and I tried to go watch fireworks with our 1 year old Caiden this year, but gave up at 10pm when nothing had happened. Of course they started just as we were driving away! It was too bad as I think Caiden would have really enjoyed it.
I didn't get any good images so I had to pull out a few images from years past; here is one of my favorites from Morro Bay on a very rare clear evening. This was shot on film and scanned in, no retouching or manipulation was performed to alter the original image. It is one of my favorite images of the Central Coast because I think it really speaks to the beauty of this area and how fun it is to live in paradise!