Sareen is just a delightful, happy, curious little girl.  The only time she didn’t laugh or smile during our San Francisco family portraits in the park was when she wanted crackers–very, very much!  It’s important to go with the flow with kids.

I’m not one at all to say look at the camera.  Parents get those shots.  I want mine to say “this is a unique person discovering life before your very eyes”.  Let their personality shine!  I also love the shots most parents would hate–the crying and fits.  They are quite funny when you are done dealing with them.  Of course when your child turns teenager and sees this they will not be happy!

I first met the Daughtery’s years ago with their adorable Pug Vito.  He was a total charmer with a toothy grin.  When they called to do some family portraits with their new daughter I remembered them ONLY when he said Vito was our dog!  We did these family portraits at their home in San Francisco.  The front bedroom had amazing natural light and we piled everyone–the dogs included of course–on the bed and created some truly simply, beautiful and intimate family portraits.

Families come in different types and sizes and capturing the nuances of a family is the goal for me.  They are never the same!  I never know what is going to happen and just go with the flow.  Especially with babies and pets.  In this case, it was both!  The dogs were just too cute and the baby, well she was totally at our mercy but the irony is we had to work according to her desires!

The images show a beautiful family in all it’s glory.  Congrats to the Daughtery’s!

Sarah has been a friend for years and I am so happy she found Tres!  She’s an executive assistant at a winery and does a lot of planning for them so she planned the travel idea, the locations, the outfits and the accessories!  I love when clients have ideas!  It really brings their unique relationship to the table.  It was so fun and somehow in the process of rolling on the ground getting different angles I even ripped my jeans!  The engagement portraits to me are so important and I really do love doing them.  While I have known Sarah for years it is a great opportunity to work with couples on a fun day without stress and we learn about each other in the process.  Then too you have some great engagement portraits in the process!

Sarah has seen me work numerous times but now she was in front of the lens and for the first time ever Tres got an idea of the process too.   So because of this we have familiarity, ease and trust the moment I walk into the wedding to photograph the big day.  This is an important step in the process.  Yes you have to love your photographer’s style and images but you have to really like them too.  A florist drops off flowers and you may or may not see them.  The photographer?  Well, we are with you all day!  So it’s important to really like and trust them.

A special thank you too to the Robinson Family Vineyard!  The not only provided us with the location and the car but a great tasting too!  Yes, I do get to drink on the job!  Without them these engagement portraits Napa wouldn’t have been the same!

I have always loved live music and the eclectic nature and talent of musicians.   The passion they have is awe inspiring for me.  My friend Johnny Ceravolo is an amazingly talented musician and I had the pleasure of doing some black and white portraits of him recently.  He’s the lead singer for When In Rome and I originally met them when they played in San Francisco at the Red Devil Lounge.  Being a product of the 80′s I had to go see them along with Missing Persons and it was a great show.

I wanted to do some artistic musician portrait photography and he thankfully agreed!  We went to Franklin Park in Los Angeles and the weather was perfect.  I was last there with Tara Novick at 5am a couple years ago and it was moody and misty. This time it was sunny and lent itself to the dark, contrasty idea we had of black and white film and simple.  I believe the character of a musician has to show and I believe these do show Johnny and his personality and provide a sense of who he is.  He’s an amazing talent and I got wait to work together again!

Ceremony Magazine recently published its first ever San Francisco edition.  It’s truly a beautiful magazine for wedding planning resources, professional wedding vendors and San Francisco wedding photography.  I’m truly honored to be a part of it and have my images and real weddings within it’s pages!  The magazine has sections for wedding ideas, real wedding’s photography with the couple’s stories, detailed information on venues, photographers, florists and everything weddings you could need.  It’s really a great wedding planning resource guide and beautiful too!

Recently my wedding images of Sara and Todd’s St. Francis Yacht Club  wedding was highlighted in Ceremony Magazine’s blog.  This was an amazing day with an amazing couple.

Ceremony Magazine is about professionals in the wedding industry and what they can do.  Speaking only for photography of course, there are a lot of people who pick up a camera and call themselves a wedding photographer.  Sadly, I’ve heard a lot of bad stories in regards to wedding photographers from brides who were crying because they hired someone who professed to know what they were doing only to be disappointed in the end with their wedding photographs IF they got their wedding photographs.  I recently heard a story of a photographer who wouldn’t go out into the rain to get a new flash card so was deleting images during the wedding to make room for new images.  I always laugh when people come in with their list of questions from a magazine that are recommended to ask a photographer but I’m happy to answer the questions.  It means you’re doing your research and taking this seriously!

When it comes to the relationship you have with your photographer it is important you love their work but also that you love them and trust them!   I hope that when I walk into that room to start photographing your day you know you can trust me, that I will deliver what I promise, that I’m coming with $25,000 worth of equipment and don’t mind getting wet if need be!

So be assured that the people you find in Ceremony Magazine are among the top of San Francisco and you can trust them!

Sara and Todd at St. Francis Yacht Club, San Francisco

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.