Arriving in Oceanside

Kim and Jason on the way to the rental car


This evening I flew in to San Diego with Jason and Kim and we drove up to Oceanside, CA. We're going to be shooting some great engagement photos all day long tomorrow and I'm so excited! The weather is so much more appealing here than it is currently in Arizona. We were headed back into the 100s during the days and they were not warmly invited.

I'm staying in a sweet condo that overlooks the beach and harbor. I can't wait to take a photo of the view in the morning.

I would also like to thank all of you that have been praying for my health. I was worried that I was going to have to cancel this trip, but I started feeling better yesterday. So besides this annoying cough I'm A-OK!

Calling in...

It's rare that I ever feel under the weather, but the last two days have been kicking my butt. So, I'm going to call into work today. ;-)

Thanks so much for the constant flow of emails.
Please forgive me if I take a couple of days to get back to you. I just don't feel like spending my day in front of a computer. I think I'll just try to nap all day long. :-)

Please pray for energy to fill my body as I'm scheduled to fly out to Oceanside, CA on Friday night for an engagement session over the weekend.

Thanks!

Allyson + Rich

I've always enjoyed every couple that I have worked with, but this had to be the most exciting couple so far. Both Allyson and Rich were so ready for this moment. I spent all morning with Allyson as she got ready and then I met Rich for the first time. He was literally bursting with excitement!



Allyson had planned the entire wedding down to the smallest detail and it was such an amazing wedding. The ceremony and reception were held at the house that she grew up in which was about an hour from Sacramento. A few hours before the ceremony we had their first meeting and it turned into such a relaxing and fun time for them. After they spent some time together we hopped in my car and took a drive to a house nearby where I knew I would be able to get some amazing photos of them on this hill.







This was definitely the most amazing wedding that I have been a part of so far.









Here's a shot of the reception under the trees They had some beautiful lights hanging in the trees that lit up the entire place.


I also want to give a big thanks to photographer Nathan Smith for joining me at the wedding. He took some amazing photographs as well! Thanks Nathan!

Check out the slideshow here ---> Allyson + Rich

Flying to Sacramento

I'm on my way to Sacramento for Allyson and Rich's wedding.


About to land at SMF.


My flight was great and I can't wait to spend some time catching up on emails and everything. While I was on the plane I met a very nice lady named Mary who was traveling to meet her Son who is a pastor for a church outside of Sacramento. She wasn't on as fun of a trip as I was though. Her daughter-in-law's father had passed away and she was headed to the funeral, but she had such a nice spirit to her in spite of the circumstances. After the flight I asked if she would take a picture with me so that I could post it here on my blog.

Thanks for being so friendly on the flight Mary!




In addition I get to meeting Allyson and Rich for the first time. Rich is the recreation director at Hume Lake Christian Camps which is where my friend Todd works at as well. Todd connected me with this couple and I can't wait to finally meet them.

Driving back to Phoenix

On my way back to Phoenix I shot a few photos while I passed by the wind farm near Palm Springs.

Rebecca is so cute!

I went to church with Greg and his family on Sunday. When we got back to the house I spent some time with their daughter Rebecca who is such a cute girl. We played around some of dad's shoes.

Check out some of these funny videos that I took:
Rebecca 1
Rebecca 2
Rebecca 3

Mercedez + Neil

While I was in the OC I invited to shoot a wedding with my friend Greg Bumatay. Greg is a great photographer that is based in La Mirada, CA. We've always wanted to shoot together and I was so glad that I had the time to do it on this trip.

It turned into a challenge when the bride showed up for photos an hour and a half late, but I think we still pulled off some great images that I know they'll be happy with. But this is why I always encourage my brides to make sure to spread things out for the wedding day schedule. It allows you to not feel as stressed with time and it allows us as photographers to be able to capture the the best photographs we can for you to enjoy for the rest of your lives.

Here are some of my shots from this wedding:

My favorite shoes photo yet!


Some of my guys shots!






Mercedez and Neil were hilarious. Every time we asked them to kiss they just busted out laughing!


I really liked this shot


Greg Bumatay


Greg crying after seeing the slideshow of his own images. I think he cried more than anyone else at this wedding! j/k


Thanks for inviting me to come along Greg!

Debbie + Richard Engagement

While I was in Southern California for a wedding and a conference I met up with Debbie and Richard to capture some fun engagement photos before their wedding in November. We headed to downtown Fullerton to shoot some photos of them spending some time together.

Debbie is the mother of another Arizona photographer, Aronda Martin. I consider it a amazing honor to get a call from another photographer wanting me to photograph their or a relative's wedding.











I can't wait for their wedding in November because I know it's going to be a blast. As you can tell Debbie and Richard love having fun together.

Debbie also gave me her CD that I've still got to listen to, but I'll let you all know how it is. I'm sure it's great!

Catching Up

Ok, so I've been super busy traveling for weddings so I kind of fell behind on my newsletter and blog. But I've got lots of photos ready to post right now, so here goes...

Sarah + Jon are Married!

I had a blast today. My friends Sarah and Jon were getting married and I had the pleasure of being their wedding photographer. We started out the day by following Sarah as she had her hair and makeup done.



And then we joined up with Jon and the entire bridal party at the Golf Course for all of the photos before the ceremony. I always encourage my brides to see each other before because it really becomes more of a fun time for them to be with each other and their friends vs. rushing to take photos and then running to the reception.

And as you can see God provided us with an amazing sky!





I also want to make sure and thank my buddy Regis who came along to shoot photos with me, and Barbara from Pictage.com who was there to see me in action. We had a great time hanging out all day and I look forward to having more of those chances in the future.



I wanted to make sure and post this now because it's 3:30 am and I'm really, really tired right now and I've got to get up for another wedding tomorrow, so I think it's time for bed. Enjoy the slideshow!

Check out the slideshow here ---> Sarah + Jon are Married!

Kristina + Randy's Album

We've got another great album design finished. For those of you that don't know, Heather, my studio manager has recently taken over album designing as well. She's doing an amazing job on the designs and she is able to get them finished much faster than than I could with my current travel schedule.

I will hopefully be offering a very custom album design service in the future months. The custom albums will be one of a kind designs and will be for uncompromising couples who would like to invest in a premium album.

Check out the slideshow here ---> Kristina + Randy's Album

Thank You

I received this email a couple days ago from Emily, one of my recent brides. I just love getting emails like this.



I'm working on making a place on my website for these kind of comments, so feel free to send me more if you've got 'em! I know my future couples would love hearing from those that have already had an amazing photography experience.

Thanks Emily! That made my day!

Matt and Elle

Today I got to hang out with my long time friend Matt Kitchen and his girlfriend Elle. We headed down to Huntington Beach to grab a bite to eat and walk out to the pier. I had a blast spending time with both of them today. Especially since it was amazing outside and I know how bad it has been back in AZ.



Elle attacking Matt's ear.


Having fun by the Pier in downtown Huntington Beach.

New Crackberry for Regis!

My friend Regis Chen has been so gracious and has allowed me to stay at his place this last week, so I helped get him hooked up with a new Blackberry. He's already loving it and I know he'll never go back!

Tracy + Jeff

Last Saturday I tagged along as a second photographer with one of my good friends Tim Halberg for a wedding he had booked at the Newport Harbor Yacht Club. I had a great time coming along to snap all sorts of photos.













And earlier in the day Tim was taking a crazy shot of the guys down the staircase to the beach house they were all staying at. Here's a photo of him balancing on the railing to the stairs at the top of the second story.



You can check out his finished shot on the slideshow he posted on his site: Tim Halberg Photography.

Speaking at the Pictage Partner Conference

I had the pleasure of speaking at this year's Pictage Partner Conference last week. It was an amazing time for us wedding photographers to get together and share ideas and concepts with each other. I had the chance to finally meet in-person with so many cool photographers who I had only interacted with online.

I want to give Lauren from Cohn Frankel Photography a BIG thanks for taking a couple of photos during my teaching session. And thanks to all of you that attended. I hope it helped you out!





And another thanks to my buddy Stuart Thurlkill who got a couple great shots of me as well.





I didn't get to make it to all of the sessions that I had hoped to because I needed to finish up my presentation and respond to some emails, but I have so say that I learned the most from Michael & Anna Costa and Sara France. Michael and Anna shared how they interact with their clients when they are helping to build a wedding photography package. And Sara France spoke about defining yourself and being efficient.

I can't wait for the next conference I'll be attending so that I can see all of my friends again!

San Clemente, CA

On Friday Tim Halberg and I went out on a photo expedition. We had nothing in mind except to get some good photos on non-wedding related things. We headed to downtown San Clemente and walked around and down to the beach and almost crashed a wedding on the way.

Here were some of my favorite images from the day. I'm definitely going to have to do this more often. It helps keep the creativity flowing and helps give me new ideas for my wedding days.

PartnerCon 2006 Pics

I'm going to post more about PartnerCon in another post but I wanted to get some of my fun photos online for all of you to see.

Here's my travel buddy Stuart Thurlkill on our way to LA.


Regis Chen and I at the OpenSourcePhoto Forum party.


Chris Grisanti, Katherine Tolentino and I


A bunch of us at the end of the conference.


Pepper Nix and her husband Mitch are so much fun to be around.


And another awesome group of wedding photographers!


I love you all! Thank you all for such a great time!

PartnerCon 2006

Well I'll be speaking in an hour here at the photography conference in LA and I can't wait. Everyone here rocks and it has been so much fun being around so many of my friends.

I can't wait to share with other photographers about iPods and slideshows because I know everyone loves them and they are definitely the next wave in the wedding industry.

I'll post some more soon after my talk.