Hello! This is Rob and Natalie. Rob is an awesome graphic designer and Natalie is a lawyer. They like cool things like hiking, traveling and Star Wars. We had an rad time exploring the acclivities of san luis obispo and talking about random nonsensical yet totally awesome things. Like hawaiian vacations and building zip lines. I had a rad time and Look forward to their wedding this september at The Jack House and Gardens with Mark Padgett Event Design!
The month of march has treated me with a few things, green hills, hanging out with friends and the pleasure of photographing close friends who are getting married. This weeks installment of what seems like a 3 part series is one of my closets friends from college (and beyond), Steven Hasegawa and his best friend/fianceé/ partner in shenanigans, Katie Gilfoy. Steven and I met in the Cal Poly Art & Design Department and we grew to become close friends as we endured hours of cutting, gluing, drawing, mouse clicking and yelling at printers in order to make our 8 am critique. We took numerous classes together in order to challenge and encourage one another and to this day, we still work on side projects together just for the fun of it. When He met Katie, I instantly knew that they were perfect for each other. Her creativity and quirkiness fit so well with steven’s, it easy to see that they are two peas. Even though I am sad to see him leave SLO, I am excited to see what married life has in store for them and I look forward to seeing what crazy awesome side projects we all can come up with together.
Steven is an awesomely talented designer at Level Studios and Katie is an architecture student just finishing up her masters at USC.
I love it when my friends get engaged. I get extra excited when I get to be a sneaky photographer ninja and capture a ring unveiling.
Josh upped his game with this proposal. The whole day involved a road trip from the central coast to Hume Lake (where they met) and back with special stops in between. The grand finale was for them to stumble upon a chest, on a rocky reef next to the ocean, that is full of love notes in bottles. Once discovered and the main note read, Josh would ask her. His brother, sister and I went an hour earlier to set it up and to wait in anticipation. The weather was perfect and Josh timed their arrival just right with the sun reaching its golden hour glory. When they reached the spot were we placed the chest, all went according to plan and She Said Yes.
Joshua Micah Coffey is one of my oldest friends. Him and I go WAY back to the days of the mountain and all the adventure that it offered young teenage boys. It is such a rad experience to grow up with a friend and then to witness him fall in love with the girl of his dreams and start off on their new life together. I am so happy for Josh and Sawyer.
P.S. Kyle…your next
Narineh and I go way back to the days in the Cal Poly Art and Design Department. She currently is an art director at Level Studios here in SLO. When she got engaged to Raffi, I was super stoked. Necia and I (and Steven Hasegawa!) are excited to shoot their big fat armenian wedding this coming september! For this shoot, she wanted something to contrast the Bay area, where they were getting married. We planned an epic road trip down to LA and poured over several different locations until we found the Viceroy. As soon as we saw the images, we knew it would be perfect for them. So one february morning, we loaded up their car and headed down South.
On a warm february afternoon, Necia and I traveled up to Cayucos to hang out with Matt and Katie! We walked through the shops, ate some ice cream and explored the beach. It was super epic. We are looking forward to working with Mark Padgett at their wedding at the Cliffs in August!
One crisp fall morning, I embarked up 101 and met justin and denise at stanford university for this epic fall engagement session. Denise is a stylist for photoshoots and she brought her A game for this shoot! I love her style and her work. It was fun exploring stanford and all the beautiful backdrops that it has to offer. Their wedding is in may and we are super stoked for getting to shoot at the Winchester Mystery house!
My friend Andy and the love of his life are getting married. Andy is a bible study mate and Jess is a fellow photographer. I took a few frames of their awesomeness. Get ready, set, Go!!!
Their wedding is in May in Orange County. Getting Stoked.
Tim and Jessie are super rad to hang out with. About ten minutes into the shoot, I felt like I was kickin’ it with good friends from way back in the day. We spent the time exploring new areas, chatting with on lookers and engaging in straight up tomfoolery. They met on a mission’s trip to Thailand through their church ,The Well in Fresno. He is a farmer and she is a teacher. I am really stoked for this couple. They shall be my last wedding of 2011 in November at the Santa Margarita Ranch. Stay Tuned.
Whenever I drive the 46 and the 41 to fresno (i get those two confused) I gaze in wonder at the amount of space that is out there. There is a majestic wonder to the open spaces found in creation. On occasion I’ve seen rare and amazing things like lightening storms, elk and pronghorn antilope. It has a unique beauty that really only shows its true colors at rare times like a lightening storms, warm golden summer evenings or in the greenery or spring when the flowers are out in full brillance. I also wonder if anyone lives out here? Well to answer my quagmire, Christina’s family does! They own acres upon acres of ranch and orchard land. Christina spent here childhood exploring the beautiful California plains. Jason too had an upbringing in the open spaces of the world. Jason, a firefighter, works in the Bay area, but his heart is still in a land where you can hear yourself think so he lives here and works there. Necia and I were very blessed to have spend the evening with them at the parents ranch land. I love the stillness and vastness of open spaces, they remind me how small we are and how beautiful our world is. I hope you enjoy these snap shots of our evening session.
p.s. my wife rocks as a second shooter as is evident with these next few frames
top image is a necia specialty 
Justin and Lauren, What a rad couple. Justin is a firefighter/paramedic and Lauren is a nurse and they hail from Ventura but ventured up to San Luis Obispo for some epicness. We had an awesome time exploring SLO’s outdoor scenes. Our stylist Jamie Hill worked with Lauren to come up with their wardrobe and the ladies at The Queen’s Bees did her hair. Justin brought his childhood shred stick (aka skateboard, snowboard or surf board and in this instance…a surf board) and gave me the privilege of playing around with his grandpa’s rolleicord camera. I love old cameras, there is an art to those old film cameras that has been lost a little bit in the days of digital. The session ended when the fog rolled in as the sun set behind the hills. Necia and I had such a fun time, I can’t wait for their wedding in November at the Four Season Biltmore in Santa Barbara. Until then, Enjoy!
