I love doing engagement sessions and I love doing engagement portraits in the San Francisco Bay Area.  The reasons are simple really. First I get to know you as a couple, no wedding stress and just us photographing in the environment. I’ve done engagement portraits at the standard Chrissy Field, Baker Beach and Ferry Building and unique places like a wine bar, cigar bar and Flora Grubb.    I get to see how you act and are with each other.  This is really important.  A lot of people don’t think them necessary and they certainly are not.  However, we get to learn about each other during this time.  You get to see how I work too and then know what to expect on the day of your wedding.  Then when I walk in you don’t see me as a stranger but as the photographer you trust, know will make everything right and have fun with!

I’m not about posing people in my images.  It’s actually just not my forte.  I also believe that if I just let you “be” as a couple the images will say SO very much more than some standard pose.  If you look at the images in this post.  Not one is posed.  Not one and bring your pets!  But anyway, I may have directed things a little bit and yes, I instigate!  But I want you to feel comfortable to be who you are.  I look for those moments that say something.  That make me feel something about you.   I think this is the way that when you look back at that day and like your wedding day you will be able to say I remember it all like it was yesterday.  Success!

Professional images for business or corporations are more important now than ever.  They are used in promotional materials, websites, LinkedIn, blogs, speaking engagements etc.  Setting consistency in business is always important and now that images are so prevalent these days it’s just as important in most any corporate and professional service industries.    Business owners, attorneys, corporations, speakers, realtors, authors and all types of industries are changing from the standard gray or black or white background to something that shows more personality and depth.  Environmental corporate portraits can take place in an office or on the street which makes for an image that can really stand out from the rest.

My experience photographing people in and environmental setting have an easier time and feel less stressed in this situation which brings about an image that can express a person and personality far better than the sit here, turn, angle, chin down image.  Images have texture and depth that just isn’t the same in a studio shot.  I often hear a client say “I just want my image to have more personality than the standard kind of gray look.”  This is exactly what you do get.

Living in the San Francisco/Bay Area we truly set the tone in many industries especially in technology and creative industries.  There is no reason why your photograph shouldn’t represent you at your best, be something you are actually proud to use and help your business too.

A partial list of my clients are here.  If you want an image that resonates and makes a great impression, call me.  See the difference yourself.

ABC 7, AIG, Alain Pinel Realtors, Anshen + Allen Architects,  Bingham, Bryan Cave LLP,  Buzz Media, Cisco, Colgin Cellars, Dave Flemming-Giants Announcer, Disney,  Goodwin Proctor, Green Ivyed,  Incisive Media, Merrill Lynch, Payne + Fears,  Reid Hoffman-LinkedIn, Ropes Gray, SAP, ShotSPotter,  TAJ and many more.

I’m admittedly a shoe hoarder.  My friends tease me constantly but I don’t mind as it is quite true!  When I see the bride before the wedding one of my first stops after a hello hug to the bride and meeting her family is the shoes and then yes, the dress!  This year’s weddings have had some amazing shoes and the trend of colored wedding shoes that I saw starting a few years ago has not stopped!  This year I have to even give huge kudos to a bride’s mom who was wearing some spicy shoes I truly envied.

Wedding shoes no longer are just the plain white they used to be.  Color, sequins, rhinestones, heels, flats, even cowboy boots have made my bride’s lists!  Sometimes they are a hidden surprise that really only the bride knows but other times in a shorter dress or tea length wedding dress they be total show stoppers for guests.  One bride even taught me about Milk and Honey Shoes where you can totally design your own shoes.  Unbelievable!  You design everything from the heel height to color to texture and straps.

I love California weddings and truly San Francisco weddings.  We have some amazing and unique people here and this truly shows through to their weddings.  Don’t be afraid to try something you normally wouldn’t wear and don’t be afraid to have a few pairs!  You think the bride in the bright green McQueen shoes wore them all day? Absolutely not!  She had another pair for walking on the grass and dancing later.  After all a girl can never have too many shoes and wedding shoes too!

I came across a posting on StyleMePretty that was totally unique.  If you aren’t aware of this site and are getting married you should surely check it out.  It’s a great resource of ideas and vendors that you know are reputable and should check out.  I had a wedding of mine posted on it for the wedding  theme of red, white and blue which was fabulous.

It was about two women who were both recently married and contemplating changing their names to their spouse’s last name.  They totally surprised their husbands and brought back the officiant that married them to have a “ceremony” celebrating the name change.  They included wedding photographs and many of their guests that had been there that day.  By incorporating all of these things they brought together all the best moments of the celebration of their weddings and kept the fun going in their marriages and with friends!

They women (remember the husbands were surprised!) went all out on the theme of “Maiden Voyage”. You do get that right?  Emphasis on MAIDEN!   The colors were yellow, blue and white and the theme nautical of course.  Their professional photographer did a great job of capturing the event, the people and definitely the details.

While they went all out on this idea you could do it with your own special spin in the backyard of your home and just keeping it intimate with your closest friends and family and a Do It Yourself or hire professionals to help you out with resourcing vendors and supplies.  DIY does bring on other issues like finding vendors, supplies and all the time it can consume.  I have come across many unique ideas when I’ve done DIY weddings but the common comment I hear is just how time consuming it is!  Remember this of all things though to be sure to research your vendors thouroghly before hiring them.  This is on you in DIY as a planner will be able to make great recommendations based on experience with them personally.

This is an amazing idea.  So many of my couples get married not deciding on the whole thing about doing the name change.  This is a great idea and one I’m going to be sure to pass on!

Here is my original post on my blog for the red, white, blue theme.

Megan and Blair are from Boston and had a destination wedding at Arista Winery in Healdsburg.  The day was perfect!  Arista Winery just has an amazing ambiance and the settings range from Japanese gardens to countryside hills to grape vines.  The flowers were by Heather Hendrickson, the video was by Jonathan Metcalf at MetMedia and the amazing food came from Park Avenue Catering. Their friends and family came from far and wide to help celebrate this wine country wedding in Sonoma with them.    California Wine Tours brought them from St. Rose Church in Santa Rosa so the guests could drink Mark David wine and the Pinot Noir all night.  Wine Country Weddings really are my favorite and Arista Winery has it all.  Thank you Megan and Blair and all the very best to you!!

Mulemwa and Senait are so cute.  Senait is so beautiful and you wouldn’t know it but totally shy!  We did this engagement session in front of San Francisco’s City Hall.  It was cold and windy and kind of dreary but I don’t think you’d know it from the images we got!  They are so in love and just so adorable together.  Their love really shines through.  I cannot wait for the wedding!  Senait really got dressed up and Mulemwa was very dapper which is something most people don’t do for San Francisco engagement portraits but it so worked out perfectly!

The Juhle family are so sweet to watch.  They obviously love their new daughter but even the dog got his fair share of kisses at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco.   We had the Legion of Honor to ourselves really for the portraits.  The lighting was beautiful and their little girl was in perfect model mode!

Emily and Robert are a wonderful couple together and they came up with the craziest idea for our shoot!  I was a little scared as they had showed me some zombie thing but I cracked up when they told me about the phone idea!  We would shoot various locations within Stern Grove, San Francisco and then I’d yell “phone!” and they would take them out and pose with them. It was just hilarious and they were great actors.  It’s also the first time Emily got to see her ring so he surprised her with that too and the moment was so sweet and touching.  Engagement portraits and sessions should be fun and remember too this is where you really get to know your photographer.  So I hope you enjoy our Stern Grove engagement session!

I had the most fun ever with Shannon and Chad at our engagement session at the Palace of Fine Art in San Francisco.  Talk about a fun and funny couple!  This really was just documentary portraiture!  We hung out and worked all the angles of the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco.  The sun was setting and the crowds had left but a few locals so we had the place almost to ourselves. The Palace of Fine Arts is amazing for portrait photography and when you put two very fun and loving poeple in the mix you cannot go wrong!  The portraits were fun, documentary and just captured their personalities.