Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! Here are some pics of my Christmas happenings. This photo has my dad's side of the family in front of my Grandma's house in Goleta. My uncle Peter and cousins Luke and Rachel couldn't make it down though :( In other news, my cousin Rylee and her husband, Phil are going to be having a baby this summer! I'm really happy for them, and I know they will be good parents :)

Kenny is getting goofy so that Madelyn will smile.

Hahaha!
We drove down to my mom's cousin, Kathy, and her husband, Daniel's house in Rancho Santa Margarita to have Christmas with the family on my mom's side. This is a house in their neighborhood who apparently went all out decorating. Kathy said the other neighbors get even crazier--I can't even imagine!

It's fun watching the kids open presents! Guilia and her mom, Mikela

Lauren.
These are two of Kathy's kids, Randy and Garrett. Their younger brother is Carter who is in some of the other photos. They remind me SO much of how Daniel, Mikey and I used to be when we were younger.

This baby doll was almost too real--it's the kind of doll that is up walking around the house while you are sleeping. Creepy!

This is Carter:

Garrett wrote and preformed a puppet show for his mom for Christmas. It was SUPER cute! Randy and Daniel helped act out the other parts. 

I set up this family photo at our neighbor's persimmon orchard. The trees looked really cool with all of the bright orange fruit on them. 
We tried this one a few times, but it was really hard to time it with the blinking light on the camera. It would have been cool if someone was pushing the shutter. 

I hope you had a nice Christmas as well :)

Alpha Pregnancy Center

I helped the Alpha Pregnancy Center by taking some photos for their upcoming diaper drive. I really like the approach that they take towards blessing the community and supporting life. You can read more about the diaper drive at their WEBSITE. Their idea is to support life, by providing tangible help to families who are in need. Anyone who has had kids knows, diapers are expensive. If a family is in a tough economic time, something as basic as diaper money could become a deciding factor in keeping a child. In this way, a mother considering having an abortion might keep their child knowing that they will be able to get free diapers for that child from the APC--something they would not be able to afford in their current economic situation. I feel that this is a creative solution that is worth being supported. I am hoping to help them with more projects in the future. Can you help them too? They need TONS of diapers to provide for all of the families who depend on their support. More info can be found at their website, www.sanfranciscodiaperdrive.org. Here are some of the shots I took:





The APC also gives clothing to mothers and children who are in need. 

Chad and Lauren Solbakken

Chad and Lauren's wedding was an awesome way to wrap of my 2008 weddings. It had snowed abut 8-10 inches the night before, so there was new snow everywhere! You cna see more photos in the slideshow by clicking HERE. 

We took photos before the ceremony (a really good idea), so this is Chad seeing Lauren for the first time on their wedding day. This gave us lots of time to get all of the portraits done before the ceremony.
With all of the new snow, and it currently snowing while we were taking these portraits, I think these are the most unique portraits that I've ever shot. I loved it!

Lauren had seen these barns before, and knew they would be a cool background. Good call :)


We took pictures in the snow for a while, even though it was really cold. Props to Lauren for making it happen in her dress!
I love how you can see the snow coming down in these shots!



1st time ever bridal party snowball fight.
We made it out of the snow, and inside for the ceremony. They had all of these hurricanes with candles that lined the sides of the isle.

It was super dark during the ceremony, but the shots still worked out.




I went to school with Nicole Mullen, who connected me with her college crew from APU. I got to know all of these ladies while I was in Las Vegas shooting Jolie's sister's wedding, Ashley and Jebron.
I don't mind using a flash if I have to, but I much prefer to use natural light if it is at all possible. The natural light in this shot makes a cool vibe.
Getting down!



We snuck out to get this shot outside during the reception.



Chad and Lauren took the boat back to Seattle after the wedding. It was an awesome day!
Oh yeah, I almost forgot... it was my birthday today!! I turned 24. There were so many cool people and fun stuff going on, that it was a good way to celebrate my birthday too :)

Seattle

After a crazy morning at the airport, I was able to make it up to Seattle for Chad and Lauren's wedding this weekend. These are some pics from the pre-wedding festivities. You can also see more photos in this SLIDESHOW if you want.

When you go to a new place for the first time, you feel like you have to check out all of the cool sites. This is often where tourist traps come into play. In my travels, I have found that many tourist traps, while over-priced, are still really cool to see. The Space Needle fits into this category.

I was with Chad and Keith, and we were all impressed with the cool stuff that was at the top of the Needle. This one showed the view from the top of the Needle on the screens and you could pan them to the right of left, allowing you to see a 360 view. Not only could you pan the screens to the left or right, but you could turn a nob that changes the time to show what the view would look like at the corresponding time. Here Chad is making the sun rise.
Whoever created this is really cool!


These guys were climbing around on the edge picking all of the icicles off. Sketchy!
This might be surprising, but burgers at Dick's is another Seattle thing to do--since Starbucks is a site you see everywhere else.
We took a boat across the Puget Sound to get to where the wedding was going to be. Here you can see snow on one of the lines.


The water level changes, and the boats have to get out through a lock. You can see that we are a lot higher than the water on the other side of the gate. 
They are letting us into the chamber. Once we were in, they closed the gate, and then let water out until we were on the lower level. The next few shots show the process of the water going out.


You end up on the lower level, and then they open the other gate and the boat drives out. Cool, right?
I was stoked to see this totem pole after learning about them in a cultural anthropology class I took at SBCC.


We watched a slideshow at the dress rehearsal of Chad and Lauren pics. It was super cute.
It dumped snow all day today.


Hanging it... but if anyone asks, the tail light was already like that ;)
I was super tired, and I started passing out when I heard, "unlimited ammo!"  I gotta start using my cameras like machine guns more often--it looked fun.

Nutcracker

Spotted in San Francisco; J, A, H, and C, all dressed up. We didn't plan it, but it just turned out that we all were going to the Nutcracker tonight. It was awesome! It was also the first time that I'd ever seen a ballet. My favorite part was when these huge set objects rolled in to create a dream environment. I also liked this part where all of the dancers were in sync, while snow raining from the ceiling. It was good fun, with the bonus of seeing Casey and Hope, who are super rad.  

Fashion Photography at the Castle

Some of my friends are doing fashion marketing at Art Institute, and I photographed a project for them. The shots came out good, and it was a lot of fun. They booked a castle--yeah, a CASTLE--for the shoot. There were so many cool environments to shoot there. Here are some of the shots:

Andy made all of the clothes, with the help of my other friends Liz and Jessie.







I normally don't do this kind of photography, but it was fun to switch it up a little.

The Nelson Family

You might recognize this family from their appearances in the photos from Brian and Lea's wedding. Lance is Lea's brother, and this is his family. It was a little chilly out, but we still got good shots. The photos were all taken in the Haight/Ashbury zone in SF. You can see more photos in the SLIDESHOW if you want.

Olivia is so cute!




The bright sun made it a little hard for these shots to work, but I think the background is cool.
Grandpa came to help watch the kids while we were taking the shots with just Randi and Lance.
I love the colors in this shot. 





Haha. These guys know how to get crazy! Right on the verge of being totally gangsta.