I had the pleasure of doing a collaborative shoot for California South Asian Bride Magazine recently and it was a lot of fun! I made this short video for a few reasons. The first reason is because I think “behind the scenes” videos are cool and as a photographer I can learn a lot from watching them. Another reason is because I think it is a glimpse into my world, my work, and my passion for collaborating with other artists for one common goal and that is to create stunning images. The final reason is because I wanted to start practicing using Apple’s new editing software, Final Cut X, which up until recently was missing a lot of features. Since the latest update included the features I would consider mandatory, I felt now was the time before wedding season starts to get my feet wet and start playing around with some of these personal type short videos, before we start editing wedding films with it. So ultimately I used this project as a learning experience so I could add these new tools to our work.

The video was shot in my studio and at Vasona Park in Los Gatos. Most of it was done held with the a 5D Mark II camera, as well as a Canon Powershot camera that I wanted to test out and basically had it mounted on a light stand. The clothing designer, Renuka, held it a few times to get some shots of me in action but otherwise it was all shot and edited by myself.

I won’t post any of the final images here, although you can see some of them in this short clip. However, once the magazine is out in circulation I will be sure to upload the finished spreads for everyone to see.

We have some more awesome fashion, South Asian inspired shoots coming up and I hope to film those as well! If you are interested in learning more about our studio photography in the San Francisco Bay Area, don’t hesitate to drop us a line at info(at)weddingdocumentary.com

Photographer: Vijay Rakhra

Hair/Makeup Artist: Kanchan Kapadne

Clothing Designer: Renuka Rajagopal 

Jewelry Designer: Nandini Saraiya

Models: Shruti Rajagopal and Sonia Kakkar

The Sangeet is the party the Punjabi couple holds the night before their wedding. It is a night for mingling, dancing, and having fun before the big day! Here is a highlights reel of Natasha and Vishal’s Sangeet that they held at the bride’s home. We hope you enjoy!

Camera gear included three 5d Mark IIs, Kessler Crane, tripods, Rode Mics, and Cinevate Slider.

One of the most fulfilling parts of being a wedding and portrait photographer is seeing families and children grow. I don’t know what else matters in life other than cherishing the people in our families and remembering our lives through images. When we photograph a wedding, a baby, a toddler, a child, or a family, these are pretty much the moments in time we want to hold onto forever and they become our most priceless possessions.

When we have the ability to create that relationships beyond the wedding, we really feel that we are part of their family. We get to build that relationship which will last generations and beyond since the photos will never be discarded.

We had the pleasure of photographing Elizabeth and Jer, along with their beautiful daughter Evelyn recently. Both Elizabeth and Jer’s parents were there so it was very inspiring to have all three generations in the same photograph.

We truly live for capturing these moments in time that will be cherished by our clients friends forever!

A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of doing an engagement shoot with a really awesome couple! Riga and Ash are getting married this April and they met each other in London. Since then, they have been dating, working and travelling together all over the world and came in just for a few days so we could do this shoot! Right after the shoot they both caught flights, Ash going to New York, and Riga back to London.

Their events will take place at some of my most favorite venues including Nestldown and Silver Creek Country Club. Can’t wait to spend the weekend with these two and we hope you enjoy these images shot at Vasona Park in Los Gatos, CA.

The photos below perfectly display why I love photographing weddings in California! The weather at Priyanka and Tushar’s Carmel Hyatt Wedding was gorgeous! We had clear blue skies and nearly 70 degree temperatures at their beautiful venue, Hyatt Carmel Highlands. Instead of heaters for their guests, they were considering fans! The ocean breeze and picturesque backdrop behind their Mandap was dreamy to say the least.

After the Hindu ceremony the bride and groom changed outfits for a Christian ceremony which was very cool to have both religious ceremonies in one day. We did a first look before the Christian ceremony and had family photos after each ceremony. Right at sunset we did our photo session with the bride and groom, before heading over to the Monterey Marriott for their reception.

Congrats Priyanka and Tushar and we hope you enjoy your beautiful images!

We are so excited for Simi and Aneil! They are getting married in September of 2012 and their wedding is going to be off the hook! Simi is one of the most organized brides I have met in a while. She booked us a year in advance, planned her engagement shoot, and is now chilling with all her most important wedding planning details already done!

Aneil has some very good looks, so much so that you would think he was a Bollywood actor! In reality these two are super smart and nice people that you just want to be around. We had a great time hanging out with them and have a hard time calling this work!

The engagement locations below include the Embarcadero, Palace of Fine Arts, and Baker Beach. We highly recommend these San Francisco locations for engagement shoots because of their free parking, beautiful architecture, and places that you do not need an official permit to shoot at! To book your San Francisco Engagement Session contact us today!

What better way to end 2011 than to film and photograph a wedding like this? We had  an exciting year in 2011 and shot over 50 weddings! I am really happy with all we have accomplished and where we are headed. We continually take big steps to improve our craft, step up our game, and produce work our clients will cherish forever. This is a perfect way to end the year for us and now we are looking forward to all our up coming weddings in 2012.

We hope you enjoy Vanisha and Bhavik’s Hindu Wedding Highlights filmed at the Marriott Hotel in Monterey, CA. Enjoy!

Here at Wedding Documentary Photo + Cinema we offer the highest quality wedding albums with custom designed layouts and perfect color and retouching throughout the book! The pages are thick and are printed on Kodak Endura Portrait paper with a lustre finish. Since the pages lay flat and there is no “gutter” cutting the image at the spine, beautiful wide panoramas can span over both pages for a wow factor that will blow you away! The colors seem to pop off the page and the story we put together with the images will bring you back to your special day forever!

Below we have images of our 12×12 “Cruelty Free” Leather 60 page album along with two identically designed 8×8 parent albums. All the books come in a protective presentation box that are perfect for when you want to bring your book over to your family or friend’s house. Turnaround time for designing is very fast, usually just a couple of weeks, and as soon as you approve your online “proof” of the layout, it just takes about three weeks to print and it is shipped safely to your doorstep!

Brides, what are you waiting for? If you don’t have a wedding album from your special day give us a call and we can design one for you. It is the best investment you can make in preserving your wedding day memories!

Jodie and Nathan got married just a couple weeks ago in my hometown of Los Gatos, California. It was a perfect day with sun in the middle of January! We were so excited because this was our first wedding of 2012. Photographing an 8 hour wedding with one additional shooter proved to be much easier than the Indian weddings we have been doing a lot of. The ceremony felt like 10 minutes and I was not tired by the end of the day!

Jodie and Nathan got married at the United Methodist Church next door to Los Gatos High School. After the ceremony we headed over to the front lawn of our old high school for some bridal party images and then simply drove down the street to the Los Gatos History Club for the reception. This is yet another Los Gatos High School alumni we had the pleasure of photographing their wedding. The couple that referred me to Jodie and Nathan also went to high school with us and we photographed their wedding back in 2009.

Jodie and Nathan met online at eharmony.com and  are perfect for each other! They are warm, inviting people with some great family and friends. The reception was a blast filled with dancing, cake, and the photo booth, which was the hit of the party!

Cheers to our first wedding of 2o12 and enjoy!

Priyanka and Tushar are getting married next weekend and one week before their wedding we did this engagement session so we could meet them in person and have some fun doing a few shots. Just the night before, this lucky couple had their engagement party at their home with their family and friends. They were very easy to photograph and looked extremely natural on camera. They are very much in love and we cannot wait to photograph and film their wedding this coming weekend in Carmel and Monterey! Thank God the rain is gone because I have a feeling it is going to be a spectacular wedding!

We have been photographing weddings more and more in the Monterey and Carmel area. We think it is one of the prettiest parts of California and since we live in Los Gatos, we are very close to the area. If you are in need of an Indian wedding photographer in Santa Cruz, Monterey, Salinas, Marina, or Carmel, give Wedding Documentary Photo + Cinema a call. We would love to hear from you!