Mazen and Sara Engagement Shoot

Mazen and Sara are getting married next month at the Ojai Valley Inn and Spa- sounds like the wedding is going to be amazing! They both are into doing things differently than others which is great by me- that should actually be my motto!

We did the engagement shoot Monday down in Balboa. I have never shot there so it was fun for me. We then went to 'The Wedge' to get some shots on the rocks- the waves were huge!! I tried to talk them into standing on the rocks where the waves were breaking but they weren't into getting mashed by the waves... Oh well, next time. LOL
I used my lensbaby action on this shot to mimic the blur and the vignette of it and other older or toy cameras.

In the alley cars kept getting way too close- we were only blocking traffic a little...
Mazen totally freaked me out when he rolled up in his Porsche! I have dreamed of owning only one type of car since I was 11 or so: a Porsche Carrera. He had the Carrera 4s which is pretty much a street legal race car. He tried to make it sound like he got it for cheap or something:"I got like $30K off the sticker price". Whatever, it still cost more than all the cars I have ever owned!

...some day Mazen, some day!

On the ferry:
On the jetty; Van Gogh painted that sky.
I used a off camera light on this one to over power the sun. See the glow on the right side of her hair? That's direct sunlight.
My favorite. As we were walking back to the cars I saw this awesome backlit scene- love it!

Vegas! - The Parties

Vegas used to be all work and no play but every year I know more and more people so the work part lessens and the play part increases...

Here's Vic, Aundrea (runs BluDomain with Harald, below) and I at Sara and Lauren's party the first night:Here's Sara France and Lauren Hillary at a party on the second night we were there. This was in a suite at the Palms with a bowling alley in it!! These shots were from a cool photo booth: Usnaps.

Here's Alex (a videographer buddy of mine), Mellissa (a great photographer from New Orleans), Joe (a neighbor that we- Jeni and I- met for the first time- so glad we did!) and Victor (one of the many photog's from Ladera).
This is Harald, the genious that designed my site.. I guess I better pay my bill on time! he was the host of the shindig.
This is the group of us that went to the afterparty at the Foundation Room on the top of the Mandalay Bay- such a cool view of the strip!

This was my last night in Vegas and finally got to chill with the boys from my hood- Mario and Paul , Bill, and Mark- always good times at the local dive bar! I have been coming to Vegas for WPPI with Mario and Paul from the begining of my career- they always have kind words about my work and they continually inspire me with theirs.
The local dive bar referred to earlier:

Vegas! -The Drive

I love roadtrips- no matter where you are there is always cool stuff to see, and of course, to photograph. I had a wedding in Palm Desert the day before we went to Vegas for WPPI so we stayed at the In-Law's in Rancho Mirage that night and left from there.

Instead of backtracking to the 15 and going up from there, we went South toward Coachella and headed over to the 95, which runs right next to Havasu. This route took us four hours but there was some cool sights along the way. We were in a bit of a hurry so we didn't really stop... just lots of "oo oo oo" from me as we passed cool stuff.

I was taking lots of shots with the point and shoot from the car like the one below of my trusty old truck turning 100,000 miles!! I love this truck as it was my companion on my solo drive to Alaska after finishing school back in '99. I ate, drank, slept and... (well, lets not get into all the details) in it. Notice all the extras I got, the temp. gauge, the speedometer and fuel gauge... all the luxuries. It has great AC though- that's a must!

(notice the bug splatter)

We came up to a line of cars waiting for this multi-mile train to pass- mostly huge RVs and semi's... I wasn't into trying to pass them all once we got going- so I ventured into the dirt field on the right side of the highway to see what was in the front of the line. It was so cool, like the first guy in line was saving a spot just for me. There was about three car lengths of empty road so I just rolled right up there- I love good swoops when they work out right!

Jeni drove up with me but flew home early as to not be away from the kids for more than 48 hours- so I drove home solo. I left a day early to surprise Jeni and the kids so I was in a bit of a rush on the return too. These last two were taken as I was driving with the point and shoot... major PS to make them cooler!I played around with this shot for awhile, experimenting with different layers, masks, and blending modes. Feels like Mars... sometimes it feels like you're on Mars making that drive from Vegas!

The Geurts Family

I am totally lagging due to the Vegas trip last week but I wanted to share this shoot with you. Phil is my attorney and has a great family! This shoot was before Vegas but loved what we got. We started at the beach but talked them into stopping by my secret location on the way home...

The boys were crazy and fun- reminded me of myself and my two brothers.
The youngest and the only girl was crazy cute!!!
At the beach:The secret spot at the perfect time of day:This was the coolest spot- I have been eyeballing it for months! It was great finally shooting there!

Kirstie and Dorron at Disney Concert Hall

Yes, it was my first shoot at the concert hall- SO COOL!! Kirstie and Dorron are into architecture so this was a great place to shoot their engagement session. We got great blue skies and not too many poeple to get in the way. The security guys are really cool- if you don't use lights and big reflectors they have no problem with you shooting there (I brought reflectors, of course, and they didn't even hassle us!). The side of the building actually acted as a reflector in a few shots so we just looked for the banking sunlight and used that!

This was on the shady side:
Fisheye:
This was a cool spot- this image is actually a composite of two shots:
Dorron was sitting on a metal bench acting like a reflector, that's why they are so well lit!
I loved how the line from the corner of the structure pointed right to the couple.. .and I had Dorron keep his foot out to continue the line:
Can't wait to go back!

Green Weddings

I saw a story on ABC this morning while having my morning joe that I thought I should share. The topic was Green Weddings and how easy it is to incorporate some earth friendly practices into your wedding plans to show guests that things that are good for the earth can also be cool and pretty!

Links for more info:
Brides.com
Sierra Club.com
GreenWeddings.net
Ethical Weddings Blog

Have fun, be responsible, and like Jack Johnson says: "Celebrate the 3 R's- reduce, reuse, recycle!"

Rose and Eric

I met Rose a few years ago through a mutual friend but hadn't talked to her in a couple. She called a couple months ago to tell me about her engagement and that she wanted me to shoot it (I also shot her other friend's wedding 3-4 years ago)! I think she's so cool and knew the groom would be cool and the wedding would be great!

The wedding was in Palm Desert, at- betcha won't guess- a golf course. Monterey Country Club to be exact. The grounds were beautiful and the buildings were so cool- old Spanish Style.

A few shots:
Check out the slideshow here.