I was recently asked to do the school photos for the graduating class at the La Jolla Children’s School
in, where else, La Jolla. I’m their unofficial artist in residence and go to photographer. At first, I wasn’t exactly thrilled with the thought doing the school photography. Visions of crappy backdrops, cheap combs and bored expressions left me inclined to pass on the opportunity.

But then I got to thinking, what if I made this an assignment for the kids in that the photo should tell something about who they are? I stuck with the idea of the backdrop, but decided to take it down to nearby La Jolla Shores beach. Instead of just cropping in on the seamless paper, I captured some of the background to give the shots a sense of place. I used a strobe to provide the soft light on their face.

And finally one with the whole class. I only wish my school photos were this cool.

John

About an hour south of Cancun, Mexico is Playa Del Carmen. Where Cancun is new and glitzy, Playa Del Carmen is a little more hippy and slow with lots of expats tending bar. We photographed the wedding of Kelly and Raj at the Aventura Spa Palace all-inclusive resort just north of town.

Kelly and Raj came down from Seattle - just the two of them. They were great fun and after the ceremony, we just kicked back at the bar and had a couple drinks waiting for the light to get all nice and pretty. There was no reception to run off to nor family members to line up and photograph. They were great sports and weren’t shy about working it for the camera.

Here’s our happy groom, Raj:

And Kelly…

Got this one as she was about to walk down the aisle. There was a golf cart behind her that I had the staff move. No sooner did they move it than she started to walk down the steps - but just before she did, the wind caught her dress as she lifted it. And I got my shot!

And there they were getting married, just the two of them and the officiant.

The amount of emotion in a ceremony isn’t necessarily related to how many people are in attendance.

Here’s The Lookbook in action:

Here’s a pose from the Lookbook…

And this is one we just sort of we came up with all by ourselves…

This is the part where they jump into marriage…

This is what the other side of jumping into marriage looks like…

And then the sun went down. Time enough for just one last shot.

John

For the first time on our trip, we managed to get off to an early start. We wanted to hit the pyramids before the tourist buses with all the herds showed up. I’m glad we did - we got about 30 minutes of solitude before swarms of people from all over the globe started crowding in.

The main attraction at Chichen-Itza is the big pyramid. Unfortunately, it’s fenced off so you can’t go up. In fact, everything is fenced off so you can’t really experience the architecture. Here’s the big guy:

I don’t think I’d want to be a Mayan. They liked to kill people. The Mayans would rip out hearts from living people or sacrifice them by tossing them into a nearby Cenote. The building in the foreground is the Temple of Skulls which is ringed by hundreds of stone carved skulls. Apparently, a lot of people died here.

After Chichen-Itza, we headed up to Ek’Balam about two hours away. It’s not as impressive a site, but the cool part is that you can walk up the pyramids and inside the buildings. Very little was roped off as opposed to Chichen-Itza where everything was roped off. There were also a lot fewer people so it made for more enjoyable afternoon.

The walk up the main pyramid is steep. It definitely doesn’t comply with US building codes or ADA laws. You don’t want to fall - once you get started, you’re not stopping until your lifeless body hits the ground.

Once you get to the top, you really understand the importance of the pyramids. The Yucatan is completely flat and covered with jungle. For most everyday Mayans, they’d never see anything other than the trees in front of them. Once you get up on top of the pyramid, it’s like being in a plane. You can see for miles and miles and you’re above everything. The experience must have been awe-inspiring back in the day. It was for me too actually.

Here’s Jen goofing off on top of the pyramid. Yeah, we’re tourists’ we can’t help it.

Tomorrow, we’re off to some more ruins and then the beach. I’m looking forward to getting out of the heat and relaxing next to the water.

John

I’m trying to keep up with the blogging while on the road down here near Cancun, Mexico. The internet connections are hit and miss so it’s hard to post regularly. I’m skipping past the wedding stuff which I’ll blog later. (Jen’s got that on her computer.) Yesterday, we left the resort and headed inland into the Yucatan peninsula. Our first stop was the town of Valladolid, about two hours inland from Cancun. It’s an old Spanish colonial town with lots of color and a traditional town square across from the catholic church.

As I was sitting in the hotel room playing with the photos, I decided to play around with some of the textures I’d shot walking around and use them on the photos. These are genuine Mayan textures here folks!

Although there’s tourists in Valladolid, there’s not a lot. For the most part, it’s just the local Mayans. Jen took a shot of a couple of kids. Before we knew it, they were on us: “Sacaste nos photos. Tiene que compra algo!” which meant “You took our photos, now you have to buy something!” So we bought a couple of ten peso (one dollar) handkerchefs for my little neices back home.

We stopped and ate at this restaurant. It was pretty simple food - much like home cooking.

Later, we came back and ate here. The food was super-delicious. The drinks and salsas were perfect as was the ambiance in this old Spanish villa.

After lunch, we drove to a nearby “Cenote” - it’s basically a hole or cave filled with water. The area is littered with them and they make perfect rest stops. On a hot day, you pay your ten pesos and then jump in to cool off.

We tried to drive to some nearby Mayan ruins, but it started to rain. And rain. And then rain harder. Eventually, we just turned around. Not only was driving on the narrow road a little scary in the wet weather, we figured that trying to walk around in a pouring rain would be pointless. Once we decided to turn around, the rain let up. It was like someone was giving us a message.

We drove to our hotel, the Mayaland Resort. The name was kinda hokey, but the resort consisted of small, thatched roof villas spread over a large property surrounded by jungle. Just outside our room was one of three swimming pools. It was perfect for jumping in and cooling off after a hot day of playing tourist.

Next stop: Chichen-itza!

John

Jen and I are in Cancun, Mexico this week to shoot not one but two weddings. We’re also going to be taking a little vacation while we’re down here. On the plane down, I was looking out the window and was just struck by the cool patterns down below. I snapped a few photons through the window - unfortunately, there was a lot of distortion so these aren’t quite the masterpieces I’d hoped they would be.

I’ll have more from the wedding and our travels later so stay tuned!

John

Not just any parents, but my mom and dad. My mom called last week and says that she wants to come visit with my dad. And she wants their photo taken. Well, seeing as I am a photographer I figured I could do that. I was a little surprised when they showed up with nice clothes and all. I think it was something she had planned in her mind for a while. I was just the last to know. But that’s what family is all about.

John

I remember meeting with Jessica and Frank for the first time at my studio. I felt like we really clicked and quickly looked forward to photographing their wedding. I knew it was gonna be fun. They got married at the Rancho Valencia Resort in Rancho Santa Fe just north of San Diego. Jennifer Bueno of Beauty to Be did the hair and Claire Young of Clairestyle did the makeup. Jessica’s dress was made by Paloma Blanca which she got from Isis Bridal in San Diego.

Our blushing bride, Jessica.

Our gallant hero, Frank.

True love… never have I seen a groom so happy to see his bride. Since the wedding began after the sun went down, they saw each other before the ceremony.

A moment of zen before the ceremony.

He’s such a cute little fella, I wanted to pinch his cheeks too.

This is what a wedding ceremony looks like at night. By the way, San Diego Stage and Lighting provided all the lighting for the wedding. Proper lighting makes all the difference. Lighting is so inexpensive relative to everything else, but it can make the biggest impact if done well.

The reception took place in the Terrace Room. It’s gorgeous at night and very private.

My favorite part of the reception is the Hora. Everyone dances around and round in a circle and then they finally stick the bride and groom in a chair and dance them around. It’s a rush to photograph. I just wish we could have had one at my wedding.

And into the night they disappeared…

John

Tonight’s Easter. I spent the day resting at home playing the guitar, headed over to the in-laws for a home-cooked dinner (thanks Cathy and Jim) and then drove a couple of hours up to Riverside for a magazine shoot that I’ll be doing in the morning. I grew up in LA and Riverside is kind of like the armpit of LA. It gets no respect. So, I can’t say that I was too thrilled to be going to this Mission Inn place to do the bridal fashion shoot for I Do for Brides Magazine.

I pulled up to the valet and, honestly, was blown away. This place is gorgeous. Amazing. A true gem. My room is on the fourth floor and it feels like I’m in a Spanish castle. I’d love to photograph a wedding here. I snapped some photos for folks to check out.My room is on the top floor to the right of the frame - you can see the door open just a crack.

Here’s the view into my room.

Here’s a couple of shots of the walkway outside my room.

This is the outside of a gorgeous chapel right below me. President Richard Nixon was married in a smaller chapel across on the other side of this courtyard. Although I’m not a fan of his, our paths have crossed before. I went to preschool where he graduated from college (Whittier College).

I’ll be photographing a bunch of bridal gowns - much like my Exquisite Weddings shoot that I just posted. We don’t have as many dresses so hopefully it won’t be as long a day.

John

I’ve been getting a lot of great feedback on my Exquisite Magazine photo shoot. I shot some video during the shoot that I thought I’d share. If you’re at all interested in seeing how I create my lighting style, it’s well worth a look. There’s a lot of tips on location lighting.

By the way, for all those who’ve signed up for the Rimrock Workshop, you”ll be working with a lot of this gear in your shots. I’ll also be showing how to take these ideas and make them work for the no-time-for-anything wedding day in my Light and Fast seminar with Jules Bianchi on June 12 in LA.

John

This is a post that I’ve been waiting to do for a couple of months now. I did this shoot back in January but didn’t want to post until the Spring issue of Exquisite Weddings magazine came out.

Talk about a long day. We did 25 setups over 10 hours. That’s a lot no matter what, but everyone of those shots required setting up multiple studio lights to get the look that I wanted. My crew was running around with a truck load of gear, hustling to set up each shot. I do a seminar for photographers called Light and Fast… well, this was more like Heavy and Fast.

At the end of the day, we were all cooked. But we did it!

We did this wedding shoot at The Grand Del Mar resort which is located just north of San Diego. The recently opened resort was done in the style of an Italian villa. There’s really nothing like it in Southern California. The attention to detail is fantastic. Doug “Pappa Doug” Manchester is the developer - I photographed him at his home last summer. The Grand Del Mar is a lot like his home - just on a grander scale.

I did the men’s fashion shoot last fall. Photographing the guys is a lot easier. With women, there’s a lot more hair and makeup - which takes forever - and then there’s the dress. On my crew, I had two hair stylists, one woman for makeup and another just for the dress.

My concept for this shoot was to treat the women kind of like sculptures. Italian villas always have lots of female sculptures so I put the talent up high standing on chairs, sofas, walls, and even a wall sconce.

The jewelry was provided by Tiffany’s in San Diego. They not only supplied the diamonds and silver, but also had someone doing all the styling for the jewelry. Some of the rings that they brought sell for over $100,000 so they also supplied several rather stocky guards who never let the models out of their sight.

The staircase is fantastic. No doubt there will be more than a few wedding day shots taken here. I’m photographing a wedding at the Grand Del Mar in July so don’t be surprised if you see some shots from here.

Not your garden variety pergola…

The only thing better than one bride is two!

This was the last shot of the day. Actually, night. I had my assistant outside with a giant umbrella outside making sure the strobe would fire. It was cold outside and we were dead tired. It’s at times like this that I really rely on my crew to keep it together, stay focused and be committed to producing great work.

For the next issue of Exquisite Weddings, I’ll be shooting the cover. I’m looking forward to focusing on one shot. Should be fun!

John