Karl Ko Photography Blog - San Francisco Bay Area and Hawaii Destination Weddings

Erin & Tanner's Wedding. La Selva Beach

2011-12-13T00:56:00.001-08:00

Ceremony and reception at Villa Viscaya, a private estate in La Selva Beach.

Erin and Tanner are from Minnesota. They were originally planning a destination wedding in the Caribbean but happened upon Villa Viscaya here in the Bay Area during their venue search and fell in love with the location. Being oceanfront and on U.S. soil was an added bonus! The incomparable Nicole Lisanne was handling all the arrangements so living in Minnesota wasn’t going to be an issue when it came to planning.

Fast forward to the wedding day who would have guessed it would rain all day? I was watching weather radar all week and driving over the “hill” had me growing more apprehensive. There was no chance this rain was going to let up in time for an outdoor ceremony. Contingency plans were on when we drove up to the estate. Amy Frugoli from Nicole Lisanne Weddings and Events and crew were busy rearranging the main room for the ceremony. Tanner and Erin were in good spirits all smiling and laughing - nothing fazed them. Erin even came prepared with galoshes and a matching umbrella. Awesome!

There were many wonderful details at this wedding. Tanner had originally wanted a miniature pineapple on his boutonniere but unfortunately there were none to be had so Rachael Myers of Sweet Tooth Confections created one to adorn their cake. All the linens were picked out months ago and chosen to match the ocean and autumn inspired color scheme. They had beautifully printed programs and menus, delicious food, yummy desserts, and a surprise Porsche cake.

The rain stopped long enough for a change of pace and we took advantage by going outside for some picture taking. Villa Viscaya is a remarkable estate set on a hill high above the Pacific, a perfect setting for an intimate wedding with 22 of your closest friends and family. We photographed on the lawn, in the halls, in the driveway, next to the fountain, at the massive front doors. This place is really nice! We even made it out to the nearby beach which was completely deserted.

What a great day!

Event Coordination: Nicole Lisanne Weddings and Events by Design
Floral Design: Precious and Blooming Floral Design
Catering: Thomas John Events
Cake: Sweet Tooth Confections
Decor: Classic Party Rentals

Amy & Rick's Wedding. San Martin

2011-10-31T01:55:00.001-07:00

Ceremony and reception at Clos La Chance Winery in San Martin.

Amy and Rick knew exactly what they wanted. The first clue came in their inquiry where they requested the final product to be delivered almost entirely in black and white. I reread the email to be certain, that certainly was different. During our phone conversation Amy confirmed the preference for black and white images and that they wished to have editorial-type coverage presented in a press-printed coffee table album. They also hired International Strings out of Los Angeles to provide the music because they liked the demo reel better than local options. See? They know what they want. Awesome!

Currently residing near Chicago, Rick was originally from the Bay Area so they decided to get away and host an intimate wedding party near family. This was also going to be a destination event for guests traveling from Illinois; Clos La Chance on the CordeValle property seemed like the perfect setting - an elegant location with top notch accommodations and close to relatives.

That morning Rick took the boys to visit Point Lobos State Natural Reserve as Amy prepared her hair and makeup at a salon. We caught up with the guys at a villa in CordeValle. Rick had chosen a dark chalk-stripe suit and suspenders to play off Amy’s vision of a vintage 1920’s and 30’s style. Amy was in Clos La Chance’s bridal suite getting ready to put on her dress, a full-length sheath with a beaded belt and floret accents. She also wore deep purple hued shoes, a long veil, and carried a bouquet of purple Calla lilies.

Amy peeked out the door as guests found their seats. Rick stood around the corner waiting for her entrance to walk down the aisle together. During the ceremony they both stood within a large circle formed by flowers that their guests had laid. In the late afternoon they exchanged vows against hills of Hayes Valley and the vineyard surrounding the winery. Later, after a little hiking and picture taking among the vines, everyone sat down together at a single long table. Per Amy’s request Bloomsters dressed the property with many candles and lanterns. It was a wonderfully relaxed evening with close friends and family.

Floral Design: Bloomsters

Cake: Dolce Cakes

Music: International String Trio

Valerie & Justin's Wedding. Blackhawk

2011-10-31T01:37:00.000-07:00

Ceremony at St. Victor's in San Jose and reception at the Blackhawk Museum in Danville.

It's like six-degrees of Kevin Bacon. A previous client and Valerie when to high school together. Justin worked with the sister of a different KKP client. That client referred me. Valerie's and another client's family go to the same church. Valerie and I both have black hair. OK, that last one was a test to see if you were paying attention, but it is true!

Readers recall part of Valerie and Justin’s engagement session was photographed at the Niles Canyon Rail Yard in Sunol. You may have thought that they loved trains but truth-be-told, this couple is all about beer! We stopped briefly at Justin’s where the guys were assembling. Notably, each groomsman had a different set of cufflinks. The story behind Justin’s dated back to his brother’s wedding. He was in a spot and bought his at an antique store in Niles on the day of. They look pretty cool, I need to get myself a couple sets of vintage links! At the same time over at Valerie’s parent’s, Monina and team had hair and makeup running at multiple stations. We kept ourselves busy with details like the dress, bedazzled shoes, lockets, etc. Check out the dress form (aka mannequin) used to display Valerie’s gown, what a terrific idea!

I last photographed at St. Victors five years ago when Jennifer de la Cruz and Michael Padua were married. Valerie’s was a childhood parishioner of St. Victor’s and returned now for her wedding. After the ceremony, Valerie and Justin had a surprise for their guests, the Wow Silog Truck. Yes, a roach coach was in the parking lot serving up Filipino snacks! Yes, haha, guests of the wedding after ours was taking advantage of it too!

That afternoon we took advantage of Blackhawk Plaza and photographed the couple and wedding party around the property. A museum anchors one end of the plaza and houses a collection of classic cars. The reception was hosted amongst Ferrari’s, Bentley’s, Jaguar’s, Alfa’s, Benz’s, … and beer. A testament to Valerie and Justin’s persuasion, tables were outfitted with coasters donated by many of their favorite brewers. They even had a special bottling just for them! The beer references don’t stop there. Somehow The Delicate Daisy was able to get their hands on Hops, lot’s of Hops, Hops were everywhere.

Honeymoon? Hah! Oktoberfest of course; across Europe!

Thank you James and Sotheary for referring :D

Event Coordination: Events by Satra
Hair/Makeup: Moderne Beauty - Monina Wright
Floral Design: The Delicate Daisy House of Flowers - Roxane Rockwell
Cake: Edith Meyer
Music: Pierre Galang
Videography: MiCha Videography
Photo Booth: 247 Media

Patsy & Devin's Wedding. Los Gatos

2011-10-10T21:52:00.000-07:00

Ceremony at St. Christopher's in Willow Glen and reception at the Toll House in Los Gatos.

This cute couple met their freshman year in college while Devin was offering his IT and networking services to his new hallmates. What a novel way to "meet people". ;) Well, there must have been something special about the way he configured a 802.11 WPA-PSK connection because he and Patsy have been together ever since. If only everyone on my hall needed a 2400 baud modem configured for their Apple SE30's when I was in college... After graduation Devin moved back to the Bay Area and Patsy followed a little while later. In August of last year Devin planned a little weekend in San Francisco to see the musical Beauty and the Beast, complete with a stay at the top of Nob Hill and fine dining in Hayes Valley. That's when he asked Patsy to marry him.

Patsy used the words classic and pretty when we first met and their wedding was. That morning we bounced back and forth between Devin and Patsy's rooms - so convienent to have everyone at the same place getting ready! They both got ready at the Toll House in Los Gatos where Patsy was the queen of cool. You can see it as she lounged in her bathrobe sipping her Starbucks. I dunno, maybe she knew she was in good hands with Nicole Lisanne's team - Andrea Doll and Nancy Do - handling the setup and schedule.

At the church Father Dave talked what he had learned about the couple over the course of their preparations. He also exposed Devin's penchant for basketball shoes. Jordan's to be specific - many many many Jordan's. Devin had told me earlier that Nike's were in the running as the shoe of choice for the wedding. The reception featured some charming country accents. There were subtly unmatched glass flower vases, chaulk boards at the dessert table, menus, signs, and gift tags with country-western font faces, deconstructed flower arrangements, and fruit preserves favors for all the guests (wow! which Patsy's mom made herself!). The fingerprint tree and fondant cake toppers figures were cool too. To the joy of their guests, there was a photobooth. Photobooths are always a fun addition to wedding receptions. I love seeing all the crazy things people do behind the privacy of a curtain. Check out what happens when the bridesmaids and groomsmen take over the booth. It's like night and day.

It was flawless, right down to the limo drivers. I gotta say, I've rarely been at a wedding where the limo either beats me to the location or is right there a few steps behind me. I swear they have some sort of light-changing-button thingy.

Event Coordination: Nicole Lisanne Weddings and Events by Design
Floral Design: Precious and Blooming Floral Design
Cake: Sweet Tooth Confections
Music: Big Fun DJ
Photo Booth: Perfect Day Events Photo Booth
Transportation: Lone Star Limousines

Nora & Garratt's Wedding. Mill Valley

2011-10-01T03:31:00.000-07:00

Ceremony and reception at the Mill Valley Outdoor Art Club. If you've never visited, Mill Valley is a charming little town. Worth a trip.

My wonderful clients Diana and Alex referred their high school friends. Nora and Garratt were living on the East Coast at the time. Somehow, they found their location, hired their wedding professionals, and planned the event while completing a law degree, studying for the Bar, developing a business, working at a technical lab, and preparing to move back to California. No easy feat!

During our initial call Nora shared that Garratt has framed a picture from Diana and Alex's wedding. It's one of him dancing. Well now I'm intrigued! There's more. They are high school sweethearts getting married featuring some unique and eclectic accents. "I'd like SWords for $500, Alex." Funny Connery/Trebek sketch, bad SNL reference maybe, but swords is exactly what we have here. As we enjoy dinner together in Oakland one rainy evening I'm told: "Oh, the groomsmen will have swords, Karl. And we're probably going to have a robot." Top hats, tailcoats, swords, robots, bacon, Disa orchids, and Bohemian Rhapsody.

Time to put it all together. We start the day as everyone goes through a dry run of the ceremony. Some people couldn't get in to town earlier so they meet to go over things that morning. Then its off to the salon for Nora which is conveniently right across the street. The groomsmen start to change and a few other guys tap on laptops presumably preparing the robot - a Roomba base with a Kinect vision system and an articulating arm. It's on display, dressed for the occasion, and holding a book.

Our ring bearer robot leads the procession followed by one very cute flower girl and then the groomsmen, swords at their sides. Garratt, wearing a Disa boutonniere in honor of his father - a commercial Disa grower, waits as the ladies and finally Nora comes down the aisle with her parents. After a beautiful ceremony among a grove of Redwood trees and officiated by their friend, it's cocktails, pictures, and the reception. They requested more candid type shots; well you can't get much more candid than some of these dancing shots. I can still remember one guest dancing to Starship's We Built This City saying to everyone "...c'mon, I know people know this song. Get up here and dance!" The end of the night was highlighted by Bohemian Rhapsody, home made hedgehog cookies made by Garratt's mom in memory of their pet, and freshly baked bacon. Who doesn't like bacon? (I'm told Garratt presided over a meat club while in school.)

Undeniably distinctive wedding with elements that I will not soon forget! Right down to running off in a classic yellow cab.

Hair and Makeup: Milvali Salon
Floral Design: Nancy Ann Flowers
Catering: Asqew Grill
Cake: Katrina Rozelle Pastries and Desserts
Music: On Beat Productions

Debora & Terry's Engagement. San Francisco

2011-09-17T11:27:00.000-07:00

Yikes, I'm so behind on blogging! Thank you for your patience everyone :)

Fort Mason resonated immediately with Debora as an engagement session location - sweet! The City has done a wonderful job of repurposing former military installations without losing their rich history. I love all of the old military properties around San Francisco and have been looking for an opportunity to shoot at this one again.

San Francisco can occasionally come with unpredictable craziness. There’s a lot going on all the time. Lucky for us, it was a quiet afternoon at Fort Mason. Now a community activity and art space, we benefited from the SEAT installation – all sorts of things you can literally “sit” on. Getting dark and chilly, we moved on to Polk Street. So many little-known but wonderful areas in the City you can drive passed without realizing it, Polk Street (or Polk Gulch) is just that! One block over from Van Ness Ave., Terry used to live near this neighborhood, and suggested it as a spot with some local urban flair. It certainly is just that, right down to the coin-op laundry.

Rosie & Wesley's Engagement. Palo Alto

2011-09-02T00:36:00.000-07:00

Rosie and Wes's big Hawaii wedding takes place later this year but they wanted photographs of their lives here in the Bay Area so they called me :) I've known Rosie and Wes for several years now. There is a three generation long Hawaii connection through my wife's family - that's quite a bit of time!

Happy to oblige, we met to talk about what they were looking for. That's when I learned they were die hard coffee lovers like your truly! You can tell from the pictures that they take coffee brewing seriously! (Yes, the coffee was very tasty) I'm starting to think that I need some new coffee-related appliances.

We started off in their home enjoying a fun and relaxed morning together as we brewed some java and ate a light breakfast. One of their favorite places is the Rancho San Antonio Open Space so we went there and explored the small farm. It's a great little spot that I hadn't been to in years. Loved the little signs introducing each animal to the kids that often visit. Finally, we ended at the Ferry Building in San Francisco catching the tail end of the weekend farmer's market.

Patsy & Devin's Engagement. Saratoga

2011-08-03T23:53:00.000-07:00

Patsy and Devin wanted to explore downtown Saratoga. What a great idea! I'm always open to visiting new places, and besides, it was near a field I've been dying to use as a photography location. So we spent a Sunday afternoon wandering around Big Basin Way. Despite being only about 5 blocks long, the town had plenty of spots for us to enjoy. Patsy and Devin had big easy smiles, laughed readily, and were super easy to photograph. I took a ton of pictures; these were some of my favorites.

You'll be seeing more of this cute couple in about a month when they'll be getting married. Can't wait!

The Lee Family - Chloe Turns One! San Jose

2011-06-04T00:43:00.000-07:00

The one year milestone is traditionally significant in many Asian countries. Julie and Alan wanted to do something special to commemorate their daughter Chloe's first birthday which included a lifestyle session in traditional Korean clothing called a hanbok. That's when fortune shined on me and Julie sent an email inquiry. She liked my outdoor on-location work and wanted something similar for her family.

I've started developing my portrait work a little bit and this sounded like a wonderful opportunity! Of course I said "yes". We got together so I could meet the family, especially Chloe. (You never know how a child will react and I didn't want to seem like a stranger when the time came to photograph everyone.) Chloe is cute, very well behaved, and mild mannered - a perfect subject. We got along wonderfully and set a date.

I arrived at their home just before Chloe was going to wake up from her normal afternoon nap. Its always a good idea to schedule sessions after a nap, take every advantage you can get. This also gave me some time to work with the wonderfully colorful clothing and capture a few of the important details. There were the garments, the shoes, socks, and rings given by the grandparents. I liked the banners which Julie said were hung when celebrating the first birthday. Chloe woke up all fresh and happy and we made our way to San Jose City Hall. The grays and neutrals nicely highlighted the family's colorful clothing. Virtually deserted on a Sunday afternoon, we roamed freely.

I took soooo many pictures! Thank you for including me in the celebration :)

Valerie & Justin's Engagement. Niles Canyon

2011-05-06T01:30:00.000-07:00

Thank you Sotheary and James for introducing us! Turns out, we are also connected through 2 other clients of mine. Small world indeed!

Valerie and Justin share a love for beer and the Oakland A's. Early on when we talked about their engagement session we thought about going to the Coliseum during a game or maybe something centered around a brew pub. Then one weekend they went to explore Sunol and that was it, it was going to be the train yard.

The Niles Canyon Railway is a well known attraction and runs restored trains between Niles and Sunol on weekends. The Sunol Railyard is where trains are parked during the week and worked on by a crew of dedicated volunteers. It's kind of open to the public so we made sure to call ahead and sign our waivers. It was pretty neat wandering around the place. Most of the passenger cars are locked up but there are still plenty of opportunities. We could have spent all day there! Great place and they host a night shoot during the full moon.

Nora & Garratt's Engagement. San Francisco

2011-04-10T18:00:00.000-07:00

Do the names Diana and Alex ring a bell? You may recall that Diana baked her own multi layered wedding cake. Well, their friends from high school are getting married this summer and gave me a call. I am ever thankful for the wonderful clients that have trusted their weddings to me and suggest that their friends give me a call too!

Recently, while Nora and Garratt were on a spring break/wedding planning trip back to the Bay Area, we met up at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. This happened to also be one of the wettest weeks on record for Northern California which made our indoor plans quite appropriate. Forget about the rain because we had a serene afternoon exploring the museum and pondering some of its more interesting exhibits. There's a reason it's called modern art after all. A break in the storm allowed us to take a short walk to the Zeum Carousel. It's a beautifully restored early 1900's amusement park ride that found a new home in San Francisco when Yerba Buena Gardens was constructed. Arrived just in time for the last two rides of the day. Nice :)

Nora and Garratt described themselves as fun and quirky. Their robot and zombie inspired save-the-date card certainly proves that. Can't wait to see what they come up with on the wedding day because the words steampunk, swords, and robots were mentioned alongside the Arts and Crafts style of the turn of the century venue.

Manchester Twins. Sunnyvale

2011-01-13T00:22:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone!

Torie and Todd were married in 2007 and last March Torie gave birth to Molly and Andrew. Two months later, I walked across the street to photograph a couple hours of family time. (Yes, we really do live across the street from each other). The twins are very cute and could certainly make someone seriously consider having more kids.

Happy, lively, warm, and full are keys to easy baby pictures. By design, I arrived as they were napping. Babies look so peaceful when they sleep. Molly and Andrew were very cooperative as they woke up with minimal fuss; one played as the other drank. After diaper changes with Mr. Squirrel, they bundled up and we strolled to our little local park. It was nice outdoor family time.

These images were a long time coming. Early in my career and up until about May I wasn't certain if I wanted to pursue babies and families, often referring clients to friends of mine. Babies are fun but challenging to photograph and it wasn't until the Spring of 2010 that I really started to consider it. You could call this a watershed moment because now I think I've hit upon how I want to approach this type of portrait work. Thank you to all of my previous clients for spurring me on because your requests have helped me define what it is I want to do! Look out for announcements in early 2011.

Jamie & James' Wedding. Livermore

2010-11-26T02:41:00.000-08:00

Ceremony and reception at Casa Real at Ruby Hill Winery in Livermore.

Theirs was my final event of the year and it turned out to be an incredible day! A great couple matched with a very rare warm autumn day, a late afternoon schedule at the picturesque Casa Real, and plenty of time to photograph among the property's fall-color grape vines.

The Amber Room was packed during the ceremony! About 300 friends and family gathered to celebrate their marriage, many traveled from as far as Korea. During the reception Jamie and James went around to each table greeting their guests individually - a nice departure from the "table shot". More people should incorporate this! Their friend and best man Paul sang as they danced their well rehearsed first dance. Shortly afterwards, the dance floor was open!

This evening featured a Korean ceremony known as a Pae Baek. Jamie and James donned traditional clothing as they paid respects to the groom's family. On display are a variety of meats, sweets, soju, and the all important chestnuts and dates. The relatives being honored pass along advice and conclude by tossing chestnuts and dates for the couple to catch - a symbol of blessings and, of course, plenty of children.

Hair and Makeup: Joanne Kim
Floral Design: Roses and Posies
Cake: Copenhagen Crown Bakery

Jennifer & Ramon's Wedding. San Francisco

2010-11-05T01:17:00.000-07:00

Wedding and reception at the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco.

Wow, running behind on my blogging! In early October the Karl Ko Photography team was lucky enough to photograph another wedding at the beautiful St. Francis!

The Bridgeview Suite was bride and bridesmaid central as Marly and Maria put the finishing touches on Jennifer and the ladies. With everyone ready, Ramon and the immediate family arrived for the Ketubah signing. If you haven't seen one, these documents can be quite the works of art!

Friends and family gathered in the Georgian Room for the ceremony. Jennifer and Ramon exchanged vows there under a Huppah with the wedding made official by Ramon breaking the glass. Their reception was held high up on the Imperial Floor overlooking Union Square. As guests celebrated the night away the evening was highlighted by two serenading family members and dancing the Hora. It was quite a blend of the Latin and Jewish cultures. Spirits were high no doubt due in part to the Giant's NL West-clinching win ;)

Makeup: Maria Lee
Floral Design: Hercules Florist
Cake: Elegant Cheesecakes

Jamie & James' Engagement. San Francisco

2010-10-05T04:02:00.000-07:00

We recently shared a beautiful fall evening together in the South of Market! I love the extra effort they put into our time and their just-tell-us-where-to-meet-you attitude. The pair got dressed up and drove up to San Francisco for a romantic nightlife-inspired session. Jamie even had help from her sister, Joanne Kim, a popular Bay Area hair and makeup artist.

Aren't they a hot couple? Ready smiles and so easy to work with. Can't wait to see what they come up with on the wedding day.

Pearl & Kevin Are Expecting. San Francisco

2010-09-03T01:12:00.000-07:00

Back in August I received an email from Pearl sharing the good news. They bought a home...and were expecting a baby girl in September! I was very honored when they asked if I would photograph a maternity session. "Of course!" I said.

Just over a week ago we got together in the Presidio and also ventured to Crissy Field. They looked great and we have a great time powering through despite the chill and breeze. Pearl and Kevin were happy and laughing throughout. Afterwards, we caught up over coffee and hot chocolate. So much has happened since their wedding two years ago. How exciting :)

UPDATE: Guess, what, they just had their baby yesterday morning. We got in just under the wire. Cheers to you mom and dad!

Iridescence Bridal by Judy Lee. Clos La Chance Winery. San Martin

2010-07-05T11:54:00.000-07:00

Last year at Preston Castle Judy generously provided the wardrobe for our models. She is the talented creative force behind made-to-order dress boutique Iridescence Bridal. Over the last year, Judy has been quietly working on a new line of dresses aimed at the bridal market. When she asked me to help launch the brand I said yes of course!

In mid June, Chyna Darner and I got together with Monica Kau of Signature Bloom, Tiffany Chiang of Design Her Image, Sophie Lai of Simply Perfect, and Van Hsieh of Ocean Blue Video to photograph Judy's upcoming collection. Clos La Chance winery graciously offered their property to us for the shoot. We spent the day working on images for Judy's catalog, website, and marketing materials Thanks to our models - Seema, Sarah, and Kenny.

Here are a few moments I caught as we worked.

Joanne & Alan's Wedding. Burlingame

2010-05-26T12:23:00.000-07:00

Wedding and reception at Wedgewood at Crystal Springs Golf Club in Burlingame.

I'm very grateful that past clients like Michelle and Bob who refer me to friends and family! Joanne and I met a few years ago when Michelle, her sister, was married - who incidentally now has a very cute baby girl nicknamed "Fancy" pictured below. When she gave me a call I was of course interested in photographing her wedding. It was nice seeing some familiar faces in the crowd again :D

Pulling a few strings got Joanne and Alan some private portrait time before the ceremony at the Pulgas Water Temple in Woodside. Its a wonderfully peaceful location that is secluded and well maintained. Perfect for more romantic imagery. Tip: plan your visit wisely because this place is only open until 4:30pm Monday though Saturday. They perform weddings there so weekends might not be the best time to go. Sundays, are off limits for that entire stretch of Canada Road.

Joanne and Alan hosted a wonderful event at Crystal Springs while keeping things low key. The bride arrived in a '55 Chevy with a large bouquet of incredible pink Peonies. Fog rolled in as the short and sweet ceremony ended. The gazebo area proved to be too breezy and cold for family formals so we grabbed a few frames of just the couple before they drove to Crystal Springs in their nicely restored Chevy Apache pickup (it possesses a most desirable growl).

During the toasts we were treated to a walk down memory lane by Alan's sister complete with large photographs. Check out a few of the shots below - hilarious!!! Alan and Joanne are currently on their honeymoon in Hawaii. Aloha!

Floral Arrangements: Rosedale Floral Design
Cake: Satura Cakes
Music: Shawn Storm

Diana's & Alex's Cake Story in the San Jose Mercury News!

2010-05-06T23:58:00.000-07:00

During a conversation last year Diana and Alex mentioned that Diana was going to bake her own wedding cake a few days before the event. This was a big deal for me - it's a pretty major component of their wedding tale. How could someone NOT capture this? I made sure I was there and if you follow this blog you may have seen some images when their wedding was posted. It was a beautiful multi-tiered cake.

Fast forward to Spring 2010 when Diana tells me the Bay Area newspapers (Bay Area News Group) are calling for DIY wedding cake stories. She submitted hers and the story ran yesterday, May 5th, in the Food and Wine section of the San Jose Mercury News, Oakland Tribune, Contra Costa Times, etc. Congratulations Diana and Alex and thank you for making me a part of this!

Check out the article for some terrific advice and a dash of humor. Here's a couple images that ran with the story as well as a picture of the final product.

Breathing Life Into the Soul of a New Machine

2010-04-05T14:08:00.000-07:00

My Intel 3.0 GHz Pentium4 with Microsoft XP Pro served me well these last 3 years but lately I've been experiencing some warning signs that a hard drive is about to die. Last month I set out to spec. and build my next image editing workstation designed to withstand another 3 years of wedding work. Here are the components I've chosen (pictured above):

. Intel Core i7 860 quad core processor
. ASUS P7P55D Deluxe motherboard
. 8GB OCZ DDR3 Dual Channel RAM
. 64-bit Windows 7 Pro OS
. Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5750 1GB VaporX graphics card
. six Western Digital Black 1TB hard drives (configured as a RAID 10)
. one Western Digital Blue 500GB hard drive
. Samsung Super WriteMaster 24x SATA Litescribe CD/DVD drive
. Thermaltake BlacX hard drive docking station
. Antec 900 enclosure
. Antec TruePower 650W power supply

>>> Total cost: $1900 (approx.)

The i7-860 processor is midrange these days and more than adequate for imaging work. Selecting a matching motherboard was easy but with the caveat that you must be sure the dual-channel RAM you buy is on the compatibility list. The GPU is again midrange and I went with the ATI because, according to my limited research, it supports a different LUT for each output. This allows me to run 2 monitors and calibrate them independently. The Sapphire VaporX version was chosen because it has also shown some superior cooling abilities which is a big plus. With everything being SATA getting the right power supply and enclosure with 8 drive bays was required, thus the Antec solution. Bonus, there are plenty of cooling fans in the enclosure.

Larger hard drives storing more data means a failure could wipe out a couple years of work. I went with a RAID to reduce the frequency of required backups. Intel's Matrix Storage is configured as 2 volumes (small and large) spanning 2 and 4 drives respectively. Since storage is so cheap, using a RAID 1 and RAID 10 is sensible and easier to maintain and rebuild in case of a drive failure.

After 2 days of moderate but sporadic effort, the system is ready and stable. One lesson learned, the Intel Matrix Storage Manager 8.9 is buggy and would periodically declare a drive failure in the RAID array when there was none. Upgrading to the Intel Rapid Storage Technology application solved that problem (free download). I'm also thankful that my Monaco Optix XR color calibration system continues to work on Windows 7. The DTP-94 (colorimeter aka puck), though not explicitly supported, works with the help of a Windows Vista 64-bit driver. No BSD experienced after installing the driver.

Lightroom 2 and Adobe CS4 are installed and the BlacX docking station helped migrate all my image files over. A test run rendering 700+ 1:1 full resolution images in Lightroom completed in well under an hour which was easily an overnight task on my old workstation. I'm happy :D

Hello wedding season, I am ready for you!

Judy & Eric's Wedding. San Jose

2010-03-18T17:42:00.000-07:00

Ceremony and reception at Silver Creek Valley Country Club in San Jose.

I met Judy and Eric at the Ritz Carlton Modern Bridal show last July. They are a fun and youthful pair that happened to meet half way around the world in Shanghai despite both being from California at the time!

Fast forward to early March. Great news! Battling the threat of rain all week, we got the go ahead the day before to expect an outdoor ceremony. The wedding party looked great and we couldn't have hoped for a better combination of cloud cover and lighting. The ceremony and photographs were completed just as it started to drizzle.

As the reception got underway, the bridesmaids and groomsmen performed a little number as Judy and Eric ran into the room. It was a great evening featuring classic Chinese wedding games, dress changes, a little nephew, a karaoke star, and a chocolate fountain. Now they are off to Taiwan for what will probably be another great party.

Floral Arrangements: DeYoung Flowers
Hair & Makeup: Sarah Chu
Cake: Bijan Bakery
Videographer: Van Hsieh (Ocean Blue)
Music: Turner Hayes (Elite Entertainment)

Haiti Relief

2010-01-17T00:15:00.000-08:00

I have been busy and not posted in a while. However, it is difficult to ignore the utter devastation experienced in Haiti. This is one of the worst catastrophes to occur in the western hemisphere! In a poor country with 9 million people, at least one third now require assistance, at least 50,000 are estimated dead (a figure sure to rise), the capital is virtually flattened, 8 hospitals have closed, the nation has little ability to help itself, and this is just in the first few days (AP report). Haiti will require aid for years to come. After a couple of days of study this is what I've come up with.

Medical care will be in short supply. The studio will donate 10% of gross bookings for the next 3 months to the SendANurse.org. This newly formed group is California-based and has been established by the Registered Nurse Response Network to support volunteer nurses going to Haiti to assist in relief efforts.

From April to July, 10% will be donated to AmeriCares. This organization is uber-efficient and specializes in delivering medical aid to disaster areas. They are on the ground now preparing to receive an airlift and also plan an overland convoy from the Dominican Republic.

From July until December, 10% will be donated to the United Nations World Food Program. Specializing the feeding the world's hungry and undernourished, this global organization has already landed emergency food supplies from El Salvador and Panama. What is nice about this group is that they stay long after the disaster to support the rebuilding process, Haiti will need their services.

To evaluate a charity on your own, you can try Charity Navigator. They have an excellent and extensive ratings and review database which is accessible online. CNN has also listed several reputable need organizations here.

Katie and Matt's Engagement

2009-10-05T15:45:00.000-07:00

Ann Arbor Engagements Part II. Earlier in the day it was Theresa and Nate. Ending the day is Katie and Matt, also Michigan Alumnus who plan on getting married in Traverse City next summer. Thanks again to Ana from TwoFoot Creative for this fabulous couple!

Katie expressed an interest in a green setting so we started at the well known "Arb" aka Nichol's Arboretum. The Arb was very tranquil as most students vacate the park around dinner time on weeknights. We wandered around the huge meadow and then hiked out just before sunset. Our last stop was Hill Auditorium where Matt and Katie first met their freshmen year. It was pretty dark by now, but we got in a few shots. It was fun watching students pass by as we played around out front. :D

Theresa and Nate's Engagement

2009-10-05T13:43:00.000-07:00

I've long wanted to photograph a wedding or engagement on the Michigan campus and about 2 weeks ago I got my chance. Theresa and Nate are fellow University of Michigan Alumnus and were introduced to me by Ana of TwoFoot Creative - a busy wedding planner based in Ann Arbor. The three of them were all Michigan track/cross country teammates. Cool!

Theresa and Nate were just recently engaged and are planning a wedding in Ann Arbor next year. We got together in the Law Quad early one morning just before sunrise. Winston, their bulldog, made an appearance before retiring to the car for a nap. Then off we went from landmark to landmark; the Bookstore Mural on Liberty, Nickels Arcade, the Cube, Angell Hall, and finally the Diag. Good Times!

If you want to support another Michigan alum, check this out.

Ring and John's Wedding. Mountain View

2009-09-22T12:02:00.001-07:00

Ceremony at New Community Baptist Church in Mountain View and reception at Dynasty Seafood Restaurant in Cupertino.

Ring and John (BTW, don't they look great?!!!) started the morning at the Cypress Hotel. (No doubt a few of you will recognize the wallpaper and lounge areas.) As the ladies applied their finishing touches, the guys went on a McDonald's run. With everyone now ready, we filed into the elevator along with John's special accessory, a football. More on that later. Sweet! I love it when we have a generous amount of time and rarely run out of interesting photography ideas. Downstairs we took advantage.

The large church was packed, I mean packed. It was amazing! More people just kept coming. Highlights included a pre-ceremony ballet performance, plenty of live music and singing, and the pastor's creative references to football which is one of John's favorite sports. That explains the ring pillow that I got a shot of below.

After a brief stop with Ring and John at Cuesta Park for a few fun shots, we hightailed it to Cupertino Square for the reception. But not before squeezing in another 5 minutes of portraits in the mall with the entire wedding party for a special page I have planned for the album. :D

Dynasty Seafood's large banquet room was bursting at the seams with nearly 400 guests. A variety of pink and brown paper lanterns were hung from the ceiling which dressed up the room nicely. After the tasty banquet, there were no shortage of games, activities, and challenges to keep the crowd entertained. Mr. DJ also played plenty of Asian anthems to keep the youngin's satisfied. New Order, Depeche Mode, Erasure, Anything Box... c'mon you know what I'm talking about! Something worth noting are the wedding cupcakes. They were made by a business that John's sister (Jessica) co-owns!

Floral Arrangements: Tanjeeryn Designs
Cupcakes: Cupcakes by Andrea and Jessica
Music: Jeff Lee

Ring and John's Engagement

2009-08-19T00:26:00.000-07:00

Ring and John are friends of and were referred by Kalaya and Daniel and Michael and San-San. Thank you :)

This couple has such an interesting story! "John, I have this friend in Taiwan..." is how the story began. Despite a 9 hour difference in time and 6500+ miles of distance, here we are. Who said matchmaking doesn't work?

While in Taiwan, they had a great all-day Asian engagement shoot so we covered different ground. Ring played guitar in a rock band and John, the drums. Over dinner we kicked around a few ideas and gravitated towards a rock-themed shoot for our session. Alright! I'm all for something a little different, a little challenging. We borrowed a great space from my friend Dennis Menendez at Light Sky Studio and put it together.

Oahu Shaved Ice Review

2009-07-31T07:30:00.000-07:00

In June the family vacationed on Oahu. As usual, we stayed with family in Nu'uanu off the Pali Highway. We were there for almost 2 weeks which allowed ample time to sample the great local food - especially shaved ice! We needed it because it was HOT - almost a record breaking string of days near 90 degrees. (Sorry for the low quality Blackberry phone picture above!).

You can get shaved ice almost anywhere in Honolulu but the local's know where to go baby! The following are the most popular and include my tasting notes. (FYI, this is a non-exhaustive list).

Shimazu Store (aka B&S). Google Map.
I was only recently told about this place. Holy smokes, didn't know what I was missing and such a short drive from the house to boot! Parking can be difficult to find here because it's on a busy street, but at worst you can park down at Foodland and walk back half a block. Be aware that School Street is one way.

Shimazu's sizes are off the charts! The large (my normal purchase) is almost as big as a person's head - you might be able to find an image on my Facebook page. The server was pouring syrup on the cone forever to compensate. I called it a meal of ice - nice if you are trying to lose a few pounds - but a person can get tired of eating ice. The quantity of ice did require quite a bit of time to finish.

Their ice tends to be loosely packed and coarser compared to the others on this list. The flavors are good and dense but they get drawn into the center of the cone fairly quickly and you have to suffer through the plain ice on the outside to get at the good stuff. I started dropping ice "accidentally" to get to the flavor core. Verdict, good if I'm near home or I want some variety, otherwise it's Waiola. They do have some cool t-shirts for sale though.

Waiola Store. Google Map.
Waiola serves the shaved ice by which all others are judged IMHO. The store has been here forever and they just recently cut a second serving window out of their wall to accomodate demand. It is so popular that people pull up at all hours during the day and frequently park illegally to get their fix. They bought an adjacent parking lot in recent years so this is less of an issue. (Their Kapahulu store has closed BTW).

Waiola's ice is the best! Very soft and light but packed tightly. They have a HUGE variety of flavors so you could spend a week here without having the same combination. They also offer a wide variety of ice-related desserts - not just the standard cone. I could eat here everyday, and on previous trips, I have.

Matsumoto's. Google Map.
This is a North Shore institution. If we drive up past Haleiwa we go to Matsumoto's. There is always a line because people think the same way we do - if you're driving up past Haleiwa... Can't imagine what this place is like when the Triple Crown is running!

The ice coarseness is between Shimazu and Waiola and the overall size was very comfortable to eat in a reasonable amount of time. The ice is packed more tightly than Shimazu which probably helped keep the flavor on the outside a bit more. Their flavors are on-par with Waiola tastewise, but I think Wailoa has more overall variety. However, Matsumoto's was the most generous with the ice cream and azuki (cooked red beans) - yum!

Another thing worth mentioning is their great t-shirt section. They had tons of designs and a few were quite desireable (non-touristy). Unfortunately, almost every one that I was interested in was out of stock.

John's Groceries. Google Map.
This place is literally a hop, skip, and jump from where we usually stay on Oahu. It really is a neat little neighborhood shop in Nu'uanu. Something you'd never expect in a residential area. Never knew it was here until my wife's brother mentioned it last year. Had to try it.

The overall impression is unremarkable, but not bad. I think the key selling point for me is that I could walk there any time I needed to get shaved ice. One negative is that they aren't always open. I walked over there in the hot afternoon sun one day only to find them closed. WHAT???!!! I wouldn't write the place off of course because we are talking about shaved ice here. :)

Hope you can use this on your next adventure to Oahu. If you hear of another place I absolutely must try please share it with me!

Diana and Alex's Wedding. Berkeley

2009-07-29T23:10:00.000-07:00

Long overdue! Ceremony in the Mather Redwood Grove at the U.C. Berkeley Botanical Garden and reception at Scott's Seafood in Walnut Creek.

It is quite a privilege to photograph the wedding of a peer. Afterall, there can probably be no more qualified a critic. Alex and Diana, the excellent photographer behind Heart Studios, asked me to photograph her wedding and I was only too happy to accept. She was also going to bake her own cake. That's right the bride is baking her own cake a few days before the wedding and not just some sheet cake with Betty Crocker frosting. Incredible! I couldn't resist offering to photograph some of that now could I? Two Kitchen Aid's, two ovens, and a bunch of friends over to help. It was fun. Check out her results below.

The Mather Grove is heavily forested and light was a concern for me. That morning I fretted about the heavy fog along the Bay but weather cooperated perfectly. A low overcast gave way to bright sun which pleasantly lit the ceremony area. The wedding party walked up a winding pathway to the front of the amphitheater where a good friend presided over the ceremony. Due to spotty cell coverage you will see below how the groomsmen used an advanced hand signaling protocol to cue the musicians.

After the ceremony we had almost an hour of fun with the bridal party in the botanical garden. This really is a cool place to work - filled with interesting trees, plants, flowers, nooks, and crannies. We finished by working with Diana and Alex alone and then drove over to Walnut Creek - couldn't wait to see the cake. Dinner and dancing, nice :)

Everyone was fun loving, Captain Morgan made several appearances, certain members of the bridal party seemed amenable to removing clothing (didn't take them up on the offer), and the party peeps enjoyed the DJ. There was even an afterparty party involving a hot tub. No rest for Diana though as she was shooting a wedding the week after.

Congratulations you two and thank you very much for including me!

Floral Arrangements: Deb's Flower Market
Cake: Patisserie Blazick
Music: Royal Sound Entertainment

Preston Castle Sessions. Ione, CA

2009-05-27T10:07:00.000-07:00

Earlier this year we saw the awesome results some friends of ours (TinyWater, Orbie Pullen, and Chung Li) had at Preston Castle, a decommissioned juvenile "rehabilitation" center for boys built in the late 1800's along the Sierra foothills. To say a few of us were envious would be putting it mildly; we loved the distressed setting and the juxtaposition of wedding dresses in a less than pristine location. So, what did we do? We unabashedly produced a shoot for ourselves to branch out and experiment. In deference to our friends, we tried not to create an exact copy and decided to go for an evening and night shoot instead.

The ladies from Beauty Mark Ink, Judy of Iridescence Bridal Couture, Christine of Outburst Flowers, and Andrew of StudioMSV joined with Chyna Darner, Jennifer Low, Laena Brandenburg, Nicole Smith, Supasit "Joe" Srisawathsak, and myself last Saturday in Ione, CA. Our beautiful models were Natasha Levitan, Kaycee Phillips, and Rizza-Belen Diaz - all from ModelMayhem. Clark's Corner Coffee House was incredibly accomodating and set aside some room for us as a makeshift salon. Thank you Megan and Andrea!

OK, this is not one huge wedding vendor ad, I promise! After a very pleasant 2 hour drive where I was tempted several times to pull over and buy some fresh cherries and strawberries, we pulled up to a charming cafe painted bright yellow :) Check out the Frigidaire plate, it was attached to a huge old walk-in wooden refrigerator. Located in a ranching community, the cafe had a wooden wall displaying the actual cattle brands of local ranchers - how cool is that? I had just seen Harold and Kumar: Escape from Guantanamo Bay the night before and had the image of Doogie Howser's "NPH" brand fresh in my mind. BTW, the cafe is open till midnight, that's right midnight!!!, serves coffee, beer, AND wine, and offers wireless internet, nice!

Off to the castle... We arrived a bit later than anticipated but had free roam. I would totally go back to do a shoot there with a special couple. There are so many wonderful locations in and around the main building. Other photographers were present, but the place was huge and we were always able to find a wonderful spot to work. No more words, on to a small selection of images.

Amy and Mark Appearing on My Real Wedding !

2009-05-09T15:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, I'm guilty of neglecting my blog and spending a little too much time on Facebook. Been working on a few other exciting things as well and hope to post updates very soon. In the mean time...

This wedding was submitted recently to The Knot by my friends at the very picturesque CordeValle in San Martin, a Rosewood Resort. My Real Wedding posted the images. How cool is that?

Kalaya and Dan Featured in The Knot !

2009-01-27T13:48:00.000-08:00

I could hardly contain the excitement last year when I got word in June that The Knot Northern California was going to publish Kalaya and Dan's wedding. I've waited for over 6 months and picked up the first issue I found at the local newstand earlier this month!

The couple decided to base the reception theme on one of their favorite pastimes - movies. Credit goes to the creative force of Gloria Wong Tritasavit from Sash and Sugar (soon to be Gloria Wong Event Design) for putting together all the details associated with this wedding and coordinating. She dressed up the already stunning Westin St. Francis. It was an awesome wedding experience and I was honored to play a role on the big day.

There are more images on theknot.com. Also, here is a link to the original wedding post.

Diana and Alex's Engagement

2009-01-23T22:08:00.000-08:00

Diana loves trees, especially Redwoods! She expressed this to me when we all met for dinner one evening. They really wanted to be married among majestic Redwoods and were excited to find a large stand of Coast Redwoods at the U.C. Berkeley Botanical Gardens so near her home.

We picked a warm weekend in January at met there for their engagement session. The grove was very serene and quiet with trees growing very close to each other on the hillside. Winter was the perfect time to come as the afternoon sun crosses low in the sky creating beautiful shafts of light. The wooden amphitheater is the site of their ceremony later this summer. It's going to be great!

The rest of the afternoon was spent across the street wandering through the botanical gardens which plays host to a wide variety of plant life. We found some incredibly fragrant blossoms in the Mexico/Central America section and came across a HUGE Agave plant.

Winter Musings: January 2009. Data Storage II: Archiving.

2009-01-12T22:20:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the long hiatus from my musings, the Holidays and some other catch up work kept me from blogging for a while.

So today we are talking about the ways you can and archive your data. There are 3 or 4 commonly accepted methods depending how complex you want to make it for yourself. The common thread is our need to maintain multiple reliable copies of a single file. You can use a RAID storage device, DVD/CDR’s, external hard drives, or remote data hosting. (please excuse my wordiness, there is alot of interesting info to cover)

RAID’s
RAID stands for “Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks” thus all RAID implementations require more than one hard drive to accomplish its functionality. There are several types of RAID’s the most common of which are: JBOD, 0, 1, 5, 6, and 10. JBOD stands for “just a bunch of disks” and allows you to make multiple hard drives behave as they were a single drive or volume. JBOD offers no data protection, however. This is most useful when you have several small and cheap hard drives that you want to gang together. JBOD’s is less relevant these days as 1TB drives are increasingly available.

RAID0 is called “striping” which is a method of arraying data in somewhat parallel fashion between 2 drives with the benefit of faster reads and writes. The speed gain is a result of performing reads or writes simultaneously on each drive. In practical application you will never experience a 2x performance gain. Like JBOD it also offers no data redundancy.

RAID1 is referred to as “mirroring” in which one drive serves as the main drive while the second is hidden and used only to maintain an exact copy of the first. For example, with two 500GB drives you effectively only have 500GB of storage. Thus the effective capacity is 50% of the total. Losing one drive, however, will not result in any data loss. This scheme is simple and highly fault tolerant as the likelihood of two drives dying at the same time is slim.

RAID5 requires four hard drives with identical capacity to provide a useable capacity at 75% of the total. This implementation is more storage efficient but you sacrifice speed and complexity. Your data has been encoded and spread across 4 drives which can tolerate the loss of one drive while allowing you to continue operating seamlessly. RAID 5 performs a bit slower because each read/write operation requires an encode or decode step. The speed also varies depending on whether the system uses a software (cheaper) or hardware (expensive) RAID controller.

RAID6 is an extension of RAID5. Five drives are arrayed for roughly 60% capacity efficiency. This RAID level is more fault tolerate permitting 2 drives to fail while still storing your data error-free. However, this configuration is somewhat impractical for small office environments as the likelihood of 2 drive failures at the same time is slim so advantages from the extra redundancy are lost.

RAID10 is a combination of RAID0 and RAID1 that typically utilizes eight identical drives. This implementation is commonly found in corporate data centers and mid-level business servers. Data is mirrored and striped to maximize access speed and redundancy. As with RAID1 you effectively operate at 50% of total capacity. Don’t let your “green” friends know you have one of these at home unless is runs on solar panels and hamster power.

Burned Media
We are probably all familiar with DVD +/- R and CDR’s these days - virtually every computer has a multi format burner. No doubt you also know that DVD’s enjoy higher capacities than CDR’s (4+GB v. 750+MB). You have probably noticed that the two sides of these disks are colored differently. In order to store data on this media a laser burns away dye from one side during the encode or write process. The embedded silver or gold colored metal is used to reflect the laser when reading. This media is not the same as manufactured CD’s which have the data physically pressed into the actual plastic material - no dyes involved.

Writeable disks are NOT archival and generally have a useful lifespan in the 10 year range. Duration can vary depending on the storage environment. Readability depends on 3 factors: reflective material, dye chemistry, and obsolescence. Reflective materials are often alloys of aluminum which may corrode or oxide over time rendering the disk unreadable. Be weary when buying gold disks as anything can be colored gold but few materials share its stable properties. Manufactures claim gold disks are inherently archival but this is not completely true and does not account for the dye used. Dyes deteriorate over time and with exposure to UV light and heat. Again, resulting in an unreadable disk. In the photography world, archival has traditionally meant a hundred years or more - the planets would have to align for this to happen. The last item, a disk is only good so long as you have something to read it with. I challenge anyone to readily find a 5.25" floppy disk drive today. How about a 3.5" drive? Remember the 8-track tape? There will come a time when you can no longer find a drive to read that 100-year old DVD. Hmmm, even if you can find a drive, I could be likely the RAW or JPEG or TIFF formats become archaic too. Maybe we will all start using film again.

For completeness, all formats are not created equal. With DVD’s you have a choice between formats DVD-R or DVD+R. Capacities are roughly equal but data encoding algorithms are not. Suffice it to say that DVD+R has several benefits in this arena which make it a better choice for data storage. Chances are good that your drive can read both formats. If given a choice buy DVD+R's. They don't really cost much more and provide a layer of protection against loss.

Bottom line, use DVD's to make short term copies. Don't expect them to last more than a decade. Keep file copies on DVD and other storage devices. Upgrade your archive when technology changes. Do some research and invest in a reputable brand. Taiyo Yuden and TDK are well respected. These are the brands I use.

Hosted Archiving
Have you heard of services that will store your priceless wine collection in a large temperature-controlled and secured warehouse? Well, those exist for your data too. Carbonite, Iron Mountain, Mozy, and SystemSafe are some that I have found. Amazon offers this too and I'm sure Google will eventually rule cloud computing, online storage, search, fast food, and home building. Data archiving has long been the world of corporate computing and warehousing. Critical data is often bundled up late at night and transmitted to remote servers for safe keeping. One company I worked for would send DAT tapes via courier. Sometimes files are instantly available via Internet browser while others may require a more involved process. One thing you can be sure of is that you data will be kept safe. Of the above, Carbonite has been making waves and actively marketing to small businesses. Their prices seem fairly reasonable. On top of that Carbonite has no cap on the amount of data you can store. Sounds great!

How does it work? You open an account, give them your credit card, and you are ready to go. Most have a small client application that runs on your local computer and communicates with the storage company's network. From the client you can schedule regular backups, determine what files and folders to backup, view history, keep track of usage, and restore files. Of course, you will want the fastest Internet connection you can get and make sure to schedule backups to run at night. When the backups occur, the software will usually apply a loss-less compression to your files and encrypt them before transferring.

If cost is no factor, these are probably the best long-term archiving option. But keep in mind that few of us require totally secure facilities like a large bank would. One of the few drawbacks to something like this is actually getting the bulk of your data there in the first place. You will probably require weeks to upload everything because you'll probably only want to do it during periods of inactivity. Something worth mentioning is that the archiving solution is only as good as the company doing the archiving. Companies go out of business all the time so stay on top of it.

What I Do
I prefer maintaining at least 2 copies of my images and usually have 3. My working copy is always on a local internal SATA hard drive. This gives me fast everyday access for tasks like making albums, enlargements, and online portfolios. Once I’ve completed editing a wedding or session, RAW and xmp files are saved to a RAID5 NAS and burned to a DVD+R for long term storage. Both require little time to obtain a needed file and are relatively safe. Perhaps if hosting costs come down even more, I might get rid of the RAID.

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Winter Musings are monthly posts between November and February. They cover a range of topics related to wedding photography with couples and photographers in mind. I hope you will tune in next month. Comments and requests are appreciated!

Baby Shane Beaumier. Gilroy

2008-12-05T00:00:00.000-08:00

You may recall the two-day Cambodian wedding I photographed last year in San Jose. Guess what, (alright it really isn't much of a guess since you've probably already read the title of this post) they had a baby!

We got together at a neighborhood park near their new home to take some pictures of baby Shane. Shane has been to the park a few times I'm told, but good things happen when the photographer shows up! He got to ride in a baby swing for the first time and seemed to really enjoy it.

Winter Musings: November 2008. Data Storage I: NAS, USB, SATA...

2008-11-22T15:19:00.000-08:00

Data storage seems to be a hot topic these days as RAW format files increase in size, cameras pack denser sensors, and adoption of digital capture is approaching saturation in all realms of the photography business. Issues like capacity, workflow, and processing speed are things we now have to deal with. Topics covered here will be internal versus external drives and USB/Firewire or networked storage.

Please keep in mind that a variety of factors can affect computer performance like how old your processor is, how much RAM you have, how many applications you have running simultaneously, file fragmentation, free hard drive space, and how long you have been running the same OS installation.

Internal or External?
If you like waiting around for images to load then continue using external USB or FireWire hard drives as your primary working disk. On the other hand. If you believe time is money, install internal drives and take advantage of your computer's SATA controller. Here's why. The slowest variety of SATA is spec'd to be almost 3x faster than USB2.0 and FireWire400. It is 50% faster than FireWire800. Last I checked, it is much easier finding the faster SATA II drives which is 6x and 2x faster than USB and FireWire, respectively. These figures hold even when taking into account protocol overhead which reduces the overall data rate. Unless you reguarly switch your USB drive between computers it is better to go with an internal drive.

Most computers purchased within the last 4 years have SATA controllers. You might be nervous about cracking open the computer chassis to perform the installation, but it really is easy as pie these days. All it takes is a screwdriver and the instruction manual telling you where to plug cables into the motherboard. Once powered on, format the new drive and you are ready to go. Your drive will automatically take on a lettered drive designation along side your other drive(s). An added benefit is that internal drives cost less.

NAS or USB/FireWire?
A NAS (network attached storage) is a device with one or more hard drives and (often) an embedded computer controller. Some may offer advanced features like FTP, access to files via a browser, multi user administration, streaming media services, RAID support, the list goes on. At its heart, every available consumer NAS is a basic file server meaning it provides transparent access to files that may be stored on another physical machine. The main benefits are the ability to share data between any computer on the network and the rate of transfer.

Why should you consider a NAS? There are three reasons I have a NAS. At some point your computer hard drives will fill with files you do not use frequently like 3+ year old wedding images. It is necessary to off load them somewhere safe yet accessible in case you need it for a project later on. Maybe you also want to maintain temporary backup copies while you work in case your internal hard drive should fail. You can also use the NAS to store things like documents and music files so you can access them from the workstation or laptop with swapping plugs and cables.

These devices increasingly come standard with Gigabit Ethernet ports (10x faster than standard Ethernet) which is handy when transferring large amounts of data like image files. Raw data rates approach SATA speeds which is much faster than USB. Speed is a huge motivating factor as is built in redundancy. With hard drives so cheap, you can buy a multi drive NAS that can be configured as a RAID to protect your data. There are very few USB/FireWire RAID options. More on this in the next post.

Conclusion.
Install internal SATA drives whenever possible, they will provide the best throughput for images that are actively accessed or maintained in a library like Bridge, Lightroom, or Aperture. They are also cheaper than external options. Network your workstation to a Gigabit Ethernet enabled NAS instead of using USB drives and be sure to use Gigabit Ethernet routers and switches. Configure the NAS to support Jumbo Frames to maximize network throughput.

I have decided to split this Winter Musing into two posts for November because it covers such a broad range of data-related topics. In the next post I will cover data archiving.

FYI, I am due an upgrade but run WindowsXP Pro SP2 on a 3.0 GHz Pentium 4 with 3GB of RAM. I have 4 internal hard drives: 250GB for applications, temp files, and OS, 250GB for images, and two 500GB SATA I drives for currently active libraries. I also have a Lenovo T60 laptop sporting a Core2Duo, 3GB of RAM and a 100GB hard drive. NAS-wise there is a 250GB Buffalo Linkstation which I use for shared files and a 1TB Buffalo Terastation configured as a RAID5 for my image archives. I just ordered a 500GB Netgear ReadyNAS Duo which will be my new RAID1 file server. Another RAID5 is in the works too because the Terastation is running short on room.

Glossary.
Firewire (IEEE-1394). Apple's external serial bus standard intended for use with professional A/V equipment. This technology was favored for its high data rates. The two most common implementations transfer data at 400 Mb/s and 800 Mb/s.

Gigabit Ethernet. A networking standard that supports data transfers at 1Gb/s. Also known as 1000Base-T or IEEE 802.3ab.

NAS. Network attached storage which is simply mass data storage accessible via a computer network - commonly Ethernet.

RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks). A configuration where multiple hard drives are linked to provide a larger overall storage space and data protection. There are several versions including RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10

SATA (Serial ATA or Serial Advanced Technology Attachment). A fast internal computer data bus technology that hard drive makers have adopted and built into modern workstations. It replaces PATA, EIDE, and IDE technologies. Currently exists in 2 flavors: 1.5 Gb/s and 3.0 Gb/s.

USB (Universal Serial Bus). A simple and ubiquitous external attachment method for all sorts of computer peripherals like flash memory, printers, webcams, hard drives, etc. The main selling point was the ability to hot-swap a peripheral without restarting the workstation. Competes with the Firewire standard. These days most USB devices are USB 2.0 and transfer at rates of up to 480 Mb/s

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Winter Musings are monthly posts between November and February. They cover a range of topics related to wedding photography with couples and photographers in mind. I hope you will tune in next month. Comments and requests are appreciated!

Erika and Ed's Wedding. San Francisco

2008-10-30T08:40:00.000-07:00

Ceremony at Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park and reception at Foreign Cinema in San Francisco.

Erika and Ed have been together for about 12 years and decided this was the year they were going to tie the knot. They moved away from the San Francisco area many years ago but it has remained one of their favorite places. So much so that they returned to get married!

They worked in reverse and hosted an intimate dinner the night before the ceremony. Close friends and family were invited to celebrate with them. Erika and Ed met with me a little before the dinner to photograph around the unique Mission District restaurant. It was getting dark but we managed to squeeze in a few good frames. This particular area of San Francisco really amazes me because of its juxtaposition of old with new and discount with luxury. It's definitely a neat part of town to wander around in.

Erika and Ed chose to have their ceremony on the Monday following the reception because it was a special date - her grandparent's anniversary. That morning they got ready at the Hyatt Embarcadero. Ed wore a blue pin stripe suit and Erika wore a custom made dress with a large blue bow. Golden Gate Park was very pleasant that morning with the sun beaming down as they exchanged vows at the pagoda near the Strawberry Hill waterfall. The simple ceremony was very personal as most of the audience had contributed small facts about the couple to the officiant. Afterwards, it was all smiles, hugs and cupcakes! A friend and pastry chef made the treats you see in the tower. They looked pretty tasty! Afterwards, friends and family left for Dim Sum giving us some private time to photograph the new married couple.

Julie and Craig's Wedding. Carmel

2008-10-16T20:29:00.000-07:00

Wedding at the Carmel Mission and reception at the Mission Ranch in Carmel.

How lucky was I this past weekend? California's historic missions are majestic structures and are usually booked solid during wedding season. Julie and Craig's was the last of 3 weddings at the mission on Saturday - which was awesome because we were able to stay far longer photographing both in the church and courtyards after the ceremony. The weather cooperated (not as windy as I feared) and we took advantage. One of Craig's friends was stuck in LA with the flu but we made sure at least his tux got in a picture at Mission Ranch.

The reception was punctuated by the toasts, tears, and dancing. We had extended and heartfelt stories as well as short and eloquent congratulatory speeches. I especially liked the humorous story Julie's sister, Elizabeth, had about Craig and wanting to be introduced to "quality women" as Craig knew both Elizabeth and her father before he had met Julie. When the party hit the dancefloor, they hit it hard. It seemed like people were dancing forever when it was actually well under 2 hours. They just never stopped to rest. Funny coincidence, someone I worked with years ago in my previous startup life is Julie's godfather! I saw a familiar face in the church and said "I know him"! Wellwhatdoyouknow.

Floral Arrangements: Kathryn Smith Flowers
Cake: Patisserie Bechler
Videography: Steven Spaulding
DJ: Adrian Cavlan of Sound In Motion

Hilda and Nicholas's Wedding. Palo Alto

2008-09-30T22:30:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been over a week since they were married! I got a little behind.

Ceremony at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Palo Alto and reception at the Decathlon Club in Santa Clara.

Hilda was getting ready in San Carlos. Her sister kept a very neat house which provided a great backdrop for the dress, shoes, rings, and veil. (Note to future brides, if you want great images of yourself getting ready, cleaning the rooms up a bit and concealing the clutter will help your photographer out a lot.) There was a great backyard and large paned windows that I enjoyed taking advantage of. Hilda looked great and her highlights photographed well.

Off to the church to meet the guys. It was yet another pleasant day in the Bay Area; we took the opportunity to photograph outside. Across from the church was a well-maintained neighborhood park - a perfect setting for the groomsmen. With 9 guys, I needed lots of space! A few quick shots and it was time to get married. The church was built in 1901 and featured some beautiful stained glass!

When we arrived at the Decathlon Club for the reception, the mariachi band was already playing. I haven't photographed a wedding with a mariachi band in a while - I love mariachi bands! I like the silver details on their pants and skirts, their coordinated clothing, and the great music of course. The group serenaded guests during dinner. It was a great celebration and ended with one of my wedding favorites - a fine cuban cigar. Yes, hecho en Havana. My humidor of Cubans are beckoning me too... Maybe after the last wedding of the season I'll celebrate a year of great clients, weddings, and new found friends.

Thank you Joaquin and Michele for thinking of me when you heard Hilda and Nicholas were getting married!

Pearl and Kevin's Reception II. Honolulu, Hawaii

2008-09-08T23:27:00.000-07:00

This past July I photographed Pearl and Kevin's wedding in San Francisco. The last week of August we celebrated a second time in Hawaii with many of Kevin's extended family. Another big party complete with a Hawaiian music trio and hula performance!

It was great to be back in Hawaii! The day before the reception Pearl, Kevin, Maile (his sister), and I wandered around Oahu for their Portrait Session. We visited a few beaches and even tried a brief after-dark session at the Hilton. Things always appear a little more mysterious after the sun goes down ;)

Here are a few of my favorites from the trip.

Hilda and Nicholas's Engagement Session.

2008-08-08T20:20:00.001-07:00

Previous clients Michele and Joaquin made a terrific introduction and "that was all she wrote." (They had a baby not too long ago too so congratulations!) Hilda and Nicholas don't wander up to the City much these days but when they do it's to take in a Giants game so that is exactly where we met up for their engagement session.

These troopers didn't know what they were in for as we stayed out for a couple of hours walking all around AT&T Park. Boy was it cold and windy - typical San Francisco summer. However, the sky was clear on this side of town so we had some nice afternoon sunlight to work with.

Pearl and Kevin's Wedding. San Francisco

2008-07-14T22:50:00.000-07:00

Ceremony at St. Mark's Lutheran Church and reception at Far East Cafe - both in San Francisco.

Pearl and Kevin met at work several years ago and now they are getting married! She arrived at St. Mark's right on time in a classic silver Bentley and made her way out of sight into a private room to put on her dress. Kevin and the guys waited upstairs. The ceremony was made more memorable by the gifts they presented their parents - framed origami hearts made with cranes. Afterwards, Pearl and Kevin made sure we had some time to swing by the Ferry Building and their wedding night hotel (Hotel Vitale) for some pictures.

Asian societies tend to have BIG wedding banquets and this was no exception. Guests occupied the entire second floor at the Far East Cafe - a large restaurant right in the middle of Chinatown. On display was an impressive arrangement of origami cranes which Pearl folded during the engagement - a Japanese tradition. How great will that look hanging on their wall! There was also a certificate of recognition from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors as well as several prominent Chinese political figures in attendance.

It would not be a Chinese wedding without a lion dance! The large dance floor provided plenty of room for 3 lions. Chinatown lion dance troupes always put on a good show and this particular one was performed with minimal substitutions. Impressive, considering the number of lifts they pulled off. They even brought their own large urn of wine as you will note in one of the photographs (that is the Chinese word for alcohol).

Pearl made 3 clothing changes and showed off her final dress, a stunning custom red qi pao. (FYI, Dragon Seed seems to be THE place to have one made). Towards the end of the banquet Remy was flowing as Pearl, Kevin, and their parents toasted each of the 30+ tables. And don't forget those Chinese wedding games. There was to be no dancing so we took our photographic party to the streets and alleys of Chinatown. Virtually deserted, we could walk down the middle of Grant, undisturbed. How very different from the daylight hours. I think we got some great shots, my favorite of which is probably Pearl and Kevin in the back seat of their silver Bentley ready to go back to the hotel. Very 40's-esque.

Pearl was raised in San Francisco but Kevin's family was originally from Honolulu, many of whom still call Hawaii home. They plan on hosting a reception on Oahu as well which is one lucky reason they called on me. I'll be traveling with them next month to photograph the big Tanaka celebration. While there, we will also work our way around the island taking advantage of the beautiful tropical scenery as a backdrop. Can't wait! Can I survive on shaved ice, spam musubi's, Zip Pac's, and malasadas? I'll try! Will I gain weight? Probably :(

Floral Arrangements: Sweetheart Florist
Cake: Schubert's Bakery

Melissa and Ed's Wedding. Palo Alto

2008-07-11T01:30:00.000-07:00

Ceremony at Valley Presbyterian Church in Portola Valley and reception at the Garden Court Hotel in Palo Alto.

Many thanks to my friend Angela for introducing me to Melissa and Ed just before she moved back East. Melissa and Ed met in Boston as graduate students. When asked, Ed said he decided to post-doc on the West Coast in order to be closer to Melissa - they were not really dating at the time. The makings of a master plan if you ask me :) The plan was well calculated because now they are getting married!

When we arrived at Melissa's home hair and makeup were already done and everyone was sitting down for a snack. What!!??, you are AHEAD of schedule? The biggest favor you can give your wedding photographer is time. Melissa and Ed made sure I had plenty of it as we stopped to shoot around Central Park in San Mateo and University Ave. in Palo Alto. THANK YOU!

The ceremony and reception were relaxed and uncomplicated punctuated by some humorous toasts taking us from college to present day. Check out the donkey and elephant Pez dispensers Angela is holding. Seems that Ed and Melissa some amusing political differences. Towards the end, I was half expecting the Rebar's to Polka but instead we got a big family sing-a-long. How very unique! I also must admit I never figured Ed for a eurobeat dance-club kind of guy. Surprise, surprise; he requested more songs that night than anyone else and most were easily recognizable "Asian anthems". At least that is what us Asian 30-somethings call them nowadays - Joy Division/New Order, Erasure, Pet Shop Boys, Dead or Alive... That's an easy way to keep me at a wedding - keep playing songs I grew up on.

Catering: Il Fornaio, Garden Court Hotel
Floral Arrangements: Stacey Miller Designs
Cake: Copenhagen Bakery and Cafe