This may sound strange, but when a few weeks go by without an SF visit, I start to feel separation anxiety. I begin to miss the city. I miss the different neighborhoods with the colorful Victorian houses. I miss the endless array of fabulous restaurants and bars. I miss my lovely friends. I miss busy downtown (and the huge mall, where I spend too much at H&M, we have H&M’s in LA, I don’t know why I always buy so much at the one in SF, how does that happen?)

Now I’m not about to take off to spend the rest of my days there or anything – there are always moments during SF trips when I miss LA dearly (usually when I’m trying to find parking spots because THEY DO NOT EXIST IN SAN FRANCISCO). But this city will always be a breath of fresh air and source of inspiration to me, and because of this, I adore shooting there.

Especially when frolicking around with a couple as sweet and fun and down-for-anything as Sherry and Tim. The moment when we saw the MUNI train thing we needed to take in the distance and Sherry immediately took off running for it in her heels? That’s when I knew how rad this couple was :) Did I also mention that though sunny, it was freezing that day? How could it be, when they look so good??

I particularly love this session because I feel like it captures so much of what I love about the city…

The quiet, the busy, the touristy, the hidden, the old, the new.

The Bay Bridge, the Ferry Building, a random hilly neighborhood, a pretty skyline.

It’s all good.

This is the part where I talk about the light. Because OMG THE LIGHT!! I DIE!

I love when sessions unfold like this – laidback, organic, real. All lifestyle-like, as if I just happened to accompany them on an evening stroll. And on this particular stroll, Deena & Mas brought along their too-adorable-for-words puppy for the first half, and a couple bottles of wine for the second :) They love visiting wineries together & sharing a bottle at the end of day and I’m happy that we could incorporate some al fresco wine tasting into their session!

Deena & Mas are seriously the sweetest, and I loved spending the afternoon with them!

I am so in love with Deena’s Anthropologie dress… reminds me of Japanese indigo patterns which are my fave…

I think these are some of my favorite portraits ever…

Wine!

I adore the brainstorming process for engagement sessions! A meaningful location, perhaps a prop or two, or a theme, endless outfit choices… there are so many ways to personalize a session, and I loved going through the planning period with Anita & Eric. My heart skipped a beat as I opened Anita’s emails to see phrases like “vintage time-travel theme”, “hourglass stool”, “pink dress”, and best of all, “we went wild at Home Goods” :) I would conjure up all sorts of fantastical images along the way, but I was still blown away when I arrived to see all they had put together for the session! With this kind of excitement & dedication (and love!) from the couple, how could the session be anything but fabulous? :)

Can’t wait to see them (and Uyen! one of my most favorite coordinators) again for their wedding this June!

I would really love to have this pink gate in my house. kthxbye.