This is Darlene and her posse getting ready for the wedding last Saturday.

Looking good Darlene!

All the bridesmaids were on time, the weather was warm and perfect and all we had left to do was get to the ceremony! :)

Darlene's two boys from a pervious relationship. How awesome are their outfits and i'm sure the girls love her son's Justin Bieber hairdo on the right. . .

John and the boys. Cinnabar Hills was a great venue tucked away in the hills of the South Bay.

www.cinnabarhills.com

Beautiful, reminds me a little of Clos LaChance.

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We hijacked a golf cart and had our way with it. Although we didnt know how to put it in reverse. . .

Someday I'll be retired and get to actually play golf at all of these courses I photograph. This is my dream.

Hey, I havent turned an image sepia tone in a while. Looks great with this image though.

Congratulations Darlene and John!

Heather and Tim are East Coast transplants that are getting married in Washington in September but wanted engagement pictures that captured some San Francisco flavor.

They looked ready for cocktail hour and it toally worked for our downtwon session.

nice legs Heather. geez, huh?

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This is a new hillside public backyard area I found near the North Beach Area, it's a beautiful place right now with flowers blooming and the Bay Bridge in the background. . .

Heather found me by doing an S.F. photographer search on Yelp and I'm so glad they found me. I love how in the same session we can have a super sunny and beautiful downtown day but then a foggy and cool beach shoot.

I love this moment, I think it not only shows that we were having a good time but that they were also getting into the posing and enjoying the process.

o.k. o.k. you're a cute couple and good looking, we get it. . . :)

Congratulations Heather and Tim!

"Thank you so much. We watched it at least a dozen times last night and posted the link on FB right away. Needless to say we are more than happy with how they came out, thanks again. You really do fantastic work.

I mailed a check out to you this morning for the negatives. We are definitely interested in ordering some items, we just need to sit down and take a close look at the pictures to figure out which ones.

We'll be in touch soon. Thanks again for everything.

PS we'll be posting a raving Yelp review for you today :)

Heather"

Tiffani and Alan got married last Friday at Wedgewood Wedding and Banquet in Oakland.

Here's Alan getting some liquid courage with his boys. :)

No sweat, right Alan?

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You cannot beat that smile on Tiffani's face. I can just feel the love!

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The father/daughter dance got all the bridesmaids weepy, and I thought it was super cute. . .

Four wheelin with the borrowed golf cart.

Congratulations Tiffani and Alan!

And extra bonus, they just found out they are pregnant as well. Good luck guys!

I met Saje and Raj downtown last Thursday to do an engagement session.

What a stylish and good looking couple. Saje and Raj were a lot of fun to work with, I think they loved getting their pictures taken! :)

This is the second floor of the Ferry Building, never shot here before but captured some great moments.

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I should pay Bix a royalty for shooting in heir doorway. :) I love the shot though. . .

oooooh, clothing change. I thought the sari looked great. Nice pose girl!

nice.

Is it getting a little warm? Great job Saje and Raj!

Candice is a super cutie and on her wedding day I was not suprized at all how beautiful she looked. And happy! :)

Getting to the church on time!

Ryan trying to act cool like everything is normal. :)

His friends make fun of his dimples but I know that is one reason why Candice loves him, huh?

All Saints Church is beautiful on the inside. I havent had to bring out my tripod in awhile, but it allowed to me to catch some great architectural imagery.

I thought it was cute how they hugged after their first kiss. There was something so happy and relieved about that moment.

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This is my money shot when at a nice church. I love Candice and Ryan's height difference and how nice it looks in a silhouette when they kiss. Nice colors too. . .

Congratulations Candice and Ryan!

"Hi James!

Thanks so much for getting the photos back to us so soon! We are having a blast looking through them.

Thank you!

Candice"

This is Megan getting ready at her home before heading out for Golden Gate Park.

Megan and Andrew love the outdoors and decided that this grove would be the perfect setting for their wedding. With the chairs and harpist under a forest canopy, it made for a very nice location.

A successful bubble recessional! :)

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After making her hike through the dunes at Ocean Beach, Megan decided she was done with walking and trying to put on her shoes, so Andrew took care of the situation. Here there are cars honking at us at the corner of Lincoln Ave. and the Great Highway.

Maybe they are embellishing a little, but it was chilly and the bridal party were real troopers. :)

The Firehouse is literally an old cute firehouse that you can rent out for events at the back of Fort Mason. Megan and Andrew decided to host a wine and food pairing reception. There were 7 diffrerent stations with food paired with wine; it was a neat idea and really good food!

Catered by Small Potatoes Catering: http://tinyspuds.com/

Congratulations Megan and Andrew!!!

Heather and Robert had a beautiful wedding at Mountain Terrace in Woodside CA on Sunday June13th.

This was another example of a wedding where it was planned basically from out of state and I did not get the chance to meet the bride and groom until the day of the wedding. Heather and Bob turned out to be super nice and a great couple, with friends and family to match. Cute nieces and nephews too. :)

Click here for Heather and Robert's wedding slideshow

Click here to view all 500 images from this wedding

This image in particular is one of my favorites of Heather and Robert from the wedding. Really cute but elegant and a nice moment. . .

It was a wonderful event and such a pleasure to capture. Congratulations Heather and Robert!

This is Clare, you may remember my awesome pumpkin patch kid shot, well she was that baby, and now she is a super cute little lady. :)

Melissa and Marshall got married at the Lodge at Pebble Beach and wanted to do family portraits at Stillwater Cove as well. We had the goal of getting some cute sand castle shots, so for the first 20 minutes we basically played in the sand. :)

Click here to view Clare and Drake's slideshow

Clare apparantly is very comfortable with the camera and showed off her tutu and ballet skills for us.

The U.S. Open is happening this week and you could feel the hustle in the air around us as people prepared for the golf tournament.

Drake's golfer outfit was a perfect and appropriate clothing choice. It's definitely the hat.

Brother and sister.

Nice. Thanks Melissa and Marshall. I love capturing all the chapters of your family's life!

This is Candice and Ryan. They hired me for their July 3rd wedding three weeks ago. :)

and that means their wedding is in 2 weeks. . .

We had to get their engagement session done stat!

We met up on a Wednesday evening and were blessed with wonderful weather.

Click here to view the slideshow

We'll see more of Candice and Ryan real soon!

Anita and Scott planned their Sonoma wedding from New Jersey so I did not meet them until the big day. They turned out to be great people (all my clients are great!) :)

There's Scott rockin the kilt with his groomsmen.

They also had a bagpiper playing for their processional and at the reception. Kinda fun. . .

A beautiful day in Sonoma with a nice intimate grouping of your family and best friends. This was a destination wedding for everyone and so there was an extra sense of celebration and enjoyment of the California weather.

This shot isn't something I need to do with every bridal party, but I do know this: when a bridal party is down to do it, they are fun. :)

It was my first time shooting at Gloria Ferrer and it was a great venue. Beautiful location and views, nice and helpful staff, and yummy wine.

Cute.

Nice.

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Congratualtions Anita and Scott!

Here's a nice note from Anita I just received:

"Hi James!

You are my new favorite person! You are so awesome! And you really are the best! I couldn't have dreamed of better pictures (aside from being prettier people)! You are truly a talented individual. I will forward these links to all the guests at the wedding.

I have seen the work that their "preferred" vendors do and you far exceed their talents. I can speak to GF for you if you like. Let me know. Forwarding some of the pics to Park Ave Catering I think would also be a good idea as they do MANY catering events in the area. I can speak to them as well, or I can send you their info. Of course, this is just my way of trying to do something for you as you have been truly awesome. I don't want to push on this, so please let me know if you'd rather I not say anything.

Again, thank you soo very much.

Best Regards,

Anita"

April and Matt are going to get married in Albuquerque New Mexico in May 2011. They flew me out to take their engagement pictures last weekend and it was a great time.

The weather was perfect if not a little windy, but it was the first time I ever went to Old Town, and it was cuter than I could have imagined.

She's training to be a cosmetologist and Matt works for FedEx. Great couple, and we had so much fun going around their city. . .

Everything was super cute and authentic. This church doorway was one of my favorite spots. What a neat moment.

Or wait, maybe this was my favorite spot. . . :)

After they sat down I realized that a great angle would be from the second floor capturing the whole scene. All the running around pays off sometimes.

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Yes, keep the fountain in focus and the couple in the background. I love it. So much inspiration in the town square, and so fun to shoot in a new location.

Really, a mariachi band just randomly playing? really.

Well I could not have asked for more and I am really excited to go back to New Mexico next year for their wedding. Thanks April and Matt for trusting this San Francisco wedding photographer with your images! See you soon!

Betsy and Tim Brown found me through Yelp.com. They recently had a beautiful baby girl and wanted pictures for their home and for a baby announcement.

Introducing Linden Victoria! What a cutie.

It takes a lot of patience and milk breaks etc. to get such a young baby to get in the right mood, get the parent's relaxed, and get a picture like this. . .

I especially like the mood that the lighting gives off in this one. I think black and white is totally appropriate for this moment.

Mom and Dad almost got into a fight over this tutu (is that how you spell it?). Apparently Besty's mother in Texas sent it to them and Tim thought it was too cheesy, but Besty thought it was cute, and neither of them wanted to budge. I had to play the moderator in this situation and bring the two parties to a consensus. :)

Leave the lettering in pink and turn the rest into black and white. Super-cute, no?

Parent's typically do not necessarily want me to take these shots, but I love 'em.

Some of my favorite personal pictures from childhood are ones where I have tears coming down my face while sticking my tongue out because my mom is making me practice piano etc. Come on, those are some honest moments, and super fun leter.

I recently had a father write out the check for a maternity session with the subject line reading "paternity session". And you know, that got me thinking. Dad's are definitely left a little out of the picture and we tend to focus on the relationship of the mother to child. I particularly like then to get these types of moments between a father and his baby. Nice and tender. Good job Tim!

This is my favorite of the three of them. Will make for a great portrait.

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Erica and Brooks will be getting married in July at St. Joseph's Church in San Jose and then their reception will be at the Sainte Claire Hotel. We had a great time a couple of weekends ago running around San Francisco shooting their engagement session.

I love this alleyway on Gold St. where Bix restaurant is located. What a cute moment to capture.

Sending a shot out to Vince Tarry who shared this location with me 10 years ago. Have I been doing this that long? My back is starting to hurt just thinking about it! :)

We did not plan on getting cable car shots, but on the way to the beach from downtown we passed the Hyde/Powell line and I couldent resist. We illegally parked, put on the blinkers, and captured some awesome spur-of-the-moment imagery.

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I love these shots and I may do them for the rest of my life even if people get tired of them. :)

The reflection in the water, the bridge in the background, and a couple in love.

We were blessed with an exceptionally beautiful sunset and made the most of it.

I look forward to your wedding Erica and Brooks. Good job!

I love love when past brides and grooms call me up for pregnancy pictures. Especially when it's good people like Leea and David!

David is a police officer for Palo Alto and Leea I believe is the director at a preschool. Now that's giving back to the community, and I am all for giving back. Look at David's smile, that is worth a million dollars. I can tell he is super excited and proud to be a soon-to-be father.

It's going to be a boy and he's going to be loved.

David already is coaching little league and can't wait to have his own little ball player. :)

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Something must be in the water, cause I have had a rash of maternity session requests. This is Katie and Vince Martucci. They found me through my good clients Megan and Joshua, for whom I also just did a maternity session for.

Cool facts about this couple:

Katie creates jewelry and clothing for her own design company, Kat Martucci Designs.

www.katmartucci.etsy.com

and Vince is the assistant winemaker of his family's winery, Arger-Martucci.

www.arger-martucci.com

Katie and Vince just found out that they will have their child a month early, which mean literally by next week their family will have officially added a new member. Good luck guys!

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There were no raindrops last Saturday at Garre Winery in Livermore Valley.

Miriam and Danny got married, the weather was perfect, and the wedding was beautiful.

I met Miriam and Danny last year at their friend's Betsy and Glenn's wedding. After seeing the work I did for them they had to have me. :)

It just adds to my pleasure of working with people when I get to see and capture groups of friends. It also allows me to build rapport with the bridal party and families which makes everything that much easier.

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Capturing special moment like these is always a high priority for me. You have to be in the right place at the right time and be able to anticipate what will happen. It's feels second nature to me especially with the amount of weddings I have covered.

My business cards have an image similar to this one and while shooting Miriam mentioned wanting to recreate it. Anything for my brides! Miriam and Danny did so good, Congratulations you two!

It was raining last Sunday at Garre Winery in Livermore, but that did not stop Ginger and Rodel from having a beautiful wedding day.

I dont have a foot fetish, I just think feet can be sexy.

(Wait a minute. . . )

Rodel and his boys.

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Fun! I especially like the bridesmaid to Ginger's right.

The girl's heels were definitely making holes in the grass, but they were all troopers about it.

Even though the ceremony had to be inside because of the weather, afterwards we were able to take advantage of the pretty landscaping and outside ceremony area. I especially liked the Wisteria.

The sun came out for these two, and I know why. . .

True Love. I'm a fan.

There's the shot. Congratulations Ginger and Rodel!

"Hi James!

First of all, Ginger and I want to thank you for doing such a good job taking pictures of everyone on our wedding. People seem to be at ease with the picture taking. They had fun! We're getting good feedback from people about the pictures, about you. . . everything! Thank you!

Ginger and Rodel"

For your viewing pleasure: images thatcapure my love for California, the Hawaiian Islands, New Mexico, nature, and beauty in general. I hope you enjoy.

ART SLIDESHOW LINK

It feels great and I get so excited when my past brides call me up to tell me they are pregnant. I shot Megan and Joshua's Clos LaChance wedding back in October 2005. They hired me just when I was starting out on my own and I love them for taking a chance on an up and coming photographer.

They live in Napa now and they had the idea of capturing the blooming mustard at this time of year. So we jumped some fences and borrowed some private vinyards for our shoot. :)

I am now offer some really neat and new frameless wall art ideas. This is an example of thin wrap ready-to-hang prints. Super cute. . .

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE SLIDESHOW FROM THIS SESSION

We plan on shooting their new baby in a few months time so we will see more from the DaVania family real soon. Good luck Megan and Josh!

I shot Danielle and Jim's Vegas wedding in December of 2007. I was so happy to hear when they were pregnant, and super excited to hear that they had twin boys. Introducing William and Wesley!

If you think taking pictures of one 8 week old is hard enough, try two. . .

(I think about my cousin who is about to have triplets and I have no idea how they will pull it off, they will be forever outnumbered) :)

It was so funny, it seemed like when William was happy and smiling, then Wesley was grumpy and crying. And then the one crying made the other uncomfortable, and it became a cycle of crying and laughing. I loved it, but let's all put in a prayer for the parent's sanity. :)

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Shhhhhhh..... ahhhh, peace. It's not easy being a model is it?

We are designing some 9-image frames to go over the boy's twin cribs. This is the "asleep" version. Cute, no?

So fun, so cute. I love when my old wedding couples call me cause their families are starting to grow. Congratulations and good luck Danielle and Jim!

Noon and Whalen found me through Yelp. They are getting married later this year in Thailand but wanted to capture images at the Legion of Honor and at San Francisco beaches. I'm on it!

Right off the bat they felt comfortable with me and the session was super fun. Great moments like this come natural and easy as a result.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE SLIDESHOW FROM THIS SESSION

My client's and I have been dealing with some crazy random waves lately, but they have been troopers, and even if we get a little (a lot) wet, it is all good and fun. :)

I dont know if you can tell, but Noon is pretty short, and it was way cute cause Whalen saved her from one of those rogue waves with this move. Great timing Whalen, sacrifice the body and save your woman!

Yes. Cute. Beautiful. I love this job.

Here's Joe and Marcia, they started the weekend off with me last Friday afternoon.

(One of the hats I wear outside of my photography business is as an afterschool tutor for middle school kids in Mill Valley.) I have been driving past this particular spot on my way there for the last few months and love the unique angle of the Golden Gate Bridge. I tested it out on this couple and it turned out cute.

Joe is a naval officer based in Monterey and Marcia is his fiancee who had just flown into San Francisco from Georgia for the weekend. They are getting married in Pensacola Florida later this summer and I'm going to convince them to fly me out there.

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I have a cousin who is a Naval pilot as well and I feel especially grateful for Joe and Marcia's service and sacrifice for our country. Thanks guys!

This is Diana, she is a fellow "Big" for Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bay Area, so automatically she is A-OK in my book. :)

She totally used my offer the way I had meant it and brought along her whole family for the session. It was a cute scene leading their three SUV's through the city with my little Honda Insight. . .

Originally we were meant to focus just on Baker Beach, but boy last Saturday the waves were kickin up a storm (Maverick's Surf Contest-style), and because I knew we had little ones I decided to go the extra mile and take them first to a calmer location. Good thing too, and I'll explain in a bit.

Hi there cuties!

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Woulden't you know it, the first thing that happened once we got to Baker was a big wave hit all 10 of us unexpectedly and freaked the little girl out. You cannot tell in the picture, but at this moment she was in full-on melt-down mode. (And this is yet another reason why you go with experienced, calm and cool photographers.) We got great photos at the unplanned Legion of Honor session, and so these parents still came away with great images of their family.

Your mission: Get two crying babies and 8 adults to pose nicely while waves are stalking our every move. Easy, right? :) You cannot tell here, but I was able to fix an imperfect picture by replacing the kids faces with better versions from previous moments. Also, the wind had Diana's bangs all over the place and that got photoshopped as well. I'm a miracle worker, and my prices are reasonable to boot!

Ah, Valentine's Day. It started off with a great Boudoir session that I'm not going to show you, and you'll just have to trust me that it was hot and the husband is going to be very happy. :)

That afternoon though, I got to finish the weekend off right with Alison and Chris. Again, Alison happens to be a Big Brother Big Sister volunteer as well, and her and her husband are weeks away from becoming parents.

Hey there little one!

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My favorite moment. Lookin good you three! Some women can just pull off that 8 and and half month pregnant look like no problem, huh?

Here I asked all 100 people in the background if they would be so kind as to leave the area while we did our portrait session.

yea right. :) I was however, able to photoshop-out everyone but my couple, and the result looks great.