Garrett Burdick and Matt Reoch, Photography Journal, San Francisco Wedding Photographers

WE HAVE A NEW BLOG SITE!!!

2009-09-10T17:39:00.001-07:00

Thank you all for visiting our blog site...

This blog will no longer be updated!!!

We have a new URL for keeping up with us...

Check out our newest postings HERE.

Make sure to update our new blog address...

www.gbphotographers.net

Thank you all!

Liz and Paul Wedding - Part 3 - Visual Guestbook

2009-09-04T10:22:00.000-07:00

One of the extras that we offer with a wedding package is our 'Visual Guestbook'. We bring a small studio lighting set up to the reception and photograph as many of the guests as possible. We create a very casual and informal environment, so that the guests have fun with it too. This gives them an opportunity to have their portraits taken with their friends and family and also gives the bride a groom a historical, visual record of who was at their wedding. We usually set it up just after dinner and after people have had a chance to settle into the day (and into their drink). So, by the time we roll out the 'Visual Guestbook', the guests are feeling pretty good and free to express themselves, as is evident by these photos that Jason took at Liz and Paul's wedding in Nashville! Great job Jason, you really captured a lot of personality in everyone!

Amy and Tucker - Leather Craftsmen Wedding Album

2009-08-31T16:55:00.000-07:00

We just finished production on Amy and Tucker's wedding album and we couldn't be happier. Once again we relied on our good friends at Leather Craftsmen to print and bind the album and our esteemed colleague, Laura at FMN Design, to provide her design and layout skills. Thank you to both vendors for providing such an exquisite album for our friends Amy and Tucker.

They chose an 8 X 10 size, which is the album that comes with our Signature wedding package. We absolutely love this size for an album. It isn't too big or too small, it seems to be just right.

Also, we just got word that Amy and Tucker are pregnant! A huge congratulations from all of us! We wish you the best.

Lorena and Colter - An Atwood Ranch Wedding

2009-08-26T16:56:00.000-07:00

Lorena and Colter have been a lot of fun for us to photograph...
Back in April, we photographed their engagement session and had a blast with them.
They are such a cute couple and so easy going.
The ceremony and reception took place at The Atwood Ranch in Glen Ellen on a hot and sunny afternoon. Everything was organized so well, thanks to Julie and her amazing staff! It made everything so smooth for us. Lorena was gorgeous and Colter was smartly dressed. The flowers, by Anne Appleman, were so simple and beautiful. They danced the night away in the rustic hay barn and ate amazing food, catered by SAGE. We had a great night with everyone! Thank you Lorena and Colter... We wish you a long, happy life together.

To see the slide show click HERE.

1st Day of School - Before and After

2009-08-25T09:44:00.000-07:00

Today I became a father of a kindergartner. My little boy Mason has started a new adventure. We walked Mason to his first day of school and there is no doubt that he handled it better than Laura and I. On our way out the door, he was greeted by his good friend, Anderson, which helped break the ice a little bit (for us). Mason's excitement was evident the moment he woke up this morning. Laura and I had butterflies. Why is it that we have more anxiety than our little boy who is about to embark on a long journey of institutional education? Is it that he has no idea what he has just began? Or is it that our little boy is now on his own path, away from mommy and daddy surrounded by new friends and peers? Probably a little of both. A very emotional and significant rite of passage for all of us.

When we went to pick Mason up from school at the end of the day, everything seemed to feel a little more at ease for Laura and I. The day was done and we were greeted by a very happy boy. His day was great, he had fun at recess and he was looking forward to another day of Kindergarten. What a relief! After school, Miles was soo happy to see his older brother. He ran right up to him and gave him a huge hug. Laura and I snapped a few photo's and told him how proud we were!

School has officially began and we are all OK.
Congratulations Mason on finishing your first day in style!

Liz and Paul Wedding - Part 2 - The Wedding Day

2009-08-24T12:30:00.000-07:00

This was an incredible wedding for all of us... My little brother Paul, the youngest of 5 kids, was married at Cheekwood Art and Gardens in Nashville, Tennessee. What a beautiful place to be married! Liz was just stunning and Paul was as debonair as I have ever seen him. I was Paul's best man so I had to give up photographing the event, which was a little difficult for me... (OK, so I did sneak a few photos in here and there!) However, Garrett and Jason not only did an amazing job photographing the entire weekend, but they also contributed to the huge 3 day party. We had such an amazing time celebrating the marriage of Liz and my little brother Paul all weekend long! As you can see, even Elvis made an appearance! Congratulations Liz and Paul!!! We Love You!!!

You can check out the slide show of the event HERE.

Liz and Paul Wedding - Part 1 - Tennessee Gunslinging

2009-08-20T16:32:00.000-07:00

Here is the first of a few blog postings on our time in Tennessee...

The morning of the wedding, Paul had several of his guys get together in the Tennessee countryside for some good ole' fashioned Tennessee gunslingin'. There were 15 guys and 12 guns with about as much ammo as you could shake a stick at. Man, the testosterone was in full effect. Living in the Bay Area and all, I was not much of a 'gun' guy, but after that morning shooting semi automatic shotguns, a glock and a few other shotguns, I can say that I have a few more notches in my redneck belt! It was about as much fun as I have had in some time. You have to watch the slideshow to fully appreciate our 'Guy-Time'. Enjoy!

Oh, and a special thanks to officer Daryl Howard for organizing our morning shoot!

If you have trouble viewing the slideshow, you can always go to the direct link HERE.

Mercedes and Eric

2009-08-12T14:11:00.000-07:00

Garrett and Jason photographed our dear friends, Eric Jones and Mercedes Johnson at their wedding at the Mark West Lodge and Gardens in Santa Rosa. Eric is a designer (Ohmbox) that we have worked with and have been friends with for years, so this was very special for everyone. You may recognize them from the Discovery Workshop blog posting that we did a while ago. They were one of the couples that we invited to be subjects for our Workshop Day 3 and the women at the workshop fell in love with them.

Here are a few images from the day:

Summertime!

2009-07-23T09:56:00.000-07:00

Oh boy, its summertime! And oh how we love the summer... Vacations, camping, hot weather, swimming, running through the sprinkler, BBQ's and beaches! Its here and we love it.

'I am leaving on a jet plane' tomorrow! I am off to Michigan and Tennessee to celebrate my little brother's wedding! While Garrett is heading to the high Sierra's for a camping adventure with his family and then flying out to Tennessee with Jason to photograph the wedding and celebrate with us! It is going to be a huge party...

We meet in Michigan at the 'Lake House' where we rendezvous with my mom and dad, 2 brothers, 2 sisters, and 9 nieces and nephews... It's a madhouse while we are there, but oh.. so enjoyable. Then it's off to Nashville for Paul and Liz's wedding, where I am the best man. There will be close to 400 people at the wedding and it's going to be a blast! I can't wait to hang out with my family, Liz's family, AND Garrett and Jason. What a great time it will be! Look for updates and images along the way... (If we have time!)

Cake and Pictures

2009-07-21T09:49:00.000-07:00

We are VERY excited that we have been invited by Shea Roggio from Cake and Pictures to be a part of their new web directory. The goal of this new portal is to only feature wedding photographers that bring something new to the table, in terms of quality, uniqueness or geography. They will only promote photographers, so their users will be brides and grooms for whom photography is a priority. Working with Cliff Mautner and Bill Cramer, they are following in the footsteps of their first web directory, Wonderful Machine, which has been successful and very effective in promoting commercial photographers.

Here is an ARTICLE in PDN about Wonderful Machine.

They have hand selected a limited number of photographers to feature in each of the 50 most prominent cities in the U.S. and soon 50 areas internationally. We are listed along with Ben Chrisman, Anna Kuperberg, Kevin Kubota, Becker, Bob and Dawn Davis, Jose Villa, and Jim Garner just to name a few other amazing photographers... We are very honored and humbled that they have chosen GB Photographers to be a part of such an exclusive group.

If you have a moment, check out their site and look at some of the outstanding photographers that they feature. We can't wait to see what happens next!

Mellena and Greg - Slideshow

2009-07-13T10:59:00.000-07:00

Here is the slideshow of Mellena and Greg's wedding at Wine and Roses in Lodi:

Liz and Paul - Guest Book

2009-07-10T10:44:00.000-07:00

This is now the second time that we have completed an album like this with Laura at FMN Design... A guest book filled with images from an engagement session with a couple. What a great idea, don't you think?! It sure beats the traditional 'sign your name in this blank book' style that you continually see at weddings. Take a look at this guest book that we just completed for Liz and Paul. Laura incorporated about 40 of our favorite images with enough blank space to allow the guests to write anything, anywhere in the book. We just love it! Thanks Laura!

Oh, and Asuka printed and bound the album... We like them too!

Mellena and Greg - Wine and Roses

2009-07-03T11:35:00.001-07:00

It was HOT... So, so hot in Lodi this past weekend! We endured the 105 degree weather to capture some beautiful moments for Mellena and Greg at Wine and Roses. This was a really fun wedding for us to photograph. Mellena's family is from Iran and they incorporated a few Iranian traditions to their ceremony and Greg is a member of the band, The Phenomenauts. So, it was an eclectic and lively bunch attending the event. There was a lot of celebratory dancing and animated personalities blossomed in front of the camera for their 'visual guestbook'. Mellena was striking and beautiful and her bridesmaids looked great in their red dresses. Greg and his groomsmen were very easy to photograph... I think that they had been in front of the camera a few times before. It was Mellena's wish to be photographed in a vineyard for their portrait session, so we scouted a little farmhouse with a vineyard and orchard before we arrived to the wedding. The location and end of day light were just perfect for us to photograph this stunning couple. Thank you to Mellena and Greg and we wish them the best!

Congratulations to the Men's US Soccer Team!

2009-06-30T10:40:00.000-07:00

A big congratulations to the Men's US Soccer Team for coming so close to winning the Confederation's Cup on Sunday. They battled huge odds to beat the number one team in the world, Spain, to make the finals. This is the first FIFA final game that the US has ever played and they had to face a huge nemesis, Brazil, who they have defeated only once in 15 games. They came out on fire and went up 2-0 at half. Brazil showed its strength and finesse in the second half, scoring 3 goals against the US to win the final, 3-2. What an exciting game to watch! The US team should be proud of their accomplishments. They beat the number one team in the world and played Brazil (5th in the world) to the bitter end. I know that they must feel heartbroken, letting this one get away. But, they should have a new confidence in themselves and new respect from the world that they can build on for World Cup 2010, which is less than 1 year away!

In the summer of 2006, we were embedded with the Men's US team at there practice facility in Raleigh, NC for 5 days. The goal was to make portraits of the players that would be shown throughout the broadcast of World Cup 2006. It was such an amazing experience, especially for me since I love world soccer and still play on 2 teams in the bay area. Getting to know many of the US players was such a pleasure. We were humbled by how real they were as people and how accepting of us they were even though we were with them 24/7. Some of the players from that team are still the anchors of this current US squad. Landon Donovan, Oguchi Onyewu, Clint Dempsey, Carlos Bocanegra and Tim Howard and are just a few of the players that you will hear a lot about with the buildup of World Cup 2010. We wish them the best going forward and we hope that we can be there with them again in 2010!

Here are just a few photographs from our journey with them in 2006:

To see more images click HERE.

Lakers Bring Home the Trophy

2009-06-18T14:06:00.000-07:00

We had the privilege of photographing stills of the Lakers and the Magic for ABC/ESPN's coverage of the NBA Finals. We met both teams in Los Angeles and photographed the top 7 players from each team with the Larry O'Brien trophy. We had a great time capturing their emotions as they saw the trophy for the first time before the series began. It was also a pleasure working with Valerie from ESPN and being a part of such a creative team. Thank you to Rick Chapman, once again, for leading the crew and to everyone involved with this creative project. We had a blast.

Congratulations to the Lakers!

Here are some of the stills and video from our journey:

Here are a few outtakes from our time with the trophy:

Florence and Bryan - The Mountain Winery

2009-06-11T11:43:00.000-07:00

We just had the privilege of photographing Florence and Bryan's wedding. As you can see, these two warm and friendly people are very much in love. We started the day by documenting them getting ready at their home in San Jose. Florence was just beautiful and so was the light! What a dream to walk into a light filled room where the bride is getting ready.

We left their home and headed to the beautifully decorated ceremony and reception site at The Mountain Winery in Saratoga. What an amazing location! There is a huge outdoor amphitheater and so many little nooks and crannies for portraits. It was another photographers dream come true for us. They were just amazing to photograph and they gave us a good hour of their time for portraits before the ceremony. It couldn't have been better and we were inspired all day.

Their ceremony was just as lovely. You could see their affection for each other as they gazed into each others eyes in awe of this time in their lives. It was beautiful.

We were able to catch another 20 minutes with them after the ceremony as the light was just perfect. We had scouted an area in the vineyards nearby and drove there for a few end of day portraits. We were so happy that they gave us this time... For us, it is one of the best moments to capture a couples love and we stress to them that they will thank us later! We gave them a moment to take a break from the somewhat chaotic day and take it all in. This allowed them to just be with each other and we were able to make some beautiful portraits during this quiet time alone.

We all left the vineyard satisfied that we had taken that time and headed back to the reception, which was full of surprises. Unbeknownst to the bride and groom, they had prepared a few games for them to play. The first was one in which Florence was blindfolded and several of the men were all lined up in a row (along with Bryan). Florence then had to feel the backsides of all the men and choose which one was Bryan. Needless to say, there was a lot of laughing, hooting and hollering and a little helpful coaching by some of the children. Florence picked Bryan's backside correctly and they moved onto the next game. This was another game that brought out a lot of crowd cheering. A sugar cube was placed down the front of Florence's dress and Bryan was told that he had to fish it out without the use of his hands. There was a lot of snickering and encouraging outbursts by the guests as Bryan successfully completed his challenge. The final game was very similar to the first, except that Bryan would be blindfolded. They lined up several of the women, including Florence, and asked him to identify his bride by feeling all of the ladies hands. The giggling continued as Bryan felt each and every hand and with the children's helpful coaching, finally chose his new bride's hand correctly. The dancing continued throughout the evening and we ended our time with them by taking portraits of everyone with what we call our "Visual Guestbook". We bring a backdrop and studio lighting and set up a somewhat formal portaiture area for all of the guests to come by and have casual, fun portraits taken for a visual record of who was there to witness their amazing day.

After giving our best to the bride and groom, we left the site completely satisfied and inspired. We wish Florence and Bryan a long, happy life together! Thank you for the great memories.

Here is the slideshow from this wonderful wedding:

Click HERE for another link to the slideshow.

We're off to the NBA Finals!

2009-05-31T01:15:00.000-07:00

Once again, we are off to the NBA Finals to take portraits of the players with Rick. We travel to Los Angeles, California to shoot the Lakers and Orlando, Florida to photograph the Magic. We always get excited for these whirlwind projects. It's a lot of hard work and incredible pressure, but we seem to do well under these conditions. We are working directly with ESPN and Vidiots again this year. They are incredibly talented people that have won an Emmy for editing and visual FX! The portraits will fused with video footage and will be aired on ABC/ESPN again this year. So, if you are tuning into the NBA Finals, look for our work!

Here is an example of what we did last year...

Discovery Workshop - Final Images

2009-05-28T11:27:00.000-07:00

We are so happy and proud of all of the women who attended the Discovery Workshop with us. We asked all of the participants to send us some of their final images so we could post them onto a website for all to see. We are still awaiting a few entries, but most of them are now online.

Check it out HERE!

Matts Birthday Weekend

2009-05-26T11:57:00.000-07:00

THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE PORTRAITS THAT LAURA HAS TAKEN OF THE BOYS AND I. THANK YOU LAURA FOR YOUR VISION AND MAKING THIS GREAT IMAGE!

Check out the blog posting for this image HERE.

I just knew that my birthday weekend was going to be great. It started on Friday when I was hired by Jeff Minton to scout the coast for a portrait he is making of Gavin Newsom for New York Times Magazine. I wanted to make sure that I had a person in the scouting images to give him some perspective on the location. No one was available in the office, so I decided to see if Laura and the boys would be interested in scouting with me. They were overjoyed! Until now, I had only brought Mason with me scouting and it was a wonderful bonding time for us.
Our destinations for the day were Ocean Beach and Fort Funston in San Francisco. Fort Funston is a beautiful bluff overlooking the ocean where dogs are allowed to run free, hang gliders cruise like birds over the cliffs and you can walk the beach for miles at low tide... It is a great spot for a day trip. The wind was whipping that day and the hang gliders were out in full force. The boys had never witnessed hang gliders before and they were watching with open eyes and mouths. Along the path, Mason stopped and asked every dog owner if he could pet their dog. Anytime I can scout and have my family there and take some great portraits, I'm in! They had such a great time here... Here are a few shots from our family scouting journey.

THANKS LAURA FOR THIS SHOT!

THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITES FROM THE DAY.

I woke up on Sunday morning to breakfast in bed! What a great way to wake up. I have never had breakfast in bed before and I can say that it was a little more stressful that I thought it would be with each of the kids eager to jump on daddy with my piping hot coffee in hand. However, it was very enjoyable to eat my breakfast in bed with my family! We continued the day in one of my favorite places on the planet... our backyard.

After a celebration with friends on Sunday, we enjoyed our Monday by dropping off the boys at Garrett and Tanya's house for a few hours while Laura and I went shopping. Yes, that's right shopping... I had told Laura that what I wanted this year was to go clothes shopping alone with her. We are both in need of new clothes and we have the hardest time shopping with the boys... So, Laura made the arrangements and I couldn't have been happier. It was very reminiscent of our first date together where we met down on Haight street and walked around, went shopping and had a yummy lunch. THANK YOU GARRETT AND TANYA!

We ended our day back at home. Mason had given me a science kit as a present so he and I could do projects together. It was so heartwarming to open his present and hear him soo eager work on these science projects with daddy. So at the end of the night, he and I started project One - Building a Tyrannosaurus Rex. I'm not sure who was happier, Me or Mason! Laura again captured a few of the moments.

Thank you to everyone that helped me celebrate this weekend. I had a blast!

Discovery Workshop - Day 3

2009-05-21T09:49:00.000-07:00

Day three took us back to Cavallo Point were we began our journey. The day started with a reflection of our individual photo assignments from day two. Problems, epiphanies, stresses and ah-ha moments were all discussed at this meeting of the minds. Many of the participants of the workshop had never had a photo assignment like this. Whether it was photographing a subject different than they normally photograph or having their first photographic assignment given to them, they were thrown into these situations. Each of the ladies worked through their excitement, nervousness and fears and emerged on the other side, one step deeper into their own self discovery.

We set up the next part of the day as a classroom breakout sessions. Each of the instructors took on teaching an intensive 45 minutes class on a photographic area of interest. MeRa taught one-on-one marketing and a website critique for anyone that attended her class; Rick went on a photographic exploration with his class, teaching them about background, texture and depth of field; Brian and Garrett took on flash lighting techniques; Matt taught organization, workflow and post production techniques, and Laura helped with branding and made vision boards with her attendees. We all enjoyed our sessions immensely and the feedback from the ladies was that they all wanted more. More time, more breakouts, more!

After our breakout classes, MeRa and Brian were able to go over their 21 tips for photographing people. All we can say is that we can't wait to use some of their tips on our next wedding! If you want to know more about their 21 tips, you can sign up for one of their workshops!

After MeRa and Brians presentation, Garrett organized several families, couples and kids for each of the women to photograph. What a great send off! This was an opportunity for everyone to take what they had learned from the weekend and apply it to their own photography. Teams of two, three and four wandered the grounds of Cavallo Point with their subjects. It was really great to look out at all of the women sitting with their subjects, getting to know them and making portraits that were reflective of themselves as artists.

We are very excited to see all the photographs from each and every woman that attended this workshop. What a long journey it was and will continue to be for us all. We walked away from the experience wide open and thankful that we too took this journey. We stepped through dark places, worked through our own fears and emerged on the other side thankful, grateful and alive. We personally thank MeRa, Brian, Rick, Lesley, Laura, Genie, Jason and all of the 22 beautiful women that trusted us enough to embark on a self discovery journey together.

Here is a slideshow of images from this amazing weekend:

Discovery Workshop - Day 2

2009-05-19T13:17:00.001-07:00

On day two, the workshop went out the the coast in the town of Stinson Beach, which happens to also be Rick's home. The day was dedicated to Rick's approach to portraiture. We gathered at the Stinson Beach Community Center, built a big fire in the fireplace to cut the chill of the drizzly rainy day and got to work. Rick spent an hour talking about the importance of connecting with his subjects long before making pictures of them. He showed us various portfolios while sitting on the floor with everyone gathered around, kind of like adult story time. He told stories about his portrait sessions with Shaquile O'Neal and Lance Armstrong and Tony Hawk at the same time highlighting his point about connecting first...talking, checking in on where he AND his subject may be on that particular day, asking if there is some image they might want to create or play out. Rick's teaching style was organic, drifting between making strong specific points and entertaining us with stories of interesting portrait sessions....from Venus Williams to his wife and kids.

Rick then introduced us to the woman with whom he was going to demonstrate his portrait process. Her name is Lesly Robinson, a 63 year old Stinson Beach resident who owns a small catering company (she later cooked us a beautiful meal of stuffed peppers and chicken kabobs on the barbeque). Rick sat with her in front of the rest of us, speaking to her about any number of things. She talked about how much she loves her kitchen, cooking and aprons. Rick talked about how he perceived her as royalty in the way she held herself and talked. "Approachable Royalty" is how he phrased it. They talked for 20 minutes and decided they'd start working with Lesly's apron... The shoot unfolded and the connection between Lesly and Rick became stronger and stronger despite the presence of 25 other people watching. They had fun together and it shows in the images. It seems Rick also made his way toward the royalty idea by simply using a deep (royal) blue door bathed in beautiful even light from the overcast day.

After Rick's session, the ladies were let loose in the town of Stinson Beach. Prior to the workshop, Rick had arranged for eleven of the local residents to be subjects for the women to photograph. So, after much anticipation and nervousness, teams of two photographers each descended on the town with enthusiasm. The assignment was to make portraits that were meaningful to their subjects, based on the connecting and interview process that Rick was teaching, rather than working from preconceived ideas and projections.

Watching the women return from their assignments was rewarding and revealing. They had a new-found glow to their faces and they were radiant. We could see that this discovery experience had shifted and changed them. The group spent an invigorating hour talking about their portraiture adventures with the characters of Stinson Beach, reflecting upon the connections that were emerging between the previous day's self portraiture, Rick's session with Lesly and their own shooting experience. After talking, tables were rearranged, tablecloths were put out and the fire was stoked, transforming the Community Center into a rustic dining room before the delicious barbeque meal was served. After desert, Rick took many of the women for a dusk walk down to the beach. They were overjoyed, laughing and doing cartwheels with MeRa all the way down the misty beach as night fell. What a wonderful way to end Day 2.

Discovery Workshop - Day 1

2009-05-18T09:56:00.000-07:00

The Discovery Workshop with MeRa, Brian, Rick, Lesley and Laura still resonates with us strongly nearly 2 weeks later. We both came away from the experience with a whole new perspective on ourselves as artists and as humans. Our sense is that similar feelings were unanimous amongst all of the participants and instructors.

DAY ONE:

We began our journey of self discovery at Cavallo Point in Sausalito, CA. As we walked up the stairs to our classroom, we were greeted by 2 images that had a lot of meaning to the process we were about to embark on. The first image, by Lukas Felzmann, was a diptych of 2 owl wings side by side. These beautiful photographs spanned the entire landing on the staircase and it was impossible to miss.

The second image, by Arno Rafael Minkkinen, was perfectly placed at the top of the stairs. This black and white photograph was an image of a person about to jump off a cliff in the landscape.

Giant Wings... Jumping off a cliff... How appropriate. A sign of what was to come.

Day one was all about discovering ourselves through self-portraiture and introspection. A week before the workshop, Rick sent out the assignment of taking a self portrait and bringing it to the class. It was explained that we were all going to talk about what our self portrait means to us. The assignment alone brought up conflict for us and many of the participants... How are we going to photograph ourselves, portray ourselves to others and then talk about it with total strangers?

During the class, we were invited to break into groups of 5 to review our self portraits. We started with a simple but powerful process. One person would hold up their self portrait for the other 4 people in the group to look at. Then each viewer was asked to give specific feedback in the form of 3 statements: "When I look at your self portrait I see..., When I look at your self portrait I feel... and When I look at your self portrait I imagine..." The feedback was amazing to hear. Most of the observations were true to heart and some were revealing in ways that we didn't expect. After listening to the observations, we, as the self portrait makers, told our group what the image was about. There was a lot of emotion shared during this exercise.

If you haven't done this as a practice yet, we HIGHLY recommend it! Go do it, make a self portrait of yourself and then show it to a few people and have them tell you what they see, feel and imagine and then share with them what the image represents to you... You will be amazed.

Here are our self portraits that we presented:

Day one continued with Lesley directing everyone with a movement exercise. It started by grounding everyone to the environment and the space we were in. Than she took us on a journey that encouraged everyone to move and let any inhibitions go. We could tell that some of the participants were less than enthusiastic about moving their bodies, including ourselves. But, after the exercise, we felt a little more free to be able to express ourselves and get in touch with our 'inner artist'. MeRa said it best... If we have a problem with moving our own bodies, how are we supposed to expect that our subjects in front of the camera will be free to move their bodies.

Lesley then took us through a drawing exercise. With the idea of self portraiture fresh in our minds, we were to illustrate ourselves on paper. This was a challenge for many of us! She encouraged each of us to be guided by our vision and not to second guess anything. Just start drawing and see what comes. When they were complete, we all had a chance to share our drawing and find similarities or differences between these illustrations and our original self portraits. From our drawings, we were to make 3 statements of who we are right at that moment - using the 'what we see, feel and imagine' from our self portraiture images. This activity for many of the participants, was very eye opening and revealing.

Here are Garrett's:
I am running scared, looking for clarity.
I am exploring, jumping, turning... where does the time go.
I am streams of thoughts, emotional, ugly, don't forget family.

At the end of the exercise, Lesley performed a dance/movement for everyone and we were all floored. She was beautiful.

Day 1 ended with everyone taking a personal photographic journey. The instruction was to take a new image that was reflective of the sentences which were borne out of our drawing self portraits. The idea was that we were creating a new version of a photographic self portrait, sourced from a totally different place than our original "homework" assignment. We left the day feeling like we were on the edge of a cliff, ready to jump off and fly away...listening for the new singular voice emerging from within. What a great feeling.

Sneak Peek - Discovery Workshop

2009-05-06T15:45:00.000-07:00

We are still smiling...

We just finished teaching a 3 day Photographers Discovery Workshop with Me Ra Koh, Rick Chapman, Brian Tausend, Lesley Ehrenfeld and Laura Reoch at Cavallo Point and Stinson Beach. We had a such an eye opening and emotional time with all of the 22 women that attended. We feel blessed to have been part of such a wonderful discovery weekend.

Much more to come...

Lorena and Colter - Engagement

2009-04-17T10:03:00.000-07:00

Lorena and Colter met and began dating in high school... (insert long story here). After reconnecting with each other in college, they fell in love and were engaged 9 years later! We had the pleasure of spending a beautiful afternoon with them and their son Juan Carlos, who celebrated his 12th birthday that day! We met them at China Camp in San Rafael... What an amazing setting for photography! If you haven't been there, it is full of character and texture... Everywhere you turn is a photograph waiting to be taken. Lorena and Colter are two of the most adorable people we have met and they were a delight to be with. We mixed in a few shots of them with Juan Carlos and ended the day out on a boardwalk overlooking the marshland and bay. The end of day light was stunning. We are really looking forward to their wedding in August. Congratulations to Lorena and Colter!

Liz and Paul - Engagement

2009-03-27T09:57:00.001-07:00

We had the pleasure of photographing my brother Paul and soon to be sister-in-law, Liz in Florida. We flew to Marco Island, where my parents stay during the wintertime and met up with Paul, Liz and her parents. We began the shoot by taking them to a small fishing community called Goodland. We photographed them at a local outdoor bar with a lot of 'charm', called Stan's. To give you a little understanding of the character of this location, here is a link to their yearly Goodland Mullet Festival... check it out! The next day, we rented a boat and cruised around the islands, stopping along the way and taking portraits. What a blast! This is one of my favorite things to do in Florida... Being on the water is so relaxing. We ended the day on the beach at sunset, something that Liz really wanted for their engagement session. It couldn't have been a more georgous sunset. It was a calm and beautiful setting. This was also a great opportunity for Laura and I to photograph together. We worked really well together, as expected, but we had way more fun than we anticipated. Special thanks to my parents for putting us up and putting up with us, Liz's parents for driving all the way down from Pensacola, and to Liz and Paul for the opportunity to photograph their engagement. We can't wait for the wedding!

Here are a few more images from a previous post.

Florida Vacation

2009-03-16T21:31:00.000-07:00

I am very thankful that photographing Liz and Paul's engagement allowed Laura and I to take the kids and have an extended stay in Florida. We stayed with my mom and dad in Marco Island where they have a condo right on the ocean... We took walks on the beach, collected shells and sea creatures, swam in the ocean and pool with 'nana and papa' and even rented a boat for a day of adventure. We love visiting Florida, especially when my parents are there. Thank you to my mom and dad for taking us in and showing us such a great time! We love you!

Here are a few images from our trip:

Ireland Album Has Arrived!

2009-03-16T16:11:00.000-07:00

We were greeted this morning by our smiling UPS driver delivering Catriona and Iain's wedding album. We were more than thrilled opening the package and seeing the results of our many hours of production. Leather Craftsmen, once again, did not let us down. Special thanks to Laura at Forget Me Not Design for all of her hard work!

Sneak Peek - Liz and Paul Engaged

2009-03-12T11:19:00.000-07:00

Matt and our associate photographer, Laura flew to Marco Island, Florida to shoot an engagement session of Liz and Paul. We had beautiful weather and had a great time photographing together! Here is a sneak peek of some of the images... More to come!

Another Side of GB Photographers

2009-03-03T11:17:00.000-08:00

As many of you know, we have a few different branches of GB Photographers. One of the many responsibilities that we do on an almost daily basis is location scouting. We find beautiful and unique locations for the commercial, editorial and advertising still photography markets. Whether it is a coastal curvy road for BMW, or a bright spacious home for Pottery Barn or an upscale law office for HP, we will find whatever our clients need. We have been scouting locations for about 12 years and we continually use these skills whenever we are on a scouting, wedding or advertising project.

If you have the time, take a look at our Birdman Inc, location scouting website to get a better understanding of what scouting is all about! Also if you have a location that you think would make a great backdrop for a photo shoot, let us know!

Last week, we were hired by Levi's to find ranches with beautiful vistas, great textures and interiors with character. That same week we were called by the Almond Board of California to scout beautiful, flowering almond orchards...

Matt headed to the ranches, while Garrett captured the almond orchards. We had dramatic skies and perfect weather for our scouting days... Here are some of the results:

San Rafael Here We Come!

2009-02-10T11:41:00.001-08:00

We have officially moved our office from SOMA, San Francisco to beautiful, sunny San Rafael! In effort to be closer to our families, we chose to be in a quaint, small town storefront rather than the hustle and bustle of the big city. There are certain things that we miss about our SF studio, but we are very excited about our new space. It was built around 1850 to be a theater. Over time, the space became a butcher shop, a travel agency and Obama's campaign headquarters. There is a lot of history in this space and you can feel it! We have 20 foot ceilings and plenty of space to run around in... We have a few more things to deal with, like the front window display and finding a new friend to share our space, but overall we have done a lot of work to get our new office ready and we couldn't be happier. Even the food in San Rafael has been wonderful. From shawarmas, burritos and Indian buffet to burgers, smoothies and yummy salads, we have it all here! 4th street has been very welcoming. Many of our neighbors have stopped in to greet us and we were even gifted an office warming basket of delicious Satsuma's and Green Tea! (Thanks Teri) We weren't sure about the move at first, but we have settled right in and we love it! If any of you are in the San Rafael area, please stop by and say hi!

GB PHOTOGRAPHERS
1344 4th Street
San Rafael, CA 94901
415.602.2282

Here are a few photo's of the space and if you know of anyone that would want to share our creative space with us, please pass the information along.

Ireland Printed

2009-02-09T11:40:00.000-08:00

We have been working on the final prints for Catriona and Iain with our Album designer, Laura at Forget Me Not Design. After many hours of customizing the images to our album standards, we were able to send them to print. Our good friends at Dickerman Prints, who were once known as Robyn Color, printed the final images and we couldn't be happier with the print quality. If you are looking for a good lab in the San Francisco Bay Area, check them out! We brought the images back to our studio and cut down all 73 images by hand. We are sending the images out to Leather Craftsmen to have them bound into a 700 series album. We are very excited to see the results. Ironically, we just met Ira from Leather Craftsmen at our new space in San Rafael (new posting about our new space to come soon)! We were, once again, blown away by the quality of Leather Craftsmen. We love their albums... and Ira! What a great guy! We always feel like we are being taken care of with Ira and Leather Craftsmen. If you haven't had a chance to see their albums or meet Ira, it is a must. They share the same attention to detail and quality control that we strive for here at GB Photographers. We ship out the images in the next day or two and we are really looking forward to the results of our labor! Also a big THANK YOU to Laura for all of her work at FMN Design!!! Much more to come... (We'll be sure to post photos of the final album).

Southern Weddings Magazine

2009-01-27T11:41:00.000-08:00

A special thank you to all of the ladies at Southern Weddings Magazine for finding us and featuring Kimberly and Danny's Pebble Beach wedding on their Daily Blog Site! We love SWSMAG blog. They feature some of the best talent in the industry and we are very excited to be a part of it all! If you are getting married or looking for inspiration, check them out!

Barack Obama - "Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America"

2009-01-21T22:38:00.000-08:00

I feel inspired by yesterday's inauguration, I truly believe we have chosen a man that will guide us through these difficult times. But we must all do our part. We are United, We are One...

Congratulations to America and to all the people of the world.

We celebrated with our neighbors by parading around the streets, tooting our horns and toasting to the future.

Warm Wishes from the California Coast

2008-12-22T23:04:00.000-08:00

Have a wonderful Holiday Season and a New Year filled with love, peace and hope. Looking forward to 2009.

Best wishes,
Garrett, Tanya, Walker (6) and Cooper (4)

Kimberly and Danny - Day After Shoot

2008-12-04T17:50:00.000-08:00

We had the pleasure of spending the day with Kimberly and Danny photographing their "Day After" photo session... Well, it was actually about a month and a half after their wedding!

Anticipating this shoot, we were able to scout a ton of locations before the day arrived. We journeyed all over San Francisco photographing them in some very inspiring scenes... Kimberly had a tough time getting in and out of the car with her dress as we photographed them at 5 different locations throughout the day - They were real troopers! We ended the day at Baker Beach with a celebratory bottle of Champagne at sunset. It was very reminiscent of our engagement session we had in Pebble Beach only a few months ago... Thanks Kimberly and Danny for such a GREAT day!

NEW GB PHOTOGRAPHERS WEBSITE !!!

2008-11-19T10:13:00.000-08:00

We are sooo happy to announce our new website! We have been working on it for the past few weeks and finally put the finishing touches on it last night.

We will be updating this website periodically, so check back when you feel inspired.

Also, if you haven't noticed, we have changed the look of our blog to stay within the theme of our new site...

Take a look when you can!

NEW GB PHOTOGRAPHERS WEBSITE

America, where all things are possible - Yes we can...

2008-11-05T07:30:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Thank you John McCain for your lifetime of service to the country we love. And Thank you Barack Obama for taking the lead as President of the United States. There is change in the air, history in the making, and an America who needs to work together for success.

Big smiles today...

Callie Shell is an amazing photographer...Check out these images. This is one of my favorites.

The Right to Vote

2008-11-04T11:55:00.000-08:00

This day is so important for all Americans. Vote for our children... Vote Today!

Pebble Beach Wedding - Kimberly and Danny

2008-10-03T17:05:00.000-07:00

After a full year of planning, (actually over 10 years because they were high school sweethearts) the Sapers and Sanners joined families. Kimberly and Danny's beautiful wedding day took place in Pebble Beach. The ceremony was in the backyard of the Saper residence and it was amazing. Mazal Tov!! They kissed and were whisked off to the Pebble Beach Club, which was truly elegant. The decor was incredible and everyone was dressed to the nines. We were able to take some beautiful early evening portraits on the 17th green and 18th tee box. The night continued with delicious food, dancing and celebration.

Click HERE to see the Slideshow!

Kimberly and Danny Congratulations to you both!
Best Wishes for a happy and healthy marriage. Cheers!

Special thanks to all of the vendors:
The Wedding Coordinator who saved the day: Allison Van Every of Allison Weddings.
Ron Dawson of Cinematic Studios, a very talented videographer.
Flowers by Pebble Beach Florist (Pamela Mielke & Shannon Gurley) Wow! they did a terrific job.
Kimberly's Dress by Vera Wang.
Hair: MaryAnn of March Hare in Carmel.
Make-up Artist: Shawn Cavlan of Shawn Cavlan Beauty from Santa Cruz.
All of the Pebble Beach Resort Vendors.
The Band, Mixx Company from Joannie Liss Events was rockin'!

My Boys

2008-09-24T11:15:00.000-07:00

I had to post this picture...
This is what I come home to everyday! Both boys sitting on the porch or playing on the front lawn, waiting for daddy to come home. I love it! This is what being a daddy is all about!
When I arrive at my exit, I call home and Mason asks "Is it time to wait on the porch?!" After I answer "Yes" I can hear the scramble and chaos of trying to round everyone up to greet me... When I arrive home, the boys are so ecstatic. They usually have a story to tell me or an art project to show me, it just warms my heart. I love my boys.

Our Weekend

2008-09-17T11:02:00.001-07:00

I can't write half as good as my wife, so I will let her tell you all about our weekend!

FMN DESIGN BLOG

LHC and The Worlds Largest Lens

2008-09-10T08:49:00.000-07:00

I am absolutely fascinated with human ingenuity. Almost every day I drive across the Golden Gate Bridge or The Bay Bridge and I marvel at the engineering feat of these incredible structures. It is beyond my personal comprehension how we can design and engineer such amazing and sound architecture. We, often time, take it for granted.

Well, the other day, my good friend introduced me to an amazing project that began in the early 80's called the Large Hadron Collider or the 'LHC '. It is another engineering feat that absolutely blows me away! This experiment basically is attempting to fire 2 protons directly at each other at extremely high velocity, creating a mini "Big Bang". By way of this collision, scientists hope to discover the elusive "God Particle", a particle that we have not been able to see or prove since the theory of particle physics began. This particle is essentially the make up of all Dark Matter (basically the space between observable matter)... Now, I might be losing some of you at this point, but hang with me for a moment!

Let me help you to see how awesome this project is...

First, here are some images of the LHC to give you an idea of the scale - CLICK HERE

OK, now you see how huge this project is... So, back to the science.

A particle is so small. If you think about a grain of sand as a particle, that one single, small granule of sand consists of as many particles as all the sand on the surface of the Sahara desert, 10 feet deep....... Now that's a lot of particles!!! - Think about it.

Now we are going to take that tiny particle (proton) and fire it at another tiny particle so that they collide. Hmmmm... Have any of you stood 50 feet across from another person and tried to simultaneously throw a ball toward each other with the hopes of hitting the balls in mid air? Well, if you haven't, you would discover that it is really difficult. Now, take those balls and shrink them into tiny particles and shoot them at extremely high velocity 17 miles through an underground tube toward each other with hopes of those particles colliding... This is essentially what this project is trying to accomplish.

It is amazing to me that we even know this stuff!!! And now we have developed the technology to not only control and move these tiny particles, but we also have the ability to photograph, view and record them. CERN (the lab that is conducting the experiment AND who also invented the World Wide Web) has built the largest 'lens' on the planet, called ATLAS, to record this collision phenomenon:

This experiment doesn't come without protest. There are many scientists that theorize that these collisions can and will produce micro black holes or dangerous subatomic particles. While CERN doesn't discount this theory, they claim that these potential black holes would just neutralize. Other scientists claim that these black holes would simply grow and eventually consume the entire planet! I know its a bit doomsday, but we are venturing into uncharted territory and we don't know what is Really going to happen.

In addition to finding the 'God Particle', physicists also believe that, by way of this collision, we may also discover extra dimensions. Now, this would be very exciting! We have been living in a 4 dimensional world - 3 dimensions of space and 1 dimension of time. String theory actually predicts that we live in as many as 11 dimensions. If this experiment produces these extra dimensions, it would begin to prove elements of string theory and change how we view our universe and existence.

It is strange to me how this project has gone under the mainstream media radar. I know many people involved in the science community have known about this for some time, but tell me, have you heard of it?! I hadn't until only recently and now I am a bit obsessed (as you can tell).

Today marked the very first tests of the LHC. They successfully launched the protons in both directions (clockwise and counterclockwise), without collision. They say on their website, that they will begin the collisions "in a couple of months." I can imagine how excited these physicists must be. It truly marks a new discovery in space and time and we are about to embark on something potentially spectacular and mind blowing... But, I can't help wondering if there won't be any repercussions associated with this experiment... Logic dictates that messing with the Spacetime continuum may disrupt our existence as we know it.

I know that this is all very deep and difficult to understand, but there are resources out there if you are interested in learning more:

History Channel Show - Next Big Bang

Silly Informative Video

CERN Website

PETH - People for the Ethical Treatment of Hadrons (funny)

Total Truth Tour

2008-09-09T00:40:00.000-07:00

Just returned from LA and the Total Truth Tour (soon to announce tour dates). WOW, what a great group of photographers! Robert Evans, Dane Sanders, Sara France, and Carlos Baez. Nothin' like telling the truth! Robert was very candid on how he got started and how he works today. Plus, he talked about his "collaboration" site called photographymentor.com (This site is fantastic with tons of information). Dane Sanders....he just blew me away with his take on Photography vs. Photographer (If you don't know what I'm talking about buy his book: "Fast Track Photographer"). Sara France, I'm sooo jealous...she is sponsored by Apple (I love Apple). Sara talked about all the Apple Apps...and how well they work together. Plus, she talked about being mobile (MobileMe). Carlos Baez is an amazing fashion wedding photographer and he worked with Helmet Newton !! plus many other famous fashion photographers. I enjoyed listening to Carlos talk straight about lighting and his fashion consultant (I need someone to dress me - I've fallen into the GAP).

At the end of the night....who walks in....Me Ra Koh and Brian (I love them). Me Ra was there to host a WOMEN ONLY (they totally kicked me out) event: "More than Emotion: The Undercurrents of Feminine Wisdom." I can't tell you how that went.....but check out what Me Ra had to say.

Happy Birthday Garrett

2008-09-04T13:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my Birthday....the best part was spending time with Tanya and our Boys Walker and Cooper. Here is a little song from Cooper.

Click Below...
Happy Birthday

8 for 8... Congratulations Michael Phelps!

2008-08-18T10:10:00.000-07:00

In celebration of Michael Phelps most recent achievements in the 2008 Olympics, we are posting images that we took with our friend and business partner, Rick Chapman, last year. As a part of the ESPY collection, Rick was assigned the honor of photographing the Olympic champion. We flew to the University of Michigan, where Phelps attends school, and photographed him in the aquatic center just before a training session.

After watching his amazing performances the past weeks or so, we thought that we would pay tribute to his accomplishments.

The black and white photograph below is the final image that was chosen for the ESPY Collection. This collection features 25 signed, limited edition, silver gelatin prints of each of the athletes. If you are interested in purchasing images from the collection, contact Rachel Mack at ESPN. All proceeds are donated to the V Foundation for cancer research.

See all of the photographs from the ESPY Collection.

My Wedding Anniversary

2008-08-12T12:04:00.000-07:00

2 days ago, Laura and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary! What a wonderful 6 years it has been. We spent a few hours of the day talking about why we enjoyed being married to each other. We were able to share words of encouragement, support and love while creating a vision of growing old together... Laura pictures us together on our front porch, sitting on our rocking chairs and talking about how great life has been. I can definitely buy into that!

As I was driving into work today, I began thinking of our marriage and the event that started it all - Our Wedding! As a wedding photographer, I thought how great it would be for me to share a little about my wedding that took place 6 years ago.

We were married in The Secret Garden at Valley Oak Nursery, Brentwood, CA. It was 106 degrees outside and we were hot! What a way to begin our union together, hot and sweaty! :) We hired, Julio Duffoo to photograph our wedding and we were not let down! He has become a great friend since our wedding and still thank him to this day for his creative eye and helping to make the memory our day special. Another great friend, JP Langlands, also attended our wedding and contributed his photographic eye to our day. They are both great friends and wonderful photographers. Check out their work when you have a moment...

Laura and I had a vision of what we wanted our wedding to be. A small, outdoor garden wedding with close friends and family at our side. We endured the hot day and tied the knot at 4:00PM. As we look back on our wedding day, we can honestly say that we wouldn't change a thing. We were sooo happy... (and still are!). At sundown, after great food, sangria and cigars, we moved the party to The Tonga Room at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. We drank tasty tropical drinks and danced the night away to the live band and rainstorms... Yes, they have indoor rainstorms there! I highly suggest going to the Tonga Room if you haven't been. It's a fun time. When it was time to turn in for the night, we just walked upstairs to our amazing room in the Fairmont. Just thinking about it makes me want to go back and do it all over again! Hmmmm. Maybe we should?!

Here are just a few photo's from our day:

LAURA GETTING READY

SHE WAS SOOO BEAUTIFUL!!!

Laura walked down the Aisle to "The Very Thought of You" by Nat King Cole. I tried so hard to hold my composure, but I couldn't...

THE GAZEBO

THE RINGS - (That we both designed for ourselves)

MARRIED!

OUR PHOTO SESSION AFTER THE CEREMONY

MY SANGRIA, MY CIGAR and MY WOMAN!!!

Amy and Tucker

2008-08-05T13:14:00.000-07:00

We just finished photographing Amy and Tucker's wedding at Carmel Valley Ranch, a beautiful resort retreat with amazing accommodations, golf, tennis, spa, and award winning restaurant Citronelle. The venue was wonderful and we had a gorgeous sunny day to work with. Amy and Tucker were so sweet and fun to photograph too. We could have easily spent all day photographing them alone, but they had a reception to attend! It is easy to see the love that they have for each other. The ceremony was held outdoors on a beautiful open lawn with surrounding gardens and the reception was in the modern accented Clubhouse. The setting created a beautiful backdrop to a exceptional event. By the end of the night, everyone was getting down on the dancefloor! Thanks to Amy and Tucker for inviting us to photograph their special wedding day.

Click here for the slideshow of images.

Justin Timberlake

2008-07-15T16:07:00.000-07:00

We just finished another great project photographing Justin Timberlake. Rick, Garrett and Matt took a road trip to LA and met up with J.T. at a local high school for the shoot. Justin is hosting the ESPY's this year, which will be airing this Sunday, 9PM/ET on ESPN-HD.

ESPN approached Rick Chapman again this year, but this time they wanted him to shoot the ad and press photo's of Justin. We had a limited time to make the photographs, but once again Rick shined and pulled it off.

Here is an advertisement that ran in the July issue of Sports Illustrated, a screenshot from ESPN.com and a few outtakes to check out:

Wanted Posters

2008-07-14T13:00:00.000-07:00

I volunteer a few times a year (I know, I should do it more)....Well, it was my turn for Cooper's amazing preschool, University of Play (love that name and love Sylvia - the founder). The school had a fundraising party (Cowboy Theme - Yes, I wore Chaps) last weekend and I was in charge of photographing the kids and putting together a "Wanted Poster". Here are some the images...so cute!!

NBA Finals

2008-06-10T11:58:00.000-07:00

We just returned from a great trip to LA and Boston where we photographed The Lakers and The Celtics with the Larry O'Brien Trophy. Rick Chapman headed the team and created some dramatic images for ABC's coverage of The Finals. If you are watching the NBA Finals, keep your eyes out for our work.

Click on the images below to watch the vignettes:

Pebble Beach Engagement

2008-06-10T11:40:00.000-07:00

What a great time we had photographing Kimberly and Danny in Pebble Beach. We started the day photographing them at their family home where they will be married in September. We toured 17 mile Drive stopping at beautiful spots along the way. We ended at their favorite beach in Carmel sipping wine and enjoying the sunset. We really enjoyed getting to know them and can't wait to capture the wedding day in a few months!

NuGEN Launched!

2008-05-02T14:04:00.000-07:00

We just received word that the NuGEN website just launched!

This was a really fun project for us. The staff was very accommodating and we enjoyed photographing and working with them.

Many thanks to all who were involved, especially Keara from Metrik!

Music For Children

2008-04-22T14:31:00.000-07:00

Kids and Music -
You have to check out Jill and Steve Pierce as they bring music to our children through song, dance, instruments and play. I was able to capture some fun moments for their new website (coming this summer). I found myself singing out-loud or tearing up during my visits. These kids are just too cute!! Thank you "Music for Children" for "Connecting the Art of the Music with the Heart of the Child".

NuGEN

2008-02-21T10:40:00.001-08:00

We just completed a lifestyle shoot of NuGEN, a biotech lab in San Carlos. We approached this project just as we would any lifestyle shoot. Working with art director and owner of Metrik, Keara Fallon, we simply "did our thing" and photographed the people, product and culture of NuGEN. We really had a great time doing what we love.

Christine and Brian

2008-01-10T15:27:00.000-08:00

I (Matt) had the pleasure of photographing and participating in my best friends wedding... I have known Brian for 15 years and Christine for almost 8. It was an intimate gathering of 24 people. The spirit of the event was very sweet and casual... The ceremony took place at the "Barnhouse", where Christine used to live, and the reception was at the Riverwood House in Healdsburg. It was great to witness and document 2 of my best friends tie the knot!
You can see the slideshow of images HERE

Happy New Year!

2008-01-07T20:33:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!
Thank you all for a spectacular 2007!
We are looking forward to a great 2008!

Holiday Greetings from the Burdick's - Click Here

The Burdick's

The Reoch's

Jen and Shawn

2007-12-13T17:15:00.001-08:00

Garrett had a wonderful opportunity to photograph a wedding with Mike Larson. Jen and Shawn were married at oceans' edge in Capitola, a small beach town near Santa Cruz. Special thanks to Mike, Jen and Shawn for this great memory.

***Here is a photo of Mike executing his patented "Camera Toss"

Catherine & Tom - Matt & Sally

2007-11-23T16:52:00.000-08:00

This was a first for us... We were asked if we could photograph two couples at the same time. Well, we were certainly up for a challenge and took it on. We photographed Catherine and Tom, Matt and Sally in The Marin Headlands. We started at the pedestrian tunnel area at Hawkhill. Than we went to Black Sand Beach overlook and finished at Rodeo Beach with a beautiful sunset. They were very easy to work with, making it a great way to spend our day after Thanksgiving. Here are a few photo's from our day together...

AgCredit - Wessling Creative

2007-11-22T10:58:00.000-08:00

We just finished shooting a holiday card for Wessling Creative/AgCredit. We don't have alot of snow out here, so we had to create a "winter wonderland" in mid-day 70 degree weather. At least it looks like its winter!

Tony from Wessling Creative spreading the "snow" and creating our winter scene.

Christina and Will

2007-11-10T12:04:00.000-08:00

Christina and Will threw a party for their wedding! They were married at St. Paul's Church and had their reception at the Chenery House in San Francisco. What a great time! Such a surreal venue for a reception... Crazy artwork everywhere and a funky backdrop for our photographs. Everyone was in good spirits and having a great time, including us! You can view the slideshow of images HERE.

New Orleans

2007-10-13T15:33:00.000-07:00

What a great trip to New Orleans! Cherise and Eric were married at The Maison Dupuy Hotel. Garrett captured the event beautifully, while Matt stood in the wedding. We both took our families and had a great time enjoying the French Quarter. Eric and Cherise were shining the entire weekend. Great people, yummy food and a nice little vacation... You can see our slideshow of images HERE.

Ireland Revisited

2007-10-10T16:09:00.000-07:00

Well, we finally were able to put a little slideshow of images from our amazing trip to Ireland... The 3 of us (Rick, Garrett and Matt) went on a driving tour of SW Ireland for 4 days taking photographs at every stop along the way. I hope you enjoy the Slideshow!

Natalie and Rick Wedding

2007-09-15T16:50:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful day for a wedding. Natalie and Rick were married at Cinnabar Hills Golf Club. After the ceremony, we arranged for them to take a golf cart around the golf course while we photographed them. It was a lot of fun. You can see the slideshow HERE.

Sara and Matt

2007-08-26T14:26:00.000-07:00

We just photographed another beautiful wedding. Sara, founder and director of The Cheese School of San Francisco, and her husband Matt were married under a gorgeous chuppah at Barndiva in Healdsburg. What a beautiful venue for a wedding. We had perfect weather and an attractive couple to photograph. They signed their Ketubah at the Ivy House and walked down the street to their ceremony... Their family and friends were great! The music played and they danced the night away. Take a look at the SLIDESHOW.

Larger Images

2007-08-16T11:19:00.000-07:00

Special thanks to Justin Marantz for sharing the html code for displaying large images on our blog. THANKS JUSTIN!
Also thanks to Mike Larson for putting us in touch with Justin. THANKS MIKE!

Cherise and Eric

2007-08-12T10:17:00.000-07:00

I had the privilege of photographing my long-time friend, Eric, and his fiance Cherise. We have been very close friends for a very long time and we were honored when they asked us to photograph them. We started the morning at Ocean Beach and ended our session with a walk along The Embarcadero... We will be heading out to New Orleans in October to photograph their wedding. We can't wait!

Natalie and Rick

2007-08-05T14:13:00.000-07:00

We met Natalie and Rick at Kellie and Matts wedding last year. What another great couple... We have been blessed by meeting such great people that we photograph. These two made it easy on us. We started in a beautiful grove of trees next to the Presidio Golf Course and ended up at Baker Beach. As you can see we had a perfect day all around. We are definitely looking forward to their wedding in September.

Catriona and Iain - Connemara IRELAND

2007-07-13T11:23:00.000-07:00

Wow what a journey! 8 full days in Ireland! We traveled to Connemara, Ireland to photograph Catriona and Iain's wedding in Clifden. What a joy it was for us to travel to such a beautiful part of the world and meet such great people! Many thanks to Peter Vine (Catriona's Father) for welcoming us to his area of the world... It was truly an honor for us to be invited to shoot this wedding. We photographed their civil ceremony at the Clarinbridge Court Hotel. After the ceremony, they rode in an old Rolls Royce through the picturesque, Irish countryside stopping at the Aughnanure Castle and Glassilaun Beach for portraits. The reception was held at the lovely Rosleague Hotel, Connemara. At the end of the evening, Catriona's sister Megan, performed a fire-dance under the starry skies. It was an experience... Such a beautiful wedding indeed! Also, special thanks to Rick Chapman for joining us on the adventure. Here are some images from the wedding. Also you can see the slideshow of images HERE.

***Note the empty Guinness glass!

Check back soon, as we will be posting our photo's from the rest of our Ireland journey in the next couple o' weeks.

Jaime and David Wedding Day

2007-07-07T13:35:00.000-07:00

For our 7/7/07 wedding, we traveled to lovely Gualala to photograph Jaime and Davids wedding at St. Orres. What a beautiful place to get married. The location was ideal... All of their guests (including us) were put up in the cottages or local hotels. They were married in the grove between all of the cottages and then... After the ceremony we slipped away from the guests for a little portrait session. We surprised them with access to a private beach that we secured earlier in the day... It was a highlight for Jaime who really wanted to walk on a beach on her wedding day. The delicious gourmet dinner and outrageous dancing took place in the restaurant. It was very inspiring and the people were just terrific. You can see their slideshow HERE.

Sandra and Alessandro

2007-06-16T11:11:00.000-07:00

We photographed another great intimate wedding at The Lark Creek Inn. This time, they put together one long table outdoors for all of the guests. This was a true Italian wedding with a lot of wine and laughter. Sandra and Alessandro sat at the head of the table and all of their guests toasted to their marriage... Once again, great food and a wonderful atmosphere. Check out their slideshow of images HERE.

Jaime and David

2007-06-03T22:39:00.000-07:00

A 2 day portrait session with a great couple. Jaime and David were a delight! We tried desperately to get a shot of them in front of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was so foggy that we decided to hike around the Marin Headlands. It was beautiful! The fog was a mysterious and romantic backdrop. We met up with them again a few days later and had another great shoot day. Being with them for 2 sessions really allowed us to get to know each other. We even ended the day at their favorite wine bar - Ottimista.

Sharon and Erik Wedding Day

2007-05-19T22:19:00.000-07:00

Another great day... Our first wedding at The Lark Creek Inn. If you are ever in Marin and want some of the best food in the Bay Area, stop in here. Sharon and Erik were such a pleasure to photograph. This was truly an intimate wedding that we enjoyed very much. Here is a link to their slideshow...

Vir and Jess Wedding Day

2007-05-12T22:02:00.000-07:00

Miss Plumeria from Weddingbee.com had her big day. They were married in Berkeley and had their reception out near the pier... Virginia and Jess are a delight. They may just be the cutest couple ever. After dinner Jess serenaded his lovely bride with a Jack Johnson song - "Better Together". We put together a slideshow of images HERE. Check it out!

Sharon and Erik

2007-05-02T21:40:00.000-07:00

We met Sharon and Erik at the Bandshell in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. We walked through the Japanese Tea Gardens and drove down to Crissy Field. We ended the day at a historic Battery near the Golden Gate Bridge. What a great day... We really enjoyed hanging out with them.

Vir and Jess

2007-03-30T21:17:00.000-07:00

We had a great time photographing Vir and Jess in beautiful San Francisco. We photographed their engagement session at the Sutro Baths. We then photographed their Bridal session at Ft. Point and Target (This is their favorite place in the world)!

ESPY Collection

2007-02-15T14:18:00.000-08:00

For the past few months, we have been working with our associate and business partner, Rick Chapman, photographing athletes who have previously won an ESPY award. Unlike many conventional photographs of athletes, Rick captures the real character and personality of these celebrities. The end result of this project, called The ESPY Collection, will be a limited series of signed, matted fine art prints which will be auctioned. All proceeds from this project will be split between The V Foundation and the athletes chosen charity. The first version of The ESPY Collection was completed in 2001, where Rick photographed athletes such as Muhammad Ali, Lance Armstrong, Derek Jeter, Jack Nicklaus and Shaquille O'neil. Traveling around the country with Rick and photographing these sports legends has truly been an honor and we feel blessed to have Rick in our lives. Please visit his website to check out his great imagery.

Gourmet Gathering

2007-02-01T11:27:00.000-08:00

We were privileged to be invited to photograph a gathering of gourmet food celebrities from the bay area. Some of the guests included Bill Niman, Bruce Aidells, Sara Vivenzio, Kimberly Jackson. The event was hosted by Thomas Odermatt from RoliRoti and produced by Tony Wessling of Wessling Creative Group. The event featured Niman Ranch meats, Aidells sausage, cheese from the Cheese School of San Francisco and JAX supplied the wine. What a feast! It was so delicious and the company was its equal. We would do this again in a heartbeat. Here are a few choice images from the day.

JAX Wine

2007-01-25T19:57:00.000-08:00

We just completed a shoot for JAX Vineyards. This is some of the best wine for the money. We liked it so much, we bought a case!

Gallo - California

2007-01-14T14:42:00.000-08:00

This was our first Gallo party that we photographed where we didn't know anyone at the party. It was a challenge to maneuver our cameras in such a small space, but we had a great time and captured some great moments.

Gallo - Connecticut

2007-01-04T14:12:00.000-08:00

Garrett also was able to fly to his hometown to photograph for Gallo. He went to three parties in the town of Bridgewater. Ironically, this one stopsign town is also a dry town - No liquor stores for miles.

Gallo - Michigan

2006-12-10T13:38:00.000-08:00

We have been photographing for Gallo Wine for the past few months. They have asked us to photograph real holiday parties for ads that will come out in 2007. This new reality photography campaign seemed to fit perfectly for us. We have had a great time documenting 5 parties already and we'll continue shooting throughout 2007. These photographs were taken in Michigan at Matt's families home for their Thanksgiving Holiday spread. We stayed there for a few days, enjoying family time, great food and Gallo wine!