Wildflowers
April 4, 2010 / Tags: Heather, Pete, Photo Outing, Wedding Photography
As more of our friends start getting married, I've been looking more closely at wedding photography. Last September I covered Carol and Murim's Wedding, but I hadn't done an engagement session yet. Meanwhile, Kathy had been browsing for photographers for our own wedding, and she found this great location for outdoor engagement photos.
The flowers are only in bloom this time of year, so they would be gone by the time Christina and Hao take their engagement photos this summer. Instead, I asked Pete and Heather to come out and model for us. Yes, they're already married, so it's not technically an engagement session. But they're very much in love, and that's what we're really trying to capture, right?
Thanks for coming out, Pete and Heather! I hope you guys enjoy the photos.
We spent Christmas Eve this year with my family, Christmas with Pete and Heather, and the day after Christmas with Kathy's family. I didn't really take pictures at the family events (too hectic), but I took a few at Christmas dinner.
Shaped bokeh! Kathy and I had read an article on how to do it a while ago, but these were the first pictures using the technique that turned out well.
Kathy took this one.
Thanks for having us over, guys! (And for letting us use your Christmas tree for our bokeh experiments!)
Pete & Heather's Wedding
November 29, 2009 / Tags: Bailey, Becky, Brad, Carlsbad, César, Erica, Heather, Jon, Kathy, Pannikin, Pete, Pi'i, Rachael, Wedding Photography, Weddings
Despite being Pete's Best Man at his wedding, with Kathy's help I was able to play unofficial photographer, too.
The day before the wedding, we had the rehearsal. Pi'i was supposed to blow the conch shell, but because it was cold, it came out sounding like someone who can't play the trombone. Everyone laughed (except Becky, apparently).
After the rehearsal was the rehearsal dinner. Our table got kind of... erm... loud. Let's just say that the red wine was really good. And I don't normally drink wine.
On the morning of big day, there was still a lot of stuff to do. But first things first — Pete needed coffee, so we went to Pannikin and got breakfast.
We also bought a few extra muffins for later. Then we went home, finished preparing things for the ceremony, and headed off to the wedding site. We didn't want to risk Pete seeing Heather before the ceremony, so we put a bag over his head ("It's for your own good, Pete") while he called to confirm that the coast was clear (i.e., Heather was safely in the bride's dressing room).
Meanwhile, Kathy had been following the girls around and got some nice getting-ready pictures of Heather.
While getting dressed myself, I took a couple pictures too. We convinced Pete to let us wear colorful socks instead of boring brown ones that would match our tuxes. And Pete gave us monogrammed cufflinks made out of old typewriter keys!
Right before leaving the dressing rooms, Pete and Heather reached out and held hands. Even though it may not look like it in the picture, they weren't able to see each other when they did this.
One last picture and we're off!
We didn't take too many pictures during the ceremony — actually, I didn't take any, since I was in the ceremony — Kathy took these. I really like this one of Brad and Pi'i coming in:
And this one of the crowd when Heather made her entrance:
After the ceremony, the groomsmen had to get our cameras for a photo. Brad, César and I are all into photography, so we had our picture taken with Heather as if we were photographing her. How meta. (The picture of us was taken on the photograper's camera, so it's not on this site.) While I had my camera anyway, I took a few photos.
Remember those extra muffins we bought at Pannikin? They came in handy; Heather was starving! (And the couple doesn't get to eat at dinner anyway, right?)
Kathy took some photos of the tables at the reception before I got there. They were really nicely decorated.
Here's the newlyweds acting oh-so-mature at dinner.
The rest of the evening consisted of the customary cake cutting, cake eating (mmm... red velvet cake...), photos, dancing, car decorating, and Pete carrying Heather over the threshold.
Needless to say, I was exhausted after the weekend marathon, but it was a lot of fun.
August Birthdays
August 29, 2009 / Tags: Amanda, Bailey, Beer, Birthday, Brad, Bryan, César, Cuban Bistro, Food, Heather, Jon, Kathy, Michael, Moles la Tía, Pete
For my birthday, Kathy arranged for a bunch of us to have dinner at Cuban Bistro in Alhambra. At first, I was thinking: Alhambra isn't really known for lively nightlife, is it? I hadn't been there in years, but I was pleasantly surprised. And the food was really good -- we need to go back soon.
They're apparently known for their mojitos, so of course we had to try them. ;-)
For Pete's birthday, we went to the Stone Brewery Beer Festival. And bonus -- Brad was in town!
Despite beer not really being my thing, I had a great time. Even Kathy had fun, and she really doesn't like beer! ;-)
For Bailey's birthday, Ambassador César took Bailey, his friend Isako, Kathy, and me to his favorite Mole restaurant in LA, Moles la Tía. And if César likes the food, it would be an exercise in redundancy for me to try and describe how good it was.
Jon's Birthday
Pete's Birthday
Bailey's Birthday
For Heather's birthday we went to K1 Speed in Carlsbad. I was racing, but Pi'ilani took some awesome pictures.
Towards the end of the race, I got a lucky break -- Heather (whom I had been trailing for ten laps) got stuck behind someone who had spun out, so I ended up taking first.
It's a puzzle!
