Patel Family - San Francisco Portraits Catching up on one of the many portrait sessions from the Spring, here are some highlights of the Patel Family from a sunny April afternoon in San Francisco.

We started out at Baker Beach...it was Aarav's first time at the beach and above all, he was just confused by all the water and sand. So it was definitely cute to see him make new discoveries about this 'wierd stuff' :)



We then moved onto a nearby playground where Aarav really opened up. When photographing kids, I always love to catch them in moments that they just LOVE. In this case, Aarav just loves swings and playground equipment...






And just in time for Aarav's first birthday party, the family had a couple of gallery wraps made to hang in their house. We wanted to do two completely different looks so the first one with black & white photos just have a simple background. The second one is more playful and colorful.


Aarav, I'm glad we got the chance to spend an afternoon photographing you! It's going to be a blast watching you grow up!

Labels: Family, Gallery Wrap, Gujarati, Life Session, Portfolio, Portraits

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  Engagement Portrait Session with Kinjal & Alan Kinjal and Alan were the lucky winners of our Engagement Portrait raffle last year. We started our shoot at the Embarcadero center in San Francisco and walked over to Union Square. We had certain places that we definitely knew we wanted to cover in the photo session. However, as usual, we stopped and took impromptu pictures as we made our way through the City trying to capture the essence of San Francisco.

With great weather at San Francisco and a fun loving couple, it was no surprise that the 3 hours session just flew by











Congratulations Kinjal and Alan, it was a pleasure spending the afternoon with you!

Labels: Engagements, Portfolio, Portraits

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  Bhumika & Bharat's Sign-in Book We love taking couples out on portrait sessions. We love it even more when they get to show off their photos to all of their guests! To that end, custom sign-in books are a great way to show off photos and create a topic of conversation at wedding receptions.

Well, Bhumika & Bharat just got married over the weekend, and here's the sign-in book I made for them. We printed it in a really nice 10x10 hard cover book, metallic finish on the cover & thick, lay-flat pages inside:

Labels: Album, Engagements, Portfolio, Portraits

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  Mayuri & Kunaal's Engagement Portraits A little springtime vacation meant this blog was quieter than planned! Sorry about that :)

Here's a few shots from a fun portrait session we had in Half Moon Bay with Mayuri & Kunaal. This shoot was ALL about what they love to do and what's meaningful for them. As you'll see from the sampling of photos, we started at some local stables since Mayuri grew up with horses. We went to the Half Moon Bay Ritz since that's where they became a couple. Had some fun on the putting green, and had a little picnic on the beach. All in all, a very unique session since Mayuri & Kunaal really spent time thinking about what they love about each other and what they love doing together!

On to the photos!



The stables had this AWESOME barn. And the light?! To die for!


A little wine tasting never hurt anyone...

I personally love the whole series of these putting green photos. Mayuri & Kunaal had so much fun there, it's hard not to notice how much they love each other...




I just love unplanned shots. We found some green spots along the way to the beach and couldn't help but spend some time there...


Champagne on the beach? Yes!





Thanks for a great portraits session, see you guys later this month!

Labels: Engagements, Portfolio, Portraits

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  Bhumika & Bharat's Engagement Portraits I had the lovely opportunity to photograph Bhumika & Bharat who are getting married next month. Even though they live on opposite coasts, they wanted to do a fun session that was all about their time in the City together.

The shoot was a lot of fun, just like the two of them. As you can see from the favorites I've picked out, we went all over the city and founds lots of neat little spots.


As everyone who know me will realize, photographs for me aren't about the location, they're about the emotions. And I've gotta say, this photo in Union Square is my absolute fave because of Bhumika's smile. I just love it!




It was actually pretty difficult to get these two to NOT smile at me :)


Busy, busy, busy...Bharat struck this pose without Bhumika knowing and she kept wondering why I had a funny smile on my face.


And who can complain about the colors of these murals! We could have stayed in this area in the Mission all afternoon if we didn't have to get back over to the Embarcadero!





Bhumika & Bharat, we can't wait for your wedding!

Labels: Portfolio, Portraits

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  Pallavi & Neil's Reception Finishing up on Pallavi & Neil's wedding weekend, here are some highlights from their reception....Enjoy!

They had a cute fuschia & orange theme going on...



I love the texture on the fondant on this cake!


Neil's cousins had a lot of fun with some dances they did for the audience.









And, of course, everyone spent the rest of the night dancing away...



The sweetest thing at the end of the night was when Neil & Pallavi's friends conspired with the DJ to play their First Dance song while all their closest friends & family did a nice big group hug to end the dancing. I must say, in all the weddings I've photographed, this was about the sweetest way to finish the night!



Congrats Neil & Pallavi. Thanks for having us at your wedding!

Labels: Gujarati, Hindu, Portfolio, Tamil, Weddings

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  Pallavi & Neil's Wedding Following up on the previous post about Pallavi & Neil's truly multi-cultural wedding, here are some highlights from the wedding ceremony itself. The wedding & reception were held at the Canyon View Dining Hall in San Ramon. It's a beautiful venue with a view out on the hills in the back. The ceremony itself was held outdoors so the light was just amazing especially as the sun was setting.

For folks not accustomed to Indian weddings, the fact that the ceremony was held outdoors is a bit of novelty since it's actually pretty tough to find a nice outdoor location that can hold the large number of people that are usually invited to such affairs. Safe to say, we photographers are so happy when we get such amazing light ;)

Onto the photos!













The ceremony was split into 2 halves. Following her Tamil tradition, Pallavi changed her sari half way through the ceremony. Amongst other tradtions, the second half included the mangala darna where Neil ties the traditional Tamil Thali around Pallavi's neck as she sits in her father lap. This is different than the North Indian tradition which usually involves a small Mangal Sutra and the bride doesn't sit in her father's lap.


I just absolutely LOVE the look in Pallavi's eyes here! Can ya guess she's happy?! :)

And as with most Hindu ceremonies, it can get chaotic on the mandap. In this case, numerous people had to help Neil tie the thali since it was actually difficult for him to see around all the flowers, etc. It's actually pretty fun to watch & document the little things going on like this. It's not something which the audience sees since it's usually hidden behind a bunch of people on stage who are all trying to help. So many times, I feel blessed at the chance I get to capture these little moments between family members like this one where Pallavi's aunt is explaining to Neil's sister just how the knots should be tied.


Just one more post to go for Pallavi & Neil's wedding! Watch out for the highlights from their reception coming shortly!

Labels: Hindu, Portfolio, Tamil, Weddings

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  Pallavi & Neil's Pre-Wedding Traditions As we mentioned in the previous post, Pallavi & Neil had an action packed wedding weekend with elements of both Gujarati & Tamil wedding cultures mixed in. There was a traditional North India baraat, Tamil oonjal, and lots of other tidbits pulled from the variety that is Indian Hindu culture.

So let's start off with the events leading up the actual wedding...

Of course, a beautiful blushing bride starts her day with her sisters and mother in the hotel room :)

These are actually Pallavi's sister's saris...dontcha love the colors?!







Everyone wants a sneak peek at the bride!






If you're wondering why that umbrella's there, it's not because of rain, it's part of the tradition of a Tamil groom going to Kashi for his education. The tradition goes that the groom doesn't really want to get married and would rather further his religious education. Before he meets the bride, the priest and families must convince him to get married for the good of both families. Here, Neil's coming back to the wedding milni with his grandfather who convinced him to return to his wedding ceremony :)


A little Gujarati tradition with Pallavi coming out so that they can both garland each other. It may not look like it here, but their both on the shoulders of their relatives. The game it to prevent the other from getting the garland on. As usual, a wedding day is filled with lots of little games to keep it fun!

And just to clarify, even though Neil is following the Tamil traditions and Pallavi is following the Gujarati traditions, it's actually Neil who's Gujarati and Pallavi who's Tamil. Basically, the whole family ensured that everyone participated in the various traditions and made the entire weekend a load of fun. Some people say that a marriage isn't just about two people getting married, but actually about two families coming together. That may be a cheesy line during many speeches, but I truly believe that to be the case for multi-cultural weddings.


And moving onto more Tamil traditions, Neil & Pallavi had a Oonjal (swing) ceremony...







And to finish this post off, an afternoon portrait of the bride, groom, and groomsmen. Love it!

Look out for more from their wedding day soon!

Labels: Gujarati, Hindu, Portfolio, Tamil, Weddings

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  Pallavi & Neil's Garba We had the pleasure of covering Pallavi & Neil's wedding weekend and since it combined both Tamil & Gujarati traditions, it was a wonderful mish-mash of cultures & events.

Here are some highlights from their garba which was held at the San Ramon Community Center. Since it's a semi-circular hall with a half-dome, I always feel like it's the perfect place for garba!

We're used to capturing all the action & movement at garba-raas, but this time, let's start with some of the details. Neil's family added some cute little touches throughout the hall to make sure people know this was a Gujarati affair :)


And the unique Ganesh statue's they had were just wonderful! These were true works of art and I couldn't help but spend some extra time getting some interesting angles on these statues.

Onto the dancing!







Watch out for more from Pallavi & Neil's wedding weekend coming up on the blog shortly!

Labels: Garba, Gujarati, Hindu, Portfolio, Weddings

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  Sharan & Manny's Engagement Portraits We got the chance to photography Sharan & Manny on a really quiet weekday in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago and we couldn't wait to share the fully processed photos. We took Sharan & Manny to the Palace of Fine Arts & Baker Beach for a wonderfully fun afternoon. Even though we only met in person for the first time during the photo session, we had talked on the phone a lot before so it really helped to understand what Sharan & Manny wanted. As you can see in these photos, we were definitely going for a really romantic look and the additional processing you see like the textures, blurs, and embellishments are all about bringing out more of that in the photos. Hope you enjoy!




This weeping willow is always so beautiful, but the location is usually way crowded. Lucky for us, it was pretty quiet and we got more than enough time to get some really stunning angles. Funny enough, this is the only photo in this blog posting that doesn't have significant artistic post production done to it!

This is my ABSOLUTE fave from this session. As usual, we time our sessions knowing where the sun will be; Asad noticed this angle and we just had to stop and get some crazy cool backlit photos with some sharp sun flares. Yes, there's artistic post work done on this photo, but a lot less than you'd imagine ;) Yes, the sun's real, yes, the blur's real...just some texturing & color touch-ups added...







Sharan & Manny, thanks for giving us the opportunity to photograph your engagement portraits!

Labels: Engagements, Portfolio, Portraits

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