Ed & Margherita: Engagement

Ed and Margherita are two of the nicest people I've ever met. They met through a mutual friend and were smitten from first sight. After several years of dating, they are tying the knot this October.

"I'm not very romantic," Ed tells me before we begin taking pictures. I laugh when he says this, because my husband also claims he is missing the romance gene. But these guys mean they don't buy into the grand gestures that we girls sigh over while watching girly movies. The real romance, I've found, is in the little gestures and words; the small, everyday things that make a difference. In this quiet way, Ed is quite romantic. You can tell just by the way he looks at his wife-to-be or laughs with her - they are often in their own world together.

These two were kind enough to give up precious hours lying out on the beach to allow me to capture some images while we were in Punta Cana. Although they professed to be camera-shy, they quickly warmed up and let me lead them all over the resort in search of the perfect picture. We spent most of the shoot laughing and chatting about everything from the food at our resort to wedding planning.

Ed and Margherita, I can't thank you enough for taking time out from your vacation and allowing me to take your engagement photos! Congratulations on your upcoming wedding!

Let There Be Light

So one of the best perks of our neighborhood (the "Miracle Mile") is living within walking distance of tons of great restaurants, shops, and cultural sites. Shortly after moving here, I got a membership to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and spent several evenings browsing through their mix of sculptures, furniture, paintings, and extensive grounds. Then, LACMA underwent a huge construction project of its new Contemporary Art wing and added one of the coolest sculptures I have ever seen, "Urban Light."

A grouping of about 200 cast iron grey streetlamps from all over Los Angeles County, the sculpture is astounding in daylight and breathtaking at night. A few weeks ago, we wandered around the La Brea Tarpits and then over to try to capture a small part of the beauty of "Urban Light." It was cloudy and threatening to rain, but luckily the weather held as I snapped away.

I love this picture of Scott under the lamp. This was near the "Two Germanys" exhibit, which is apt because he lived in Germany for several years.











Beautiful Los Angeles by night.

Can you feel the love?

Scott and I headed to Las Vegas this long weekend because we got tickets to see the fabulous Elton John in concert! (The show rocked!) I'm not a big gambler and Las Vegas, with a nickname like "Sin City" seems like the last place for a romantic getaway. Yet somehow, whether strolling through the fake canals of the Venetian or watching the water show at the Bellagio the weekend still was quite romantic!

Even better, we realized we would be in town overlapping with the Wedding and Portrait Photographer International Conference. As a very new, very green photographer, I felt too clumsy and unready to even attend the lectures and workshops. Still, one of my early goals was to network with other photographers and learn more about the industry at every opportunity. So with free passes to the Tradeshow in hand, we wandered into the MGM Grand on Monday morning and were greeted by friendly faces at every turn.

Can I just say that I have been overwhelmed by how nice and willing to help out almost everyone in the photography industry has been? (I regularly go into Samy's Camera and ask completely stupid or simple questions and they are always super nice anyway.) We gathered tons of information and were given free advice at every turn. On the car ride home, as I happily sorted through business cards of new contacts and brochures, I started looking forward to attending next year.