Photo Workshops!

with the wedding season suddenly slowing down, i am bored in anticipation of no or few weddings for awhile. all i do is talk about photography (and bore most of my friends), so i thought, hey, why not talk to people who actually want to KNOW about it?

so.. introducing, photo workshops for the new DSLR user!

if you don't know your aperture from your.. um.. shutter speed, this workshop may be for you! it's geared towards the new DLSR user with little experience.

this is my first try at a workshop. i've done plenty of one-on-one tutoring, but it's never been cost effective for anyone and there's so much information that it's hard to get through it and then actually have it stick. plus, with a group, i think it'll be more dynamic and i think more questions will get raised as everyone tries things out together.

here's my plan:

i'm looking at December 8th right now, from about 1 to 4 or so. we'll start off inside, go over some basics, like giving you a tour of your camera, discussing gear in general and then going over the essentials of proper exposure. then we'll head outside and practice what we've learned.

topics to be covered:
-those mysterious buttons on your camera
-focusing and focal points
-shooting modes: aperture priority, shutter priority, that little running guy, etc.
-the definition and relationship of aperture, shutter speed and ISO
-ISO settings
-why you want to know about depth of field and how to control it

because this is my first workshop and there may be a few hiccups, i'll be starting the first one off with an introductory price of $75 per person. the group will be limited to 5.

i've already had a number of people contact me, so if you're interested, let me know soon! i'll hopefully be offering more after the New Year and holiday craziness passes.

in the meantime, happy thanksgiving everyone!

Meet Ruby!

little ruby is one month old! these are portraits of one happy baby. she's tiny, but she already has quite the funny personality. normally she doesn't take too kindly to being out of mom's arms, but once she woke up in that leaf pile she just giggled away.

Heather + Chris - Estancia Hotel and Spa

this amazing wedding was a joint jen lacey/kim seidl production, invented specially for this ocassion. i met jen via cell phone a few months ago. she was calling from the food poisoning wing of a DC hospital. she needed someone to take her wedding that day and had been given my number by the fabulous Mary Kate McKenna. ironically (coincidentally?) i was in her home base, san diego, checking the city out. i sadly couldn't help her out that day, but here i am now in san diego ready to heed the call. fortunately this time the call was a happy call, prompted by the need for help with her good friend's wedding.

in a story told by jen, she was with the future groom Chris, the night he met Heather. i don't remember jen using the word 'electric' or anything similar, but apparently there were drinks to be had that particular night and i do remember her saying the words "drunkeness", "drool" and, "that's the girl i'm going to marry".

sometimes when you know, you just know.

Woodend, you've been replaced by Estancia Hotel and Spa as my new favorite place to shoot. it was reeeally hard to take a bad shot in the place. it was just gorgeous. of course it doesn't hurt Heather and Chris are as well!

thanks to Heather, Chris and Jen for inviting me to participate in this amazing day!

i loooooved this dress. she looked amazing in it.

there were flowers EVERYWHERE

my favorite quote of the day. "I, Heather Smith, take you, Chris Frazier, to be my lawfully wedded wife."

heather, originally i was going to provide you with all of the "cake incident" photos for legal purposes, but on further review.. the only clear-cut victim here was the cake.

what can i say?

Brook and Matt - Mt. Woodson Castle, Ramona

My newest friends in San Diego, Erin and David, also shoot wedidngs (I'd link to their site if they actually had one.. ahem, Erin!). I was excited when they asked if i wanted to join shooting the wedding of some really good friends of thiers, Brook and Matt. The fact that they said the word "castle" sealed the deal. I'm so happy they invited me! It was a gorgeous day and an even more perfect night (but it's California.. I'm beginning to realize I say this alot). Brook and Matt and the whole crew were a ton of fun and I'm really happy I was included in the invent.

The super cool dynamic duo, Erin and David

Brook's dress was perhaps the greatest dress ever. It belonged to her grandmother. It was over 100 years old! The fabric was so delicate, intricate and just lovely.

i could've kept myself occupied with just the kids. there were so many and they were all edible.

chaos in the aisle. brook and matt's son wasn't too excited about his debut. but the ring bearer couldn't wait, taking all the steps in one leap. one of my favorite quotes of the day: (Brook) "I knew we sewed the rings on the pillow for a reason"

my favorite quote of the day. one of brook's little blond neices walked up to her in the middle of the vows, tugged on her dress and asked her, "What are you doing?".

Brook looked so amazing in that dress.


erin and david were sent a photo from brook's parents' wedding with the couple in a VW and a sign reading "Honk if U Can Dig It". the wedding party was enlisted to make an identical sign to recreate the photo and surprise her parents. granted, the car was a bit updated, but it was a really cool, fun idea.

"don't stop kissing 'til i say so!". it was a long exposure. there were several of them. i think their lips got sore, but they were super troopers.

Tracy and Craig - Engagement Session on Coronado

Tracy and Craig's big day will be next September '08. I got a chance to meet the lovely couple on Coronado. We hit a few grassy knolls and the beach!

As far as modeling goes, I have to say they were naturals. They didn't need any prompting to smooch or giggle. I get the feeling they do that alot anyway!

Congrats you two!

Jinhee, James and... Isaiah!

Meet jinhee, james and the soon-to-be-introduced isaiah. this is a super special couple. i'm not sure i can even tell you why. all i know is that from the second i met them, i wanted to give them both a big hug. their smiles are huge, constant and sincere and there's also this calmness and serenity that i just wouldn't expect from a couple that's to have their first child jump onto the scene at any second. and really, it could've been any second. she was actually due the day we went down to the beach to play.

i just got word that the little guy has actually arrived! he was just a few days late ("stubborn like his parents", they said, which i think is funny because stubborn is not a word i would use to describe the two most huggable people ever).

welcome isaiah, and congrats to jinhee and james- you're parents!!

Happy 4th of July!

i am so happy and so lucky to have old friends already in place in san diego. it's never easy starting over in a new city, but this time, i'm finding i don't have to. my fantabulous friend becky married since i last saw her in san francisco (and is also now pregnant!), and she and her husband moved down to encinitas. i've had a really great time catching up with her and getting to know her hubby ian.

over the 4th of july, despite being pregnant and all, becky did what she did best which was play hostess. she laid out a pretty amazing spread. i was quite partial to the guacamole and grilled vegan sausages. i met some of her oldest friends and also her family. let me just say, they all had some really cute kids.

i'm a sopranos freak. i also haven't seen the final episodes yet (c'mon netflix!!), and due to some serious evasion tactics, i've managed to miss the spoilers. amazing, right? at one point they all decided to discuss the finer points of the last episodes and i bolted away to hang with the kiddies.

(i think i'd skip the watermellon and nibble those cheeks if i could.)