"Amazing Phil & Grace"

Here we are in our ninth month or so of business at Weddings 9-1-1 and today we receive a beautiful note from Grace Valdovinos, a gorgeous bride we photographed at the historic Rialto Theater in  Pasadena, Ca in 2008. We always like to think we work hard and we focus on the events that surround weddings, the bride, her family, the groom, his family, and all of their guests. It is so easy to be swept away on such a busy day and it's even easier to forget all the pertinent little details, until....the photographer shows the bride and groom their wedding day all over again, in imagery. Keeping this in mind, we capture what already exists and we focus on YOU! Here's Grace's much appreciated thank you note and review, Wayne and I were humbled once more.

"My wedding seemed like such a whirlwind that I missed so many events throughout the night. It was only after I received our photos from Barbara and Wayne that I was able to experience the details of my wedding through her camera lens. I will never forget the priceless snapshot of my new nine year-old cousin, Sofia, as she hugged me in congratulations. Her angelic face pressed against my pink wedding gown. What I saw in the photo almost made me fall over in my chair. As far as I could remember, sweet Sofia was dressed in an elegant white dress. The photo revealed a few more details, including the pair of black & white Converse she decided to wear to funk up her look for the evening! So many memories that I have now to keep...for this I am eternally grateful. Thank you so much Barbara and Wayne, for your eyes, for your skills, and for your romantic sentimentality, the combination of which has given Phillip and me a lifetime of memories". -- Grace Valdovinos, Los Angeles, CA

Our Mexico Trip

Hello everyone! We are back from Mexico! We have to say that we had a superb time and although it's always great to be back home, we were dreading getting off the ship! What fun! This was Wayne's FIRST cruise and he was just overwhelmed with the elegance, the finesse and the casual settings all over the ship. Our first stop was Cabo San Lucas, although cute and thank goodness a short port of call, it was not our favorite. We then left in the evening for Mazatlan. We arrived in Mazatlan the next morning and it seemed to have more progress than Cabo. Mazatlan reminded me of Cuba, with a resembling Malecón (Boardwalk), along the water, nice hotels, and restaurants and much better street pavements. The people are nice but the vendors on the street and on the beach can be challenging, so if you go, be ready! We returned to our ship after having a nice seafood dinner along the water at a place called La Puntilla, meanings The Point. Before sunset we were off to Puerto Vallarta. We arrived in Puerto Vallarta the very next morning and I could not believe my eyes! Across from where we docked, a HUGE Walmart, and a huge Shopping Mall!!! This place was gorgeous! After being swindled by the taxi and tour guides, we decided it was cheaper to rent a car, so we did!!!! We drove everywhere and even left Puerto Vallarta....to say the least, THIS was our favorite spot! We swam on the beach, ate good, walked around the Malecón (one there too), the shops and the breath taking Cathedral of Guadalupe. I will let the photos speak for themselves, we are still beat from the trip so and have lots to get caught up with ... enjoy the photos! Oh, and guess what? We met a family on board, whose daughter's beauty made us stare, we mentioned how photogenic she looked and her mother then said "I need a portfolio for my daughter!", and hired us on the spot! Good thing about this, we got to do what we love and more we met some great new friends we will most definitely stay in touch with. VIVA MEJICO!!

PS The last photo was a view from our balcony suite on the ship.....whewwwwww!

Jacqueline & Christofer "LOVE is in the air!"

Congratulations to Jackie and Christofer...yes that is how he spells it, they are tying the knot on Sunday, March 1st and we are thrilled that they chose Weddings 9-1-1 to document this very special day. Our clients come first so it is very important to encourage couples to engage in an e-session. I love getting to know my clients, learn how they met, where and how the proposal took place as it helps me to produce and deliver an intimate portraiture, after all it's all about the clients! We see weddings through our clients eyes, and capture what already exists. Jackie and Chris chose to shoot on location of their actual marriage proposal, Rockaway Beach, CA. One of the major benefits from choosing to go forth with an Engagement session, or as we say E-sessions, it allows for us to get to know each other, feel comfortable with each and this is what makes a shoot unique.....We engage in conversation and try to allow the couple interact while my hubby and I snap the photos. It truly is successful as Jackie commented on how much she loved their candids, because they felt real. Another benefit is that the couple can see how they interact through imagery and they can pick their favorite angles, and their not-so-favorite angles and/or poses. In the end this helps out immensely as we also get to see our clients best features and we bring it on....on the wedding day! Enjoy the photos.....and have a great week everybody! Jackie and Chris's weddings photos to follow in a few short weeks!

Happy New Life to the Rosales Family

We were fortunate enough to meet and photograph Gigi, her daughter Rosey and her son, Jayden, a wonderful family from San Francisco. We decided to shoot at Baker Beach after learning about their lifestyle, hobbies and interests, and they had a new addition to the family, Morena, a beautiful little Black Retriever Labrador. Morena means brown one but also dark one. It was a gorgeous day in San Francisco, and for starters, the beach was PACKED! So besides having to be very aware of composition and aperture, we were also struck by an overwhelming amount of shadows....so, it was all about light, and placement. I also brought some seaside props, left over from our own beach themed wedding, and those worked like a charm as I wanted to engage Jayden. The shoot went well, we had quite a workout on the sand and then it got COLD! A few things that helped us on this shoot, good battery power for fill flash, our 36 in. reflector, and of course our powerful and mighty Z-ray spotlight, and alas a lightsphere wasn' t needed since there weren't any walls to cast those ugly shadows. We also made a list of some ideas for posing, and this ALWAYS saves time. Here's a family starting out the new year on a big cheerful positive note...and boy do they deserve it!

San Francisco Engagement Session

Weddings 9-1-1 would like to extend a heart felt congratulations to the newly engaged couple, Michelle and Eric. They will be married come this August, and I would like to share a few of our favorite images from their Engagement Shoot in San Francisco, November 15, 2008.

I told Michelle I would hold off posting the images until she sent out her "Save the Date" cards, as we did not want any possibility of "spoiling" any surprises for her family, and guests. So..now that her notices have gone out in the mail...it's time to show off these fun shots.

I went ahead and rented a fisheye lens to have some fun, and the use of our Brinkmann's Z-Ray light really worked nicely on the evening shots, everyone knows how much Wayne and I hate on camera flash, we prefer hauling a tripod and this VERY handy spotlight.

OK folks that's it for tonight, I hope you enjoy these images....we had a blast and Michelle & Eric were too cute and much fun to work with and we wish them a lifetime of LOVE!

Have a great day!

San Francisco City Hall Weddings CAN be beautiful!

They say "beauty" is in the eye of the beholder....however, most photographers know that portraiture is subjective and although subject matter really does help, it helps even more when whatever you see through your viewfinder BECOMES beautiful when we capture the right moment.

Amy, a sweet and grateful bride-to-be, dialed Weddings 9-1-1 and hired us to cover her City Hall wedding in San Francisco on December 19th. The first thing I thought was, ugh...I use to work there, I do not recall any kool photo op's other than the cool railings and the kinda cool statues that adorn the Rotunda wall on the 2nd floor, and of course all the crowds that run through the hall on a Friday, just was not inspiring at all. But, when we arrived yesterday early morning, we found a HUGE bountiful and gorgeous Christmas tree at the center of the Rotunda, and THAT made our day! And....all of the sudden, we noticed, a SPOTLIGHT...yes...to the left side of the tree and we thought, THERE IS LIGHT!

It got even better, when I got a call from Amy saying she was already there at the Hall, I then immediately noticed a gorgeous statuesque blond in a wedding gown..we both had cell phones in our hands and we immediately said, "hey is that you!?" We met and hugged and she gave me such a warm welcome, her, the tree, the welcome, this is a photographers dream! I then followed her to the ceremony check in and met her lovely 5 year old daughter Zyra, who was just an angel of beauty, and I also met, the groom, we can't forget him! David was a Dapper Dave, and they all just looked amazing! I'm sooooooooooo ready to shoot!

Amy and David had mentioned that Zyra was very much a part of the ceremony. During the Ring Ceremony, David, presented her with a beautiful ring of her own, and Amy presented her with a lovely tri-circle necklace, symbolizing their union as a family....just LOVELY!

We had some challenges and here is a note to help you avoid these simple little BIG details.

1) Make a list of poses, 2) Check your battery power, flash and camera, 3) Get there at least an hour before the shooting begins, we arrived 30 mins. before the ceremony and ran around like crazy! 4) Double check for White balance settings, to make sure you clear your last shoot's settings, and as always RELAX!

But now...meet Amy, David, and little Zyra Marie, we wish them a life full of love and best wishes!

And again and again MERRY CHRISTMAS to you and Happy New Year!

Our First Anniversary!

Hi everybody! We did it! We survived our FIRST Wedding Annivesary without killing each other. Actually we are so in love that, well, let me spare you the details, it's far too mooshy for all of you KIDS!

We trotted out to Skates on the Bay in the Berkeley Marina, this is where we had our Wedding Luncheon that followed our ceremony. It's a lovely 4-star restaurant overlooking the Berkeley Marina with breath taking bay views. The food, SUPERB, the service, wonderful. We walked in and they immediately escorted us to a lovely table for two on the window, just as I had requested. And, they remembered us from our wedding...perfect, this means we will probably get FREE dessert to celebrate, and we did!

It's so funny however, I took out my almost NEW Canon SD1100 Pink, stuck it in my handbag and off we were.....Boy, I had no idea how soon we forgot how to use a darn point and shoot. It just was NOT as fun anymore, I am so used to my Canon 40D, it was hilarious. Anyway...we had a great dinner hung out in Berkeley on 4th Street for a little while, then we dashed home. We popped open a bottle of bubbly and fearfully sliced our defrosted wedding cake's top tier, yea, from our wedding last year, and to our surprise the darn cake was AWESOME!!!!!!! Here we thought one year, one bite and one toast, but we at a whole slice each! YUM, and marriage so far...HOW SWEET IT IS! We are so blessed to LOVE what we do and do what we LOVE....Cheers!

Here's our point and shoot gallery....enjoy!