We began our session by meeting in the park near the Merry-go-Round. There was beautiful light coming from over the hill. I just loved how it was hitting the trees, grass, and Nina & Rommel.

Nina and Rommel are so much fun. Without my direction Rommel kept cracking jokes making Nina laugh creating several great moments throughout the day.

After a little while we headed up the Griffith Park Observatory. Being a weekend and an extremely beautiful clear day made it hard to find angles without large crowds of people while shooting there. We did manage to find a few places that worked well.

I love the high-key look on this photo.

While on the roof of the observatory I noticed the shadows the sun was creating hitting the Observatory architecture.

I am really looking forward to Nina & Rommel’s wedding in April. They are such a fun couple and I am thankful they have chosen to me to capture their wedding day.

The image below contains 3 KISS albums, a black 12″ x 12″ leather bound, a white 10″ x 10″ leather bound, and a 8″ x 8″ linen bound album. I offer linen and leather albums in those 3 sizes.

Here is a different view showing their thickness. The black leather album contains 42 pages, the white leather album contains 46 pages, and the red linen album contains 20 pages.

As you can see in the image below the binding is a little different between a linen bound and a leather bound album. The linen bound albums don’t have a board between each print, instead the prints are just glued together back-to-back allowing the pages to flex easily when going through the album. With the leather bound album the prints are glued to the board so the book is much thicker, heavier, and more solid.

Here is another view of a linen bound album.

Both the linen and leather bound albums are offered in the same color. These are my linen swatches.

I have been really happy with the linen and leather albums made by KISS that I have in my studio and the ones I have delivered to my clients. I encourage all my clients to go with a leather bound album if it fits in their wedding photography budget. I like to offer linen bound albums as parent books and guest signature books. I also offer a linen bound wedding album with my lowest package that includes an album. Whether you chose to go with a linen or leather album, I know you will enjoy it for years to come!

Here are some of my favorite 2-page spreads from some of my amazing couples!

Justin & Melisa’s guest signature album. I designed the pages with extra space so wedding guests can leave a note to the happy couple!

A few from Ryan & Lisa’s amazing Stone Manor Malibu wedding.

A few from Brandi & Court’s amazing Vibiana wedding. Their album ended up being 58 pages!

If you want to see more you will have to come into my studio to see the samples in person.

This post is long overdue so I don’t have all the info for all the people involved like the previous years. Here are a few of the images I took during the shoot. Don’t miss the time-lapse at the bottom of this post from the 10+ hour shoot.

When I first met with Dylan and Christine and they told me their plans to hopefully shoot their engagement session on the Paramount Lot, I knew they were the perfect match for me. Dylan and Christine met while working for CBS. Although they aren’t working on the lot that often anymore they were able to use their connections to line up the shoot. Typically my engagement shoots with my couples last about 2 hours but Dylan, Christine & I were having so much fun and had a great location we ended up shooting and hanging out for 4 hours! I am very thankful for my assistant Natalie Fong for being on the ball the whole evening!

We started their session at Dylan’s house. The house is located about a block south of the main gate for Paramount Studios. Dylan and Christine are huge San Diego Chargers fans, and so is their dog Cappuccino, so we started out the day getting shots of them all enjoying some football.

After some shots indoors we headed outside for a few shots. Christine is so cool for letting Dylan wear his Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 shirt! I wish I had time to play video games still.

After a quick wardrobe change we headed over to New York Street on the Paramount Lot. Here are some of my favorites from NY Street.

We also made sure to get a few shots with the iconic Paramount water tower.

Some fun at Washington Square on NY Street.

One of the balconies on one of the buildings.

As we were heading over to the Paramount Theater we saw the offices for Bad Robot. Since we are all big JJ Abrams fans we decided to take a photo there. JJ if you are reading this I would love to come work for you one day.

Some fun by the Paramount Theater and one of the studio gates

After it got a little darker we headed back to New York Street for a few more photos. A little Film Noir for the first shot.

They were just getting some Christmas lights set up on the trees at Paramount. Here are the last few photos of the night.

Our friends Mike & Jessica joined us for a few hours at the farm.

Esther had a blast playing with the riding tractors in the play area.

Esther also enjoyed playing with the hay.

Gideon had fun exploring the pumpkin patch.

I love how Gideon smiles when I ask him to smile for the camera.

I love this photo of my family at the end of the corn maze!

The Vibiana, which opened in 1876, was the official cathedral of Los Angeles for over 100 years.  In recent years it has been converted into a beautiful event space that hosts many weddings, special events, and Hollywood parties.  You can read more about it’s history here.

I am so thankful for the talented Justin Gourley and Christian Bugay for coming out and giving me a hand at this outstanding wedding.  The day wouldn’t of gone as smoothly and been nearly as much fun without their help. 

The amazing vendors from Brandi & Court’s special day
Wedding Coordinator: Stacy Porras Weddings 
Venue: The Vibiana
Catering: Gourmet Gourmet
Rentals: Imperial Party Rentals
Florist: Blooming Flowers
Lighting: Jeff Ferrero
Cake: Sweet Art Cakes

The day started off with capturing the girls getting ready at the Vibiana.

I love this shot Christian captured while Brandi was getting her hair done.

After having a little too much fun the previous night the guys are taking it easy, before needing to get ready, by watching the hilarious “Talladega Nights”

Just before the ceremony

Brandi & her dad

I love the way Brandi is looking at Court

The rings

Just Married!!

Brandi looked stunning

Court managed to crack a smile after asking if he was all partied out from the previous night.

Just a quick traditional portrait in the middle of doing group shots.

Court and his guys

Brandi and her girls.

This wedding party shot is ready to go in the album.

A few more of Brandi & Court.

I love this moment Christian captured.

The next few are from the end of the night.

Brandi & Court making their entrance into the reception

A couple from the first dance.

Brandi’s dad talking about when Court came into his office to ask for his daughters hand in marriage.

I love this moment captured by Christian during the Best Man toast.

Christian also captured this great shot during the father/daughter dance.

A wedding is not complete without belly dancers. Here are just 2 of my favs.

The party was rocking!

Just a few of the vibrant colors we saw throughout the night. Thanks to Justin for capturing these.

The details

Justin ran around capturing some detail shots while I was shooting Brandi & Court.

One captured by Christian.

A few important details

Paula getting ready

The ceremony space at Lawry’s is gorgeous!

Nearly all ready for a great lunch at Lawry’s

Joe & Paula making their entrance for the first reception of the day.

A toast by the best man

After a 5 hour break it was time for the second part of Joe & Paula’s wedding day. We met about 1.5 hours before they were scheduled to make their entrance into their reception at The Standard in Downtown LA.

Just before we headed out to Union Station for a wedding day photo shoot with Joe & Paula a future bride and her girls had to congratulate Paula.

Paula wanted to have her ceremony at Union Station but it didn’t work out. I am glad Union Station is mostly photo-friendly so we could still get some amazing shots of her and Joe there. We started outside and used the sun before it went behind the buildings.

After sweet talking the head of security for the area we were able to get into a space Union Station reserves for special events. Here are some of my favorites along with some portraits of Joe & Paula.

A few last ones in the lobby before heading to the reception

Joe & Paula making their entrance

A couple of my favorites from the first dance.

The party was rocking!

Just a few of the yummy treats from Joe & Paula’s wedding day!

Shown from left to right are the 15mm 2.8 Fisheye and the 100mm 2.8 Macro.

I refer to these lenses as my specialty lenses since they have limited uses and give specific looks. Both lenses offer some great advantages compared to everything else in my bag, that is the reason I use them at every wedding for specific shots. Keep reading below for a few notes about each lens and a few favorite images I took with it.

Canon EF 15mm 2.8 Fisheye If you are looking for a fun lens, a fisheye is one of the best! Due to the shape of the glass in this lens you get a huge amount of distortion which can be fun, but it isn’t flattering if used improperly.  My Canon 15mm Fisheye gives me a 180 degree field of view and allows me to focus as close as 8 inches.  With this huge field of view you really need  watch your edges to make sure your foot or other body part is entering the frame.  I mostly use my fisheye lenses for overviews of a wedding ceremony and for capturing fun images during the reception.  Every once in a while it comes in handy when shooting a fun group shot.  Check out the images below for a few examples. 

Canon EF 100mm 2.8 Macro  I mainly use my macro lens at every wedding for ring shots and occasionally getting ready shots. This lens allows me to focus as close as 12 inches (film plane to subject) so I can capture the smallest details on a wedding day. When shooting details at the minimum focus distance, the depth of field is very shallow a 2.8 so I often bump it up to 5.6 or 8 which requires more light.  Because if this, I always try to get details done early in the day using natural window light, if that isn’t possible bouncing a flash works well.   Here are a few examples of images shot with my Canon 100mm macro.

Recently “Absentia” has been picked up for North American distribution by Phase 4 Films and International distribution by Moving Pictures Film and Television.  Starting this Friday, July 1st,  “Absentia” will be available through Video On Demand on Comcast, Cablevision, Cox, & Insight in your home!  Later in 2011, or early 2012, you will be able to see “Absentia” by picking up a copy of the DVD at your local Wal-Mart, catching it on iTunes, Netflix, and many other services!  Below is the art that you should be looking for if you are trying to catch it through On Demand.