I’m so thankful I live near Balboa Park. The place is simply amazing, offering many hidden and not-so-hidden gems for photographers seeking a great venue.
My most recent outing was a family portrait session, taking place on an easy-going Sunday with minimal crowds. I’m sure shooting at 9am also helped a bit.. because for the first time ever, I was able to find a spot at the El Prado parking lot (you know, the area at the roundabout that is eternally full?)!
On with the shoot, where CJ & Paige were both were awesome to work with. With their three beautiful and full-of-life kids running around, there was never a dull moment!
You’d think watching over kids running around Balboa Park would be a handful (at least I do!), but I quickly found out that CJ & Paige were very active themselves, matching their kids’ energy and even joining in on the fun 
Here are some images from a beauty shoot I did this past weekend for Marinello School of Beauty. Pretty simple setup with a DIY beauty dish & SB800 as key, and Paul Buff’s PLM + white lightning x800 for the background.
Quick shoot at high noon yesterday in San Diego.
DJ Smurf rocks out in the local EDM scene, and he also runs the show at Heroes. He was looking for some promo shots to use on promo fliers and such, and with a nice breezy day, it was perfect to do some high noon shots.
Andrew came out to help out as well, and since we wrapped up the shoot relatively quickly, I figured he might as well get some shots in!
The SoCal Photography Group‘s Ultimate Shootout 12 event was held this past weekend in Encinitas. The theme was summer fashion/glam, and I was finally able to get behind the camera and get my juices flowing. The weather was absolutely perfect for the day with a cool 70º day with scattered clouds. Quite a few of us enjoyed it too much and got sunburned, but it’s all good in the name of art & photography!
All of these images were edited on the fly, so you’ll see some inconsistency between shots as I tried to edit based on various magazine looks. Many thanks to the models, makeup artists, hairstylists, AND assistants who brought this all together. If any of these shots help you land a gig please let me know
I totally went for the 50′s edit on this one:
These were shot with my SB800 & beauty dish made out of an aluminum mixing bowl. Gotta love the results!
Here’s the full crew that made the shootout possible! This was definitely a shootout to remember, lots of good work being done! Thanks everyone, see you at US13!!
[edit] Here’s the swing set sequence edited for consistency.[/edit]
Memorial Day Weekend saw Scream fill up the World Beat Center as DJ Bl3nd and Nightmare came through San Diego. The main stage room was filled to capacity with two outdoor stages full of activity. Unfortunately I didn’t get to shoot much of the outdoor action due to my booth setup, but luckily I made it in time to catch the end of Nightmare’s set and the beginning of Bl3nd’s.
You can check out all the people pics from the night here.. enjoy!
Just a 30-minute drive east of San Diego, Sycuan Resort provided the beautiful backdrop as Jessica & Joey celebrated their love for each other. Surrounded by grass-topped rolling hills, blue skies, and an outgoing bridal party, a photographer really couldn’t ask for more!
This was also the wedding debut of my newly acquired 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II, which blew me away in terms of sharpness and clarity. Shooting with VR for most of the day makes me wish my other lenses had it!
Antithesis Apparel is a brand new apparel line of hip hop artist Kevin Ray. Rooted in bboy and dance culture, you’ll be seeing this line worn by some of the local scene’s active players.
Here are some of my favorites from the shoot, along with some behind the scenes shots during the video shoot done the same day.
Here are some behind-the-scenes shots during the video shoot, featuring none other than Shock G of Digital Underground:
And the final products after some graphic design work by oneeyeup.com:
For more info, check out their website: http://antithesisapparel.com/
And their facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Antithesis-Apparel/176432615733637
Prom is something to look forward in every teen’s high school experience, as it’s one of two major formals (homecoming being the other of course). Fancy rides, lavish dinners, the big dance, and the after party (if applicable) all amount to a great date night!
However, one of the things I wasn’t a big fan of for my prom were the photos. Everyone had the same pose, the same background, and not much creativity to truly show off the effort everyone put into making their night one to remember.
About a month ago, I received a request from fellow photographer to do a unique prom shoot. He saw my downtown/urban engagement photos and wanted that same fashionable appeal to stand out from the typical prom photos. My approach was to make this resemble a magazine spread, as I do with most of my shoots. Guys have to look great in an effortless manner (aka have “swag”), and girls have to look gorgeous showing off their dress, hair, makeup, shoes.. all that jazz.
After offering a few posing tips to both, we were off and shot away! The challenge on my part was to quickly analyze the downtown lighting and change my settings quickly enough to adapt to each new setting. Nonetheless, I think it went quite well, and since both Luis and his date loved the previews I showed them, they did too! Happy clients = happy photographer
I used a variety of workflows to change up the color scheme ever so slightly, but I believe it compliments the scenes very well.
And of course, what good is prom if you can’t have fun with it?!
If you’re interested in something a little different for your prom pics, be sure to send me an email with your date and requested shoot time! I’ve been receiving a lot of inquiries with prom season in full effect, so don’t be left out!
Aly & Fila’s first trip into San Diego happened at Therapy Night’s event at Onyx Room, which was also broadcast live on DI.FM radio. This was my also first time shooting gaslamp nightlife in a couple years or so, and this was the perfect venue to do so with its intimate setting and over-the-top lighting setup.
Victor Dinaire was on deck with his birthday set when I arrived, and Fadi of Aly & Fila took over at 2am (after their earlier 420 fest performance). Both DJ’s brought the hard-hitting beats that got the crowd groovin and I was very impressed with the track selections. The last time I saw A&F was back at 1015 Folsom in San Francisco a couple years back, and tonight’s set definitely took it up a few notches as the massive beats kept dropping.
Here are some of my favorites from the night. The full gallery can be found after the jump:
Click here for the full gallery!
Wendy & Scott will be getting married this year in Long Beach, and I have the absolute privilege to cover their wedding We did a quick shoot around Balboa Park, and I wanted to throw in a bit of lighting magic into the mix. I also wrapped up a boudoir shoot just hours before this, so I had my two speedlights handy and ready to go.
Balboa Park is quite the spot for photoshoots. Every time I’ve shot out there I run into 2, 3, or even 4 other photographers with their couples shooting. The challenge here is to come up with different areas and angles from my previous shoots, just to provide a unique set of images for each couple.
What a busy weekend! I did back-to-back nightlife coverage over the weekend for Scream (All Ages) & Scream LoudER’s (18+) dance music events this month. One of the main challenges in nightlife, aside from learning to shoot in near darkness, is coming up with unique shots every time. As one of the resident photographers, I challenge myself to come up with new ways to showcase the event.
The very first thing I do is scope out the lighting and take mental notes. After all, without lighting, there is no photography. With new lighting setups at each event, one has to take into account the settings at different light sources throughout the room/building/arena and work with it.
4/8/11
Here’s a few from Friday, which was the all ages event. I did a photobooth setup along with some roaming images for the second half.
Check out this mac decal from DJ Amanda Rose, best one I’ve seen yet!
David, one of the main guys who brings Scream to life every month:
You can check out my photobooth gallery here, and the full roaming/DJ set here.
4/9/11
Saturday was the 18 and up event. I decided to change things up a bit and use my newly acquired D7000 to shoot some video.
Full set can be seen here.
And finally, here’s the video I made and put together the next day. It’s actually pretty fun doing video, I just hope I can bring it up to par with the images soon
OH! FYI for those that see me at the events. You can tell if I’m doing photography or video by what my camera looks like. If I have a big hook-like object (see pic below) with a camera sitting on top, that means I’m doing video
I host shootouts with the SoCal Photography Group at least once every 1-2 months, and I’m very grateful that they’ve grown in size and depth with each event. However, with the increased attendance comes more time needed to ensure the shootout runs smoothly. Not that it’s a bad thing, but I just don’t have time to shoot like I used to.
Fast forward two weeks after the event, and Jerel Fuerte & Eileen Sinsay of Fuerte Photography invites me out to the Maxim-style mini shootout they’re hosting. Not only do I need to update my glam portfolio, but I get to be a photographer again But as luck would have it, I received my new Nikon D7000 and Merlin Steadicam the night before, so I literally felt like a kid with new toys.
Here are some of my shots, a mix of natural, one light, and two light setups. It was definitely good to get back into the mix with fellow artists, thanks again Jerel, Eileen, the MUAs, Hairstylists, photogs and of course the models!
And here’s the video I shot. This was literally my first time shooting video with D7000, and I didn’t realize I could use it in aperture priority until mid-morning, hence the overexposed and incorrect white balance
Alright, so I needed to build a corporate headshot and wedding photobooth portfolio. I called upon the SCPG crew to help out, but little did I know that a seemingly simple set up turned out to be a hilarious cardigan-fest. This magical cardigan pretty much took over EVERYTHING.
If you’d like to check out ALL the pics from the day, click here. BTW, I still got the portfolio shots needed, craziness and all
Posted in Portraits | Comments (0)