Jessica and Arpan joined us for our most recent engagement session escapade. We started at Stinson Beach with their rowdy pups, Rooty and Pearl for a walk along the surf. Next, we made our way to the hills above Tiburon for some photos at dusk, with a few quick stops at some of the breathtaking turnouts overlooking the Pacific Ocean. I swear, the Northern California coastline is so dramatic with its cliffs and fog - Adm and I just count ourselves lucky that we get to spend our days with sweet couples like Jessica and Arpan photographing along the coast.
We always love trying and doing new things so we were pretty excited to photograph our first ever proposal, especially since one of the brides-to-be is the older sister of one of my best childhood friends. Kai popped the question to her long-time girlfriend Alisha on a drizzly day in the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. And, their timing could not have been better as their engagement took place just days before the Supreme Court rulings that struck down DOMA and Prop 8. We are ecstatic for our former and future same-sex couples who can now legally marry and that we are one *big* step closer to marriage equality. Congratulations, Kai and Alisha!!!
Before each engagement session, we go through a planning process with our couples to make sure we're going to come away with images that reflect them. There is a lot of back and forth between us to get the locations, outfits, all those details just right. Adm and I pride ourselves on how well we plan so that we can do a good job responding to all the little things that can go wrong on engagement shoots and even wedding days.
I didn't know what to expect when Lisa told me she wanted to do their engagement session at a flower nursery. And when I pulled up, and at first glance all I saw were the outsides of greenhouses and a parking lot, I was even more skeptical. I later learned that this nursery (roughly 170 acres) has been in Lisa's family for 100 years, and so it's an incredibly meaningful place for her. And visually, it turns out that rows and rows of hydrangeas and piles of pots and pallets are some of my new favorite things to photograph! I literally could have photographed these two here all day long. Plus, Lisa and Mike were so natural and fun to be around, they made my job a breeze. Their wedding is coming up in April, and we can't wait to be a part of it!
Lucie and Brendan have such a great story! They actually went to high school together but didn't start dating until a couple of years ago! So naturally, what better place to do their engagement photos than at their old high school in Oakland? In addition to hanging out by the lockers, we also hit other fun spots in San Francisco, including Lands End. No matter how many times we photograph that place, it is just so gorgeous we never get tired of it and always seem to find new trees and vistas. Lucie and Brendan are only the second couple we've ever photographed to opt for a morning engagement session so that morning light was also a special treat! These two are getting hitched in September, and we can't wait for the wedding!
One of the maybe slightly odd things that we photographers do is go on photo walks. Yep, we just wander around town taking pictures of things. My favorite part of Karen and Uday's engagement session was walking around the Design District of San Francisco and finding cool buildings and fun textures for their portraits. An engagement photo walk! Karen and Uday wanted a San Francisco engagement session since they're getting married in the East Bay this January, and when they mentioned the Design District, I knew that this was going to be something a little extra special. We also made stops at Sutro Baths, Potrero Hill, 
