SF Bay Area Wedding, Portrait & Event Photography
Nov 20th, 2008 by Kira
For those of you who don’t know, I am a big foodie. I love love LOVE to eat and eat out in restaurants. I’m not the greatest cook nor do I have the time but food is one of my great loves in life. So last week I decided to start a new food blog. It’s my food photography and reviews of food in the area and viewers can vote too!
Check it out at: http://www.fryhole.com
Nov 18th, 2008 by Kira
For the past couple years I have been taking holiday photos for Maurisa and Bob’s family - their daughter and now 4 lovely dogs. Ruby is their brand new puppy (Havanese), she is so cute!! I went down to take their shots a few weeks ago for their holiday cards. They are a great family and they really love their dogs!
Nov 16th, 2008 by Kira
I just received my samples of Rohan’s birth announcements! These are awesome 5×5″ tri-fold style cards that come in 3 different paper types (all eco): Regular Matte, Art Stipple and Art Linen. The finish on these cards is beautiful and each set comes with envelopes! The cards come in sets of 25 and they are full-color and press printed.
Take a look at these cool announcements! …just an FYI, I can use this card style for holiday cards, regular greeting/notecards, invitations, etc… you name it!
Lastly here is a shot of the paper types:
Nov 16th, 2008 by Kira
So besides going to my sister’s wedding in Philly I also got to hang out for a few days.
The morning after the wedding we went to Reading Terminal which is a really cool place to eat. It’s like a huge hall of different food vendors, gifts, candy, etc. If you’ve been to the Marketplace in Emeryville, it is along the same lines but way cooler.
I bet you’ve never seen shrimp this big before! Oops, for the west coasters I mean, “PRAWNS” (before I moved to CA I never heard shrimp being called prawns… I found it a little strange, and I still have trouble bringing myself to name a shrimp a prawn… oh Pennsylvania, how I love thee).
Now how could I go to Philly without getting a cheesesteak? Well at Reading Terminal Market they have the most amazing thing - a freshly sliced BEEF BRISKET sandwich from Dinic’s. This puts beef and cheese on a roll on a completely different level than steak umm and cheezwiz. If you ever visit Philly, you HAVE to try one!
This is the Loews Hotel where my sister had the wedding reception.
Next is a photo of the inside area of City Hall.
Here is a very rare shot of yours truly (below). Yay for fall leaves!
Since Hav had never been to Philly before, I thought it was appropriate to take her to the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. One of the great advantages of growing up in Pennsylvania is that Philly was just a hop skip and a jump away from the town where I grew up (1.5 hours north), so historical field trips to Philly/NYC were often in order.
Next is a shot of the US Constitution Center. Since this is a museum dedicated to the Constitution, one would think the Constitution was inside, but it is actually kept at the Smithsonian… oops!
Across the street from the Constitution Center is the cemetery where Benjamin Franklin was buried. Here is a photo of the cemetery - I think I was standing right next to Ben’s grave.
Lastly, some photos from Geno’s the famous cheesesteak join in Philly. This place is known for their very offensive “speak english” sign that they proudly hang by the ordering window. I guess the people there think it’s funny, but it’s really not that funny at all… Anyway, I was still really stuffed from eating the beef brisket so I had to pass on a cheesesteak so instead we opted to share some cheese fries, yum! The fries don’t just have cheese poured on top, they are tossed covered and tossed in cheezwiz!
More photos from the trip coming soon! Now back to my “real” work.
Nov 13th, 2008 by Kira
I’m back from my trip to Philly!!! I don’t even know where to begin… my sister’s amazing wedding, fun times in Philly and New York, etc….
I flew into Philly on Friday with Havilah on good ol’ Southwest. I thought I told myself I would never fly Southwest again but I couldn’t resist the incredible deal I got on airfare…. we arrived just in time to make it to the hotel, check in and get to the church for the rehearsal. It all went really well and then we went to an awesome Spanish tapas restaurant by South Street for dinner… it was soooo good and the paella was to die for!
We stayed at the Loews Hotel, where the reception was being held. When I checked in I got a box (pic below) with breakfast treats and other goodies to munch on in the morning since there was no organized breakfast. Saturday was the wedding and I have to say - even from the eye of a wedding photographer, it was out of this world. I didn’t get to take photos the whole time because the tables had turned, and I was IN the wedding as a bridesmaid… but I did manage to snap a few between holding my bouquet, walking trying to walk in my heels, eating and dancing.
It rained for just a little while in the morning and stayed kind of overcast but it was actually a blessing in disguise for great photos! I was really excited to be in the wedding because I’ve never been in one… and especially because it was my sister’s wedding! My other sister was a bridesmaid too, and it was really awesome seeing my entire family all dressed up (it was black tie).
I left the “real” photography for the day up to Ryan Estes, hand picked by yours truly. ;-) Ryan is an awesome photographer from Philly. I really like his work and I think he is extremely talented, creative and has great technical skill, not to mention being super nice and from what I hear, easy to work with. (I knew that I didn’t have to worry about taking pics every second of the entire night because he’d have it covered, whew.)
So what was so great about this wedding? Well, first of all it was in Philadelphia… which was cool to be out of my element and back home in PA. Secondly, Jaryn’s dress was gorgeous… it was frigging amazing… (and I’m no girly girl!). The dress was Kenneth Pool. And the designer was Austin Scarlett (from Project Runway)!! The train was long and flowing and it had beautiful bead work along the top of the bodice and the bottom of the train. The church was very old in the Italian market neighborhood of Philly and the inside was mostly marble. The reception was held at the Loews Hotel in downtown Philly, just a couple blocks from City Hall. The grand ballroom was HUGE (at least 24ft ceilings), lit in shades of purple, and Jaryn and Brian’s names were projected onto the wall. They got an award-winning dance band — Jellyroll, who have even played at the White House! All in all, and having nothing to do with the fact that this was family — the wedding was AMAZING!!!
Here are some photos! Check out Ryan Estes’ blog for more (not sure when the actual post will be there but check his site)!!
Will be posting more photos from my trip back east later this week, stay tuned!
Nov 5th, 2008 by Kira
Nate, Christopher and Evan are three of the cutest guys around. Nate is the big brother and Christopher and Evan are twins. You may remember them from last year’s photoshoot at Dolores Park.
Christopher is my little gem who I have been donating portrait proceeds to all year. He had a life-saving liver transplant last November (just passed his 1 year anniversary) and since then I have been happy to kick back some $$$ to his foundation to help leverage the cost of the surgery. Nuena Photography donations are being made through 2008 with portrait sessions, so there is still time if you’d like to book your holiday session! (Remember, I also do super rad photo holiday cards! I have a slew of cool designs to choose from, and I can also do custom! Will post a holiday card entry soon…)
Anyhow, it’s pretty amazing how fast kids grow - just last year they were toddling around in the sand and could barely walk without tipping over… now they are running around and jumping and talking! Here are some of my favorite shots. 
I will start off with a photo from last year so you can see how much they’ve changed. CLICK HERE to view their old photos.
Below: from left to right is Evan, Nate and Chris.
Nov 4th, 2008 by Kira
Happy Election Day! I hope everyone out there who is over 18 and has the ability to vote will exercise that right and cast those ballots. I went in this morning and I am so happy that we are one step closer for it to be OVER already… craziness!
I also want hope that if you are on the fence about Prop 8 you have done your homework and have weighed all options. I shoot alot of gay and lesbian weddings and I definitely am proud to vote NO ON PROP 8!! I am proud to support everyone, whether you are a total square, flaming homo, green, purple, whatever… people need to be with the ones they love.
I also just want to point out one thing that many people don’t think about in regards to prop 8 and gay marriage. If you are a parent, there is a possibility that your child may be gay. So in this case, it’s not about YOU, it’s about them. Children learn from a very young age what they believe is right and wrong because they don’t know any better. If your child is constantly fed with “gay is bad”, “gay is wrong” or “it’s not something kids should know about yet” then it makes the act of coming out even harder and more emotionally challenging down the road, should they in fact be gay. Many young people are completely traumatized by the idea of coming out, dealing with their emotions and not living up to expectations, which can be devastating and disappointing if you’re in an environment that is unsupportive. So if your pill is that it shouldn’t be taught in schools, it really should be. San Francisco really is a diamond in the rough, and I’m glad I’m not completely jaded by the city’s social diversity, because I know in this country it can be few and far between.
I bet if everyone took a few seconds to think about their own lives, they could easily name a number of lgbt friends or even family - so please just think of them when you are getting ready to vote - because it’s their livelihood and futures that you will gravely affect if you vote YES. Who are we to judge other people anyway, especially if it is over something that is completely harmless and a basic human right… just my two cents.
Nov 4th, 2008 by Kira
Woo hoo another dog halloween party! I got to shoot for Rocket Dog Rescue at Bella & Daisy’s Halloween Party in the Marina on Fri night. It was really fun and a ton of people showed up! Here are some of my favorite shots. :-) If you would like to see the entire gallery, please CLICK HERE.
Last but not least, meet Hot-cakes a beautiful blue bully/bassett hound mix. She needs a home and is up for adoption. I met Hot-cakes in person and I can tell you that she is a very nice, quiet dog. She has very cute short stumpy legs and her fur is a nice pale shade of blue gray. You can find out more about her on the Rocket Dog site by clicking here. Good luck Hot-cakes!
Nov 4th, 2008 by Kira
Last week was a really busy Halloween week! I shot 3 parties, the second of which was the SPCA’s Howl’oween Yappy Hour at Dragonbar SF in North Beach. It was so much fun and twice as many people as the last Yappy Hour dropped by to hang out with their howl’oween pooches. Here’s some of the photos! Congrats to Rex and Amy, the two winners of the pet photo session - can’t wait to shoot you guys! If you would like to view the entire gallery, please CLICK HERE.
This is Wawa above and below… sorry I had to post both images because she is so cute!!
Nov 3rd, 2008 by Kira
Last Wed I shot the Zipcar Halloween Party at MR in downtown SF. It was AWESOME and there were TONS of people and cool costumes (and a chocolate fountain, same chocolate found guy from the Enbrel event last week, hehe).
Costumes included but were not limited to: hats, wigs, hawaiian, food, mop, muni pass, sarah palin, tina fey as sarah palin, care bear, knight, pirate, marlboro man, etc… The party was really fun - ran into some people I knew AND I had a complete friendship reunion with an old friend from a few years ago who resurfaced, wooot!
For those of you who attended, the pics weren’t supposed to be ready until Nov 12, but I got them done early, and you can view them by CLICKING HERE. The password is “boo”. Here are some pics:
And lastly, your fabulous San Francisco Zipcar crew:
