Georgetown Wedding Photography (Carter & Jesse Georgetown, Washington DC Temple Wedding)

Okay, so maybe it would be more appropriately titled "Tuesday Night Lights" given that today is Tooosday, but we did shoot this on a Friday, so I am STICKING with my TITLE. So there. :p

I am not much one for night photography, or flash photography (especially the latter) because it is so invasive and distracting, especially during events, and really can make for some terrible images if you're doing formal portraits in the dark. In fact, when I went to WPPI I stood up in front of a crowd of over 2,000 people at Elizabeth Messina's lecture and asked what to do about a client who is getting married in winter... at 6pm... and they don't want to see each other before the ceremony. (So all of the portraits, couples, family, bridal party, everything would have to be taken in the dark.) Everyone in the room audibly gasped in horror. Elizabeth Messina, who is a world-renowned photographer who does workshops in France and shoots for people like Christina Aguilera (!!!) and Tori Spelling (???) told me I would have to talk to them and have them change it. I told her I had and she just kind of stared at me, confused. LOL She didn't have any advice about lighting or anything, she just said, "They have to change it! Talk to them again! They must change it!" And continued to look kind of horrified and then shooed me away from the platform. At least half a dozen people approached me either on my way back to my seat or after the platform class and said how sorry they were that I was going to have to go through that grizzly experience. OMG, is it really going to be that much worse than I thought?! I knew it was going to be bad but people were giving me condolences like someone died!

Anyway, a session in the dark is never ideal unless that's really your style of photography, and for me, it just isn't. For Jesse & Carter, Jess had a last minute dress disaster which involved her mom dyeing her dress with tea... and having to rush it to a dress shop and a seamstress the day before the wedding to make an entire new top for it. LOL The dress wasn't ready until after 4pm, everybody was running late and we weren't on the road to start our planned 'crack of dawn' session until well after 7pm. We hustled, but we didn't get to Georgetown until well after dark. We got lots of pictures done before that, but this was on their must-have list and as we drove there, I began to have visions of twinkly lights and flashing traffic in the background. We got there, we hustled, I laid down in the street (literally), Jesse's sister blocked my head from being run over by cars with her body and I got the following shots! Not too bad for someone who hates flash [outside of a wild reception party]!



























As a side note, we were up at 5am the next morning to make up for the lost daylight hours from this session and went back to Georgetown to reshoot so they still had good quality portraits taken here before their ceremony that morning!

Rock Creek Park Engagement Session (Mike & Sara)

Here we have the second part of Mike & Sara's engagement session which today, includes a VIDEO, YAY! You can see the first part of their session HERE.

Some things you will notice in this video, first of all, is my cheesey taste in music. Yes, I went all out. I did it. It's a mental defect; I couldn't help myself. It's one of my favorite songs, and when I was flipping stations the other night and I heard this come trickling through the stereo as we drove home from the dog park and my beagle began to howl uncontrollably in the back seat, I just totally felt inspired to make this video. I know that really, that sounds more like inspiration to sign up for obedience training, but I have learned to tune the little sucker out. And now you all get to suffer through my music choice too. AREN'T YOU EXCITED?!

::crickets::

tap, tap...
Are you still there?
When you plan your engagement session, remember that it really should be a reflection of you and your partner. For Mike & Sara, we shot the session in the area around their home, and then at Rock Creek Park where when the stars align and they both happen to be on the same continent at the same time, for more than five seconds at a time, they like to grab a paper, lounge in the grass, talk and cuddle. Which is exactly what we did! What you will also see is a beautiful piece of fabric Sara & Mike use as a blanket while they lay on the dewy ground- it rained on and off all through our session-POURED while we were in their neighborhood even. That fabric, called pagne, came all the way from West Africa from a country called Burkina Faso and is just another reflection of Sara & Mike's life: past, present and future. Consider those things as you plan your own sessions!
As I said before, Sara and Mike met in the PeaceCorps. They met in another country, far from home, on another continent even, doing something they both loved and believed in. That is a beautiful thing. In Sara's words,

" Both of us wholeheartedly believe that our Peace Corps experience was one of the best, most valuable things that we have done so far in our lives, (besides getting married, obviously :) ) and that it profoundly changed the way we see and interact with the world. We would love to encourage more people to join! "

It took them on to graduate school afterwards, and led both of them to careers in the same arena
as well. Again, a beautiful thing. A career and a life mission you can feel passionate about, and making a true difference in someone's life is amazing! For more information on volunteering or how you can help, you can head right on over HERE, or if you'd like to start your application boys and girls, you can click right HERE.

Please enjoy the video, and ponder how seriously perfect the music is when is RAINED through our session, and when Mike & Sara met in Africa and... oh, just watch the film! <3

The part towards the beginning where Mike dips her almost to the ground and it's followed up with an almost identical picture of Sara being dipped to the ground in the same spot- I was shooting on two cameras at the same time. I had my main DSLR in one hand where I was shooting my stills, and the secondary DSLR in the other where I was shooting HD video simultaneously. That's how I got that shot. ;) I am tricky.

Ravenswood Historic House Wedding Photography (Margarita & Devan)

Maryland LDS Temple Wedding Photography in Washington DC

Happy Sunday.

Washington DC Engagement Photography (Sara & Mike)

A couple weeks ago I dropped my doggie off at jail, drove two hours through some light snow to Reno, ran through a parking lot, hopped a plane, dawdled around another airport for a few hours, hopped another plane and landed in Washington DC to shoot the awesome wedding of Jesse & Carter.


While I was there, I also got to meet another set of AWESOME clients of mine, Sara & Mike, who just so happen to also live in Washington DC proper. (How did I get THREE clients in DC?!) Sara & Mike met in AFRICA working for the Peace Corps, but didn't start officially dating until a little further down the road when they ran into each other again working on graduate degrees at Columbia University in New York. They both currently work for I guess what you would call international health organizations, helping the people of Africa receive more and better health care. Prevention or treatment for Malaria, HIV, access to and education about birth control, maternity and newborn care... standard vaccinations... Anything you can think of. These guys do it. They are FRIGGIN' AWESOME. I am so proud they are my clients and told about 20 people about them since I met them and heard their story. =)


They are also MADLY, CRAZILY, ADORABLY in love with each other, which makes it all the better. I didn't have to direct them at all. I'd point at the bed-bug infested chair behind the dumpster down the back alley, they (shuddered and) hopped on, and I shot and shot and shot and shot. Grade A, First Class Clients. I am so proud! They are going to be so easy on wedding day! I can't wait to see them later this summer for their wedding out here in California!

This week is your LAST CHANCE to vote for us for KCRA's Sacramento Best Of List!! PLEASE vote for us! It just takes a second! =)