June 10, 2013 12

Kelly & Dave’s Palm Springs Wedding

Sometimes two people meet each other and court in the old traditional ways. But sometimes, after knowing each other only for a couple of months… two perfectly complimentary souls put their dollars together and buy an old Plymouth Belvedere. A car that later will become the centerpiece for their old-hollywood glam meets rock ‘n’ roll wedding in gorgeous Palm Springs. This is the story of Kelly and Dave. You might remember this teacher and lawyer from their vintage-cars-themed engagement frolic.

When I first met with Kelly and Dave, they were planning their wedding at an entirely different venue. It was the wrong match for them, and I think it was ultimately kismet that it didn’t work out. Because this, the Riviera Hotel, was the perfect place to see their vision come to smashingly glamorous life. We explored the retro-meets-modern grounds, and found our way to a bride and groom so dapper and glamorous that we went just about weak in the knees.

These two megahunks gathered a seriously buoyant community together, and before them were all sorts of hitched. My favorite moment was their kiss—or rather, the aftermath thereof. SO cute. Of course, walking down the aisle like shining rays of light wasn’t half-bad. We also followed up this bit of dreaminess by gathering together their wild group of troublemakers, aka, the wedding party. You could tell they were all up to the best kind of no good.

The car. The famed Belv. So full of history, character, and quirk. The car that sealed the deal for these two. Of course it had to be the focal point of their big day!

So very, very in love. These two brought together the people and precious items that make them them. And it was just right. Dancing and love and laughter and just the right kind of celebration. Thank you, Kelly and Dave, for letting us share in all the Plymouthy goodness.

Venue: Riviera Hotel & Spa
Associate Photographer: Susan Yee
Coordinator: Wendy Dahl – Chic Productions
Officiant: Tom Stover
Hair & Makeup: Beth & Brenda – BB Artistry
Florist & Event Designer: Joey – Artisan Events
DJ: Woody Diaz
Cake & Baked Goodies: Roman – Over The Rainbow
Attire: Unique Vintage
Marquee Lights: Handmade by the groom himself!

Tags: Dapper, Glam Wedding, Palm Springs, Palm Springs wedding photographer, Plymouth Belvedere, Retro Wedding, Riviera Resort & Spa, Rock and Roll Wedding, Tattoo wedding, Vintage Car Wedding

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May 7, 2013 2

I BELIEVE IN ADVENTURE // A Pin-It-to-Win-It Photoshoot Giveaway

By Jas in News & Updates

Yes. You heard right. By tomorrow, I’ll be in Scandinavia. And I want to take silly, joyful, crazy, gentle, earnest, adventurous photographs of you while I’m there. And then, when I get back to America… I want to take some more silly, joyful, crazy, gentle, earnest, adventurous photographs. Three awesome, lucky winners will be picked—at least one in North America and one in Scandinavia. I’d like to explore together with adventurous souls. My travel dates are the defining features of the free shoots in Scandinavia, and the American shoots will be scheduled sometime between June and October (depending on our corresponding availability). Let’s frolic together, you dreamers and adventurers.

CLICK HERE FOR ALL THE DETAILS, AND GET YOUR PINNING ON!

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May 2, 2013 13

A Million Kisses // Meaghen & Nik’s Art Deco Rooftop Engagement

By Jas in Engagements, Love

Every so often, I work with a couple that makes me feel just a smidge like a peeping tom. They’re just so in love that they can’t keep their hands (and lips!) off of each other. Meet Meaghen & Nik, two LA supercuties that will be getting hitched in Santa Cruz later this year (wheeee!). They warned me that they’re not too accustomed to being in front of the camera, and then suddenly… BOOM, all over each other, snuggles for days.

It all started here, at their utterly dazzling, gorgeous, and historic art deco apartment building, in their cozy home, complete with cocktails to get us going and Darla the dog to keep me in my place!

Shooting at my clients’ homes is my favorite. Their homes are so very them, and are so full of their spirit and soul. They are spaces that tell the story of us, these homes of ours, and I always feel extra-connected to people when I get to experience them in their spaces. I also think that it can be a wonderful place to keep them feeling natural and at ease when we shoot. In this particular instance, I even got a custom cocktail made for me. That’s tough to beat! Then, these two swoonies threw The Genius of Ray Charles on the record player, and his soulful stylings set us up all sorts of right.

This building is AMAZING. It was declared a historic monument by the city of LA. Yup, it’s that grand. Mae West, Ava Gardener and Clark Gable all lived here, once upon a time. So, yes, we took so much advantage of all its nook and crannies, it’s a little ridiculous. This lobby could house a ton of apartments in and of itself. For us, it was the perfect spot for a whole lotta canoodling.

So, we changed into stripes and polkadots, as one must. This wonderfully and weirdly-accessed landing just outside their apartment knocked my socks off. So, if you’re wondering if we climbed out the bedroom window to get to it, you would be right. Darla joined us, and good, good things happened.

As if that wasn’t enough, we next trekked up to the incredible roof. But first… a pit-stop for love. I think that should be a rule in life… one must often pit-stop for love.

And finally… the roof. Overlooking Hollywood, it has some of the most heart-stopping views of the city. Not to mention a colossal historic sign that we were sure to frolic around. Even the beams and supports of the signage just killed me. This whole building? Just surreal.

These two are just so. in. love. And it’s inspiring and inspired. Troopers, they were, as they let me run WAY longer than I normally shoot for—it was just so constantly awesome, I couldn’t stop. If I thought my heart melted downstairs, it went to downright mush up here. That they allowed me to sneak into this private, playful love of theirs and capture so much sweet tenderness—so, so special. Thank you, Meaghen and Nik, for sharing so much awesomeness with me. I can’t wait for the wedding!

Tags: Art Deco, Historic Los Angeles, LA Engagement, LA Engagement Photographer, Los Angeles Engagement Photographer, Rooftop Engagement, Vintage Building

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April 29, 2013 17

Pretty in Pink // Emily’s Dreamy Senior Frolic

By Jas in Portraits, Seniors (High School)

It’s funny how we can be so startled when we stop and take stock of things. For example, I was driving down the highway yesterday and looking up at the hills, and suddenly thought, “Wow. I live in California!” Yeah, five years later, and it occasionally still kind of amazes me. For an Eastern Canadian, California was always pretty much the equivalent of Disneyland—an imaginary place, the happiest on earth, a place where movie stars live and music gets written about. Not actually real. So it’s a little strange (and wonderful) to realize this is just my day-to-day life.

Why am I starting this senior story this way? Well, shooting high school seniors was never really on my radar. But these things fall into your lap, and you end up having just the very best time ever. That same strange-wonderful feeling definitely overtook me while I was shooting with the rad and lovely Emily. She suggested meeting at Balboa Park for an adventure. Truth? Most photographers cringe a little when Balboa Park is requested, simply because it is so very often requested. I admittedly felt a little underenthused about the location, having shot there a bajillion times previously. Well, I stand corrected, folks. Lesson learned—you can always find something new and magical when you look for it, and when you’re with likeminded adventurous souls. With Emily, we unearthed a pretty constant stream of dazzlingly dreamy things. So here we begin.

When Emily showed up, it was like, BOOM! A total natural in front of the camera, she could easily be confused for a pro. I’m not usually heavily directive when I work with people, as I like to let people simply be themselves in their own way. So let it be known—Emily was naturally so collaboratively playful. It simply ended up feeing like a rad editorial shoot.

Emily had told me that she’d really loved the look of the Julian shoot I’d done with Susan, and I went into this shoot expecting to go a little dark and moody, but she threw me for a loop when she told me that she fell in love with all the bright pink perky trees of spring in Balboa Park. So, delightfully, I found myself in this unexpectedly dreamy place. Sometimes frolics just simply morph into awesomely surprising forms. When we found these gardens of pink, it pretty much took my breath away. I feel like I didn’t breathe the whole time we were shooting there. Moments like these? They are my Disneyland!

The best part of this all was that we just had a ridiculously good time. She may be stunning, but she’s also a barrel of laughs and silliness, and that’s my favorite fodder for turning out an awesome shoot. I was also so jazzed that she decided to bring her bestie for the shoot—we were able to take a few minutes to do a few of them together. Emily brought a few of her favorite books (love me some Holden Caulfield!), and we hung out, chatted about Coachella (which she’d be attending weeks later), and even got silly in the grass. So much fun, so much magic. Thanks, Emily, for radiating adventure and exhuberance in the best of ways.

Tags: Balboa Park, High School Senior Photography, Portraits, San Diego Senior Photographer, Senior Photo Shoot, Senior Portraits, Senior Session

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April 25, 2013 7

The San Diego Tweed Ride // A Finest Finery Cycling Adventure

By Jas in Events

So, there’s this movement. All over the world. And it’s about people on bikes. Wearing vintage duds. Looking smashing, while riding around. Yup. And for some reason, it’s crazyawesome. This is a long-overdue post (you may denote some Christmas decor in a few of these shots), but hopefully worth the wait! The Annual San Diego Tweed Ride is in its fourth year. There were vintage bikes and new bikes and penny farthings and tandems. There were tweed slacks and suit jackets and pocket watches and flat caps. We did a tour from Normal Heights through University Heights down to Balboa Park and back, and garnered a fair bit of quizzical attention. It felt like an odd slip back into time.

We congregated all together in the park to start off. There was pizza from Dang Brother (served from an actual Firetruck!), and ragtime piano playing from the snazzy greg Watson. I even stumbled across a dude flying the Canadian and Quebecois flags from his handlebars. A little taste of home!

We pitstopped in a couple of spots to congregate, celebrate, and be as silly as possible. These two cuties took a break to do the charleston. Huzzah! Scott and I should have done a little lindyhop. Next time around!

That beard could sink a thousand ships. I wouldn’t mind if he wore this outfit all the time.

There was something about flying down the street, utterly taking it over in a pack of over a hundred strong! It’s freeing, exciting, powerful. As a cyclist, I usually feel worried about the cars around me, but as part of a large group like this, I felt incredible secure, incredibly empowered. It was just a whole lot of fun. Also, this kid was the very best. Toolin’ around on the back of a rad tandem bike with her dad? I’m pretty sure she’s going to grow up to be the coolest person ever. She might already be, let’s face it. I kinda wish I’d had a chance to talk to them! Also, please take not of the several people who were riding around with their dogs on the backs of their bikes. Joy!

After we returned, the group all gathered ’round for a giant photo op. A ton of people then hung out, picnicked, listened to live piano-playing, and let me take photographs of them. It felt like a buzzing, lively day of celebrating good things like fun and silliness and joy. So, here’s a shot of me that Scotty took, demonstrating that very fun-silly-joyful combo. I admit, I feel a little wistful going through these, having moved neighborhoods in January and leaving my beloved Normal Heights behind in favor of Golden Hill. But not to fear—this is an annual affair! So, I can’t wait for next year. Hope you’ll all join me next time!

Tags: cycling, Cyclists, San Diego Tweed Ride, Tweed Ride, vintage bikes

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April 22, 2013 15

Lisa & Vince // 10 Crazy Years: An Anniversary Frolic

By Jas in Love

These two. Oh, these two. Bundles of energy does not even begin to cover it.

A couple of months ago, Lisa, a talented Flickr friend whom I’d had the pleasure of meeting up with when she finally moved to the west coast, contacted me about photographing her and her husband Vince. Their ten-year anniversary was around the corner, and she wanted to celebrate it in a special way. Swooning and honored to be asked, it turned out the timing was wrong, and so we had to shelf this.

Then, enter April 2nd, the very date of their anniversary. I discover a message left for me from [incredibly tall] Vince, wondering if I was available in two hours to surprise Lisa with a shoot. UM, YES! I had to scramble to make it work, but I couldn’t have been more on-board. Vince had scouted and planned a whole day of adventure and picnicking for his wife of ten whole years, and I was to meet them at Sunset Cliffs for this wildly last-minute, surprise shoot.

These two are such an awesomely balanced match. Vince is high-speed-high-energy-nonstop-excitement. Blink your eyes for only a second, and suddenly he’s in a tree, or down on the beach, or running circles around us. Lisa is like his sun, with a powerful gravitational pull that keeps his mighty orbit in check. She’s utterly unphased by whatever surprise he has up his sleeve, and is always game to be hoisted up or pulled here or there. They left me with such a silly, huge grin on my face constantly.

It’s a wonder to be invited into people’s lives on such a special day—a ten year anniversary celebration—a quiet, private picnic overlooking an incredible sunset. It might even trump being invited to partake in their wedding, because in this case, it was just me, and them, and an unfathomable ocean. I can’t exactly express how it makes me feel full of tenderness and spirit to be so lucky to get to be a part of something as special as this. They unabashedly shared their magic, so buzzing with electricity and potent delight. Thank you so much, you guys. May the next ten years be even more ridiculous, even more wild, even more adventurous, even more magic, than the first.