I absolutely love San Francisco engagement shoots. New love is a captivating thing and there are so many awesome settings in this city to capture it. Tegan and Igor are really cute couple and it was fantastic to Golden Gate Park as a backdrop for the session. Igor is Russian like me, so we connected easily which contributed to a having a fun and relaxed shoot.

At Golden Gate Park we started at Stow Lake before moving on to the Palace of Fine Arts. After our time in the park, we headed to Baker Beach to capture shots in the shadow of the majestic Golden Gate Bridge. This lovely couple will be marrying next year at the beautiful Temple Emanu-El

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Another successful engagement session! The shoot I did with Rosi and Eddie was great, and particularly meaningful to me since Eddie is a friend of mine.  He is a bartender at a popular San Francisco nightclub where I have photographed frequently in the past, and so we’ve come to know each other well over the years. Being asked by Rosi and Eddie to photograph their engagement session and wedding was such a privilege. It’s always feels good when friends and family trust you with what will surely be one the most important days of their lives.

We held the session at the Fisherman’s Wharf to revisit the scene of Eddie’s proposal to Rosi. We moved into Musée Mécanique, the antique music and arcade machine museum, and captured some unique shots around the vintage machines. In keeping with the retro theme, the couple posed with a classic car from the 60′s. Another fun aspect to the shoot is that Rosi’s maid-of-honor, Irma, was the light-holder for the session!

Congratulations, Rosi & Eddie! Thank you for including me in your celebration!

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Most of us who have taken public transportation in San Francisco would hardly consider BART to be the setting for a modern day fairy tale. But for Caroline & Steve, a fateful train ride a few years ago led them to each other and to true love! Caroline is an architect and Steve is in PR, so both have a lot of vision. Although it took them a while to warm up at the beginning of the shoot, it wasn’t long before their creative and fun personalities surfaced for me to capture on film.

In this San Francisco-inspired engagement shoot, we ventured throughout the city by foot and BART while I captured the couple in various familiar city settings. We started at the Ferry Building at the Embarcadero, and then moved to 101 California Street with the oversized Christmas baubles. We also took shots on the iconic San Francisco cable cars, and as a tribute to their love story, at the BART station. We ended in the Mission, using the electrifying murals at Sycamore Alley as a backdrop to create a little video you can watch below. I was inspired by the use of stop-motion animation technique and applied the soundtrack to the film Run, Lola, Run. The images from this shoot were created by using a combination of motion blur and off-camera flash techniques combined with a slow shutter.

Another exciting part to this story is that Caroline & Steve chose me as the photographer for their wedding in Chicago in September! They are also having a photo booth from SnapFiesta, a division of Gene Kosoy Photography. I’m really exciting to head to the Windy City and photograph this awesome couple in a new setting.

Congratulations, Caroline & Steve! Thank you for letting me be a part of capturing a piece of your beautiful love story!

Sidenote: We were joined on the shoot by my assistant, Terry, who took some behind-the-scenes photos of me for his class project. You can check out a few of his images of me for his class project…which I am happy to say he aced!

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It has been a while since I last posted on my blog, so I need to catch up on all the great shoots and travels I’ve been on, over the past month.   This shoot with Dana and Joni took place in late March.  They are a great couple, and have an electrifying chemistry between the two of them. The shoot took place a bit after 5pm in downtown San Francisco, with very little sunlight left. I had my lovely assistant, Olya, help me with the lights, which are mandatory for shooting after dark. We strolled down Grant Street, through China Town, to North Beach, coming back to Belden Place. We even managed to make our way into an apartment building in China Town for a cool balcony shot. Unfortunately, the conditions of the fire escape made it dangerous to get outside, so we kept going. We got to photograph underneath one of my favorite art installations in the city, “Language of Birds“, by Brian Goggins and Dorka Keen.

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Had an awesome time with Kathy and Jeremy the other day. They are an awesome couple, that met online. Well more like on an iphone app. Pretty crazy where true love might be hiding, but they definitely hit it big. We had a great time going around the city, visiting the Palace of Fine Arts, Presidio, Embarcadero and The Port of San Francisco. Special thanks to Peter Brandt for doing some stunts for us on his bike. I am lucky to have the opportunity to hang out with great couples on a regular basis. It gives me the opportunity to see their bond first hand, allowing the couple to be more comfortable on the wedding day.

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