Shweta & David's Reception Following up on the last posting, here are some photos from Shweta & David's Wedding Reception which was held at the Summit Center in downtown San Jose.

We actually started off with some evening portraits in the Fairmont. We just love tying back portraits to the event venues so whenever possible, we utilize great spots inside or outside the wedding or reception location. Of course, the lobby of the Fairmont is outstanding so no complaints from us :)


Look at David all dapper in his tux. Love the silver...

Later on in the evening we actually did an impromptu photo session on the balcony of the Summit Center. With the sun setting & San Jose City Hall in the background, there's no denying where the party was at!
Since there's two of us covering the wedding, we have the chance of capturing the anticipating before the couple make their grand entrance. A last glance at each other before Shweta & David make their arrival...

Just a few shots from the night...



They had this wonderful cake which just made for great photos...

And with floor to ceiling windows, the colors they chose really lent a bright airy feel to things...


Just a few from their first dance...



And finally...time to get the party started!

I had a lot of fun playing with the lighting. The DJ had some crazy lights going on, so we were able to get some fun starlight pops into our photos.



Shweta & David, thanks for giving us the opportunity to get to know you and cover your wedding!

Labels: Portfolio, Portraits, Weddings

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  Shweta & David's Wedding Getting back to posting some recent weddings, here's a peek into Shweta & David's Wedding. If you recall, I posted some of their engagement portraits here. I must say that we love it when we're able to do both a couple's wedding day as well as their engagement portraits. It really builds on the relationship we have with our clients.

Anyways, onto the photos...

We spent the day in downtown San Jose...starting at the Fairmont and then heading over to Summit Center which overlooks City Hall.

A bunch of morning photos....the schedule for the day allowed for a lot of time before the wedding to get all those wonderful getting-ready shots as well as the details of the outfits. Since Shweta had a few outfits throughout the day, I had a lot of great stuff to work with....





I just loved the simplicity of Shweta's bouquet...
They made this really modern yet classic gift box wrapped in a nice silk material. It matched the colors used throughout the day. Burnt orange is one of those new classics. While it's really popular now, I have a feeling we'll be seeing it for years to come...
To top off the box, they had this cute little topper of our lovely couple. And no, the rings weren't stuck onto the box :)

In case you wanted a closer look at these rings. You can never go wrong with Tiffany's, huh?

Moving on to the ceremony....




Since I had been with Shweta all morning I knew she really just wanted to get things going. She was really calm, but just couldn't wait. I love the look on her face her as David places the garland around her neck.



Finishing off the first part of the day, we don't normally post many of the formal portraits, but I just *had* to share this portrait...Since the agenda allowed for it, I took Shweta & David around the Fairmont on a location hunt. We found quite a few places and got some great shots. My fave was this corner. It had the chaise & mirrors I had been hunting for. I wanted to get that wonderful bouquet into the photo too. And so amongst the many other shots we got that afternoon, this has gotta be one of my favorites...





Look out for more from their wedding in an upcoming post!

Labels: Portfolio, Portraits, Weddings

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  Neera & Trushar's Engagement Portraits Back to the portraits!

Just a few shots from a shoot we did in June in San Francisco. This was before the usual summertime fog in The City so the colors & light were just so wonderful.



We started off the formal shots at The Palace of Fine Arts. Even though there's a lot construction going on there, we still find several great spots. And even though we shot at mid-day, the light bouncing off the Exploratorium was just wonderful.

I think these next two shots show off Neera & Trushar's personalities better. Getting out of the formal outfit and onto the beach on a nice hot day can certainly help loosen things up ;)



And speaking of small worlds...if you read our last post about Manisha & Ashwin's reception theme of Vegas...I mentioned that they were introduced to each other by mutal friends. Well, it was Neera & Trushar that introduced them to each other...aww how schweet :)

Anyways, it was a wonderful afternoon photographing...especially since we got to cool off a bit in the nice cold water! Congrats guys! Hope you love the shots!

Labels: Engagements, Portfolio, Portraits

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  Manisha & Ashwin's Wedding & Reception As promised last week, here are photos from the rest of Manisha & Ashwin's weekend. The entire day was lovely with the venues serving perfectly for what the couple wanted...an elegant outdoor wedding and a raging party at night! The wedding was at the lovely Bella Montagna Estate which had a beautiful view of the Santa Clara valley. The evening fun was at the Doubletree in San Jose. It's a place we always love since the staff (and Daljit in particular) do a kick-ass job and help everything run more smoothly.

We started the day off at Manisha's house where she along with all her friends & close family were getting ready. It was sort of the mad-house with so many mulling about, but Manisha was particularly enjoying the lead up to her wedding.




Manisha had a pretty sweet antique Stutz limo to take her to the wedding...

In the meantime, Ashwin was getting ready amidst a bunch of activity as well. Since Ashwin comes from a Punjabi family, the morning of the wedding was quite busy for them with Pagri tying (Turban), Sehra Bandhi (Tying of the tassles on his turban by his sisters), etc, etc.
The baraat was a short one, but check out this little captain! He rode along on the horse with Ashwin till near the end where he walked and danced out the rest of the baraat.

A moment I just love from weddings is when the bride & groom see each other for the first time in their wedding outfits. For Hindu weddings, this is generally on the mandap right after the anterpath is drawn down to present the couple to one another. Manisha had a particularly great reaction which was just the start of the fun for the day.

Now, if you've followed this blog, you know that the Kanyadaan (which the bride's parents give her away) usually has photos of hands joined together, etc. In this case, Manisha's father had some fun and stole her away from her groom!

Just some other details & moments which Asad and I loved from this outdoor ceremony.




We had a bit of extra time for some creative portraits...just one of the shots from the afternoon...

As a new father, I can't help but put myself in the shoes of the bride's father during the vidaii (when the bride traditionally says goodbye to her family and goes to her groom's family). It's a touchy time since tears are flowing so we try to be pretty low key while taking photos. I just love this shot of Manisha's father as Manisha looks on in the background.




Moving on the party at night....we were presented with a Vegas theme. Since Manisha & Ashwin met through mutual friends while partying in Vegas, what's more appropriate?!

The night was complete with flower filled martini centerpieces...


Decks of cards for everyone...
And a yummy looking cupcake cake!
And judging from the fun they had throughout the day, Manisha & Ashwin weren't about to let up on the fun...they entered the hall with their first dance, then proceeded to knock everyone's socks off with a choreographed number.

No, it wasn't a ballroom number...

They went onto wowing the crowd with a bunch of different dances including some bhangra, garba, and....

The Soulja Boy!

I've never heard a crowd roar so loud as when the steel drums from the song started up and both Manisha & Ashwin started with some dips. Can you tell we love it when a couple has fun with their day?!


Just love this shot becuase of Manisha's look...see her crouching down there?

Cheers to a great couple! Thanks for having us at your events and congrats to you and your families!

Labels: Portfolio, Weddings

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  Manisha's Pre-Wedding Events Yes, we do indeed do other things besides engagement portraits :) But don't worry, there are a ton more engagement portraits to show off!

For a change of pace, here are some wedding related photos from about a month ago. These are from Manisha's pre-wedding events at her home in San Jose. Their wedding photos will follow in a bit...

The first part of the morning was the Ganesh Pooja where Manisha's parents basically welcomed the upcoming events (Ganesh, the elephant-headed god, wards away evil spirits). Her uncles also did some of their thing like planting a "tree" outside the house, etc. Gujarati culture at its finest :)





And then Manisha made her entrance and promptly got pasted! As tradition dictates, Manisha's aunts applied tumeric paste (haldi) on her skin. It's supposed to make a bride's skin glow, but the aunts always have some fun with it.


And then moving onto the vidhi itself where Manisha & her parents did the needful before the wedding day.



And, of course, we can't forget the Grande Dame of the house, Lily! It was her birthday and she had a great time getting pet by all of the guests. She did get a little impatient near the end when she was ready to be walked. Who can blame her! Hindu weddings have so much going on, any dog would get bored! :)


Anyways, more to come from Manisha's wedding day...

Labels: Grah Shanti, Haldi, Portfolio, Weddings

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  Anju & Rajeev Engagement Portraits So ya think we've been doing a lot of outdoor portraits lately? :)

We actually shot Anju & Rajeev's engagement session quite some time ago, but we're only getting around to blogging about it now. This was a great session since the couple wanted to experiment a bit for themselves and we had been looking for a pair who wanted to push the boundaries of what most Indian couples want for their portraits. Not to say these shots are out in left field or anything, but they were up for a lot of fun during the shoot.

Anyways, on to the photos!

From a photography perspective, this was one of the first shoots where we limited ourselves with the lenses we used. Why would we limit ourselves, you ask? Well, by human nature, when there are limits placed, we find a way :) For me, when I challenge myself with situations that I don't normally face, especially when it comes to photography, my mind races with the possibilities and I come up with things which I normally wouldn't.

And so with Anju & Rajeev's buy-in, we purposely challenged ourselves photographically...



Especially this calendar year, we've really been going to locations with interesting angles & lots of energy. Regardless of how crowded the location is, we've found this energy really adds to the results. Not just in terms of cool features, but also on the faces of our clients.








One of the few basic poses we did with Anju & Rajeev...


Mixing up this Stalker shot, it was interesting finding something which would be rather different than the usual columns or trees.

Gigantic chess board? Of course!





Now a storefront that's under construction doesn't usually lend itself to portraits, but I just loved the designs on this walls and they so nicely with Anju's dress. What's more, I just loved her expression.










Rajeev had a little fun with the metal gratings. We didn't want to break them so we only did this one once and then ran for it :)

Personally, I found this shoot really opened up a new world of ideas for me. Asad has pretty much said the same of his portraiture too. I think taking this calculated chance with Anju & Rajeev is a no-brainer in retrospect, but I'm glad we actually made it happen!

What's more, they loved their photos :) A few words from Anju after she saw her photos...

Asad and Jigar,
We wanted to thank you guys for doing our engagement portait. We really had a lot of fun doing it - even Rajeev did and he HATES taking pcitures. It gave me a feel of what models do, and believe me having two guys capture your every move on camera is a lot of fun!! Thanks for doing this for us and making it so enjoyable.

Look forward to seeing you guys soon!

Take care,
Anju

The happy couple are actually already married now so congrats to both of you!

Labels: Engagements, Portraits

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  Daisy & Gary Engagement Portraits I recently took Daisy & Gary out to Stanford for their portraits. They wanted something unique in this area so they came all the way out from Sacramento & Yuba City for this session!

We used to do portraits at Stanford all of the time, but I haven't done any on campus in quite a while. So it was a cool little challenge for me to take my learnings from the last 18 months since I shot there and mix them into a setting which I know oh so well. Daisy & Gary obviously had a good time there so I think it all worked out ;)

Onto to the photos!
Over the years, Asad and I have come up with names for the basic poses we take our couples through. Simple poses take up very little of the session, but the names definitely make things a bit smoother. And they also add a little bit of levity to shoot since we pick pretty random names. The shot above is called The Stalker Pose :) And funny enough...we didn't name it, one of our brides did! So she gets credit for bringing a smile to every one of our clients who want to do this shot. Thanks Sharmila!


I just like the relaxed smiles on their faces here...


Bringing sexy back! The touch of setting sun on Daisy's hair really completes this photo for me.




As usual...I loves me some glare. With the setting sun no less!



Now what does one do with a spot that's so commonly used in portraits? For one, don't pose the couple. For two, get funky with the processing. Textures are in the house at Samay Studio.

Okay, so this one's posed, but hardly :)

Near the end of our shoot, it was getting way too dark to do anything in natural light. Daisy & Gary were just chillin' talking to each other when Daisy looked over to see if we were going to do any more shots. And when I saw this look, I just had to stop her and save the moment. Sometimes, these "poses" just come so perfectly and the light is just so yummy, that I'm glad that I have the privilege of taking photos!

Hey guys, it was a pleasure spending a few hours with you on your portraits. Thanks for driving all the way out to the Peninsula and congrats on your engagement!

Labels: Engagements, Portraits

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