Santa Barbara Wedding Photographer

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