Engagement Sessions | Wedding Documentary San Francisco Wedding Photographer Videographer

Engagement Photo Session at UC Berkeley

April 23, 2012 By vijay Leave a Comment

Last week I had a ton of fun working one of my lovely couples for the pre-wedding engagement shoot. They will have a three day wedding in June and we are super excited for it! For their E-Session they wanted to incorporate the school they both attended, UC Berkeley. I love shooting at this location because this school has it all! We walked into a beautiful grove full of Eucalyptus and Redwood trees to start it off easy and casual. By simply having them walk through the trees we got some fabulous shots with the light streaming through the branches.Just a few feet away we had a stream as well that worked for a great background.

We chose the library for a few shots, because not only are they fun to use as props and shoot down aisles etc, but also because although they went to UC Berkeley together, they never knew each other during their school years. It was only after college that they met and fell in love and decided to get married. So using the library as a storytelling tool, we see that they are both there but not necessarily noticing each other. He is checking her out and she does not notice. For fun, we had them play with the books and start to be together, but the initial motivation for some of the shots was directly related to their personal story.

All the buildings at this school have a ton of character. Since they have been built over time, they all have a time period of their own, everything from over 100 years old to the just recently opened Engineer school for example. My absolute favorite building is the Miner’s building, where students learn about various stones and metals. The ceiling is amazing with the windows allowing natural light in for the entire building.

I love symmetry in my images and UC Berkeley has a lot of it. For all students and recent grads getting married, I highly recommend choosing this location for your engagement session if you liked your college years and the education you received!

Scroll down to see some of my favorite images and stay tuned for their beautiful wedding images to be on the blog in June!

Sonya + Satindar | San Francisco Engagement Session

March 23, 2012 By vijay Leave a Comment

Yesterday I woke up feeling sort of down. It looked super cold and gray outside and it was windy! I was worried that it would start raining and that our scheduled engagement session with Sonya and Satindar would not go through. Fortunately I heard from Satindar later in the day that it was in fact sunny in San Francisco! I instantly became excited again and headed up north to meet them at their place and then drive together to hit some spots that they wanted to go to for the session.

Sonya and Satindar looked amazing when I arrived! Sonya had her hair and makeup trial with Christal, from artistrybychristal.com (my favorite makeup artist) earlier in the day and that is exactly what I recommend brides do before their engagement session. Satindar didn’t have to do nearly as much to get ready because he is a guy but that’s the way it goes!

We headed to a few spots including Golden Gate Park near the De Young Museum and then went to the coast where we could get some magnificent views of the ocean during sunset. The wind was absolutely insane and I thought I was going to blow over or lose my light in the ocean but we all made it out okay with no casualties.

After the shoot we had an amazing dinner together and that was the best part! I hope you enjoy some of our favorites from the shoot and have a wonderful weekend!

Filed Under: Engagement Sessions, South Asian Weddings Tagged With: indian engagement shoot, indian wedding photographer, san francisco engagement session, san francisco photos

Karyna + Joe | Santa Cruz Engagement Photo Shoot

March 12, 2012 By vijay Leave a Comment

I had an amazing time with Karyna and Joe this past Friday in Santa Cruz when we met up for their engagement session. We are super excited to document their wedding because these two are very cute together and they are getting married in a fabulous destination, Isle Mujeres, Mexico. They both love the beach but had never been to one of my favorite beaches in Santa Cruz so we met at Natural Bridges State Beach on the west side of Santa Cruz. When I was in college I would come to Natural Bridges and read because it is so beautiful. What really makes it special are the rocks on the side of the beach and outcropping rock in the ocean. It is like a natural arch and perfect for framing portraits in front of it.

I have a lot of favorite images from this engagement shoot in Santa Cruz so I posted a ton below. We are so very excited to be shooting our first wedding in Mexico in May and spending a couple days with these two. Stay tuned for that blog post because it will be for sure amazing!

Filed Under: Engagement Sessions Tagged With: beach engagement, engagement photo shoot, mexico wedding, natural bridges, santa cruz photo shoot, state park

Poonam and Krishan | San Francisco Engagement Session

March 7, 2012 By vijay Leave a Comment

It has been overall really dry here in the Bay Area this winter but just as we set out for our e-shoot with Poonam and Krishan it started raining. Rescheduling would have been difficult since the two both traveled quite far to get to San Francisco for our shoot! Poonam came from Bakerfield, and Krishan from Atlanta, Georgia. Luckily they had just bought a brand new umbrella that worked perfectly for keeping them dry, as well as, a cool prop for our shoot!

Although it was raining and cold Poonam and Krishan bold held up quite well and we have a lot of images we all love from the shoot. It was extremely hard just to pick a few for this blog post. At any one given background you see in the images below, there were 5-10 other good poses and expressions. But for the sake of your download speed I will show you just a select few.

Engagement shoots are really about having fun and doing new things, both for the couple and for myself. It is the time for us to really get to know our couples, shoot from the hip sometimes and just forget about photography. At other times during the shoot it is an opportunity for us to try new things like lighting techniques we want to practice more of so when we are hard pressed for time at a wedding, we will know how to do it better and faster!

Being in front of the camera for a portrait shoot should definitely be a great experience as well. You get to look amazing and be photographed at amazing locations with the person who you love in the world most! Better yet, you get a fun and relaxed photographer who will capture those candid moments, but also help you pose some shots so you get the cool fashion looks and artistic images that our clients hire us for.

Locations for this beautiful Indian Engagement Photo Session included Palace of Fine Arts, Baker Beach, and the Bow and Arrow Art Piece at the Embarcadero, San Francisco. For more information regarding portait/engagement sessions give us a shout at info (at) weddingdocumentary.com

wpid11737 San Francisco Indian Engagement Photo 1 Poonam and Krishan | San Francisco Engagement Session