Kalpana & Ramesh came to us last spring looking for coverage of their wedding and some classic engagement portraits. The Stanford campus fit them perfectly so we took them out last summer for one of the more classic portrait sessions we’ve done in a while. But, as you’ll notice in the photos below, we tried to mix things up with a variety of stuff over the course of the shoot.
We’ve been amiss lately due to some travel that both Asad and I have been doing. But getting back into the swing of posting some highlights from our recent shoots…
We actually took Sunny & Gary out back in July a little while before their wedding. Now that the fall chill is upon us, it’s actually kind of nice to see these warm pictures 
On to the photos!
Although we only met Sunny & Gary for the first time at the shoot itself, it was actually really easy to get into the swing of the photo session. We normally start things out a bit slow & formal, but I quickly realized that there was no need for that.
We started the shoot over at The Palace of Fine Arts and then moved on to Baker Beach. Something about Indian skin tones, blue tones in clothing and the Palace of Fine Arts just goes together….
We actually spent way more time at the beach and for good reason. They were game for lot of stuff including getting wet in the water.
This shot obviously has a lot of work done to it with the color tones, textures, etc, but it spoke to me even before I started editing it. It’s actually posted on Flickr and it’s one of my most viewed shots there. Asad actually took the shot and I wouldn’t be surprised if he counts it as one of his annual faves 
This is one of those serendipitous shots…totally unplanned and unposed (just a bit of shoe arranging), but it’s one of my faves from this year…and it’s a nice way to end this post.
Sunny & Gary, congrats on your wedding!
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!
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!
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!
Wedding season is upon us and, as usual, we’re finding it tough to keep posting here on the blog since we’re wrapped up in events & post-production. Anyways, we’ll certainly try to do better with keeping things fresh here
So onto Shweta & David’s engagement portraits. The happy couple is actually getting married today! So in advance of that, we went out to San Francisco. North Beach and Baker Beach were the neighborhoods of choice on this shoot.
Washington Square is always a nice little spot to start off the afternoon with. Since the weather was great, it was actually pretty crowded and finding sight lines without sunbathers was a challenge!
Look at David all dapper in his suit!
We found this closed down cafe/restaurant that still had a bench outside. The wierd thing is that the restaurant still had all of the tables with ready place settings..glasses, napkins, silverware, etc. It was like they had set everything up for the next day and then just decided to not open up! Anyways, we got this great little spot just off of the street.
Can ya say GLARE! Lovin’ it!
Oooh, textures. Couldn’t help adding some with this shot.
A private moment as we pretended to change lenses No matter how much our couples want to get candids, we still try and mix it up to give them something they don’t expect…
Can you believe Baker Beach was packed with sunbathers and kids playing in the water? We still found a few angles where we had a clear view all the way to Golden Gate Bridge. Beautiful day!
I love how the light bounces off David’s shirt back onto Shweta. Talk about sun kissed.
And finally…kissing in the sun 
Congrats guys! Can’t wait to see what you guys have planned for today!
As wedding season has been ramping up, we’ve been doing some engagement portrait sessions for couple with upcoming ceremonies. So we’ll be posting a few of these before posting another wedding…
Starting off with a wonderfully cute couple we shot in the North Beach and Embarcadero areas of San Francisco. They were up for anything and even got a bit wet while posing in a fountain at the Embarcadero….
In the last post, I mentioned that the programs during wedding receptions have changed over the years. What our clients want out of their engagement portraits has changed quite a bit too. We still capture the more standard posed portraits which the couple’s parents will want, but in the three or four hours we spend with our couples, we’re really trying to show their personalities and express something unique through these portraits…So you’ll see a lot of stuff which may not fly at a wedding reception, but it’s a direction that we just love and hope our clients continue to ask for more of!
Love the texture on this shot from Washington Square.
And as you head off into married life, what’s wrong with a little playing on a playground slide?!
The funny thing with this shot is that Rina & Amit didn’t know this graffiti actually spelled out North Beach until after we took the shots.
We spent a little time getting to know the couple over some coffee. And we ended up with some awesome-tacular light at this sidewalk cafe. Just gotta love unplanned stuff.
Ahem…can you say romantic? 
Or would that be steamy?!
I just love that little bit of sun peeking through on Rina’s neck.
And my fave shot of the afternoon…of course it has to involve glare. Meanwhile, Rina was getting her legs soaked from the fountain right behind them. They could only hold this look for so long until they both cracked up from how wet they were. Gamers, I tell you…our clients are gamers!
Congrats on your engagement guys. I can’t wait to capture your ceremony!
Getting back on track since the beginning of the year, we’ve got quite a few events which we’ve neglected to include on the blog.
Starting off with Chanden & Valery’s engagement portraits. What’s great about our clients is that we seem to be on the same page about adding creativity and unique elements to something as common as couple’s portraits. In this case, instead of going with something like the Palace of Fine Arts or the Golden Gate Bridge as a setting, we finalized on the Ferry Building/ Embarcadero area in San Francisco. It fit their desire for an urban feel with lots of things to interact with. We had talked about doing something in the Mission District, but they wanted a little different and this area really clicked with them as soon as I mentioned it. With such a bubbly couple, we definitely didn’t want to stick them in the middle of a lonely park…walking the streets of San Francisco is definitely more their style.
If you haven’t been there, the first thing you’d notice on the weekends is that there’s a lot going on in the area. We actually took these portraits before Christmas, so not only did we have the hub-bub of the farmer’s market, we also had the crowds looking to skate on the ice rink behind the Embarcadero. So much action is not usually what a photographer wants during engagement portraits, but we took it as a challenge and ended up working in the crowds where possible.
Anyways, onto the portraits!
Many photographers try to stay away from the sun when it’s so high in the sky…Our philosophy? Work it! Getting that glare can be something really unique with little extra attention. Chanden & Val were definitely up for it.
What better way to show off The Rock?! This shot was actually pretty organic in the sense that I worked it out with the couple on the spot and it ended up being something none of us planned in advance. I love it when we can brainstorm ideas with our couples. It’s something that we always encourage, but rarely do we have clients who listen to our idea and then very quickly respond back with a variation. Gotta love it!
San Francisco always guarantees a great variety of shots and well known landmarks. What’s more is that it’s a bit different every time we shoot there. If you’re wondering..that’s the Bay Bridge in the background. Visitors to the Bay Area always think it’s the Golden Gate Bridge for some reason….
Central Park? Well, that’s the look Chanden wanted to go for. Just scoping out the area around North Beach and the Embarcadero, we found a little park nestled in between the taller buildings. Perfect fall/winter feel.
Talk about glare! Walking along Market Street, I thought the sun was just something we had to include in this shot.
At the end of our shoot, most couples are usually pretty tired. Taking pictures isn’t an easy thing! At this point in our shoots, we usually have to slow down and give really specific directions to our couples. In this case, Chanden & Val were indeed tired, but more than anything else, they were just so relaxed. We had gotten the exact types settings we had talked about and they knew any extra shots were just gravy. So I let them relax and just stood back. This candid shot is something I just love getting since it’s all on them and without further direction from behind the camera. All in all, a fun shoot.
It was a pleasure taking these portraits….I’ve known Nishi for 20 years! And the wonderful Westside weather didn’t hurt either Starting in Marina Del Rey and making our way north through Venice and ending up in Santa Monica was a great afternoon. The completely different environment definitely got my creative juices flowing and Nishi had to remind me that they loved taking photos, but they had to get going to their evening plans…talk about an ethusiastic photographer!
Anyways…enjoy….
The Venice canals…a hidden gem on the Westside…amazing that they’re nestled just a couple blocks from a major street with tons of traffic!
What always makes me smile is the expressions that couples have on their faces when they’re having a great time. This usually happens during wedding receptions when the newly married couple are dancing together, but I just love Nishi’s smile in this photo. Spontaneous and fleeting…just love capturing that.
Obviously much more posed…the setting sun, beach, and ocean in the background? Makes me want to go right back and take another couple there. Traveling photographer? How about traveling clients?!
Loved the lines on this wood bench and the people nearby conveniently got up just as I wished there was more space on the bench to get a slightly askew shot. Photographing people, I tend to forget about lines, but I just had to get this bench into their shoot.
How can you do a shoot in Santa Monica without looking out on the Pacific?
