Eileen & R. G. {Mission San Jose Wedding}

Eileen and R.G. contacted me last year as a referral from Lauren and Yong’s destination wedding in Hawaii. I jumped at the chance to shoot a wedding in California, a place filled with filtered light at sunset that makes for perfect light at the end of day {Part sea haze, part air pollution me thinks}. Their ceremony took place inside the historic Mission San Jose in Fremont, CA and wedding reception at Casa Real at Ruby Hill Winery. Kids played an important role in Eileen and R. G’s day, which I loved. There’s nothing like laughter of little ones to soften nervous moments on the big day. Yes, “R. G.” sounds close “R. J.” So much so, I had to keep my ear sharp to avoid getting confused about someone calling my name!
Continue Reading…

I cast my vote!

American Photo just listed their top ten wedding photographers in 2012, the wedding photographer Grammy’s. These photographers didn’t just handout their business card to a magazine editor and cash in. Their success was built with a decade of hard work.

Special congrats to Jeff Newsom whom I met during his first workshop every in 2010 (workshop review here). I really dig Jeff’s approach and way of seeing. Big props to Susan Stripling who I adore her romantic approach as much as her Think Books. Then there’s gregarious Sergio from the Foundation Conference, master of FOA. He’s coming to Minneapolis to teach his “Bad Ass Class.” I’m proud to say I knew them before they went big time!

If you are a new photographer, I recommend focusing on what these photographers are doing right, along with mistakes learned. Doing this has helped me immensely, specifically with lighting, composition, and documenting real moments balanced with how to handle issues related to blogging, post-production, the album design process, and customer service.

Featured on the list is photojournalist Dave Getzschman, who balances “moments of reverence with moments of irreverence.” Love it.

Contrasting the sacred tradition of marriage with wedding industry social politicking, I am reminded to keep a wide perspective and fly under the radar…

… especially during family formals:

With so many great photographers in this world, who gets my vote as Top 10 Wedding Photographer in 2013?
Continue Reading…

Our wedding photos

It’s been a little over a month since our wedding in Hawaii and it’s been nice to savor the downtime. I’ve been on the road a lot this year, so it’s been nice to use this time to catch up (wedding albums, settling in to my new Minneapolis, gardening).

I’ve shared my journey in a past blog post on choosing a wedding photographer shortly after our engagement session in Colorado. We heeded the simple advice, “Be yourself and enjoy.” Come wedding day, everything was perfect and we wouldn’t have changed a thing.

I’m pleased to share a few of our wedding photos by James Christianson. We literally {and figuratively} have photographed weddings on tops of mountains and bottoms of valleys and I so appreciate his art and heart. Most simply: he did an amazing job shooting 45 rolls of medium format film. Each image was expertly shot, developed in a photo lab with real chemistry, then scanned to create the digital images. I share a few favorites of his images below. Pop on over to view more images on his blog post here.

Special thanks to our coordinator, Kevin Omura at Kuleana Design. If there was a suitcase big enough, we’d bring him along to all of our family gatherings!

Vivian & Justin {Rock ‘N’ Roll Wedding}

The birthplace of Rock ’N’ Roll set the stage for Vivian and Justin’s wedding on April 21, 2012 in Cleveland, Ohio. This adorable couple hosted Korean family and guests and tons of friends to an emotional wedding ceremony at Saint John Cathedral followed by a reception at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. I met the couple through the wonderful Helena Han at Ya Sena last summer when shooting a wedding in Santorini, Greece. As much as I like small destination weddings, there’s nothing like a production with tons of creative talent to make the occasion memorable. With vivid colors and lively fun, my first wedding in Cleveland goes down in the record book as one of my favorites this year. I was thrilled to share this awesome day with such an amazing couple who allowed me to explore and play with color and light.
Continue Reading…

Vivian & Justin {sneak peek}

My eyes, ears, heart, and belly were happy after an amazing wedding at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. A sneak peek of 10 favorite images featuring robust color and great moments. Continue Reading…

Judy & Noah {Hawaii destination wedding}

Fire. Water. Earth. Wind. And Food.

All five elements were balanced delicately and shared with friends and family for Judy & Noah’s wedding in Oahu, Hawaii on April 14, 2012.

I met this sweet couple while shooting Erin & Christo’s wedding on the North Shore in 2010. We connected instantly, geeking out about attending Burning Man, light painting with fire at weddings, and thoughts on planning a wedding while working in the industry. They invited me to create some signature portraits during their sunrise portrait session, got engaged shortly thereafter (we all knew), and asked me to shoot their wedding. I was honored!

Noah is a talented chef and spins fire at Burning Man like a martial artist. He prepared all our food at our wedding as well as gave a jaw-dropping fire spinning performance. Judy deals with all things wedding-related in Hawaii. Together, they are creative, fun couple with a unique set of highly-creative friends. I was proud to share in their emotion-packed wedding day situated at Kathy Ireland’s extraordinary location on the shore of the Pacific Ocean.

Wonder Twin Powers Activate!

Continue Reading…