Website is Live!

Today I launched my new and improved website . It has Great new features, on site private galleries and here to help me celebrate are John and Monique whose wedding I shot a few weeks ago.





You can find it at: Newly Updated Website come and get it!

In Anticipation of

Though every wedding has parts which are similar to other weddings, things happen at every wedding that are unique to the occassion and the emotions and personalities of those people on that special day. Capturing those special and unique moments are often what makes my job so much fun and rewarding.

This is one of my favorites, I call it "Not So Fast" as the pastor gently, but not subtly, let's John know that it is not yet time to get his bride. I can practially hear the pastor's thoughts and those of John who just can't wait.



I know how he feels, as I too, am so close to something I'm anticipating - the launch of my new improved site. I've really thrown a lot of creativity into it, adding new weddings and more pictures. If all goes well, it may go live tomorrow.

Dance the Night Away

Dances at weddings are often filled with many emotions. In addition to being a source of memories at the event, they often end up making several appearnces in wedding albums, as these pictures did.


A new tradition that has been gaining in popularity has been the mother-daughter dance. While many brides dance with their mothers as the only people on the dance floor, at Vanessa's wedding, all mothers and daugthers were invited to take the floor together.

Photos of the Week (Ending 04/27/07)

Like last week, my two of my photos of the week are from my chef profile written last week. (My editor emailed me today that it will run next week on Monday, so I will post a pdf of it when in does.)

This week I profiled Rosa Kilroy, 41, an immigrant from Mexico who learned English when she moved here in 1992. She is now sous chef at Left at Albuquerque and enjoys watching her customers look happy as they eat from her open kitchen.






For Town Talk I photographed Lindsey Kirk wearing lots of things from Jest Jewels. The motto there is "More is More" so I photographed her wearing a Rachel Weissman head band, as well as a Tarina Tarinto Barbie ring and Swarovski crystal ring.

These Sandals Were Made for Stopping Crime

Two men who tried to steal leather jackets from Fog City Leather on Apr. 12 found themselves chased by an unexpected person, one of the owners, in two-inch platform sandals.

That would be Susanne, who told me her story when I was photographing places for Town Talk for the San Francisco Daily.


“I was so mad at what they did to me,” Rundberg said. “I was determined to find them.” My friend, David, looked at this photo and said he was surprised they tried this on her.



Susanne says normally the shoes are ones that you have to walk in - slowly. As she didn't have the actual shoes the day I interviewed her, we went next door to Nine West (who made the shoes she had worn that day) and found these that were quite similar.

Yellowcard Album Due Soon

I just heard that Yellowcard has finished their second album. As they are also currently touring, it's great that they were able to finish up the logistics simultaneously.

I photographed them last year as they highlighted The Virgin College Megatour, and was really impressed with their energy level. This shot of Ryan Key, filled with expression as the light catches the blur of his fast string action on his guitar, makes it one of my favorite concert shots that I've taken over the years.

Shaw Shoes Advertising

One of the biggest projects I'm working on at the San Francisco Daily is working with our advertisers to come up with new innovative photos for their ads. This one is for Shaw shoes, after trying a few backgrounds, we discovered that by putting two of their bags taped together, the word Shaw could be spelled out with a handbag and a shoe in the middle.



I think it makes a great statement, and as the bag was chosen to really stand out well in terms of contrast from the background, makes a great ad photo in color and black and white.

National Lover's Day

While surfing the net today to find a holiday to blog about, I came across the fact that April 23 is National Lover's Day in the country of Catalonia. Reminiscent of Valentine's Day, people exchange roses and a book with the one they love. It is in honor of both romantic writers Shakespeare and Cervantes who died on that day.

In honor of it and them, here are some flower detail shots from recent weddings. A bouquet is a great way to show your uniqueness and artisty as a bride, and as a photographer to make a great statement about the bride with just her flowers and her surroundings.

La Trisha's red and white bouquet shone out and added rich color to her otherwise all blue-toned room.



Molly and Jeremy couldn't find a bride and groom set they liked, so these Day of the Dead figures appeared on their cake, after first hiding out with the bouquets.





Monique's simple white bouquet was reminiscent of the classic style of her furniture of the house where her reception was held.

Advertising Photography for Back to Sports

Anelise, the owner of Back to Sports, is a medical doctor who helps patients be as, if not more, physically fit after an injury than they were before. To join the photos she has in her current ad in the San Francisco Daily, she had me take some of her with her patient, Ed, who she says is in better shape than many people half his age.





After helping Ed work out, she also did a workout herself. She is a big believer in staying in shape and will probably use some of herself practicing what she prescribes in her ad as well.

One Light Workshop

Yesterday I assisted, as well as attended, my friend and fellow photographer, Zach Arias' One Light Workshop. Here he is with one of his umbrella modifiers.




He certainly wasn't afraid to get on the ground to get a shot.




The workshop was really amazing as he showed everyone lots of great advice in using a single light to make dramatic changes. Taking a subject like this, of our wonderful model Madeline,




to this, which have totally different tones even though they were shot with only a small difference in the time gap.



This shot brings out the sky, and the model, our location host, Angela, while still showing the darkness of this time of night.


I learned a lot and look forward to using some of the new techniques in the near future on my own. Thanks so much for coming out here and giving the class, Zack.

Photo of the Week (Ending 04/20/07)

Meet Erik, the chef at Circa, a shared plate restaurant in San Francisco. I photographed him cooking and some posed portraits for a chef profile and this was my favorite shot. (I'll post the profile when it has run.)

I like how I put him in a less typical spot than for traditional portraits, which suits him a lot, and how you can see his earrings.

Portraits like this (though not necessarily for a newspaper) are the focus of the One Light Workshop I am attending today taught by Zack Arias. Though I currently use either available light, my flash, or a combo of the two for photos, this workshop will cover strobe (fixed light) use and possibly be a new direction for me to take both my newspaper and my wedding photos.

Taxi!

I was photographing people for the Town Talk section of the paper when I got a call from Carla, our society writer, who had just learned the person who was supposed to shoot for her was sick.

As she such, she needed me to meet her somewhere fast, and I had to take a cab to the St. Francis Westin, which we both learned was 2 miles away from where I was. While waiting for her to come pay the fare and direct me in the cabbie asked me what the woman I was looking for looked like. I had no idea, having never met her, when I told him so, the look on his face was priceless.

It was kind of a Charlie's Angel's moment have an unseen person give me directions, but she soon found my cab and we went in, and that's where the simliarities ended. As we walked in she filled me in on the San Francisco Opera Guild's Designer Fete 2007 event, a chance to present new designs, see, and be seen.

Carla had thought that perhaps 12 or so photos would be printed, instead we used 18, one to tease the story the day before, and the other 17 today. (Click either to enlarge)

As usual, some of my favorites in color.






I think the red dress this woman is holding up would acutally look well on her as well.



A lot of the society women came fashionably dressed. We noticed a lot of women wearing elegant hats like these two ladies did.

As Seen in SF

Working in San Francisco I've seen a lot of great city specific things. Here AAA Andy, a horse about to be retired, bonds for a final moment with Officer Chris Olocco at The Police Stables at Golden Gate Park. The service (the retirement of three police horses, and comission of two new ones) was short and I liked this natural moment best (one of several I submitted to the paper).


Our paper also does a feature called where in SF, I submitted this one to see if anyone knew where exactly it was located. Since the answer has been printed, it's on Chestnut Street downtown near the Los Hermanos Mexican Restaurant.

Talk of the Town

The first of my restaurant profiles was featured in today's Town Talk of the San Francisco Daily. It's on the upper right (larger image to follow).

Here is my profile of Marty Lindstrom with photos. He's quite a character and was a fun interview. The piece practically wrote itself with the great quotes he gave me. (Click to enlarge).


The photos in color.




Another favorite, of a barback, Alexander. Marty pointed out to me how much he valued the barbacks and working as a member of a team.

Monique and John's Wedding Part Two

Though many loved ones could attend, some people were too far away to come to their wedding, so John phoned them and told them all about the highlights. (A special welcome to those friends and family members seeing the wedding for the first time here.)




They had their reception inside their lovely home.



They carefully cut their cake.




In this three generation shot, Monique dances with her grandmother while her mom cheers them on. They tell me that even at 87 she can still dance a mean fast beat as well.




John wanted a shot of the rings actually on their home, I used a textured wall to represent the strength in their love and marriage.



A moment of quiet affection in between poses outside.

Monique and John's Wedding Part One

Today I photographed the wedding of Monique and John. Their wedding ceremony had a lot of distinct touches of their priest, Father Daniel in it which made it very beautiful and special.

Here is Monique getting ready at her home while she looks in an antique mirror.




Here she is having a few last moments with her mom before they walk down the aisle together.




Father Daniel started the wedding with having everyone sit in pews in front of him and having them all reflect on the marriage that would take place soon. Here John looks at his bride with his face full of emotion as he is ready to declare his love for her publicly.




A tender moment during the sermon with just their hands.




As Monique puts the ring on her new husband's finger, Father Daniel wipes away one of her tears of joy.




At the conclusion of the ceremony, Father Dan puts his hand on John and invites the congregation to lay their hands on the couple in prayer.