DZP VISUALS Blog

This weekend I was the videographer for the amazing wedding of Mike Kim and Camilla Ghedini in Los Angeles. These are a few video stills taken from the footage. I’ll be sure to post the edited highlights video once completed.
The wedding was sure to be amazing considering the bride is the owner and head wedding planner of Element Weddings. The day started off with the bridal party and groomsmen getting ready at the luxurious Millennium Biltmore Hotel and was followed by a gorgeous ceremony at the First Congregational Church and the reception in the penthouse of the swank Pacific Electric Lofts on Main Street. The church is an incredible, classic structure in the heart of the city, while the lofts made for a great party location with high ceilings and great views of downtown. There was also a traditional Korean ceremony held following the main one. The wedding was perfectly organized by Camilla’s team of assistants and was beautiful from start to finish. I really enjoyed being a part of it.

My latest wedding album arrived in the mail last week and has since been sent off to Kellie and Jun. The book is made by Asuka Book and is a beautiful coffee-table style, hard-bound art book. Very pleased! Following the jump there are more sample photos of my last two albums, both by Asuka. I’ll soon be producing a new studio sample made by Couture Book, which makes beautiful, hand-bound albums in a variety of styles. If all goes well with them I’ll be including their books as an option in addition to Asuka.

More Photos

Think of it as a belated Valentine’s Day present from me to you! For the rest of February I’m offering one free engagement portrait session anywhere in Los Angeles. No strings attached! The first couple to take me up on this offer gets it!

Details:
The lucky couple and I will decide on a time and location and will shoot for two hours. I’m willing to go anywhere in Los Angeles, whether it’s Venice Beach or the Disney Concert Hall, as long as it’s in LA. Following the shoot, the couple will be able to review an online gallery of proofs and will then receive their top 5 favorites, touched up and color corrected, via email or ftp. Prints are not included, but may be ordered through me.

Please contact me if you are interested! If not, please pass this along to anyone you think might be.

I’m introducing a new category on the DZPVisuals blog called Tips!, which I hope all my clients will find helpful. I hope to make regular weekly postings featuring links to great sources of advice for both wedding and headshot clients.

My first post features a book called “Groomology,” which you can check out on Amazon.com. After reading some wedding message boards I found out that there’s a significant gap of information for grooms out there when it comes to how to prepare for the big day. This was the one resource people did mention however.

The Amazon synopsis says:
“Grooms Will Learn The Best Strategies For A Happy Bride, Including:

• Being Sensitive To the Bride’s Needs and Worries
• Taking Over Tasks the Bride Doesn’t Want
• Understanding How Much Work Goes Into It All
• Reducing Her Stress
• Giving an Opinion
• Letting Go of an Opinion
• Being Creative
• The One Thing He Needs to Do
• The Benefit of Venting
• When Doing More Is Less”

If you have any more advice for grooms please feel free to post it in comments!

I recently took out an ad in a new magazine called SoCal Scene, which should be in bookstores and coffee shops all around Los Angeles next week. I don’t tend do a lot of paid advertising, but from time to time I give new things a shot just to try to reach a different set of clients. Paid advertising is really a gamble in this business. Some things work very well and others not at all. Or so I’ve found. In the past I have also used wedding portals such as the Knot and Gathering Guide, but have taken a break from those two venues as of late. They’re a great way to get in front of brides, but they are also very crowded, and in the case of the former, expensive!

Right now I am also running an ad with the Fairmont Miramar hotel in Santa Monica. The venue is gorgeous and is right across from the beach, so I thought it would be a worthwhile investment to work them. Plus they’re only minutes from my home! I also recently joined the Wedding Photojournalist Association, which specializes in wedding photographers who use a documentary approach for the majority of their work. With my wedding photography I really try to focus on the real moments of the day and, with the exception of portraits, never set things up. I also don’t tend to use a lot of gimmicky post-processing techniques to make my images look faded or cracked, as if they were taken 30 years ago. So I’m happy to be in similar company with the members of that association.

Really, the best advertising in this business is word of mouth. A happy couple tend to show your work to their friends, who sometimes become future clients. That’s why I work my butt off at every single wedding. Well, that and because I really love what I do!

I had a great time shooting the opening of Alexys Schwartz Projects: Project 1 this past weekend in Culver City’s Art District. It’s always fun to shoot these types of events and this one was made even better as I had a friend exhibiting in the show. One of the things I enjoy doing at art openings is shooting people as they interact with and experience the art. This can be especially interesting when the exhibit features sculpture as it forces people to move around the pieces in a more animated fashion. This show had a lot of excellent work and there was a really good turnout, so it was a fun night for all. Be sure to check out more photos after the jump!

More Photos

I recently had the opportunity to shoot some new headshots for one of my favorite clients Tiffany Elle. After moving to Los Angeles she was one of my first headshot clients and I always enjoy seeing her when she needs new shots. Tiffany has a great personality and knows how to convey it when she’s in front of a camera, making my job easy! The first time we shot we did mostly exterior locations in the Mother’s Beach area of Marina del Rey. I like that beach because it’s usually not crowded. Plus, at the time, it was right across the street from my apartment. Now that I’m in Venice I prefer to stay in the neighborhood, but occasionally do head back to Marina. Venice has an endless variety of locations to choose from, whether we want something on the beach, in a park, or in a gritty alleyway. And all are within walking distance from my front door, which makes it very easy to take a break or do a wardrobe change. This shot is one of my favorites from her most recent shoot. It’s almost too tight to tell, but it was shot just off the street that runs behind my building.

I just reformatted my blog with a new template that’s great for featuring large photos. So I thought I’d start out with a reposting of Kellie and Jun’s wedding and add some additional photos to boot. The wedding was held at the St. Bartholomew Church in Long Beach and the reception was held at the Turnip Rose at Grand Newport Plaza, in Costa Mesa. Both were beautiful venues and I especially liked the lighting on the dance floor at the Turnip Rose, where I shot this first image as the couple enjoyed their last dance of the night. There are several more images after the jump!

More Photos

I’ve been doing an increasing number of corporate headshots lately. This is of a local business executive who owns a nationwide transportation company who said he was in need of an updated shot. If things go as planned I’ll be shooting the rest of the top executives in his business on location when they’re all in Los Angeles for a conference in January. This will give them the benefit of having a uniform look among all their executives’ headshots, which is difficult to pull off since they work in cities across the country.

I recently started offering engagement session photography for couples. This is a favorite from a recent session with Heidi and Seth, who will be married next summer in Michigan. I’ll be traveling out to photograph the wedding as well and am looking forward to it! For this session we decided to travel down to a lovely spot in Laguna Beach where I had recently photographed another wedding. This is a fun moment that came between more traditional poses when the couple reacted to something Heidi’s mother was doing behind me. I’m still not sure what it was though… All that really matters is it made for a unique photo that everyone liked!