Destination Sacramento Wedding Photographer fun alternative

Alex and Drew are Married

daveshilling — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 23:25:38 +0000

When they first met, Alex was working as a cashier at a grocery store in Redding, CA, and Drew was the cute stockboy filling up shelves… Alex caught Drew’s eye and guys, you know how it is when you have to go talk to a girl… thankfully, he stepped up to the plate and stole her heart! They got married on 8/9/10, and it must be a lucky day because they had a lovely wedding, It was under 90 degrees in the middle of the summer, and we got some fun pictures to showcase their wedding day at the Lions Gate Hotel in Sacramento, in the McClellan AFB grounds. We worked hard to give them photos that have never been done at this location, and I’m always stoked when I can give a bride pictures she wont find anywhere else.

Jessica Moores rocked these next two for me…she’s pretty much awesome. I invited her to come shoot anything she wanted, with my only expectation that she try new and different things all day, and she gave Alex some awesome pictures:

Isn’t this the coolest announcement photo? Gotta have the beer in-hand..

Mr. and Mrs. Simonis, thanks for having us at your wedding, Jess and I got to flex our creative muscles!

Much <3,

Dave

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 Roger are Married!

daveshilling — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 23:27:44 +0000

The sun was shining brightly on Christine and Roger as they wed in Monterey, CA at the Monterey Plaza Hotel. The weather was gorgeous, and that was a fortunate gift! Christine was also gorgeous, but I totally expected that. The girls at Oya Inc in Monterey did a fantastic job of accentuating her beauty, and her smile would light up the room every time. Roger and the guys got ready at a separate hotel, and he was looking very dapper himself, although he wouldn’t tell you so. Roger is that rare guy who is modest yet confident, charming but not overbearing, and Christine is his perfect match. Their ceremony on the balcony of the Monterey Plaza Hotel was overlooking the Pacific Ocean, and these two have a special love for water, so it doesn’t get any better that this! As the evening sun cast a golden glow, we headed down to the cliffs where Roger asked Christine to be his wife, and got some meaningful and romantic photos. Jessica and I had such a great time shooting this wedding! Roger and Christine are off to their next adventure in Korea, which is where Roger will be stationed for the next two years. Looking forward to the post cards =)

Roger sent this letter to his bride to be moments before the ceremony… cute!

The Monterey Plaza Hotel’s Patio overlooking the Ocean.. awesomeness!

I love this shot that Jessica took… It was fun having her as my second shooter for this Monterey Wedding!

Thank you so much for including me in a memorable day of your life, and I wish you many more!

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

Bed Head and Breakfast

daveshilling — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 18:16:42 +0000

While I was checking out info online about secluded outdoor wedding spots similar to Coloma Country Inn , I found this awesome spot called Nestldown ( I really want to shoot at Nestldown!). Redwoods and lush greenery… sounds heavenly right? Well during my research I noticed that my son decided to challenge the Man of the house to a bed head contest during breakfast…IT WAS ON!

Winner by unanimous decision ( my daughter was the only voter) :

Indiana!

Looks like you’re the man of the house now, little buddy.

Happy Saturday!

Much <3,

Dave

How to Use Engagement Photos for Invitations

daveshilling — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 09:38:45 +0000

Today the mailman did his usual routine. Walk across my lawn with his mailman boots, track mud on my entryway, and loudy dump the mail into our “antique” mailbox. Thats fancy-talk for old. Anyways, amidst the Costco Connection magazine and random recycleables, I got an invitation to a wedding! I’m already invited to this one though.. it was from Christine and Roger, who are getting married in April in beautiful Monterey, CA. She told me she used some photos from our session for her invitations and I was excited to see how they turned out!!!

Needless to say, these are awesome! The details slide out from the left and reveal all the relevant goodies…and of course I loved seeing my client use their engagement photos in such a creative way! If I get permission, I will post the how-to’s for an invitation like this if anyone wants a similar look. Thanks for sending me this Christine, you guys are the best!

Much <3,

Dave

Green is the New Black

daveshilling — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 08:42:27 +0000

Green is everywhere now, and I couldn’t be happier! And I don’t mean winter grass, I’m talking about the concept of sustainability, especially from businesses. Companies everywhere are turning to more environmentally responsible choices for distribution, communication, and day-to-day operations. Many of the things they do benefit the environment and the business. If you have been to Costco, you see a fine example there. No plastic bags are allowed, only leftover product boxes. And nobody complains! Today on the UC Davis Campus, attended a vendor fair where catering and venue businesses were invited to show off their environmentally friendly menu offerings, and companies were there to demonstrate how their facility is a wise choice for anyone who is an enviro-geek like myself.

And then there was me. I was the only photographer there! I didn’t have duck meatballs in creamy risotto to offer passerby’s, I may not have been the busiest booth, but I felt like I was the most fun… Rather than have a typical trade show booth, I turned my lil space into an instant photo-booth, and people could come over and have their picture taken doing something silly while they were browsing the vendors. Cool right?

So why the heck was I there?? I got a special invite from Lina, the Director of Event Services at UC Davis to attend the trade show and represent for all of us Green photographers out there. Lina and I will be working on a project for UC Davis to help promote weddings on campus. Check out the photography I’ve done at the UC Davis Arboretum to see how gorgeous this place is… I can’t wait to rock out some wedding photography here soon! If you are a bride thinking about getting married here, check out their website for more details, and just know that fabulous pics are guaranteed!

I had a good time meeting new people from different vendors across the valley, and of course the brides-to-be who were there looking for food options, and found wedding photos too =)

Special thank to Lina for inviting me to the Plan Green Trade Show, you and your crew were fun and energetic, and I can tell you love your jobs! Since every post can benefit from a photo or two, here’s a picture of Lina’s crew getting some hangtime!

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

Jackie and Andy are Engaged!

daveshilling — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 08:39:49 +0000

We kept waiting for the perfect day for our photoshoot… and it came.. on a random Tuesday months ago. We missed it, and I swear it’s been raining since then. Well Jackie and Andy said to heck with it, lets make lemonade out of lemons, and do our shoot in the rain! Well not entirely in the rain, but it was rainy=) We walked around Old Sacramento and found some awesome directional lighting to put this fun loving couple into… Even though they’re both two big kids at heart, they turned up the heat a couple of times, and nearly dried me off from the hotness!!

Thanks for being so much fun, walking in uncomfortable shoes on cobblestone streets, trespassing, and for not making fun of me when I got that parking ticket… hey it’s good luck right?

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