Tag Archive for 'Portrait'

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Tammy & Mickey’s Super Hot Wedding

tammy and mickey

These are the dog days (and nights!) of summer and I find myself wanting to paint everything in the hottest colors I can imagine.  I want even my blues to be hot.  Tammy and Mickey’s wedding has been on my mind lots these past days and mostly because of their hot, hot colors.  The pairing of pinks, purples, oranges, yellows, and electric blues with their venues and the very sensuous mood of their wedding worked especially well for them.  And although we use lots of these images elsewhere in our blog and site, I thought it would be good to get an idea of how everything worked together to create what was really a breathtaking event.  As in any good color design, the color should work with the color scheme and season and general mood of your location, rather than against it.   Throughout the images, you might notice bits of blue and turquoise.  I think … little accents of cool color bring out the heat in all the other colors.  I also got the distinct impression that their wedding became warmer and hotter as day became night.

Genius florals by Michael Mantalos, {Louloudi Design}.

{click any image to enlarge}

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the-boutonniere

Tammy’s accessories included a barrette she made by hand at work (she’s a fashion designer!) …

the lovely bride boutonniere the bride by turquoise door the purse 180canali the barette 103canali amy michelson dress perfume bottle

Mickey getting ready, and showing off his Canali suit.  Love it!

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A few photographs from their sweet ceremony.  When you wed at a church as ornate as this one, no adornment is necessary.

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And here’s where it goes from warm to hot—the warmth of candles, the heat of red dahlias and yellow orchids, and the opulence of a gilded cake combine perfectly.  Cake by Margaret Braun.

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A belly dancer entertained the guests during dinner.

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I am a fan of any excuse to get everybody very happily dancing.  It is one of the best opportunities to photograph bride and groom with their wedding guests.  After the first dances, Greek dancing began.

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The evening ended with some of our favorite nighttime portraits.  (Yep, I posted some of these earlier this week.  That’s what put Tammy and Mickey’s wedding fresh in my mind).

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Revisiting their wedding these many months later, I am wondering how so few of these images made it through to our portfolio.  Of course, I’m always a little discouraged by how little of our work we can really show—but that’s a major reason we started this blog.  I think Tammy and Mickey’s wedding is a fantastic example of a wedding that was opulent without being extravagant.  There were little handmade touches.  We love that.  Hope it inspires.

photos: Gia Canali

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Published on August 1, 2009 in Decor, Florals, Inspiration and Real Weddings. 2 Comments

We Heart Nighttime Portraits

I love nighttime portraits.  Love them.  I love the carefree spirit nighttime portraits inspire, particularly on these long summer nights.  Also, the images are usually sensual, moody, and show the teeniest bit of motion—three things I like in photographs taken at anytime.  I decided to assemble some of my many favorites, a few of which are already on our main {website} and elsewhere on the blog, in the hopes that they’ll encourage you and your beloved to sneak away from your own reception—if only for a moment—in the hopes of something electric.  What better way to end your wedding album?!

{click any image to enlarge}

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More blue hour, than golden hour …

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Sepia-tone or color work equally well.

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Kiss, kiss, kiss …

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The weather was actually freezing cold at this wedding, day and night.  We did almost all the daytime formal portraits and their nighttime portraits under the ambient warmth of this twinkle-lit tree.  Though the setting was the same, the images vary considerably because of the light.

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It was as hard for Julia and Bob to want to leave the dance floor, as it was for anyone else, but I’m so happy they made time to.  In fact, that’s always how I feel: that nighttime portraits might seem like kind of a hassle, but they are always incredibly worth it.  There’s a certain release once you’ve come to the end of the scheduled events.  You’re married.  You’ve cut cake. You’ve danced your first dance.  You’ve danced maybe twenty dances.  And for the first time, it’s just you and your love.  This happy realization reads quite well on camera.  So be spontaneous!  Be adventurous!  And leave yourself open to the idea of a tiny escape.

photos: Gia Canali

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Published on July 28, 2009 in Full Articles, Inspiration, Photography, Planning and Real Weddings. 4 Comments

The Unposing Guide, Part II: How to Stand and Sit Pretty

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{as always, click any image to enlarge}

Yesterday, I posted a little about moving around freely.  But brides and grooms also spend time not moving on the wedding day—during the ceremony, for instance, or dinner; perhaps during cocktails, and certainly during formal group photos.  Even when you aren’t aware of the camera, you can improve your camera presence dramatically.  I suggest practicing well before the wedding …

I. Standing Pretty

If you’re standing, which you will be doing lots of on your wedding day, the best thing you can do—if you’re a woman, that is!—is to stand with uneven weight on your feet.  It’ll give your body that yummy S-curve you might have learned about in art history class.  All those classic goddess sculptures seem to show women like that, most notably Venus de Milo.  Models shift their weight around to optimize curves naturally, but the rest of us can do it, too.

Keep your bouquet handy whenever it’s practical.  Hold it low and near your middle, with your elbows slightly out from your body.  Not only will you have something to do with your hands, but it’ll be slimming.  {Click here} to read more about holding your bouquet in a flattering way.

If you are heavier than you’d like to be, turning one hip ever-so-slightly away from the camera will go a long way to keeping you slim.  You don’t even need to turn your shoulders as much as your hips.  And, as I said, you really don’t have to turn your hips much, either.  Little changes go a long way.

If you are rail thin, face the camera square-on.  It’ll give you the most presence and the most shape.

Men, stand naturally.  You’ll look great just as you are.  For most men, their posing/unposing challenges are more about figuring out what to do with the hands, and about keeping the chin down. Really! So keep your chin down.  Keep your hands at your sides, or maybe, maybe in your pockets if it’s a very casual photo.  Don’t ever stand holding your hands clasped in front of you.

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II. Sitting Pretty

If you’re sitting, sit with perfect posture.  I know the models get all slouchy in photos, but that actually doesn’t look good in real life or in photographs of real life.  Sit up tall.  It’s essential.  The impact is dramatic.  I find that sitting nearer the edge of the chair, rather than with my back against the back of the chair helps a lot. Women, cross your ankles or legs.  It’s not a question of modesty, but more a question of avoiding the thighs flattening out on the chair …

Check back on Monday for tips on unposing your face.

photo credit: Gia Canali

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Published on July 3, 2009 in Full Articles, Inspiration, Photography and Planning. 1 Comment

The Unposing Guide, Part I: Be Carefree in Your Dress

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{as always, click any image to enlarge}

I thought that here, in the thick of wedding season, is as good a time as any to begin a conversation on how to look naturally beautiful—or natural and beautiful—in front of the camera.  I’d call it a posing guide, but I mean for it to be an unposing guide, as I hope to help you improve your camera presence, even when you’re camera unaware.  And the best place to start is with how you move. This might seem strange because I make still photographs, and not moving ones … but how you look when you move will also be how you look on camera when you move.  In fact, let’s back up.  Your willingness to move around freely will greatly affect the mood and types of portraits and documentation your photographer will be able to get throughout the wedding.  Otherwise all you’ll end up with are static shots.  Most people, these days, anyway, want variety, and at least some pictures that reflect that sort of carefree exhilaration they share with their beloved.  In order to get that, it helps if you can walk together, dance together, move together.  You don’t even have to be adventurous (translation: no running, jumping, or rock climbing involved).  Snuggling is totally acceptable.

The biggest enemy of carefree movement? Anxiety over the dress.

I realize I’m probably preaching to the choir, but let’s get some perspective.  In the fashion industry there’s a thing (I think) called cost-per-wear.  You spend so much on a garment of clothing, you wear it so many times, you divide it out per wear.  Jeans are probably virtually free at the end of their life.  A wedding gown is off the charts.  It costs a lot.  Wear it once.  So, in order to get your money’s worth from the dress (and the day!), let’s say you need to a) enjoy yourself thoroughly, and b) end up with some lovely photographs to prove how beautiful and fun it all was.  So wear the dress.  Don’t be afraid to wear the dress.  Walk in it, dance in it, move in it.  Even if you get a bit of dirt on the train, or someone steps on it, or both of the aforementioned happen before the ceremony, it’s not going to show in the photographs.  Really.  No one (else) will even notice.

photos: {Gia Canali}

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Published on July 2, 2009 in Fashion, Full Articles, Photography and Planning. 1 Comment

Getting Great Wedding Photos, Tip #6: Allow Room For Spontaneity

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Most of the time, I say plan, plan, plan. And do that—make an itinerary, give your day some structure, but pad the schedule.  Not just for problems, but also for fun.  All the planning in the world won’t replace the thrill of the unexpected.

photo credit: Gia Canali

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Published on June 25, 2009 in Photography and Planning. 0 Comments

R & A’s Los Angeles Wedding

4x5 wedding portrait

R & A did a wonderful job conceiving their wedding. It involved lots of peculiarly-LA logistical challenges—a ceremony at the church the groom’s family attends in Downey, a reception on a chilly early-spring evening at a private home in Agoura Hills, getting guests to drive the hour-and-ten-minutes between locations—to name a few. But it came together beautifully under the direction of Heidi Mayne from Red25 (whose new site will launch very soon, so be sure to check back).

This wedding initiated me to {Krislyn} whose delicious designs have me swooning … Krislyn made the bride’s balsa wood and Swarovski bouquet (below and previously featured), the wishing tree, and the A + R vase (also below) that sat beside the tree at the reception. Lucky for me, Krislyn did florals at another wedding I photographed recently so I get to indulge (and share!) my newfound obsession.

{as always, click any image to enlarge}

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I have to confess, though, my aesthetic obsessions at Rosalinda and Aris’s wedding were varied. Many are indicative of current and coming trends:

  1. Krislyn (cannot be overemphasized). The design is extraordinary. And I am pro-keepsake. Aren’t we all? It’s not only “green” to double duty pieces from your wedding as home decor, it’s wonderful to have more to hang onto.
  2. The groom’s modern slim fit three piece suit from YSL. May all my grooms be so well-dressed. I love that a vest gives the groom not only a perfectly tailored look, but an “alternate” look. He won’t wear the jacket all night anyway.
  3. The bride’s all-over lace gown by Elizabeth Fillmore. It perfectly accented the bride’s lovely figure. The asymmetrical train was pretty fabulous, too.
  4. Bare wooden dining tables, dressed with manzanita or beechwood branches and orchids.
  5. Greek revival fashion, e.g., the bridesmaid dress.
  6. How the bridesmaid’s bouquet accented the color of her dress. This rarely happens so nicely, and was, apparently, an accident. Katie’s Flowers in Downey had set out to make a “neutral” bouquet because they didn’t know what color the bridesmaid would be wearing.
  7. All the nooks and crannies—and the Moroccan flavor—of their friend’s house, where the reception was held. I am always happy for architectural/environmental portrait opportunities. This house offered myriad.
  8. Little wooden wedding sign.
  9. Stone seating “cards” and table numbers.

A sweet little ceremony getaway in the groom’s brother-in-law’s Rolls Royce.

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Some of the sweet reception details … I loved the variety (as I always love variety) in the centerpieces.  Manzanita or beechwood branches strewn with orchids, or wooden boxes full of them decorated each table.  Presenting old family photographs as they did, in a frame, with strings and clothespins, was quite charming.

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The light changed quickly as day turned to night, so we snuck portraits here and there, as we could, amongst dancing and toasting.

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A little nighttime love … As I mentioned earlier, R & A spent most of the night close together. If you want wonderful photographs of you and your beloved late into the night, do this!

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This couple did an amazing job of designing a gorgeous wedding without it feeling like they were over-producing it. (I think that’s a weird diagnosis of some weddings, but probably true, now that I think about it.) They prioritized having a great party … and it paid off. They danced with each other and their guests into the wee hours of the night. For my own part, I was very happy that they made time, even as the sun set, for me to get out the clunky old 4×5 camera (see top image). I’m looking forward to seeing how these images become themselves, later on …

photo credit: Gia Canali floral centerpieces: Malibu Market & Design lighting: Images By Lighting

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Published on June 23, 2009 in Decor, Fashion, Finds, Florals, Photography and Real Weddings. 0 Comments

Getting Great Wedding Photos, Tip #5: Stick Together

happy couple

I have been working on putting together a feature on R & A’s wedding.  It’s hard for me, though: I usually like to mull over images for (sometimes) as long as a year (or more) before I display them.  It takes a long time for images to become their best selves.  Maybe I will make a Polaroid lift or transfer after many months.  Maybe I will try a dark sepia-tone, scratch it, and start over in color.  I feel too close to the images at first, and it’s hard to be objective about what’s really good.

Blogging, however, is all about the unfinished thought, the (visual) journaling, the diary.  It is by its very nature supposed to be spontaneous and decidedly unrefined.  So I am trying to learn that.  But in the meantime, I can’t help but fuss a little.  So, I thought I’d share a quick photo tip.

One of the things that helped R & A, and that other couples should definitely learn from is this: that with few exceptions, they stuck by one another’s side all evening.  It’s not as easy to do as it sounds, particularly if your guests are diverse or if only one of you likes to dance.  But your photos and memories will thank you if you make a point to enjoy (much of) your reception together. Congratulations, you guys!

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Published on June 20, 2009 in Photography and Planning. 0 Comments

Instant Gratification

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Every once in a while, I forget just how much I am going to miss Polaroid 55 film once it’s gone.  And then I remember.

Congratulations, Julia & Eli!

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Published on June 16, 2009 in Photography and Real Weddings. 3 Comments