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’m back from my trip to DC for Obama’s inauguration. It really was an experience! I was gone for five days and spent two nights in Baltimore and two nights in Washington DC.
I met my aunt and her family in Baltimore. We went to a friend’s house for brunch on Sunday afternoon where I took these pictures of my cousin.
She also wanted me to take pictures “really fast” – a little model in the making! Here are her moves: (The pause button is in the lower right-hand corner, in case things are a little too fast and furious for you.)
After brunch we went to dinner at the waterfront in Baltimore. The Baltimore Ravens were playing that night in an ultimately failed attempt to win a Super Bowl berth, so restaurants were packed. While we were waiting for a table I took a few night shots.
Stay tuned for some pictures of DC the day before the inauguration!
Kevin and Chris were married last September, before the passage of Proposition 8. This was a beautiful ceremony in Pasadena at the Eden Garden Bar and Grill (formerly Holly Street Bar and Grill). I was crushed that Proposition 8 passed in California and will be following all of the legal action that attempts to reverse it.
This was such a fun wedding – they sang Rainbow Connection during the ceremony! Chris also sang a great number during the reception. Kevin and Chris are a great couple and I wish them a long and happy marriage!
I took these photos of Nicole a few months ago; she recently graduated from high school and is interested in pursuing a career as a model. She certainly has the looks and the height! I’m not used to other women towering over me, since I am 5′9″ and taller than most women I meet.
Nicole was great to work with and I wish her all the best with her modeling career.
I’m very excited about my new website and new blog. I now have a custom-designed html site that makes use of Flash slideshows but is not an all Flash site. This probably doesn’t mean much to non-techy people – and a year ago I couldn’t have cared less about html vs. Flash sites – but after navigating many a photography website, I have developed a preference for html frameworks.
I also have a new blog to go along with my new site – a big thanks to NetRivet for providing such a great WordPress theme! I still need to do some touching up of my posts from the first half of 2008, but all my new posts will have wonderful big pictures. And now that I am running WordPress I can have everything hosted with my own www.sonialena.com domain.
I’m somewhat ashamed of how behind I am in my blogging – I have portrait sessions and weddings from the last four months of 2008 that have yet to be shared with the world. Not to mention a bit of personal work here and there that I’d like to put up as well.
I’m hoping to be all caught up by the time I leave for Washington DC in two weeks for Obama’s inauguration, because I will have plenty to blog about when I return!
I met Richard at AFI – the American Film Institute – back when I was an aspiring screenwriter. I was honored that Richard asked me to take maternity portraits of him and his wife, Jen. Jen was about eight months pregnant when we took these photos; since then Jen and Richard have welcomed a healthy baby boy into the world. These photos were taken at Jen and Richard’s home in Los Angeles.
David Pogue is the technology columnist for The New York Times, and one of my favorite geek guys. I have a few books from his Missing Manual series and am a great fan of the way he makes technology accessible to the technologically challenged.
His latest post is about digital photography, and it has some helpful tips for anyone that wants to take better pictures. Tip #5 was news to me!
I met Annemarie through Mike and Candice, another couple that I photographed for my multiracial portrait project. Annemarie and her husband, Adam, live in Sherman Oaks with their two very adorable sons. We took these pictures in Oxnard, California.
Tanya is another friend from UCLA. She currently lives with Jacob in Berkeley, California. We took these pictures four months ago (yes, I am very behind in my blogging) when Tanya was about six months pregnant. She and Jacob have recently welcomed their new son into the world.
We took these pictures in the SOMA district of San Francisco.
I would make a terrible interior designer – first painting the walls white, then dark gray, then bright yellow. But it’s so much fun changing the colors of my website!
I have experimented with different looks and color combinations, but I know this one is going to be it for a while. I love yellow and I love warm colors; they make me happy, happy, happy.
I’m in the process of completely redesigning the website. It will not be an all-Flash site. I have grumbled before about my ambivalence towards Flash sites. They are beautiful with everything glowing and blinking and sliding around, but I find them difficult to navigate. You can’t use your back or forward buttons, you can’t bookmark anything, and sometimes they’re agonizingly slow.
I will still have Flash slideshows, but they will be embedded in an HTML site. And this site is going to be simple, which I think better suits my aesthetic. Look for the new site later this month.
by Sonia
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