welcome to our new blogsite!

 

those of you that follow us on twitter and / or on facebook know we are in the middle of the busiest part of our year. it’s august madness!

on friday august 20th we did marcella and cameron’s wedding at the palm house in the brooklyn botanic garden (brooklyn, new york) followed the next day by melissa and nathan’s wedding in the ocean view room in point loma (san diego, california) and today we are all hopping in the wagon queen family truckster and taking a mega road trip to whitney and man’s wedding in upstate new york next weekend. we are gonna be east bound and down passing kojaks with kodaks for a few days. the whole ohana has not been together on a cross-country road trip before, so this is going to be epic! it’s going to be a one car cannonball run. our “vacation family” members, noah & patti will be along for the ride to help keep us loopy during our midnight run. of course, we’ll be taking lots of pictures along the way so we can share our fun with you. some of the places we plan to hit are the grand canyon, arches national park, vail, kansas city, chicago, niagara falls, boston, cape cod, philadelphia, gettysburg, washington d.c., memphis, and the carlsbad caverns. that’s the plan anyway. we’ll see how many of those we actually hit once we’re on the road.

in case any of you are wondering, this comic book art scene of us was done by our very own april. it depicts some of our previous adventures, like when patti accidentally threw her own wallet away and she had to go dumpster diving to retrieve it.

the uma thurman reference is from a wedding that april and i shot together near santa barbara and while we were eating dinner with the couple, uma thurman (who happened to be sitting a few tables away) saw the couple in their wedding attire and sent over a congratulatory magnum of chateau de camp for everyone. while we enjoyed a bit of the high life, kim, patti, rain, and noah waited for us outside in the car because we were on our way to yosemite. that wine was good.

the pizza represents the pizza challenge we are going to do between chicago and new york. first stop for authentic new york pizza will be this little hole in the wall place we heard about, sbarros. can’t wait!

rain and noah are just like brother and sister, put them in a confined space and it’s like thunder dome.

april always spills her drinks, which is why she will not be getting a glass of that chateau de camp any time soon.

that’s it for now. catch you on the flip flop. later!

thank you for visiting our wedding photography blog
check out our portfolio.
contact us by phone at 858.663.3283 or email david@ohanaphotographers.com

ohana photographers | ohana photographers blog | hawaii wedding photography | orange county wedding photography | los angeles wedding photography| wedding photographers | hawaii family photographer | orange county family photographer | los angeles family photographer

 

 

friends and family came from as far away as new york, canada, hawaii, south korea, and california to gather together in one house, the casa del prado, to witness saerin and brian’s wedding. like the two of them, it was non-tradional for the most part, with subtle korean tradition mixed in for balance. the ceremony included plenty of san diego sunshine, song, and smiles. it could not have been a more beautiful day.

the day was as any lucky enough to wear the moniker of wedding, a blur of activity. the courtyard marriott in liberty station was where saerin and brian got their first look at each other on their wedding day. it was a classic saerin and brian moment. she walked up behind him and gave him bunny ears, then danced up on him until he couldn’t hold back his smile any longer. after sharing a few minutes together they headed off to balboa park for their wedding ceremony at the casa del prado and reception at the san diego museum of photographic arts a.k.a. mopa. on exhibit at the mopa for all of saerin and brian’s guests to enjoy were unforgettable rock ‘n’ roll photographs. one of our personal favorites was a shot of elvis costello (circa 1977 in holland) by a master photographer that we look to for inspiration, anton corbijn. he is amazing and we could talk about his work for days. but i digress.

from funny faces, to googly eyes, to requests to remove all traces of sweat from their images, saerin and brian’s wedding party had us lol-ing all day long. honestly one of the best groups since janell and r.j.‘s comoedicus cast of characters.

the reception was packed to the rafters with fun. there was singing, dancing, a photo booth, and april’s favorite… a chocolate fountain. saerin made us all a little weepy when she grabbed a microphone with one hand and brian’s hand with the other and sang a beautiful song in korean that she had written for him. the cool part for all of us that don’t habla korean was that she printed out the english translation of the song and put a copy at everyone’s seat. you have an incredible voice btw saerin!

one thing i need to point out is that saerin and brian’s parents were awe and then some. they were out on the dance floor most of the night and i don’t think i ever saw them without a smile on their face. i think they might be the coolest parents evar! if you were their daughter, they would definitely let you borrow the royal car. i have to give saerin’s dad props for coming up with the name angelina cho-lee. he suggested that name should saerin and brian have a daughter some time in the future. pops is pushin hard to the hoop for some grand kids.

saerin and brian, your engagement session in san diego showed us that you were a rad couple, but your wedding earned you ultra-combo bonus points. we had so much fun that we didn’t want the day to end. you two could make debbie downer laugh out loud. we’re so happy to have shared this time in your life. may the rest of your days hold happiness that is equal to, or greater than, the joy you felt on this day.

brian was looking sharper than T2′s finger and saerin was simply stunning. i love her traditional korean hair pin.

saerin’s dress, shoes, bouquet, and jewelry were pretty amazing too.

saerin on her way to get her first wedding day look at brian

here’s proof that i wasn’t kidding when i said saerin looked absolutely stunning. i never lie about the hotness level of our brides. she’s on fi-ah!

classic them

the flower girl was adorable! she chucked all the petals by the time she had taken about 4 steps down the aisle and then refused to go any further.

kim did a great job capturing this moment. saerin couldn’t hold back her tears of joy when she looked into her father’s eyes just before walking down the aisle.

they’re so cute together

here’s brian’s “holla at a playa” pose.

what has two thumbs and is standing between you and cocktail hour? this guy.

here’s that shot by anton corbijn, and some of the other sweet portraits on display at the mopa. if you get a chance you should go check them all out.

the table cards pulled double duty. they not only told you where to sit, they were also cool protector sleeves for the photo booth prints. awesome idea #42!

saerin’s song was so beautiful that if brian would have been on a ship he would have ran aground to get closer to her.

i like steak and i like chocolate, but not together.

saerin and brian didn’t dress in traditional korean wedding attire, but their cake toppers did.

glow bracelets make every party more fun.

leave one for us!

mom was in the mix

i said duke’s upside your head, duke’s upside your head. i still don’t know how he jumped that high.

you know how we do. we shut em down! as the party was ending this couple made a mad dash through the mopa to see the exhibit, pausing only briefly to say “hey, that’s biggie.”

casa del prado… at night

thanks to everyone that helped make saerin and brian’s wedding amazing. here’s some love.

wedding coordinator – divine events by helena

photography – ohana photographers

caterer – the abbey catering & event design

flowers – tessilk flowers

formal wear – mary me bridal & formal wear

harp – magical harps

cake – twiggs bakery and coffeehouse

mahalo everyone!

thank you for visiting our wedding photography blog
check out our portfolio.
contact us by phone at 858.663.3283 or email david@ohanaphotographers.com

ohana photographers | ohana photographers blog | hawaii wedding photography | orange county wedding photography | los angeles wedding photography| wedding photographers | hawaii family photographer | orange county family photographer | los angeles family photographer

 

 

as we prep for the most insane 3 weeks of our year, i want to introduce everyone to another one of our smokin hot couples… before they walk down the aisle. melissa and nate will be saying their i do’s soon. in fact, their sunny san diego wedding is this week!

can you believe they actually tried to tell us they don’t know what to do in front of a camera? get a load of these two. melissa and nate, you both look amazing! it wasn’t me laying in the street that was stopping traffic. it was you two.

we can’t wait for your wedding! see you soon!

new hotness

thank you for visiting our wedding photography blog
check out our portfolio.
contact us by phone at 858.663.3283 or email david@ohanaphotographers.com

ohana photographers | ohana photographers blog | hawaii wedding photography | orange county wedding photography | los angeles wedding photography| wedding photographers | hawaii family photographer | orange county family photographer | los angeles family photographer

 

 

manuel and christina knew back in high school that they would be together forever. they said “i do” shortly after graduation. fast forward through 10 years of sweet married life and here they are, right back in front of their family and friends saying those same two words to each other. nothing’s changed but their chonies. their love is amazing. you can see it whenever they look at each other. it definitely commands more than any pre-written generic vows could have offered, so they wrote their own, and filled them with happy memories of the time they’ve shared together. their stories of dog beach and disneyland brought smiles to our faces.

christina and manuel, thank you so much for inviting us to share in your intimate ceremony. we feel so blessed to have been there. i hope you know that your love inspires everyone that knows you. on a side note, as you look through these images i want you to realize how ridiculously good looking you both are. you two look even more incredible than the last time you were in front of our cameras 3 years ago. seriously, you guys are making me look bad. whatever you’re doing, keep doing it.

may God continue to bless you both, and give you many many more happy years together.

manuel and christina weren’t the only one’s celebrating on the rooftop that day at the andaz hotel in san diego. it was raining men in the pool on the east side of the roof.

have you ever noticed that there’s always that one guy that somehow stands out in a crowd? besides me?

let’s check the score. padres win! petco park went nuts when tony gwynn junior hit an inside the park homerun. now back to our regularly scheduled wedding.

kim got this shot of manuel and christina while i was setting up for another one.

what’s a six letter word for manuel and christina?   fierce.

another kim shot.

look at that, i commented just like kim… three words or less.

straight loungin

dark stairways were made for sexytime.

the ivy ultra lounge is pretty hot, but manuel and christina are hotter.

the view from the roof top ceremony site was choice. i love this city!

this was such a powerful moment. the amount of love and raw emotion during the reading of their vows was overwhelming, for more than just christina. several of the guests couldn’t hold back their tears of joy for this beautiful couple. manuel and christina’s words showed us all that their love is even stronger today than it was when they first said i do to each other 10 years ago.

this is what being married is all about. manuel and christina’s loving support of each other was such a beautiful thing to witness.

why can’t i multi-task like this. stupid boy brain, not wired right.

there it is! that’s what we all came to see. congratulations, again, manuel and christina!

let the rooftop reception begin!

when i used to go clubbin i would ask women, that i wanted to talk to, what they would like to drink.

A LOT of them ordered this. it’s my signature drink.

christina’s red wedding shoes were awesome! me likey bright colors.

manuel and christina had molten chocolate and plenty of goodies to dip in it. april missed out big time. she’s a freak for chocolate fountains.

now this is how you feed each other wedding cake. half the fun is licking it off.

the chant came often, and it came loud… SHOT, SHOT, SHOT, SHOT, SHOT, SHOT!

and when the gold tequila runs out, we tap the silver.

picking the theme for these ring shots was easy.

as the evening came to a close, manuel and his beautiful bride ended their reception the same way they did 10 years before, by dancing in each others arms to kenny g’s wedding song. it was the perfect end to a perfect day.

thank you for visiting our wedding photography blog
check out our portfolio.
contact us by phone at 858.663.3283 or email david@ohanaphotographers.com

ohana photographers | ohana photographers blog | hawaii wedding photography | orange county wedding photography | los angeles wedding photography| wedding photographers | hawaii family photographer | orange county family photographer | los angeles family photographer

 

 

we couldn’t be called ohana photographers if we didn’t love families. looking at our blog lately, you might have noticed we’ve been keeping super busy in between weddings with plenty of family sessions.

this one was just a little bit more than a regulation family session. our new friend fran was putting together a family reunion / fiftieth birthday party for her brother / family photo session in la jolla and needed someone to photograph it all. she turned to her good friends, and ours, the xanthopoulos family, for recommendations. luckily, our name came up, and fran gave us a call. joining me at this epic event were some of our good friends from authentic flavors catering. while they were putting the finishing touches on another awesome meal, i followed the kids around the yard for a little pre-dinner play-a-thon.

i spy with my eye…

summer fun in san diego!

surfer girls are rad

a family that surfs together, stays together

the party didn’t start until blue steel arrived

this next look is not quite blue steel, but i like it. are her eyes the prettiest you’ve ever seen or what?

thank you fran for getting the whole family together and asking me to join you all. i really enjoyed sharing part of your day. you have a beautiful ohana.

a HUGE MAHALO also goes to gaylene for being the bridge that brought us together.

thank you for visiting our wedding photography blog
check out our portfolio.
contact us by phone at 858.663.3283 or email david@ohanaphotographers.com

ohana photographers | ohana photographers blog | hawaii wedding photography | orange county wedding photography | los angeles wedding photography| wedding photographers | hawaii family photographer | orange county family photographer | los angeles family photographer

 

 

the third session from our recent trip to hawaii was for our long tim clients. we are blessed to call them friends, and extended ohana members. they are among the nicest and most genuine people we know. i’m talking about ronnie, giji, jonah, rinnah, and a few new additions, fanci, chulah, and a baby to be named later. that’s right, one our favorite families of all time is about to be and 1. giji and ronnie will soon welcome their third beautiful baby. just hearing that was great news, but we were thrilled when ronnie asked us to do another session with his ohana. we’ve done two others for them, but they were both in san diego. this family portrait session was finally on their home turf, our home away from home, oahu.

in case you’re not getting all the strangely coincidental number three references, there’s the link to get you up to speed.

it’s been a while since the last time we had them in front of our cameras, but they all still look amazing. ronnie’s guns are so big that they are now restricted from all international flights and i wish i could look half as good as giji after having two kids and being prego with another. i’m starting to think she’s related to richard alpert. they did film lost on oahu. coincidence? i think not! jonah is still the funnest kid on the planet. he reminds me a lot of our nephew jake. both of them enjoy running, jumping, spider man, and hamming it up for our cameras. looking through these images, i thought back to the first time we saw rinnah. she was about as big as a boba bubble in a beanie. she’s not much bigger now, but she’s still cuter than a toki doki baby harp seal.

we had a lot of fun on this session, even with the crazy amount of rain. not our rain. hawaii rain. the watery kind.

i hope you enjoy seeing it as much as we loved doing it.

fanci and chulah, ready for action

sure, jonah is getting massive air, but can he do as good of a yoda impression as chulah? look as good you will not.

take a good look chuck norris, you kick like a baby gecko compared to jonah.

ya, they have a swagger wagon. it’s pretty tight.

don’t dis the swagger wagon or chulah gets ruff.

this is one of my favorite shots of jonah. and no, he’s not in vegas.

you guys make me smile.

this is about the time that a cloud drifted over us and dumped all the rain in hawaii on us for about a minute.

jonah is our favorite menehune.

i love all the smiles here, even jonah’s wild eyed one.

how incredible does giji look?

rinnah loves her mommy. this is her impression of a baby koala.

i think giji and rinnah were yelling, “we’re making the cutest picture ever!”

rinnah put us on the other side of the lens, then took a couple shots of her mom and dad. she’s going to be the next best wedding photographer in hawaii.

of course we also took some shots of ronnie and giji while rinnah was shooting. you don’t get to see hotness like this every day. i love seeing couples that love each other this much.

jonah was wearing our sandals. actually, they weren’t ours. they belonged to one of his friends. they had a slippa mix up the last time they were playing. either way, i need to get a pair.

see that rain in the background. ya, that’s the rain that got us.

it was so good seeing you all again ronnie, giji, jonah, and rinnah. can’t wait to meet your new addition! the bigger the ohana, the better. hope to see you all again really soon. catching up with you over dinner at ba-le sandwiches and bakery after the shoot was awesome, but we wish we could have hung out more. next time we are definitely hitting up aloha salads. that place looks so good! until then, stay safe. we love you!

aloha ‘oe.

thank you for visiting our wedding photography blog
check out our portfolio.
contact us by phone at 858.663.3283 or email david@ohanaphotographers.com

ohana photographers | ohana photographers blog | hawaii wedding photography | orange county wedding photography | los angeles wedding photography| wedding photographers | hawaii family photographer | orange county family photographer | los angeles family photographer

 

 

while there are plenty of gems in la jolla, the jewels i’m talking about are monica’s two beautiful children. i had the pleasure of spending a couple hours with her familia and taking photos of her kids playing under the summer sun in san diego. they are too cute for words, so i’ll just share my photos with you.

with eyes like these, i bet she’ll never even know what the word “no” means.

i don’t think he will either.

monica’s little fireman made sure the grass wouldn’t catch on fire during the heat wave that hit san diego. his uncle on the police force in chile already put in a good word for him over at the local fire station. the job is his whenever he wants it.

who needs a pool when your big brother makes the best soak zone on the planet?

my ninja shoes were working pretty good. my camera and i only got sprayed with the hose once.

having fun with grandpa’s tools.

no pictures please

moms and cookies make everything better.

i love the feeling from both of these shots. nothing is more precious than a mom with her baby girl. muy bonita!

look! up in the sky. it’s a… ow! that hurt my eyes.

little fee fees. little toes.

i think he was trying to build the tower of babel, but it kept falling down.

what’s better than your first piece of pizza ever? your second piece.

a huge THANK YOU goes to colleen, our beautiful bride from april of 2010! colleen and monica went to school together back in the day, so when she heard her friend was taking a trip from chile back to la jolla she told her all about us. luckily, monica still contacted us.

i kid. i kid.

muchas gracias monica! it was an absolute pleasure photographing your ohana. maybe next time we can meet in chile for an awesome portrait session south of the equator. it’s been far too long since i’ve been there. have a safe flight home. hope to see you all again soon.

thank you for visiting our wedding photography blog
check out our portfolio.
contact us by phone at 858.663.3283 or email david@ohanaphotographers.com

ohana photographers | ohana photographers blog | hawaii wedding photography | orange county wedding photography | los angeles wedding photography| wedding photographers | hawaii family photographer | orange county family photographer | los angeles family photographer

 

 

as much as i would love to see michael jordan play again, “his airness” is not the jordan i’m talking about. i’m talking about tanasha and pierre’s super cute son. he, and his adventurous parents, got lost with us in the rain forests of oahu to take some unique family portraits.

tanasha and kim’s friendship goes back. how far back? way back. they both toiled for years under icky fluorescent lighting and stale air, on a cube farm. strapped to a phone for 8 plus hours a day, they often daydreamed of a time when they would walk through bamboo forests and lush jungles, free from angry callers and “the man.” amazazazingly, that very day dream became reality. the first time i ever heard about tanasha was when kim came home one day with her “i’m serious” face on, looked me dead in the eyes and said, “i’m working with america’s next top model.” this was the first of many things kim would relay to me about tanasha. above all, kim was super impressed with how tanasha “owned” her height. kim said, “she’s the only tall girl i’ve ever known that wears heels regularly and never slouches.” she rocks every last one of her 76 inches and we love her for it, as does pierre.

speaking of pierre, he’s not too hard on the ojos either. america’s next top model most definitely found her man-twin. hey, i am more than confident in my manliness and when i say that i can appreciate a good lookin dude when i see one, i’m not lying. pierre is the man kim wants her man to smell like. morris chestnut got nothin on my man pierre. just sayin.

getting back to the journey at hand. kimmi really missed tanasha and couldn’t wait to see her again, so we were super stoked when tanasha contacted us and asked us to take photos of her beautiful family in hawaii. the heat, humidity, mud, bugs, wild boars, slippery slopes, and waterfalls we all braved to get these shots was nothing, because we felt like we were there with family.

huge props go out to tanasha for exploring way beyond her comfort zone. she is the bravest princess we know. pierre and jordan also get big ups for leading the charge with me into the great unknown. that army training came in pretty handy.

we felt extremely lucky and humbled at the same time to be in such an amazing location. i hope you enjoy the beauty of this place as much as we did.

with parents like his, jordan pretty much has to be the cutest kid on the planet. he’s also super smart. even at his young age, jordan taught me something this day…

i am way less interesting than a piece of bamboo.

every time we looked at this series while editing we smiled. these shots just make us happy (and possibly a little teary eyed). we love couples in love!

get out of the kitchen!

don’t anybody say anything to tanasha, but did you see that foot long centipede eating the slug and the huge cane spider that was as big as my hand (that hopped out of my bag the next day)?

i don’t know what she would have done if she saw those, but things may have gotten dicey.

it’s a battle of the bugs! who will win? only you can decide. vote now!

during our session, rain spotted one of those cane spiders crawling up our friends leg. they all lost their mind and ran, top speed, outta there like they were trying to catch up to the ice cream man.

i may be a grody boy, but i can’t end this post with 2 big scary bugs. so, here’s a grand closing shot of tanasha, pierre, jordan, and probably like a bazillion big scary bugs (hidden in there somewhere). aren’t i just the worst?

thank you tanasha, pierre, and jordan for having us out to do these shots for you. we really enjoyed our time with you and wish we could have seen you again before we left. sad face. kimmi said she already misses you tanasha. we love you guys! come see us in san diego soon, or we’ll just have to come back to hawaii. don’t think we won’t do it. i have hawaiian airlines on speed dial.

thank you for visiting our wedding photography blog
check out our portfolio.
contact us by phone at 858.663.3283 or email david@ohanaphotographers.com

ohana photographers | ohana photographers blog | hawaii wedding photography | orange county wedding photography | los angeles wedding photography | wedding photographers | hawaii family photographer | orange county family photographer | los angeles family photographer

 

 

not that we ever need an excuse to go to hawaii, but when morgan contacted us and asked if we’d be on oahu when she was we got all smiley and pulled up hawaiianair.com with the quickness. the dates all worked out and we were on oahu the same time as morgan and her man mike. we met up near the beautiful evil empire known as the turtle bay resort to catch some shots of them enjoying the awesomeness that is oahu’s north shore. for everyone that goes to oahu and never leaves downtown waikiki, this is just a tiny peek into some of the beauty that you’re missing. morgan and mike can testify. it’s pretty sweet.

let me add to that by saying it’s pretty sweet… just the way it is. without the addition of any more hotels, condos, or malls. (hint hint greedy developers.) we saw a hand made sign while driving on the north shore that pretty much sums up our feelings about it.

“nuff hotels already!”

if you want to “keep the country country” so future generations can enjoy at least a little bit of unspoiled oahu, please contact the defend oahu coalition and ask what you can do to help. and that’s all i’m gonna say about that.

getting back to our lovely couple, morgan and mike had us smiling behind our lenses throughout our session with them. morgan is not only beautiful, she’s also a talented photographer. if you have a minute or two, surf over to her site and say hey.

thank you so much mike and morgan for asking us to do your portraits, and for bending to our will a little.

moms, dads, and grandparents should put a picture of mike and morgan in your head right now from when they were 7, then just go ahead and skip this next sentence.

mike and morgan, maybe next time we’ll get you to ditch the shirt mike, then have you both roll around in the waves and steam up the ocean like the lava hitting the water over on the big island.

welcome back parents of all ages. you didn’t miss anything important. we were just discussing how we couldn’t believe that a gallon of milk cost $7 in hawaii, and a gallon of gas cost $3.25. good thing cars don’t run on milk.

ok, i’ve rambled long enough. let’s get on with the morgan and mike show.

i love these shots.

morgan wasn’t lost at the lost tree. we knew exactly where she was.

mike had us all rolling. i think this series had something to do with how he became the beautiful butterfly that he is today.

here’s my favorite shot of the day. thank you trade winds.

this is what a wave looks like without 50 surfers on it. take note southern california.