A Long time ago (last month)…In a galaxy far far away (Palm Desert)…Christina and Mike held one of the best weddings I’ve ever photographed. The styles were on point, the details were on point, the location was on point, the Star Wars theme was on point and everyone was having a blast. Being that Christina is a talented fashion photographer, I put a lot of pressure on myself to make work that she and I would both approve of. We mixed digital and film for the shoot, the black & white images were shot on tri-x film with my Leica M6. You can see Part 1 of their wedding HERE. Enjoy!

So when a photographer you respect asks you to shoot her wedding what do you do?!? I was humbled and honored! Christina M. Felice is a talented fashion photographer hailing from Philly and working in Los Angeles. Mike Merriman is an artist manager from Colorado also working in Los Angeles. They met on a photo shoot 8 years ago, and after merging their lives together, they married in the desert outside Palm Springs. Having known Christina for a long time, I was very inspired to make a great body of work for her and Mike. I know it would be an opportunity to combine fashion, portraiture, and documentary photography. We had hard desert daylight, warm magic hour light, and pink sky sunset light. Then the dance party took over. Stay tuned for that in part two!

For our engagement shoot, we collaborated on a Polaroid project of tight, close-up images of Mike, Christina, and the beach landscape; tiled together to create an abstracted version of a portrait of the two of them. I shot it, and Christina and Mike created the layout together. The final product was displayed at the wedding for guests to sign.

Lastly, the Star Wars theme rocked. They have a dog named Leia and they both have the same Millennium Falcon tattoo with Han Solo’s quote “Never Tell Me The Odds.” He had Millennium Falcon cufflinks and the tables were named for different Star Wars planets. The Cake? The Millennium Falcon was exploding out of it.

Oanh & Anil held a wonderful wedding in Corona Del Mar, California. After a Catholic ceremony in the morning, they changed into traditional attire for a Hindu ceremony in the early afternoon. Before the reception we photographed along the cliffs with just the bride and groom at sundown. There were so many wonderful details to work with and the colors were stunning. You can see part one of the wedding here. Enjoy!

Oanh & Anil held a wonderful fusion wedding in beautiful Corona Del Mar, California, with a catholic ceremony in the morning and a Hindu ceremony in the early afternoon. It was a beautiful crisp & sunny day and we made two trips to inspiration point to photograph along the coast. Combining Oanh’s Vietnamese heritage with Anil’s Hindu background, they hired dragon dancers to greet the traditional Baraat ceremony. They both did a phenomenal job combining three outfit changes while hosting a huge dance party. More images to come in Part 2!

I recently collaborated with Jimmy & Kristen on their wedding at Majestic Halls in downtown Los Angeles. The beautiful building was built in 1921 and designed by the world-renowned architectural firm Schultze & Weaver. They both got ready at The Biltmore Hotel which was only a few blocks away and made for an easy transition. Overall it was a wonderful shoot and I was happy to have Jon Michals on board doing artistic videography. You can see the engagement session I did with Jimmy and Kristen here. Enjoy!

Eric Greenspan is the chef/owner of The Foundry on Melrose. I was hired to photograph Eric for a promotional piece about his famous grilled cheese sandwich, “The Johnny Apple Cheese aka The Johnny Pastrami.” Eric uses fresh honeycrisp apples to make an apple chutney that he spreads on both pieces of sourdough bread for the sandwich, so I had him pose with the apples in the back courtyard of his restaurant. The final dish was unbelievably delicious. For the foodies out there, Eric has kindly shared the recipe below.

Chutney: 6 honeycrisp apples peeled cored and diced, 2 TB Honey, 1/4 C apple cider vinegar, 1/2 C fresh apple juice, 1/2 C strong dijon mustard

Sandwich: 8 slices sourdough bread, 1 LB aged white cheddar cheese sliced, 1/2 LB thinly sliced pastrami, 2 honeycrisp apples thinly sliced, 1/2 LB butter

Instructions: In a medium saucepan, heat the honey until it begins to bubble and add the honeycrisp apples. Cook until brown and caramelized. Deglaze with the vinegar and reduce until almost dry. Add the juice and mustard and cook until almost no liquid is left. Blend in a blender until smooth. Spread a tbsp. of chutney on a slice of bread. Place 2 slices of cheese atop then 1/4 of the pastrami. Top with 1/4 of the apple slices, then 2 more slices of cheese. Place another slice of bread on top to complete the sandwich. Repeat 3 more times. In a large iron skillet melt 1/2 the butter and heat until slightly browned. Add the sandwiches and cook until golden brown and crispy. Turn the sandwiches over, add the rest of the butter and continue to cook until both sides are golden brown, crispy, and the cheese is melted within.

I photographed Jimmy & Kristen last week on Redondo Beach. Next month I’ll be shooting their wedding at an old bank building in downtown Los Angeles. There was a thick fog blowing off the coast in the afternoon but it burned off before our shoot and we had nice afternoon sunlight to work with. Jon Michals did some excellent video footage of the shoot and interviewed Jimmy & Kristen about how they met and other aspects of their story. It was a great collaboration all around.

Brian Isserman is the creative director of Primer, a wonderful boutique brand development agency located in the suburbs of Philly. I love their work and hired them to design my website. After the launch of the site we collaborated on a large format 8×10 photo shoot, check out the work here (we had a lot of fun).

This time around Primer hired me to collaborate on marketing materials for one of their favorite clients, The Standard Group. Located in historic Reading Pennsylvania, The Standard Group is an award winning integrated communications company that specialize in high-end printing, digital media, 1 to 1 marketing and mail services. They’ve been in business for over 117 years, founded in 1895 as a cardboard box manufacturing company.

We spent a great deal of time documenting their corporate HQ. It’s located in a beautiful old brick building with tons of character, depth and history. We shot for two days covering the work flow at two of their facilities. We also were given the task to photograph portraits of the executive team in their natural habitat. It was a fun challenge to capture each persons personality and environment.

It was a pleasure working with everyone involved. I’m pleased to say that between the client, the agency and the photographer we had a successful recipe and everyone was pleased with the work. If you’re looking for top notch design and branding strategy mixed together, contact Primer here.

After watching the VP debate last night I was reminded of a shoot I did with Biden in 2008 while he was campaigning through Linvilla Orchards in Media, Pennsylvania. I was told by his press rep that I’d have about 15 seconds to work with him since he had to rush out immediately after his scheduled interview. We were in the middle of a cornfield with no electricity and the sun had already set. Tripods and light stands weren’t permitted. I knew I wanted to make an interesting portrait so I brought a ring flash and a portable power pack to the field. Obviously, 15 minutes would have been more ideal than 15 seconds, but I managed to get him to chuckle before he split and made these two portraits.

I recently crossed paths with Tessa Young, aka DJ Tesslove, while shooting a wedding at The Braemar Country Club in Tarzana. She was spinning a great dance party and the crowd was lovin’ it. She had two technics turntables which is rare to see at a wedding these days, so I knew she had a love of the craft. We collaborated on a shoot for her agent and hiked down to the water from the Palos Verdes cliffs. Tessa was wonderful to work with and we had a lot of fun exploring different locations. Lucky for us, she just finished this brand new mix and its hosted below with the track list as well. Check out her page here to see where and when she’s spinning next.

Dusty Springfield – Son Of A Preacher Man (4AMZ Panty Dropper Mix)
Marlena Shaw – California Soul (Diplo/Mad Decent Remix)
2Pac ft. Dr Dre – California Love (Psymbionic Remix)
Warren G & Nate Dogg – Regulate (X-Mix Remix)
The Pharcyde – Runnin’ (Philippians Remix)
Latyrx – Lady Don’t Tek No
Justice – On’n'On (Ruined by Rick Rubin)
Simian – Sunshine
G-Eazy – California Culture (Ft. Dam-Funk)