San Diego Shooting Group - La Jolla Engagement - Cori and Lamont

On Friday, the San Diego Shooting Group had our first shoot of the year! We're a small group that will be getting together every so often to have fun while practicing our craft. If you are a photographer and would like to join our next shoot, please head over to our Facebook page to join the group!

This time, we had a great turn out! A fabulous engaged couple, Cori and Lamont, met up with us at the Burger Lounge in La Jolla, where we caught them enjoying a delicious milkshake. We then walked around several surrounding blocks and took turns posing and photographing the two of them, before heading back to Burger Lounge for a well-deserved dinner!

Here are a few shots of the group with Cori and Lamont.

The following are a handful of the images I captured of the lovebirds! These two met twelve years ago while attending UCLA and remained friends for years before they started dating! Both studied Sociology at UCLA but later decided to follow different career paths: Lamont is now a writer while Cori does interior and graphic design. She's actually the force behind the awesome design and inspiration blog, Pretty Haute Mess! Lamont and Cori joke that creative couples have more fun, and I definitely agree with them!

Isn't Cori gorgeous? And how about that ring?! It is a vintage ring that belonged to her grandmother, Pearl, with whom Cori was very close. I don't think it gets any sweeter than that... ;)

For the next few shots, Stephen Knuth set up one of Shari Barnes' speedlights to create dramatic lighting. She was kind enough to let all of us use the set up to grab some shots! The following image shows the great thing about knowing how to set up off-camera lighting. I used the available sunlight to create the image on the left, and the image on the right was taken using the speedlight that Stephen had set up. As you can see, Cori and Lamont didn't change their pose at all--in fact, they didn't move a bit! The only differences are (1) the introduction of one speedlight off camera to the left and (2) my location. What's so great about this, you ask? I was able to come away with two very different images with zero changes from the couple. Cool, right?!?!

The following is my new favorite shot to set up! It's one speedlight (I use a SB-600) triggered wirelessly from the camera. In this case, I was using the Nikon CLS system because other photographers were able to fire the flash as well. This set up requires a light stand, preferably one that's voice-activated. Thankfully for us, Stephanie Zyga and Stephen were kind enough to be our stands. :)

 

A big THANK YOU goes out to Cori and Lamont for coming down and letting us shoot you! By the way, did I mention what a trooper Lamont was?? He had just had surgery on the Monday before the shoot, so he was on crutches the day! He would move to where we wanted to pose the two of them, then one of us would grab his crutches, we'd shoot, and then give them back. :) I can't thank them enough for spending their Friday afternoon and evening with the group!

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Kristin and Trevor - Old Town San Diego Wedding

Kristin and Trevor are an amazing couple whose wedding I photographed alongside the awesome Aimee Westcott! The couple lives in Las Vegas but often vacations here in San Diego, so it just felt *right* for them to get married here. And I knew their wedding was going to be rad after seeing the jaw-dropping images Aimee caught of them during their engagement session at the Salton Sea!

The day started off at the US Grant hotel, where both the bride and groom got dolled up. (in separate rooms!) Since they didn't want to see each other until the ceremony, we had some fun doing a bit of a two-step when it was time for their portraits down in the lobby! From there, we headed off to Old Town for the gorgeous ceremony at the Immaculate Conception Church and for more portraits around the area. The reception was held in the intricate Don Room at El Cortez. Take a look at their special day below!

I love setting up a flash in an unexpected location, which is something I've learned to do from Aimee! Yes, we got plenty of natural-light images from Kristin's suite while she got ready, but I love how she glows in this image!

Oh, the shoes! The dress! The shoes!!

One thing that struck me during this wedding was just how happy everyone was! Here, Kristin's mom is placing the veil on her daughter, and you can see the huge smile in her eyes!

Can we say g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s??

Oh, love!

So happy to be getting married!

What's a shoot in Old Town without some horses in at least one image??

This is why I love shooting in the Don Room! Yes, it's REALLY dark (like, super super dark!!) but add a flash or two and BAM!

Many many congratulations to the newlyweds!

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San Antonio... PPA Imaging USA recap and more!

Wow, I can't believe January is almost over already! I have a feeling this year is going to go by way too fast...

I was in San Antonio last week to attend the Professional Photographers of America's annual convention, Imaging USA. It was awesome for two reasons: (1) IUSA was an incredibly amazing experience, and I learned a lot from the speakers and other attendees, and (2) I got to spend a week with my family, which was kicked off with my dad's 60th birthday party! Here's a recount of my trip, with some (unrelated) photos I took while in San Antonio.

My older sister had flown into San Antonio on Friday, then my little sister and I flew in at 2:15 on Saturday. He knew I was coming in to go to IUSA, but he had no idea Kay and Caroline were coming in! As soon as Caroline and I landed, we headed over to Perico's, where about 40 of our family and friends had gathered to celebrate his 60th! It was so fun!

Then on Sunday, I started off bright and early with Scott Robert Lim's "Portable Fashion Lighting Made Easy" and saw Hanson Fong's presentation on posing. In the afternoon, my dad joined me at the convention (he always has said I got my photographer genes from him) so we spent a few minutes at the Nikon booth at the expo before listening to Jennifer Hudson tell her story through her art (amazing!). I ran off to hear Yervant's take on the future of wedding photography while Dad saw Harry Benson recount his 60 years as a photojournalist.

On Monday, I was inspired by Doug Gordon's flow posing technique and heard Jamie & Todd Reichman speak on running a sustainable business (it was eye-opening!). My mom, brother, and little sister came down and we enjoyed lunch at La Gloria. I hadn't been over to the Pearl Brewery since it was renovated, so it was fun to see all the changes! Then we snuck in a little shopping before dropping Caroline off at the airport and I scurried back to see Jeff & Allison Rodgers' explanation of balancing business and life! That evening, Mom, Dad, and I went to a cooking class at their church. It was fun to be using the same bathroom that I had used exactly two years earlier to get dressed for my wedding! That's right--it was my husband and my anniversary! Hubby was busy with work all last week, so we didn't get to spend it together, which seems to be a tradition now! (If the same thing happens twice, that makes it a tradition, right?! ;)

The convention wrapped up on Tuesday. Storey Wilkins inspired me to showcase the moments at a wedding, and Clay Blackmore covered how to photograph everyone. I was "captured by the light" thanks to David Ziser, and Bob Davis showed us his wedding reception lighting techniques. By the end of the day, I was exhausted but so excited about what I learned that I spent a few minutes outside the convention center taking a few shots of the area. Then Dad and I stopped at Bill Miller's on the way home--perfect!

I had a few days to see family and friends before heading back to California. It was awesome to be able to spend so much time in San Antonio, yet I still felt like I had so many others I wanted to visit before jumping on the plane. Unfortunately, Friday came too quickly and I was back in San Diego before I knew it.

This week it's been back to work, and I've spent time prepping for the San Diego Shooting Group's meetup next week! Stay tuned, my friends! :)

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San Diego Shooting Group

Hey Friends!

I wanted to write a quick post to let you know about a new opportunity I'm taking on this year.

Last month, Stephen Knuth approached me to take over the reigns as organizer for the San Diego Shooting Group, since he's moving to beautiful, sunny Florida to be with his new bride! :) He started this group last year as a way for photographers to get together to shoot, learn from each other, and build community. What's the best part of this group, you ask? Well, shoots are kept small so that they can be offered FREE for participating photographers! It's a great way for us to connect, practice, and learn! Typically, we'll meet up for a shoot in the afternoon, shoot for a couple hours, then we sit down and chat over dinner at a nearby restaurant.

We have one shoot lined up right now, and my intentions are to hold shoots every other month. The upcoming shoot is happening on Friday, February 4. It will be an engagement-style session in La Jolla. If you are interested in participating, tickets will be released this Thursday, January 13 at 7:00 pm (Pacific time). As I mentioned earlier, this shoot is FREE but the tickets are a way for us to control the number of people that will show up. Click here to register.

Sound good? Join us on Facebook to get advance notice of upcoming events, and don't forget to register for our next shoot!

See you soon!
Lauren

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