All | Professional | Personal
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Shelly & Mark’s Surprise Proposal | China Beach, San Francisco Engagement Proposal!
They told her they were having “guy time,” and the three of them, Mark, Joe, and my brother Albert, ran off to conspire at the beach, leaving her behind with Nikki for the day. Shelly imagined the boys were hanging out a bar somewhere, watching the game. She certainly didn’t suspect this. She was on…
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Color Me Pretty | Kodak Portra 160 | Shooting Film, Part 2 of 5
Is there anything more beautiful than getting back to the roots of what drew you to something in the first place? For me, shooting film has been an incredible journey back and a total jolting leap forward at the same time. Shooting film is humbling. You have to get back to basics in your technique,…
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Debby & Justin | San Francisco Mission District | Couples Lifestyle Photography
The incredible story of how they met spans 2,650 miles from Mexico to Canada on foot. They had each embarked– separately, still strangers– on the Pacific Crest Trail at the California-Mexico border, Debby leading by two days without a clue that her future husband was trailing behind her. It wasn’t until three and a half…
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And Now We Wait | Contax 645 | Shooting Film, Part 1 of 5
And now we wait. Yes, I shot film. Real, tangible, old school film. I’ve been seduced by film photography. I love everything about its look, the buttery softness of the highlights, the beautiful colors, porcelain skin tones… everything. So after attending Jonathan Canlas’ Film is Not Dead platform class at WPPI, I had a new…
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Falling in Love with San Francisco
The feelings had crept up under my skin. I barely noticed them sneaking in, and it’s only in hindsight that I can trace them back. In truth, I didn’t know that anything had changed in me until that very moment when I drove up that final stretch of I-280. As I rounded the bend in…
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Part 4: Live Shoot | Workshops
Earlier this month, I taught the final workshop of our four-part series. It was a live portrait shoot with two wonderful models, Henry M. Chu and Shannon. We were rained in and spent most of the session in a loading dock, but with all the awesome participants, I think it turned out just fine. First,…
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Theresa & Rob | Muir Woods Lifestyle Photography
The fog was thick. Water droplets lingered precariously, suspended in mid air. We squinted at the Golden Gate Bridge, attempting to spot its ghostly contours even as we crossed under its towers. And yet, by the time we reached our destination, the gorgeous redwood forests at Muir Woods, we still found two whole parking lots…
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It’s All Coming Together
This weekend, the fabric swatches will manifest as tablecloths and linens, the myriad glass containers will be gathered into perfect little vignettes, the splashes of coral will be replaced with gorgeous blooms. All of these mockups and ideas will be transformed into a wonderful styled shoot. It’s a true collaborative event involving several several amazing…
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Inspiration | Big Square Box
If you can shoot in a big square box, you can shoot anywhere. I told them from the beginning, the theme of today is going to be resourcefulness. We were rained in. It was our final workshop in the 4-part series, and we were supposed to do a live shoot with models and the whole…