Anna + Bill: Wedding in Calistoga at the private Black Swan Lake

Oh. My. God. You should have seen Anna and Bill's wedding - it was absolutely stunning! I went up to Northern CA with Lisa of Lisa Leigh Photography to be the second shooter at one of the most beautiful weddings I have ever seen. This is the stuff for magazines. As I've said before, I try to take advantage of as many shooting opportunities as possible and I'm glad I went along with Lisa for this one.

First of all, all eight (yes, eight) bridesmaids were beautiful. They wore flowy Vera Wang dresses in a light celadon (minty-green) with a bubble hem tied at the waist with a black velvet sash. The bride wore a strapless off-white gown with a similar hem and small buttons that went up the back. She looked dazzling to say the least. Here are just a few of the "getting ready" shots. In the midst of photographing the BM gowns, I found her maid of honor, also named Lindsay, sitting in the bathtub of the hotel, finalizing her speech. Classic!

Lisa stayed with the women while I went off to see what the men were up to. What a surprise, they were sitting on the porch of the barn near the wedding site, drinking beers and goofing off. They were a hilarious (and handsome!) group and let me order them around. Those bowties look sharp on them but you can bet they weren't tied any longer than they had to be. I had a really good time with the fellas, but the day – and drinks - had only just begun.

The ceremony site at Black Swan Lake was set up beautifully. It was next to the lake (and yes, there was a black swan there) and the actual service was under a big willow tree with roses tied to some of the branches. The bride arrived via vintage Thunderbird driven by her father and walked down a rose petal path to meet her groom. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the sun was out and shining but there were white umbrellas provided to keep the guests cool. Anna was grinning the entire time.

The lovely setting didn't end at the ceremony. Afterwards, guests walked through grapevines to lush gardens overlooking the winery's fields. Guests were treated to exotic looking passed hors d’œuvres and wine before moving up to the dining and entertainment area. There were white paper lanterns hung by the cake and upper drink station. There were two outdoor seating areas by the pool, that allowed guests to rest and check out the gardens as they became golden with the sunset. I don't think I can say "stunning" or "beautiful" enough to describe this venue. The entire wedding party looked on as Anna danced with her father by the pool.

But you'd better believe the night went on late into the night. The crowd was slow to start shaking it on the dancefloor, but when they did… Well… Check out the pictures and tell me what you think. The wine flowed freely and the shoes came off as everyone got out there to the great band. I think Anna's mom stole the whole show – she was out there in red and just shaking it like none other! There was stiff competition by some of the groomsmen who offered up some fancy footwork and even some breakdancing.

Anna was pretty demure the whole night. That is, until the girls got on stage for her sorority's singing of Sweet Caroline. They were fabulous and had such a great time. The guests were crowded around the stage like groupies as the girls sang. Don't worry, Bill and Anna made sure to get a few dances in too.

The night ended with a splash. With Lisa's help, Bill's work buddies gathered near the pool for a group picture. They are a devious group and ganged up to give him the heave ho into the pool. He was a really good sport and laughed it off, making sure his beer stayed out of the water the whole time. Come on, how could you have that pool plus a crazy fun group and an easygoing guy like Bill and not expect the groom to get dunked?

It was a great day and I simply couldn't wait to get back home to look through the 2500+ pictures I took. Working with Lisa was a blast. She was a ton of fun and oh-so-professional. Well, kinda…

The Magic of Photoshop

Everyone knows that models in advertisements and magazines have gone through hours of makeup, preparation, and photoshop to look as good as they do. But do you have any idea exactly how much change there really is? Dove (the soap brand) has come out with their Campaign for Real Beauty and feature a remarkable short film that shows the transformation from normal woman to billboard beauty with the aid of hairdressers, makeup artists, and photoshop whizzes. It's a smart and somewhat sad commentary on our distorted perception of beauty. What you see in magazines simply isn't real yet that is what we keep striving for. That's why we buy all of those products. Do you really think Eva Longoria looks the way she does because she uses L'Oreal?

Every now and then I get people telling me that they really don't need or want anything done to their images. They say that they don't want the extra photoshop work that I do to all of my images. I think this stigma comes from incredibly overprocessed images in which people look fake and plastic-y. Here is a very extreme example of how far you can go with this powerful tool. In photoshop it's all about knowing when to stop and how to tweak an image so that it doesn't look different, it looks better (especially where kids are concerned).

Take this little girl for example. The image on the top is what came out of my camera. It's well framed and it's a very sweet expression on her face but the picture doesn't really draw you in. The second image is what I would show her mom. Her expression hasn't changed but the picture pops out more. To let you in on what I did, I increased the contrast so it didn't look so flat and lightened it up a bit.



I never release an image that I haven't looked over and tweaked to my liking. Sometimes I just lighten the whole image. Sometimes I edit small pieces of a picture by removing pimples or stray hairs. They are just small things that might draw your eye away from what is really important - the person in the picture! Point is, there's a very fine line between using photoshop to enhance and using photoshop to change. Unless requested otherwise, my images are minimally enhanced so I don't create beauty, I just bring out what was already there.

Stars 2007 Dinner & Live Auction in Calistoga, CA

I spent yesterday in beautiful Calistoga, CA at Peter Michael Winery for Stars 2007, a dinner and live auction for the Sir Peter and Lady Michael Foundation.
This foundation supports science and research for prostrate cancer treatment and cures. This issue hits very close to home since I recently found out that a very dear uncle of mine has developed prostate cancer and is now undergoing surgeries and therapy. The event was beautiful and they couldn't have asked for a nicer day.

The event began at the lake on Elliot Island, a small floating island with L’Apres Midi and hors d’oeuvres on the nearby beach.

The surroundings were spectacular. The sky was a bright blue and there were trees and mountains on all sides.

We then traveled up narrow roads through the expansive vineyards to Côte Deux Mille, a little chalet overlooking Northern California and supposedly the Pacific Ocean on a very clear day.

The tables were decorated with class and guests were covered by an enormous umbrella.

The shade was a nice escape from the sun which was amazingly bright. Guests and staff were serenaded by a fabulous string quartet throughout the evening.

The staff was well choreographed and served tables in unison.

Of course the wine was freely flowing and there were smiles all around.

The main attraction for the night was dinner by the award-winning chef of French Laundry in Yountville, CA and cookbook writer, Thomas Keller. It was truly a treat to have backstage access to Keller and his kitchen. The cooks spent the evening seamlessly creating and delivering works of art, one after another, to the oohs and aahs of the guests.

I'm a dessert gal and spent (probably too) much time photographing the delicacies that came out to round out the meal. If this isn't beauty, I don't know what is...

The event closed with a live auction of fine wine, vacations, dinner at posh restaurants, and even a party for 30 at Peter Michael Winery. One of the surprise auction pieces was Thomas Keller's chef's jacket from the night.

The night ended with the giant umbrella folding to a close and exposing the absolutely breathtaking sky. It was amazingly clear and gorgeous. Clear night skies is one of those things that make me wish I lived out of the city. It was a beautiful night all around and guests were gushing as they left the event.

Moment by Moment Organization

I visited another family yesterday for Moment by Moment, an organization of professional photographers who volunteer their services to families of terminally ill children. The organization gives each family prints and a CD of the session for them to treasure their child forever. Be truly thankful for your little one and cherish every day.For more information or to donate to this incredibly worthy organization, visit MomentbyMoment.org.

This is my wish for you:
comfort on difficult days,
smiles when sadness intrudes,
rainbows to follow the clouds,
laughter to kiss your lips,
sunsets to warm your heart,
hugs when spirits sag,
beauty for your eyes to see,
friendships to brighten your being,
faith so that you can believe,
confidence for when you are in doubt,
courage to know yourself,
patience to accept the truth,
love to complete your life.

- Author Unknown

Engagement Session in Golden Gate Park

I take advantage of every photography opportunity that comes my way and every now and then I have the honor of working with Julie Cheshire (formerly Julie Berry). I knew her back when I lived in Raleigh and we both moved out to the Bay Area around the same time. She is an excellent portrait and wedding photographer.

Today we met with this absolutely cute and infectiously bubbly couple. They've been together for seven years, have been engaged for 1 year (as of tomorrow) and they'll be married in August of 2008. It's so easy to see how smitten they are with one another. We went to Golden Gate Park by the DeYoung Museum for the last few minutes of sunlight. It lit up these lovebirds.
They are a beautiful couple and I wish them all the best. Check in around this time next year to see more of them - I might be helping Julie with the wedding too. (I hope so!)

Oooh, Pretty Packaging

I've changed a few things lately. The first was changing around my website and adding a few different things. I've recently changed the way I package and present prints to my clients. They're now being shipped with all sorts of buttons and ribbons in different shades of green (of course!).And just about everything is finished off with a sticker featuring my signature star.
Here are some awesome tiny buttons that have my logo. I was so psyched about these. I think they're just the coolest thing.
This is what will be in my print packages from now on (reprints will still be packaged the normal way). The pictures are grouped by size, wrapped up, and tied with ribbon and a pin. There is also a referral packet in each with little referral cards for clients to hand out to others. There's a reward in it for everyone: a discount for those giving the card, a discount for those getting the card, and the opportunity for me to photograph more people and their pets (or pets and their people, in some cases).
You'd think I'd get tired of green after a while but it hasn't let up yet. Be on the lookout for one of these packages after your next session!