First Baby Portrait Session Ever!

Two days ago, I had the awesome privilege of getting to photograph the first newborn I've ever taken pictures of: Emma James Woolery! She's 2-3 weeks old, so she's still working on her different looks and poses, but she's already a star!

Abercrombie's Newest Model

We've been having a TON of rain in Santa Barbara lately, which normally gets me excited to stay inside and watch movies, but this week a good friend of mine and I headed out to La Cumbre Canyon Ranch where the rain was heavy and the mud was thick to get some fun pics for his portfolio! We spent hours in the rain... which in my opinion is some of the best light you'll ever get! Here's just a few of my favorites.

Rooftop Wedding at Canary Hotel Santa Barbara

Last weekend's wedding is what weddings are all about! The wedding was on the rooftop of the Canary Hotel in Santa Barbara. And I must say that it was probably the cutest setup for a wedding that I've ever seen up there! Ryan and Claudia tied the knot , thousands of miles from their home, on a warm night near the ocean and the mountains with all of their closest family there to witness the exchange of vows. Including the bride and the groom, there was a total of 16 people at the wedding. This is my kind of wedding! Although everything was absolutely gorgeous, it was a great reminder that the significance of a wedding isn't in the production but in the people; the people promising their lives to one another, and the people there to witness, support and celebrate with them! Congratulations Ryan and Claudia!

St. Sophia's

There's no wedding like a Greek Wedding, and no better place in the LA area for a Greek wedding than at St. Sophia's Greek Orthodox Church in Santa Monica. There's none like it! It had been awhile since my last traditional Greek wedding so Jimmy and Tina's wedding was all the fix I need. One of my favorite aspects of the wedding festivities is the Greek dancing when just about anyone with a heart beat is out on the dance floor, people jumping and swinging by the end of a napkin, dancing around their next drink and throwing money! If you have never been to a Greek wedding, I highly recommend crashing one :)

Cambria's Most Memorable Victorian Wedding

John and Heather's wedding in Cambria, CA a few weeks ago was one of my favorites of the season! Everything was so unique, so them, different, fun, alive! And how could it not be? Just driving through Cambria makes me smile :) Their wedding was held in the backyard of a beautiful Victorian house down a country road in Cambria. And the Reception was just down the road in a very rustic/ rural looking barn called Fog's End. John and Heather are both in the Culinary Industry and you could have guessed it. I can't even describe how good the food was, which was announced by the head chef as it came out to the food stations. Everything from the outdoor fire pit, to outdoor first dance, to the sticky balls made this wedding amazingly fun and unique!

Firestone Vineyard Santa Barbara

Thank heavens that Firestone Vineyard has two different wedding locations! Earlier this year the county shut down weddings at the Crossroads estate, so all weddings are now at the main winery! Which is awesome! I never really shot much at the main winery until Crossroads closed. But they have a barrel room that is to DIE for! Craig and Erica had their dinner in the barrel room at ONE LONG TABLE (another first for me) that ran the entire length of the room. It was a really cool alternative to having a bunch of smaller tables! Plus the mood of the barrel room is so romantic!

Crystal Cathedral Wedding

I knew Jason and Annie's wedding was going to be a ton of fun from the first time we met. They are the first couple that makes me actually believe that what our mother's told us about our faces staying if we kept making the same face. They both have the most infectious smiles plastered on their face ALL the time. You can't help but smile and be happy around them!

Not to mention that I love 'FIRSTS' and this was the first time that I've ever shot at the Crystal Cathedral. It truly is an amazing building and an amazing thing that they have got going down there. Jason's Grandpa is the pastor, so I got a lot of background on the church and the building's history.

The wedding was gorgeous! It's one thing to have an outdoor wedding at sunset, but it was REALLY cool to be able to have a sunset wedding INDOORS, and be able to see the sun setting :) Check out some of the pictures.

Brandon and Melissa

WOW!!! It has been AWHILE since I've gotten to update the blog! A lot has happened that has kept me busy including a full wedding schedule and a trip to Taiwan, which was awesome! But it's a lot of fun sitting down to update the blog and getting to look at all of the past few weddings and remember what a good time they were.

Brandon and Melissa got married at beautiful Gainey Winery in the Santa Ynez Valley. The day started out raining but cleared up to be a perfectly gorgeous day from the ceremony on!

Cambria Engagement Shoot

Shooting in the "Spookey Forest" was definitely a highlight of my Saturday last week when I got to head up to Cambria to shoot engagement pictures with John and Heather. It is SUCH a cool town! But mainly because of the amazing people! I can't wait to get back up there again next month to shoot John and Heather's wedding! Here's some of the pics from the shoot!

The Latest

Well, wedding season is in full swing! And in the middle of it, I've managed to move as well. You really don't realize how much stuff you have until you try to pack it all up and put it in another space.

I also don't realize how much I love what I do, until I'm not doing it. With everything in the move being all packed up, I realized that I started getting antsy to get back behind the computer and play with pictures :)

In the midst of all the craziness, last week's wedding was amazing! I'd never shot a wedding at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum before, and it couldn't have been better. It's really an amazing location! The old Spanish Style buildings make for some amazing backdrops in the middle of downtown Santa Barbara! Check out a couple of the pics:
















And I can't wait until this September to shoot again with Annie and Jason, who are getting married at the Crystal Cathedral! We went and checked it out when doing our engagement shoot this last week. I tried to get these two not to smile, but it was impossible! Just Kidding :) But they are probably the happiest couple in the world right now... literally!

Crossroads Wedding, Santa Ynez

Saturday was AWESOME! Jim and Jess have been great clients AND great Friends! It's so fun when that happens, and I was so blessed to be able to share one of the biggest days of their life with them on Saturday, and at one of my favorite places to shoot as well: The Crossroads Estate (Now owned by Foley). The day was gorgeous, and you couldn't have asked for better temperature. I think one of my favorite times of the day was just before sunset, Jim and Jess had put a few couches out on the grass and as the sun went down, almost everyone came out after dinner to hang out, socialize, and have fun for a bit. It felt like one big family party! Love it! Here's a few pics from the day!

Eucalyptus Lane Wedding

Happy Memorial Day Weekend Wedding! I actually didn't even realize that this weekend was Memorial Day Weekend until the wedding on Saturday. Is that bad? And is it worse that I'm working from home on Memorial day? I don't know, but I had to get some pics up from Saturday's wedding. This was the first and last time I'll ever shoot at Eucalyptus Lane in Ventura, Ca. It was an amazing venue with an incredibly cool barn in which the reception was. But if what I hear was correct, Saturday's wedding was the last wedding that they will be having at the venue! So I feel blessed to have been able to shoot there before their run was done!

The wedding was absolutely gorgeous and Lindsay and Steve are such a cool, relaxed couple, it was so easy to shoot with them! But one of my favorite moments of the wedding, I wasn't even there for. It was when my assistant came up to me and told me about a woman who had such a big smile when he asked to take her picture, that, just jokingly he told her it looks fake. So she smiled and posed again for another one, so he took one. He mentioned to her that she looked like Bette Midler, to which the gentleman with her leaned over and whispered, "She is Bette Midler"! I wish I could have been there to see my assistant tell Bette Midler that her smile looked fake :) hahah! I love it!

Check out some of the pics: