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Winter engagement photo session at Lake Tahoe with Melissa and Anthony

My lucky string of fun young couples continued last week as I met Melissa and Anthony in South Lake Tahoe for an engagement photo shoot prior to their March wedding. The day was grey and snowy but that did not put a damper on these kids’ spirits. We started out by shooting some photos on the pier at the Timber Cove Marina. From there we went to check out their wedding venue, Edgewood golf and country club and made some photos in the trees there as the snow turned to rain.I shot a few photos through the rain of my car window. We stopped at a random real estate office which had these great giant icicles. After taking some photos through them, they broke two large ones off and had a quick icicle fight in the parking lot which was a lot of fun. I can’t wait to shoot the wedding this March, it should be a lot of fun.

portrait photography

Anthony and Melissa at the start of their engagement shoot in south lake tahoe.

icicle portrait

We found one random building with huge icicles and decided to have some fun.

Icicle fight during our engagement shoot

engagement photos on pier

These stairs were new, and I thought they looked cool from the water so I took off my shoes and waded in for a few pictures.

These gulls seem like they are always on the pier.

On the pier at the Timber Cove marina.

couple through rain

Since it rained the whole time we were shooting, we made it work for us.

couple walking along frozen beach

Walking along the frozen shores of Lake Tahoe

couple in trees

We took a quick run around the venue for their wedding, Edgewood.

high key photo of couple

I decided to go for a very high key look and mute the colors on this shot.

young woman fashion

They wanted a few shots of each of them by themselves and this is the one I like best.

couple kissing in trees

couple kissing in snow

At our last stop in Zephyr Cove, the snowball fight got so intense that Melissa had to toss her jacket. Of course she probably didn't think she was going to be taken down onto the snow at the time.

February 8, 2010 - 2:07 pm Jesse W. Reta - Awesome photos you two. It's going to be a great ceremony.

February 7, 2010 - 4:17 pm Janet - Wonderful pictures, wish you both all the luck and love ...

February 6, 2010 - 10:28 am Carma - I LOVE the pictures!!!!!! I don't know if I can choose a favorite. Very unique--Very REAL!! Beautiful couple!! <3 Mom

February 4, 2010 - 11:13 am Linda - The pictures are great, looking forward to the big day.

February 4, 2010 - 9:38 am Shane Way - Your photos really are amazing.Bravo!

Photography by Monique at the Heart Association Fantasy Bridal Expo in Reno

For the fourth year in  a row, Monique and I set up a booth at the Heart Association Fantasy Bridal Expo in the Grand Sierra resort in Reno, NV. This event is a charity fundraiser, so that part is always nice, knowing that your fees go to a good cause. In addition it allows us to catch up with a lot of our friends who are in the business and we don’t get to see a lot. The Reno market is a bit different than the Lake Tahoe wedding market, so we usually only pick up a few weddings each year from the event, but we have fun talking to brides all day. Monique had the idea to build three 30 x 60 inch photo collages, and have them printed at our lab and mounted onto foam board to form the background for our booth. We had fun and did one panel of weddings, one panel of bridal portraits, including lots of boudoir photographs taken while the brides were getting ready, and another panel of maternity and family pictures. I’ll let you guess what got the most interest and attention from all the young brides…..

Here’s a quick look at our booth, with the background panels, and another shot where you can see all our new album offerings in the foreground.

Tahoe winter engagement photo session for Todd and Andrea

Todd and Andrea braved the impending storms to make it up to Tahoe for an engagement photo session last Saturday. It was rainy and stormy the day before, and rainy and stormy the day after, but fortunately the day of the shoot, we had partly cloudy skies and no winds for our romp around the south shore of Lake Tahoe. We had made all our contacts through email, so I got to meet them the first time the morning of the shoot. I honestly thought I was going to scare them off right away, because the drive down was way faster than normal, leaving me an extra 1/2 hour to drink way too much coffee at the Alpine Sierra coffee house. Despite skipping every third word, we talked a little about how they met, what they like and why they chose Lake Tahoe to get married at. Turns out the met in school and both love the outdoors, just like my wife and I. Once I got up off my behind and got the cameras out and we started moving and looking for photos, the afternoon just clicked. We had the Valhalla historical site in south lake all to ourselves as we played around the old buildings and piers and beaches, then went over to Emerald Bay for a final few shots with that famous vista. Once again I lucked out and got a couple that were real troopers about tromping around in the snow and squeezing themselves into interesting (and at one point dusty) locations all for a photo. We had a real fun time during this shoot. Here are just a few of my personal favorite images.

engagement photos at lake tahoe

We found a nice patch of light in between a couple of historical buildings at Valhalla

winter engagement photos at lake tahoe

valhalla engagement photos

More fun with old buildings at Valhalla

I love the feel of this building in black and white photographs

engagement photos with trees

Valhalla also has lots of big trees to use

engagement photos along the beach

engagement snowball fight

Todd said I want a picture of her throwing a snowball right at my face. You got it! Fortunately it just grazed his ear.

What happens when you actually hit your boyfriend in the face with a snowball during your engagement photo session.

emerald bay engagement photos

Our last shot at the classic Emerald Bay lookout.

Lake Tahoe Engagement photography for Kristin and Dirk

Kristin and Dirk chose Monique and I to photograph their South Lake Tahoe wedding this coming July. Prior to that, we wanted to work in an engagement shoot for them to have some nice save the date photographs. The only day we had to work with was supposed to be cold and snowy but as luck would have it, the sun came out and left us with cool clouds in the sky and a few inches of fresh snow to play around with. Fortunately, this couple likes to play and was game for anything, even snowball fights and tromping through the woods in thigh-high snow drifts. The fun they were having shows in the photos, and we had fun making them and can’t wait to shoot the wedding.

Kristin and Dirk at the start of our photo shoot under a pier in South Lake Tahoe

One of my favorite shots with the frozen lake tahoe

A nice quiet photograph on the pier we had all to ourselves in south shore

After the pier we moved to an equally abandoned Zephyr cove and almost got our car stuck in the snow

Another of my favorite shots

Towards the end of the shoot things started getting interesting

Finally Kristin put a stop to the snowball fight by tackling Dirk

And we finished the day up with some snow angels and a great view of the lake

Modeling and publicity portfolio shoot for Jason Craig

Jason Craig is a Reno 16 year-old whitewater kayaking phenomenon. This year was truly a breakout year for him as he dominated the competition in Thun Switzerland to become the Junior World freestyle kayaking champion. Following on the heels of his success there, he was nominated as Rider of the Year by the website of the same name, and named one of the year’s best up-and-coming kayakers by Kayak and Canoe magazine. And that is just the beginning. With the publicity and sponsorships coming in, his mom decided that maybe it was time to get some professional photographs done of Jason instead of the family snapshots they had been using. Karen contacted me, and I spent a morning with Jason at their home to try and capture, not only the standard elements that one needs in any kind of modeling portfolio, tight, long, side, personality, etc, but to capture a little of who Jason is at this point in his life. And as anyone who has been around teenagers knows, that can alternate from dark and broody one second, to playful and goofy the next. All said, we had a great time and wish Jason much success in the future! Here is a link to Jason’s experience at the world kayaking championships.

jason craig portraitsjason craig portraitsjason craig portraitsjason craig portraitsjason craig portraitsjason craig portraitsjason craig portraitsjason craig portraitsjason craig portraits