Details |
ISO 640 … 35mm … f/7.1 … 1/200

Intent |
Engagment Portrait

Comments |
These are my friends, Megan and Christian, who are getting married in June. We shot this yesterday in Golden Gate park, just before the fog came in the like The Mist and took our sunshine away. Shooting this alone, I put my camera on a tripod and used a timer to release the shutter every 10 seconds. I was standing 6 feet behind the camera, catching sunlight coming over the top of the tree and bouncing back under to fill in the shadows.

Here are the rest of the images from the shoot…

If the slideshow has stopped, you can refresh the page or click here.

Details |
ISO 200 … 138mm … f/4.0 … 1/100 sec

Intent |
Engagement shoot

Comments |
This is continued from yesterday. Here, Kit and Monique are about to start walking away from me. But without being directed, they both turned around and gave me this look. I shot fast, because I knew they were going to smile any second and change the feeling of this very brief moment. There is something innocent captured here. This was the first of three shots and the other two are big smiles. They’re great. But they aren’t like this one.

Details |
ISO 200 … 24mm … f/2.8 … 1/400

Intent |
Engagement shoot

Comments |
Depending on where you live, this is the time of year when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom and with the warm afternoon sun, they can be quite a spectacle. Yesterday I met with Kit and Monique for their engagement session. We will be on Kauai in June for their destination wedding, followed by a week of celebratory fun. She plans to hang prints of the shoot on the clothes line at the house for the wedding. I can’t wait! They live in the Sunset and wanted to shoot in Golden Gate park. She knew right where to go. We found a gorgeous cherry blossom tree that was backlit perfectly. It was about 5pm. I put her under the tree by herself first and just let her play for a while. There was some tall grass in the foreground, so I got down in the dirt and shot up. I used a reflector for fill and metered off her face. She struck a handful of poses and I maneuvered myself to position the sun just over her shoulder. The light was truly amazing.

Details |
ISO 650 … 144mm … f/5.6 … 1/160 sec

Intent |
Engagement portrait

Comments |
This was taken just past Sea Cliff, under the Legion of Honor for my clients and long time friends, Eric and Victoria, who are planning for their destination wedding in Mexico later this year. She really wanted something that said “San Francisco” and we found just the spot. This was one of the very last shots and also one of my favorites. We shot a few locations and have a lot of great images, but this one is classic.

P.S. At the Legion of Honor, there is currently an exhibition from Annie Leibovitz and her life’s work. I highly recommend that you go if you have a chance. But not on Mondays. It’s closed.

Every one of my weddings has a few images that stand on their own and truly capture the essence of the entire day. I am let into very intimate places. This is Charlie and Samira moments after being married. I love this series. You can feel her love for him. It’s so tender.

This image was made at the very end of an engagement session with Anne and Dan. Something I learned from Greg Gorman was, once the goal of a shoot has been accomplished, there may still be time for creating a personal vision. After we’d got a handful of good shots, I had an idea and asked them if they would be into it. I wanted to capture their elegance and sophistication along with the child-like fun of anticipating the big day. So, I positioned them like this and when I asked Anne to look up at Dan, she lit up like a Christmas tree. Click… The moment lasted a second. In subsequent shots, she is still smiling, but not like this…

Wow! What a weekend!

Anne and Dan are such special people and have equally wonderful family and friends. This was truly a first class wedding that photographers dream of shooting. A beautiful couple and a beautiful house filled with beautiful people on a beautiful day. What more could you ask for?

The wedding weekend kicked off with a cocktail party followed by dinner at the Calistoga Inn, where they were pouring my favorite Chardonnay, Rombauer. Toast after toast filled the room with love and laughter; even some tears. It was a wonderful evening that I felt lucky to be part of and the slideshow says it all.

More coming soon…..