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.

Annie and Ernesto got married at San Francisco’s City Hall.

It was just the three of us and everyone found out only after a quick photo was uploaded to Facebook!  It was romantic, beautiful, intimate and fun.  I was the witness, ring bearer, photographer and wedding party all in one.  After the ceremony we went to Chrissy Field and did some portraits in some crazy wind but it was a beautiful sunny day.

Intimate weddings are still the same as big ones.

Wedding ceremonies no matter big or small are about love and commitment and wedding portraits can range from just a few to more options like we did here.  Weddings at City Hall are about 4.5 minutes but we spent over two hours together making the most of City Hall and then heading over to Chrissy Field for those iconic San Francisco shots too.  Wedding portraits really make the small civil ceremonies so have fun with them!

All the best Annie and Ernesto!

Nicole and Kyle are too cute together and well, the dogs make them tops in my book!  We had so much fun, as I think the photos show, doing this San Francisco engagement session at the Legion of Honor in the Presidio.  The Legion is just an amazing building with amazing light and these two were game for anything.  Enzo and Brutus were ready somewhat for their closeups.  Brutus is actually a 5 month old puppy and scared of his own huge shadow!  Enzo was on the lookout though and ready for any challenge.  I can’t wait for the wedding and how much fun that is going to be!

I really love live music and living in San Francisco gives me the best access in the small venues I love.  Like Red Devil Lounge.  The capacity is only about 300 so I can get up close and personal  and I love it.  Last week Missing Persons, When In Rome and Gene Loves Jezebel played.  It was fantastic.  The passion that When In Rome had when playing was obvious.  I never got to see these bands when I was younger so I love that they come back now and so up close and personal.

Why do you really need more than just your images on a CD?  Let me explain!  You won’t save money and you wont’ get the best that you deserve.

Since the dawn of digital I get asked a lot “I just want the raw files on CD”.   Well, if only it was so simple.  I once thought of this situation when I saw an advertisement for doing self-surgery and I think it was removal of a kidney!  My thinking is to leave it to the professionals and this is why…too much can go wrong.  I’m a photographer specializing in people so things like wedding photography, event photography and corporate and head shot portraits.  I wouldn’t imagine going in to an industrial commercial situation and say I know what I’m doing.  I definitely do not!

I recently got an email from someone who wanted engagement photos taken and wanted the raw files.  He mentioned he was a photographer but I saw he actually had another full time career.  So the dilemma for me is, as an artist, the image I take doesn’t end at just the push of a button and do I want someone else to not let me finish my process.  It’s a whole lot more.  I often run into amateur photographers who ask why I don’t do this or have that or tell me their Nikon is better than my Canon etc.  The best thing about photography is that there are a million ways to do it and all of them your way if you choose it to be that way.  But there are things that can wrong.

The process of being a photographer isn’t just about owning a camera. It is a whole lot more and I won’t even begin to discuss the business aspect of it in this post.   Experience, vision, education, tools, passion and creativity are all a part of it.  It starts with “seeing” the image. You have to see something, maybe manipulate it to make it better, make some technical choices and then perhaps change your mind again because it wasn’t right.  Oddly enough the biggest part of taking an image for me is getting my subject to connect to me and forgetting the camera.  Yes, you read that right.  I want us BOTH to forget the camera.  When the subject is in front of me whether for a wedding portrait during their wedding or acting head shots or a family portrait the camera is just a tool and believe it or not I mostly shoot in P.  Yes, you read that right too.  Once I have my basic settings and choices in equipment I use P or A and nothing else (this is in Canon I’m not sure about Nikon settings).  If I fiddle with the camera and try to think about technical things then my client can get restless, lose mood or feel uncomfortable.  If this happens the shot is lost and I have nothing anyway.  This is why you see emotion, expression and feeling in my images and not a perfectly posed, placed portrait.  Cameras today are built with a zillion different algorithms so why not trust them?

Once that part is done there is the post production which with digital is more complicated than film.  Developing choices in film can be made and then labs will still look at all your negatives and work with the color or adjust chemicals for a different grain or you can push or pull your negatives.  All of these processes lead to the final “image” that was in my mind’s eye when I pushed that button.  If you get the chance Google Ansel Adams and look at the extensive notes he did when printing his images.  They were never straight out of the camera and there was never just one print.  When I develop prints there are other choices that need to be made and all of this my artistic expression.  In regards to post production on digital images the process is all on your computer but those choices of intensity, brightness, color, filters are all the same thing leading again to my choice as my final image.  Here is a sample of images that about post production choices that made the images stand out and feel “finished”  Intimate Weddings, Documentary Weddings, Head Shots

So when you are choosing a photographer for your wedding or family portraits or even just head shots remember it isn’t just about owning a camera and while your friend is “into” photography it’s always best to hire a professional and trust them and let them do what they do best.  It is NOT about the camera and definitely not a good idea when it is your wedding and no chance for a do-over.  What about head shots?  You only get the one chance for that first impression.  Do you want to risk that to an image that isn’t finished?  Let’s be honest, will you ever make that album or retouch those photos yourself within the next couple of years even?  Most likely not!

While digital photography has brought cameras to the masses and some amazing pictures taken there is a big difference with a professional photographer.  Find the right one for you and you won’t be sorry.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me!

Ellie and Legs

Angela and John are expecting little Jackson in the next couple of months and I’m so excited for them.  We did these in their home and included a few of course of their cats (see the post Cat Portraits).  They are such a cute and fun couple.  I don’t think I stopped laughing and with all the natural light, bounds of happiness and love I couldn’t go wrong.  I can’t wait to do the baby portraits!

Let’s face it.  Dogs seem to get a lot of attention but cats are actually more abundant in homes than dogs now!  We can’t forget our purring pets when it comes to portraits.  Just because you can take a dog outside doesn’t mean you can’t get amazing shots of your cats at home  Pet portraiture is huge now and it is really one of my favorites.  Dog portraits in San Francisco  is a grand time to be sure but crawling on the floor and schmoozing a cat for amazing cat portraits is just as fun.  Cat portraiture takes on a different feel from dogs to be sure.  It’s really about what they want and not what you want.  But isn’t that normal!  So here a few fun shots taken recently as well as a few thrown in of mine too.  Now don’t think I’m a cat person.  I”d have a dog too but live in San Francisco sans backyard and I like big dogs.  The bigger the better!  Enjoy!