Christina and Alfred are the perfect clients.  First, they arrived early and actually beat me to Bowers.  I’m usually the early one!  Second, they brought 3 changes of clothes.  That’s more than usual which means that they were really into getting their pictures taken.  They coordinated colors without being twins.  That takes some major effort.  Third, they brought along a prop, Alfred’s guitar.  We didn’t end up using it but it was a great idea further displaying their relentless dedication to photography.  And lastly, they paid for a permit to shoot.  What?!

Looking forward to seeing them again at the end of June for their big day.  Click here for the slideshow.

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Just got in from shooting another great wedding.  Downloaded all the images off the cards to 2 locations and now its time to…blog about last Monday.  I took my nephew, Samani, to a little get-together where he was the only kid.  Everyone was wonderful with him.  He seemed to have as much fun with them as he does with his little friends and cousins.

I had fun too.

Ortenzio giving free lessons.  He even did a Figure 4 Leglock on Francis who tapped out in less than 2 seconds.

There was a lot of talk about what sort of creature lived in a hole in the tree pictured above.

“If there is anything we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves.“   - Carl Jung

When I got to Cherry Valley, I was greeted almost immediately by Kristin’s father, Stan.  He was finishing up the stage and other grounds work.  Busy man.  In our brief conversation I learned quite a bit about the location.  Most importantly for photo-sake, he told me how the sun was moving.  The man even drew a line in the dirt to show me how the shadows would line up during the ceremony (and he was right on the money too).  If you like the ceremony pictures you can thank Stan for properly prepping me.  Try asking a wedding coordinator those types of questions and you’ll be met with a blank stare.

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Kristin getting ready in the house she grew up in.  Mom is helping.  Lil sis is taking some candids.

Kristin with dad right before driving up to the ceremony site in a fancy red Benz.  They are posing at the front door of their former home.  If I got the story right, Stan built the home.  They lived in it for years until he built another one.  A bigger and better one I suppose.  The current owners are generous friends of theirs so they were open to having the home be used for a part of the wedding day.  Its a beautiful home with pristine scenery sitting alongside rolling hills of oak.

Rice in hair and all

It’s not easy breezy doing a country wedding.  We got really dusty and had to take a 10 minute break to clean our shoes when we arrived at the Four Seasons.  Our groom stopped by for a little break himself.

Not every bride is this brave.

To view lots more pictures click here for the SLIDESHOW.

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I’m running a few days behind schedule so I promised Kristin I’d post a preview of what I’ve been working on.  More to come in a few days!

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First look

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Lots of family. Even more friends. Jason. Michelle. Marvimon. The Golden Girls. And me! A formula for the perfect wedding. You had to be there to fully appreciate it. Hopefully some of the images below will give you a sense of what it was like.

Ice sculpture of Robocop. Big attraction. By the end of the night the big pistol diminished into a tiny water gun and the buff Robocop, a skinny ice boy.

There I go again…

Did Jason procrastinate on the vows? Or was he just waiting for the right moment? Maybe he was adding up the cost of his honeymoon. Whatever he was doing, he did it for quite awhile.

If we’re bringin’ back the 80’s with the glasses then I’m takin it way back to the 1880’s with hand-colouring.

Very intimate setting. A rare treasure in the LA wedding world.

The vows came straight from the heart and a couple of charts. Michelle had a Venn diagram and a bar graph depicting their traits and similarities. Lots of laughter. Lots of tears.

The burrito was Jason’s cake. Yes, CAKE. Even the tortilla chips were doughy.

Grandma @ the Marvimon on a Saturday night.

Because Jason and Michelle were entertaining their family and friends separately during most of the reception, I had the opportunity to shoot the environment. Check out the slideshow in a few days for more pics.

What a night…

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A few songs that would be on my if-I-get-stranded-on-a-desert-island-with-my-ipod-nano-with-infinite-battery-power-and-enough-food-water-and-shelter-to-even-consider-listening-to-my-ipod-nano-what-music-will-I-take-with-me list:

• i think
  
• dwyck - Guru actually drinks lemonade on the video! I can spit Smooth B’s verse at a drop of a dime.
• sometimes i rhyme slow
• time & space
• the seed 2.0
• atliens - aquemini - Every Outkast album dwells in my nano.
• kiddus i song from rockers - Watch Rockers.
• burning spear from rockers
• can can - This one brings a smile to my face no matter what’s going on. I’d play it after about 2 weeks of being stranded on the island.
• baby, now that i’ve found you - stay
• adagio for strings - Back in the 5th grade I rented Platoon and heard this for the first time. I heard a lot of F bombs too.
• 8 days a week - strawberry fields - all my loving (atu) - I learned about the Beatles on a road trip me and my dad took when I was around 12.
• charles mingus box set
• zombie - My favorite song as a senior in high school. Only recently did I find out that it was about oppression. smith prasirtpun photography los angeles southern california long beach lakewood bellflower wedding portraits music myfirstnameissmith my first name is smith

This time we tried to keep it simple.  A couple of years ago it was Big Bear.  Too far and freezing.  Last year it was Catalina.  Beautiful but hard work and a horrid sunburn.  This year it was Caspers Wilderness Park located about 7 miles off the 5 FWY in San Juan Capistrano.  Local, quiet, nice, and easy.  Next year Rob and I are going to follow through on what we’ve always talked about: a week-long backpacking trip into the back country.  We’re going to unplug from our normal routines for at least week.  Mark my words!

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I finally got to practice with my Lensbaby.  I left it on and never took it off the entire trip.  Here are some of the shots.  For more pics you can visit my Facebook album.

Rob introduced me to disc golf when we arrived at the campsite.  We threw his 2 discs around aiming at picnic tables, BBQ grills, and trash bins until one of the discs mysteriously disappeared.  Due to the emergency we left the campsite, got back onto the 5, exited in Mission Viejo, and found a Sports Chalet.  $30 for my first set of discs.  A few days ago I splurged and spent $15 on a driver disc.  I am officially addicted.  Yes, I enjoy throwing plastic frisbees, stalking it, and tossing it some more in hopes of getting it into an apparatus much like a cross between a basketball hoop and trash can.

The Ortega HWY

Breakfast after breakfast.  Really I think we just stopped for coffee.  Oh, and directions to Sports Chalet.

An opportunity in the parking lot

Only in Orange County

A view from the ridge on a hike we took.  Rob thinks we hiked 10 miles.  It felt more like 5 or 6.

The last part of the hike was filled with low lying oak trees.  The cover was so thick I could hardly snap a decent photo.

Signature salute

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