Wedding Documentary Photography and Videography Blog

Check out some of my latest photos from last week’s session with Melissa and Al. They became engaged at Natural Bridges beach and decided to have their pre wedding shoot there too! Got to love Santa Cruz on a summer night! Okay, it was windy but still nice……..

Amy and David were so stoked to be back in California. They had been living and working in Boston but now they are back in the Bay Area and are getting married August 1st at Nestldown. We are really excited for their wedding and I hope it shows in this beach session we did last week! They got wet suits on and everything. Of course, the wind was a little hectic, but we worked with it and always made sure the direction of the hair was flowing with the wind and not against it.

David is an avid photographer as well so we have lots of tech stuff to talk about while I shoot. They are in Africa right now doing a little pre wedding safari and have been sending me some links to their amazing shots on Flikr.

No joke……David says he found the sign that reads “Amy and David” and has an arrow pointing. He was driving in Iowa and saw it on the side of the road……Weird, that he is getting married to a girl named Amy and it worked so perfectly for that shot. Who says, things don’t happen for a reason?

Tech Specs: Canon 5D Mark II, 24-105 f4 Lens, and 70-200 2.8IS Lens, 580 Ex Flash, Ezy Box, Pocketwizards.

For all you techies out there, I think this is a good example of balancing fill light with ambient light. Something pretty tricky to do when you are trying to capture raw emotion in the blink of an eye and can barely see your LCD because it’s so bright, and the photos don’t even show up on your LCD because you are shooting so fast the buffer is running slow!

What an amazing wedding! I loved shooting and editing James and Lisa’s wedding documentary and highlights reel. They were so sweet, fun, and really down to earth people……Did I mention beautiful too!

I really prefer to meet the couple before I shoot their wedding because it’s so important to learn about their tastes, style, and expectations for their wedding day, but in this case, it was a last minute booking, where Lisa found me on Yelp. I did the best I could to quickly learn who the most important people were, how the day was going to play out, and what type of shooting style Lisa and James would be most comfortable with.

After about, oh, 30 hours or so of editing, I created a two hour full length documentary with titles, transitions, and music. Once that is edited, I then go through the entire edited wedding film and pull out the best shots for the highlights reel. That is really fun for me because I get to make the “eye candy” promo for my blog and website…..It also allows the couple to show friends and family a glimpse of their wedding day in just under five minutes.

So without further ado, I present to you, Lisa and Jame’s Wedding at Guglielmo Winery in Morgan Hill, Ca. The highlights version!

Meghan and Umang had a wonderful pre-party before their wedding called a Garba. The event includes some small ceremonies for the family, as well as, lots and lots of dancing! Here are few of my favorite shots!

Tech Info: Canon 5D Mark II, 24-105L, 50mm 1.4, 100mm Macro, 70-200 2.8, 580 EXII Flash with full CTO gel. Minor adjustments made in Lightroom.