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!
September brought the union of a fantastic couple, Kim & Mike. The ceremony was held at the historic Swedenborgian Church of San Francisco in the Pacific Heights neighborhood. The church has been designated a National Historic Landmark, and with it’s amazing architecture and decorative stained glass, it was the perfect romantic setting for a wedding.
After the ceremony, we did an exclusive shoot with the newlyweds at Crissy Field in the Presidio of San Francisco. With such a joyous couple as the subjects and the Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge as a backdrop, my job as a photographer was made easy.
The reception was held at the InterContinental Mark Hopkins Hotel at the crest of San Francisco’s Nob Hill. Bay Area Alma Desnuda provide their acoustic grooves to set the mood for celebration. Because Mike works for a local wine distributor, there was an abundant flow of exquisite wine at the reception. Congrats Mike and Kim!
Wow, it has been a long while since my last post on the blog. It has been a busy year, between destination and local weddings. Anyhow, I want to share photos I took of Alex and Molly. Molly and Alex got married a year ago, and wanted to hop back in their wedding outfits for a shoot on the beautiful Mount Diablo. This was not a trash the dress session, however, the dress along with my socks,picked up some grass and ticks attached. The shoot took us to the top of the mountain, and brought us down into a beautiful valley for a stunning sunset. The champagne toast shots were priceless. Very fun couple to work with, enjoy the photos.
Something special happened on Ocean Beach the other day. I teamed up with a San Francisco artist,Andres Amador to capture his art on camera. He was commissioned by Rik and Lou Ann to create one of his signature art pieces on the beach, to commemorate their love. The photos will be used for the wedding invitations, and are meant to be pieces of art to share with the couple’s friends. Andres and Ember led a team of the couple and their friends, to create a unique piece on the beach. Each person chose a flower, and created their own on the beach. This was not an easy project to orchestrate, since a sufficiently low tide around sunset only happens a few times a month, and summer days are often foggy on Ocean Beach. This combined with everyone’s schedules, its a marvel that we were able to pull this off. There was a caterer on site, serving up delicious food and peach champagne jello shots. The jello shot toast is an instant classic in my book. Looking forward to the wedding. Would like this for your engagement or proposal? Check out Andres Amador on the web.
This San Francisco Chinatown wedding is the third wedding I’ve shot for this particular group of friends. Sue and Norm had a destination wedding in Hawaii, and this was their San Francisco reception. It took place at the Far East Cafe Restaurant in Chinatown. Before heading to the restaurant the limo stopped by a few San Francisco landmarks, including the Embarcadero and parts of Chinatown. The groom was involved with Chinese martial arts, and so his old school provided the lion and dragon dancers for the wedding. It was an exceptional show. The whole restaurant is full of TV screens, which actually came in pretty useful when the slideshows were playing, so that guests facing the back would continue eating their meals. Norm was possibly the most acrobatic groom I’ve ever photographed. Very fun couple. More friends getting married? Bring it on!