May 14th, 2013:
Kira & Adam first bonded over the movie 500 Days of Summer, so they requested a shoot that started at Angels’ Knoll, and then we wandered downtown Los Angeles until night fell. Of course, we had to point out the “pirate bar” in the vicinity that was featured in the movie (actually known as The Redwood Bar & Grill), so Kira & Adam got to enjoy some post-shoot beers that coincided with their choice of movie. Not a bad way to spend a Friday night!
May 1, 2013:
Varsha & Pranit have been living in Los Angeles for a while now, but their careers will soon take them to the Bay Area. Varsha contacted us a few weeks ago requesting a shoot that would coincide with their recent wedding anniversary, but also to remember their favorite places in Los Angeles. They showed up pretty Oscar-worthy, which is definitely a great homage to LA.
Even though it was a very early morning shoot, Varsha & Pranit were both in high spirits, and even Felicia, who is quite probably the most un-morning person I know, was quickly won over by their charm . Who needs coffee when you have awesome people to photograph?
We ended the shoot at “their” Coffee Bean in Culver City, where Felicia’s daily caffeine fix was sated.
Thanks for a wonderful shoot, Varsha & Pranit! We wish you every success in your move!
April 22, 2013:
Blog post by Felicia:
During Sarah & Jeff’s engagement session, Jeff seemed really interested in Raul & Zelena’s engagement session under the stars in Joshua Tree, and had an extended discussion with Rob about astro photography.
It so happened that, on their wedding day, we mentioned that we were headed out to Death Valley for Chris & Christina’s engagement shoot, and Sarah & Jeff had the option to make the long trek out to the hottest place on earth as well.
A few days later, I received an email in the affirmative, or, as Sarah puts it, “… more excited than a T-Rex with grabby arms“.
And so it was: at the end of a work day, Jeff & Sarah drove to Death Valley, and met us in the middle of the night dressed in their wedding day finery. We had an AMAZING time with these two, shooting under the star-filled sky until the sun came up and the dunes were besieged by a busload of Asian tourists who decided that Jeff & Sarah made good additions to their vacation snapshots.
Making the long, hot, dusty drive to/from Death Valley was completely worth it when we had an epic weekend of shooting with clients that completely represent why we love what we do.
Thank you, Sarah & Jeff, for being such troopers!
April 16th, 2013:
(Yes, that IS the Milky Way!)
Blog post by Felicia:
Chris & Christina contacted us right before we left for our trip to the Philippines, so our interactions with them had been solely through phone and email. Chris & Christina had initially planned for a beach shoot, but then, several weeks ago, we got an email from them asking for the “omakase of photography” instead.
Now, if you’ve been to omakase sushi, it means that you allow the chef to decide what to serve you. Or, as Wikipedia explains, “… a Japanese phrase that means “I’ll leave it to you” (from Japanese makasu (任す, “to entrust”)
I don’t really know how to put into the words the elation, honor, and excitement that Rob and I felt when that email appeared in our inbox. Trust is the best gift anyone can give to us, and Chris & Christina essentially gave us free reign and full artistic liberty. They even showed up in Death Valley with what looked like the wardrobe department of a small movie production, so that we could pick what we wanted them to wear. How much more awesome can these people get?!
[Brides- and grooms-to-be out there: once you've done your research, completed consultations and selected your photographer (or any other wedding vendor, for that matter), trust them to do what they do best: it takes the stress off of you, and off of them!]
So anyway, despite the additional time and cost investment to take us up on an astro photography shoot, Chris & Christina gave us a hearty YES. Bear in mind, they’ve never met us before, but they made the long drive out to Death Valley and headed out into the vast nothingness of the desert in the middle of the night with us.
Thank you, Chris & Christina, for representing why we love what we do.
As the sun rose and the stars faded from sight, we headed to the ghost town of Rhyolite in Nevada. I don’t know how these two remain looking so fabulous despite barely getting any sleep the night before.
Chris demonstrates his version of Le Tigre.
April 11th, 2013:
Close to 20 years ago I started high school as a plump little freshman and within a few months I had joined the drama club and auditioned to be in the spring musical Annie…. and no, to your (and my own) dismay I wasn’t given the title role. I was cast as a street urchin (and about 5 other parts) and during that time, I first met Michelle. We became friends over the next few years, ran amok as you should in High School, went to prom together, and even spent our first year at college in the same general ed classes. Eventually I went into the university theater program full time to get my B.A. and Michelle made her way up to Chico, CA for the next few years.
We fell out of touch for a number of years until the advent of Facebook, when we started “liking” each other’s posts. A few months ago Michelle hit me up and to check which dates we still had available for her summer wedding, then went venue hunting to find a location on one of the dates we still were available. Felicia and I are thrilled and humbled when clients put photography first, then hunt for a venue: a huge reversal in the wedding industry.
Anyhow, everything worked out, and all is set for their wedding in July. For their engagement session, Los Angeles traffic on a Friday afternoon necessitated a change of plans, so we ended up at Wildwood Regional Park in Thousand Oaks after Felicia did some lightning fast research on her iPhone. But the impromptu change was just fine: we had way too much fun saying wildly inappropriate things that cannot be retold even on this blog, laughed a lot, and had a wonderful time photographing there. Wildwood Regional Park turned out to be a really cool venue to shoot at, minus the fact that Michelle was eaten alive by mosquitoes as soon as the sun set.
Thanks guys for a super fun shoot!
April 5th, 2013:
Last week we met with Justin & Diane at LACMA for their engagement shoot, enjoying a leisurely afternoon where, when we encountered some bamboo groves, Felicia declared herself “a panda with skillz”. My wife’s pretty strange.
Diane & Justin are both civil engineers, so Diane requested photos with these concrete blocks – an installation art piece, actually – very apt!
Diane was particularly excited about pictures with Levitated Mass, so with some patience, we finally managed to get a clean shot of just them and the big rock.
Thanks Diane & Justin for a fun Friday. We had a great time with you both, and can’t wait for your wedding!
April 3, 2013:
Blog post by Felicia:
Spring is surely in the air, as the cherry blossom trees around Balboa Park here in Los Angeles burst into life with their powder pink clusters of delicate flowers.
The brief beauty of cherry blossoms represent the transient nature of Life, and are a great reminder to seize the day, and live with no regrets. Cherry blossom viewing festivals - known as hanami - are immensely popular in Japan and I can certainly see why! They are such a gorgeous sight, and I’m glad that we had been closely watching the blooms in order to schedule N+S’s engagement shoot a couple of weeks ago. We had a wonderful time with the lovely couple, but sorry, due to their request for privacy, we can only share a few pictures.
Enjoy!
April 1st, 2013:
Blog post by Felicia:
Lindsay & Joe are New Yorkers who are getting married here in Los Angeles, so we were looking forward to finally meeting them in person. I got a sense from our initial phone consultation that they were a pretty fun couple, but their session really kicked things up a notch!
We started in San Juan Capistraño before heading down to blustery Monarch Beach, during which time I also got to practice un petite peu de français with Joe, whom I learned, is actually French, born & bred! Unfortunately for me, it’s been a good 6 years since my last French lesson, so it was pretty embarrassing to be frantically trying to recall whatever is left of my French proficiency (or lack thereof)! YIKES!
Thankfully I’m currently a lot better at taking pictures than speaking French, so I think I still have my job.
Felicitations, Joe & Lindsay!
March 27th, 2013:
Blog post by Felicia:
Last week we met up with Danielle & Mike for a shoot around downtown Los Angeles, where they showed up dressed to the nines in their wedding colors. Awesome!
Midway through the shoot, Mike and I started discussing in detail a certain National Geographic episode where a filmmaker tirelessly waited to document a rare Papua New Guinean Bird of Paradise performing its annual mating ritual. Later conversations also turned to the March of the Penguins as the sun set and poor Danielle was freezing, so I suggested that they “huddle like penguins”.
Some days, my nerdy weirdness becomes pretty evident and Rob has to gently remind me not to scare the clients. Thankfully, Danielle & Mike didn’t seem to mind, and we had a really fun, light-hearted shoot.
Thanks for such a great time, Mike & Danielle!
March 25th, 2013:
Blog post by Felicia
We had 5 shoots last week, one of which was M+M’s at Vasquez Rocks, the famed site of the Star Trek movies. We had first visited this location while sightseeing with friends last year, and certainly wanted to take a couple out here. Thankfully, M+M love the outdoors and immediately took the idea when we suggested it to them.
Due to an error on the park’s official website about opening hours, Rob & I arrived to find the parking lot locked, and a very apologetic park ranger. Thankfully M+M were great sports even though we had to make the half-a-mile walk through gravel and scrub to get to the rocks, and because the parking lot was closed, we essentially had the entire place to ourselves!
We had fun clambering around, then ended the night with beers and fish ‘n’ chips at a local British pub. Good times!
