Archive for March, 2008

{ Becca & Keiji – Round Two! }

Back in December I shot an engagement session for my good friends Becca & Keiji. A couple months later Becca contacted me saying they wanted to do another shoot. Another shoot? Was the first not good enough? Were we missing shots?? As I wracked my mind for answers, she explained that they wanted this one to be a Japanese style shoot, complete with kimonos & montsukis!! How genius is that? Continuing with the Japanese theme, they decided to do the shoot in the Cal Poly Pomona Japanese garden, a garden that has special significance since (1) Keiji teaches landscape architecture at Cal Poly and (2) the garden was designed by his father (who has designed lots of other beautiful gardens all over Southern Cali). I loved the story behind the kimono Becca was wearing – it belonged to Keiji’s mother and was worn by her at her own wedding. And seriously, Becca was such a trooper in it – I’ve been stuffed into a kimono my fair share of times and let me tell you, as pretty as it is, it’s equally as painful. “Suffocating” and “rib-squishing” are also adjectives I like to use  :)

Certain parts of the garden looked just like it was fall!



We headed back to Keiji’s house after the shoot but the fun didn’t end there! Apparently an equally awesome garden surrounds the sides and back of his home. So of course we had to run around and grab some shots in there too…


 



A big thank you to Becca and Keiji for coming up with this fun idea and including me in it! And a ginormo thanks to Scott and his camera for tagging along this time too. Hopefully I can post some of his shots up here soon as well!

{ San Juan Capistrano Trash the Dress }

What’s better than one bride trashing her dress? Four brides trashing their dresses!! (plus some grooms too!)

Last Saturday I attended a group TTD session, graciously organized by Chris Austin. We gathered at the San Juan Capistrano train depot, which has lots of cool little places to shoot (including train tracks of course, which are always exciting.) Got to meet some awesome So Cal photographers and some equally awesome models who were up for whatever our crazy minds could come up with. One cool model even enthusiastically announced, “yeah, I’ll totally do whatever you guys want – climb on things, roll around in the dirt, you got it!”

One of my favorite things about the shoot was getting to see the unique styles of each couple & model. Everyone had a bit of a different mood, a different way of interacting with the camera, and it was really exciting to try and capture that in the images. In the same way, it was so cool seeing the different styles of all the photographers who were there that day, both in the midst of their work and in their finished images. It got me thinking even more about what kind of style I find myself gravitating towards and what I want to create for myself & reflect in my photos. Anyway, here are a few from the day!





 

{ On the farm. }

I am very much a city girl. I like always feeling like there’s something to do and someplace to go, even if I don’t need to do that or go there at the moment. I love visiting new places and trying new things and meeting new people. I love the color and variety that a big city offers.

But every once in awhile we all need an escape from the hustle and the bustle – from the smoggy skylines and the honking cars and the 405 (which is secretly just a really big parking lot.) Fresh air, blue skies, quiet surroundings – they recharge you and calm your mind. All the gajillion things that run through your head each day are quieted a bit and you get to focus on what is actually most important.

A couple weekends ago I accompanied Scott and his family to the farm which belonged to his grandparents, to work on some renovating projects. I first tried to help out with the curtain hemming group, but upon quickly realizing how useless I was in that area (bobbin what?), I instead joined the outdoor crew, nailing up boards and freeing nearby trees from the death-grips of dried wisteria vines (that stuff is ruthless). I also got to snap a few pics of the farm and the beautiful fields of fruit trees that were all in bloom. It was nice to spend some time in a place where so many of Scott’s childhood memories were created, and nice to get away from the busyness of LA, even if it was just for a bit!