Rocky Votolato and Owen

I saw a really awesome show at the Bottom of the Hill tonight. Rocky Votolato was the headliner, and Mike Kinsella (stage name Owen) opened. They were both really good. The only thing that could have been better, would have been if it was less crowded. It felt like they over sold the place by like 100 people. It was packed!

This is Owen. You can hear his music on his MYSPACE.

I really like this shot of the lights. It is pretty abstract, but sweet in its own way.
I have listened to Rocky's cd, The Brag and Cuss, so many times, and even though he played more songs from his other cds, it was still really cool to him live. 

It was so packed. I had no idea he was that popular.
This is my favorite shot of the night:
Say it like you mean it, or if you don't mean it, it's not worth saying. Right? I love emotion in any kind of music. Listen to Rocky on his MYSPACE.

Andrew and Janet Valle

I shot Andrew and Janet's wedding at Calvary Chapel. It was a beautiful day :) The wedding started at 7, and was totally over by 9:30. It was short and sweet, but not lacking anything. Here are some of the shots. You can also view a slideshow by clicking HERE.

I thought that the industrial look of the other buildings in the parking lot made for some good backgrounds. I like the old and beat up look, especially when it's juxtaposed with well dressed wedding people.
I love photos of the groom right when the bride walks in. It's a powerful moment.
This photo is fun because you can see Janet excitedly poke her head around the corner to get her first glimpse of Andrew at the alter. Another key moment. 
More industrial scenes for the portraits. It was getting pretty dark. By the time that we took the last portrait, it was actually dark. It still turned out awesome though!
I love the sparklers for their exit. I don't know why more couples don't do this. I think it is awesome.
I like how you can see where they wrote Mrs. Valle on the window in this shot.
Such a good day! It was really nice to see all of the familiar faces from Calvary too. Thanks for all of the smiles everybody :)

Adam and Carrie

I took some engagement photos for Adam and Carrie at the Courthouse in Santa Barbara today. They are super fun, and really good at being cute together. Total winners! Here are some of the shots we got. You can also see the slideshow by clicking HERE. Cheers! 

This arch at the courthouse is really awesome!
Check out the tip-toe kissing action. Cute, right?
Haha. This one is kinda funny :) Get it?

More tip-toes, and this really sweet door. 

iPhone 3G

So I've been excited to get the new iPhone for a while now. I'm LOVING it!!! It does all kinds of cool things :) I'm totally a nerd when it comes to Apple products though. I regularly read Mac Rumors to see what might be on the horizon. Oops! I was playing with my buddies iPhone the day they came out (he waited overnight in the line) and I was bummed that I couldn't see anything for my website on it. I created an HTML version of treasurephotography.com to solve that problem. I've been wanting to do a few other things on the site as well, including an archive for all of the past weddings that I've done (so many awesome couples!) and travel galleries (I've been to 25 countries). Maybe I can jump on that one of these days as well... My favorite Apps so far include Pandora, Labyrinth, GPS google maps, Shazam, and the new life of any gathering- Phone Saber! (Yeah, I did mention that I'm a nerd right?) I hope you are all having a good summer :)

Reno, NV

I went to Reno this weekend with Alexis. It was kinda like going to Vegas, except it was not as intense. Alexis has been a few times and she loves it there. Reno has lots of thrift stores, gambling, shows, and other fun things to do. We didn't really gamble at all though. It's a good thing because too, because I get sucked in. We saw a Pink Floyd cover band that was playing a show in the street for a couple of songs and then just hung out.

Trouble at the El Dorado! We were just sitting there, when 3 cop cars flew around the corner and screeched to a stop to pick up these dudes that were walking by. It was crazy! Guns out, yelling at these guys to "get your hands up and get against the wall." Apparently it had something to do with fight that happened down the street. Crazy right? Another guy walking by said, "it's just a normal night here in Reno." Hmmm. We saw the new Batman movie too. It was action and excitement the whole time. Two thumbs up :)

Jimmy Eat World

I saw Jimmy Eat World last night at the Fillmore! I love this band! I have seen them 3 other times, and every time has been AMAZING! They sounded better than their cds, which it is unusual for a live performance to be that good. Some of the songs that they played were: hear you me, goodbye sky harbor, chase this light, 23, disintegration, and blister. So good!! 

Jesse and Carlin Curran

I had the pleasure of shooting Jesse and Carlin's wedding this weekend in Camarillo. It was a beautiful day! Here are some of the photos. You can see the slideshow in the client section of my website, or by clicking HERE.

This was pretty funny to watch this one happening :) We took a similar pic with the boys holding Carlin, and then the girls were like, "it's our turn now!" 
I shot Chrissy and Jeremy's wedding last year, and it was good to see them again at the reception.
So cute!
Get your dance on!
Uh... will somebody remind me to wear suspenders to the next reception that I'm at?
So much fun!!! 

Bowling

I haven't hit the lanes in a while, and I didn't bowl that good, but it was fun! 

In this photo is Alexis, Annika, and Robyn

Goleta Fire Update

So the fire in Goleta moved away from the houses! My parents and many other families had gotten a mandatory evacuation notice from the fire department. This turned into a scramble to pack the house like they were not going to come back.  They have lived there for 25 years, so this was not super easy. Firefighters battled the flames, and kept the fire from burning down houses though :) There were only evacuated for like two days before they were able to go back to the house. It was a close call though! The red "x" on the photo below is a my parents' street on a map of the burn area. The photo below is from the back yard. Crazy, right? Thanks for all of your thoughts, concerns and prayers!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th! The photos below were sent to me by my aunt. They are scans from old 4th of July photos. Our family used to parade around the block at my grandma's house decked out in red white and blue every year while we were all young. Good times :) Happy Birthday Grandma!

I wasn't able to make it home for the usual celebrations, so I went camping at lake Amador with Alexis, her friend Annika from Sweden, roommate Laila, and her boyfriend Michael, and sister Charie. It was hot, sunny, and lots of fun! I'm still thinking about how good the oysters we ate were too :)

Laila and Michael

Annika

Michael is in a band called Audrye Sessions, and he was playing us some campfire tunes.

The Everybodyfields

I saw a really cool band tonight called the Everybodyfields at the Independent here in SF. They sounded so beautiful and melancholy. I loved every song they played :) You can hear then on their website or on myspace. If you like alt-country,  I think you might like them. You can also see more photos in the slideshow I made HERE.

Goleta is on Fire!

Well it's not yet, but it's pretty close. It is on the hill above my parents house. My mom took this photo from the backyard of our house the other day. The green leaves that you see are in our yard. All it could take is some Santa Anna winds, and Goleta could be burnt :( I'd be bummed because Goleta is one of the greatest spots on God's green Earth.

In another sense, Goleta is on fire with all of the talent it's putting out... A friend of mine from Goleta, under the name of Katy Perry, is totally blowing up the pop music scene. Her song, "I kissed a girl" is the top song on iTunes and she's been taking down #1s on TRL too. It's really cool to see her going big. I don't know her super well, but she's friends with my roommate Kris. I hung out with her and some other kids including Josh Groban on New Years this year. 

Another kid I know from Dos Pueblos High School, Jay Staggs, is also on fire! Kris has been hitting the gym a lot lately, and he picked up the newest copy of Muscle and Fitness magazine. We were flipping through it when we recognized Jay's photos used in a 5 page article! He was the high school football star, and he recently got signed to the NFL, playing for the Chicago Bears. Not that outselling Coldplay, or being in a magazine make someone cool, but it IS cool to see people you know living their dreams and doing well at the same time. Cheers!

Baseball Game

I went to the giants game with all of the kids from my home group Bible study. It was a good game, but the first half was not super exciting. I helped make up for it by cheering for both sides when something cool happened :) If you only cheer for one side, the game can only be half as fun... 

Lex, Laila, and Annika went too! They had to sit in a different zone though because there wasn't any more seats by us. There were fireworks after the game too!!
Bonus pic of the bay bridge from the walk back to the muni after the game.

Family, Friends, Fun

I'm sorry it's been a while since my last post. That said, a lot has happened! Here is a little but of what has been going on: 

This is my Bible study small group for Dolores Park Church. We all went camping together this past weekend, and it was super fun! We meet every week, and have been going through Hosea together. I love these kids a lot!

On my way home from SB, I stopped in Atascadero to visit my uncle, Peter, and cousins, Luke and Rachel. Rachel was at Basketball practice, but Luke and I went skateboarding at the skatepark there and it was awesome. Luke is pretty fearless and he's got skills. I broke my deck doing a boardslide on a handrail. I think that I will always love skateboarding.

This is Uncle Peter, Luke and me. Ooo, fun fact: Luke was born with two thumbs on one hand!

Sandy loves to snuggle :)

My wonderful Mom and Aunt Mary, below.

Something random: I painted this copy of Hokusai's "Great Wave Off Kanagawa" for my buddy Julien and it resurfaced while I was in SB.

We had a BBQ/Poker night at TJ and Heidi's house. BTW, their house is totally sweet! 

I took a couple of shots of Heidi's big belly too:) I'm super stoked for them and I know they will be really cool parents!

This is their other kid, Chloe:

Poker!

These pics are from Julien's graduation party. He just finished school at UCSB, and got a sweet job doing stuff at FOX down in LA. Fun fact: Julien presented the class gift at graduation, which means speaking in front of 10k people! Crazy!! The party was totally fun: glowsticks, dancefloor and beers, you know I had a blast :)

I shot pics with Mark for a quick second  at a wedding he was doing too. So busy!

Santa Barbara is so beautiful! I love SF, but it's always nice to remember what good weather is like. jk. We get lucky sometimes.

And finally, a random shot from Alexis' fire escape in SF.

Sorry for the monster post. I'll try and be more on top of it again, but thanks for reading :)