Full Package Wedding $1,499
Santa Barbara, Ventura County, Los Angeles County and Beyond
Wedding Photography doesn’t have to be expensive
Contact me from my main website VenturaPhoto.com
Hi, my name is John Park, photographer & owner of VenturaPhoto.com. This is my blog where I relax and be a little personal. I am a both left & right brain person. I have an AS degree in Photography & a BS degree in Computer.
I am a professional web developer during the weekdays. I love my job. I am that funny guy who brings cozy feeling to work. I am the one who started “Coffee Day”, “Team Mercury (sushi day)”, “Scare-master”, “Taco eating contest”, and more. Oh, and I love photography. I always carry a camera. I have photographed many weddings. At any given moment, I have 10-15 weddings booked.
Photography is NOT my “Weekend Thing”. Photography is my main thing. I choose to work in computer field when there are no weddings (weekdays). I don’t plan on going full time with photography soon. Because you cannot be a photographer and be rich. Average income for photographers is about $24k. Of course some people make it rich. A full time photographer needs to make 2-4 weeks living expenses with one wedding gig (your wedding). Me? I just want to get paid for one day of labor.
I am still looking for a business partner who will turn my $1K packages into $5k packages. For now, life goes on as usual. My customers save money. Every-one’s Happy.
Thank you for visiting my blog. Let me know if you need a photographer – God bless John Park
Bumped into a friendly face
It was a rainy day today. Orange County was declared with a tornado warning. Finally we were getting some good rain. On my lunch time, I went to a local bank in Camarillo.
I had a small talk with the teller lady about my job and wedding photography. From outside, a gentleman ran through pouring rain and came inside the bank. He took his jacket hood off and showed his face. It was my old wedding customer from 2 years ago.
Left: Wedding 2 years ago, groom on bass. Right: Today with me
Blog post of his wedding is here. Good memory.
I yelled at the teller lady “I did his wedding!” “I did his wedding!” as I shook his hand. My past customer also knew the teller lady. He looked at the teller lady and said “He is the best”.
I was a little embarrassed at his “The best” remark.
I do OK. But I’m not THE BEST 
He showed me his baby picture from his cellular phone. I took out my camera and asked the teller lady to take a picture of us.
Yes, I carry a camera even in heavy rain.
Backyard Wedding, Simi Valley
Some of the most beautiful weddings have taken place in the backyards. This Simi Valley house had such a large backyard, they should rent the place for weddings in Simi Valley area.
Photographer (me) was a surprise gift to the wedding couple. The bride and groom planned a thrifty wedding. They started out by borrowing a relative’s house in Simi Valley. But the parents provided them with the wedding vendors as surprise gifts.
I’ve been talking to the groom’s mother and brother for a few months about this wedding. I was told to show up at the wedding right before the wedding ceremony started (for a surprise effect). I had to insist that I would arrive at the wedding site way before the wedding ceremony so I would take pictures of the bride getting ready.
Everyone wore beach attire for the wedding. It was very hot in Simi Valley today. Only the wedding officiant and I were wearing suit and tie. I wear a suit during the ceremony only, so I am OK with a little bit of heat for a short time. I prefer to look formal for my customers.
I thought I knew the wedding DJ from somewhere. We kept picking our brains to figure out where we met. Later I realized he was Mike Breul. We’ve been talking online for several years. But we’ve never met in person. DJ was good. There were a lot of dancing. I should email him before I forget.
This wedding was one of those “flawless” weddings. I didn’t see any accidents or dramas. Maybe it’s because the wedding couple expected a thrifty wedding at the beginning (?) I don’t know.
Also, there were a lot of dancing. You can usually tell how successful the wedding was by amount of dancing going on at the wedding reception. At some weddings I see not much people dancing at the expensive wedding site. But at this wedding at Simi Valley? there was a lot of dancing. This backyard wedding was a success.
Pet Photography at Carpinteria
It was exactly three years ago when I photographed a wedding at Santa Barbara. This was the wedding with Juan-on-Juan buddy. This was the wedding with the DJ who can sing really well.
3 years later, the bride and groom contacted me again. They wanted me to photograph their babies… their 2 dogs.
They were vacationing at Carpinteria. So, we’ve decided to photograph their dogs in Carpinteria. Carpinteria is safe and they have parks and beach. Carpinteria even has a beach that allows dogs.
It was a very hot day, though. Even though we were at the beach it was still very hot. But the dogs didn’t mind the weather. They were running around everywhere for 1 solid hours. Then they slowed down.. almost falling asleep. Then they started to run around once again.. haha…
When we were walking at down town Carpinteria, a lot of cars were slowing down to look at the dogs. Some people were pointing right at the dogs as they talked to each other. It turned out, that long haired beagles are rare. And a lot of people at Carpinteria knew dogs.
She’s the bride from the beach wedding 3 years ago~!!
Product Photography
This product photography job came from a battery manufacturer in Camarillo.
They were getting ready for a trade-show next week. These pictures will be used for their website and print materials.
Wedgewood Wedding
* It was a Friday the 13th wedding. Nothing bad happened. It was all good.
Wedgewood Banquet Center’s been good to me. They have wonderful in-house DJ’s like Robin and Scott. They also have a Spanish DJ
Wedgewood is a friendly place for wedding vendors. They take care of wedding vendors. I always fee comfortable with them. Bartenders, waiters, DJ, and rest of the staff members are quite likable. I have a lot of fun memories here. And I took a lot of fun pictures here at Wedgewood Banquet Center.
One of the memorable pictures I have taken at Wedgewood Golf Club is this group picture 4 years ago (below, 2005). Apparently, my current customer saw those pictures as well. The bride asked me to take same group pictures for them as well.
It was just when the wedding ceremony was over. The bride and groom just kissed and walked down the isle. As soon as they walked down the isle, the bride asked me about that group picture. “I saw group pictures you took here on your website, can we take that picture?” So I told the wedding coordinator “If they want that group pictures, we must announce right now before they start walking way” “It has to be right now~!!” (It was not the time to be polite – I was yelling ).
The wedding coordinator called the DJ on her radio, and the DJ made an announcement for group pictures. Everything worked out perfect.
Wedgewood Wedding – Group Picture
Wedding Picture from September 2005
Photographed with a Film Camera – Negative Scan (low resolution)
Notice the shorter trees
Back to Wedgewood Banquet Center
March 2009. Look at the trees, they are taller now.
Look at that picture… that’s a cute group shot. I also photographed them waving at me as well, just like the one from 2005 wedding.
One thing I like about Wedgewood Banquet Center is that you have this elevated view point so you can take a large group pictures.
Sun was setting so fast, I had to direct people like a plane was going down. We managed to photograph all the needed shots. The wedding guests worked with me (and for me) without any delay. I felt thankful for making everything so smooth for me.
Reception was fun. Later, the bride told me “It was everything I wanted a wedding to be”. A lot of people danced (a lot of dancing means the wedding was a success)
Good time.
Booked a Referred Customer – Bat Mitzvah
Referred customers are gold. I don’t have to do anything but customers would come to me. I love that concept. I booked a Bat Mitzvah today. She and her whole family were at the Bat Mitzvah I did last year.
So, they already liked me as a person.
My customer and my past Bat Mitzvah customer are close friends. So, they got together and looked at my photographs from last year’s Bat Mitzvah photography. So, they like my pictures.
She visited my website and quickly check my package… what can I say, I have the best price in town.
After her initial email, Bat Mitzva was booked in 48 hours. I went to her office on my lunch time and finalized everything.
I love referred customers & repeat customers.
This also shows the rate of customer satisfaction.
Band Photography, Hollywood
I used to photograph a lot of musicians back in the early 90’s.
I still have some connections with the musicians in Hollywood. Actually, this band is located in Camarillo, Ventura County. They even gave me a ride to Hollywood to photograph them.
I had my ear plugs on at all time.
The band at work – I am working as well (the only person taking pictures)
Another Repeat Customer
I photographed repeat customers today.
The funny thing was that I didn’t know that I booked a photography session with my past wedding customers. Bride’s family member contacted me for a family portrait photography session, so I had no idea who she was. As we communicated and booked photograph session, the customer never mentioned that she knew me from the wedding.
I was taken by surprise when I saw the family. I remembered all the family members from the wedding about 6 months ago. I don’t have a blog post for their wedding. But here is a picture.
Left, Six months ago. Right, today
I was keep telling them “Why didn’t you tell me?” “You should have told me you knew me”. They were just laughing. One customer said “You took good pictures, so we wanted some more”
We took pictures of the family for about 2-3 hours. I took some couple shots of my past wedding customers. It was a gloomy day. Some people worry about gloomy weather. But you should not worry about the weather. It’s a photographer’s job to worry about the weather. Also, when you take pictures of the family, weather becomes secondary. Pictures should be filled with your loved ones. You really don’t care if sky is blue or gray. Pictures should be there to please you, not to impress others.
Engagement Session
We had an engagement photography session at Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles. Their wedding is coming up in 3 months. So, this was an “Ice-Breaker” photography session. Engagement photography session is usually held on Sunday because Saturdays are potential wedding days.
The bride and groom live in Los Angeles. Griffith Observatory is one of their favorite spots. They liked the Hollywood sign. They also wanted some pictures with down town Los Angeles in the background. But it was a foggy day in Los Angeles. We were little disappointed, but it was OK… we were busy anyway.
Oh, today was Superbowl Sunday, but none of us was a football fan. We expected there would be less amount of people at Griffith Observatory, but the place was packed with couples and families.
We walked around Griffith Observatory and took pictures at different locations. We took a lot of pictures when the Sun set over Los Angeles. I was very happy when the bride said “I am so happy we have you for our wedding”.
Everyone’s looking forward to their wedding. They are coming to Ventura for wedding. And there will be a parade. Check back around April for pictures of them in a mini-parade.
Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles – After Engagement Photography Session
Engagement Photography at Griffith Observatory from 2007
Repeat Customer, Baby’s Baptism
I had a wedding at Pasadena in October of 2007. The bride and groom now have a baby. Check him out, he’s a cute one. The newlyweds hired me back to photograph their new baby at the baptism in Pasadena.
(PS. I used to call the groom “The Doctor of Love” Because the groom is a real doctor)
This was not my first time going to customer’s baby’s baptism. I’ve been hired back for a Spanish baptism, birthday party, and etc.. One wedding customer from Oxnard hired me three times for three of their children’s weddings.
I often receive emails from my old wedding customers. Some brides send me their baby pictures. Some people hire me back for their baby photography sessions.
I feel humble that I have repeat customers like this. I must be making some people happy. Customers are happy with me. And I get extra jobs without effort. So, every one’s happy.
They had a baptism ceremony at the same church in Pasadena that the bride and groom was married. I saw the whole family members there. I remembered most of them.
The baptism ceremony was very cute. Their baby fell asleep during the ceremony like a baby Jesus. The other baby was crying hysterically 
It was a lovely day. It’s good to be alive. God bless the baby.
Christmas Family Photography – Thousand Oaks
This was my late Christmas gift. A day after Christmas, I had a quick family portrait photography session at Conejo Botanical Garden at Thousand Oaks.
Family members came from Colorado and elsewhere to Grandmother’s house in Camarillo. They had four generations in the family. There were a lot of kids in the group and they wanted some family portraits.
After breaking the ice, everyone was relaxed. I was able to capture every one’s energy.
It was a very nice day at Conejo Botanical Garden (Thousand Oaks). It’s been raining for several days. It even rained yesterday on Christmas Day. Today tuned out to be one of the best days of the year. Look at the sky on that picture. I didn’t have to fix anything on this picture.
I took well over 100 family photographs today.
The customer asked if they should dress up like the pictures they see on fancy websites, such as light colored tops and blue jeans. There were some members of the family who didn’t care too much for that look. So, I told her this (I will copy exact words from my email)
When it comes to “color coordination”
You should do what’s natural for your family.
You should wear same colored tops and jeans ONLY IF that will represent your family
As long as your mother is happy, and most of your family members are happy, it will be all good.
People’s faces and love will shine from the pictures to satisfy your family.
Same colored shirts is secondary.
Anything will work as long as people look tidy.
Reception at RiverRidge
It’s Tuesday September 2nd 2:40am in the morning.
I never got to enjoy Labor Day. I worked all day.
My ribeye steak is still sitting in the refrigerator. I hope I will grill it tomorrow (after meeting a customer).
Below are the pictures from August 30 photo-shoot at River-Ridge Golf Club at Oxnard. This was my favorite spot on the golf club. Then the golf club staff came to me and said how dangerous it was to be in that area. But I had to take the chance and get this done fast. Actually, I didn’t really see people swinging clubs to my direction. I think they were being overly cautious. Anyway, nobody got hurt.
* On this wedding – I walked 6.2 miles and burned 2381 calories
“Photography Fitness” (personal project)
“My Coffee Cup” (personal project)
A lot of stories from this wedding
* Photographer’s Physical Activity
Burned 2033 kCal in 7 hours.
More data located at “Wedding Photography Fitness“
First of all, I went through a nasty traffic jam. I had a state of mind to photograph the accident scene. I was just glad it was not me in that mangle.
Everyone knew about the accident at the wedding. A lot of wedding guests went through that traffic jam. We thought our DJ was caught up in that traffic jam as well. Wedding was scheduled for 4pm, but there was no sign of a wedding DJ. 4pm came, and there was no DJ. Bride was crying (heartbreaking) and the wedding guests started call every possible friends and family to locate a DJ in the area.
Luckily they found a friend of a friend who was a DJ. DJ Tony Chan is located in Camarillo (20 minutes away from Saticoy Country Club at Somis). He was going to hurry up and come down to Saticoy Country Club. He could only get ready for a reception, not the ceremony. The wedding ceremony had to go on without the DJ. So, we came up with a solution to the music. A friend of the wedding couple backed up his SUV and played his car-stereo. I was keep telling the bride “I have had plenty of weddings with absolutely no music. Trust me, it will be good”.
Amazingly, the music from the SUV worked out perfect. Honestly, the music was perfect.
Wedding Music provided by a wedding guest – From an SUV
After the wedding ceremony we had a plenty of time for formal pictures. From the hill-side of Saticoy Country Club, we can look down the valley of Somis & Oxnard. There was a big tree. That tree was located in a perfect spot to provide me with needed shade.
Photography session went on smooth. The weather was great. The bride was beautiful. The bride had a face of an Olympic Gymnast (not the ugly one). The bride had the longest train I have ever seen in my life. Pictures came out breathtaking. By this time, bride was very happy. And she was happy to know that there was a DJ in the house setting up for the reception. Everything turned out beautiful.
On the golf course of Saticoy Country Club, Somis, California
Under the big tree that saved the day, Somis, CA
Reception went on smooth. The DJ (Tony Chan) was fantastic. People had a lot of fun. The wedding was lovely. I didn’t want the day to end.
All in all, today’s wedding was more memorable than most weddings. It was like a little movie and I was in it. At the end, I told the bride that I was *almost* glad that the original DJ didn’t show up. We all have a fun memory from this wedding. We all pulled together to make a wonderful day for the newlyweds. This was a good sign for the newlyweds (I told her all that at the end of the reception). God bless everyone.
—————————————-
DJ Tony Chan – One who saved the day.
tony@tcscuba.com
Without Tony Chan, this wedding would have been a disaster. Everyone was thanking him for saving the day. He received about 3 formal applauses from the wedding guests. I talked to Tony a little and exchanged business cards.
Expect to hear more about the DJ Tony Chan in my future blog. We both live in Camarillo, and I like his style.
Saticoy Country Club
www.saticoycountryclub.com
4450 North Clubhouse Drive Somis, CA 93066
Phone (805)485-4956
Pet Photography, Ventura Beach
Web album is open to public: Pet Photography, Ventura
This was my second pet photography gig in a month.
I’m trying to do more pet photography, see.
There are a few tricks on how to take good pet pictures. The number one rule is that you must not be allergic . Unlike humans, animals don’t usually “Fake” what they feel about you. If they don’t like you, they will let you know. I mean, they will not get along with you forever. So the well-rounded personality (the vibe) is even more important in pet photography than in wedding photography.
Today was Sunday. I just had a wedding at Thousand Oaks yesterday. The first thing I did last night was to get all my camera gear ready for today.
Oh, before the Pet Photo-shoot, I went to Starbucks Coffee in Ventura to return a wedding album from the wedding at Ventura Fair Ground. Wedding was on June 21st. So, the package was completed and delivered in three weeks. The bride was very happy with the pictures.
Now I was ready for the pet photography gig.
I went to a nice beach community in Ventura. First we photographed the dogs. The dogs were full of energy. Those poor guys got yelled at a few times so they can behave, ha ha… Then we went to the beach. The dogs had a lot of fun. These dogs were a handful. They were running around the beach and making friends with strangers (both humans & dogs alike). It was very cute.
After the beach photo-shoot, we went back home for the cats. There where two cats to be photographed. Both of them were shy and tried to hide from me. I quickly became friendly with one cat. But the other cat was a little upset (poor guy). We all set quiet and relaxed for a while. That’s when the cats got ready for photography. After a while, both of them fell asleep, that we had to wake them up with the toys.
I had nice locations for pet photography, so all pictures came out nice. I didn’t have to use flash on all the indoor pictures. This house was made for pet photography. I am very happy with the results.
Mental Note: I need to buy a pair of casual shoes for pet photography jobs like this. Every single pair of my shoes are formal dress-shoes. I do not have a pair of sneakers. I take out trash in a black dress shoes.
Wedding..
Testing…
Web album coming… feel free to ask for a password to the client’s web album.
Sunscreen Report is Out
I saw a news report on Sunscreen lotions and their effectiveness. What’s more important was that they had a list of dangerous sun block lotions. They say some lotions may be Cancer causing.
It was exactly a year ago that I bought a half dozen bottles of Hawaiian Tropic sunblock lotions. I thought they worked pretty good. I wore it religiously before I leave home for weddings. I keep on bottle in my backup gear bag. Sometime I don’t put on Sun-block lotion when I leave home, because the weather is gloomy. And then, when I arrive at the wedding site, there may be a full blast of strong Sun light. So, Sunscreen lotion is an absolute necessity for outdoor photographers.
Anyway, I am now finding out that all my Sunscreen lotions are listed in “dangerous” category. Yikes.. this is not good. So, I’m going to have to trash everything I have and buy a whole new batch. This time I’m going to have to buy expensive stuff, not just the ones that are on sale.
I have a wedding coming up in 7 days. I need to act fast and get something that will not kill me. I need to avoid Hawaiian Tropic and stick to “California Baby” or something that doesn’t contain poison. I cannot believe Hawaiian Tropic would sell such bad products. The concern is with Oxybenzone. They say Oxybenzone “MAY” mess up your life.
Heart Rate Monitoring
I never stop thinking about doing something creative, unique, and fun.
Last few years, I’ve been trying to describe how physically intensive wedding photography can be. But there was no intelligent way to show it, until now.
I started to wear a very sophisticated heart rate monitor and a foot pod to the wedding. This system measures my heart rate, total calories burned, distant I walked, and more. It also prints out the data on various graphs.
Below is my activity data from the wedding I did at Redlands on June 28, 2008. I started to record when I got out of the car at the wedding site. I stopped recording when I got back to my car (to come home). The red line shows my heart rate. Blue line shows my walking speed.
Detail shown in gray table:
Calories burned: 2754
Average heart rate: 112 bpm
Maximum heart rate: 168bpm
Duration: 6 hours 19 minutes
Distant walked: 5.8 miles
* Temperature at Redlands: 90+ degrees
I am planning to keep monitoring my physical activities. I find this very entertaining at this moment. Here’s a link to my project: Wedding Photographer’s Heart Rate Monitoring
heart rate monitor test at Redlands wedding
Wedding at Simi Valley – Hot
Sorry, I am too busy to keep up with my blog. I had three photography jobs this weekend, including two weddings. Heatwave is still the biggest news in Southern California. Today’s wedding was at Simi Valley. Look at the thermometer. It was hot.
Gunga Din, Bring water…
Above is my water supply I bring to every wedding during the Summer season.
With this; I can drink, wash my hand/face, cool down… it’s a life-savor. If I want to bring a soda, I make sure they do not contain caffeine (dehydrant). Caffeine will defeat the purpose of drinking water, because caffeine takes water out of your body (we call it dehydration).
John Park Saves the Day Again:
The bride was getting ready at the second floor suite at Grand Vista Hotel. I was taking photographs of the bride and the bridesmaids getting ready and having fun. They lost the groove when they realized that they didn’t have any bobby pins. The grooms mother was going to go downstairs to get the bobby pins. That’s when I produced my bobby pins for them. You see, I always carry some bobby pins and safety pins in my pocket. The bride also needed some safety pins as well. I wouldn’t say I “saved the day”. But I came in handy for sure. :) And we went on with the wedding.
Wedding at Ventura, beach photography
Good news: Web album for this wedding is open to public. Visit Wedding Album and see 422 “Proof Quality” images. This is my open book policy. I don’t show you only a handfull of best of the best wedding photoraphs to you. But I show you over 400 raw images with no fancy fixes. Enjoy.
One word. HOT~!!
It was the hottest wedding day thus far. I was worried that bride and groom will sweat too much. I don’t know how they managed to keep clean and pretty. Also, I had somewhat challenging lighting situation during the formal photography session. I think wedding pictures came out just fine (look at below image).
Ventura Beach, Across the street from Ventura Fair Ground
In the beginning. Booked 2 weddings with 1 sales pitch:
There is a fun story on how I met this wedding customers.
I had a wedding last year (2007) at Wedgewood Banquet Center. I had a meeting with the bride and groom for that wedding at Starbucks Coffee in Ventura. As I was getting ready to make a sales pitch, a couple walked in and recognized my wedding prospects. They turned out to be close friends and neighbors. They were planning to get married next year (2008). I invited them to join us for my presentation on wedding photography. They set down along with my customers. I made a sales pitch to two couples. And I booked two weddings. So far, this is the only incident where I scored two weddings with one presentation.
Never too Hot for wedding:
One requirement of being a Wedding photographer is a good physical condition. Today was the perfect example of how you should keep in shape. It was a very hot day. As soon as I got out of my car I started to sweat. The whole city was baking. From that point, my job went on for 8 more hours. I wore Sunscreen lotion. I had my supply of cold water. I was also wearing a heart rate monitor that I wear when I workout. I thought it would be fun to monitor my heart rate & calories burnt.
It was a Catholic wedding at “Our Lady of the Assumption” in Ventura. The priest was very nice. I was allowed to use flash all I wanted. You see, flash photography is usually not allowed in Catholic weddings. Some catholic priests would forbid any kind of photography during the wedding ceremony. The wedding was very impressive with about 200 guests and the Mariachi band playing loud. By the way, I know this Mariachi band. We worked together at number of weddings. This was a Spanish wedding ceremony.
After the wedding ceremony & the usual hugging session, we headed out to Ventura Fair Ground. We all parked at Ventura Fairground parking lot and walked across the street to the beach. The Sun was so intense that taking photographs under the full Sunlight was not ideal. Everyone would squint. Also, people would sweat bullets under this weather. With this kind of weather, some people become hard to manage (especially the young ones). So, I located tiny patches of shades under the palm trees. I setup the remote flash system there. Setting up lighting system was a little tricky. It’s somewhat technical to explain.. all that matters is that I know customers will like the results.
The bride had some specific posed shots in her list. We took care of all her list first than I took charge. Then we moved onto some couple shots. I did all I can do to keep the bride and groom in the shade. Despite the temperature the bride and groom looked very fresh. Soon, we were ready for grand entrance.
During the reception, I begged the bride and groom for “One last pose for 1 minute”. And I photographed that Fish Truck shot.
Ventura Fair Ground:
Ventura Fairground has a lot of halls to rent. Today’s bride and groom rented Santa Rosa Hall, but there are more wedding halls at Ventura Fairground. Ventura Fairground is located right by the beach. Also, you get an ample parking space. Wedding guests can park their cars at the parking lot and walk across the street for formal wedding photography session on the beach. The beach has a sandy area as well as grassy area with a lot of palm trees.
Burned 5100 Calories?:
My heart rate monitor measured that I burned 5100 calories in 8 hours. Considering most people burn 2500 calories in 24 hours, you can see how active I was. It was indeed a very physical day. Most people just don’t realize how much work it is.
On the second thought. I think 5100 calories is too much. I cannot trust this heart rate monitor. I shall purchase a better heart rate monitor for future wedding photography use.
Our Lady of the Assumption
3175 Telegraph Rd., Ventura 93003
Ventura Fair Ground
10 W. Harbor Blvd, Ventura, CA 93001
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