Back and Inspired from Photographer's Conference in Vegas!

    Ariel and I have returned from a wonderful trip back from Las Vegas after going to the Wedding and Portrait Photographers International (WPPI) convention held at the MGM Grand.  It was awesome to share tips with other professionals and make connections with new vendors.  It was a photo geek's paradise.  I came home with about 14 rolls of 35mm and 120mm film from Kodak - and can't wait to take some pictures.

     We just had to capture the glitz and excitement of the city with our cameras.  Above is a photo of a beautiful woman dressed in a white wedding gown that we ran into near the Bellagio.  Her sporty white jacket softened with white fur lining, paired with her sexy above-the-knee white skirt, is sooooo appropriate for Las Vegas!
   

    We stayed at The Orleans to enjoy the Mardi Gras celebrations on Tuesday, but of course at this casino every day is Mardi Gras.

   Here is a photo capturing the angles and geometry of Las Vegas by day, with a building designed by Roberto Baciochi that housed several stores including Prada, jutting into the sky on the right.  An airplane slices the sky and a helicopter hovers below, adding a sense of movement and dynamism to the photo.

    It's almost been a year since we stopped in Paris on our honeymoon.  *Sigh*

    Ariel fixes her hair in the window at our hotel, which overlooked the Las Vegas casinos.  The feel of Las Vegas nights are captured in the lights - whether the bright marquee signs of the casinos or the flashing slots inside them - I love how this photo captures that night spirit.

    We're excited to be back home, and with more frequent access to a computer again, shall get back to our regular blogging schedule!  Ahhh... we have so many ideas to try out from WPPI, having met other wonderful artists, and can't wait to try different techniques for painting with light and capturing the beautiful spirit of the people we meet.

SF ✈ LAS VEGAS

  Bowerbird Photography is heading to Las Vegas this week for WPPI 2012!! We're super excited to take some classes, meet fellow photographers and scout out the best buffet in town.

SF Family Photography - Baby Eli

   Photographs of baby Eli, taken in Noe Valley on another gorgeous February day in SF.

6 Creative Wedding Cake Ideas

  1. This wedding cake was topped with bright, colorful flowers that matched the bride's bouquet.

  2. These hip green tea cupcakes are easy to serve but come in a unique and delicious flavor. 

  3. Give a wedding cake a romantic and vintage feel by wrapping it in delicate white roses.

4. Vegan chocolate raspberry bites with a Day of the Dead wedding topper.

 5. Try wrapping your cake in ribbon to match your wedding colors.

6. Cake pops! Easy to make and you can add whatever kind of toppings you desire.

Bowerbird Photography + Culture Kitchen

  Bowerbird Photography is super excited to be working with Culture Kitchen, a company working to "spread culture through cooking." This is a nice addition to all our wedding photography shoots, throwing a little spice and flavor into the mix. For our first shoot, we went to Mountain View to photograph the prep-class by chef Lihn and watch her whip up an amazing Vietnamese meal. All the food was so colorful and fresh, and after a busy day in the kitchen, we got to sit down together and devour it all! We love working with an organization that is working to spead cultural awareness and appreciation. Next up -- on Friday we're going to be taking photos of an Indian New Years feast! Nom nom nom!!

Portraits of Friends on Mt. Tamalpais

    Cupcakes are old news.  The future has beamed in CAKE POPS!  Brides and husbands have been among the first to join in the hub-bub; these treats have exploded at hip weddings across the nation.  I don't think we'll see the end of this fad any time soon.  In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to hear the most snooty Michelin-star chef exclaim, "Put a stick on it!"   So, Ariel and I went with the flow, and allowed ourselves to get swept up in this trendy new wave of playful confections, doling them out on a hike last weekend for my birthday.  They present a super convenient solution to the dilemma of how to make cake last for multiple parties (Attempts to repair a half demolished cake with icing for another party have proven disastrous.  Yes, I've seen it happen!).  In fact, their utility trumps their convenience: you can wield them, like we did here, in a sweet-sabered Muskateer salute!  

    While I enjoyed my birthday on Thursday in Point Reyes with Ariel and her parents, my father-in-law held me hostage with his husky, broken-record impression of Marilyn Monroe's performance of "Happy Birthday, Mr. President."  (Truth be told, a part of me did appreciate his enthusiastic and surreal baritone delivery.)  On Saturday, Ariel and I escaped with friends to the serene summit of Mt. Tamalpais for a peripatetic stroll through a wide palette of pale greens, as seen through the rice paper fog that provided a soothing filter for the day.  We took our old, combat-ready Rebel camera for some nature photographs and quasi-candid portraits of our friends.

    "Hi-Ho!  Hi-Ho..."

Tule Elk at Point Reyes + a Birthday Hike

  We took a beautiful hike at Point Reyes on the tule elk preserve, to celebrate Sam's birthday. It was so warm for a February day and it was really exciting to see so many majestic elk at sunset.  You'd think we'd put down our cameras for a day, after a packed week of photography and photojournalism assignments in San Francisco, but we couldn't resist taking these shots, surrounded as we were by all the lovely joys of nature.