Wedding at Murrieta's Well Livermore, CA

Steve and Amber were married at one of my favorite locations. The wedding took place in April at Murrieta's Well in Livermore.

The first time I met with Steve and Amber she had purple hair, or at least part of it was purple. Was this going to be a punk wedding? On the wedding day I was elated to find Amber had transformed herself into an elegant and beautiful bride. I didn't even recognize her that afternoon when she first opened the bridal suite door!

Not only did Amber look amazing, she is also very self aware; being conscious of her facial and body movement. This made my job truly enjoyable.

My favorite journalistic shot from the day is when Steve is putting on Amber's ring during the ceremony. The groomsmen's facial expressions are just awesome!

Eating Gluten-Free - Missing Big Pieces of Wedding Cake

I know this is not photography related, but I couldn't resist witting about my recent experiences with my new gluten free diet. I figured out sometime around February that I was gluten intolerant. I don't get super sick like some people, but I definitely don't feel good the next day.

If any of you have tried to change your diet in such a big way you will know what I mean when I say "It's a tough path!" Almost everything we eat in the United States has wheat in it. Did you know that most cream based soups (in the rue), most seasoned French fries, soy sauce, and most battered items (fish, veggies, etc) have some wheat in them?

I miss my chocolate chip cookies! But Whole foods carries gluten free brownies by Crave bakery. So yummy!

So when you see me only take one bite of your wedding cake don't be offended. It's probably to die for, but I don't want to be dieing the next day. However, I do want to be able to give props to the awesome bakers who create the pretty and tasty cakes for your weddings. So you will find me splurging on that one big bite!

San Francisco Engagement Session - Palace of Fine Art

I met Jon and Angel a few weeks back to shoot their engagement session at the Palace of Fine Art. We are all from the San Jose area so we didn't realize that the dome was undergoing renovations and had scaffolding surrounding it.

They were a little bummed, but we were in a prime location with tons of beautiful areas that didn't include the dome. So no worries! We photographed in the areas all around the Exploratorium and then went across the street to the little marina area.

Cfoto has A New Website

Not only did we move in the middle of April, but the day before the move started I launched a new website! www.cfoto.com

I like to do everything at once for maximum chaos!

Check out the new site and let me know what you think; especially about the new logo and color scheme. Feel free to leave your comments on this post or send me an email with your thoughts.

We've Moved to San Jose

Lots of new things going on around here! A couple weeks ago we moved into a larger location in San Jose. We now have a huge yard that will be perfect for photo sessions! Oh, and big enough for volley ball games and BBQ's too!

The new place has wood floors; which I absolutely love! But the most picture worthy item has to be this bright yellow door that leads to the backyard.

Family Photo Session at Cuesta Park Mountain View, CA

You don't need a reason to have a photo session! Keith and Michelle have been married a couple years, so this wasn't an engagement session. They just wanted some new family pictures.

Even if you are a small family without children its a good idea to have periodic photo sessions. Plus its fun! I have couples do lots of kissing, cuddling, walking, and jumping... Oh, did I forget to mention; you probably won't need to go to the gym on the day you have a photo session with me! :)

Home Safe Photo Shoot in San Jose

Today I photographed women and their children at Next Door/Home Safe, a facility that provides support and housing for women that are victims of domestic violence.

Rhee Bevere, a wonderful south bay photographer, organized hair stylists, makeup artists and photographers for the event.

Most the women at Home Safe have been through more difficulties in their lives than most of us. They simply do not have the means to take their kids to a portrait studio for a photo session. This was an opportunity for these busy mothers and their children to get dressed up, made up, and take sometime for themselves. Our job as photographers was to give them images of the experience. This might sound odd to some, but a beautiful image of oneself is a definite confidence builder.

I would love to post some of their images, but because of the sensitivity of some of their situations we were asked not to use any of the pictures. So here is a picture of some of the photographers that volunteered for the project (from left to right) me, Kimberly Sawyer, Angela Banchi, and Shannon Montez. We all shot at the home Safe in San Jose, but there were 3 other photographers at the Home Safe in Santa Clara.