The Mission at San Juan Capistrano is one of my favorite spots in Southern California for photos! The gardens are always gorgeous and the Mission transports you straight back to the Old World with their ruins. Their website describes it as : a monument to California’s multi-cultural history, embracing its Native American, Spanish, Mexican and European heritage
Read MoreSunset Cliffs or bust! Another excellent day at one of my favorite spots in San Diego! There’s definitely something magical about the light and the sunsets here are truly, always perfect. Since Jessica & David were planning to elope in the mountains, I suggested Sunset Cliffs for their engagement shoot! It’s always nice to have variety in your photos, so I frequently encourage couples to do their engagement photos somewhere very different from their wedding location. Sunset Cliffs is also very dog friendly, which was perfect, since they would be bringing their amazing pup Kona.
Read MoreStacy and Melody chose to do their engagement shoot at home, which I am ALWAYS in favor of! Can you say total #PLANTLADYGOALS ?! At home shoots are the perfect way to give a glimpse into your life together and showcase the nuances of your dynamic! Melody shared her thoughts about it with me and I love her intention and direction for the shoot.
Read MoreAnother perfect San Diego day! Had a blast having out with Emily and Kevin and their sweet, sweet pup Moose! These cute cuties met in the way most folks are meeting today, via the almighty Tinder! Emily says that even though their friends thought they were crazy, they moved in together after three weeks of knowing each other! Over 3 years later, they have started to build a family together and are getting married with a sweet little girl on the way!
Read MoreBeing huge Parks and Rec fans, Sam had suggested we do photos at the Pasadena Town Hall. Images of this building are used in Parks and Rec as as PawneeTown Hall, so I was TOTALLY about it. California has so many beautiful state buildings and this is definitely one of them.
Read MoreRemember the bliss-free lives we were all living back in February?! Where we thought planning anything would be totally feasible?! While Covid naturally snuck in, forcing J & B to pivot and reconsider their plans, we were still able to do their engagement session at a place they love to go together: Balboa Park! They live near by and frequently take walks together to the park. The Spanish Art Village is one of their favorite parts and an area of Balboa that I don’t make it too very often, so I was very excited when the suggested it! With so many fun pops of color, every direction you look, it makes for the perfect spot for photos.
Read MoreWhen I saw online that they had gotten engaged, I crossed my fingers that they would hit me up and thank my lucky stars they did! While they now live in another state, it was so great to spend the evening with them exploring Sunset Cliffs with their dog Phoebe. It was like hanging out with old friends and they told me all about how they met:
Read MoreRead MoreWe had this amazing winter themed wedding (I love all things holiday and string/twinkle lights) planned for 12/19/20 but Covid had other plans. Most of my family is from South America, and due to the travel restrictions and the economic toll it took on them, they are unable to fly out and join us. And wanting to be considerate of safety of everyone, we decided to scrap the whole thing and just do something small in our backyard while we still have outdoor weather. We love halloween and figured a hallowedding would make for a fun story.
2020 is truly becoming the year we have to pivot and figure out how to safely do the things we normally do. This includes photography! While an engagement or portrait session is usually a small group of people, during these crazy times it’s definitely important to continue to practice social distancing. In order to protect not only my clients, but myself and the community around us, here are some measures I’ve started to take while photographing:
Read MoreWith masks at the ready, we met up at Lake Cuyamaca for their engagement photos as the world started to slowly wake up. This was such a great spot, as there were very few people around and we were easily able to get to private and beautiful places for photos. It’s such a great and easy spot to get epic photos without having to hike or work up a sweat. Sunset on the lake makes for the dreamiest light and I absolutely can not wait to come back to this spot.
Read MoreAfter photographing so many proposals, I’ve noticed a few things that are super helpful! Here are some of my tips for great proposal photos!
Make sure the ring recipient has their nails done! There will definitely be lots of photo of the ring on the hand, so it’s helpful to have it lookin fresh!
Adam planned the proposal under the guise of one of their frequent weekend trips to San Diego. As they walked to the beach to let Jasper run around in the morning, he would head out to the jetty first and get down on one knee. I headed to the beach the day before to scope out the situation and agreed it would be the perfect spot to pop the question.
Read MoreSan Diego is a photographers dream. It’s totally known for it’s amazing range of ecosystems and nature, beach and mountains in the same day!
While a beautiful location is always nice, light and time of day are far more important than location. As long as we have the right light, we could take photos at the dump and I promise you would love them. Light and your connection as a couple are the real magic to engagement photos, so don’t stress about location!
That being said, here are some of my favorite hidden gem spots for engagement photos around San Diego!
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