We’re heading back to April to post some photos from Tara and James’ wedding at Morgan Run. These two were a quiet and shy couple when it came to photographs but I hardly noticed because they took all my direction so well. This was also the first wedding that I shot with Miranda as my second shooter. Her passion and love of photography shows and she’s moving up in the ranks rather quickly. She just gets me. She’s a hustler and an eternal goofball so you can only imagine the amount of fun I have with her. We got to take the golf carts out for some sunset photos with this couple. It is quite possibly my favorite part of the day. I mean just look at the light! But I also loved it because I got to ride around with Miranda laughing, shooting and just generally having fun. I now know how to properly use the brake on a golf cart because of her and she now knows how to shoot from the passenger side of the cart while I go careening through the grass.    

For the time being my blog is all out of order so I’m taking you back to February of this year to Monica and Hernan’s Fallbrook wedding. I’ve been very fortunate this year to work with some really wonderful couples. I don’t take as many weddings as I used to these days because after nearly twenty years, a full day of shooting takes it’s toll physically. But here’s the thing, when I meet a couple like Monica and Hernan, I gotta go with it. I know eventually I will sound like a broken record but it means so much to me to work with couples that trust me and allow me to do my job in the way I enjoy it the most. I still get sick to my stomach before every wedding and I was especially keyed up before this one because February is an “off” month for portraits and weddings. I can only describe it as an out of body experience when I pick up my camera again after having a few weeks off. I have to push back all the thoughts of self doubt and tell myself just do one thing at a time. It’s weird how when I get a break from doing the thing I love most that all the fear kicks in but I guess that also means I really love my job and I want to do it well. So here I was freaking out on the inside and smiling on the outside. I think I pulled it off! But of course, Monica and Hernan were cool customers and made it all so easy for me. Plus I love working at a venue where I can just park my car, shoot prep, ceremony and reception without having to change location. It just means more shooting and more photos! Since I can’t seem to think of what else to tell you about this wedding other than it was awesome, I’ll just share the photos with you.    

In an effort to continue blogging and to also catch everyone up on the weddings I have shot this year, I would like to take you back to just after we arrived back home from our big trip through Spain and Santorini. I gave myself ten days to recover so I could wrap my head around photographing Matt and Kristen’s Paradise Falls wedding in Oceanside. This was another couple who I felt really understood who I am as a person and a photographer and they knew exactly how to take care of their vendors. It’s always those little moments throughout the day that reassure me I am right where I need to be and we had plenty of them back in May for this wedding. Matt and Kristen had one request and that was to have fun and keep the photos short and sweet. They wanted a ton of photos with their wedding party and then all they wanted to do was dance. And believe me, they danced! I love when couples tell me what they want because it makes my job easier. Over time my goal and vision for weddings has changed as I have learned and grown in this industry so now I tell my couples, if you don’t want the photos of this, that or the other, I don’t want to spend time taking them. Basically, if a bride tells me she’s not into prep photos, I don’t want to spend time in the day taking photos of something that the bride doesn’t even want me doing. My job is to keep my couples happy so if that means lots of wedding party pics and get straight to the dancing then that’s what I’ll do. Also I love dancing so this was a couple after my own heart. Let’s dive into the photos. Tell me what you think. I would love to hear from you!