Stay tuned! Ashley and Eli will be married next month!! Wedding Photos will be posted after their big day!!
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Ashley and Eli- Engagement Session
I guess the saying, you never know where you will meet your soulmate, pertains very much so to Ashley and Eli. These two love birds met while working at Cattlemen's Steakhouse. Waiting tables, getting drinks and serving food, who knew that love would bloom!? But it did, and it is very apparent just how in love these 2 are. I can't wait for your big day Ashley and Eli- you 2 were meant to be!!! In less than one month you will be the happy Mr. and Mrs. Eli Paul...congrats love birds! You two deserve all the happiness this world has to offer!
Stay tuned! Ashley and Eli will be married next month!! Wedding Photos will be posted after their big day!!
Stay tuned! Ashley and Eli will be married next month!! Wedding Photos will be posted after their big day!!
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Surprise Wedding!!!
Chris and Caroline are so in love. From the moment Caroline contacted me about the possibility of shooting their day I knew this was a special couple. I admire the 2 of them for the devotion they showed to one another by respecting each other enough to keep their big day- just that- theirs!!!! A total secret other than the handful of people on a must know basis knew about their day...a beautiful couple on a beautiful day creating such a beautiful memory. Thank you Chris and Caroline for honoring me in witnessing your big day. I hope the 2 of you return to the city year after year to remember your secret moment in time...
Here is the story of how these 2 soul mates met. Written by the bride herself...
Chris and I have known each other since we were 11 and 12, nearly 14 years now. He used to hang out with my next door neighbor, Scott, and my brothers. Back then, he was the annoying tall kid that I didn't like at all! Well, fast forward to the summer before my senior year of high school (and the summer after he graduated)...I didn't find him so annoying after all =)
We've been together since August 2002, 7 1/2 years. We've taken trips to LA, San Diego, and twice we've been to Maui (for our 2nd and 7th anniversaries). Between both of our families, we've gone to dozens of birthday, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, and graduation celebrations. His family became my family, and my family, his.
We moved in together September 17, 2009. Neither of us have ever lived away from home before. Strangely, it was an easy adjustment. We loved seeing each other every day rather than commuting back and forth between Redwood City and Cupertino.
On December 18, 2009, we got engaged. The diamond has been passed down for 5 or 6 generations and I feel honored to wear it. We got engaged right in our living room with candles and our first Christmas tree together all lit up. Just the two of us, no fancy show.
Since the engagement, we tossed around dozens of ideas on how we wanted to get married, but none of them felt quite right. One night, after much frustration about wedding planning, I looked at Chris, hit him on the forehead and hit my own. He looked at me a little stunned and I said, "I wish it were that simple, I wish we were married now". Without saying a word, he smiled at me, hit my forehead and hit his own, and just hugged me. At that moment, we knew we'd get married by ourselves, just the two of us. A couple days later, I bought my wedding dress.
About a week and a half before we got married, we firmly decided to get married by ourselves at City Hall in San Francisco, we just didn't have a date. We knew it'd be "sometime this summer". That day, May 18th, I started crocheting a red shawl I wanted to wear. The next day, Chris said, "why don't we get married next week?" You're right, why don't we?! I went into crazy crochet mode and when I wasn't working or sleeping, I was crocheting.
The only people that knew we were getting married were our photographer, the guy who sold us our wedding bands and the guy who helped us with Chris' tux. "Is it okay to have the tux ready by June 4th?" Um...no. It all came together, my ring was sized and his tux was ready a couple days later on May 25th.
We got up early on Wednesday the 26th, after very few hours of sleep. We did our usual morning routine, just hours earlier and instead of dressing in basketball shorts and yoga pants, I wore my wedding dress and shawl, and he put on his tux. We eat oatmeal every morning and this morning was no different. Our photographer, Jenna Kangas, came over right before 7:30. We had our appointment at 9 a.m. to get our marriage license and our ceremony was at 10. Their website stressed being 10 minutes early, no rescheduling for any reason. Well, we left in a hurry and made it into San Francisco at 9:15. *sigh* Well, don't sweat the small stuff, right? That's when I realized I didn't put on earrings or a necklace either. I was so focused on making sure we didn't forget our wedding bands, I forgot about all other jewelry!
We made it to the clerk's office by 9:30 and they made no fuss about us being late. Phew! We filled out our marriage license and met with the Commissioner, Cynthia Gregory, who was going to be the one to marry us.
About 15 minutes later, we were standing together, in the Rotunda of the San Francisco City Hall, saying our vows to one another. The only thing I remember was holding onto his ring with all my might on my finger, so I wouldn't drop it. I also remember hearing her say humor was important in a marriage and saying "with this ring...I marry you". Other than that, I don't remember much about what was said or what I said to him. All I could see was Chris' smiling face through all my tears. I couldn't stop crying, I was so happy. Sealed with a teary kiss, we were married.
We took pictures around City Hall, at the Palace of Fine Arts and at Baker Beach. Then, we headed to the Woodside Deli, where we've visited hundreds of times, for our first meal as husband and wife. Everyone inside the deli picked up on us really quick. The owner of the deli was so happy, we got our meal for free. We brought our lunch to Chris' mom's house first. Chris sneaked up and once she got sight of us two, immediately hugged us and started crying. She was shocked, but so happy for us. We told her all about our day while we ate our lunch in the backyard. She cleared her schedule for the rest of the day and came with us as we told the rest of our families.
Next, we went to see his mom's parents, Grandpa Mike and Grandma Martha. Like mother, like daughter, Martha had the same reaction as Heidi. Smiling ear to ear the entire time we were there, she kept saying, "you two are so smart, that's the way to do it! Geniuses!" These two know a good marriage, they've been married for 54 years.
Off to Chris' paternal grandparents' house, we walked in to see Grandma Joan having a tea party with her friends, and Grandpa John was out playing dominoes. We told her the news and promised to come back an hour later when Grandpa John was home.
Next we went to Chris' dad house hoping to surprise him, Chris' step mom and his two sisters. The only one home was his dad and we got a big "I knew it!" from him. Where was his step mom, Carolyn, and his sisters? Of course, they were at Carolyn's parent's house. Off to see his third set of grandparents! Carolyn was the first to see us and her look was priceless. She was frozen in shock at first before she burst into excitement. Grandma Diane and the girls, Jerusha and Kasey, couldn't believe it either.
Now, just as promised, back to Grandma Joan's to see Grandpa John. He saw us and said, "oh too bad, they used to like each other so much" =) He's always been the joker of the family. Humor must be important in a marriage, it's helped them last 55 years. Oh, and to round out the grandparent visits, we we to the rehab center to see Grandpa Earl (Grandma Diane's husband) to surprise him. Lots of kisses later, he couldn't be happier for us.
The last visit was to see my Dad, step mom and my brothers. My sister is on vacation in San Diego. My step mom, Adel, answered the door, and looked confused for a few seconds before bursting into a huge celebration of jumping and screaming. With the dogs running around our feet, we hugged my brothers, dad and step mom and took oodles of pictures.
I feel incredibly lucky and blessed that I'm married to my best friend and so happy we got married in a way that was very "us".
Here is the story of how these 2 soul mates met. Written by the bride herself...
Chris and I have known each other since we were 11 and 12, nearly 14 years now. He used to hang out with my next door neighbor, Scott, and my brothers. Back then, he was the annoying tall kid that I didn't like at all! Well, fast forward to the summer before my senior year of high school (and the summer after he graduated)...I didn't find him so annoying after all =)
We've been together since August 2002, 7 1/2 years. We've taken trips to LA, San Diego, and twice we've been to Maui (for our 2nd and 7th anniversaries). Between both of our families, we've gone to dozens of birthday, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, and graduation celebrations. His family became my family, and my family, his.
We moved in together September 17, 2009. Neither of us have ever lived away from home before. Strangely, it was an easy adjustment. We loved seeing each other every day rather than commuting back and forth between Redwood City and Cupertino.
On December 18, 2009, we got engaged. The diamond has been passed down for 5 or 6 generations and I feel honored to wear it. We got engaged right in our living room with candles and our first Christmas tree together all lit up. Just the two of us, no fancy show.
Since the engagement, we tossed around dozens of ideas on how we wanted to get married, but none of them felt quite right. One night, after much frustration about wedding planning, I looked at Chris, hit him on the forehead and hit my own. He looked at me a little stunned and I said, "I wish it were that simple, I wish we were married now". Without saying a word, he smiled at me, hit my forehead and hit his own, and just hugged me. At that moment, we knew we'd get married by ourselves, just the two of us. A couple days later, I bought my wedding dress.
About a week and a half before we got married, we firmly decided to get married by ourselves at City Hall in San Francisco, we just didn't have a date. We knew it'd be "sometime this summer". That day, May 18th, I started crocheting a red shawl I wanted to wear. The next day, Chris said, "why don't we get married next week?" You're right, why don't we?! I went into crazy crochet mode and when I wasn't working or sleeping, I was crocheting.
The only people that knew we were getting married were our photographer, the guy who sold us our wedding bands and the guy who helped us with Chris' tux. "Is it okay to have the tux ready by June 4th?" Um...no. It all came together, my ring was sized and his tux was ready a couple days later on May 25th.
We got up early on Wednesday the 26th, after very few hours of sleep. We did our usual morning routine, just hours earlier and instead of dressing in basketball shorts and yoga pants, I wore my wedding dress and shawl, and he put on his tux. We eat oatmeal every morning and this morning was no different. Our photographer, Jenna Kangas, came over right before 7:30. We had our appointment at 9 a.m. to get our marriage license and our ceremony was at 10. Their website stressed being 10 minutes early, no rescheduling for any reason. Well, we left in a hurry and made it into San Francisco at 9:15. *sigh* Well, don't sweat the small stuff, right? That's when I realized I didn't put on earrings or a necklace either. I was so focused on making sure we didn't forget our wedding bands, I forgot about all other jewelry!
We made it to the clerk's office by 9:30 and they made no fuss about us being late. Phew! We filled out our marriage license and met with the Commissioner, Cynthia Gregory, who was going to be the one to marry us.
About 15 minutes later, we were standing together, in the Rotunda of the San Francisco City Hall, saying our vows to one another. The only thing I remember was holding onto his ring with all my might on my finger, so I wouldn't drop it. I also remember hearing her say humor was important in a marriage and saying "with this ring...I marry you". Other than that, I don't remember much about what was said or what I said to him. All I could see was Chris' smiling face through all my tears. I couldn't stop crying, I was so happy. Sealed with a teary kiss, we were married.
We took pictures around City Hall, at the Palace of Fine Arts and at Baker Beach. Then, we headed to the Woodside Deli, where we've visited hundreds of times, for our first meal as husband and wife. Everyone inside the deli picked up on us really quick. The owner of the deli was so happy, we got our meal for free. We brought our lunch to Chris' mom's house first. Chris sneaked up and once she got sight of us two, immediately hugged us and started crying. She was shocked, but so happy for us. We told her all about our day while we ate our lunch in the backyard. She cleared her schedule for the rest of the day and came with us as we told the rest of our families.
Next, we went to see his mom's parents, Grandpa Mike and Grandma Martha. Like mother, like daughter, Martha had the same reaction as Heidi. Smiling ear to ear the entire time we were there, she kept saying, "you two are so smart, that's the way to do it! Geniuses!" These two know a good marriage, they've been married for 54 years.
Off to Chris' paternal grandparents' house, we walked in to see Grandma Joan having a tea party with her friends, and Grandpa John was out playing dominoes. We told her the news and promised to come back an hour later when Grandpa John was home.
Next we went to Chris' dad house hoping to surprise him, Chris' step mom and his two sisters. The only one home was his dad and we got a big "I knew it!" from him. Where was his step mom, Carolyn, and his sisters? Of course, they were at Carolyn's parent's house. Off to see his third set of grandparents! Carolyn was the first to see us and her look was priceless. She was frozen in shock at first before she burst into excitement. Grandma Diane and the girls, Jerusha and Kasey, couldn't believe it either.
Now, just as promised, back to Grandma Joan's to see Grandpa John. He saw us and said, "oh too bad, they used to like each other so much" =) He's always been the joker of the family. Humor must be important in a marriage, it's helped them last 55 years. Oh, and to round out the grandparent visits, we we to the rehab center to see Grandpa Earl (Grandma Diane's husband) to surprise him. Lots of kisses later, he couldn't be happier for us.
The last visit was to see my Dad, step mom and my brothers. My sister is on vacation in San Diego. My step mom, Adel, answered the door, and looked confused for a few seconds before bursting into a huge celebration of jumping and screaming. With the dogs running around our feet, we hugged my brothers, dad and step mom and took oodles of pictures.
I feel incredibly lucky and blessed that I'm married to my best friend and so happy we got married in a way that was very "us".
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Happy Family
Baby Chloe loves her mom and dad. She lights up whenever her parents pick her up. She is so adorable!!! It was so much fun watching as she experienced seeing water for the 1st time. What a happy family!
Friday, May 14, 2010
It's Almost Time!
I am so excited! I have been waiting for Escalate 2010 for 2 months now! So many talented photographers in one place, at one time! Speaking about the one thing I want to hear about the most- how to be successful in the business. I hope to not only walk away a better business woman, but a better photographer for it.
I am driving for 7+ hours on Sunday. From About 5:30am to 2:30 or so I will be venturing from Rocklin CA (20 North of Sacramento CA.) to Newport Beach, CA
When I arrive I will be meeting with 2 fellow photogs and rooming with them. I am very excited about meeting people with the same passion as me!
We are all taking a really fun workshop hosted by LA's Shoot This (you can find them on Facebook. that afternoon at Balboa Island here is some info about the Shoot from their site : "This shoot group has been created to get photographers together with all types of abilities, to learn and share knowledge, have "hands on" shooting experience at different locations with models, hair and makeup artist, designers, florists and beyond to have the opportunity to get out make friends, network and have fun!"
I think this is going to be a really great addition to my portfolio.
The conference is on Monday and Tuesday-ALL DAY. Which is great!. The more speakers the better. We are hearing from people like Jasmine Star, David Jay...actually here is a list of what I will be doing:
PROGRAM GUIDE for Escalate Live 2010
May 17th – DAY ONE
•7:30am Conference Check In and Morning Mingle
•8:30am Conference Begins. Opening Remarks – Dane Sanders
•9:00am Collaboration is the Key: How Collaboration Can Transform Your Photography Business
Dane Sanders - Photographer and Author of "Fast Track Photographer", published by Random House
•10:30am The ABC’s of a Successful Photography Business: Attitude, Branding, Connecting
[b]ecker - Photographer and Founder of [B] School Network for Photographers
•12pm LUNCH
•1pm You to the Power of Them: Powerhouse Tactics to Harness Social Media
Jasmine Star - American Photo's Top 10 Wedding Photographers in the World
•2:30pm Mastering Photoshop CS5
Julieanne Kost - Photographer and Adobe Senior Digital Imaging Evangelist
•3:50pm Closing Remarks
•4-5:30pm Afternoon Mingle
May 18th – DAY TWO
•7:30am Conference Check In and Morning Mingle
•8:30am Conference Begins. Opening Remarks – Dane Sanders
•9:00am Ordinary is no Longer an Excuse: Transforming Any Shooting Environment into Extraordinary
Jerry Ghionis - American Photo's Top 10 Wedding Photographers in the World
•10:30am Intent, Images and Illumination: A Creative Walk-though of a Shoot
Jessica Claire - American Photo's Top 10 Wedding Photographers in the World
•12pm Lunch
•1pm Escalate Special Topic
David Jay - Photographer and Creator of Showit
•2:30pm Vision is Everything
Jeremy Cowart - Humanitarian and Portrait Photographer
•3:50pm Closing Remarks
•4-5:30pm Afternoon Mingle
The conference is being held at the Lido Theatre, which is beyond cool. I think the historic atmosphere mixed with the beauty of Newport is going to add a great feel to my trip.
I still have so much to do. Packing, research about where I am going...but I can't wait until its time to go...its almost time!!!
Friday, May 7, 2010
Together in the city
The other day I met with Mike, Jas Cody and Carter to take some family photos. There is something about S.F that makes my heart race. I had a great time photographing there! The weather was beautiful and love was in the air. Thanks for a great afternoon in the city, youguys are great!!!
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
War of the Roses
I can't decide. I really can't. The other day I went location scouting to check out future places to do photo shoots. Kids in tow, I wanted to make the day fun. Among the places we ended up was a beautiful rose garden in downtown. My son calls it the place with the beautiful flowers. I love that he appreciates the beauty of nature. I had fun taking some shots of the gorgeous roses. I really can't decided, now what color rose is my favorite. I never really cared for roses before. But now, after taking such up close shots (guess who got a new 60mm lens) and seeing the detail in their leaves, and the sweet smell they have...I think roses just might be my favorite flower now...but really I can't decide.
We had such a great day, the kids and I. I love that I have the freedom to take them with me for so much of what I am doing. We ended our day at the library and the ice cream parlor. I was given an opportunity the other day to travel with a company around the world photographing their equipment for them. I jumped at the thought, what a huge compliment. Besides that fact, to be given the opportunity to travel, all expenses paid, plus a salary to do what I love? Sounded wonderful. It still does. I really have a war going on in my head. I can't figure out what to do. One of the reasons I love being in the profession that I have chosen is the flexibility it gives me to be a stay at home mom. Traveling out of the country for weeks on end would be rather counter-productive, in my eyes. But, then I think, could this be my chance? MY BIG break, to help my husband support our family?
At the end of the day- I am a photographer capturing memories for people. Taking this job might derail my dreams of becoming the photographer I want to be for me...So...to stay true to my family and myself, I choose us, and within that my family will give me the strength to continue to be who I am destined to become!!!
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Dancing Stars
Marisha and her family are so wonderful. Little Miss Ainsley is so cute running around dancing and chattering to herself, smelling the roses and picking flowers for her mom. She is going to be a great big sister. Congrats on the news of baby number two and thank you Marisha for the opportunity to photograph your little dancing star and your little miracle to be.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Family Fun
Last weekend I had the pleasure of accompanying Marcia and her family to the Sacramento Zoo to take some photos. Marcia, Cody and Billy are such a great family. From the way they make each other laugh, to the way they love their son they know what family is all about! I had a great time with the 3 of you and your wonderful family!
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