These two were married at the Forest House in Forrest Hill.  A beautiful location where the ceremony site is 1.4 miles up the road.  Stunning views and wonderful food!  A must have in wedding locations!

   

 

 

The groom was a twin, which I didn't know until I arrived and managed to keep them apart most of the night.  It wasn't until I was leaving and packing my stuff up when I asked the groom "do you have any other photographs you want me to take before I go".  When I looked up I realized something was wrong...it was the twin brother.  Hey I didn't do too bad all day!

Saturady was absolutely wonderful!  These two are so incredibly sweet and relaxed!  Their wedding was in Placerville at the Gold Hill Vineyards.  An absolutely beautiful setting with wonderful food!

  

    

I couldn't decide between B&W and color so I posted both.  Do you have a favorite?

    

Check back tomorrow for Sunday's wedding!

Memorial Day is a day to remember those who died fighting for those who were unable to fight for themselves.  As you go about your weekend enjoying your family, friends, barbecue, water sports or any other fun activity.  Pick up a flag or some flowers and visit a grave site of someone who fought for your freedom. 

At the very least, bow your head and pray for those who have paid the ultimate price protecting and preserving the freedoms we enjoy. For those who should be remembered every day possible and not just the three day weekend Congress set aside for them.

 

  

   

If you would like to know more about this important day type "Memorial Day" in your internet search engine or follow one of the following links. 

Memorial Day History: http://www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html

Help Restore Traditional Day of Observance: http://www.usmemorialday.org/act.html

A long but nice clip for memorial day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te-cKxsBapM

May not be the most recognized source but this is an idea of how many have died fighting for you:

War

Deaths

Addendum

American Revolution

25,324

Bunker Hill cost 400 American lives

War of 1812

2,260

Mexican War

13,283

Civil War Union Confederacy

498,332 364,821

Antietam cost 5,000 lives on both sides: bloodiest day in American history

Spanish-American War

2,446

World War I

116,516

Battle of Some cost 19,240 British lives on a single day (total British casualties that day: 57,470)

World War II

405,399

Other Losses: Soviet: 10,000,000 German: 3,500,000 Japan: 1,500,000 British: 280,000 At Dunker the British suffered 68,000 casualties

Korean War

54,246

Vietnam War

56,244

Panama Invasion

23

Gulf War (1991)

148

Source http://hnn.us/articles/1381.html

Since the March 2003 invasion, 3,305 American servicemen and women have died in Iraq (source unknown)

These numbers are what I could find on the internet today and may not accurately reflect the true loss of life.

I was fortunate enough to photograph a portion of a wedding this evening with Robin.  These are just a couple of images that I shot with my brand new 70-200 f/2.8.  I think I'm in love!

 

 

 Thank you Robin for letting me tag along!!

I shot these two a couple of weeks ago at their family home in Auburn.  They are incredibley sweet and traditional.  There June 2, 2007 wedding will be in Auburn as well!  Check out the rest of their images

 

 

The house has been under quarentine this week and we are starting to go just a little crazy!!  However, I will be shooting three weddings this weekend and one of them I am lucky enough to be assisting ROBIN for the ceremony and reception.

Aimee & Serge were married on Sunday at the Monte Verde Inn in forrest hill.  Everything was absolutely beautiful!  Here are just a few shots:

   

 

  

 

 

 

This was another wedding with a few firsts.  As a wedding photographer you are never able to call in sick to work.  I woke up at 5:30 in the morning on Sunday with a 103 temperature.  The rest of the day didn't get better.  I had an asthma attack 20 minutes before the ceremony, luckily a bartender had an inhaler for me to borrow! 

This was the first ceremony I had been to where the bride and groom's parents took turns speaking during a portion of the ceremony.  Their speeches were so wonderful and heartfelt, just amazing!  The pastor was absolutely hysterical through out the enchanting ceremony.  I truly enjoyed photographing this beautiful couple at such a lovely sight.  However, I wish I would have had more than 35 minutes to photograph the family, bridal party and the couple.  There were so many locations to photograph at the Inn, I was barely able to scratch the surface.  I do have another wedding there later this year...can't wait to head back!

I again have fallen behind, having 2 weddings this weekend, getting sick and now the little ones are sick.  Nothing tugs at your heart strings more than a 5 month old with a fever of 103.  He does this little pouty cry that just kills me!!  My daughter...she is such a trooper, but she gets to have the good medicine that helps her sleep!  So much more to post....

Bud and Heather's wedding yesterday had so many firsts I barely know where to begin!  It was the first time I didn't recognize the groom and I did the engagement session 2 weeks ago(he shaved his beard), first time I had seen 6 adorable flower girls, 1st time I saw the bride's father bump knuckles with the groom at the alter, 1st time photographing and 8 minute ceremony and the first time seeing a bride photograph the toast. 

This was a wonderful wedding of two simple adorable individuals!  Congrats you two!!

  

 

 

A little behind on posting on Xanga, so much has been going on.

Fixed my computer, it ended up being a problem with my hard drives connection to the motherboard.  The computer geek in the house attached them to a thingy and then to the mb and now it works. YEA!!

Lens & Flash went to nikon and won't be back for another 6 weeks.  So I did the only respectable thing a photographer can do, I bought a new lens (f2.8 70-200 vr!!) and flash.  I can't wait they should be here next week!!

I forgot to mention, I created a new blog for my professional website.  My Xanga blog will now be a little more personal.

Check back soon, I have so many photographs to post. Engagement sessions, weddings...we are kicking it into high gear, I have 5 weddings between the next two weekends! 

Hope all is well with you!

Best wishes!

These two are getting married on May 19, 2007.  We just did a last minute engagement session!

Check out their Guest Book:

And the rest of their photographs:

 

On a side note, I will once again remind you to back up all of your files and get your equipment checked.  While in Yosemite, two of my 5 lenses broke.  How...no idea...they weren't dropped at the time they broke!  I get back to find that one lens (my back up) would cost $250 to fix.  So I decide to by another lens (Tameron 2.8 17-50mm - nice lens very happy with it!).  I then take the lens (nikon 18-70 3.5) home to my husband and tell him it is a new rubix cube to play with.  Ten minutes later...the lens is fixed.  The second lens rattles when shaken...that one went back to Nikon as it is my favorite lens (Nikon 24-85 2.8) and won't be back for six weeks.  Think that is enough for one week.  Nope, that Saturday my back up flash burnt out at the wedding reception.  Nothing like having a hot flash during the cake cutting!  Then during one of my engagement sessions the next week, my 2nd camera stops auto focusing my lenses.  Not sure if I want to bother sending that to nikon in the thick of wedding season so still dealing with that issue.  Last but not least, my computer started crashing.  It has taken me a week and a half to figure it out (crossing my fingers) which ended up being a problem with MS automatic update feature eating up all of my memory.  Of course, I sit down tonight to start processing my images finally.  My daylight bulbs in my office have burnt out.

Amazingly enough, I am in high spirits.  I have my family, clients health and all is normal with the world.  Just thought I would share my experience with second and back up equipment failure.  BE PREPARED!!

Best wishes!

I was lucky enough to not only photograph their engagement session in beautiful Mapleton Utah but I was also fortunate enough to photograph them at the Sacramento Temple.  These two are incredible sweet and they smile constantly!

 

    

The first wedding where I actually shot RAW and used Lightroom to post process.  I am excited of all the neat things I can do with these photographs but the process has slowed me down soooooo much I don't think I will switch over to RAW just yet for the rest of my weddings.