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Ashley and Todd are engaged!

daveshilling — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 19:08:56 +0000

Ashley and Todd are a super fun couple, and I hope I did an adequate job of representing their chemistry and fun-loving personalities in their engagement session photos! One thing I love about them is that they made me feel comfortable shooting any idea that popped into my head, and they were stoked on the fun and unusual photos.. pretty much my ideal situation. Kind of funny that usually it’s my job to make my clients confortable, but I think they did that for me more than I for them. Thanks for jumping, goofing around, being in love, and being you!

WARNING: Mom Shot AHEAD!!!

Check out Todd putting the moves on his lady:

Much <3,

Dave

Christine and Jim’s Engagement Session

daveshilling — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 07:43:31 +0000

I met the fun and carefree bride to be Kryssi while attending the Plan Green event at the UC Davis campus. . She helped facilitate the event, and she was one of the first people to come up and talk to me while I was setting up my booth. I was so excited to hear from her soon after about taking wedding photos for her and Jim! She’s the kind of woman who makes people around her smile, and Jim snatched her up! Smart move Jim =) Even though Kryssi works super close the the UC Davis Arboretum, she wanted to get some different textures for her engagement session. We had a great time cruising around Old Sacramento and basking in the warm afternoon sunlight, surrounded by 100 year old brick buildings. Check out some of my favorites from the day!

Love the pockets on this bag!

I just knew that Christine and Jim would be awesome, and they were… thanks for being so patient and fun, and I’ll see you in Tahoe in 31 days!

Much<3,

Dave

Sunshine in Sacramento

daveshilling — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 20:32:01 +0000

I don’t know about you, but my kids were definitely enjoying the nice weather we’ve had recently. Gray skies just make me feel, well, gray. Usually, I get super excited during storms because it means snow has arrived and its time for snowboarding, but it just hasn’t happened this season. So I might as well bask in the sunlight while its still here! We had a fruitful day at the Farmers market… I’m going to try these Japanese yams I scored this week, and Kaitlyn got to head behind the table( next to the register to pick her mandarines… she’s a little charmer! She must’ve gotten like 20 mandarines for $3.00, which is way cheaper than normal. I’m glad I’ve hassled her to say “please” and “thank you” for so long. After some much needed chores around the house, we headed to the park for some playtime. I wanted to write this post so it helps me remember that sometimes there are tons of things to do, but even when you are slammed with to-do lists, you have to stop and enjoy the reasons you work so hard. I hope you were able to get some sunshine with your family and friends this weekend!

Much <3,
Dave

2010 means better choices.

daveshilling — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 07:57:21 +0000

It isn’t every day that I watch something on television that directly impacts the way my day begins and ends.

I watched Food, Inc. after being recommended by Jasmine Star on her Wedding Photography Blog. She mentioned how watching this documentary about where our food comes from shaped her food choices, and after watching it myself, I understood why. I don’t want to list out every awesome point that the movie made, just watch it, but at the end of the day my family and I decided to make a stronger effort to know where our food comes from, support local growers who grow their food naturally, and find a more responsible choice for our meat purchases. Today we headed to a local Farmers Market behind Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights to check out what local growers had to offer during the winter season, and we came home with a bag full of goodies! Everything we ate was delicious and the cost was not prohibitive to doing this every week, so it has instantly become house law. Jenny is headed to the Farmers Market downtown under the freeway to see if they will have any locally raised meats that weren’t corn fed and raised in their own excrement ( seriously, watch this documentary) and I look forward getting pictures on my phone of these delicious treats! For you photo-nerds and the generally curious, here’s a setup shot for the delectable fruit display above:

NERD ALERT!!!!
Two SB-800’s both fired with CLS on manual at 1/80th power. The flash at camera left is snooted with a piece of tin foil, and the flash at camera right is diffused through an extended roll of paper towels help up by a flashlight. D300, 85mm@f8, ISO 200, 1/250th sec

P.S. We all tried the Asian pear on the right for the first time this evening . It was so freakin delicious. We’ll be getting more next time!

Much <3,

Dave

New Years Day in Photos

daveshilling — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 03:08:45 +0000

A rare moment of child-free leisure led us to Midtown for Crepes and coffee, and I didn’t dare be without my camera!

Bellies comfortable but not stuffed, we strolled around midtown for a few and enjoyed the solace of the New Year. Jenny is super patient when I’m shooting random eye-catchers on the street, and she holds stuff for me, models, and points out cool stuff of her own.

Jenny commented on how quiet it was in Midtown today, and I concurred. It was peaceful, strangers seemed to stride optimistically towards their destinations, and birds were dancing around from tree to tree.

Maybe everyone is excited about the possibilities of 2010, and they are starting their year on a peaceful note, setting the tone for the rest of the year.

I picked up a fashion magazine from the UK that is as thick as my thumb, and it spurred photo-shoot ideas which I’m looking forward to embarking on. Anyone want to model? Comments are welcome!

Happy New Years to my friends and blog stalkers!

Much <3,

Dave

Google Wave and Piles of Leaves

daveshilling — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:26:02 +0000

A while ago, I saw a video on Google’s YouTube channel about the new Google Wave application…. It was a long video, but very interesting! In this marathon Youtube video, developers demonstrate how Google Wave revolutionizes the way that people communicate online. Imagine combining email, instant messaging, and Social networking ( Facebook, myspace, etc) all into one program. Thats what Google Wave is! I was pretty excited to see it go live and start using it, but at the time, only Google employees and people cooler than me were given access. Until now. Yesterday I was lucky enough to get an invite to the new Google Wave service that Google is providing, and so far, it looks pretty cool! Right now, its in Beta testing, which is a nerdy way of saying it may have problems and Google wants to public to uncover them through using it frequently.

But we need more users to test out this bad boy! I have a couple of Google Wave invitations to give out, so if you are interested, leave me a comment with your email address and I’ll invite you. Then we can test out some of the cool features… one that I particularly like is the photo sharing abilities =) But its also possible to integrate this into a blog, and comments can be seen live, and immediately replied to! Man, technology is amazing. That first video was way too long to watch, so for a much shorter intro video about google wave, click here!

Since blog posts are always more fun with photos, here are some photos of Fall Family Fun! We raked the yard, and ended up with a big pile of leaves… irresistible to my children and I. If you haven’t jumped in a pile of leaves, or in my case jumped over a child who jumped in a pile of leaves, I encourage you to do so!

See you on a wave!

Much <3, Dave

Firehouse Wedding Photography: Dave and Jenny ( Thats us!)

daveshilling — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 09:08:00 +0000

After only 10 short years of perfecting our relationship, Jenny and I are a happily married couple. And yes, after only two weeks, I can say happily. Jenny and I are like peas and carrots! Our wedding was absolutely gorgeous. We chose to book The Firehouse and their outdoor courtyard for our day, and it was such an obvious choice for us… We didn’t even visit another venue!

The Firehouse

1112 2nd St
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 442-4772

The Firehouse is classy and good-looking, but it was elevated to another stratosphere by our florist, Martha Andrews. Martha is the creative genius and owner of Blooms, a Sacramento Floral Boutique specializing in weddings. Jenny and I felt the awesome-ness of her talent when we walked into the courtyard as she was adding the finishing touches…I just said ..wow. After the sun set on Old Sacramento, the uplighting that our DJ and friend Joe Kalamaras brought helped transform the location from a classy brick patio to a romantic, secluded event fit for a magazine….Here’s some details from my awesome photographer Jessica Moores’ blog:

To see the rest, head over to her blog.

Now that our wedding is completed, and I have gorgeous wedding photos from the Firehouse and Downtown Sacramento to pour over, we can tackle so many other projects that fall by the wayside, like installing our new hot tub, landscaping, and working on my new blog and website!

Much <3,

Dave

Cabo San Lucas Wedding Honeymoon Photos

daveshilling — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:03:00 +0000

Ahhhhh. That’s exactly we felt when the wedding was complete and our toes finally hit the sand in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. We received a week-long stay in a Timeshare as a wedding gift, and it’s turning out to be a sweet gift so far! This is our first vacation as a couple… EVER! We still have lots of relaxing to do, so I’ll leave you with a slideshow of our trip so far, and a wedding post will follow. To see wedding photos asap, head over to Jessicas Blog to view her marvelous work. Thanks Jess! Someday I hope to come back here to photoggraph a Weddin. Sacramento is nice, But a Cabo San Lucas Wedding is nicer=)

Te Amo from Cabo,

Dave and Jenny Shilling =)

DIY Place Card / Table Number Holder

daveshilling — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 07:50:00 +0000

I was looking around for some Table Number holders, and I stumbled on and ad for 12 holders for $30… and i know I’ll never use them again! I figured, if I can make a recyclable holder, and do it for less, then I’m winning on both fronts. Here’s what I came up with:

Ingredients:

2 feet of 10 gauge bare copper wire from my local Department store ( $0.41/ft)
1 small rock that fits in a closed fist for each holder
1 pair of needle-nose pliers
1 pair of wire cutters
1 familiar movie to half-watch while you get creative
1 snack and beverage combo. I prefer Oreo’s and Milk.

Lets get down to biz!

1. Using the wire cutters, cut yourself a 2 foot length of copper wire. This is about as long as your arm if you aren’t excessively long-armed.

2. Use the needle-nose pliers too grab the end of the coper wire, and twirl this around in circles, until you have a small spiral. You can add some tape to the ends of your pliers to prevent marking your soft copper wire.

3. Bend this spiral to that it appears to sit atop the wire if held upright.

4. Grab a ball-point pen or other long slender object, and twirl the wire around this shape to add interest. Other options include adding a zigzag, twirls, etc. this is one of the reasons why we add the length. Whatever you do, add some personality to your project!

5. Grab a larger cylindrical object ( I used a flashlight here ) to help you make a spiral. You may find it easier to do this free-hand, and that’s okay too. You will be destroying the perfect shape anyways.

6. Once you have shaped the bottom, you will start to see the basic shape come to life. Exciting! Now place the rock inside this coil, and adjust the coils so they fit snugly around the rock. This is easier said than done, but the copper is very forgiving, and you can bend and re-bend it many times.
Make sure you save some length with the bottom coil so you can make a base to help your creation stand up independently.

7. Add a nifty Table Number Holder, and you’re all set!!

Total cost for 10 tables:

Copper: $8.10
Rocks: $0-5.00 ( I recommend the find-a-rock option )

Time spent: 1 hour for the first one, 5 minutes for the rest.

Some tips:

You can paint the copper and the rocks to whatever color tickles your fancy!
You can make as many or as few as possible.
You can recycle the copper when finished, and add the rocks ( back ) to your garden.
You can use recycled paper to complete the eco-friendly DIY project! Green Field Paper has paper that has wildflower seeds embedded inside, and if planted, will blossom! What a great way to re-use your wedding material!

Enjoy your new project!

Much <3,

Dave

Monte Verde Inn Wedding Photography:Crystal and Conor

daveshilling — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 07:31:00 +0000

Normally, my Independence Day consisted of street fireworks, swimming, bowls of various chips that eventually become a bunch of crumbles, the smell of sunscreen and sulfur, and kids running around with sparklers. This year, I had a change of pace. I was still celebrating new beginnings, but not the new beginnings of our country. This year, I celebrated the new beginning of married life for Crystal and Conor, and helped Jessica Moores from Stout Photography document their wedding day at the beautiful Monte Verde Inn. I loved their colors, and their details, and they were both an absolute pleasure to shoot and be around! Crystal was nervous about getting her dress dirty, but she got some coaching from her bridesmaid and sister-in-law, Sarah Chen, who is a very talented wedding photographer herself! I had a great time working, so she must’ve had a fabulous time attending a wedding without being “at work”

If you read all of that…thanks! But I know what you really want. You want to see pictures from their Monte Verde Inn Wedding!

Monte Verde Inn

18841 Foresthill Rd
Foresthill, CA 95631-9223
(530) 888-8123

Pictures like this make me recommend Monte Verde Inn to brides who are looking for beautiful wedding photographs… Monte Verde makes it easy. ( it helps to have Crystal standing there looking all gorgeous n fabulous!)

Don’t their colors just POP! I love this scheme, and Crystal told me she searched far and wide for, above all things, the neckties. Good find girl!

High five baby, we just got married!!!

Kelis the wedding coordinator at Monte Verde Inn, and she makes these gorgeous cakes herself…. I heart heart heart this cake!

Crystal and Conor, you two are going to have a fabulous marriage, and I’m so thankful that I witnessed day 1.

Much <3,

Dave