Last weekend I had the pleasure of spending time with Jennifer and Josh for their engagement session. We got started in Balboa Park, and pretty soon we were off to the beach to shoot around Belmont Park, proving that two parks are indeed, better than one.  I’m always thanking my lucky stars that so many of my clients are so easy-going and fun to spend time with, and these two were no exception. Jen and Josh made the session really fun from start to finish, and I’m all the more excited about shooting their wedding later this year. Sometimes, as a photographer, it’s better to just sort of stay out of the couples way and let them be themselves, which is a real treat. I think you’ll see from these images that they made my job easy. (or at least, seem easy!)

Yes! Christian Louboutin heels for the engagement session definitely bodes well for the wedding!

A Louboutin heel does have height advantages, however.

One of our goals at Belmont Park was to get on the coaster, but apparently in order to bring a camera on the coaster now, you have to sneak it on. I’m tempted to go back with a camera stashed in a bag…We still had fun, starting with Josh swishing a basket to win his bride a dolphin.

We took a few minutes to take in the beautiful sunset on the beach behind the park.

Back to the park for one more ride!

Adrienne and Jon are currently enjoying living in New York City these days, but they will be back this May for their wedding at the Scripps Pavilion in La Jolla. I met up with them both at Balboa Park recently since they were in town for the holidays. I’m happy to be sharing a handful of images from their engagement session on a perfect San Diego afternoon. I love to shoot in Balboa Park since there’s always beautiful light if you know where to look for it, and I’m definitely looking forward to photographing them both on the beach in La Jolla in full wedding regalia. I always feel lucky to have such cool clients! I think their engagements are really sweet and beautiful, because that’s just how they are with each other.

I’ve been wanting to shoot Darwin for a while. You can quote me on that, but out of context, it probably sounds bad. What I mean to say is that if Frank Sinatra is ‘Chairman of the Board’ then I suppose Darwin is at least the Chairman of Cortez Hill, and he’s one of the cast of characters that makes living in Cortez Hill so awesome. Since we are both addicted to the sort of caffeine they grind at Cafe Sole Luna, (7th and Ash, everybody!) we’ve talked about collaborating on a shoot more than a few times over morning coffee.

The right time to do a shoot finally came along, since Darwin booked a return gig, singing at Dizzy’s jazz club, down on 2nd and ‘J’ street. Darwin wanted some new art to use for a promotional poster for the gig, so we put together a plan to shoot at the Santa Fe train station for fun, and then do something else among the city lights of downtown for the poster art. Friend and fellow photographer Felice Kinnear  was kind enough to come along to assist and shoot, and it was great – we had a blast!

Starting at Santa Fe

After the sun went down, we headed over to one of my favorite spots on 4th Avenue with two lights and a microphone. I have long been inspired by the amazing jazz photography of the great Herman Leonard , especially his work in the 1950’s, so this was a perfect opportunity to tip my hat to Mr. Leonard, and do my best to practice the sincerest form of flattery….immitation! A shoot like this is something I’d been wanting to do for a long time and I think it was worth waiting for.

Felice grabbed one of my favorite shots of the night. I wish I could take credit for the lovely wide-angle shot below, because I love it!

So when it came time to creat the poster for the gig, we worked up a few ideas for it. These are two that I didn’t think were ‘the one’ for Darwin, but  that I just wanted to see as a poster just for fun.

This is probably my personal favorite.

From 4th Avenue, we move across to the steps of the convention center for a few closing shots.

For Darwin, the mood of this image most closely matched the feel of the evening he will be presenting, and so this is the ‘official’ poster.

Oh, and P.S…….want to see a little ‘behind the scenes?’ Apparently Darwin has a fan club, and they ambushed us in the middle of the shoot. He was very gracious about it all and we even got to have our own little ‘We Are the World’ moment and snap a group photo.

A little over a week ago, I had the pleasure of sailing with Dawn, Michael, their family and friends, aboard the Harbor Excursion yacht ‘Quiet Heart.’ I’ve photographed quite a few weddings on the bay , but none quite this intimate. It wasn’t long before I knew the names of just about everyone on board. Most everybody, including Dawn and Michael, came out from Arizona to have a destination wedding here in San Diego, so you can imagine what a treat it was for everyone to enjoy an evening on the bay with a beautiful ceremony and well-catered reception dinner.

I first met up with Dawn at the downtown hotel where she was getting ready, along with her parents.

I popped into the cafe near the boarding dock a little ahead of schedule, only to find Dawn’s father, Tom, going over his notes for his toast.

The upper deck of the Quiet Heart

It started out with a bunch of birds, and then things pretty much just got crazier from there!

A first dance on the bow…

…and fireworks off the stern.

I recently met up with Allison and Asheesh in San Francisco for their engagement session and we had a great afternoon. They both live in that part of the state, and I had been meaning to make my way up there for some time, so we were finally able to get together. As usual, weather in the city was blustery and mostly fogged in, but hey, it’s San Francisco! We met up in Union Square for a bit before heading over to the Golden Gate as the sun went down. Just navigating the streets of the city was an adventure in itself since none of us knew exactly how to get around, but we really had fun the whole time. I’m looking forward to seeing them again next year when I photograph their wedding. In many ways it will be just like San Francisco;  a beautiful combination of East meeting West!