It was such a joy to be back at San Francisco City Hall for Breanna and Isaac’s wedding. One of the many reasons I love City Hall weddings is that because there are so many weddings happening at the same time, the mood in the building is generally positive and people seem to let each other take turns taking photos in all of the iconic spots. Thank you Breanna and Isaac, you have a wonderful family and I’m happy for you both.
Kelsey and Chris
I booked Kelsey and Chris’s wedding in January 2020, we all know what has happened since then, so it was a pleasure to finally meet them at the beginning of March 2022! Kelsey and Chris met while working in Northern Ireland, so they wanted a wild beach setting for their engagement photos. Funny for us the day we did this, the wind was blowing so hard it was comical, but we got through it and still had fun.
They are getting married this June in The Russian River and I can’t wait to be there with them in the redwoods photographing their love.
Sarah and James Wed
Sarah and James were the first wedding I photographed in 2021. They were a rescheduled pandemic wedding and I’m so glad their event could happen.
It was a beautiful afternoon on a rooftop in downtown Oakland where, surrounded by their friends and family, they said, “I do”. Thank you for having me capture your day Sarah and James, I think you are both wonderful people!
Dani and Aaron
Dani is a friend of a friend, which is the best kind of new client. We met one Sunday early evening to get to know each other and their puppy over drinks at their beautiful San Francisco apartment. I learned their story and a funny story about the Camera Obscura, which is one of the places they wanted to take photos. I guess before they were dating they went to visit the famed Camera Obscura and Aaron went inside and paid his $3 admission fee and didn’t pay for Dani’s, which made Dani and the person working there go, “Hey, why aren’t you paying for her too, isn’t she your partner?” And at that moment they realized that maybe they wanted to be more than friends.
It was one of those incredibly comically windy San Francisco days, so we were only at the Camera Obscura for a moment before retreating to a secret Aaron location in Golden Gate Park. I write secret because I tried to go back to where he took me a week later and could not find the hidden lake in the park, that is supposedly not on a map! Thank you for letting me spend time with you Dani + Aaron, you are both wonderful humans and I enjoyed creating with you both.
Sarah and James
Sarah and Jame’s engagement photos were taken in Oakland the day before the Bay Area filled with smoke from the most recent wild fires. It was very hot and I think we were able to capture some images of their love during this strange year. Thank you Sarah and James, I look forward to your 2021 wedding!
San Francisco Love
These two wonderful humans found me from a post on A Practical Wedding. We met in December for their engagement photo session at Muir Woods and quickly became friends, as on the way there my car was sideswiped and the driver kept going! Muir Woods was funny too, as it was the very end of December, pre pandemic and the park was packed, like Disneyland on a summer day.
Fast forward to what we all know happened and they were supposed to be married in May. All these months we've been in touch and hopeful about them being able to get a City Hall zoom style wedding. Next weekend for job purposes they are moving to the East Coast, so we decided to do a little photo shoot in areas of the bay that they love.
So we met up recently, they wore their wedding clothes and we went to a few of their favorite locations, Lyon Street Steps, Sausalito and Lands End. I don't remember the last time I was in any of these places and it was really fun feeling like a tourist in the area I'm from.
While in Sausalito they got the phone call that they will be able to be married from City Hall by zoom. I'm so happy for them and even though this wasn't what they originally had hoped for, they were able to make it work. Congratulations you two, so happy for your new chapter, good luck on the move and I hope to see you someday and eat cake together on the East Coast! You can see more images from our San Francisco adventures here.
Muir Woods Engagement Session: San Francisco Love
These two wonderful humans found me from A Practical Wedding . These engagement images are from the end of December at Muir Woods, which was a crazy day because on the way to the photo shoot we were in a hit and run. Luckily none of us were hurt and the event quickly brought us together!
The afternoon at Muir Woods was beautiful like it always is being surrounded by redwood trees, but the park was packed with people, at the time it was the most people I had ever seen there. it’s funny thinking back now about the amount of people we were around just months before the world changed.
They were originally going to have a wedding in May and recently they donned their wedding clothes and we went around the bay area to some of their favorite spots and took photographs which I will make a future post about soon!
Beth and Christopher
We took engagement images back in March, days before California went into Shelter in Place. Beth and Christopher were originally set to get married in July and moved their date to 2021. You can feel their love and I look forward to photographing their wedding.
Porch Portraits: Jenn, Wes and Isa
“We found out we were expecting a baby the day we first saw this house. As we toured with our realtor, we imagined our little one growing up in these rooms and playing in this yard. A few months later, the house was ours and we were excitedly planning for the future. In March, when Covid became a serious issue and we realized we’d be home (just for a couple of weeks!) we happily nested in, expecting the world to be back to normal soon.
Isa was due in a few months and in our wildest dreams, we never imagined having to navigate birth and newborn life amid a global pandemic. While the days grew longer and Isa’s due date grew closer, birth plans began to grow and change. No longer would we have the support from friends and family that we had anticipated.
Isa was born on May 20th and we brought them home a few days later. We struggled in the first few weeks to find our new normal, and while we did develop a routine that feels good, normal still feels so very far away. We can’t bring Isa to parent-baby music classes, to roam the grocery store aisles, on our planned (and canceled) vacations, or to see their grandparents.
Sometimes I wonder that if I knew we’d be in this situation, would I have wanted to plan it differently? And honestly, I wouldn’t. While outside these walls, the world seems smaller, inside, our world grows exponentially. When we watch Isa learn and change with open eyes and an open heart, we remind ourselves that the future looks so bright and in the meantime, we are so lucky to be together.”
Jenn, Wes and Isa, Oakland, August 2020
Porch Portraits: Leslie, Jadelynn and Rio
I really enjoyed stopping by the home of Leslie, Jadelynn and Rio for these porch portraits. If you live in the Bay Area and are interested in having me visit you too, please send me a message.
“It was three weeks after our first baby was born that our state shut down. After a very intense and traumatic birth, our gorgeous little was brought into this world. When we left the hospital, we dreamed of rest followed by the love and care of our chosen family. Two weeks later, we chose to self-quarantine as we watched our loved ones cancel their trips to see us.
During this, I have often thrown out the joke, “If no one is around to see you parent, are you really a parent?” So much of our decision to have a baby is rooted in our desire to push against the normative definitions of family, to have our child raised by as many hands possible, and to bring them into the world often and radically, engaging in the community-focused, political work my love and I both undertake. With the pandemic, much of this has been impossible. We find ourselves full of daily gratitude that we are housed, fed, and able to be together. What I wouldn’t give, however, to see our loved ones hold our child. What my aching arms and back wouldn’t do for a moment alone with myself or, even better, my love. What we wouldn’t do to hold our friends who are hurting, to cook them meals, to be in the streets. Most of the time, we are in the echo chamber of our own hopes that we are doing right by this little human.
When I watch their little body respond to the electronic screen, on the other side of which is their beloved family, I ache with a curious mix of foreboding and joy. When they seem disinterested I twinge with both celebration and sadness. What strange, conflicting states we spin in, these days. All the while, we stay anchored and constant in our heartbreak, our babe-induced bliss and our fervent, never-ending hope for a new world."
Leslie, Jadelynn and Rio, Alameda, July 2020
Cousins
I was raised around my large Austrian family. My grandfather and his four siblings immigrated to the United States after WWII and after many crazy adventures opened up a bakery together in Oakland. I have so many wonderful memories of family dinners and hearing the tales of our family history.
My cousin Maria is someone I've always admired, I remember loving her style and curly hair. Her father Erich, was my grandfather's youngest brother and the artist of the family. I have one of his collage paintings that Maria gave me years ago in my house, people always comment on it. It's Uncle Erich's take on the famous Klimt piece, "The Lovers".
Maria has two girls, Mia and Ellie, who are now beautiful young women and the oldest is graduating high school via a drive through ceremony today. Last weekend I went to their backyard with a long lens and we were able to do some social distance graduation and family photos. It was really nice hearing a teenage perspective of the pandemic and seeing my cousin and her family (even from a distance).
Mia, Class of 2020
Bernal Heights Family
I love this Bernal Heights family. A couple of years ago when this little guy was four months old, I spent some months being his nanny. I have many fond memories of pushing his stroller around the colorful Bernal Heights neighborhood singing, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” over and over again.
Lina and Jacob
“We are both scientists who met at UCSF while working on our doctorates. While we love all things nerdy, we also spend a lot of time outdoors, either hiking or biking. Kristin captured our love for nature and for each other perfectly!”
Jill and Daniel
Jill and Daniel, June 2019, “A couple of magical cats that embrace the weird, live through art, and resonate with the heart of earth.”
Jill and Daniel’s wedding was one of the most special events I’ve ever had the privilege to photograph. It took place at the home of Berkeley sculptor Stephen De Staebler.
Jill and Daniel’s friends who refer to themselves as “Meow 4 Life” were so creative and fun. They executed a puppet show of Jill and Daniel’s love story using one of Chelsea Wolfe’s songs, “Tracks (Tall Bodies)” and ended with a group coordinated dance to Beyonce’s “Drunk in Love.”
You could feel the love that this group of people have for each other. I left that night feeling so full of hope and joy that people like this exist. Thank you for having me Jill and Daniel.
