Fashion photography

Environmental Portraits of a Photographer // Oakland Hills

in

I am really lucky to have such a great photographer friend. It makes it even better that she's gorgeous and doubles as a pretty spectacular model. I have learned so much from Sadie. We met in a photography class, and one of our assignments was to team up with a classmate and take portraits of one another. Looking back at our portrait session from just over a year ago I didn't know the first thing about taking portraits. I used my kit lens, all the photos were take in f/5 and didn't know where to stand in relation to my model and the light, which is really the most important part. In February she generously photographed me for my website, we walked around Golden Gate Park at sunset and froze. It was time to return the favor. 

For this shoot I wanted to play around with a wider angle lens to incorporate more environment. I had a difficult time location scouting. The day before I drove around Oakland and Berkeley for about an hour getting increasingly frustrated because I couldn't find a spot that wasn't littered with background distractions. It made me want to move to the country. Immediately. So I decided we'd wing it, trust our intuition and maybe discover some place new. We drove up to the Oakland hills, winding our way up to Joaquin Miller Park. We found a gorgeous patch of eucalyptus trees on the top of a hill that was all lit up. And then she found a stump to stand on. Genius. Our second location was a turnoff off of Grizzly Peak Blvd up above Claremont. That last photo was taken after the sun had set.

Being up so high, we got the most out of the early setting sun. And there were trees but there was also so much sky, which is the beauty of being on a hill, you get light filled images. I could have shot for a while longer, it was so beautiful, but we were both freezing.  And there wasn't very much room for us on the side of the road. It was a pretty sheer drop. When I got home I made some black been and sweet potato chili. (Recipe here. It was definitely on the sweet side, but with a generous amount of salt and a drizzle of lime on top it was really good.)

Maybe for our next shoot we can be in the tropics. 

Molly in the Trees // Bay Area Fashion Photography

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Model and styling: Miss Molly // Location: Tilden Park, Berkeley

This girl is good. And we have so much fun. This shoot was a little more risqué than our previous one, but I think the images turned out really beautiful. I have always wanted to shoot in a eucalyptus grove, there is so much light compared to most forests, and it didn't disappoint. 

 

 

Jessica in Old Sacramento

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Jessica is one of my favorite people.

She's obviously stunningly beautiful. And she is kind and funny and she inspires me. We share a deep love for furry animals and beautiful clothes. And travel. Out of the six years we have known one another, two of those years we have lived in separate countries. I don't think any amount of time or distance apart will hurt our friendship, and that makes me feel pretty lucky. 

After the shoot we got root beer floats at a decade-old drive-inn and met this little guy. The next morning we bought donuts from Doughbots and mochi from Osaka Ya, and spent the afternoon window shopping. For dinner we went out for Mexican food, drank cadillac margaritas, and had flan for dessert. Indulgences galore. It fed my soul. 

I've been busy. I have three family sessions, a birthday party, and an engagement session to share, and two family sessions and a birthday to shoot in the next four days. And I'm back to playing soccer three days a week. It feels good. I decided I am going to continue offering free sessions through the end of October (while spots last!) and then I am going to raise my rates. 

Red Dress // Sunset in the City

in

Miss Molly can make me laugh like few can. We met while both working at Crossroads and something stuck. I always knew I needed more of her in my life. And she competes in Olympic weightlifting so she's a total badass, with a hot body to boot. She texted me the other day and told me that she had just bought the sexiest dress of all time. So we got her all dolled up and waited for the light to be right.

Probably the most fun I've ever had on a shoot. It is so exhilarating collaborating with another person to create something beautiful. And San Francisco did us right. The colors and the sky and the reflections were incredible. We are already dreaming up our next shoot: think vintage lace and flower crowns in an edible garden at sunset.