San Francisco Engagement Photos: Alison and Justin

I met Alison and Justin a few months ago to talk about their wedding. It’s been fun to get to know a bit about them, their love of good food, jazz and French wine.

Justin proposed in Paris (can you get any more romantic than that?) and the Locally Grown Weddings team is hard at work to bring a bit of that feel to their October wedding in Park Winters.

Alison and Jsutin have a dog they adore, named Zoe. For our engagement photo session together we wanted to include her in the photos. So we chose to go to a couple of parks in San Francisco where she could freely run around.

Here are a few more photos from our session together.

Father and Daughter.

Golden Gate Park Family Portraits

It’s always such an honor when somebody you work with asks you to take photos of their family. It’s also lots of fun to get to know the important people who love and care for your friend.

Pei-Yee and I work together with the rest of the Locally Grown Weddings team and this was such a wonderful opportunity to spend a few hours together in Golden Gate Park with her whole family.

Here are some of my favorite photos from the shoot. Enjoy!

I love these candid moments! You can’t really expect young children to pose for the camera and often what they do spontaneously is so much cuter.

Pei-Yee’s parents have been together for 40 years…I just love these kind of stories, it’s the romantic in me :)

Here’s a great idea of what to wear: the family chose a combination of blues and purples. These colors worked beautifully with the green and February flowers of Golden Gate Park.

And here’s another “behind the scene” moment…

Michelle in her beautiful dress. You can see Part One of Michelle and Matt’s wedding here. The rest next week!

San Francisco Engagement Shoot: Lisa and Eric

WOW! I can’t believe this amazing January weather…

Lisa and Eric took full advantage of it for our engagement shoot. We went to North Beach, Baker’s Beach and the Marin Headlands for a few hours of fun!

Lisa and Eric are one of those lucky couples who were set up: their relatives thought they would just click and they did! They have been together now for almost two years and their love and excitement comes through when they are together. We chatted about love, relationships, San Francisco, blind dates and crazy San Francisco weather as we moved from one place to the next.

On our way to Baker’s Beach we snacked on chips and chocolate, while we enjoyed one of those rare days of sunshine in this part of the city. I can’t remember another engagement shoot on the beach without the fog!

Wind and cold don’t show, but Eric and Lisa were amazing: they put up with everything and still smiled, took off their shoes, ran and posed for the camera. Thank you!

The view from the Marin Headlands was just beautiful, so clear and crisp was the air.

Waiting for the right light was not easy, as the temperature steadily dropped. But the result was great images with unbeatable light. We shot the last few images fast and ran back to the car.

This last image is my favorite: I love the lights shining on the bridge and the colors are just amazing. San Francisco is such a beautiful city. Congratulations Eric and Lisa, I am looking forward to your wedding in August!

Here’s one of my favorite photos from Sam’s Portrait Session. Check out a few more here.

Sam’s Portrait

I am looking forward to taking pictures at Sam’s Bar Mitzvah in March.

Sam and I met a week ago with his mom Katie for this portrait session, so that we could get to know each other before the big day. Sam chose the location and came full of ideas for the shoot.

Half way through, I had to ask: “Are you an artist?” He answered he draws a lot. I was not surprised. He had a great eye for lighting and composition and it was fun collaborating on the shots.

The best part was of course photographing Sam with his dog! I LOVE dogs, so that was a welcome surprise.

We waited for the sun to set on the beach. Perfect light! And not too cold for January.

Katie was so patient and in the end stepped in front of the camera as well!

Make sure to “like” Aurora Meneghello Productions on Facebook, for all the latest photos and blog posts. This year I am blogging several times a week ;)

Vintage Extras from Doug and Susan’s engagement photos session on Baker’s Beach.

Baker’s Beach Engagement Photos: Doug and Susan

I met Doug a few years ago (is it 5 years already?) when he moved to San Francisco from Canada for work. Doug is passionate abut vegan food and yoga and is great at conversations. He found a true match in Susan: I could tell from the first moment I met her she was special. I was so happy when he told he proposed! And even happier that they asked me to take their engagement photos.

I always like to spend dome time talking to couples about their vision for these photos. Doug suggested “jumping” pictures. OK, then! That’s what we started with.

A note to those of you who have the same idea: be ready to jump. Many times. really high ;)

Susan and Doug also wanted the beach as the background for their photos and we all agreed Baker’s Beach would be awesome, with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from Doug and Susan’s engagement photo session on Baker’s Beach, enjoy.

San Francisco Portraits: Madeline Trait

The last shoot of 2012 was a portrait session with my friend and colleague Madeline Trait from Locally Grown Weddings. There nothing better and more exciting than photographing somebody you know well.

Madeline came to me with some pretty clear ideas of what she wanted. In particular, she was looking for a photo to add to her new website and wanted to stay away from the usual “florist with flowers” look. She does much more as she is a really awesome designer, so we went for a very black and white look with strong lines and a more modern feel to it. You can see how she used her picture on her website here.

Then we tried different things, so she would have a few different looks to play with a use in blog posts, in print, etc. I scoped a few streets and found an intersection with interesting walls and plants. We were able to move from one corner to the other, achieving quite different results.

Since Madeline and I often collaborate on projects and work together on weddings, the shoot went fast and we found ourselves wandering around for an extra unplanned for image. We found one a few blocks away.

By the way, I love Madeline’s blog. She posts short, concise stories and now added little reviews of her favorite books. Check it out here.