Allison and Phillip Jensen

It was an honor to be able to shoot the wedding of Allison and Phillip in Santa Barbara this weekend. It was a beautiful day! You can see more photos in their SLIDESHOW.

I get to see all sorts of cute stuff at all of the weddings that I go to, but I really liked Phillip's gift that he gave to Allison on the morning of the wedding: socks. It was part of his plan to make sure that Allison didn't get cold feet :) It's a nice pun because it also showed was that he was thinking about all of the little things for Allison--the socks had toes, which Allison said she loves. 

Mikey shot with me, and he was hanging out with Phillip in the morning. I love it when Mikey can work with me first because he has a really good eye, and secondly because he's my brother.

I shot Kristin (on the far left) and her husband Mark's wedding, and also some family portraits with their son Luke this year.
Cool table shot=Mikey.

This is a cute shot with Mark and Luke.

The wedding was at the Santa Barbara Zoo. It's really lush and nice up there where they have events at the Zoo. It's a bonus that you could check out the monkeys while you're there too because none of the animals are directly around the events site.  
I thought that it was cool that instead of a best man, Phillip had a best woman. Friends are friends.



I really liked the rose pedals in the isle, and the bubbles during their exit.

The zoo's train is essential! I wish we could have ridden it around the zoo but we were super pressed for time.

I'm really stoked that these shots worked out. We almost didn't have time to do portraits because it took so long to get all of the family together for the group portraits. 











Animal crackers=cute!
The lighting for the reception was nice.






Thumbs up!!



Thanks!

Brice in the Hospital

My friend Brice got in a pretty bad accident while riding a fixed gear bike in the city. I'm glad that he's doing ok, because it could have been much worse. Here are some shots from my hospital visit:

I Graduated College!

Yeah! I graduated college!!! I earned a B.S. in Visual Communication Design from San Francisco State University. I want to say thank you especially to my parents for always supporting me.I love you guys! Also to anyone who I have worked for in the last couple of years for being super patient and understanding while finished school projects. Thank you!!! It feels really good to be done with school :) It has been a crazy month so far between all of my final projects and all of the weddings. Here are some photos of all of the graduation activities. 

Kris and Bourbon.
My parents, Mikey, and Ashley all came up for my graduation. Thanks guys :)
Ellie and Dan are friends from school. We all struggled through some of the same crazy assignments. Dan has also been helping design albums for me the last few weeks.
Mikey and my dad took all of the photos on this post. It felt kinda weird because I'm really used to being behind the camera.


Alexis, my wonderful girlfriend, also was a huge support in helping me graduate. She had to hear me complain about school all the time and hardly ever see me because of all of the work that I always had to get done. Thanks b, I did it!


Here I am with my "dress" on, as my dad kept calling it. The different cords are for graduating with honors, and also for a department honors society that I was elected for. I'm totally an asian like that ;)
We had dinner with a lot of my friends after the graduation. Alexis, who planned everything, also had these awesome cupcakes made for me. My face was printed on the frosting!
We all went to see the new Star Trek movie after. It was really good.
WE all went to breakfast the next day. Here is Kris and Alicia. 
We stumbled on a parade that was happening in the Mission district--I think that there is a parade every weekend here in SF. All of the expected craziness was going on for a parade in SF.

Then we all rode bikes in Golden gate park. It's fun riding through the park because you get to see all sorts of stuff that you'd miss if you were in a car. 

...and bowling. I guess you could say it was a pretty busy weekend! 

Thanks for sticking with me everyone :)

Corbin Cortez

While I was out in Modesto, I met up with Alex, Savannah, and Corbin for burritos. Corbin is getting super cute. Here is a few shots:

Cool shades!

Lloyd and Archana Miller

I shot Lloyd and Archana's wedding today at the courthouse in Modesto. It was the shortest wedding that I have ever been to (the ceremony was about 3 minutes), but it was really sweet. We went to a park down the street after the ceremony and did family portraits. You can see more photos in their SLIDESHOW. 

I got a call on Tuesday this week about shooting this wedding today (Friday), and it ended up working out for me to make it. It was a really nice day :)

The ceremony was cool. It was simple, but no less powerful than a longer ceremony. The officiant cut straight to the chase- Lloyd, do you take Archana... I do. Archana, do you take Lloyd... I do. By the power vested in me I now pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss the bride. 










One of the cool things about smaller weddings, is that it's easy to get a photo with everyone in it.


I think this one is cute. It was super bright out, so he was shielding her from the sun :)








Thanks for all of the smiles!

Daniel and Vanessa Yerekhman

The wirlwind brought me to Santa Cruz this weekend for Daniel and Vanessa's wedding. I've been scrambling to get school work done and editing (I have 10,000 photos from the last few weeks to edit. Yikes!), and several giant school projects that are all due in the next two weeks. Nonetheless, it was a nice weekend in Santa Cruz. Daniel and Vanessa are super cool, and I had a blast getting to hang out and photograph them. You can see more photos in their slideshow by CLICKING HERE. 

I was at the rehearsal the day before the wedding, and I stayed at a hotel in Santa Cruz. I woke up on the day of the wedding, got ready, and went out to the car--I had a flat tire! I changed into shorts (in the parking lot), and fixed the tire. Sometimes it's the unexpected events that happen along the way that make the adventure that much better.

Vanessa was really calm and relaxed the whole time while getting ready. 

A beautiful day.






Sean Lionello officiated the ceremony. He's a friend from Reality in Carpinteria, and I had the pleasure of shooting his wedding in 2006 also.






After the ceremony, everyone got pretty emotional. One person got teary, which made other people get teary too. Next thing you know, everyone was bawling.

It might just be me, but I think that everyone I shoot is good looking... Are you seeing these guys?





Vanessa's dad had a hard time holding back the emotions for his speech, and by the time he was done, everyone was crying.






Lots of good dancing fun :)







You might recognize Danielle and Kyle from their engagement photos. I get to shoot their wedding in October this year.
What? It was hot out. I thought about joining in, but I thought it wouldn't be professional ;)


BOOM!!!

It was an awesome day, and I was so blessed to be there to photograph it :)

Avett Brothers @ the Fillmore

Alexis and I saw the Avett Brothers at the Fillmore tonight. It was a good show, and they are really fun live. I have been feeling like a slave lately, so it was nice to get out of my house too.

Crack

San Francisco is a crazy place to live. I had parked in an alley downtown, and when I came back to the car, this is the scene that I saw. I got some sneaky iPhone shots because it seemed crazy that this was happening right in front of me. 

1. Describe the quantity that you are looking for.

2. Inspect the product.
3. Smoke it.
Wow. Really?

Madeline Myers

My cousin, Heidi, stopped by my parent's house with her daughter, Madeline while I was still there. She is super cute! 

We all took turns holding her :)

Edgar and Jennifer Cabrera

I got to shoot a really fun wedding this weekend for Edgar and Jennifer in Santa Barbara. It has been crazy down there the last few days due the the Jesusita Fire that has been going wild and burning down homes. My mom has been working at the Red Cross shelters (she's a nurse), because about 1/3 of the city was on mandatory evacuation notice. That said, Edgar and Jennifer had to make some changes for their wedding because it has been raining ash in Santa Barbara. They moved the reception from Elings Park to the Lion's Park in Carpinteria, though Jennifer had never even seen it. I was impressed that they were not stressed or worried about anything because I probably would have been. You can se more photos in their slideshow by CLICKING HERE. 

Here are some shots from the day:

My brother, Mikey, was shooting the wedding with me, and in the morning, he was hanging out with Edgar while I was with Jennifer.



Peeking out of the windows to get a glimpse of the guests filling into the sanctuary at Calvary Chapel.

Their story is so CUTE! I smile every time that I think about it. They found me through my cousin, Rylee, who teaches at Coastline Christian Academy in Goleta. Edgar and Jennifer both have children who go to school there. They were both chaperoning for a school field trip to Sacramento, when they just happened to be in the same car on the ride home. They hit it off, and here we are, at their wedding :) Below you can see their kids, who were their bridal party. 









They had a "cake reception" at Calvary right after the ceremony for all of the people who came.


They also had a traditional reception (the one that had to get moved because of the fire) in Carpinteria. On the way there, we stopped to take some photos out on the bluffs in Carp. The tall grass made for some really unique shots. 

The groom normally rents a suit or tux, so they are always down to do anything for the photos. The bride on the other hand, searches high and low for the perfect dress and they are often pretty expensive. I'm always glad when brides are wiling to go somewhere that is risky for their dress, but good for photos. I'm sure Jennifer got a bunch of stickers in her dress, and it got dirty while we were out in the dusty field, but I think that the photos made it worth it-just my opinion.




Mikey was laughing at me because I had to run like I was hunting through the grass to get to the right spot. Oh yeah, I was holding the bouquet too :)


The pan pipes player was a cool addition to the environment at the reception. He played music on the pan pipes from all over South America.
Another cool addition to the reception was the bounce-house for the kids. 
I love the energy in this shot!
We snuck out for a couple of quick shots at the beach in Carp during sunset.

A guy ran out with some wine for the Bride and Groom. It was pretty classic.
This shot is really fun :)





This was one of the coolest things that I have seen at a reception. Photos don't even do it justice. The kids all practiced and put together a dance together for their parents. It was so AWESOME!!




It was a perfect day! Thanks!

Remembering Grandpa Roy

I flew down to LA this weekend to be there for a memorial lunch with the family for my Grandpa Roy, who passed away last year. I have been crazy busy with wedding photos and school work, but I hate to miss things like this. I feel like all I have been doing lately is looking at a computer screen while my life is passing me by. It was really nice to get to see all of the family and to feel like I was still here. This is a photo of my grandparents, my brother, Daniel, and I when I was younger. (I'm the one in the Dodgers t-shirt).

The urban sprawl of Los Angeles from the plane.
My Grandma Yas in the Kitchen, at her chair, drinking tea.




It was fun getting to watch the cousins play together. I don't get to see them much, and I have missed a lot of family functions in the last few years while I was off traveling. 



Here is the family group shot in the living room at my grandma's house.