Andrés and Kim Valenzuela

It is always fun photographing weddings of people I know, but it really is special to photograph a friend and fellow wedding photographer. Andrés Valenzuela, one of the photographers I work with from time to time, got married on July 12 to Kimberly Webb! They had such a beautiful summer day (which was great for the all-outside ceremony and reception) and their ceremony was so unique that Rob and I plan on using their foot-washing ceremony idea in our wedding.

I wasn't alone in this venture, I was able to shoot with friends also. Kenny Kim and Tomas Flint we with me and to top it off, Rob came and surprised them with wedding video! We were like one big photographic family, haha. It really was great.

This slideshow is a bit longer, so bear with the loading time, but I really just couldn't narrow down anymore pictures!!

EnJOY!!

~Vj

My 100th post!

Wow! When I started this blog just a little over a year ago, I really didn't think I'd be able to write 100 blogs, especially in the first year. I have to say, it's really no thanks to me, at least not as much as its thanks to my friends, family, brides and grooms who keep my life interesting and give me something' to talk about. So on my 100th blog, cheers to all of you in my life that make it worth living and talking about! =) ~Vj

Guest Books

I make books out of engagement sessions for my brides and groom to have at their wedding for their guests to sign. Its a wonderful, unique replacement of the white guest books that you get at A.C. Moore and everyone loves them. They're a photo layout on one side and then a blank, black matte board on the other side for people to sign (like the picture you see here). Most people get gold or silver sharpies and it looks really sharp when it's all said and done.


For Rob and I, we had a dual engagement session with Andres Valenzuela and his fiancee. I knew that I wanted an engagement book, but I didn't have a place for it at my wedding because we're doing something different for our guest book there. No, I'm not keeping it a secret! I promise to tell all later. :-) So, for our wedding, I built a guest book from out Save-the-Date and Engagement sessions.

I have to say, being engaged myself and understanding the need to find things that are different to make my wedding unique is really a fun process not only for myself, but for my business as well. I find an Australian company called Jorgensen, thanks to my photographer friend Autumn Pittelli who has a really fun way of creating more traditional, matted album layouts, (see a close up examples from the company of what I mean to the left and below) so I gave it a shot and made a sample album out of my own engagement session.

So here's my first attempt and designing this type of album. I didn't go for the flourishes, more for solids taken right out of my photos, I liked the way that blended. I also really like the use of negative space here. It helps bring the focus to the individual pictures and serves a dual purpose for room for everyone to sign. The cover is a fun color and an interesting fabric too (I'm always a sucker for new album covers). I do plan on offering this to my clients as well, but let me tell you, it is quite an upgrade believe it or not. Those Australian companies are quite pricey!

Let me know what you think!

~Vj

(cover)

(page 1 right side only, the rest are panoramic across the whole album)

(last page, left side only)

You can find my photos in Wikipedia

A while back Kay Unger's publicist, Mina, asked me for some of the shots I've taken of Kay for her Wikipedia entry. I gave them to her of course, but I completely forgot about it until now! I just went on Wikipedia and searched Kay Unger and there were my pictures! :-) Such fun!

So good to hear - twice!

Here are two great e-mails from two of my recent brides, Jaime & Megan, that actually made me laugh out loud when I read them! Haha, I'm glad that brides think of me on their honeymoons even. :-)

Actually...this gives me an idea. I have heard of some photographers going for a day or two on their couple's honeymoon to take some really sweet honeymoon pictures, not just of the couple themselves, but also of the scenery since it's so breathtaking, but when non-photographers attempt to capture that, it normally just doesn't do the trick. Ooooooo, something to think about. This goes along with another little venture that I'm going to attempt to bring to the tri-state area that's really popular in the south - bridal sessions. But more on that later. :-)