Wedding Documentary Photography and Videography Blog

I am so excited for Alexis and Atheer (Theo, as he goes by). They are great people and we know we will have lots of good times with them covering their special day in September. They took direction so well but really did not even need any. Almost none of these images are photoshopped very much because they have pretty darn good features if I must say so myself.

We have been shooting a lot at the bow and arrow in San Francisco since it is such a diverse place. You got grass, ocean, big clock tower, huge bow and arrow art piece, as well as the Bay Bridge!

Thanks for all the love and support everyone. Check out some pics!

Sima and Sushil recently hired us to photograph their upcoming wedding in August of this year. It was our last available slot for this summer and I am so glad they got it.
We quickly set up an engagement shoot and had a blast doing it this past weekend in San Francisco. I really liked how much Sima and Sushil love each other. They both are so comfortable just “kicking it”, and in return, that allowed me to focus more on the creative side, as opposed to the “trying to make my subjects comfortable” vibe.

We headed down to Golden Gate Park where we could simply drive around and look for excellent spots to shoot in. Whenever I saw an interesting background, beautiful back light. or ambiance I wanted to go for, we could simply pull over, get a few shots and keep on moving. This allowed us to get a wide variety of shots without wasting too much time. After the park, we headed down to Baker Beach, where got a stunning view of the Golden Gate Bridge without any fog! The wind and cold could have been a lot worse since it is still only Spring but the weather was perfect and we stayed long after every other engagement shoot had finished!

I prefer to shoot a little in the dark so I can create some back lighting effects with off camera flash, triggered by Pocket Wizards and Radio Poppers. With front soft fill flash, and a more hard and directional light in the back, we obtained a look that is pretty unique.

Below are some of our favorite photos. We hope you enjoy! BTW: Very little PhotoShop was used. We did most of our tweaks right within Lightroom 2!

Nusrat and Ash were married on Saturday March 20, 2010 in the morning at their home, the traditional place for a Muslim wedding ceremony to take place. I was scheduled to arrive for their reception, as the ceremony, is more of a religious and private event, whereas, the reception is the place where lots of photos are being taken and bride gets dressed in extravagant clothing for the party. We started at their home where the bride was still getting ready, then went outside for some quick shots, before heading down the street to a park for a couple of formal photos. From there, we headed over to Chandni Restaurant and Banquet Hall in Fremont, Ca. It was my first time shooting there, although they have multiple weddings happening there each weekend in their large space. Since we had lots of traffic on 880 due to an accident I had lots of time to get room shots, detail shots, and even have a couple of samosas.

Once the bride and groom arrive, it’s pretty much all photojournalism for the rest of the night, except for a few posed family photos. Ash paid out heavily that night to get his shoes back……..but all in all, everyone had a pleasant time!

Omi and Minal were married on August 22nd, 2008 at Palmdale Estates in Fremont and then had their wedding reception at the Fremont Marriott. Prior to the couple being announced to their 350 reception guests, we had some time to take some photos around the hotel. We went in the closed restaurant, in the lobby, out front, shot a variety of things, everywhere, and then decided to hit the workout room. We got shots of the bride and groom on the stair climbing machines, lifting wights and more! What is so great is that, this type of guerrilla wedding photography really fits the bride and groom’s personality and style. That is what being a wedding photographer is all about. You need to really get to know your clients, so they can be themselves, and only then, will you be able to truly capture their essence and create work they will appreciate forever.

So in the midst of our goofiness, we shot this clip of video on my Canon 5D Mark II. Have fun!