Today I am soooo excited to share these photographs from Debbie and Jaren’s beautiful wedding from April, and there couldn’t have been a more perfect sunny and tulip-filled day for this adorable couple to become husband and wife. It was my first time out with my brand new Canon Mark III and I was helping Marielle Hayes, a photographer I really admire. Debbie and Jaren couldn’t stop smiling all day long, and I couldn’t stop snapping away as their nieces and nephews carried Debbie’s train and played in the fountain or as Debbie and Jaren kissed in front of the stunning San Francisco skyline.

Debbie and Jaren, even though I was only able to spend just a few hours with you, I will always remember how beautiful your wedding day was and how much love you both have for one another. I wish you an incredible life filled with love and happiness and laughter!

These kids were soooo adorable!

I have a LOT of favorites from this day, and this is definitely one of them

…and so it this…This is what happens when you just can’t decide…The tulips were in full bloom and made for a perfect back (and front) drop!Another absolute favorite!It’s not every day that you can see for miles on end… LOOOOVE these skyline ones!

So to bring me out of blog hibernation, I am excited to share this first batch of photos from a business portrait session I did earlier this year. A friend of a friend was redoing her promotional business material and website, and asked that I take some portraits of her around the city and farmer’s market. And as soon as I met Jamie, I knew we were going to have a lot of fun. Jamie is a health and lifestyle coach and helps busy women take back control of their lives by inspiring them to feel good about what they eat and to appreciate their body and mind (if you ever want a smart and witty lifestyle coach, she’s your girl: www.jamieliving.com). We had a blast walking around the San Francisco and taking these photos, so I hope you enjoy these snapshots from our outing!

Sometimes as I snap a shot, I know in that moment that I’m taking one of the best shots that I’ll ever take. This was one of those shots…

I love every single season in Napa… the winter blanket of yellow mustard flowers will rival Napa’s fall foliage or summer’s grapes any day. I took this shot right after almost walking into an electric fence keeping this cute little lamb inside the vineyard.

The sunset radiating off of Russian Hill…

So while in Knoxville for the holidays, we went out to a park where Alexa and my husband, Rory, used to go when they were younger. It was so fun going there now that Alexa and Matt had their own kids, Carter and Sonoma. I had such a great time photographing everyone in the park and watching Carter blowing bubbles and playing peek-a-boo with Sonoma and making her laugh. Alexa and Matt, thank you so much for asking me to photograph you guys and for being my first family of guinea pigs. I already can’t wait until our next shoot!

Carter and Sonoma playing peek-a-boo…LOVE LOVE LOVE these pictures of Carter and Sonoma!I am sooooo happy that I am a part of this beautiful family!!

I also snuck in a few photos on Christmas day…

*After researching (aka googling) the existence of the word “funnest”, I discovered that Apple used it a few years ago when describing the new iPod touch as the “funnest iPod ever.” So that means it’s officially a word, right?

Just like the above library stacks, this cool art sculpture at Stanford is not actually curved in real life.

In November, I second shot another wonderful wedding with Paul. Cindy and Tony’s wedding was beautiful and planned to perfection, and I had the hardest time narrowing down the photographs to share on this blog. Cindy and Tony got married at the beautiful Hakone Gardens in Saratoga. But before heading over to the gardens, Cindy and Tony decided to do a “first look” near their apartment which gave them a chance to spend some time together before their ceremony and allowed Paul and I to capture lots of stunning moments between them. Cindy and Tony, I’m so happy I was there to capture your beautiful day and I wish you much love and happiness in your life together!

Cindy and Tony couldn’t wait to see each other, and we had so much fun shooting them and their wedding party before the ceremony.The Hakone Gardens is a beautiful place for a wedding. We only had time to take pictures in a small portion of it.

I took a few pictures of Cindy and Tony on this bridge, and it was almost impossible to pick which one was my favorite. This one with their reflection and the Koi fish in the pond is one of my favorites from the day.

I love love loooove this black and white photo.

We had a few minutes alone with Cindy before the ceremony, and did a mini photo shoot with the beautiful bride. How cute is this little boy??

Photo booths are so much fun!

To start the new year, I wanted to devote a post to a few sunset pictures that I took over the past three weeks. Sunsets are my absolute favorite time of day (sunrises are a close second, but the big con is the waking up way too early part), and I love when I’m able to capture a fraction of their beauty in a photograph.

You may have seen this photo from a post I wrote in October (San Francisco & New York City Photo Collage), but I wanted to include it here again because it shows one incredible San Francisco sunset.

I actually took this photo while visiting my family in Boston two weeks ago, but thought I’d sneak it in here anyway…

I finally had a chance to go through my photographs from October, so here are some of my favorite shots from the air show.

There is also an element of time in all of these photographs. Whether it was the spider web covered with dew that I accidentally noticed while walking by a park, or the fall foliage that transforms Napa’s vineyards into an autumn rainbow, or a worker bee secreting wax from it’s glands, or a total lunar eclipse, these are all things that come and go and also things that one might never notice if they aren’t there at that very moment.

I was in awe when I saw this spider web covered in dew as I was walking to my dentist appointment one morning. And while I contemplated skipping my cleaning, I was lucky that the dew hadn’t disappeared when I returned a couple of hours later with my camera. This was a remarkable sight, but didn’t last long, as the web was completely gone the next morning when I went back to see it again.

That bee in the middle is secreting four wax scales on its right side.

While bees typically work together, they can also fight. This can be seen in the below left picture, as one bee puts the other in a headlock. The picture on the right shows them working together, creating a chain as they build the comb.

A few clusters of grapes that managed to hide and avoid getting picked in the fall harvest.

These yellow spiral flowers are nicknamed Angel’s Trumpet. They open up at night and then close in the morning when the sun comes up.

While waking up at 4:30am is painful, watching the earth’s shadow engulf the moon and seeing the moon turn red was a remarkable phenomenon that I couldn’t miss. 

I was lucky to second shot another wedding with Paul von Schwarzenfeld a week and a half ago! Emily and Mike are the sweetest couple and they got married on a beautiful November day at Cañada College, where Emily teaches. The ceremony and reception was intimate and special in so many ways – Emily and Mike wrote their own vows and officiated their own wedding, the speeches and songs by their friends and family were filled with laughter and touching tears, and they had karaoke (which is so fun, even for those of us who can’t sing in tune)! And not only was this their wedding day, but it was also Emily’s birthday, which explained the three cakes that followed!

Paul and I were lucky that we could sneak away with Emily and Mike for an hour after their ceremony for their photo shoot around the campus and town. You can see how much Emily and Mike love each other in every single photo of them and we had so much fun shooting with them. Emily and Mike, I am so happy that I got to witness your wonderful day and I wish you a beautiful marriage filled with love and happiness.

It was a bit challenging to get the rings to hang on the delicate orchid, but so worth it!I looooove this picture…I love how the photos at the Woodside Store (which served as a lumber store and a post office once upon a time, but is now a museum) turned out.  We were so excited when we spotted this tree because it had the most stunning foliage and was the perfect backdrop for some beautiful pictures!