California on My Mind

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It’s curious, as I begin this blogging adventure, that I find it hardest to start out for a reason totally different from what I might have thought.  It’s not what to say that I’m struggling with, it’s what to say first.  And when facing such a choice, the answer is always the first thing on you mind.  In this case, California.

I’ve been to California exactly one time in my life.  I shot a wedding in Santa Barbara three years ago and got my first taste of In-N-Out Burger and my first glance at the Pacific (from the continent anyway).  Truth be told, I flew out of Dulles and ate Five Guys for lunch and landed in Santa Barbara and take In-N-Out Burger for dinner.  The coast-to-coast burger challenge was an unexpected but delightful treat.  The real meat-clad treat, actually, was neither (they were both great, don’t get me wrong).  Freebirds World Burrito near the campus of USC.  Quesarito.  This will change you.

Well I’m a few days away from embarking on California trip number two (for California wedding number two).  And while I will not be visiting Freebirds or anything in Southern California, I’m so excited to see Sonoma and San Francisco.  The wedding I’m photographing is in Sonoma and I’ll be visiting with my (engaged) brother and his fiancee in San Francisco after I’m finished.  So there are obviously two blog posts coming from that.  But I suspect I have to go there and take the photos first.  So I’ll share some of the wedding I did last time I was in California to get us both warmed up.

The ceremony was at one of the old Santa Barbara Missions.  Very old and widely-known.  Obviously they did not allow flash photography inside the Mission – sort of surprised they allowed me in there in the first place.  Some places are pickier than others.

$50 Tip: Most ceremony sites have a list of rules/expectations for your photographer.  Ask for this or ask about the rules they might have early and often.  Surprises on wedding day are always best to avoid – for both our sakes.

California, I found, has this open-air, Pacific-breeze, tranquil beauty to it that permeates everything you do.  I was admittedly a bit struck by the places I saw while I was there.  We went from the Mission to take some photos of the couple.  We took some photos in the gardens behind the Mission and then we paraded over to the location for cocktail hour and the reception where we took the rest of the photos.  Probably this is a good time for me to stop talking and let you see some of what I got to see.  Lovely spot for cocktail hour, photos, and reception.  Nicely done, you two!

The bride at this wedding happened to have earned her MFA in Photography from the Brooks Institute – which if you know anything about photography education means you know she’s got talent.  Her work has always been appealing and motivating to me.  Truth is, when she called me and asked me to photograph her wedding, I told her “congratulations, but no thanks”.  I figured that I didn’t need the kind of pressure that would go along with photographing a photographer’s wedding (and a very good photographer nonetheless).  She was, thankfully, insistent.  Relentless even.  And I finally acquiesced to photographer her wedding for her.  The surprising thing about photographing her wedding was that she understood some of what I was trying to accomplish and as such was the most willing and wonderful subject for photos I’d had to date.  And her husband, well, they’re prefect for each other.  Never even hesitated to go off and take a photo or stop what he was doing to go entertain some artistic goal of my mind or his wife’s.  Thanks, guys!  Enjoy the photos.

 

And under the stars and hanging paper lanterns, the rest of the night passed with good music and much love.  The bar is set high for the next California wedding, but it’s fun to me to see these photos after a few years and see how far I’ve come.  The next set will raise the bar for sure.  Ok, California, see you in a week!

The Blog Begins…

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So every good photographer has millions of photos on their computer, on their desk, on their shelves, in their basement, in storage, maybe home at mom’s house.  We are, as artists, surrounded by our work.  It never ceases to amuse me how hard it is, among these thousands upon thousands of images, to find a single decent photograph of myself.  Or even just a photo in which I appear.  Don’t get me wrong, this is one of the great blessings of taking pictures – avoiding being in them myself.  So to all you grooms out there who come to meetings with your fiancee (good for you, by the way, bonus points will help you later) and tell me that you “hate to be photographed”, trust me when I say I know the feeling.  I sympathize with you.  I will, however, still take your picture.

So it is with some anxiety and great excitement that I finally put pen to paper with my blog.  The idea, I admit, was conceived some time ago and has gone through varying phases of interest.  It was not until yesterday that the whole concept snapped into clear focus for me and suddenly I HAD to start immediately.  If you’ve ever seen the movie Amelie (and if you haven’t, stop reading this post and go immediately to the store to buy, not rent, this life-changing film), you’ll know the moment I’m describing.  Suddenly the secret of the man in the photographs is not a secret and all the over-exposed, shiny, sun-kissed moments of Amelie’s life flash before her to a melody that only the French could conceive.  It was like that – except I’m not as cute as she is.  Or as French.  Nevertheless, inspiration comes to us all in strange ways.  My inspiration you’ll have to wait for that blog post to read about.

So who am I?  Why do you care about my blog?  Why DO you care about my blog???  Well, I guess we’ll find out together.  I’ve been shooting weddings and events happily in Washington, DC and all around the country since 2003 and have finally decided to make a studio of my own.  I’ve had some absolutely wonderful experiences, met some absolutely wonderful people, and learned so many things.  Maybe I can share some of the things I’ve learned and I will do my best to share new experiences as they change me.  We can change together.  And if you’re looking for a photographer, look no farther.  I’m right here.

I have been known to climb things, stand on things, scale walls, hang off of whatever necessary.  I’m not your typical prim and proper photographer who is worried about getting something on his suit.  Quite the opposite in fact.  I’m here to work!

Not all of my weddings are in Cabo San Lucas, shockingly.  This brisk October wedding in Kentucky was cold, muddy, and outdoors.  Eventually I’ll post about this wedding, but for now, this whole post is a bunch of foreshadowing.  Besides, if I wrote everything in my head down here tonight, it wouldn’t be a blog, it’d be novel.

So with that, I’ve introduced myself and my blog.  The best, as they say, is yet to come.