B+M Wedding - More Pics

Awesome soft natural lighting during my favorite time of the day to shoot.

The train.


Barb changed into a red Chinese dress for the reception.  This was the first dance.

I frequently peruse through wedding photography sites and blogs looking for some good tips and styles but I would say over half of the stuff out there is borderline crap, very expensive crap.  Personally, I think anything associated with weddings is a ripoff and that includes the pictures.  

Anyway, enough of my rant.  I must give credit to the D3 which was an absolute pleasure to work with (besides the weight).  It worked like a champ in low light and I love the colors.  I haven't shot a wedding with it before but I was very confident the pictures would turn out nice and if it didn't, I can't blame the camera.  Even though it makes my life a lot easier, I still have a lot to learn about photography.  I'll trickle more pictures soon.  

Evelyn and Kirk part 2

Some pics taken at the San Gabriel Mission (a very popular place for pictures, but a little overrated). Once again, some awesome warm sunset lighting. The D3's focus tracking system worked flawlessly when they were walking. Anyway, this is my last post from Southern California.

More Pics

This is a fun series of photos. I chose this background obviously because of the cool looking colors. It took Mike everything to TRY to be romantic. *cough* like Kris *cough* I'll trickle more photos over the next few days, so check in every day! Barb, who hates all her pics, is liking these...so far.

Preview of Barb and Mike's Engagement

Just a sneak peak at Barb and Mike's e-session. They're UCI alumni so we shot there for the first half of the evening and Balboa Island the second half. I'll have more in the next few days.

Kirk and Evelyn

Some awesome sunset lighting.

A little more processing for the cool cross-process effect.

File this one under Johnny's Favorites.

This one too.

Something a little different.

One of my best friends Kirk AKA "Beef" and his wife Evelyn got married a few months ago, so they're doing things backwards by finally taking some pictures. I took the D3 out for a spin and it did pretty awesome. All these pictures were taken locally in Alhambra. I spoted this gym for a while now and always wanted to shoot there because of the colors. This goes to show you that you don't have to go to a fancy romantic place to get some awesome pictures. It's all about lighting and angles. I am absolutely loving the colors and sharpness coming out of the D3. These have been retouched a bit but nothing like the D70s, which required some heavy processing.

I've been super busy so pictures have not been my priority. But...this is a double header...tomorrow (Sunday) is an engagement shoot with Barbara and Mike. So check back soon!

Evelyn & Randy @ Laguna Beach

Yesterday Randy and Evelyn stopped by Laguna Beach along with Ann and Phil and once again I was rueda numero cinco (haha it bugs R&E when I say that). Anyway, we took some quick pics walking down to the beach that surprisingly turned out nicely despite the sun having set. It only took us around 15 minutes to take all these pictures. I suggested if they want to take pics to wear solid colors but it was their idea to show up wearing matching bright red shirts! Just messin :D

Lynn and Donovan has nailed down a date and locaion for their wedding - Jan. 5th, 2008 in Irvine. Yours truly will be taking the pictures. To celebrate, I've posted a few shots from our shoot in Laguna Beach a while back.

A subtle update to the blog - pictures now are in a bigger size, so no need to click to enlarge. The adspace has been removed on the left. This is ideal for resolutions 1024x768 and larger.

Wedding Anniversary @ UCIrvine

Kim and Seungyeon didn't let the crazy OC weather today (we almost cancelled because of the super strong winds and scattered rain) ruin their 2nd wedding anniversary photo shoot at the UCI campus (ZOT!) and Waters restaurant in Irvine. Seungyeon was absolutely glowing and I suspect that her husband Kim is the long lost brother of Hiro Nakamura from one of my favorite shows Heroes. It was a fun shoot despite the harrowing winds and me feeling a little under the weather (no pun intended). Thanks to Silas' mom Lindsay for the referral. More shots soon!

Howard and Sandy engagement

One of my best friends is having his wedding in June. They just got back from Taiwan to visit relatives and took an engagement session there (I didn't take these pics obviously, they were by Hung) - I yanked these off his photo album to share. Yours truly will be one of the groomsmen, which I've never done before.

Lynn and Donovan @ Laguna Beach

I spent the lovely day shooting my friend and fellow grad student Lynn (looks and brains!) and her boyfriend Eagles QB Donovan. This was his Christmas gift from her so no surprise I guess. We weren't the only ones with this idea since I saw a ton of other photographers out there with some serious gear. None of which matched my small ladder and Lynn's 2 phone books that she brought just in case Donovan dwarfed her. Luckily we ended up not using them. To think, she was afraid she wouldn't look good in pictures!

Martina and Steve

I met this cute engaged couple, Steve and Martina, at the Ritz. I was waiting for Susy and Kris (who missed the sunset), and I couldn't let the perfect lighting conditions go to waste - lucky for me, this photogenic pair passed by. By the time Kris and Susy arrived, the fog was rolling in so we ended up taking mostly indoor shots. I came back the next day and got most of the pics from my previous post. Happy Thanksgiving!

Kris and Susy @ Ritz Carlton Dana Point

Here are some of my favorite photos of Kris and Susy's shoot at the Ritz for Susy's 30th birthday. It was a fun two days and I've learned that I should bring a pen and paper and a towel to every shoot -- oh, and my tripod sucks. Enyoy! :)