It’s important to take pictures just for the fun of it. A few shots from yesterday evening at Salt Point Park and today riding down Moscow Road in Monte Rio:

Long shadow of bike and rider.

Feeling groovy today cruising down Moscow Road in Monte Rio.

Small sihouette figure of man fishing on jagged cliff with waves crashing below him.

Taken yesterday at Stump Beach in Salt Point Park.

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Zach and Lucy’s New Year’s Eve Wedding at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco

Zach and Lucy were married at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco on New Year’s Eve, 2012. We were able to drive around the city for several nice portraits prior to the ceremony. My favorite location was at Crissy Field on a pier with a view of the city in the background. The light was fading fast, but were able to get some great shots.

I shot this panoramic shot of the Fairmont in the morning by stitching nine vertical images.

I shot this panoramic shot of the Fairmont in the morning by stitching nine vertical images.

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Blending flash and available light

One of the biggest challenges when photographing a wedding is working with the light available during the limited time I have with a couple. Often it’s not possible to steal people away from the party or ceremony when the light is perfect just as the sun is setting, so I’ve learned to work with Nikon’s latest and greatest little flashes and my lightweight and very portable softboxes.

These two portraits were taken at the same place at different times. The first was shot immediately after the wedding ceremony when the sun was blazing hot and bright. I was able to photograph Kristin and Dave facing away from the sun. And in the second shot I made use of the richly saturated colors of the sky after the sun went down. Both were shot using only two remote flashes:

And these two were shot using a softbox with flashes, blending perfectly with the dusk light and moon.  It’s always my goal to make any use of flash invisible:

In Moscow, photographing over 1,200 kids at the Anglo-American School

I’m in Moscow photographing over 1,200 kids at the Anglo-American School. I have very little time (or energy) to pursue any personal work, but here are a few takes from some scenes from Moscow and St. Petersburg. I forgot how hard street photography is. Invasive, unpredictable, always changing. There are no “keepers” from this set of images, but I thought people might find them interesting:

 

A welder taking a cigarette break on Pushinskaya Street in St. Petersburg, Russia.

A young couple in downtown Moscow

Bicycling on the Fontanka River in St. Petersburg, Russia.

 

A young woman walking on Nevsky Prospect, St. Petersburg, Russia

 

View from Gostiny Dvor, St. Petersburg, Russia.

 

Miriam and Rob’s Wedding at Barn Diva, Healdsburg, CA

On August 18th Miriam Seifter and Robert Yablon were married at Barn Diva in Healdsburg, California. Their wedding was a big news event for the small town when Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice officiated the wedding of these two exceptionally bright San Francisco attorneys who met while serving as law clerks to Ginsburg in 2008 and 2009.