LOS ANGELES WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER – RUSTIN MICHAEL BLOG » Rustin Michael is a Los Angeles based wedding and portrait photographer

This past Saturday I had the pleasure of assisting my friend Dane Sanders as a second shooter for Aaron & Courtney’s amazing wedding at the Stow House in Santa Barbara. I love when I get the opportunity to second shoot, it allows me to take a different approach then I normally do on a wedding day, plus I usually get to spend a little more time with the guys than I do when I am the first shooter.

I love working with other photographers, and it is especially a treat when a leader in the industry offers the invitation. I am thankful for the challenges & encouragement Dane presented me with and I hope to become a better person and photographer based some of the things we talked about. Here are some of my favorite images from the day.

The day started off early with Dane and I arriving at Courtney’s parents house at 8:00am to capture Courtney getting ready

While Dane stuck around to capture Courtney putting on her gown, I headed over to shoot Aaron and the guys getting ready for the day.

Aaron and Courtney decided to see each other before the ceremony so Dane set up a first look. Here are some of the images I captured during the first look.

A couple quick portraits.

Dane sent me off to shoot the guys. Here are two of my favorites.

The ceremony

The exchange of rings

Just married! I am pretty sure they are glancing over at Dane in the shot.

One from the toasts

Dane and I pulled the new couple away from the reception briefly for another quick photoshoot at the train station located just in front of the Stow House. This is one of my favorite images I captured from that time.

The details

Courtney is a graphic designer. I love the color and design that she used for the programs that she created.

A little flare at the train station

The rings. Dane was shooting with the 100mm macro so I went wide to try something different. Shot with my 24mm 1.4L.

The getaway car. I love this image.

I had such a blast working with Dane. I hope he invites me to tag along again in the near future. Make sure you check out some of Dane’s amazing images on his blog. Also make sure you check out Dane’s awesome website built using Show-It Sites

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Earlier this week we got back home from our family vacation which was a 7 Night Eastern Caribbean Cruise with Disney Cruise Line. It was our fourth cruise with Disney, but our first with a child. Since we had already sailed the Eastern Caribbean 2 years ago, just before moving to Los Angeles, we took this cruise easy with no real plans or excursions. Gideon, at 11 months, still likes to get 2 naps a day so that also helped us take things easy and just relax. Keep reading below for some pictures and more details about our vacation. All of the photos were shot with my Canon 5D2 unless otherwise noted.

We usually book a category 12 guaranteed stateroom each time we cruise which has no windows or veranda. This time we were given a free upgrade to a category 9 which has a porthole window.

Victoria and Gideon at the sail-away party.

Gideon loved walking around on the top deck. The wind was so strong that it blew him over a couple of times.

They had a great play area for toddlers by the kids pool. Gideon had fun playing with the fountains that would randomly go on and off.

Pirates of the Caribbean night. After the deck party they have huge buffet. We had just finished dinner about an hour ago but still had to get a turkey leg for all of us to share. Victoria and I enjoyed a few bites but I don’t think Gideon liked it as much.

Some shots with the characters.

Victoria grabbed this shot with our Canon SD750 P&S.

Gideon really liked Stitch from Lilo & Stitch.

We rented bikes for an hours on Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay.

The Disney Magic from the beach at Castaway Cay show with our point and shoot.

I did get to go to a Martini tasting while Gideon was napping one day. Victoria went to one later in the week as I watched Gideon. We also tried a Martini flight offering 5 different tastings. So all in all I tasted 9 different Martinis while on the cruise.

Just one of the fun towel animals waiting for us each night when we came back to our stateroom for bed.

I love that the sports bar onboard has Yuengling on tap. It is really hard to come by out here in CA. I made sure to have a few pints throughout the week.

I walked around the last night of the cruise and grabbed a few shots of the ship. Here are 2 from the main lobby/atrium area on deck 3.

One from the entrance to the Walt Disney Theater on Deck 4 where they put on amazing award winning Broadway like shows.

All in all it was a great trip. Along with Castaway Cay we stopped at St. Thomas & Tortola. We just had a blast relaxing, eating way too much, enjoying some great shows, and resting. I also managed to run 16 miles while on the cruise and get some good lifting workouts in. We are so excited that Disney is bringing the Wonder, the Magic’s sister ship, out to CA in just 15 months. Starting January 2011 it the Wonder will be doing 7 night Mexican Riviera cruises. Hopefully we can do one of those with some family and friends in 2011.

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This past Saturday I headed down to San Juan Capistrano to shoot Taylor & Jacob’s wedding at Rancho Capistrano. It was beautiful day with a nice breeze that came along every so often to keep everyone cool. Rancho Capistrano many great places to shoot offering a different variety of backdrops.

I arrived right when Taylor and the girls we getting there. Since Taylor already had her hair and make-up done my day started with Taylor putting on her dress. Here are some of my favorites from the day.

Taylor getting ready.

The Ceremony

Taylor’s dad giving his daughter away

A few more from the ceremony

Just married

I caught this moment right after the ceremony before everyone came to congratulate Jacob and Taylor.

Some portraits

My favorite from the day

Jacob

Taylor

Taylor with her girls.

The reception area

Toasting the new couple

A couple from the first dance

The garter

Some details from the day.

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Last month I got together with my good friend Fawn Woodfin to shoot some headshots for an upcoming TV project.  I don’t want to reveal too much about what the project is but I can tell you it will use Fawn’s background in health and fitness to help others.  Here are some of my favorites from our shoot. 

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