This past Saturday, I was fortunate enough to second shoot for Joe Photo. It was such a cool experience being able to work along side such an accomplished photographer and a true rockstar to boot. He’s infamous for his sense of style and fashion and it was great to witness it first hand. It was such a beautiful day up in the hills of Pasadena and I was thrilled to shoot another wedding at the Ritz-Carleton.

Joe is one of the most recognized names in the wedding industry and I’m glad to say that I learned a bunch from him…and hopefully he’s able to use some of my shots :) He also has a blog that he updates on a daily basis with everything from his work to inspirational stories. Definitely worthy of a bookmark or an RSS subscription.

Above is his cool blog header (Click to go there)

Thanks Joe!

We spent a beautiful Sunday afternoon in Santa Barbara for Devon and Stephen’s wedding. The ceremony took place in the breathtaking Mural Room of the Santa Barbara Courthouse. With all the art on the walls, it reminded me of the Sistine Chapel, you’ll see below. The reception that followed was at Restaurant Nu just a few blocks away. By the way, the food was Awesome! It was all in the middle of downtown, so the scenery was very cool. Thanks to Olivia Guerra, who was so cool to work with and did a great job of making everything just right. Besides being such brilliant people (lawyer and doctor), Devon and Stephen are just so super nice and down to earth. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for them…Congratulations to you both!

The beautiful Santa Barbara Courthouse.

Devon, looking quite radiant! Is it just me or do I see Julia Roberts?!

Time to go in.

Stephen, hanging with the boys.

Devon, waiting with her dad.

The beautiful Mural Room!

Time to say the Vows.

We took a bunch of shots by this awesome tree right outside. The light there was fabulous, too!

Devon, with the girls.

Some veil action!

The new couple.

Gimme a kiss!

We met up with Jasmine and Nick last Friday in Newport Beach for their engagment photos. It was cold and overcast but the light was beautiful. I was a little worried when we got to the beach because the sun was disappearing pretty quickly but the light coming through the dark clouds was just awesome. We had a fun time walking around the main street of Balboa Island, which is a cool small area, and worked our way down to the water. Their wedding is coming up so fast, next month, it will be at the Tustin Ranch Golf Club. Beautiful and so close to home, I love it! Some favs:

I love Vancouver! That’s what I kept on saying over and over during our trip. Of course, I’m one of those people who wants to move to every place that I vacation in, so take that with a grain of salt. But, it is a spectacular city that is beautiful, green, clean, modern, friendly and diverse. It’s not that big of a city, so getting around was pretty easy. We took a combination of public buses, taxis and did lots and lots of walking. Aesthetically, I compared it to a jumbo sized downtown San Diego. I was just in love with all the residential buildings in the city. Scattered around the city, there was an awesome variety of super tall apartments, cool medium sized lofts and really nice 2 and 3-story condo units. Overall, it’s one of those cities that does a good job of mixing in the new with the old. I still felt the history of the city with the beautiful old structures, while the new buildings do a great job of freshening up the landscape.

We also did something that was new for me. We were able to squeeze in some paintball action on Friday afternoon and it was a blast! I was a little hesitant at first because I’m a big chicken and I’m kinda scared of guns, but I’m glad we did. My adrenaline was pumping and it was so much fun. I wish I had my camera at the time, because the paintball course was right out of a video game. It was a crazy sight! I found this album of field photos on Webshots.

Having a large Chinese community, Vancouver is also known for their awesome Chinese food. So, we just had to eat Chinese food a few times, and it was pretty good. Most everything was on the same level as the good stuff in LA, but I did have the best Peking Duck and Spare ribs that I can recall. One thing that I do love about Vancouver is how everyone really is super friendly and very open to diversity, something that I always appreciate.

Here’s some photos that were taken while going out and about.

We were stranded for a little bit when we had to transfer buses from the airport. Looking kinda homeless, we decided to walk the last few blocks!

Did some sightseeing. This is on the way down to the Gastown district, the cool retro part of town.

This was the evening view outside our room.

This was Robson street, where we lived like kings for four days!

I had some fun with my wide angle. I pretty much shot at 17mm the whole time. Makes me want to get the 14mm.

More wide angle fun.

The next few are just some fun patterns that I spotted walking around Gastown and Chinatown.

I’m off to Vancouver for a mini getaway trip with the boys. We’ll be staying up there until Sunday and I’m excited to see the city and do a few outdoorsy stuff. I think we have some paintball in the plans but I know it’s raining on Saturday and maybe Sunday, so I hope it’s not too bad. I’ve only been there passing through when we went to Whistler a few years back so I’m looking forward to seeing more of it.

Some of you are probably thinking, why Vancouver? Well, we wanted to leave the country but not go too far. And since we did Mexico last year, we figure let’s head North! And doing a city type vacation would be a new thing, so why not. But after doing more research on Vancouver and BC, it seems like an awesome place. So, stay tuned for a few touring posts.

If anyone needs to get a hold of me, I’ll have my phone, but will only check emails at night. Tey will be available for any questions or concerns. Thanks Bub!