Tom & Maggie | Greystone Mansion | Beverly Hills, CA

I had the great pleasure to work with a few other photographers on a wedding for Tom and Maggie. Their ceremony took place at the Greaystone Mansion in Beverly Hills. The venue is impressive but it was no comparison to the beauty that was oozing from those in attendance. I just met Tom and Maggie on the day of the wedding and I was happily surprised at how cool they were. I was treated like I was their primary photographer even though I was there to lend a hand to a friend.

If you have a chance to visit the Greystone Mansion, DO IT! The grounds are beautiful and the view was outstanding. I would really like to photograph a wedding there again! There really are great locations all around… there is a spot with rows of cypress trees, the mansion’s architecture is cool, there is a reflection pond complete with live turtles! As a wedding photographer, I was giddy!

I would like to thank Oz Wroe and his lovely assistant (and wife, Ali) for inviting me along. Please visit oz’s blog (www.ozvisuals.com/blog) to see a slideshow of the day. I love shooting with Oz, we get a long great and really work well together! I also met Jon Chan (www.jonchanphotography.com) and just like Oz, Jon is one cool guy! He works very efficiently and professionally and I am going to make sure that I work with him again – you hear me Jon?!?!?. And we were all joined a good friend of mine, Kyle Serra (kserravideo.webs.com). He is a great videographer and has helped me a lot in the past when it came to editing video. He is a joy to work with and I cannot wait to see his edit of the footage! Thanks Kyle!

Tom and Maggie, I want to thank you for allowing me to join you on your wedding day. I had a ton of fun! I hope you enjoy the photos.
-pesh

And baby makes…

… well, FIVE actually. Last Friday, we ALL joined Heather for her ultrasound. Grace as being her normal crawly, tossing everything, wanting freedom way… Jordan was being helpful with her and was playing with the camera (a couple of his shots are below) and Heather and I were just waiting patiently. This is the second time seeing this same ultrasound doctor and he was happy to see us again, and so soon!

We are going to find out the sex of the baby but we do not know yet. The baby had his/her legs crossed. Our plan is to learn the sex of the baby during a BBQ for Fathers Day. For the record, Jordan is hoping for a boy. Grace has not mentioned any preference. Heather feels strongly that it is a boy and for me, I know that lightning does not strike twice but it would be cool to have another daughter with Graces personality!

Headshots, Jordan, Saliva – OH MY!

UPDATED – Montage shoot for the 7 Workshop with Mike Colon

Yesterday was a pretty cool day for me!  I was attended on the 7 Workshop hosted by Mike Colon (www.mikecolon.com) and if you are not aware – it is a small 1-day workshop with only 8 total people (including Mike).  We are all wedding photographers from around Southern California – We had folks from Oceanside, Palos Verdes, Riverside, Orange, Pasadena, Ladera Ranch (me ) and Santa Clarita.

We started at around 10AM and continued well into the night, I arrived at home at 1AM and was still so stoked from the day that I began culling my images  Mike did a great job sharing as much information as possible in the time we had, even if we had another day, I am sure he would have been able to fill our noggins with knowledge!

We spent the morning going over classroom-style instruction on subjects like equipment, composition and shooting in full manual.  The afternoon had us out on a shoot at the Montage Resort in Laguna Beach.  Although it was a bit gloomy  (VERY ODD!), we had a lot of fun and even found some good light.  We were treated to the Presidential Suite (thank you Jaime!!!) and we even took a walk around the Montage in search of good light.  Our models were troopers though, even when we started feeling freezing rain pelt us!  If you live in Southern California and can get to Laguna Beach, I recommend stopping into the Montage Resort for a peek, it is beautiful, even when the weather is crummy!

A portion of the day was spent on products – things like albums, prints, and the like.  Mike shared his albums from Leather Craftsmen and La-Vie.  A shout-out goes to Ari at Leather Craftsmen (www.leathercraftsmen.com)- he sure was generous  Lunch was provided by Pixel 2 Canvas (www.pixel2canvas.com) and dinner was provided by Pictage (www.pictage.com) – Thanks Roxanne and Jim!  The fuel for our day was tasty.  It was great to touch all the products because a picture does not do an 11×14 full-leather album justice!

I always THOUGHT I wanted to shoot there but after being in the suite and on the grounds, I would LOVE to photograph a wedding at the Montage Resort.  There are so many great locations from the room, to the pool and down to the beach.  There is even a GINORMOUS fire pit with a stellar view of the Pacific!  So if you are considering the Montage Resort, DO IT!  If you are looking for a wedding photographer, look no more, I’m your guy!

Here is a sneek peek of my images from the day, I promise there will be more to come soon.

Our models for the shoot are Jessica Seeley and Brian Ames, you guys were so fun, thanks for braving the weather!

UPDATE – Julia of julialovan.com designed and provided the dress for this shoot – check her out, she has some great stuff – and I’m a guy – imagine what you ladies would think!

Some time at the Park

2010 Pan Jiu Jitsu Championships

When considering a wedding photographer

I am often asked for some things to consider when a friend of mine is looking for a photographer.This happened recently and I figured it might not be a bad I dea to just get them all on paper – err, blog.

I am trying to categorize them

THE PEOPLE:

First of all, take some time to get to know your photographer, after all, you will be spending your day WITH them and it is no fun with someone that is no fun! If a photographer was not interested in being confortable with me and my bride-to-be, that would raise a flag for me. Think about it, the more comfortable you are with your photographer, the better the images will be.

I love getting things like this – pesh wedding photography

I got a nice thank you from a wedding couple last year. Richard and Laura invited me into their day and we had a great time. We began with a tea ceremony in the AM, moved to a “western” wedding outdoors during the early afternoon and rocked out into the evening. It is not often that I get a thank you card so when I do, I admit that I beam a little

It reads:

Hi Pesh!
Thank you for being our photographer. The pictures are great and we love them a lot! The day turned out GREAT. You made it very comfortable for us, as if you weren’t even there! We always love looking at your blog too! Great photos! Stay in touch!
Thanks again, Richard & Laura