Sometimes when shooting outdoors with huge spaces for backdrops, you have to be a bit flexible. Priscilla & Jeff wanted their engagement photos on Crissy Field with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. Unfortunately, the bridge was so foggy that day, you could almost not even tell there was a bridge there! So… improvisation…
To Alamo Square Park we went! And the Painted Ladies and the Financial District make for a great backup background. Thank you two for being so much fun!!
GEAR USED: Canon 5DMk3, Tamrom 24-70mm f/2.8 VC, Sigma 50mm f/1.4EX, Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM. ND filter. 580EXII Speedlite. Edited in Lightroom 4.
When visiting San Francisco, photos with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background are a must, whether you’re taking photos with your own cameras, or hiring a professional. Crissy Field is a great place for such photos, as you can see below! This was taken on a very cloudy day which actually made for great natural diffused light!
GEAR USED: Canon 5DMk3, EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM. Edited in Lightroom 4.
So everyone that lives in San Francisco knows how beautiful it is at the northwestern part of the peninsula. Ocean Beach is one of those places that is quite beautiful. You have the beach itself, Seal Rock, the windmills etc… Also there is Sutro Heights Park and the Sutro Baths. This is where I had the opportunity to photograph this nice family who were coming in from different areas for a San Francisco rendezvous. Great shoot guys! [and gals!]
GEAR USED: Canon 5DMk3, EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L II USM, EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM, Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX, Canon Speedlite 580EXII. Edited in Lightroom 4.
I’ve heard that “laughter is the way to a woman’s heart” and if that’s true, then I see why Esther and Ali fit so perfectly together! Ali is hilarious (I might even say crazy, but… the good kind!) and Esther is clearly head over heels for him (not in any of these photos though, so don’t worry, they’re PG!)
Thanks you two for an awesome shoot and may you have a pleasant move to Orange County and good luck with your future (though I doubt you’ll need it!)
GEAR USED: Canon 5DMk3, EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM, Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX, Canon Speedlite 580EXII. Edited in Lightroom 4.
When a beautiful family, a gorgeous home and a bunch of picturesque locations all come together on a single photo shoot, I just know everyone will be happy with the results! Well I couldn’t be happier with the photos from the Owens family shoot!
GEAR USED: Canon 5DMk3, EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM, Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX, Canon Speedlite 580eXII. Edited in Lightroom 4.
Walnut Creek is a nice city outside of San Francisco by about thirty minutes. I really enjoyed the town as right in the center there are lots of shops and antiques and cafes etc…
I met the Clerici Family at a nice park in the center of town. It was Easter Sunday, and some other children were doing an Easter Egg hunt. These kids were so great that they were happy to play and get their photo taken instead of look for Easter Eggs!
We had a great time as you can see from the photos below. Thanks everyone!
GEAR USED: Canon 5DMk3, EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM, Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX, Canon Speedlite 580EXII. Edited in Lightroom 4.
What can make a beautiful beach with a gorgeous backdrop and perfect lighting even more spectacular? …. a beautiful couple! Jonathan and Wendy redeemed their LivingSocial voucher Monday evening on Baker Beach. Wendy is pregnant and should be giving birth sometime in the next week or two. We hope everything goes well you two! Enjoy these photos and we’ll see you again for a newborn shoot??
GEAR USED: Canon 5DMk3, EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM, Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX, Canon Speedlite 580EXII. Edited in Lightroom 4.
As a chocolate lover, when I heard about this festival where chocolatiers from around the country bring their sweet creations to one place to showcase and offer tastes of their products, I knew I had to go there! Indeed, I did, and here are my findings. As I’m not a reporter and didn’t try every single booth and write my findings down on clipboards as the judges were, please take my opinion for what it is. It’s that of a human being with a sweet tooth and a camera. Enjoy!
Here we have our first booth on the left, Amano. Very friendly staff here, as with pretty much the whole festival, and very delicious chocolate. I didn’t taste anything here that was too unique though, but again, simply delicious chocolate!
NewTree provided me with one of my favorite flavors imaginable!….. Black Currant! I was so taken by the quality of the chocolate and variety of flavors here, I bought a 10 pack of mini bars as samplers. I’m very happy with my purchase from them! You can see here there are other booths as well in this collage and even some macaroons being cut up for tasting! Mmmmm!! Very colorful!
Let’s take a break from chocolate for a second. What else would you expect to find at a chocolate festival? Wine? Of course! Coffee? (actually I didn’t see any coffee but shouldn’t it be there?) … but would you have expected to find vodka?! I sure didn’t, and I’m not big on vodka anyhow, unless it’s in a nice cocktail. It’s hard to find an inexpensive, good-tasting vodka that you can drink neat. Well I’d highly recommend VAD. Made locally here in San Francisco, it goes down real easy with minimal burn. I believe they have one or two other varieties of their vodka as well. Stylish bottle as well!
How about something else not-so-chocolatey? 21st Amendment Brewery, aptly named, showcased four or five of it’s beers here at the festival. I tried the “Back in Black” to which I was very pleased! I like that these are brewing enthusiasts who enjoy crafting unique products and packaging them in a trendy, stylish manner. This is truly beer-crafting meets graphic design!
Made primarily with natural almonds, Clarine’s Florentines provides an amazing product. Where they lack in variety, they make up with having a cookie that tastes incredibly delicious and, I’d imagine, relatively healthy compared to the average cookie. I love the packaging and the general look of this product as it definitely has that hand-crafted, friendly appeal.
Another booth that got my attention was Snake & Butterfly which had no only chocolates, but caramel as well! I tried the Bourbon Caramel and it was so amazing. I can imagine that with rum-soaked apples for a dessert!
CHUAO Chocolatier provided incredibly diverse and unique chocolates. They even had a potato chip chocolate bar, which I dared not try as I can’t imagine how that could taste. However, I tried both the Firecracker and the Coco recipes, and they were very impressive! I walked out of the there with three bars (see the above left photo), the two I just mentioned and a Honeycomb bar, which they had no more samples of but I’m sure it’s great! Their website provides much more information on their chocolates, other products, and the company in general. The two images on the right were not from CHUAO Chocolatier, but rather another nearby vendor.
Kallari had three products on display for viewing and tasting. 70% Cacao, 75%, and 85%. I tried the 75% and 85% and though they were both amazing, I preferred the 75%. I was told it was a medium roast, where the other two were not, and that definitely comes through in the flavor. I didn’t get a bar, but I am rather regretting it now. Good thing I know where I can get them, as she told me that a few of the Whole Foods in San Francisco carry them, and using the handy ”Where Can I Buy” tool on their website, I saw a place in Berkley carries them as well. You can bet I’ll be enjoying the 75% soon! The photo in the upper left was another nearby vendor.
Here we have what was easily my favorite sweets of the whole show. The Rose & Raspberry and the Espresso Sea Salt Caramel chocolates from La Chatelaine Chocolat Co. based out of Montana. No, that isn’t a typo… they are from France! Maybe that’s why they have, in my opinion, the best chocolates there! Is that even fair?! haha! I asked them if they had been to this festival before, and they said that it was their first year. I told them that I have a feeling they will win some awards! I hope they do!
Alter Eco Fair Trade brought they Quinoa chocolates to the fair and impressed me with their flavor varieties, packaging, and the general message they bring about fair trade and being eco-friendly. Bravo sirs! The photo in the upper-right was another vendor but I wanted to just mention that the majority of the vendors were using Square to process their payments. I really like Square, as I use them myself, and I like that they’re catching on and helping out small business! Check them out!
GEAR USED: Canon 7D, Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX. Edited in Lightroom 4.
So this is my great debate: Do I take all my camera gear with me everywhere I go, or just leave it all at home until I know I’ll need my gear, and then take it? Well… I’ve been doing something in between mostly. I tend to take my just my 50mm prime and DSLR around since the setup is relatively small/light (versus my other lenses) and it’s a nice medium length and good for background blur and low light. But when I stumble upon approximiately fifty parrots in a couple of beautiful trees blossoming in a park in the financial district of San Francisco, my 50mm is too “inbetween” to get the job done right. As they say though: The best camera is the one you have with me. Well that’s all I had with me. So though I would have preferred my 16-35mm for some shots showing the location of this park and tree, and my 70-200mm for close-ups of these birds, it just wasn’t in the cards today.
Below are some of my favorite photos from this cool encounter with these beautiful birds! One wide shot of two high trees was taken with my iPhone 4S, but the rest were taken with my Canon 7D & Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX, shot in RAW and edited in Lightroom 4 beta.
Below is a video as well, taken with the same equipment (please note it was an impromptu encounter with these guys and so I wasn’t set up to take proper video… the setup is heavy without supports and so the video is a bit jittery).
Parrots of Telegraph Hill (short clip)
The two above here were taken with the flash just to try and balance the light. If I’d had my REAL flashes with me, instead of this popup flash, they’d have looked so much nicer! Ugh!!!
GEAR USED: Canon 7D, Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX, iPhone 4s. Edited in Lightroom 4.