A Thank You Note I Received

One of the most rewarding aspects of my job is the chance to photograph people on some of the happiest days of their lives. Today I got this thank you ecard:



It reads:

Danielle:

Thanks so much for attending my daughter's first birthday party. The photos you took came out great and I really appreiate you going to the trouble of photographing Sky's birthday party. The images will be treasure memories for years to come, not to sound too mushy. Your contribution to the party helped make it a true success. Thanks again.

Always, Rachel and Skylar

A Touch of Purple

Sometimes unexpected patterns turn up during weddings and ceremonies. When first arriving at Gia and Alec's reception I was struck by the purple flowers outside and took this photo:



Inside the reception other purple wildflowers also made an appearance. This girl held one while dancing with her grandfather, here are a full body shot and a closeup.




The flowers were brought inside by the many children in attendance. Although some ended on the floor, one was also given to the bride, Gia, who held onto it for a while, here she is with it while watching her new husband on the dance floor.

Gia and Alec's Reception, Part Two

During the slideshow, Alec and Gia stole a moment to themselves, almost unaware anyone else was around them.


During the cake cutting they were surrounded by their own four daughters, as well as a few more little girls.



Gia and Alec had black and white disposable cameras at each table. Their daughters must have just learned this right before the garter removal, as they came up and made sure to capture their own moments of the day.



They were also up close and personal for the garter toss.


Sunday's reception was a beautiful all family event, and I'm happy Amoreena and I were on hnd to capture all these special memories.

Gia and Alec's Reception, Part One

Gia and Alec made their grand entrance after their four daughters ran in before them. Here is the happy couple.




The daughters ran fast, here are three of them who rushed in before Gia and Alec.




With having four little girls in their family already, the wedding was a family affair with daughters near and on them through much of it including the toasts.



They did get some time alone to dance as a couple for their first dance.



Then it was time to dance with their new blended family.



The best man even found his inner rock star with some help from an air guitar from the DJ.

Ye Olde Traditional Shoot Out

Today I shot a wedding reception (for a couple who had their wedding on 07-07-07 atop a mountain) with Amoreena Berg. I introduced her to the tradition of photographers shooting each other at events:



She later sent me this one with some cool sepia action going on:



While awaiting the grand entrance of the bride and groom I met this couple who are on their honeymoon. At first I thought they meant that figuratively, but no, literally at 75 this young at heart couple married after finding love the second time around.



The cards on wedding gifts give people a chance to be creative, these two were especially creative with how they portrayed the couple:

Toasting at Weddings

At Marisa and Bradley's wedding this month the best man and maid of honor gave toasts. The bride and groom were expecting that.





Then the groom made up a tradition that I'd love to see in more weddings, he had the microphone passed so each person at the head table made a toast (some short, some long, some funny, some sappy, and though none were prepared to do it, it was great).





Bradley then asked if anyone else had anything to say, and it turned out that the flower girl, the bride's second cousin did have something to say.




I really like the idea of opening up the toasting floor to anyone, it was a great showing on all parts and made some special unique memories.

The Future of Newspapers as a Print Medium

Two professors at SJSU found this old newspaper while renovating a local house for a Habitat for Humanity project. I like the expression on their faces as they look at the remnant for days gone by, a piece of history that is there but is literally crumbling.

This reminds me of the current newspaper debate - will papers be around in paper form in large quantities. Personally I like having news thats transportable and can be passed around easily, though links for online articles and papers can, of course be exchanged. Still, not everyone has access to the Internet, computers, etc. whereas the price of a paper tends to be cheap and accessible to most people.

The Santa Cruz Sentinel, where I did my internship, and The Pinnacle, where I worked after, both have online forms, the form of which has a lot of content not in the paper. Part of that is because the former paper has more staff, including people whose sole job is to run the online addition and is a daily, whereas the Pinnacle has a small staff that shares jobs and in particular the second photographer position which had been full-time is now a part-time support position. Both papers have had layoffs, the first recently and both The Mercury News and The San Francisco Chronicle, both which have online presence have also had layoffs of staff.

In contrast, the paper I work for now does not have a large online presence. We don't put articles or photos online, and on the page is just contact information and articles written about our paper.

So in way, I'm the online archiver with this blog. My editor who I've talked to about putting this online thinks it's cute that I have the paper online, but it's not part of his strategy. I'd like to see us online, but I do know people read our hard version, they tell me too all the time. I don't know what the future holds, but I would like to see us online more, and I do think our paper has what it takes to last the test of time.

My Photo as an eCard

One of my favorite professors from college, Brad, who has remained a good friend to me and mentor told me that as a journalist it's a good idea to Google myself every so often. So I did today and found out that one of the photos I took as an intern for The Santa Cruz Sentinel is now on an associated site which can be sent as an ecard:



One thing interesting about this is that this is the only one of mine on the site, I took a lot of photos that summer I'd love to have seen up as ecards and the other three photographers whose work is there also only have a few of theirs up from the same time period. Still it's cute that this is an option, and I'm sending it out to a few people in my life.

I couldn't resist trying sending it to myself, however, the card only had the photo this size. Still it inspired me. Perhaps my next bride and groom clients from me will be getting an ecard photo from me, but one of their wedding to let them know that their gallery is up and ready.

Putting on the Dog

Some people are too shy to be in Town Talk for the San Francisco Daily unless they can have a friend, or even their dog in it. One designer was so shy that he said he ONLY wanted his dog in it. I told him I can't be sure the editor will run Jackson's mug, but I think with him wearing the clothes and so many cute expressions to choose from, he has a great chance of being in a Town Talk this week.

Let me know if you have a guess as to which the editor will pick, and I'll post later which one was selected.

Shooting Back

Yesterday while doing wild art for the paper I met Bob Rosenberg. He's an amateur photographer who prefers film to digital, he told me that he once tried digital for a summer, but gave up since he likes film better. One of his special projects is photographing other photographers who are shooting him at the same time, so we both photographed each other.

Grace's Bat Mitzvah Part Two

Two years ago I photographed the Bat Mitzvah of Kate, the older sister of Grace. One of their favorite shots from Kate's event was a three generation photo of her, her mother, and her grandmother. So I did a similar shot for Grace as well.



From the moment the dance floor was open kids were dancing, laughing and having fun.



The birthday girl lifted in the chair in celebration, a little scared but enjoying it.



Her father lifted high in the chair as well, a veteran of these events with three kids, he's really getting into it.



The night ended with Grace taking her family for a twirl inside the circle, here she is with Grace who she twirled last.

Grace's Bat Mitzvah Part One

From the moment I entered The Bittersweet Bistro in Aptos, the mood was a festive one of an Asian theme, perfect for Grace's Bat Mitzvah. Here's how the room was decorated:


A closeup of the amazing details:



The appetizers were almost too pretty to eat (and delicious).



The rabbi led the Havdalah service signifying the end of the Holy day (and the start of the festivities).


Soon the kids filled the dance floor having fun and playing games like jump over the hoop with DJ Joel.

Happy Birthday, Skylar

Today my friend Rachel had a party for her daughter, Skylar, who just turned one year old. Here are some of my favorite moments.

The lucky birthday girl had two cakes, a sheet one made by her mom, and this one by her mom's boss, who isn't a pro baker, but should consider creating another business from the oohs and aahs that the cake complete with matching nonedible play blocks received.



Skylar on her grandma's lap with her mom singing Happy Birthday to her:




getting into her cake:




with Erin practicing walking:




Sage didn't realize he had to give the gift to Skylar and at tried to take it back:

Introducing Street Styles

When Dave Price called me last week and pitched the Street Style idea to me, I thought it would be fun, but wasn't sure how well received it would be by our subjects. While it has been hard to get women to stop and talk about their clothes, I've met some great people, and found out a lot about fashion (ironic because I end up wearing professional but usually black or monochrome clothes so much at my job and at weddings).

The first two, followed by a closeup:



One of the best parts is having my eyes open for different styles, I'm really noticing clothes more, from this goth look, to this stylish model in muted colors, to this outfit in rainbow colors from around the world: