Thanks for taking a moment to visit my blog!
This blog chronicles my adventures as a wedding and portrait photographer. I'm based in Southern California but will happily and gladly travel to other parts of the universe.
My blog is also a place for me to share some of the personal photography that I do, as well as sound off on various topics that are tangentially related to photography.
If you're inspired to write a comment or send an e-mail my way, I would love to hear from you!
I photographed Colleen and Ralph’s wedding a couple of weeks ago at the 94th Aero Squadron in Van Nuys. The restaurant is right next to the Van Nuys airport – and yes, a big ole plane touched down during the ceremony. But that took away nothing from the outdoor ceremony. The bride was beautiful, reception was a blast, and I wish Colleen and Ralph all the best!
I’ve finally created a page for Sonialena Photography on Facebook. I’ve had a personal page on Facebook for quite some time but did not want to mix my personal and opiniated rantings with the photographic work I do. The Facebook page has nearly all of the photos I’ve posted here on the blog.
I’m also trying to give Twitter a go and feel terribly unhip that it hasn’t become a part of my web arsenal yet. I signed up for an account last year, and, well, it’s been dormant for a few months now. Twitter will most likely be a mix of personal and professional tidbits, minus the ranting.
Become my fan on Facebook. Follow my tweets on Twitter. Trust me – I’m fascinating.
I am somewhat ashamed that this is my first post in over a month. I took these photos of AJ and Ian in February. They run Launchpad Careers, a job placement and recruitment company with offices in Orange County and Las Vegas. These photos are partly for their new website, which is currently under development, and partly for Project Blended. AJ is caucasian, African American, and American Indian. Ian is Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Irish. We took these photos in their offices in Irvine, CA.
Stacie and Levi had a great ceremony at the Horizon Hotel in Palm Springs. Saturday night they had a party catered with tacos and sopes – best sopes ever, may I add. Their wedding ceremony was Sunday morning, with a catered brunch. This took place in December, so the weather was a bit nippy, but it was a beautiful day. Best wishes to the happy couple!
Kylee was really fun to photograph. Aside from being super cute, she was full of energy and very excited to pose for the camera. Her mother wanted to create a 2009 calendar for Kylee’s grandparents. Each month had a different theme, which explains the many costume changes. We took these pictures at various locales in Whittier, CA.
Apparently a little slash here and there makes a big difference with web programming. For other people in need of a nice WordPress theme for showing off their photos, the good people at NetRivet are super helpful and helped me get everything back to normal in a very short amount of time.
I don’t know what happened to my blog, but whatever happened has made my very unhappy! As I write this post, all of the formatting has disappeared from my blog. I’m looking at a plain white background, no banner, no logo, no colors. And all of the text and pictures in my posts are jammed together.
Ugh. For first-time visitors to the blog, I promise that this is not some minimalist experiment of expression! Hopefully the WordPress fairy will visit me during the night and get everything back to normal. Until then, at least my photographs are viewable. Just not in the most aesthetically pleasing environment.
Demetria and Ronnie got engaged last spring; I attended the surprise engagement party that Ronnie threw for Demetria. Somehow all of their friends managed to keep it a surprise from her! We took these photos at Penn Park and Whittier College, both in Whittier, California. Demetria and Ronnie are now happily married.
I feel so fortunate that I was able to travel to Washington DC for Obama’s inauguration. It was quite an experience. As you can imagine, it was pretty freaking cold for a California girl like me. And the crowds were just unbelievable: massive and joyful, positive and excited. There was a lot of spontaneous cheering.
I took the train into DC around 4:30 am – I had to catch the third train because the first two were completely full. Here is the crowd trying to get out of Metro Center at 5 am.
All the streets leading to the mall were blocked off until 7 am, so I stood around with these people. ↓
There were cops standing in one of the buildings, waving at us and taking pictures. ↓
I stood in the same spot for a loooong time – from dark to daylight. The barricade didn’t open and no one moved anywhere. ↓
So I gave up on this crowd and went to stand with another crowd. ↓
There were lots of colorful characters around, like this Uncle Sam on stilts. ↓
An ambulance was trying to drive through the crowd – this meant some serious shoving and crushing to allow the ambulance to get through. ↓
I stood with these people for a while, but after an hour I had barely moved anywhere. It was after 9 am – that’s four hours standing around in freezing weather – and I was afraid that I wasn’t going to get into the Mall. People were on their cell phones with friends who said that they could see the Mall on TV and it looked full. Others said that this checkpoint was closed and they weren’t letting in more people. So I left this mob and joined another mob and started walking. ↓
And by 10 am I could see the Washington Monument – I made it! So happy and so relieved. ↓
This was my spot in the Mall – waaay back by the Washington Monument. I couldn’t see the Capitol at all, but did have a nice view of the jumbotron. I was also a bit off to the side because I wanted some breathing room. I was tired of being crushed up against other people. ↓
Everyone leaving the Mall. ↓
There were no trash cans on the Mall for security reasons, so you can only imagine how much trash there was. There were crews waiting to pick up all that garbage. ↓
The lake behind the Washington Monument was frozen over. ↓
And here are all the crazy people walking on the lake – you can see in the above pictures that there are parts of the lake that weren’t frozen. I thought all those people running around on the lake were completely crazy! ↓
After the inauguration I followed the masses out of the Mall. I didn’t really know where I was going, I just kept walking. ↓
When I started walking across this bridge over a giant river, I realized that the road I was on was not going to loop around and go back into Washington DC. I was headed for Virginia! ↓
And this was the end of my odyssey: Rosslyn, Virginia. I found an Italian place that had some very delicious pizza, drank two glasses of wine, and then hopped on the Metro to get back into the city. ↓
By the time I got back to my friend’s apartment in DC I was wiped out. When I flew back Wednesday morning I had a sore throat and felt like I might have a fever. But it was more than worth it – a once in a lifetime experience!
I walked around Washington DC on Monday, the day before the inauguration.
I saw this sign on a light pole; I didn’t really understand what it meant but it struck me as anti-Obama. ↓
Traffic was a mess – I was curious as to who would attempt to drive in DC the day before the inauguration. ↓
Too bad I couldn’t be standing in this spot the day of the inauguration! ↓
The National Archives. ↓
There was an army of street sweepers out that night. ↓
Lots of flashing lights – cops, firetrucks, ambulances. ↓
Metro Center station. ↓
by Sonia
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