In keeping the theme of interesting connections, Vivian happens to be a friend of Jeannie’s from the time they were 5 or something like that. I’ve known Jeannie for over 10 years, which is about how long I’ve been hearing about this girl Vivian from her.

Well, I finally got to meet Vivian and Armand and shoot their engagement session just two days after Cindy and Andre’s. It was so much fun to finally get to know someone I’ve heard so much about. Vivian and Armand are such a well balanced partners in temperament and interests. It was a great experience to get to work with their energy and chemistry, and the light at the Griffith Observatory was pretty inspiring too.

(Yes, that pair of full length portraits (#14) is my homage to The Sartorialist.)

A treat for this blog: Vivian’s sister, Nancy, came along for the shoot and shot some pictures of her own. I don’t often get to see pictures of me taking pictures, so it’s a bit weird, but I thought I’d share them. They put an interesting context and perspective on my images above.

I’m not sure if I have ever met Cindy before this session at Manhattan Beach, but we have a strangely entwined history. My parents met Cindy’s parents many years ago, and my Reverend dad actually baptized and married them. Crazy, right? Okay, but it doesn’t even end there. Cindy was planning to vacation in LA from Seattle and wanted to do some engagement pictures while she was down here. Her mom mentions me since she heard about me from my parents. Cindy then goes on my website and realizes she knows one of my previous brides from participating in rowing together in Hong Kong almost 10 years ago. Just crazy.

Anyway, being really interested in mysteries of human connection, I knew I absolutely had to shoot the session, and it was amazing. Cindy and Andre have this really deep and beautiful bond, and I feel so privileged to be allowed participate through my photographs.

One picture that stands out to me is one photograph that looks like a normal photograph of them standing next to each (#13 in the slideshow). I actually shot it as a photograph of only Andre, and then only Cindy, and then overlaid them in post-production. I had the concept in my mind when I shot it, but I had no idea the affect it would have on me when I saw it come together. It just looks like I shot it with them together in the same frame. It’s something I’d like to explore deeper in future sessions, but I’d love to hear what you guys think of it.

One of the reasons I frequently second shoot for some of my photographer friends is that I get to try out some new crazy stuff. Some of it falls flat on its face and those pictures never see the light of blog/day. There are some other things that work, and one of those things has been dance floor lighting for me. I have been practicing at some of my recent second shooting opportunities, and I find that it works on anything on the dance floor, including toasts. Sweet! I’m really stoked to bring my new setup to weddings this fall.

I like this particular setup over some others I’ve tried because I feel like it creates this very dynamic lighting that I love to have in dance pictures. I also like that it’s static lighting, which keeps the room oriented to me, lighting-wise. I’m not sure why that’s so important to me, but something about it feels right. A lot of photography is not just technique, but finding the one that helps me say what I want to say with my pictures.

Thanks again to Jeffrey Neal and Natalie Moser for letting me come and play.
(Clint / Cary)
(Kris / Melanie)
(Cameron / Kelly)

Yesterday was the Nike+ Human Race - basically a 24 hour series of 10k runs all across the world. In LA, there was something like 12,000 people running. Pretty cool, eh? It was rather crazy to be running with that many people. As I was running, I saw a girl running with a prosthetic leg. It’s always so inspirational and humbling to me when I see people go out and do things of incredible mental and physical fortitude. Whoever you are, you freaking rock and inspired my run last night.

Perhaps the best part (at least for me) about running in LA was that Kanye West was doing a small concert after the race for the participants. Jeannie and I actually had really wanted to go see him during his summer tour, but that didn’t work out, so this was sweet. Common made a guest appearance as well.

Happy Labor Day, folks!