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Reflections on Vegas

Las Vegas, Nevada

We’re back from our shoot in Sin City! Las Vegas Boulevard is one big fantasy, reflecting a vision of glitz and glamour and gold, or in this case reflecting Mike and me.
I love the aquarium in Caesars Palace. Only the statue’s head is swimming with the fishes, everything else is just a reflection in the glass.

Reflections are fun, but not always desirable in a photograph. I didn’t want anything detracting from these colorful fish.

Here’s the view from the hotel window.

I could have turned the lights off inside to lose the reflection, but I decided to take a photo through the sheer curtain instead for a different look.
Here’s the mirror again from the first photo. You could say this post has come full circle. I know my friend Melody would enjoy the pun.
FL&R

Trash the Bridesmaid…

Playa del Rey, California

I love The Day After portrait sessions as a chance to capture some unique, even crazy photos. These are usually reserved for brides or newlyweds. But what about the bridesmaids? Here’s one bridesmaid happy to trash her dress. This is my sister Alicja, who’s been a bridesmaid more than once. She recently visited me in California and we decided to wreck her dress on the beach!

My focus when shooting a wedding is to document the event and stay in the background as much as possible. With these sessions, the brides, grooms and bridesmaids get to be models for the day.
We were losing sunlight but we had a lot of wind as Alicja danced with her wrap.
I love how the colors of the sunset complement her lavender dress.

Another reason I love these sessions is because they give me a chance to experiment and try new techniques. Some photos are more stylized, others are more classic.
Alicja braved the waves for more photos. She reminds me of a young Sophia Loren and I wanted to give some of the photos a nostalgic, vintage feel.
One of the only photo requests Alicja had was to make a cape out of her wrap. Here she is – SuperWoman!

I love this photo!!!
Michael assisted and also captured this image.

And here’s the lovely assistant himself…

FL&R

Jayme Muniz - I just wanted to shoot you a quick note to tell you thank you a million times for the photo shoot yesterday! joe and i had such a great time and cant wait to see the proofs and actual photo’s! you are michael make an awesome team and like i said yesterday, i am more than willing to completely trash my dress if you are ever out this way again. save my number or if we are ever out that way ill look you up and we can trash it out there!! lol. thank you again! i cant wait to hear back from you!!!
Jayme and Joe!

Fast Eddie

Playa del Rey, California

We had a wonderful time today with our friends Kim, Liz, Joel and Eddie from San Diego. We’ve seen Eddie grow from a little baby with big cheeks and bigger smiles to an articulate and funny three-year-old who loves the beach.

He’s super fast!
and silly
I love this photo of Eddie with his dad.

“Happiness is time spent with a Friend and looking forward to sharing time with them again.”

– Lee Wilkinson
FL&R

Ala - Love these! He’s getting so big!

By the Light of the Moon

Playa del Rey, California

Tonight Michael and I went on a “Full Moon Tour at the Wetlands” led by Ballona Institute’s Roy van de Hoek. Did you know tonight was the Hunter’s Moon, probably so named because the full moon is so bright that hunters can continue tracking their prey into the night. Each full moon of the year has a different name.

We heard a few different bird calls and compared them to a bird book that played audio clips of different birds. Here tour guide Roy is trying to find the song of the killdeer.
This is the Del Rey Lagoon. We saw raccoons, ducks, geese and coots. We also woke up a heron sleeping in an Indian fig tree.

Thank you Roy & Marcia for a fun and informative tour. We hope to see you soon on another tour!
FL&R

A Perfect Match

Palos Verdes, California

Rob and Michelle were married on the anniversary of their first date, which fell on a weekday. The following Saturday they held their wedding reception at the beautiful Palos Verdes Country Club. I love all the red.

Every corner of the room had an interesting detail, including Michelle’s parents’ certificate of marriage from Vietnam.

The place cards gracefully adorned three sets of vases holding branches.

Michelle’s signature purse, she has several in different colors.
After everyone was seated, the couple played a slideshow of photos from their wedding ceremony.

As a surprise to all the guests, Michelle and Rob changed into traditional Vietnamese wedding attire, also called Áo dài.
Some of Michelle’s family traveled from overseas for their wedding and they were very excited to see the happy couple.

After greeting every table, the newlyweds changed back to their formal attire for their first dance.

Their guests loved the photo booth. Even the bride got in on the action making silly faces into the camera.
These two boys were so adorable!

All that dancing makes for hungry guests. No worries, there were two delicious cakes to satisfy every appetite.
Thank you again to the sweetest Michelle and Rob!
FL&R

Anonymous - wow im loving the red!