When my roommate told me of his plan to propose to his girlfriend while going on a Gondola Adventures (www.gondola.com) cruise through the beautiful Newport Harbor in Newport Beach, CA. We were acquainted with a person that owned a house on the route, so i hid inside a boat with the door cracked open enough for my lens to make it through. Her family also hid in the boat with me, and it was hilarious. There were comments like “She’s Crying” then the response “Crying is good”, “he’s got the ring!”, and other precious gems. The best part is that this whole conversation was caught on video by one of the family members.
There was a point when i lightly tapped the door with my lens someone said “I can’t believe she didn’t hear that”, while she was 20 feet away reading the amazing message in a bottle Tiago wrote for her. Needless to say she was so swept up in moment it didn’t matter how much noise we made.
When she said yes, we gave them some time to enjoy the moment, then all of a sudden Mark (from christafari.com & Gospelregge.com) yelled out “Can we come out now!” then about 15 of us came out to congratulate them. It was an amazing day. We later met up with them for dinner.
As i have stated previously, i was exposed to the Beloved Movement at a photography conference earlier this year. The concept was amazing, it had nothing to do with posing techniques, awkward situations nor complicated lighting. It all had to do with relationships and guiding a couple through a journey that would ultimately remind them of how precious their spouse is. I am not married, but i have seen life, work and even family get in the way of a spousal relationship. My personal goal is for the time we spend together to be one of the best moments of their lives. It goes beyond a beautiful picture which contains true beauty, it is my way to minister to the world and leave a mark of lasting change.
At first i was not sure about the concept, i did not see how photography could bring such an impact. The first few moments were enough to convince me that it went beyond photography. I came to the realization that experience does not require photography at all, the camera simply makes it less awkward to stand close by and guide them through different experiences. I find myself honored to be invited not only to capture, but also to witness such beauty and authenticity.
I hope to be able to dedicate more time to this type of photography in the future. I am including some slideshows of some of the beloved sessions that i have done this year.
Mark & Avion: I had known them for about two years years and i told them about the concept and that i wanted to try it out with them. So they were the guinea pigs for this whole beloved experiment. San Pedro is amazingly beautiful. I’m just glad we didn’t make it down to the rocks. Both Mark and Avion are part of an amazing Reggae group called Christafari (christafari.com). Music is by John Torres who has a show at The Hotel Cafe, 1623 1/2 N Cahuenga Blvd, Los Angeles, CA at 9:00pm http://hotelcafe.com/tickets
Elton & Andresa: Two great people, I was visiting family in Maryland in the Summer. We set this up a few hours before their trip to Italy to celebrate their first anniversary. It was a perfect day, in the 70s, low humidity and sunny. All the other days had unbearable humidity or thunderstorms. The only regret was that we didn’t have more time together.
Elida & Ken: What can i say, I love mom and my stepfather Ken. When i was back home to be a groomsman in a friend’s wedding, i extended my stay for my mom’s birthday. This was my gift to her, I could think of nothing better than i could give to her.
Dave & Judy: Well Judy is expecting twin boys, so we did a beloved session. It was fun, because some of the invites had to be adapted to an expecting mother. Obviously i could not have her jumping around all over the place or rolling on the ground. Newport Beach is beautiful, but it was a little “cold” by California status. One of my favorite moments was when Judy was trying to make Dave laugh and he was making a funny face to keep from giving in. his face would ultimately bring her to laughter and create a great moment.
As i was typing this post, I re-watched all the slideshows and it was great viewing all the images that reminded me of those great experiences.
More information can be found at youarebeloved.com
Here is a compilation of several beloved sessions. Music by Shannon Curtis.
I have been privileged to have been part of Mosaic’s Annual Fashion show since it began 3 years ago. This year it was officially part of LA Fashion Week. There was a combination of aspiring and accomplished designers. Each year the event has grown exponentially, It has transitioned amazingly from a setup in a park to the Vibiana in Downtown Los Angeles, CA. This venue is amazing, at times i regret not being at the bottom to capture the outfits that the local artists made which required it to be made of at least 80% LA Weekly magazine paper. But the truth was that there were already 3 other photographers at the bottom, so i hope they got the shots. So I decided to move around and got the sots that i wanted to get (including the venue), not the traditional pose at the end of the runway. I know I was the only one to get pictures from these angles, because i was the only pro photographer in these places. It is always fun to do something different in the realm of photography.
The proceeds for the show went to Beyond Us (www.mosaicbeyondus.org) Which is a non profit who’s vision is to unleash human potential to serve the world. A shot i took from the balcony was used in the 2011 Beyond Us booklet which can currently be viewed at www.mosaic.org on page 24
I would like to Tammy Borrero and her team for making this whole thing possible.
Pics below.
Music by Apoetnomadali Apoetnomadali.com (music will play so adjust your speakers accordingly)
Location: Vibiana vibianala.com
214 S. Main St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
So it finally happened, I was able to get together with Stephanie and Xavier for the engagement session. I was really looking forward to it. To keep up with the theme of their upcoming wedding, we decided to have the session at the Santa Monica Pier. The first thing i was told is that there would be no jumping around, because Stephanie had sprained her ankle a few weeks ago, and through it still hurt she could take it.
At the start i assured them that all they had to worry about was having fun. I also put the disclaimer that i would not shoot traditional engagement portraits, focusing on the ring, etc. They were more than fine with that. The reason I decided not to shoot it traditionally was that i wanted the focus to be on their relationship. I have learned that through my photography i am able to bless the couple and strengthen their relationship.
I only wish i had gotten more shots of them looking directly at the camera, because Stephanie’s eyes are beautiful. But this was a time for them, and i wanted them to be aware of each other and have the chance to simply gaze.
Stephanie was sweet and was such a great sport in going to all the locations, including walking half way down the sand, with her hurt foot. It was great to see Xavier’s sense of humor, he had us all laughing.
Superhero? in her opinnion he would would be Wolverine
how fast can he make her blush?
I am glad that they were able to connect despite the loud heavy metal music playing in the background. I simply love these guys, I can’t wait for the wedding day.
I have created this slideshow with more pictures from the session. I hope you enjoy them
Jr.
The music is by Shannon Curtis, if she had more songs i would use her music exclusively for all my engagement/beloved shoots. buy her music www.shannoncurtis.net
Update Oct 2nd, 2010: The video is now available in High Quality.
It’s hard to believe that this is my first post that features a beloved session. In the next few days i will post more on what this whole beloved movement is. But this post is specific to the story of Joel and Autumn.
So last Friday I went to see my former room mate Tiago play at Bella Vista, which is a gourmet Brazilian Pizza place. I have been thinking of going with a few friends to check it out, but since I only made the decision to go the day before I didn’t have a chance to get this group together. He has been playing there for months so i decided to go by myself.
When i got there i ran into my friend Joel, I hadn’t seen him in months. Joel is the coolest guy, the first time I met him when i was visiting California. So all of a sudden Joel pulls out a deck of cards and started doing tricks. The tricks I’m talking about were not the kiddy tricks, his tricks were more like “pick an ace” as he’s fanning the cards and it would always be an ace. One time he did a trick and made a person pull out a card in an imaginary deck, and place it facing up and when replaced the imaginary deck with a real one. Once he opened the real one the only card turned up was the card the guy had imagined.
So what does this have to do about a beloved session? well nothing and everything. In this post I’ll focus on the nothing, he’s just cool.
Autumn I met maybe a year and a half later at a friend’s house, and I have to say that that night I was blown away by her voice. It was the highlight of the night, and we were at the house of musicians and there was a lot of playing and singing that night.
Back to the present… as we were catching I told him about the beloved sessions and that It’s an experience so i told him “I have to do one of these sessions with you two”. this week has been crazy for me but i was going to make this work. well it turns out that she would be getting into town the following day (Sunday), so we set up the shoot and we were all pretty excited.
So the next step was location, and we decided to do it at Memorial Park in Pasadena, CA where he had proposed. Now everyone tells me that Pasadena is Beautiful (with what i’ve seen so far it’s true). I hardly ever went there because the drive from Huntington Beach where I used to live was so painfully long. I used to say “I don’t do Pasadena” But now all that is changed I’m much closer. So what did I say? “Perfect.” I wanted the location to be more than a pretty backdrop, but a place of deep meaning to the two of them.
It was a perfect Sunny California day, blue skys and sun. Autumn looked beautiful and i was glad to be there. I am not going to be able to be there to celebrate the day of their wedding, so I find myself honored to be able to celebrate their love.
Last but not least i want to end with a slideshow, I tend to favor local artists when it comes to the music for the slideshow. But when i was reminded during the session that Joel had written Autumn a song and had a recording I insisted that it be the soundtrack for their slideshow. I was told several times that it is very rough, but i told him that it didn’t matter, because this song has a greater significance to their relationship than a random song. Oh and it is him singing.
Joel and Autumn, I will miss you guys here in Cali. I can’t wait to hear the story of your wedding.
Jr.
P.S. I mentioned some things at the beginning which i wanted to promote as well
