Sunset and Clouds

I have a soft spot for those cotton-candy like clouds and Los Angeles is not particularly a place to observe them all the time... When we shot a movie in Iowa a few years ago for instance, those clouds were always there, almost everyday.
We do get them in Los Angeles but it's not as often as I like to see them, but then again, this way they stay precious to me.
I was driving on Santa Monica Blvd. coming back from a shoot when I saw the Century City skyline lit by the setting sun despite the cloudy sky.  I grabbed my camera and clicked away without really composing the picture...

Same drive, rear view mirror...

This one is from another day and another drive I took on Mulholland Drive.  I love to take the canyon roads whenever I can.

Lale & Yusuf Do LA

In the beginning of last December, while I was looking into some opportunities to make the relatively slower month a little busier, the opportunities came knocking!

One of the most interesting one was an email I received from Istanbul, Turkey.  A bride-to-be (Lale) was very excited to have found an established Turkish photographer in Los Angeles as she was planning to wed her fiancé (Yusuf) in Los Angeles.  I will not get into the technicalities why they were doing it initially in Los Angeles privately, but they had a "cute" reason.

We continued the email communication daily, we had a Skype call and they told me they were having some problems with the ceremony, so, being an ordained minister, I offered them to conduct their private ceremony!  After the wedding, I organized a fantastic photo shoot for them that took all day.  As this was their first time in Los Angeles, I wanted to show them around and have their pictures taken in places that I love in Los Angeles.  Some traditional, some not so much.  Here are the photographs from that day...

Lale & Yusuf at The Lake Hollywood Park

Sometimes, during the engagement sessions, the couples start a bit timidly.  There may be some shy moments, some stiffness...  All those are completely normal and as a photographer, it is my pleasure and my duty to put that couple at ease and get them rolling and start having fun as soon as possible.  Although I usually have no particular problem with such a task, Yusuf and Lale were both ready to go!  I found out Yusuf loves to be goofy, they both have wonderful humor and from the start, the day was promising to be fun.

Yusuf jumping on the opportunity to marry Lale

From Hollywood, we headed to Downtown Los Angeles...  We first shot a few frames at the historic Olvera Street.

The couple at Olvera Street

Before we decided to head down to Walt Disney Concert Hall, I let them wonder around a bit...

They only see each other...

This one is definitely one of my favorite shots from the day...  Walt Disney Concert Hall and its surroundings are absolutely wonderful.  So many different opportunities and setups!

She's a natural!

I do have an obsession for fish-eye and I am proud of it!

Downtown behind and a whole life together in front of them, the couple smiles.

Following the downtown, we took the 10 freeway, which was, by the way, extremely nice to us and headed to Santa Monica.  This popular spot provided us many different opportunities, and a few samples are below.

Lale & Yusuf in front of the Route 66 Souvenir Shop.

If you are a photographer, you gotta love to shoot under the Santa Monica Pier!

Can you see the heart ?

A silhouette shot that reminds me of the old westerns for some reason!

Blue Sky, White Gown, Black Tuxedo

The golden rays of setting sun over the Pacific Ocean, a delicious seafood meal, beer... Here's to the many years ahead of you guys!

We were headed back to Hollywood, than I saw the Sunset on my rear-view mirror. Inevitably, we stopped.

We had a nice drive back to Hollywood (101 was not as welcoming as 10!)

Rock'n'Roll!

This was the Los Angeles Story of Lale and Yusuf!  If you would like to organize a travelling shoot in and around Los Angeles, please feel free to contact me.

I look forward to spend some more time with you next week!

Winter Rainbow in Rustic Kitchen

What an eventful week! I had the great opportunity to shoot three weddings and spent three wonderful days with three lovely couples. More on those weddings in the coming weeks.

I also had the privilege to be the guest blogger for the very precious Mommy Hiker Community. Click on the link to read my photography heavy guest blog entitled "The Metamorphosis of The Great 'Outdoors'".

I'm gearing up to participate in a photo-walk project in Downtown Los Angeles, and the challenge is, I won't have one of my lenses I love dearly. As I told you, it was an eventful week and that lens is in the shop now, being repaired. But no biggie, I have other lenses, and I will take this opportunity to challenge myself to get creative.

As a matter of fact, I did just that tonight. My wife recently added a few little magical touches to our kitchen in order to change the storage area. She is constantly tweaking here and there in the house making our home even more home like and I love it! I wanted to honor her passion and love for our nest and thank her for giving me a guest blogger spot in her passionate blog. So here are the pictures, fresh from the oven. Enjoy and I'll be back next week with a wonderful couple from Turkey and a lovely wedding day in Los Angeles.

Winter Rainbow in Rustic Kitchen - A Close Look

Winter Rainbow in Rustic Kitchen

Rustic Kitchen

Winter Rainbow

Coffee is the focal point

A fish looking at the whole picture...

Shira & Andy's Engagement Session

Meet Shira & Andy. Although they both grew up in California, they now live in New York. And as both of their families are in California, they decided to hire local photographer for their wedding that would take place in June.

They found me last summer and although this was not planned at all, Shira called me and let me know that she would be here for only a couple of days with her fiancé during the Holiday season.

We decided on the only day they could do this, which was the day of their arrival by the way, and we met as planned in Palos Verdes after they flew for 5 hours and they had barely sometime to eat something and get ready.

Mother Nature had a lovely joke on them: It was raining. Pouring here and there. Than raining a little. Than a few minutes of break, and raining again.

But I guess this is why I love what I do... These two were incredibly joyous, extremely fun to be around and totally oblivious to the rain. And that great attitude fired this short session up with warmth, laughter and fun!

It was almost a testimony to how easy their love came to them. Nothing was stopping them from having fun, giggling, smiling and being positive... And from kissing of course!

A few more fun pictures...

And, of course, I had to document the rain that tried to spoil the day, and their love that endured and uplifted them and this photographer.... And, guess what: I look forward to spend a lovely day with this young couple in June!