Morro Bay Engagement: Jonathan & Stacey
Today I was feeling a little homesick. After all, I haven’t visited Russia since I came here and once in a while you get a strong urge to go back to the place where you grew up. Just to entertain you a bit, here is a few interesting differences between Russia and US, according to my past :
1st: you can go to college in Russia after completing 9th grade. However, if you finish 11yrs in school, then you will only need 2 yrs in college to get your BA.
2nd: some students in schools are very creative in ways to cheat in classrooms, I would even consider it to be art
3rd: typical speeding ticket was nearly 90 rubles, which is 3 dollars
And these photos are from a very scenic engagement photo-shoot of Jonathan and Stacey. This place is somewhere near Morro Bay, Ca – and of course we had to drive a bit to get there, but it was totally worth it. In fact this was the very place where this couple got engaged – so, this session must have been very special to them. And to be honest with you, being there and seeing all the beauty around it, I wanted to propose to my wife again – it “sorta” moves you 
Aaron & Brianna: Engaged
Hey everyone! How is your summer going so far? Well today is a very special day. It is my mom’s birth day. Both of my parents live in Sacramento, so we don’t see them very often. But its a great blessing for us to have my mom always supporting us and helping with the kids. She is a perfect grandma for Nathan and Justin. Its hilarious how much emotions get to pour out in the moments when we get on her doorsteps. Mom becomes a machine for hugs and kisses and spoils the kids like crazy. We always appreciate her help when she’s around, so happy birthday mom!!! – we love you!
Below is an engagement session of Aaron and Brianna. One lovely couple! They are very nice, friendly and simple and it is very easy to get connected to their personalities. They choose a country look to be the theme for their shoot, so we ended up going in the never-ending fields and orchards of Fresno suburbs:) take a look….
Tyler & Daley: Engaged
Well, happy late 4th of July everyone. I hope you enjoyed your longer weekend, tons of great food, and beautiful fireworks show. We were happy to be in San Mateo with our friends and family of that day. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a relaxed and enjoyable weekend yet. It was beautiful: the weather (so cool after Fresno’s 107), fun conversations, fantastic food and fireworks in Foster City. All of that made an unforgettable weekend for us. There is something about spending time with friends that cannot be compared to anything else. When you get to hang out for some time with people that actually care how you’re doing – life gets easier. You sort of recharge and realize that life isn’t so hard as it seems when you’re alone. Conclusion: having friends is healthy!
Below are photos from Tyler and Daley’s engagement session. Overall, it was a very fun photo shoot. Both of their personalities are very fun and interesting. I don’t know if we ever laughed as much as we did during this session. We spent some awesome time with very awesome couple! Check it out ….
Rob & Steph: Engaged
A photo session with Steph and Rob was exceptional. As photographers, we’re used to working with different people and personalities. That’s part of the fun. We’re sort of studying people through cameras. And a lot of times as you work with people, it takes a lot of energy from you – i guess that’s the nature of it. Nevertheless, with Rob and Steph we felt completely different. Their personalities are so dynamic and full of energy. It felt like by hanging out with them you end up gaining something. Its if they actually invest in you something very special, life loving and energetic.
The photo session took place in Capitola, CA. Very beautiful, and colorful place. Thank you Rob and Steph for providing such a great opportunity for us to learn your personalities!
Engagement Ceremony
Our blog has never been so colorful before. We love colors! Raj and Upkar’s engagement ceremony was a totally new and different experience for us. It was like for a few hours we were dipped into a completely different world. Everything was very different: the language, traditions, culture, clothing, food, customs…. We really enjoyed experiencing something new, stepping outside the usual and being part of something that you’ve never experienced.
Check out a few of our favorite photos from the day:
Nico and Alina: Engaged
Well, hi everyone. I bet you missed us! Well, we’re doing just fine! I’m finally done with my big test (its seems like i passed with an A, but still need final word from the teacher) , kids are still growing, and we’re still shooting This past weekend we got to shoot our wedding contest winners Nico and Alina. Absolutely fabulous couple ! We can’t wait for their wedding, because its promising to be very fun, creative and with tons of awesome details. We originally planned to go to Shaver Lake area to look for luck in the forest settings. Got there a little earlier and – darn it!!! Its 1st of May and there was still some snow everywhere around!!! As our emergency plan, we went down to foothills and randomly found a decent place for a shoot. If you ask me for directions how to get there, I won’t be able to tell you – it was very random. It would sound something like this: “take a sharp right as you’re driving down the road…”
So, here are some of our favs….
Catherina & Daniel: Engaged part II
Ok here is the promised part II E Session with Daniel & Catherina
Seriously, cant wait for their wedding!!!
Daniel & Catherina E-session part I
Not too long ago I have posted on the fan page (facebook) a sentence saying that we absolutely love our clients. It truly is a blessing to do work for people who are so cool and fun. And last Monday was yet another proof for that. Daniel and Catherina are simply fantastic. Besides being a great looking couple, they came to our shoot well prepared with multiple outfits and a whole bunch of props. At some point it felt like they brought their living room set out in the open field. We were thrilled to photograph all that and spend a lot of time enjoying both the setting and shooting! We ended up have tons of great images and decided to break them apart in two posts. So stay tuned for D and C engagements session part II that is coming up next…
and for now check these out….
Nata&Paul Engaged
For most part of my life I’ve been very lazy to pick up on reading. Even though I enjoy a fun written book, most of them are not aimed at being fun, and a big part of them is like torture. Sometimes I wonder if the smart guys that write them put in those long and complicated words just to prove how smart they are. I would argue that, even though there is about 160 000 new titles of books published every year!!!!, there aren’t very many talented writers. Some of the books are so dry and complicated, often times I can’t even finish one chapter. I think that books are exactly like photographs!!! Believe it or not, it is. Besides all the sugar coating and examples to flavor up your work, there is a subject and a certain “framework” of the book within every book – you can’t just write about anything and everything, right? and the simpler it is the more attention there is to the subject. Bingo! Same principles work, for the most part, with a great photograph. You need to have a captivating subject, or a story, some sugar coating to make it pretty – and all of that you have to fit in a frame of a DSLR.
So, currently I’m reading a book by Mark Hughes “Buzzmarketing”. I think he’s an interesting writer with a good sense of humor. Not the funnest subject, but a fun read! One of the fascinating things that I learned so far from it is that in today’s world we, as consumers, are absolutely bombarded with more that 1000 advertisement messages per day. That makes most traditional and accepted tools of marketing less effective and a lot of money wasted!
Nevertheless, below are photos from a very fun engagement session of Nata and Paul that we had last weekend. It was almost spoiled by the bad weather, but in the last minute everything turned out to be great: the day, the couple and the shoot…
Lilya & Zhenya
Sorry for a late post again. Its kind of hard to run a family and a business at the same time. So here is another late post. Zhenya and Lilya engagements session. Don’t you love the spring time?
Nick+Theresa Engaged
Each time we would listen to last week’s weather forecast it would make us feel disappointed and sad. It was supposed to rain for ten days straight, starting from Monday of last week. Honestly, I enjoy rain. It brings back sweet memories from my childhood. Growing up in Moscow where it would rain on regular basis, I clearly remember all of us being at home, not going outside and me pulling out my full “arsenal” of toys, playing in front of a couch where my dad would seat and read while it rains. For some reason, those memories always bring that sweet, comfortable feeling, and each time it rains I want to get a hot cup of coffee to sit down and enjoy how Nathan plays. Even through, as I said, I like rain, we weren’t too happy with it last week. We had an engagement session with Nick and Theresa scheduled for last Saturday and really didn’t want it to be spoiled. The thing is that both of them are really fun people. When we met them for the first time a few weeks ago, we thought that they would be a perfect couple for us, and we would be honored to be photographers for their wedding. And rain definitely would not fit their fun, open, and “always smiling” personalities. Luckily on Saturday we had a bright, sunny day with a few puffy clouds. In other words – it was perfect! The whole shoot went amazingly well. Most of the credit, of course, goes to Nick and Theresa for picking great outfits and bringing absolutely cool props. All I had to do was pressing the shutter button as much as I could
So, here are some images from that day… hope you will enjoy them…
Both of their last names begins with a letter “B”, and i thought it would be awesome idea to use it as a prop
Favorites of 2009
Today, after all the excitement and mess with the Holidays had passed, when all of that is way back in the rear view miror, we wanted to take some time and look back at the year of 2009. It is true that after some point in people’s lives, the years stop being so long. At some moment of our lives we stop telling everyone that you’re “fifteen-and-a-half” and with so little patience trying to look older, act older, and do what older people do. Rather, we wish that the time would stop flying by so quickly, hoping it would stop for a year or two, just to enjoy all the blessings that we have at the moment.
The year of 2009 was very different from the rest. If I would think of one word to describe it, that would be “GROWTH”. We grew in many ways. The most important, of course was the birth of our second son Justin. Our family is not small anymore. We could notice totally different dynamics in our relationships, which are both new and exciting.
Through this year, our trust in God’s provision elevated on completely different level. Of course it was painful. But it feels so good when you are totally sure that God will provide for you not matter what – not because you think so, but rather because you’ve experienced it many times, and further worry would only look foolish…
We also grew in our photography. It was a challenging year for us. We really tasted what it is to try running a business with having two little kids constantly wanting all of your attention. We got to admit that as photographers, we feel very vulnerable about our work. A lot of times we need an objective and honest opinion in certain things. And we were very glad to have friends like Vitaliy and Candace Prokopets, who, in times when we struggled, were very honest and supported us with their opinions and advice.
Besides that, we wanted to thank everyone who, in anyway, expressed any support or sympathy towards what we do – we really appreciate it. Thank you!!!
So, below are some of our favorite shots from 2009 that never made to the blog Enjoy:
