SAN DIEGO WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY BLOG :: SAN DIEGO POTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY BLOG: SCHNACK STUDIOS

The results are in for the Q3 [AG]WPJA contests and I’m pumped about two top-twenty images!  Interestingly, both images are from Sarah and Joe’s wedding.  There were some amazing winners this year and it’s always such a treat to be honored among the most talented photographers worldwide.

Winter has finally made its arrival in Southern California.  Heavy rains, strong winds and large surf–and highs in the 50’s (brr!)–all offer a nice change of pace from our usual perfection.

The Nichols family was photographed late Sunday afternoon, just as the most recent storm was approaching.  I really love shooting in this type of light–really low with dramatic texture in the clouds–but I knew with the strengthening storm we’d need to get this done quickly.  It was the perfect situation for big, soft light, so I set up a single strobe in a 5-foot octodome.

The drawback to using the octodome is that, in strong winds–even with a sandbag–it pretty much turns into a kite. I managed to shoot many of these images with one foot on the bottom of the sand, holding it in place.

Nevertheless, the Nichols family hung in there through the cold and were absolutely great during the shoot!

A few days back I had the chance to shoot some family portraits of the Motyll family.  I’ve known Jeff for years and he’s gone on to big things with his multimedia production company, Cirrus Motion Media.  It was great to see Jeff and Stacey again and to see how their son, Aidan, has grown.

I had such a great time shooting Scottie and Alan’s engagement images on Saturday afternoon!  We braved the impending storm and began the shoot on the cliffs above Black’s Beach–I loved working with the incredible vista and the texture in the clouds.  We then jammed up north to Del Mar and shot some great images downtown, before heading down to the beach as the sun went down.