Yesterday I had the pleasure of photographing the wedding of Devon and John at the Prado, in Balboa Park. It’s such a beautiful venue for a wedding! It’s a classic San Diego landmark with so many places to shoot and wonderful light everywhere. Devon and John are getting ready to go on a loooong honeymoon, so I’ve been going through all of their images today so they can get a sneak peak before they fly off into the sunset. I’m still working my way through all the shots, but I did grab a large handful of Devon and John, just for them. So, without further ado…
Devon had a private room upstairs to get ready in…I took advantage of the roof : )
On to the ceremony at the wishing well:
Family played a huge role in the day for Devon and John.
While the guests enjoyed the coctail hour, we had a few minutes to ourselves.
Evening settled on the park, and everybody was in the mood to dance.
Sara & Mike
Wedding and Reception: Private Residence, Fallbrook, Ca.
It’s actually been a little while since I photographed the wedding of Sara and Mike up in Fallbrook. At the moment, they are laid out on a beach in Jamaica, enjoying their honeymoon. (Yay!) Sara and Mike are both school teachers, so they’re definitely enjoying one last hurrah before returning to middle school campuses again in a couple of weeks. Now that I’m finally finishing up work on my new site, I thought it was about time I shared some images.
The wedding was designed to be an intimate affair at a private residence, and it came together perfectly thanks to the work of coordinator Jenny from Luxe Special Events. They were able to make a private residence feel like a small resort, with a bar and candy favors by the pool and beautifully set tables in the garden. It was definitely a wonderful summer evening.
The guys broke out the cigars as the reception came near to close:
A little mystery in the garden…a closing shot:
I’ll admit that I don’t wake up every single day feeling all flowery and full of grace, but seldom does a day go by that I don’t say to myself that life is beautiful. Sometimes it’s an image, but just as often it’s a story on the web or a song on the radio that has me thinking : “Life is beautiful.” Maybe it sounds clichéd to some people, but for me, it has become a mantra. The more I ponder it, the more I look for it, and the more I see it, so the idea is reinforced. Life is beautiful.
The third time turned out to be the charm for Sarah and Brad’s engagment session in La Jolla. Our first date was rained out, and the next time it looked like “Victory at Sea” weather, so we decided to punt and see what the next Saturday would bring. It was worth the wait! Windansea looked like a postcard when we met at the stairs by Nautilus St.
I learned a few things on this shoot too. That green algae type stuff that grows on the rocks is slippery. Really, really slippery. I’m officially done wearing hiking sandals to beach sessions! The mud around the stairs is pretty slippery too, but you’d have to ask Brad about that. Despite the small comedy of errors, we actually had a terrific session.
Sarah and Brad will be getting married at the La Jolla Country Club this June and I am psyched to be their photographer.
This is the proper way to get down to the sand. I went the hard way!
By special request….
Last Friday night I was lucky enough to attend the opening of the Herman Leonard exhibition at the Morrison Hotel Gallery on Prospect Street in La Jolla. Herman Leonard is perhaps best known for his iconic images of Jazz musicians in the during the 1940’s and 50’s. His love of photography and music combined to inspire a beautiful backlit style with incredible feeling. If you’re not familiar with Mr. Leonard by name, no doubt you have seen his images: Billy Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins, Duke Ellington….and on and on. (Oh, and Albert Einstein.)
It is worth whatever you have to do to see prints like his first-hand. I have to confess that I haven’t unwrapped a roll of film in almost ten years, but one minute in the gallery suddenly made me homesick for it. Herman shot with sheet film using the speed-graph cameras of the day. That large piece of film yields just stunning amounts of detail. The beauty is in the details almost as much as it is in the character of his subjects. His approach and the depth he creates with backlight is timeless.
You can imagine what a joy it was to actually meet the photographer himself during the reception! Herman came out for the opening, kindly answering any and all questions and laughing non-stop. He allowed me to impose on him for a picture in the gallery, which I had to work up the nerve to ask for. He couldn’t have been nicer. He said in an interview on KPBS the other day that people often take photographs with little regard for the backgrounds and they wind up with telophone poles coming out of people’s heads….well, I just wound up with picture frames instead. (check out the interview from “These Days”) I believe most in attendance took advantage of the opportunity to pick up a copy of Mr. Leonards’ most recent book “Jazz, Giants, and Journeys” I have to share what my inscription reads: “For Philip- Keep shooting, use film, but above all, Enjoy the music!” How cool is that?
Even though January isn’t exactly the busiest month of the year for weddings, I’m still keeping busy with all kinds of projects. 2008 is shaping up to be my best year yet as I already have twice as many weddings on the books as I did last year at this time. (Whooo Hooo!) I’m looking forward to shooting in some places that I haven’t shot before, like the La Jolla Country Club and the Park Plaza in Los Angeles. Some of the familiar places are changing too, such as the new ceremony space (with waterfall!) going in at L’Auberge in Del Mar. If you’re thinking of inquiring about your date, please do. I’ll be happy to check my calendar for you asap.
I’ve been doing more and more portrait work these days and I’m enjoying it immensely. For photographers, weddings are about making very quick technical and creative decisioins in order to keep up with the pace of events. It’s one of my favorite aspects of my job: I never shoot the same event twice! Photographing portraits on location is similar in some ways, but the pace is definitely more relaxed. I’ve had the pleasure of photographing several kids and families in recent weeks and it’s inspired me to want to do more.
This is Jakob at the park. He’s six, going on twelve.
Jakob with his Mom, Jacqueline. (I can’t remember how many languages she speaks, but it’s a lot!)
Fellow photographer Melissa Schwartz in San Diego has devoted herself to organizing the “Heirloom Project” which in her words is “a collective of photographers offering free family portraits to those families who lost their homes in the san diego wildfires in october, 2007.” Like half a million other San Diegans, we were required to evacuate our home when fires threatened our neighborhood. In the end, the evacuation and days spent away from home only amounted to a major inconvenience. Others, including some that I know, lost everything. Please check out the “Heirloom Project” website and watch it grow along with the project itself.
The phone rang at our house shortly after four a.m. on Monday morning. We had stayed up late the night before, watching the news to keep an eye on the fire. Our house had been enveloped in smoke since around two o’clock Sunday afternoon. After the phone call, I went to my back patio and I was shocked to actually see flames on the hill, across the valley. The fire wasn’t moving in our direction, so we didn’t feel very threatened, but the evacuation was mandatory, so we packed up the camera gear, hard drives, my Mac, and uh..oh yeah!..the cats!
Looking north from our yard around 5:50 am.
The ash was everywhere, as everybody who was here knows – I’m thankful that ash was all we had to contend with
