Mandy + Ryan || Wedding

It was my pleasure to photograph Mandy & Ryan's beautiful wedding at Grass Valley, CA yesterday. I can't say enough about this super sweet, down to earth couple! They are the perfect compliment to each other.

More on this wedding coming soon...I have sooo much to write about. Here are just a few teasers for the beautiful couple...

Laurel & Nezar || engagement slideshow

It is awefully smokey here in Sacramento and I have a wedding in 3 hours in Grass Valley, CA. It is Mandy & Ryan's wedding at the beautiful Kissler Ranch (I shot their engagement in May). Melanie, my photographer friend, just called to let me know that it is extremely humid in grass velley. The smoke is even stronger there. I hope the couple is coping well with the fire situation.

Before I head off to the wedding, I wanted to post Laurel & Nezar's engagement slideshow. I fell in love with Roseville downtown train tracks after the shoot. However, I doubt that I'll be able to shoot there again.

Please enjoy the slideshow and leave me some blog love!!!

Smokey valley

Nor Cal is on fire, literally!!! Smoke from the fires caused by thunderstorms have covered the already-smoggy-sky of Sacramento. Last night was bad, today it is terrible :( It's been hard to stay outdoors, but the smoke is coming inside as well. Seems like a good time to stay at home and edit the photos.

I have been so busy lately. With back to back weddings and e-sessions, I have weeks worth of editing to do; and this is just the begining. My pepper and tomato plants are also in full bloom that I have to take pictures of. There is even a big pepper(Ortega) that I'm saving for Jason. He has gone out of town. I want to show off the first pepper from our first pepper plant at our first home when he gets back ;)

Laurel + Nezar || Engagement

It was my pleasure to shoot Laurel and Nezar's engagement session today at Old Roseville. It was a beautiful afternoon and the venue was just perfect for a fun, romantic photoshoot. Laurel and Nezar are getting married in October in a winery in Placervile, CA. I am stoked that I'll get to shoot their wedding and pre-wedding Henna ceremony. Nezar's family is from Palestine and they are bringing in his middle eastern culture to their event. I was so excited when I first heard about it during our initial meeting! This brought back the memories from my own wedding. And I was so happy that I'll get to celebrate their big day as their photographer.

I have a lot of cool shots to go through. But I wanted to post a few teasers for them. Laurel & Nezar - I hope you two enjoy these images!

Comparison shopping || Through the (side)mirror

I was looking through the pictures from various trips we have taken over the years and realized that most of the pictures are taken from cars in 80-mile speed. Evidently I don't take that many pictures when I am not in a vehicle(unless it's a wedding or any other event). So anyways, I was randomly browsing and found several shots that captured beautiful views through the side mirror of a moving car. I just wanted to share a few here.

Please note "Objects in mirror are closer than they appear" :))

Sedona, AZ 2006

This one gives me motion sickness ;)
Maui, HI 2007

Highway 1, CA 2008

The first three were taken with Jason's ancient 3mp camera that is no longer in operation. The last one is straight out of my Rebel XT(poor rebel worked really hard in the past few years ...). I should also mention that I'm now a proud owner of a 5D. I tried it out last night, it is worth every penny! Can't wait to use it this weekend!

Audrey + Curtis || wedding sneak peak

Oh boy, I'm back in town and I have soooo much to post! Jason and I not only had a wonderful drive to SoCal, we had a wonderful time at Audrey and Curtis's wedding. Curtis is Jason's high school buddy. There are four of them who grew up together. These kids went into different directions after high school but nothing had stopped them from meeting up atleast once a year and spending quality times.

It was my pleasure to photograph Curtis and Audrey's beautiful wedding at the Scripps park, La Jolla. The location was stunning! This was one of the most beautiful wedding locations I have ever seen. The tiny grassy area facing the pacific ocean was perfect for an intimate wedding.

Audrey looked absolutely gorgeous on her off-white wedding gown.





It was a cold afternoon in San Diego, the wind was blowing so hard! Yet the couple held up pretty well to take some awesome pictures. Curtis and Audrey make a beautiful couple. They are super cool, talented and they know how to have fun.




It was a lot of fun for the highschool buddies to see each other again. Curtis is the second one to get married(after Jason), so I asked, who would be next?

There are many more to share from the wedding. I'll put up a slideshow soon. Until then, enjoy these... Thanks to Curtis and Audrey for allowing me to shoot their wedding. I couldn't ask for a better experience guys...

A wedding and a road-trip ...wooohooo

We are going on a road trip to southern california(San Diego to be more specific) tomorrow and I'll be shooting Curtis & Audrey's beautiful cliff wedding on Saturday. The wedding was the reason we were going down and then we decided to make a mini vacation out of it. The plan is to take highway 1 all the way from Monterey. I AM EXCITED!!!!!! It is hot in Sac, I'm happy to be able to get out of here for a few days.

I'll be out of town from tomorrow through Monday. Stay tuned for the SoCal wedding update ....

Emily + Sage || Engagement

Today we went by the Sacramento river to shoot Sage and Emily's engagement session. I can already tell that Emily is going to be a gorgeous bride! They are getting married in late August at the McKinley Rose garden @ Sacramento. I'm so excited to be their wedding photographer.

Bodie, their puppy, came along to enjoy the shoot with them. We met up at the River Park access area and headed down to water to start the session. They really like the river and come here all the time with Bodie to spend some quality time. Bodie was one happy dog; he just wanted to run out and jump into the water. He looked sooo sad when we were shooting away without him. But, we did get some cool shots of little Bodie with Emily and Sage :)

Here are some more of the beautiful couple -

This one is my fave. The light was beautiful, looks even more dramatic in black and white.

Emily and Sage are artistic people. I had a chance to get a little more creative here. I can't wait for their wedding day to come! Emily & Sage - I hope you guys enjoy these shots ...

Horton family

Some pictures from Katarina and Joe's (the Hortons) family session. I have also added a slideshow at the bottom.

Katarina || Maternity

Earlier today I headed out with Katarina and her family to a nearby park for her maternity shoot. The goal was also to have a lifestyle shoot with the Horton family to capture some happy family moments. Katarina and Joe are my neighbors(did I ever tell that I really like my neighbors??), and their little boy Nicholas is a super cutie pie! Kat is expecting her second baby in less than two months. This was my first maternity shoot ever, I had so much fun shooting!!! I hope they enjoyed as much as I did.

Here are a few quick edits for Katarina. The family portraits are soon to follow.

Little Nicholas was sad -