Category: North America

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Mayan Riviera Wedding // Michelle & Eshan

Beautiful & Touching Playa del Carmen Wedding | Sandos Playacar Beach Resort

I can’t believe that Michelle and Eshan’s beautiful Mayan Riviera wedding was 6 months ago now! I joined them in sunny Mexico for 2 days to document their celebration and although it was short (and hot), it was also very sweet.

Some of the moments from their day still stay with me. For example, the way Eshan grinned from ear to ear upon seeing Michelle that just lit up the whole, well, ceremony space on the beach (not that it wasn’t already bright with the hot Mexican sun). And then there was Eshan’s mother and son dance with his mom, where not only Eshan teared up but it also made everyone else emotional. Not to mention their first dance, and the great speeches throughout dinner.

Thank you Michelle and Eshan for inviting me to share in the wonderful celebration of your wedding day and trusting me to document this day so that you can look back at all these moments and remember what it felt like.

Here’s the story of Michelle & Eshan’s sunny and beautiful wedding day.

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California Wine Country Wedding // Kim & Eric

Rustic California Ranch Wedding | Triple S Ranch, Calistoga

Last month I had the opportunity to photograph Kim & Eric’s beautiful and fun wedding at the Triple S Ranch in California wine country, just 1 hour north of Napa and Sonoma. It was a gorgeous day, the temperature was just right for an outdoor wedding and the sun was shining. Kim & Eric tied the knot under the hundred-year old walnut tree on the ranch, surrounded by their friends and family who came from all across the continent and as far as Europe. There was amazing food, awesome music (with their favourite local band The Soft White Sixties playing), great company and a whole lot of love.

Kim was born and raised in Toronto while Eric is from Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. They had respectively moved to New York and San Fran before they met. All signs would have pointed to “no” but it was inevitable really. Their shared career in advertising brought them to L.A. one fateful day as Eric was shooting in L.A. and Kim was visiting friends doing a shoot. They totally hit it off and the rest was history.

Kim is so full of life and passion and her enthusiasm is so infectious. Eric is so warm and down to earth. They both share this goofiness and it’s so sweet.

Thank you so much for having me join you in beautiful Calistoga and document your wedding day!

Here’s the story of their day.

Event design: Event by Katy Elizabeth

All the yummy food & drink: Chef Stephen Beaumier + Event by Katy Elizabeth

Flowers: FV Floral

Hair & makeup: Natalie Blouin

Bride’s gown: Rue de Seine

Groom’s attire: Trumaker

Invitation/stationery: Kim’s mom Robin

Band: The Soft White Sixties

Cake: The Buttery Bakery in Santa Cruz

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San Francisco City Hall Wedding // Melanie & Luke

In the middle of the busy summer wedding season, I boarded a plane for San Francisco, set to photograph a simple wedding at the San Francisco city hall (which is on my Photography Bucket List). However, just a few days before I left, the couple had decided to call off the wedding. I was really looking forward to shooting at the city hall and I had already booked my flight, so in the end, I decided to go and try to make the best out of the situation.

On the day the wedding was supposed to take place, I headed to city hall anyway. I figured that many couples get married here everyday, maybe one of them won’t have a photographer and I could offer my services. This sounds easy but at the same time, I felt very awkward about it. It felt way worse than doing cold calling when I first started in photography. In the end, after some hesitation, I told myself that the worst that can happen is they’d say “no”. The first couple I approached did just that. Oh well, their loss ;) Then I decided to head to the registration office where each couple has to go and waited around. Finally I approached another couple, explained my story and they said yes! Perhaps what I got out of the most from this trip wasn’t the photos themselves, but learning how to make the most out of perhaps what was not an ideal situation.

 

 

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San Francisco Travel Photography

Ah San Fran, you lovely city you. I can’t believe it was a year ago that I was there. But, I am going back in a week to photograph a secret wedding and I’m so excited!

Like most people who have been, I loved San Fran. It’s the only city in America I would ever move to. I just loved the vibe of the city. Without getting too political in a blog post, it is here (and in other parts of California) where I feel like the founding principles of America have been realized to the best of their potential: Democracy, Rights, Liberty, Opportunity and Equality. But I digress.

I also met up with the awesome and so lovely Patty Lagera, a fellow photographer who is from New Zealand, who was in town around the same time I was. <3

Here are some favourites from that trip.

Isn’t the San Fran city hall just gorgeous? A beautiful example of the Beaux-Arts style of architecture.

The cable car rides were so much fun! especially going up and down the hills. Try standing at edge for more thrill :)

Famous San Francisco Chinatown.

As a book lover, any time I visit another place, I always seek out a bookstore or two. In San Fran, it was City Lights.

You can just make out the Golden Gate Bridge from the top of Tower Hill.

Watching the sun set over the Golden Gate bridge from Chrissy Field.

Saturday market at the Ferry terminal was awesome! So much awesome food.

Up close and personal with that famous bridge!

Didn’t get to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge this time, but did drive across it :)

Alcatraz! aka. The Rock. We did the night tour, which was awesome, but a bit creepy, but still awesome.

The best part was probably the locking of the cells demonstration.

Sutro Bath is such a unique place. It’s hard to imagine that less than 100 years ago, how magnificent this bath by the sea would have looked.

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California Travel & Landscape Photography

There is no doubt that California is an iconic place when you think about travelling in America. But to each of us, California means something different. If you asked me what comes to mind when I think of beautiful landscape, it’s the rocky shoreline dotted with ethereal coastal Cypress trees with the Pacific Coast Highway winding through, and the ever blue Pacific ocean lapping at the foot of the cliffs. It’s fog that dissipates by mid-morning and rolls back in in the afternoon, it’s the towering giant redwood forests, and the fur seals with their unique calls. It’s a place, like any other magical place, where you both feel at one with nature but also feel so small against it. You feel at peace here.

We started in San Jose and drove through Point Montara, Half Moon Bay, Santa Cruz, Carmel, Big Sur, and San Simeon. In particular, Big Sur was our favourite.

Like Henry Miller said: This is the California that men dreamed of years ago, this is the Pacific that Balboa looked out on from the Peak of Darien, this is the face of the earth as the Creator intended it to look.

All I need, is a room by the sea.

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