Jerry Yoon // PHOTOGRAPHERS

Shooting Chiara and Eric was just plain fun.  I'll attribute it to the fun couple, but Aubrey also came out to shoot with me as well.  It's always fun tag teaming on an engagement sessions.  It was a slightly cold and windy day in SF, but otherwise a great day to shoot.  We started off at the Park at some random corner and worked our way in a little.  We quickly found ourselves behind the California Academy of Sciences, which is not too shabby of a place to shoot.  Well, that's until the security guards kicked us out.  It's funny how 99% of the places I've gotten kicked out of have done so after we've gotten a ton of images.  It's almost like a badge of honor to get kicked out for us photographers.  

Can't wait to shoot their wedding this summer in Carmel.  They're going to have a fun board game theme, so I'm pretty excited to see what they come up with!  

I love it when couples find a cool spot to shoot at.  I don't know how Christine found Flora Grubb in SF, but it was definitely a fun place to shoot in.  It also helps that I'm beginning to like succulents and plants due to Ingrid's own green thumb.  After Flora Grubb, we drove around and found some urban spots to shoot at.  I loved the variety and shapes that come out of these sessions.  At one point we actually got close to Hunter's Point, which is probably the most dangerous place in SF.  We didn't stay near there that long!  

Our associate photographer, Aubrey, also came along and shot with me.  Half the shots are hers! 

When you think of backyard weddings, small and intimate come to mind.  Mainly, because backyards are pretty small, at least the backyard that I grew up in.  Well, Zack's stepdad's backyard was definitely not small.  His beautiful home was way up in the hills and only accessible through this one lane road.  The road opens up to this curvy driveway and out pops this amazing home with views to die for.  It's the perfect backyard wedding venue that isn't available to the public.  I know, sad.  We loved shooting there and hope that we get more backyard weddings in the future.  

For the wedding to look this good though, it took Sharine's sister, Clarice, the better part of a year to mastermind everything.  She's definitely got an eye for detail and created an amazing wedding for her sister.  She recently started her own business designing pieces for weddings and has a blog at Happenstance Designs.  Now onto the beautiful backyard wedding that was built with much TLC.  

This is my second adventure into the heart of Oakland, my hood.  Oakland doesn't get much love for picture locations, because compared to San Francisco, it's considered ghetto.  Well, I've always been about finding contrast in pictures.  I think that a beautiful subject comes off the page when it's surrounded by something that's not inherently beautiful.  Like, for say a freeway underpass versus a tree.  I think that's why we see so many fashion adds with models in a dingy alleyway.  

It's also important for my creative juices to get recharged in an environment where it forces me to find the right spot to shoot in.  Jeanine and Tommy are from Oakland, so they fit right into the mix.  I love these guys for so many reasons.  They've got the heart of lions in the midst of some of the hardest times that they are facing.  Some highlights of us galavanting around town.  

Every wedding has a funny story.  Well there's two for us in here.  We traveled up to Stockton for this wedding and were happily shooting, when lo and behold Ingrid's brother materializes out of the crowd to say hi to me.  His wife was there too and I was so confused for thirty seconds.  When I'm shooting my brain is in the zone and anything that gets me out of that throws a complete wrench into my highly excited mind.  It was definitely a pleasant surprise, because we both didn't know that we were going to be there.  I quickly ran over to Ingrid and told her that someone special is here for her.  I think they had fun watching Ingrid and I work the whole day.  They said that they can now report back to Ingrid's mom and tell her that we really do own a photography business and that I'm legitimately earning an income.  Now we can get married.  (no, we're not engaged yet!)

The bouquet toss is always a fun ritual that we like to shoot.  It's one of those moments where we don't know what is going to happen, but just hope that we get some good reactions to capture.  Well this time the girls were hungry.  So hungry that when the bouquet came flying towards them, they just tore it apart completely.  I thought it was one of the funniest and most desperate moments captured.  Gotta love all the action!  Thanks Rosemarie and Lawrence for the memories, you guys rock!  

Coming back to my alma matter (sounds weird to say that now) and shooting is always fun.  It's the familiar mixed in with the "how am I going to top the last shoot here" mentality that makes it a fun challenge.  It also helps that Kimberly and Daniel are so easy to work with.  They laughed at all my jokes and did everything I told them to do.  Sometimes I feel like my couples are working for me and not the other way around.  We snuck into Kimberly's optometry school offices and played around with things we probably shouldn't have.  Oh the joy of clandestine operations.  Can't wait to shoot their wedding next month!  

What can I say about this amazing session? This was an epic photo safari! We spent over three hours walking around their neighborhood in the Mission district taking pictures. The Mission is one of my favorite places to shoot, not because it has one great looking spot, but it's full of life. The nitty gritty, the charming parks and the unexpected.

As we were walking down the street we saw a huge crowd of people at the park. They were holding a movie night there and of course my brain was working overtime to see how we can incorporate such a fun backdrop. I love this session because Page and Kevin were brave enough to go up in front of everyone to take a pic. They got a huge applause from the crowd and nobody got hurt!