Jerry Yoon // PHOTOGRAPHERS

Todd and Rhonda have a famous last name.  I won't write it here, but you can take your best shots in the comments.  I'll give you a clue.  Office Space character who didn't like how his name was exactly the same as a famous musician, known for his soft rock ballads and powerful singing vocals.  I don't know if Todd has powerful singing vocals, but all I know is that Rhonda is mad in love with him.  With Todd, not the musician. 

And I loved their wedding too, because they had Cactus Taqueria cater their food and they brought Horchata!  I love Horchata and drinking some of that milky goodness totally made my day.  Note to future brides, a happy and full photographer is always a good thing. 

It was also good to see how Rhonda and Todd's friends did so much for them in bringing the whole wedding together.  A shoutout to all the Berkeley Mosaic people who helped make their day awesome!  We're praying for ya'll during this transition period.  And thanks Rhonda and Todd for letting us "monkey" around with you while we were supposedly taking professional pictures. 

Fuzzy is one killer looking ant.  But she's not an ant.  She's actually a wasp.  If you google fuzzy red ant, velvet ant, or Mutillidae you'll bring up pictures similar to below.  Her wikipedia page describes her in more interesting detail.  What you're about to read is her short lived adventure from the Grand Tetons in Wyoming to Oakland, California. 

Fuzzy, was found in the Grand Tetons in our first campsite during the ultimate roadtrip to Michigan.  She was thought to be some crazy hairy ant and that's what we called her the whole trip.  I forgot to mention that the reason we took fuzzy with us was because Ingrid is a bug collector and has a real bug collection that is bona fide.  Ingrid put Fuzzy in a water bottle with some dirt and loved it all the way to Michigan.  She never let Fuzzy out of her sight and was constantly worrying about how she's going to get the ant onto the plane on the flight back. 

We didn't want the ant to go through the x-ray, so we put her in a ziplock bag and I carried her in my pocket for 30 minutes.  I was sweating, because the night before, we found out that she has a very powerful sting.  Her official nickname is cow killer.  All I could think of was the thin plastic and thin pocket lining that separated me and Fuzzy. 

Once we flew back from Michigan to California, Ingrid immediately put Fuzzy in new dirt with tons of flowers full of sweet nectar.  She was living the life and Ingrid grew more and more attached to it everyday, until one day, I knocked the glass jar over and shattered her house into a hundred pieces.  I ran around the counter only to see Fuzzy twitching on the floor.  She died today. 

Ingrid was so sad and on the verge of tears.  Rest in peace Fuzzy.  The only velvet ant that ever traveled from the Grand Tetons, to Ann Arbor and pass away in Oakland.  

Some people ask me if I get nervous before a wedding or during a wedding.  It's in our nature to be nervous creatures whenever we step into unknown situations.  And every wedding is virtually an open ended day of infinite outcomes.  I don't get butterflies before weddings anymore, but I do get excited about the many different images I have rolling around in my head before I shoot one.

For example, I knew going into this wedding that I wanted a tight crop of Tony on Stephanie's shoulder.  Once a shot like that is in my camera, I can relax and start enjoying the day myself.  I love it when my couples know that and are willing to do all kinds of silly things that they wouldn't ever do in front of a camera on any normal day.  This trust starts from the engagement session, that's why I have an engagement session in all my packages.  I remember this one shot where Tony was jumping over Stephanie when we shot their engagement session.  Tony gave me this you're out of your mind kinda look, but afterwards he liked the image.  I secretly think it was because it made him look cool.

Thanks guys for letting me have so much fun shooting you guys this weekend!   

 

Annie and James were such fun to work with.  James is a total ham and Annie can hold her own when she's prodded just a bit, and I mean just a bit.  It didn't take them much effort to relax in front of the camera and enjoy the whole day.  They were up for whatever I suggested them to do and of course James always added his own flair.  When we had our engagement session, he would always do a Naruto pose (anime character) and try to get Annie to follow.  He kept the Naruto down to a minimum this time around, but nevertheless managed to sneak in some other form of goofiness.  They were so silly, which I love about them.

What I admired about them, besides their silliness, was their whole perspective on their wedding day.  Annie dedicated her bouquet to her mother and James gave a really touching toast to his parents.  They are so grounded in their faith and it was refreshing to see that play out in their ceremony and reception.  I think that's why Annie was one of the most calmest brides I have ever worked with. 

I'm also stoked to be shooting one of her bridesmaids next year!  It was great meeting all her friends at the after party and hanging out.  Turns out that the house they were partying in was the house of one of my study abroad friends from 2000 in Korea!  What a small world. 

Josh and Marilyn are moving to Michigan!  And we are going to drive them over there on the MOST AWESOME ROAD TRIP OF MY LIFE!  We are going to be traveling through Yosemite, Mt. Rushmore, Cheeecago and more!   I'm so stoked about this trip.  So this means I won't be able to check my email as often.  So if you need to reach me for some reason you can always give me a call.  The phone number is on the splash page at Jerry Yoon Photography.  I'll try to post pics from the trip during the week. 

8 people in an 8 passenger Chevy Tahoe, doing 3,000+ miles of traveling = fun times!

 

Maria and Jeremy are two of the most down to earth people.  We went out to Baker beach this time to "get a shot of the Golden Gate Bridge in the back", but I think we got more than just that.  Maria and Jeremy were such good sports the whole time.  Even though the sun reflections were blinding Maria after her Lasik surgery, she and Jeremy kept on trucking. 

Jeremy is one cool cat.  Jeremy had dress shoes on the whole time walking on the beach and didn't seem to care about them getting all sandy.   I on the other hand was hoping that he wasn't getting all worried about those nice shoes getting all ruined.  Once Maria started to lead them into the waves, I couldn't hold it any longer and shouted, "Jeremy!  Your shoes!  Take them off before they get ruined in the water!" Just goes to show how they were up for anything.  I love it! 

Their wedding is going to be on a boat off the coast and I'm super excited about it, because I love being out in the ocean.  I do have to remember my dramamine though.  

This was one of those shoots where you wish you had more time.  When we arrived at the UC Berkeley Botanical garden at 5pm, they told us that the garden closes at 5:30pm!  Yikes!  So we did some speed shooting and I mean shooting at a furious pace.  We sped walked a good portion of the grounds and had to take pictures while the speakers where blaring the countdown to closing.  I felt like we were being chased down.  Afterwards, we did some shooting at the Lawrence Hall of Science and then down by the train tracks in Berkeley. 

 Well Kristin and Greg had no problem getting into the mood and groove.  They were so into each other that they didn't need much direction from me at all.  They are such a fun couple to shoot that I am also counting down the days till their wedding.