On Location: Aloha State

I just came back last night from one of the most beautiful trips I've taken in a looooooong time! I believed my soul purpose was to photograph a long time friend's wedding. She approached me about 6 months ago, asking me to photograph her wedding. That doesn't sound odd until you hear the back story to it. The happy couple of Matt and Rachel is a blessing. I know the bride, Rachel. I took some prerequisite courses with her in Mira Costa like 8 years ago. We just met in this class, I'm not about socializing in class. I'm trying to get by, no time for friends. Hahaa. Rachel was my only friend in the course. She knew I was into photography, but not well versed. She wanted to enter a Roxy surf photo contest. I knew it wouldn't be hard to photograph her, she already has the surfer persona, thin, tan, always coming to class with sandy sandals and a bikini under hear clothes. Cutest thing while she buries her head in her book. She knew where everything was in the book if I had a question. She really helped me out a lot in that course. So we had a couple of outings to Encinitas where she surfed. She really liked the photos, they were fun and unique. They're so old that I can't locate them at the moment. I don't even know where to begin on searching for them. Just trust me, their out there. I remember her telling me, "When I get married, I want you to photograph my wedding." At that time, I just laughed and agreed, It was definitely a kind gesture to say, but nothing serious at that time. Eight years later, she tells me she met the man of her dreams and about to get married. I'm happy for her. She deserves it, she works hard at everything she does. Never half ass anything. Not only am I happy for her, she asked me to personally to photograph her wedding. Of course I'm gonna say yes! She flies me out and covers my lodging. It's not like she put me in some cheap hotel, I stayed in the middle of Waikiki. Everything was in walking distance, no need for a car, one of the most famous beaches literally a block away.

I was here for a job, it was to photograph her wedding. It was a beautiful one too. Location, the couple, bridesmaids/grooms men, family, reception, music, the smiles, so much memories. Check out their same day edit. Propeller USA Videos did a wonderful job on it. Check it out here.

Matthew & Rachel - Same Day Edit - Kapiolani Park from Propeller USA on Vimeo.


Here are a few pictures I took while I was down in Hawaii.

As always, Aloha for stopping by.

On Location: Wedding of the Year

Hash tag this, hash tag that, hash tag, hash tag, hash tag. The only hash tag that mattered was #weddingweekendactivated. If you have Instagram, please check it out. It was a weekend to remember for sure! People come all over the globe from the likes of Australia for this, high profile celebrity coming through. Everyone coming together for this special occasion of my very GREAT friends Aldrich Galimba and Jessica Nix. This moment has been long anticipated event for years.

These are not the official photographs of the wedding. Go visit Talia Studio for those. She has amazing photos. I just happened to bring my camera along for the ride, just like every other time. The only difference about this time, I have a new lens. A lot of my shots have been really tight, close due to my 50mm and 100mm lens, now I have a Canon 20mm f/2.8 lens. Pretty fun lens to have in the bag. Instead of editing my pictures through Lightroom 3, I upgraded to Lightroom 4. So much better than 3. So I played around with some photos, I know they're not perfect but it's the memory behind the photo that I enjoy.

Back to the weekend. It all started with the wedding rehearsal at St. Michael's church. I had work that day, but was lucky enough to leave early to meet up. Easy walk through. Took an hour, and yeah I snapped some pictures. Not too many.

Karl Strauss Brewery in Mira Mesa was the rehearsal dinner with had a bunch of family friends just enjoying ourselves. Then that's where I found out we had a celebrity within our presence. Country singer Zac Brown Band was among us. It's crazy, cause it wasn't the first time I've met the guy. I know him as Jason, the big guy who snores REALLY loud. Cool dude. I guess he's Jess' cousin. Out of all people, Aldrich had to tell me it was Zac Brown of the Zac Brown Band. NO SHIT!!!! Jess doesn't like telling he's a celebrity. She wants him to enjoy his vacation which I'm sure everyone would respect. It was great talking cameras among Jive and Zac Brown Band aka Jason. After hitting up beers after beers, it was time to round up the troops. The future bride and groom split their ways for the night to soon meet up the next day.

The groomsmen and groom stayed at a fresh spot off El Cajon Blvd called La Frette. It was like a condo that was haunted. It seemed old school with a couple flat screens. We just continued the guy's party there. People were starting to pass out. If you want to see pictures and videos of what happened, ask J Pang. Funny stuff. Time to get ready for the big day now!

The actual wedding day is here!! Saturday, October 27th, 2012. #weddingweekendactivated
It's a wedding. Beautiful. If you weren't there, you missed out. Me and Princess, I don't even know if that's her real name. We were secondary sponsors and had the honor to put the cord on the couple during the ceremony. I don't know what it signifies but its pretty important to the Filipino weddings. Weddings...they say "I do" family sheds tears and we're off the the reception.

The reception is where majority of the photos came from. Drunk-ness on my part. I took pictures, people stole my camera and took pictures. It was all fun. Open bar, great music, photo booth by TaliaStudio.com. We rocked the dance floor til midnight where things started to hit reality and no one couldn't party all night. Hahaa. Luckily I crashed at the Shearaton hotel with some other buddies. It's awesome to see so many familiar faces over the weekend. I know its hard to schedule everyone to see each other because of school, work, significant others, or because they live freaking in Texas or Oregon. But I'm glad to see my Oregon friends like Steph and Pete, Francis from Texas, and other the old school Escondido hommies. There are too many stories to tell on this entry. Let's just say we'll be talking about this for a while and it will be an anchor to many laughs and conversations.

I NEED TO PRINT these picture. If there is a certain picture I need to print, leave a comment. Cause honestly, I can't print all 250 photos. I'd like to take the top 50 to frame or add to a photo album. Maybe I should make a Costco hardbound photo book. I certainly have enough photos. I can't wait to see Talia's photos too!!! Leave some love for her at her site. Tell Amelia I said hi....shes too adorable not to hug.

This video is the montage that kinda messed up. I don't want to talk about it....here it is.
 
Al and Jess' Wedding Montage from Ryan Florido on Vimeo.



#weddingweekendactivated from Ryan Florido on Vimeo.

Mr. & Mrs. Paradox

WHAT!? PARADOX is married!? It was kept on the low for the longest time. Who knew this day would come. It did and I couldn't be happier for him as a friend. I was surprised to find out. One day before the official day, he calls me up as I run errands, I was at Stater Bros. (they had a sweet deal on cereal there). He asked me to be the photographer for the event. He wanted it be super simple and small. Of course I said YES to the wedding photos. After the Revolution got off work, we decided to get f'd up! Drinking like we're kings, celebrating Brandon's big day. Next thing we know, people are calling off work, ditching class to attend Paradox's big day. The rest is just history. Here are a few pictures from the special day.

Paradox's Wedding