One of the beautiful people I got to meet at A Lovely Workshop in France is Gina.  She’s not only beautiful, but super smart too.  She’s an engineer and a model.  Her fiance is one lucky guy!  For those who care about the technical details, the above image was shot with my Contax 645.

Her gorgeous hair piece was created by the talented Myra Callan of Twigs and Honey.  Makeup by the very awesome Lauren Napier and hair by the amazing Erin Skipley.  Styling by the fab Eden of End Design.  These few were shot with my Canon eos3.

Gina was so much fun to shoot.  The few minutes I had with her each day was always full of laughter.  I love these next few!  All shot on my Contax 645.

I love flare when I shoot digital.  Since this was an entirely fun shoot, I tried it on film… and I love it!

I’ve been having dreams of France & being back at the Chateau.  I miss the light, the people… and just being on vacation. 

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The most amazing thing about being in France was hands down the awesome people I met there.  Myra is the genius behind Twigs and Honey.  She designs and hand makes gorgeous hair pieces.  Her hair pieces are really as gorgeous and she is, inside & out.

Her beautiful makeup is done by Lauren Napier, who joined us from New York.   Myra came from Oregon.  And her perfect hair is by Erin Skipley, who came from Seattle.

Styling was done by the talented Eden of End Design.  It was cool watching her put things together from things she found around the Chateau and from things she found in town.

Thanks again to Elizabeth Messina for bringing all this talent together.

Myra, thanks for sharing your amazing hair pieces and for modeling!

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A common question I get from photographers is how do I handle all the post production when I shoot 4-5 sessions a week.  A common comment I get from non-photographers is how easy my job is to only work a few hours a day.  Recently, I did some calculations and I shoot about 14 hrs a week, on average.  The part that I didn’t realize until I hired an assistant is that between my assistant and I, we edit for at least 40 hours a week.  After you add the hours spent on email, meetings, prepping… there’s not much time left for me.  My new years resolution for this year was to seek balance.  I LOVE what I do, so it’s really easy to be a workaholic.  I need to consciously make more time for myself.  One way I’m hoping to achieve more balance is by shooting film.  It feels so good to send off my film at the end of a shoot and just wait for the surprise a few days later… resuming my life in the meantime.  It’s like Christmas each time I get my scans back.  This was the first time I shot 100% film.  I didn’t even bring my digital camera.  Since this session, I’ve shot 2 other sessions 100% film!  Oh yeah, and this is also my first time shooting with my new (to me) Contax 645.  I love how creamy it is!

Huge thanks to Alice for setting up this fun shoot at Condor’s Nest Ranch.  Condor’s Nest Ranch is such a unique and gorgeous venue for weddings!  When we left LA/OC, the weather was super sunny, but once we got into SD, it was super cloudy!  As soon as all models and photographers arrived, it was pouring.  Lucky for me, my first set of models, Natalie Brewter & Rob Burdick, were total troopers and were willing to shoot in the rain!  I wondered if my Contax was okay in the rain though…

The gorgeous styling was done by Aimee Eyre & Annaiz Rzepka.  The perfect hair & makeup was done by Clara Kim & Karla Montero.

Condor’s Nest Ranch had the cutest animals!  That little donkey above was one of our favorites, but don’t let the cuteness fool you!  He was actually one of the meanest animals on the farm.  While we were shooting, all the animals suddenly went nuts.  All the animals started to run around and scream.  We look over and this donkey was chasing the lamas, who was chasing a goat, who was chasing a horse… you get the idea.

And who can resist a red barn??  On a side note, we went into the barn and saw the cutest baby goats!!  We wanted to play with them, but mama was quite protective.

Such beautiful horses… who will try to eat your sleeves (Rob has stains to prove it).

Natalie & Rob are so awesome.  You couldn’t tell from looking at them, but they were freezing, rained on, & avoiding the horses who wanted to eat everything the wore.

One of my favorite portrait:

Our next 2 models, Matthew Lindbald and Kaylie Wilson, were also total troopers and braved the pouring rain!

Isn’t Kaylie gorgeous?

It was totally pouring by this point.  You can see how thick the clouds are!

So after all the models left and when we were getting ready to leave, of course, the sun comes out!  I really wanted to test out my Contax in different lighting situations, especially back lighting, so thanks Serena & Sarah for modeling for me.

Sarah’s makeup looks awesome, doesn’t it?  Partly done by Clara Kim.

A shot at some direct light:

Thanks for the fun day everyone!  I’ll end with this last image of them running in the rain.  It’s out of focus and I love it.

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For those who are married, you know how fast the day comes and go.  And like Jonathan did to me before our wedding, he broke down my dress’s hourly rate, which made me really want to do something with it again.  Irene and Jerome understood this well and booked a day after session/trash the dress before their wedding.  Upon their return from their honeymoon, they got all dressed up again and we spent an afternoon romping around!

It was the perfect fall afternoon here in LA.  Since photography, I notice so much more of my surroundings now, like this leaves-covered floor!

Next is one of my favorite shots!  I actually have a canvas of this hanging above my door in my office.  Every time I leave the office, I look up and laugh.

And a stream that isn’t dry!  It was actually a really cold afternoon, so we were all careful not to fall in!

Aren’t they just so sweet?  I love day-after sessions because they’re freshly newly weds.  I love those moments where they realize “you’re my wife (or husband)!  Whoa, weird to use that word.”  Weird in a totally good way of course, but I love the giddiness that usually comes after the realization.

Congrats you two!  Keep adoring each other like you do!  Keep on giggling and having fun together!

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I’m sad that my Whistler trip has come to an end.  I’m probably flying home as you read this.  To brighten my day, ready for part 2 of Jen & Jason’s awesome anniversary session?  Well if you haven’t checked out part 1 yet, go check out their stylized vintage picnic photos first and read about the making of it on Green Wedding Shoes.

I love that photo of the lonely arm chair.  Isn’t the color of the upholstery awesome? 

I have a thing for trees, especially cool symmetrical trees like above.  I’m a sucker for symmetry… and trees.  You can imagine how excited I was to have found those trees!

Jen’s dress & boots were so cute!  It’s SO important to wear something that you feel GREAT in to a shoot.  Your confidence will really shine through.

And this bouquet of blue thistle (is that what it is?) that Jen made for this part is to die for!  It’s simple, organic, and charming!

Doesn’t Jen look fabulous??  Flawless hair & makeup by Fiore Beauty.  Even if you’re going for a natural look, professional makeup will give you that perfect finish.  And one of my favorite parts of her look is that beautiful hair piece by Untamed Petals.  I love the oversized flower!  Amanda of Untamed Petals makes the most amazing hair pieces!

I’m so in love with Untamed Petal’s hair pieces!!

And I adore Jason’s outfit!  Love the vest & hat.  Their outfits coordinate perfectly!  When planning your session, you don’t want to match like twins, but you do want to coordinate your outfits to that they complement each other.

It’s really cute watching them together.  Jason is so so sweet to her.

Jen couldn’t decide what color balloon to go with, so she brought both a pink & a green.  Good thing she had 2 because after we took those last two shots with the pink balloon in part 1, it hit a tree branch and popped.  It was loud!

Then Jason busted out his guitar.  I love it when a guy plays an instrument… and girls too!  I just love hearing live music.  Makes me wish I didn’t quit piano lessons back in high school.

I really enjoyed watching them interact together.  They really adore each other so much and share so many laughs together.

And another gorgeous bouquet Jen put together!  I love how organic they look.  And another gorgeous headpiece by Untamed Petals!

That’s right, love is all you need!

I love the messages she wrote on these vinyls.

You have to stop by Green Wedding Shoes next (if you haven’t already) to read Jen’s perspective & her process of putting this all together!

So what do you think?  Love this stylized photo session?  Well, you could have your very own stylized shoot!  Jen & I will be giving away one stylized photo shoot!  Details will be announced tomorrow, so start dreaming about what you would want your shoot to look like! 

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