Michelle and Andrew's Engagement Shoot

Michelle emailed me a couple of weeks ago and said that she wanted an engagement shoot, though she wasn't sure of her exact wedding plans. Great! You know how I LOVE engagement shoots. She really like Christine and Brian's shoot on my Blog where we did the different colored walls in Hollywood. Well, we didn't want to do the EXACT same thing, but we met in a different section of Hollywood and it's amazing what we foung. We met at Karma Coffeehouse on Cahuenga. It was so crowded, I was a bit hesitant to ask to shoot inside but this lovely musician who was playing his songs outside let us include him in some art! Michelle and Andrew are so in love, it's amazing. I barely posed them at all - I just let them do their thing, and it was beautiful.

Averil and Dylan's Wedding 1.14.07

Well, it's great to be back doing weddings in the New Year with such a lovely couple! Averil is from New Zealand and booked me from over there (don't you love the internet) and Dylan is a self-proclaimed MIT nerd. The wedding was at the Victorian in Santa Monica, CA but because we couldn't get in there till later in the afternoon, I suggested that Averil get ready at the Viceroy hotel so that we could perhaps take pictures there. It's a little bit of a scene so I wasn't sure how cool they would be about it but luckily, it was so cold that no one was around and I got some great portraits of Averil there. The we went over to the Victorian, which as this beautiful, old world flair and very fun to photograph. She had emailed me a photo of her dress before the wedding and I was psyched! Isn't it fabulous? I love New Zealand accents so it was very fun to hear all of Averil's family throughout the wedding. They are a SUPER cute couple and this was a lovely wedding!

Laura and Will's Engagement Shoot 1.8.07 in NYC

I was born and raised in NYC and my folks still live there so I have a fantastic place to visit when I go home!!! Every year I have a fair amount of clients who grew up in LA, now live in NYC, but are getting married in LA. Sooooo.....it's such a blast to be able to hang out with them when I'm in town and shoot. I was realizing the other day while some potential clients were looking through my portfolio, that, I do really veer towards urban landscapes in engagement shoots. Perhaps because that is where I grew up and I rarely have that landscape at weddings. So you can imagine what a treat it is to photograph in NYC!
Laura and Will are college sweethearts and are INCREDIBLY busy (Laura just started her first job at a law firm and Will is in graduate school at Columbia) so Laura's mom Kathy has been trying to help them with the wedding plans (such a cool mom). Anyway, she was thrilled when she heard that I was going to NY and could meet Laura and Will and photograph them. O.K., now here is the strange part - Laura and Will live on the same block as my parents! I mean, what kind of sychronicity is that!!? So, I just walked over to their apartment and was totally inspired how "NYC apartment" their apartment looked so I HAD to begin shooting there. Than we just ran around to Park Ave, cafe's and by the river. I had a blast. The day before had been 70 degrees and this day was around 40 degrees so I have to apologize to Laura because she was COLD by the river.....but, hey, we have to suffer for our art!!!!

Christine and Brian's Engagement Shoot

Christine and Brian are getting married June 2nd and I am honored to be photographing their wedding. They were a little up in the air as to where they wanted to do their shoot, so we had a meeting and decided that we would just shoot in front of different colored walls around Hollywood. This is something I've always wanted to do and they went for it. I mean, clients are always worried about the backrounds at their wedding venues and I always say "Though a nice location is "nice" the photos are about YOU not the backrounds!" Well this puts that to the test. The one against the white backround and the shadow of the tree is one of my favs! Totally weird. I LOVE IT!

Samantha is a little girl!

I've been photographing Samantha since she was first born. I used to call her "Baby Samantha" and now she is a full on little girl! I know Sam because her dad Clyde signed me to BMG music publishing when I was first starting out as a songwriter. He got me my record deal with Dreamworks and now he's like my press agent for photography - he refers me ALOT so WE LOVE HIM!. Clyde, Sharon and Samantha moved to this beautiful new house near Hancock park about a year ago and it's really fun to photograph there. Beautiful light everywhere (I wish I could rent it out for shoots!) Anyway, Samantha is dear to my heart as she is a redhead (so was I as a kid) and she beautiful both inside and out.....and a real clown too! And Clyde's wife Sharon is such a sweetheart. She made us brunch before the shoot and we had so much fun yapping, I didn't realize how late it had gotten!

Jian and Samson with a baby on the way!

I photographed Jian and Samson's wedding in December 2004 and it was INSANE! Samson is a incredible cinematographer. He had a full-on film crew at the wedding, video cameras hanging from trees and lighting equiptment everywhere. Half of the guests were in the film business and everyone was looking at what I was doing. Let's just say, I was a little intimidated! Luckily, they loved their photos and we became friends (they have great parties).

I was THRILLED to hear Jian was expecting. Though I usually suggest that you do your pregnancy shoots around 6 or 7 months (really showing but not too huge), Jian was brave and did this shoot only a couple of weeks before her due date (she still looks fabulous, of course). Just like their wedding, this shoot was just a blast, not only to photograph, but just to hang out with them. I cannot wait to see the baby girl! Of course, Samson had to bring his camera too! (So many of the photos of him at his wedding are him behind a video camera, directing the shoot!) They are going to be incredible parents - Jian could be in labor as we speak!

May and Jeff's Wedding, 10.28.06

Again, I apologize for being so tardy on my posts. These holiday orders have me overwhelmed! (Don't worry, they are getting done!) Anyway, May and Jeff Got married at the Summit House in Fullerton. I have to say, that when I looked at the Summit House's website, the photos did not do it justice. It's quite lovely there! Beautiful light everywhere!

The ceremony was incredibly emotional. I LOVE the photo of May with the tear running down her cheek. Heather was my second shooter on this wedding and at one point we looked at each other during the ceremony and we were both crying! May had some family that was visiting from Japan and her mom and grandma dressed in traditonal kimonos. May and her sister changed into kimonos at the end of the day (I didn't realize it took 20 minutes to get into one of these things!) They were beautiful. One of May's bridesmaids did alot of her details and did a great job. Also, yes, I got a little silly with the m&m's!!!