For Japan With Love: Silent Auction

As another part of the relief effort for Japan, we are participating in a charity benefit next Tuesday, April 26, at Blu Bungalow in San Francisco.  There are tons of wedding professionals who are donating services and goodies for a silent auction where all proceeds will go to Shelterbox for the relief effort.  If you're in the area, please RSVP (it's free!) and come bid on some super cool stuff!  Some of the awesome bidding items include a make-up lesson by Jane Kim (for regular blog readers she prettied up all the girls in Erika and Colin's wedding last year), a couple of flower garlands by Ashley Meaders (this girl is a creative genius! and we hope to photograph a wedding she's touched one of these days), and prints by uber fabulous L.A. photographer Max Wanger.  We are donating two matted, framed and signed travel prints.  Check them out below:

Here's where you can RSVP and see more info about the event:  http://www.forjapanwithlove.com/sfbenefit.html

New Pricing Booklet

We finally received our new pricing and services booklets, and I wanted to share a few pictures of them!  Emma designed these for prospective clients as a way to showcase our work and the services we offer.  They were printed at Brandes in Berkeley (all on recycled paper and with soy-based inks) and sewn together by Pettingell Book Bindery in Berkeley.  All photos by Adm.

2011 Wedding Season Kick-off

Our last wedding that we photographed was more than five months ago.  Five months ago!  That's almost half a year!  This seasonal nature of being a wedding photographer is one of the things I love, but it's also taken time to adjust to.  When we're in wedding season, we are so incredibly busy I have to remind myself to breathe.  By the time the off-season rolls around, we are ready for the time off - it gives us time to rest, catch up, and re-charge.  And we've done a lot of that during these past few months: we celebrated holidays, went on vacation to South America, completed our re-branding and identity campaign, caught up with family and friends, and spent lots of time with Kiki.  I've also spent quite a bit of time preparing for our 2011 weddings.  I've scoured all of the wedding blogs and portfolios of other photographers - not just wedding photographers, but portrait, fashion, editorial and documentary photographers as well looking for new ideas and inspiration.  I want to continue growing as a photographer, and I am deathly afraid of plateauing, becoming creatively stagnant, and so by the time our first wedding rolls around, I'm chomping at the bit - ready to get back in the saddle.

So, here we are in L.A. getting ready for our first wedding of the year.  I always get nervous before each wedding, but I especially feel it before our season kick off wedding.  It reminds me of how I felt the day before big softball games back in high school and college.  Actually, I use a lot of those same preparation techniques that I learned while playing softball when I'm prepping for a wedding.  I remember lying on my bed on a Friday night, eyes closed, visualizing the batters for the opposing team the following day coming up to the plate.  In my mind, I saw myself pitching to each batter and watching them swing and miss.  I made sure that the last image I fell asleep to was one of me succeeding on the mound.  Visualization.  It's a mental technique I used to build confidence.  Visualization.  Now, I do the same thing the night before each wedding.  I close my eyes, and in my mind, I picture myself making these amazing images of my couples and their wedding.  I do as much mental preparation as a I can before the wedding so that I'm better able to anticipate key moments and have a very clear idea of what I'm going to do for the portrait portion.  However, as much as we can prepare for each wedding, things almost always go awry.  Gear breaks, the dress rips, the weather changes, there's an accident on the bridge that causes all the guests to be late... the list goes on.  Actually, I expect things to go "wrong," and part of what's fun is figuring out how to be resourceful in responding to these unexpected situations.  I've found that I'm much better at handling these surprises when I approach each wedding as if we're photographing the "Royal Wedding."

For this Saturday's wedding, we've already quadruple-checked our equipment, ironed our clothes and are getting ready to visualize making photo gems.  Let's get this party started.

DVD Case Design

Remember how I shared pretty much all of my collateral the other week during our "Identity Series?"  The only missing piece was my DVD case, and with Margee and Kate's recent engagement shoot, I got the opportunity to finally implement our new design!  So, here it is.  I love the way the flower frames the cover photo.  I printed everything at home, using templates and cases from Jewelboxing.

For Japan with Love

Utterly Engaged and Ever-Ours came up with a great way to help the disaster relief effort in Japan.  They are fundraising for ShelterBox.  ShelterBox was one of THE first organizations asked by Japan to help and were on hand on the Saturday after the quake.  Each large, green ShelterBox is tailored to a disaster but typically contains a disaster relief tent for an extended family, blankets, water storage and purification equipment, cooking utensils, a stove, a basic tool kit, a children’s activity pack and other vital items.  You can donate HERE.

They're also encouraging a "Bloggers Day of Silence" for Friday, March 18, as a way to raise awareness and respect and acknowledge the devastation going on in Japan.  With this in mind, I will not be blogging tomorrow.

Also, remember that Adm and I will be donating 50% of all proceeds from family portrait sessions booked now through the end of April to the disaster relief effort in Japan.  Initially, we were thinking we'd donate to the Red Cross, but since checking out ShelterBox, which is doing great work, we're not so sure, and so are open to suggestions.

Here is some more information:

Family portrait sessions are $300.  This includes up to an hour and a half of photography at a location of your choice within the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles and Orange County.  Family sessions can include babies, children, adults, parents, pets...  You can also purchase this as a gift for someone else.  The session only needs to be booked by the end of April, but not necessarily scheduled within that time.  To reserve your session, a deposit of $150 (which will be sent to Japan) is required.  You'll receive a CD of 40 high-resolution images that are ready for print in both color and black and white as well as a private online gallery good for three months.  Please email me at alison@alisonyinweddings.com with any questions or to schedule your session.

Below are some of our favorite family session images:

Eli, Lilian, and Raising Money for Japan

It feels so strange blogging such happy, innocent family photos when there is so much tragedy and strife in the world right now.  However, when you look at these family photos, it makes you realize what's important is family.  We have been photographing Eli and Lilian since they were six months old, and when I think about that, I also think about the families around the world who won't get to have those memories with their family anymore.  It is my hope that in this time of loss, we can all cherish our families and what we have with them a little more.

To help with the relief effort in Japan, I will be donating 50% of all proceeds from family portrait sessions booked now through April 15 to the Japanese Red Cross Society.  You can contact me at alison@alisonyinweddings for more information.