“I got a jump photo and a dip photo… I’m happy John. I’m not worried about anything else now.” -Amanda, right after this photo on her wedding day. Ha!

Last weekend I had the privilege of shooting  the wedding of Tim and Amanda Lordan. I first met both Tim and Amanda nearly two years ago at another Lordan wedding – Amy and Michael Lordan, one of Tim’s older brothers. And then last winter I received an email from Amanda titled simply “Game for another Lordan wedding?”. Shortly after Tim proposed and she started her wedding planning she reached out to me to check on availability, details, etc on me as their potential photographer. Long story short, we worked out the details and I was scheduled to shoot for them this January.

Amanda was a bride that was certainly on top of planning everything, too. She quickly worked out all the details with me as she gathered them. As soon as something was added, changed, or whatever else I was pretty quickly updated with an email on the plans. I could definitely understand that part of the reason was that their wedding was right after New Years, which is also right after Christmas – times that everyone is busy with their families and other things.

As the wedding weekend approached I could tell by Amanda’s emails that her excitement was growing. I myself was looking forward to seeing the Lordan family again and getting to know the Gayle family a little bit as well. I attended the rehearsal, as I always try to do, to get an idea of the venue and some of the rules. It was a new church to me and their are always new rules. This one was definitely going to be a bit tricky. I’m used to a no-flash rule (just crank that ISO up to a thousand or two and you’re all set!). But their church had a “line” that I was not allowed to cross. For those of you that don’t do many weddings, it’s typical to not be allowed on the marble, or steps, etc. But in this situation I had to remain a minimum of 30 feet away from the front of the church. VERY different than I’m used to. My photojournalism background means I prefer to be closer to my subjects. I stay low and out of the way, but I like photos that are a bit more intimate you could say. So, this would definitely bit a challenge – but never let this be a hurdle for you photographers out there. This is why we have telephoto lenses and image stabilization at weddings, too. haha!

The morning of the wedding started VERY early for me. I was up at 4am to double check my gear and give myself plenty of time to get on the road to meet the bridal party at 6am. A typical hair-and-makeup morning hanging out with Amanda and her girls and they prepared for their morning wedding. It’s always fun hanging out with the bridal party before weddings because you get to hear stories about how they met, or the engagement, or random girl-talk stories. LOL!
I broke off briefly to go meet up with the guys at the hotel as they finished getting ready and then it was on to the church! There ceremony went off without any problems, and we even finished our portraits ahead of schedule.

We arrived to the reception early as well; we got there right in the middle of cocktail hour. I had the chance to meet several family friends of the Gayle family since I was seated at what we later joked was “the creative table” since the florist, cake maker, and me the photographer were all seated together.

I’ll leave much more details about the day in the captions of the photos after the break. But I will say I had a wonderful time shooting for Tim and Amanda. The Gayle family and friends were a riot to joke with and get to know. And, as always, the Lordans were so welcoming with me being part of everything throughout the day.

So Thank You to the Gayles and the Lordans! I hope you enjoy this brief preview of what I shot throughout the day. I had so much fun!

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The 2012 Falken Tire Promo Model poster has been released! And that means I’m allowed to share additional photos from the shoot with everyone that I created for Falken Tire and their 2012 season!

For those who read my previous blog about the Behind the Scenes from this shoot, you’ll recall that I mentioned the goal of the entire day was the image above. Basically we arrived first thing in the morning – before sunrise – and shot all day until sundown. And then, after 12 hours of shooting we created the image we came for – the poster shot. Seriously. The image we spent so much time planning for was created in the last five minutes of shooting. And was also one of the last 10 photos or so I made with the girls.

But it was worth it. The long day. The lack of food (on my part. I forgot to eat most of the day since I was so busy running around that TJ had to make me stop and take five minutes to eat something at the catering table). I look at photos of me at the end of the day and laugh because I look exhausted.
I did at least 17 shoots that day working with each of the models multiple times and in several locations with many different lighting setups. Everything worked out incredibly well. Falken had a very  aggressive set of goals to complete that day and I’m very proud to say that we met all of them! During the time we weren’t working on group shots the models were in hair/makeup and whoever was ready with their next look would be sent over to shoot individuals.

The individual shots we created are mainly for use on the models profile pages since they’re in no way related to tires or the automotive industry, haha! But part of the reason this location was selected for was for wide variety of looks that could be created around the property.
I had the oh-so-difficult assignment of poolside bikini and exercise photos. Wow. Rough location. Haha!
Throughout the middle of the day and afternoon the girls would be switched out with me to shoot around the infinity pool with all the mountains in the background. Gorgeous. I could easily see why so many magazine shoots are done at this location with this pool.

A second concept for the poster was a composite idea I was asked about. There was some question to the feasibility of doing this shot with six girls and making the shot work at the venue. The one thing there wasn’t much of was large open space and walls. We selected the three-car garage doors as the best spot to create a six-photo composite extra-wide style poster. I think it came out pretty damn good, actually.

Each girls was shot with the same style lighting and power adjusted according to the background, skin tone, or wardrobe. But overall it worked great. I may print a large version of this just for the sake of seeing how it looks. But, the version I’m looking at right now on my 27in screen looks pretty awesome!

Ultimately the pool shot was used for the poster – which is perfect since that was the original idea and goal anyway.

Click the break for a ton of additional photos of the girls… since I know that’s what you’re really here to see.

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The Falken Tire 2012 Promo Girls poster is near release and I couldn’t be more thrilled to share some of the Behind the Scenes photos from the project.
I had an incredible opportunity at the end of last year to work directly with Falken on this. I was contacted and asked about possibly tackling this large scale – and very important – photoshoot for the company. After everything was made official we started the planning phase for a quickly-approaching shoot date.

The ultimate goal for the project was to create their 2012 Promo Model Poster with all six girls. We took the girls away from the track/race scene for something different, stylish and sexy. After budget discussion, location selection, and dates solidified it was time to really crack down and get things moving. Our shoot was right after Thanksgiving and there was plenty to get working on.
I was required to bring two assistants – it would be better to have too much help than not enough for a project of this size. And I’m sure all of you are thinking “Yeah, cuz it would be terrible to hang out on set with a bunch of models all day”. But I needed two experienced people on hand that I knew would be great. I brought TJ down from San Francisco. He has 10 years experience with lighting and set work and who has also helped me on multiple shoots over the last few years and understands my style and how I shoot. David came up from Orange County as my other assistant. I met David working on weddings and he has an incredible knowledge of photography and wealth of experience to bring to this setting.

Our shoot day started early.. EARLY. A 430am call time is never fun, but it’s part of the job. Overall the entire day went great. There were a few hiccups along the way as could always be expected, but we still made sure to get everything taken care of that we hoped to complete. I was able to create a ton of amazing images with all the models. And both myself and my team had an awesome time working with Falken and their crew. The models, Julie Galindo, Mayra Tinajero, Olivia Korte, Melanie Tillbrook, Brittney Leigh, and Randyl Dawn were all awesome. And thank you all for putting up with me having trouble with your names all day… having six new models with a new hairstyle/outfit every time I saw them throughout the day definitely screwed with my head. Haha!

Ok, so… on to the photos! I’ll stop rambling and simply post captions…

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Twenty twelveeeeeeeeee!!!!
The world is gonna end! Oh nooooooo!

I have a feeling that this will be the running joke throughout the year for me. However, in my annual end of the year open letter as I take some time to look back at 2011 I find myself at a bit of a loss for words.
This year seemed to go by much quicker than last. Sure, we all say that at the end of each year, don’t we?

But this year was such a mix of running around SoCal working on personal projects with various clients mixed in between that I’m finding it difficult to find key points to talk about as I reflect on my year.

Growth. Let’s just go with a cliche choice on this one, shall we?

I could support this two ways…
The first is that I watched many of my close friends, family, and even past client’s lives grow as people had children and added to their families. I became an Uncle this year when my little sister had a daughter mid-summer. Later in in the Fall my oldest and best friend had a son, too. So I’m an Uncle twice this year. Maternity photos I shot last year were now baby photos this year. I was booked by past families to do new rounds of family portraits as kids were older and new images were needed.

I took my work a new direction with a portrait series that I started work on in the Spring. I began creating images of people in and around my daily life. Some images were planned out in detail prior to the shoot, while others were created right there on the street with people I had met only moments before. This series proved extremely popular. I showcased the series during an art show in Hollywood – my first time every displaying my work publicly in a gallery setting.

I continued to travel all over the US for weddings. I kept my self-promise of always extending my trips to see local friends in the areas that work would take me.

I gained several new, major clients as my business grew and projects that I worked on became bigger and more important. My biggest of which are actually continuing into the new year and I will finally be able to share them in the upcoming weeks.

Twenty Eleven was a great year. And although I could go on and on about each detail and event that made it great I won’t.
My life grew with new members of families around me. My clients grew as I expanded my business. And my work grew as I developed my own style and took my photography to a level far beyond where I was just 12 months ago.

Let’s get going with 2012! I can’t wait to see what’s ahead.

Ryan and Jen Moody – on their surprisingly chilly and snowy wedding day in Virginia!

Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of shooting for Ryan, one of my old roommates from when I lived in Florida. He asked me nearly a year ago to keep the date open for his and Jen’s wedding weekend on the East Coast. I was paid an amazing compliment when he said “Two things we knew we wanted were the church, and your photography.”
How awesome.
And personally, this photo of the two of them while it was snowing outside made for a wonderfully unique shot.

So, a bit of history about me, Ryan, and best-man Mike. We all used to live together in Florida. We were all roommates while doing the Walt Disney World College Program in 2003. Basically it’s a work program that allows you to earn college internship credits while working for the Mouse. I, personally, was a lifeguard and lifeguard trainer for Blizzard Beach water park. And that was one of the best years of my life so far. Ryan and Mike (his best man) were two of the other six guys I lived with out in Orlando. I have so many great memories with them from our time living together that it was awesome to share such an important day with Ryan.

Ryan is originally from Texas, and now lives in Virginia where both him and Jen work in government. Originally when planning my trip out to shoot for them I was expecting one of those stereotypical New England falls with lots of colors in the trees and bright blue skies. And, to be fair, it was like that the day before the wedding for the rehearsal when we all were arriving in town and running various errands.
The weather reports quickly shifted from Sunny, to Chance of Rain, to Rain, to Chance of Snow, to Blizzard. Well, it definitely did start snowing in the middle of the night and continued the rest of the day and through the wedding ceremony. Good thing we were indoors!!

Since I’ve lived with Ryan in the past, and it was just like living with him again while I was there, the morning of the wedding when he was out shoveling snow I was able to run out to take photos and laugh without feeling bad. Actually, I ran out, took a few photos, teased Ryan about how that’s how he got to spend his wedding morning, sent out a photo with my phone to our other old roommates from Florida, and then ran back inside where it was warm.
Lift with your legs, Ryan!

Unfortunately, due to the unexpected weather, it caused a few small issues with the morning. I wasn’t able to get out to the girls while they had their hair done and the usual wedding-morning stuff. There were also a handful of guests that couldn’t make it due to the road conditions. But it also made for a few fun things, like snowboots and photos with falling snowflakes.

Both Ryan and Jen are pretty chill and laid back about things. Which as I’ve said before almost makes things tricky for me because they’re going to be ok with almost anything I tell them or ask them. “Do you want A or B” “That sounds great John! Up to you.” “Wait, no, which do you want!?” Haha, kinda like that…
But we all had a great time. Their ceremony was smaller and made up of their closest family and friends. The reception was at the George Washington Hotel – and many people were able to make it there that may have missed the ceremony earlier that afternoon.

I’ll save the rest of my comments for the captions, as usual. But again, I had a great time meeting both Ryan and Jen’s families. It was awesome to see Mike again, too, who I hadn’t seen in five years since he was still living in Oregon (and we were at another old rooomate’s wedding!).

Click the break for more..

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Mike Wainio, owner of the Wainio Bogs in Carver, Massachusetts.

Last week I was way out in Massachusetts wrapping up the last part of a two week trip around New England areas – a mix of work and leisure travel. For those not familiar, Carver is right outside Boston, and home to my friend Merri and her family. Well, it turns out that Carver is a MASSIVE cranberry producer – at one point in the mid 1900s being the largest producer in the US.
I had ALWAYS wanted to see the cranberry bogs and flooded fields in person. And while visiting one of the Wainio bogs I was invited to come back and see them flood the fields in person!

You don’t realize how excited I was. Hell. Yes.

Honestly I tried my best to not be pushy with my friends about coming back right on time the next day. But this chance was going to make my whole trip that much more awesome. Seriously. We’ve all seen the Ocean Spray commercials with the fields full of floating cranberries. I was about to see that in real life. Sweet.

Well that Saturday I returned to the bogs with my friend Brittany. I chatted with Tony, who runs the Berry Guys Farm Stand on location there where you can buy all sorts of fresh fruit and vegetables. It was Tony who had first invited me out to see the flooding the day before and also said I could come back watch the harvesting. I then spoke briefly with Mike and Brandon who were going to be farming the field and doing the actual harvesting. They said come back in an hour or so and they’d be out there.

No problem. To the coffee shop!

An hour later Brittany dropped me off so I could shoot – she had a couple errands to run.

I wandered out to the bog where Mike and Brandon were starting their laps on the threshers. I waved hello and pointed to my camera and threw a thumbs-up… basically non-verbally asking if it was cool to take photos of them. Mike yelled back “Wanna come out here with us?” “Uh… YEAH!” was my response.

I walked around to the ramps. Mike picked up on his thresher, and soon I was out on the water with them harvesting cranberries! SO.DAMN.COOL. I’m sure to a degree I seemed “so Californian” to think this was as great as it was, but who gets a chance like this out of the blue?

I spent the next hour and a half with Mike chatting about everything from cranberries to motocross – Mike used to race motocross and I used to handle all photography for K&N, so he was completely familiar with my old employer.
There was so much I never knew about cranberry bogging that I learned.. here are a few things…

There are two types of harvesting. Wet harvest and Dry harvest. Wet harvest is what people all know due to photos and Ocean Spray commercials, the flooded fields. These berries are immediately brought to the plant for processing since they will spoil within about 48 hours. Wet harvest berries are used in jams, sauce, juice, etc. Dry pick berries are harvested with a different type of thresher and used for everything else.

Below are 40 more images I shot while at the bogs. I encourage everyone to read on. The experience was really amazing, and I’ll share more in the captions as usual.

Click the break for the rest of the images:
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How cute is Rana laughing her ass off as she’s kissed by her husband Bryan!?

Three weeks ago I traveled up to Santa Cruz to photograph the wedding reception of Bryan and Rana. The two had actually married in a very private ceremony in Hawaii a month ago or so. The reception was a small celebration hosted by Bryan’s family to celebrate the two’s marriage.
It was very flattering to be asked to travel up north to shoot for the evening. I had actually met Bryan’s aunt at a friend’s Christmas party last year – which is how I ended up booked to shoot.
Bryan and Rana are wonderfully friendly people and I’m honestly bummed out I didn’t get to spend the amount of time with them that I would during a typical wedding shoot. However I still had a great time hanging out and watching family and friends interact. Rana’s family wasn’t able to make it for various reasons and it was so sweet to watch everyone laugh and dance the night away. Everything I heard that night was about how excited Bryan’s family was to have Rana become part of theirs.

More photos after the break..
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A couple weeks ago I shot with Rita von Riot (left) and Megan Renee (right). This was part of my color themed series that, honestly, has been somewhat on hold the last few weeks with all the wedding work I’d been doing. Rita, or Crystal depending on how you know her, got in touch with me wanting to do a polka dots kinda theme for her shoot. The great part about working with Crystal is that she always comes up with some fun stuff and plenty of costume/wardrobe ideas to use.
A couple days before we were going to shoot Crystal asked about Megan joining us. Megan Renee is a highly published model across many different tattoo magazines. So of course she’s going to be someone I would be thrilled to shoot with. Not only is she extremely experienced, but her look is also completely different than a lot of the women I’ve worked with over the years.
So we all met up at Crystal’s studio to shoot and spent part of the afternoon creating a bunch of images. It was a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to getting back to shooting more for this series after my next round of traveling finishes up.

However, until that time enjoy some of the shots from this series. I actually created a separate glamour section in my online portfolio now since it’s been getting more difficult to throw everything into Fashion knowing that not all of what I’ve shot is exactly fashion. Haha, so, some of them fall more in to that category.

We also got a shot of Crystal and her daughter Rylee. Rylee wasn’t too keen on spending much time with us shooting, but, we got a couple decent shots. I still need to go back and edit a few more.

This is one of my favorites from the afternoon

Both girls immediately started sassing it up once they started playing with the sunglasses Crystal had. haha.

And I loved Megan’s expression/pose here. You guys will mostly love the two ladies in not-much though I’m guessing.

I’m getting ready to start about three weeks of travel again in a couple days. I hope to have another update later this weekend for everyone in between my trips. So, check back soon.
I also will find out how I did in the national voting for RAW Artist’s Photographer of the Year contest that just closed public voting.

I recently returned from Minneapolis, Minnesota where I shot the wedding of Mattie Crawford and Vince DiDona. When I have the chance to head out to the midwest it’s usually an opportunity to see a lot of old friends. In this particular case the brides family and I go back a number of years – I met Mattie eight years ago in Florida when we were both lifeguards. But I met her family years later while attending school in Michigan. I photographed the second half of her gymnastics career for our college newspaper. Vince was a college wrestler, and while I don’t recall shooting him at his meets, I do remember photographing a number of his groomsmen that were on the team.

So, there were of course a lot of the gymnasts from college attending, as well as other friends that I knew from school but hadn’t seen in many years. It was awesome to catch up and see so many people. And I joked with Mattie that it would probably be a lot easier to shoot her walking down an aisle instead of flying and flipping through the air, hahaha.

I flew out to Minneapolis one day after returning to Socal from the SF Bay Area where I was the week before shooting the Balatoni wedding. So the quick turnaround was somewhat tricky – especially knowing that I had to return to the Bay after flying home to Socal from Minnesota. Yep. Lots of traveling right now.

But it was awesome to see Mattie’s family again. Honestly, I can’t believe had been five years since seeing all of them. It makes you realize how fast the time really does go by. It had only been two years since I last saw Mattie and Vince at the Knudson wedding in Michigan during the summer in 2009. Everyone looked the same, so it was like no time had really passed as I caught up with the family after arriving. The Crawfords are wonderful people and truly made me feel like family during all the sports events I would see them at during college – which was awesome since I was 3,000 miles from my own family.
I met a lot of the extended family, friends, and Vince’s family as we passed the time before heading to the rehearsal.

The wedding was going to be at St. Boniface – a huge old catholic church. The pastor who would be marrying Mattie & Vince turned out to be a very cool guy. He told me I was more than welcome to use flash as long as I wasn’t obnoxious about it. AWESOME. You have to love any catholic church that allows flash – I would say that 9/10 do not. The rehearsal was a breeze, and everyone shared in laughs as they figured out order of events and people for the ceremony.
Dinner was after at a nearby park where the families had decorated the picnic area with lanterns and candles.

Mattie and Vince’s wedding day was incredibly smooth. I spent the morning hanging out with the bridesmaids and bride, as usual. The problem, if you call it that, is that I hadn’t seen most of these girls in five years… so catching up a little bit was inevitable and I had to keep some conversations short so I could bounce between the rooms the girls were getting ready in.
After heading to the church we did a first-look that way we could shoot all the family photos before the ceremony. It helped shuffle everyone out the door after the wedding, and allowed us time to go out and get a few images with the downtown skyline in the background. The image above we tried twice. And there was just no way we were going to get everyone’s faces showing with 21 people on a high-traffic bridge on Friday afternoon… ha!

The reception was a blast and I even had time to sit and catch up with the Favazza family who attended the wedding! They are Lisa’s family from the Knudson wedding two years ago; and I would definitely consider them one of my many extended families out in Michigan now, haha. I also had time to catch up with the gymnast girls more, and even Mr. Langley, one of the gymnast dads I used to see and talk to at all the meets. Really it was just awesome to catch up with everyone. Makes me realize I need to take a trip to MI and the Great Lakes areas soon. Or maybe after winter…

Saturday after the wedding was pretty chill. I actually didn’t end up taking any photos and instead socialized and relaxed with everyone. We all had a picnic out in the park and spent the evening hanging out at the hotel.

Minneapolis was great. I had an awesome time and it’s a really cool area in the parts that I got to see. Who knows, maybe I’ll eventually be heading that way. For those of you who remember, earlier this year I was one of the nationally selected applicants for the Viking’s team photographer position. They postponed interviews unfortunately so I don’t know if it will open up again to continue the interview process.

Mattie and Vince, I had an awesome time. Vince, your family is wonderful and I’m so glad I got to spend some time getting to know them in between all the running around. Mattie, you know I love your family, they’re amazing. To everyone else that are old friends or new, it was great catching up, and awesome to meet the rest of you between all my running around.

After the break are over 150 images from the wedding. As usual I’ll throw in various captions here and there. Otherwise simply enjoy them, I liked a lot.

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Hey! I used to be in Boy Scouts with that guy!
This past weekend an old friend and fellow Eagle Scout, Nick Balatoni married Melissa Cadmes at the Los Gatos Opera House in the Bay Area. I traveled back up to the Bay last week to photograph the rehearsal and ceremony for them. Nick is an old friend, and while we’ve gone different directions over the years since high school we’ve been in touch loosely through various mutual friends.

You see, I’ve known Nick, and best-man Paul, since I was in 6th grade. We all went through scouting together (they were already scouts and I joined when I was 13). We were all in the same troop, Troop 14, and all part of the same patrol, Foxes. I have tons of memories with these two. And according to Paul I still hold the record at camp for fastest time up the climbing wall! Yes! 12+ years and going strong! Both Nick and Paul were instrumental on my path to Eagle Scout. Nick reached Eagle before me, and being one of the MC’s at his ceremony really helped push me to finish my requirements and reach Eagle myself. And when I did Nick was one of my MC’s for the night. And while this blog is about the wedding weekend, I will share one image from back in high school from our scouting days..

Left to right: Paul Barron, Jon Anderson, John Remus III (me), Nick Balatoni, and Robert Rico.
This was right after we finished my Eagle project. Robert and I were 17, everyone else 16.

BUT ANYWAY! So Nick’s married now!

Unfortunately due to crazy schedules of both myself and Nick/Melissa I never got the chance to meet Melissa before the rehearsal day – which is really too bad because she’s a totally sweet person and her friends and family are hilarious.
When I arrived at the rehearsal last Thursday evening it was easy to start chatting with Nick like no time had passed. I met Melissa, groomsman Shawn, and Dale who would be the officiant. I went upstairs to check out the venue – the Los Gatos Opera House. I had actually shot an event here shortly before moving to Los Angeles years ago for a fundraiser for battered women and children. So I knew the lighting was going to be terrible, but that the venue itself is very pretty.

The rehearsal went great, and quick! Nick and Melissa emphasized that they don’t want a long ceremony – opting instead for quick and simple and to get right to the reception and spend time with their friends and families. Later on at dinner I talked the ears off various family members that wanted to know about my work and photography I’ve shot over the years.

Their Saturday wedding was in the afternoon – and it was a good thing it was indoors because it ended up being a pretty hot morning in the South Bay. I met up with the ladies as I normally would and laughed and joked with them as they got their makeup and hair prepped. Later on I headed down the street to the Los Gatos Hotel to shoot the guys a bit – did you guys know there is a GORGEOUS hotel right down the street from downtown?! I didn’t.
As Nick and Melissa said, the ceremony was FAST. I just made sure to shoot almost non stop because there were only a few chances for photos and “moments” instead of longer ceremonies with multiple speakers/etc that other couples have.
The reception was a blast, I got to catch up with a lot of old faces that I knew from school, or from scouting. Met some new people, and even found out I have things in common with some family members too! I’m going to leave the rest for the captions below, so enjoy the images.

Tomorrow morning I head out of town for the midwest – Minnesota to be specific. I’ll be shooting the DiDona wedding out there for a couple old college classmates! The awesome thing with weddings is that they take me all over the place for work!

..more after the break.

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