kathryn + quang | carneros inn | french laund ry | castillo de amorosa | napa | engagement

i just came back from the most intense and exhausting workshop ever.  it's called the foundation workshop or FW7 for this year.  next year it'll be FW8 and i hope to either be attending again or be a volunteer for it.  but more on this in another post, i have way too much to say about it to do it justice here. 

over the last several months we've been on a journey to discover what we are as a photographer/artist/wedding photographer/photojournalist/portrait photographer/documentarian/director.  when we were first starting out all we cared about was getting some great images out there to be able to market ourselves better.  we didn't really consider ourselves as having a particular style, because we were trying all sorts of things.  the next step after figuring out our style has been to see what kinds of relationship we were forming with our clients in relation to the pictures that we were producing.  it gets a little convoluted and multi-layered after a while, but long story short we're constantly thinking about how our body of work fits into the universe.

kathryn and q, coming into our studio and commissioning us to shoot them was an affirmation that we're heading in the right direction.  we're drawn towards the gritty/moody/edgy/raw type images in our work and that's exactly what kathryn and q wanted.  we love the emotional extremes that it brings to the table in a world where weddings are supposed to be super fun and fantastic.  we love capturing the real fun moments and also drawing from the opposite well.  this is the style that i believe sets us apart from other photogs out there and not everyone is going to be into it.  i loved loved loved shooting this session with them.

candice + burton | rancho capistrano | orange county | engagement shoot

i want to touch upon the selection process for blog images for just a second.  i think image selection for your portfolio or blog is very important.  many times we're tempted to put up a ton of pictures because the shoot was great.  photographers feel the need to mix in the mediocre/standard images with the cool avant garde/edgy images to balance things out.  that's a pressure that brings down the impact of the set as a whole.  we're guilty of that too.  images are powerful.  they stick to your brain and leave their mark for days if not months.  why water down the impact of those few powerful images with bland white rice? 

with that said, candice and burton's shoot was chock full of great images that were hard to whittle down.  they were definitely ready for their shoot.  candice in her cute black dress with pockets and burton decked out in something his fashion forward sister picked out for him.  we had so much fun goofing around and playing around like kids.  can't believe how lucky we are to be working with them in baltimore for their wedding!