Happy Anniversary to us!

Wow! It's hard to believe that it's been a year since Ben and I had our amazingly fabulous stupendous (can you tell I loved it?) wedding in La Jolla. Well not quite a year, our anniversary's this Sunday September 30th. I know it's cheesy (and yes, I'm quite a sentimental type person) but my wedding day WAS the happiest day of my life and I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful loving husband. Plus some rockin' wedding photos by the super talented Nate & Jaclyn Kaiser. Yay for anniversaries!

To celebrate our anniversary we're going out of town so I'll be unavailable by phone/email/blog until Monday. Hope you all have a great weekend!

Avon Walk for Breast Cancer Part 2

A couple of weeks ago I posted images from my first day as a volunteer photographer at the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. I realized this afternoon that I got so busy I never posted my second day images! This walk is such an amazing event that takes place over the span of two days. The second day the walkers complete their journeys and return back to the event site for a truly moving closing ceremony. The participants each put in at least 26 miles of hard work and the reactions as they crossed the finish line were so emotional and joyful it was amazing to watch!

Once the last walkers had crossed the finish line they all gathered in the back to walk in together to the cheers and wild support of their friends and family. I knew that there were a lot of walkers and that they would all be coming in together but I really wasn't prepared by the overwhelming hugeness of the crowd as they all strode in together. I have never seen so much pink in all my life!

There was a lot of joyful cheering and pompom waving and it was so wonderful to see the looks of accomplishment on all of the walkers' faces!

Once all of the walkers arrived at the stage the closing ceremony began with some wonderful inspiring stories from survivors.

With presentations of checks like these to the foundation's beneficiaries it's hard to argue with the fact that this walk is making a difference and doing good for an amazing cause. It was so amazing to see everyone's faces when they saw the real results of all of their hard work!

Overall it was an amazing and inspiring day and I was so happy to have been a part of it! If the Avon Walk comes to your city you should definitely look into participating in some way. Even if you can't make the walk there are so many ways that you can help out and make a difference.

Lizette & Riley album slideshow

You may remember Lizette and Riley's wedding from the beginning of September. I had such a blast photographing on the day of their wedding but one of my favorite things to do is to go home afterwards and look through all the wonderful images.

The best part of my job is being able to tell the story of this once in a lifetime day and the best way to do that is through an album. Having a disc of images is never going to compete with having an album because a disc of images is overwhelming and doesn't have any narrative direction to it. The only way to really remember your wedding is to flip through a beautiful book laid out to tell the story of your day. I had so much fun putting together the album for this wedding that I thought I'd share the first version of it here with you. The images might be a little bit small so feel free to click here to see the full size version.

I hope you enjoy!

Linda & Darioush Married!

On Saturday I was so excited to join Crissy Farah and Rowena Curtis in documenting Linda & Darioush's wedding. The wedding was a truly cultural experience with a gorgeous Persian ceremony and a rockin' reception on a yacht in Marina del Rey. Both families were so fun and excited about the marriage, it was a joyous occasion for all!

The bride was absolutely gorgeous. Here she is getting ready for her big day!

I loved the shoes! She was worried that they weren't photo-worthy but I think the graphic print was such a fun addition!

Because it was my first time shooting a Persian wedding there were amazing details that in the sofreh that I had never seen before. I couldn't believe how elaborate everything was!

The two families seemed truly overjoyed to be joining together. Here is the bride's father hugging the new addition to his family immediately after the ceremony.

There was a LOT of family to take formal photos with after the ceremony so there wasn't a huge amount of time for the couples portraits, but we still managed to have a little bit of fun with them before the wedding. This is one of my favorites!

We got up on the top deck of the yacht to catch a little bit of gorgeous sunset light before sailing.

The groom's father gave a great toast welcoming Linda to his family.

And if you can say anything about this couple and their families it's that they know how to have a good time! They were smiling ear to ear all night (which is definitely what I like to see!) and tearing up the dance floor after dinner. A great time was had by all!

Thank you Linda & Darioush for letting me be a part of your beautiful day. And an extra special thank you to Crissy for inviting me to come along and shoot. I had a blast! Let's do it again soon!

Avon Walk for Breast Cancer

This weekend I had the privilege of being a volunteer photographer at the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer event in Los Angeles. It is a two day walk fundraiser where each of the participants walks between 26 and 39 miles over two days. It is an important cause and draws an incredible group of participants and volunteers and I was so happy to be a part of it! Here are a few of my shots from the Saturday morning opening ceremony.

The ceremony started at 6:30 AM so when I arrived it was still dark! I haven't been up that early since my college crew days! Here is the event site in the pre-dawn glow.

The giant inflatable towers in the first photo were covered from top to bottom with signatures from walkers and volunteers and more people were signing them all morning. It was amazing to see how many people had participated!

The morning started off with some stretching

And a beautiful sunrise!

Followed by some inspirational speaking to get the crowd pumped up and ready to walk. Both of the women speaking in these photos are breast cancer survivors and their stories were so inspirational!

By the end of the speeches everyone was so excited and ready to go out and make a difference!

And they're off!

The whole morning was so emotional and it was amazing to see how breast cancer has touched so many lives. Many of the walkers were wearing tags to show who they were walking for. It was such a simple way to see into their lives and hear their stories.

And just a few more photos of the walkers in action... it was so great to see all of their energy and enthusiasm heading out! They all seemed to want to stop for a smile and wave at the camera on their way.

It was such a great event and I was so happy to have had the opportunity to take part in the opening ceremony. I actually went back to photograph the walkers arriving on Sunday afternoon and the closing ceremony as well but that will have to wait for another blog post :)

After the walk on Saturday morning I headed up to Marina del Rey to shoot a wedding with some amazing photographers. I will post that up later this week and then the wrap up from the closing ceremony of the walk... so stay tuned! (I told you I was behind on blogging!)

photographers are fun

Wow! I feel like I'm so behind in my blogging! The last week and a half have been so busy and so fun! Last week the Pictage Partnercon event was held in Los Angeles and even though I didn't attend the conference, I still managed to hang out with and meet a bunch of the amazing photographers that were in town for the event. On Wednesday night we headed out to the party hosted by KISS albums and Showit Web. The party was packed and the big hit was definitely the fotocabina booth. I only had my point and shoot with me so the photo quality isn't great... but here are a couple of fun shots from the big night.

And a shot from the photo booth...

What a fun group of photographers and what a great party! Thanks to the hosts... I think it's safe to say everyone had an awesome time!

Angie & Jaime married!

Yesterday I had the pleasure of second shooting with John Prado at the wedding of Angie and Jaime. The wedding was full of gorgeous details and attended by two beautiful and loving families. Angie and Jaime had been dating for an incredible 12 years so the wedding was such a joyful and special occasion for all of the friends and family. Here are a couple of my favorite shots from the day.

First up, the bride's gorgeous bouquet. I love the mini calla lillies!

The groom and his groomsmen awaiting the bride's arrival.

There was an abundance of beautiful children and gorgeous flowers to photograph while waiting for the ceremony to start!

The bride with her mother sharing a special moment before their walk down the aisle

The ceremony was held inside the beautiful Mission San Fernando Rey de Espana. It was an amazing space and a wonderful ceremony.

After the ceremony we took a couple of portraits.

The bride and her gorgeous sisters. What a beautiful group of women!

This is one of my favorite rings shots I've taken! I can't take credit for the clever idea, it was all John, but I did have the sweet macro lens to pull it off :)

The first dance as husband and wife.

The toasts were both funny and touching. Such a wonderful way to celebrate the couples' journey together.

And after dinner the party really picked up! They had a rocking band and the dance floor was hopping all night!

Enough to wear out even the most enthusiastic of party-goers.

Congratulations Angie and Jaime. Have an amazing time on your honeymoon in Costa Rica. Thank you for letting me be a part of your special day!