Category Archives: Couples
Amazing how time flies. I am very much looking forward to Alisha and Nick’s wedding in just a little over 2 weeks from now.
I met with Ashley and Ty early one autumn morning for their engagement session in Old Sacramento. I love morning shoots because it’s so fresh in the day. Even though I’m not a morning person, I look forward to the beauty of the morning light and the crispness of the morning air. It was very cold when we first started, so it made for some good cuddling shots. As the sun came up, it warmed our bodies as well as our spirits.
I love working with Ashley and Ty! I look forward to their beautiful wedding later this summer.
Early January I attended The Jerry Ghionis Five Day Workshop in Los Angeles through the Soul Society. I attended this workshop because I wanted to push myself in the areas of lighting and posing. Even though my style is journalistic, having a strong understanding of more traditional posing and lighting techniques will make me a far stronger photographer. Jerry is a true genius and the best of the best in these two areas. I learned so much in 5 days that I was itching to practice right away. So my friend Rose Aura and I set out to practice, practice, practice!
As photographers, we’re often faced with environments and situations that we cannot control. Yet we’re still expected to create something spectacular. So what do we do with a room with very low light, an uninteresting hallway, or the challenge of the bright, hot sun? For this particular shoot we wanted to practice shooting in difficult environments using existing lights. So we purposely looked for the most difficult lighting conditions and tried to work our way out of them by creative placement and posing.
THE DARK RED ROOM:
The Challenge: A red room with low light (see above image).
The Solution: The afternoon sun came in through the French shutters and created an interesting pattern on the red wall. It created beautiful texture. I used the texture for a more interesting portrait (see left image below) and as background texture (right image below).
THE BORING HALLWAY
The Challenge: An uninteresting hallway with low light (see above image on the right).
The Solution: Every situation we’re faced with we have to first find the light. (Ha! I guess this applies to life as much as photography). In this case, the best light came from the bathroom sky windows. So I placed Shelby right next to the bathroom to capture some of that beautiful soft light to enhance the beautiful lines on her face and her figure. I then cropped in to remove clutter. I love how she looks with the red wall in the background. The shadows from French shutters I talked about above continues to work it’s magic here. (see above left and below)
THE ROOM WITH A SINGLE RECESSED LIGHT
The Challenge: A VERY dark living room with a single light.
The Solution: Again, let’s look for the best light source. In this case, it was the single recessed ceiling light. The most important thing is to light the model’s faces. With such low light, we most likely have to compromise the lighting of one person. In this case, I wanted to highlight Shelby’s face over Connor’s. Turning her face up, it became lit while elongating her beautiful neck (see above left).
WHEN THERE’S TOO MUCH SUN
The Challenge: The sun was way too bright and direct.
The Solution: The left image above was set in the hallway next to the beautiful bathroom light like the images we covered earlier. But the image to look at is the above image on the right. In this location the sun was very very hot and direct on the model’s faces. We pulled out a diffuser, and it’s amazing how well it worked to soften the harsh hot sun. Compare results of these 2 images that came from 2 very different lighting environments.
CHASING THE SUN
The Challenge: The light is disappearing. How do we capture the last of it?
The Solution: Get creative and use whatever’s avalable! On the left image above I got on the opposite side of the sun to create gorgeous outlining of the model’s figures. Again, I love to enhance Shelby’s gorgeous neck, so the sun helped me here. I can never resist backlight and this is the perfect time to use it. On the right image I used the building on the left as a giant reflector. This definitely helps to extend the use of whatever light that is available. And last but certainly not least…create gorgeous silhouettes! See the image below.
Tuan called me about a year ago. We talked a while on the phone and he told me about how he’s very much in love with his girlfriend and he wanted me to capture their love story. What guy does that anymore?! I thought this girl found herself a keeper for sure.
Tuan is a designer who now resides in the East Bay. He met Bao Han while he was still a grad student studying architecture. Their love developed slowly and sweetly over a period of time. He finally won her heart over with his thoughtfulness and the way he shared her love of the arts, music, and literature. Needless to say, a lot of their time together is spent visiting museums and listening to music.
There were two memories that were very poignant for him. They were sharp moments that made him realize how much he meant to his beloved. The first moment happened when Bao Han visited Tuan in his studio. After working late into the evening she worried about him biking home in the dark. So she drove behind him lighting his path until he was safely home. The other was when he was completing his thesis in architecture and she helped him hand cut thousands of trees for his model. She did all this while she was hundreds of miles away. He later dedicated his entire thesis to her.
Don’t we ALL have memories like this that we want to hold on to with all our power? I’m happy I was able capture them so Tuan and Bao Han Can relive them over and over through their photographs.
This is Jocelyn, one of my dearest friends in the whole world. The funny thing is…I think there are a lot of people who would call her that. Because her heart is that big and therefore loved that much. She’s a special girl and I’m so happy she’s found someone worthy of her heart. Though we’re all very protective of her, I can’t see any of use making threats to Stephen like “You better take good care of our friend or I’m after you!”. Because with every move he puts her needs before his own. And for that, we all willingly put our dear friend in his hands. 10 days and counting. I love you so so much!
Here’s a story of boy meets girl. Josh first met Kristen in college. Having a crush on her, he purposely took a marketing class just so he can bump into her on campus. And sure enough they met, and the sparks went flying. They were instantly in love and the rest is history. To this day, those sparks are still dancing around every time I see them. But all the years together have built such a deep affection and understanding that can only exist in a couple who truly are meant to be. I am so excited about their engagement!
For this engagement session we went back to the place where they bumped into each other on campus. It is a special place that brought them together. What a sweet ending for the boy who got the girl.
