It was an overcast day in November. I was sitting cross-legged on my bed in my San Francisco hotel room, laptop by my side, on the phone with the sweetest writer who was putting together an article for Professional Photographer magazine. When I hung up the phone I’m pretty sure a fervent pinching session ensued. Because seriously? Phone interview? Really? Me?

I absolutely love engagement sessions and it is an honor to be included in an article in the February issue, regarding ways to keep sessions fun and unique. I get asked from time to time regarding using props to personalize sessions – who brings them, how we decide what to use, etc. and I was excited to share a little about my experiences in this article. You can download the full story here. A very big thank you to to Rebecca Zoumberos for passing my name along initially, and to Stephanie Boozer for chatting with me, putting my rambly rambly thoughts into coherent sentences, and conveying what I meant to say so eloquently :)

Meenah & Shaobo’s wedding was my very last one of 2010, and I could not imagine a more beautiful ending to the wedding season!

I was beyond ecstatic to make my way up to nor Cal to document their day at Thomas Fogarty Winery, tucked up, up, and away in the hills of Woodside. {Have I mentioned how much I love shooting in the bay area? If you’re getting married there, do drop me a hello :)} The drive up the mountain itself was so mystical & breathtaking, and Megan & I were in utter awe – thick forests of evergreens, trees with bright yellow & red leaves, canopies that spread across the entire roadway, and just when you think it COULD NOT POSSIBLY get any more gorgeous, you see the winery. Now green vineyards are amazing, but the rows of golden vines literally took my breath away. It was my first time seeing the vines aglow in fall colors and all I could think about was shooting Meenah & Shaobo in that amazing spectacle. And that we did :)

The weather reports kept announcing a horrific 90% chance of showers, but as always always (always!) happens, the skies cleared for all the important parts of the day. As an added bonus, not one, not two, but FIVE rainbows made appearances at different points during the day, including a perfect one during the ceremony (WHAT DOES THIS MEAN??) But say, even if the weather hadn’t cleared, even if it had been pouring/snowing/hailing during every moment, the thing is you would never be able to tell with Meenah & Shaobo. They are seriously one of the sweetest couples I’ve met, full of smiles, and patience, and love. And, happily willing to trek out into muddy fields of grapes, in 50 degree weather, all for the sake of photos. My kind of couple :)

Meenah & Shaobo – thank you so much for allowing me to document this exciting time in your lives! I knew from our very first Skype meeting that it would be a complete joy & honor to work with you, and I’m so so happy the interwebs allowed us to connect! :) Wishing you so so many more years of love and happiness to come!

“No city invites the heart to come to life as San Francisco does.
Arrival in San Francisco is an experience in living.”

—

3 photographer girls. 24 hours in SF. 12 rolls of Walgreens Kodak film {developed at Costco}. Ready go.

Now there are two things I fell a bit more in love with on this trip.

The first would be film.

I’ve known that film = magic for quite some time, but I feel like this trip really reinforced how drawn I am to it. Film feels real to me. When I look at a film photo, it’s almost as if I can reach out and touch the moment, like the moment is still there, 100% as real as yesterday. As if somehow, the smells and the sounds and what I felt at that.very.second are all conveniently built in as well. It is immensely tangible in a way that I can’t even explain. And of course, the color. Blows my mind every time.

And the second is the city.

There was a period of time as a kid, where my family used to visit SF every year. Ghirardelli might have been the first chocolate brand I knew. We had cable car ornaments on our Christmas tree. At 3 years old, I would refer to any overcast day as “San Francisco weather.” And then, maybe 15 years passed without me visiting the city even once. But this job brought me back. First for an engagement session here, a wedding there. Somehow I found myself in this city a total of 6 times this year. The little apartments with their bay windows & hardwood floors, the cozy cafes, the hills, bridges, the nightlife, the FOOD… San Francisco continuously inspires me in an incredible way.

And if for some bizarro reason you do not already love this city as much as I do, perhaps these photos can change your mind…

(all shot on Kodak 400 film, with a Canon AE-1)

I believe I literally squealed when I opened the scans Alice sent to me of my photos and saw this first image below. I was so banking on receiving a set of photos that were totally white/totally black/completely blurry & ridiculous, and then I saw this, my first shot – somehow exposed, in focus, and full of insane light. EVEN PIGEONS (rats with wings!) look good on film.

Even if I conjured up in my mind the most perfect cafe in the world, it would not be as perfect as Cafe de la Presse.

A big thank you to Kevin Chin for taking us to shoot around the Embarcadero. The light against the bay bridge was incredible – I think I looked a bit like a crazy person juggling my film camera, iPhone, and digital point-and-shoot (JUSTINCASE the film didn’t come out) as I tried to capture it in every way possible.

The Ferry Building, the place where I just walk around repeatedly saying “WHY DON’T WE HAVE THIS IN LA??”:

Savory bread pudding. The world is a better place now that some genius thought this up.

And some shots from Alice & Connie’s collection…

Lomo Fisheye FTW!