I thought to myself I have met my “dream couple” when I first met Matt and Maggie and they have told me about their plan to get married on Mount Diablo Ranch in Walnut Creek, CA. That magical place has always been a perfect spot for a perfect sunset time wedding in my mind.

In the day of the wedding I have met Maggie at the Embassy Suites Walnut Creek hotel in Walnut Creek, California just as she was finishing getting her makeup done and getting ready to get into her dress.

Maggie was radiating with joy and so calm – there was a quiet feeling that everything is going just as planned! What a blessing to get on your wedding day!

While Maggie was getting ready Matt and his groomsmen were having a good time of their own at the Diablo Ranch:

Every little corner of this venue had a simple rustic charm of a working cattle ranch:

It was time for the ceremony, the beautiful bride walked down the aisle accompanied by her father and serenaded by a vibrant mariachi band. As heartfelt vows were articulated Matt and Maggie were pronounced man and wife:

The warm August sun was going down I was lucky enough to capture a few private moments of the newlyweds right after the ceremony:

Our cowboys and cowgirls were ready to party into the night:

And our Matt and Maggie were ready to start a new beautiful chapter in their lives together…

For more adventures of Matt and Maggie on their wedding day check out this wedding slideshow.
The whole wedding gallery is available here.

It was a scorcher of a day: 105 in the shade and no shade to be seen.

Rudy stood sweating out each moment waiting for Danielle his bride to make her entrance.

Radiant, she walked slowly down the aisle with a smile to Rudy.

The ceremony was brief and beautiful.

Group pictures were taken then the party retreated to the cool shade of the reception hall and the celebration began.

I like having fun while taking pictures of people, it makes such a difference when clients are relaxed, flirty and playful. This weekend I took engagement pictures of Keela and Les the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley. And they did not disappoint…


It was a foggy day and we couldn’t see the city from up in the hills. This fact didn’t really matter, Keela and Les were still “fighting” over the observation binoculars.
        
Although we had little luck with the panoramic view Lawrence Hall of Science offers on a sunny day, we took a few very cute pictures by their waterfall.

It’s fun to visit family and friends around holidays. I was in Utah right before Thanksgiving for my sister-in-law’s wedding and had some time to hang out with my best friend Masha (Masha #2 he-he-he, I am Masha #1) and her little boy.


It was a nice warm day to take pictures and I had very cooperative models! And then Masha and I have decided to open a new line of woman’s clothing and have Masha be the model for our catalog .

I took these pictures for Chad to send out to his family for the holidays. As always I am attracted to old magical buildings with wrought iron candelabras, park benches and fall foliage.



Thanks Chad for being patient and going along with any of my ideas.

It is amazing to me how many people think they are not photogenic… if I had a penny every time someone told that to me, I would have a lot of them! While taking pictures for Nicole and Cary, they told me they would be happy they looked “good” only in one picture. Well, I am not sure how to break the new to them, but we definitely got more than one good one. Here are a few of my favorite ones:

A few weeks ago I have attended my sister-in-law’s wedding in Utah. While I took a million pictures of the couple, I also had a privilege to take family pictures for my other sister-in-law, Erica and her family.


Every time we visit them I remember the good old days of going to school in Utah and I want to move back in and live next door to them.

So a few weeks ago I went to Disneyland with friends. As always I had a lof of fun running from ride to ride, almost loosing my voice from screaming and resisting the temptation to have a churro in one hand and a huge turkey leg in the other. “The Happiest Place on Earth” can be a little rough on you body if you only have one day to spend there. By the evening time we were so exhausted that it was nice to pause and watch the fireworks. While most people were admiring prett lights and trying to figure out that “firework scene setting” on their cameras, I looked around a saw two very tired bodies…


The next day after slowly coming back to our sences we went to Hungtington Beach to catch some waves. This was my first attempt at “foam board” surfing and like many “firsts” it was pretty hard and I might have embarassed my friends.

While there I took Christmas card pictures for Luanne and Mike. I think it’s a great idea to send a card with a non-traditional setting. Who cares that our rent is as high as other’s motgage payments and it takes longer time to find parking then to actually go into a store here- we proudly represent California!

Just a few years ago I wouldn’t call myself a morning person. I loved to sleep in on Saturdays as long as I possibly can. But this last weekend I had a opportunity to take pictures of my former clients – Karen, Joe ad little Kayden. Now, this was something worth waking up early for. We have spent a crisp bright morning at Kayden’s favorite park taking a few “grown up” family pictures.

And a few just for Kayden.

I love post production – maybe it comes from working in the movie industry where no pixel is left alone until it submits to the will of the director’s vision. Since I am the director and the editor of my photography I have decided to edit of my favorite picture of Jamie.

Perhaps it’s because the Halloween is almost here or maybe it’s my reaction to all the scary movie trailers that are on TV right now, but I have starting thinking about any horror flicks that might have enjoyed – at least slightly. Many of my close friends know that I can’t watch really scary movies because I get nightmares from them. I am also not very fun to watch a scary movie with – I close my eyes in the most intense moments or hide behind a couch. I miss a “good” part of the movie and the person I am watching it with has to summarize the scenes I have missed and be asked “Is the scary part over yet?” every minute.
There are probably only one or two horror movies that I watched from the beginning to the end, and Alfred Hitchcock “Birds” was one of them. He was able to make the audience be on the edge of their seats without the help of all visual effects available now. He used clever editing, music and even set dressing to make us worried about the main characters before any of the birds were on the screen.
As I was looking at Jamie’s portrait I have imagined us on the set of a black and white movie like “Birds” shooting one of the stubble scenes. There is nothing scary on the screen yet, but the audience should wonder what Jamie is looking at. Maybe she is looking at a pretty cloud in the sky or maybe there are a few birds “peacefully” flying over her… Either way – you will probably find me hiding behind a couch.

Happy Halloween! And thank you Jamie for being such a good actress – it’s a pleasure to do work with you!