Los Altos Town Crier interviewed my bride’s mother about the rain on her daughter’s wedding day in Nestldown, Los Gatos Hills, on the way to Santa Cruz. They probably also saw my article about raining on your wedding day in Nestldown.

Rain? What rain?! It was a gorgeous wedding that had the gods crying!!!

If you know me, I always preach about being able to take a great photograph any place, any time. Location doesn’t matter as much. Being in Hawaii again makes me eat my words. I never appreciated Hawaii when I lived in Honolulu, HI between 1991 and 1994. Then again, I was not a photographer then.

I appreciate it more each time I return. The sunset in Kona, North Shore, Waikiki, etc. makes the sky glow hues of red, purple, blue and yellow in just about every evening.

Brian is an executive in Symantec and a art collector who loves the work of Peter Lik. He already owns four Peter Lik’s landscape art pieces in his home thus far and is looking for collections to match, in his wedding photographs.

Beyond his deep appreciation in Landscape art, the Hawaiian within him yearns for an escape to serenity and love. The latter, he acquired in abundance from Dee, his wife-to-be, in about a month or so, October 8th.

Capturing landscape and people well require a multitude of skills such as lighting, meteorology and people skills. Brian also wanted his dad’s home in Aiea, Oahu, Hawaii where he grew up to be photographed as well. That required the photojournalism part of me to emerge, to understand his story, his life in this beautiful home. A home to a large mango tree the he used to climb, growing up, a basement of dirt that he played in and a view from the entry to his home.

We were at Waikiki, Honolulu for a few night scenes and the next day, traveled north to Turtle Bay Resort, Oahu for some of the photos as well as an abandoned building that doesn’t even show up in Google map!! Then, to end the day, an unknown beach in the North Shore. It’s a beach that is filled with sea turtles, climbing up shore for a breather. We saw at least 10-20 sea turtles during our scouting trip there.

An amazing day with fantastic friends. Nothing beat the dinner after at Ige’s and the 19th Puka. Thank you, Brian & Dee for such an amazing time. Tiffany Chiang’s makeup and hair styling was beautifully done, as usual. Her help in directions and ideas made the day wonderfully pleasant.

What an amazing way to end the Engagement Session in the North Beach, Oahu, Hawaii with Brian & Dee. As I was going to pack up after the session, Brian and Dee are already cleaning up and Tiffany was about to collapse the light stand, two surfers walked right in front of us. My ninja skills snapped into action for this last but sweet photograph in our 10 day Hawaii extravaganza.

Photos from the Engagement session with Brian & Dee will be up shortly! Need to rest as we just returned from Honolulu, Hawaii mere hours ago.

So exhilarating is the experience of getting to know two people in love. We felt very blessed photographing Jed & Becca’s engagement session in San Francisco and San Jose. The photos are possibly one of our best so far. We strive for unique photos every time and it makes us super delighted.

Oh, about the best shot, here it is. Thoughts?

And here are the others shot in San Jose’s HIstorical Park, beach, Palace of Fine Art, etc. So MUCH fun! At the end of it all, Jed, Becca and I had a blast. They also decided that they also wanted us to be their wedding videographer. It’ll be fun doing photography and videography / cinematography in the Stanford Memorial Church in Palo Alto and the San Mateo County History Museum. Can’t wait!!!

Will Fanizzi is a fantastic painter (4th generation painter with Generations of Painting, he is a good friend and a business associate in a networking group I attend to every Thursday morning at 7am. You read that right. 7am. You may think I’m crazy since I love to sleep late, past 2am at times, so that I can work in peace…

Now, not only is Will good at what he does, he has a great heart and a lot of love for Lisa, his wife. Recently, for their anniversary, Will decided to surprise his wife, Lisa to be pampered with a wonderful massage by Cara, followed by natural and skillful makeup artistry and hair styling by Tiffany Chiang. After all that, we went to Santana Row for a short 1-hour photography session.

The party began with a nice glass of magarita at Left Bank. Now, how many amazing photos can you capture in an hour? Check out a few of them here,

Megan and Ken are both educators in a world that desperately need teachers. They are patient, soft spoken and in love. Their wedding was held at the Hollins House at Pasatiempo in Santa Cruz, overlooking the spectacular Monterey Bay. It was the precursor to a larger reception 2 weeks after.

We shot photo + cinema for this wedding, edited the 20 minutes long feature presentation that surprised the couple 2 weeks after in their reception in HS Lordship, Berkeley.

The great thing about having a photo • cinema team is that the photographs can also be embedded into the cinema, something most videographers can’t do.

Kanoa is an artist who has constantly been dreaming about a beautiful woman in a jade green dress. What do the numbers in his life and in his dreams mean?

(be sure to watch in HD by clicking HD)

Mark practices his first dance with his groomsmen in the Four Seasons Hotel of Palo Alto / Silicon Valley while Janet practices her walk up the stairs in the prestigious Stanford Memorial Church in Palo Alto. Their beautiful first dance in the Palo Alto Golf Club is a small part to what makes this wedding so elegant.

The wedding photos in the Four Seasons, Stanford Memorial Church and Palo Alto Golf Club are a real match to Mark & Janet’s style.

We chose a cinematic musical piece with Scottish intonation and blend to showcase Mark and his cool British accent (when they are entering the church). Check out their cinema!

What I found endearing is how Mark holds Janet’s Victoria Secret’s bag proudly as he exits the ceremony with her into their Rolls Royce.

We’re tickled to find Westin St Francis’ blog featuring our photography for the wedding where we were the photographers and cinematographers / videographers, just 3 weeks ago. They seem to have found our blog of photos that showcase their wonderful stairways.

So, where’s the cinema / video , you ask. Worry not, here it is, the highlights from Lara & Elie’s wedding in San Francisco, aboard the trolley and all.

(be sure to turn HD on)

Imagine. Eating, dancing, drinking, partying with close friends and family on top of San Francisco, on top of the world! This scene is especially beautiful with the SF cityscape in the background. A wedding reception in the Alexandra’s Ballroom, 32nd floor of The Westin St Francis on Union Square in San Francisco is a scene to behold. It is more than elegant. As Charles Darwin would say, “There is grandeur in this view of life”.

I’ve done a few weddings for Assyrians. They love to dance but a Lebanese wedding is just as fun! Lara & Elie are down-to-earth, charming and adventurous. They had two San Francisco trolley shuttled everyone from the Westin St Francis to St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church at Diamond Heights Blvd and back.

Our Capture The Love team are in charge of both photography and videography / cinematography, which is really a treat since it allow us to exchange media between the two teams and after working numerous times together, this becomes a smooth play of teamwork. Photos are ready and the cinema is on its way.