Jackie and Roy were only in town for these couple of weeks so we wanted to get the engagement shoot in, even if it meant braving a freezing-for-Socal day. Roy grew up in the East coast so the cold was nothing to him. One thing I like about cloudy days is that it creates a romantic mood for a shoot like this. It has a winter feeling without the snow. Here are the results of a fun shoot in Irvine.


I wanted to give them a nature-themed look for the engagement shoot because their wedding is going to be beach-themed, so this way they get a variety of photos.




Shot in this tunnel always turn out great.




Note the heart-shaped leaf right above Jackie. How completely random and awesome is that?


I love how the leaves create a frame around them.


A cute closeup.


Jackie has such a bubbly personality and Roy seems to feed off that energy.




This is one of my favorite shots... they are genuinely laughing and having a good time.






We squeezed these photos in with the last bit of light left for the day.

From our family to yours.

The Caribbean Islands is an amazing place, especially the beautiful beaches on St. Thomas and St. Martin/St. Maarten. I wish I could do some weddings there! The white sands and blue skies are an amazing backdrop for photos.

After a week away though, I couldn't wait to get back to work. Too many photos and not enough time!

I would like give a big thank you to everyone I've photographed this year. You've helped me accomplish the goals I set for 2007 and thus it has been a very rewarding and successful year. I am finally taking a vacation to the Caribbean Islands and I'll be back in a week or so. If you want to contact me, please give me a week to reply because I promised my wonderful wife that she could have her husband back for at least a week, so I won't be checking E-mail or voicemail.

Let me start off by saying that this was one of my most challenging shoots yet and I'll tell you why. Jeannette and Matt specifically wanted campy 1970's styled photos so they can send them out as cheesy Christmas cards. They're just fun like that. Jeannette made Matt's "special" reindeer sweater herself, with the intent of making it as old-fashioned as possible. My job was to not make it look as good and artistic as possible, but instead to give it an outdated look.


I think this one works really well. I purposely used direct-flash so it would look the part, and the acting by the trio was perfect. I also gave it a little yellow-tint treatment.


Here are a couple more with better lighting technique and still with a yellowish tint.


I love their expressions here, and the fact that they came up with the idea and put so much effort into it. I can't wait to see how the Christmas cards come out!

One good thing about shooting weddings is that people who attended may eventually see your work and invite you to photograph them. After seeing her son Kevin's wedding photos, Robin liked them so much she invited me to do a family portrait session at her beautiful home in Floral Park.

I thought that this time, in addition to the regular shots, it would be a good idea to show some outtakes you wouldn't normally see .


We'll start off with the cute babies.


One happy and one not-so-happy baby.


Here's one of the outtakes with Sam giving Cash a finger in the mouth.


Sometimes, babies are just not going to smile for the camera. Cash just wasn't having it that day, yet these are my two favorites from the shoot. He has such expressive eyes!


Look at the emotion on his face. I'd give him an Academy award for this performance.


A little upside-down action with Sam.


The boys.


Here's another one of those outtakes that don't normally show up. One of the girls just couldn't stop laughing. I love cute moments like these when they're just goofing around.


Dana and Kevin, the couple whose wedding we shot in Carmel.


Thanks to Robin for inviting us to do this shoot.


Family.

We met Michelle and Hai through Michelle's twin sister, Marlene. It turned out that I knew Hai from high school, and a couple of his groomsmen are also my friends from Fountain Valley High. They also went to UCLA (as you'll see below) like I did. It's such a small world!

Michelle and Hai had their ceremony in Pasadena and then the reception at the San Gabriel Hilton. I liked the style and design of both the church and the hotel. The weather was perfect considering it was a November wedding here in Southern California.


The stained glass at the church was a beautiful backdrop for this ring shot.



The available natural light worked so well I had to get this shot from a few different angles.



Notice the UCLA Bruin colors on the bouquet.



The upstairs of the church was also a Sunday school for little children, so they had these cute little chairs sitting around. We grouped a few blue and yellow ones to get this UCLA-themed bouquet shot.



The father of the bride walking his daughter down the aisle.



The bride and groom standing in this beautiful church.






This will take a while for Hai to live down, and I'm sure Michelle will always remember this. Hai dropped the ring as the pastor was handing it to him and drew a huge laugh from Michelle.



The girls in beautiful UCLA colors.









The guys had a great time throughout the whole thing. Between shots they were goofing around like old college buddies.


















The Pasadena City Hall was empty so we got a chance to capture them sharing a little alone time.



It was getting late and there was just enough light to squeeze in a couple of shots that I love.






The building was tall and beautifully designed.



The groomsmen had a special treat for all the Bruins in attendance. They ran through the ballroom waving UCLA flags while the song "Sons of Westwood" played through the loudspeakers. They then dropped the flags and did the "eight-clap." To hear what this sounds like, click here.



There were a lot more great moments from the wedding but I can't fit it all in here, so I'll leave you with the bride and groom in their first dance.


Florist
Pure Elegance
Carlos/Brittni

Coordinator
Eliza Tsui of San Gabriel Hilton

Coordinator
Jan Clark of Pasadena Trinity Lutheran Church

Click here to view Michelle and Hai's engagement session