Halloween Birthdays!!

Well today is both my Mother and Fathers Birthdays. Yeah...can you believe it? Kind of rare. What I can't believe is that my father is now a young 60 years old today with my mother following in many years behind. (Almost 9 years of marrige has taught me not to make a woman's age publicly known without permission. I got your back mom!)

This portrait was taken on a brisk, yet beautiful sunny afternoon along the banks of the Napa river on the far North East side of the City of Napa, CA. It's about 2 years old but has always been an all time favorite of mine. Never in my life time have I ever seen the love my mother has for my father expressed so deeply in a photograph. After approx 29 years of marrige the love still remains strong.

Happy Birthday Larry and Amie Hamilton.
Love,
Your Proud Son.

Erika & Henry

This past Saturday we were blessed to be able to capture Erika and Henry's wedding story. What fun was this!!! They ended up having 8 custom Low riders to transport their Bridal party from the ceremony to the reception. These cars were just plain awesome. Never did a wedding like this before.!!



<----My Julie (my wife) captured this beautiful moment at the reception. Isn't she good. I'm am so proud of how much her eye has improved. A couple of the bridesmaids taking a stroll past the Low Riders just before the ceremony














This is the wonderful Bride Erika! She
and Henry were so beautiful and so fun to be with.
We so loved the flowers!!

























Here's Erika & Henry with the men!!























This is one of the flower girls getting her makeup put on!
There were three flower girls and just the prettiest little
ones you've ever seen.

















**CLICK HERE TO SEE THE WHOLE SLIDESHOW**
Hope you enjoy and a big THANKS and congrats to Erika and Henry!!
We are proud of the both of you!!

Blessings,
Damion & Julie.

Keeping Sharp

As most know its always good when you not shooting weddings, portraits, etc, to give yourself little assignments to keep your creativity growing and keep yourself challenged to learn your equipment better and to sharpen your eye when looking for the little things that count.

After a fresh rain about a week ago I decided to head down to the Village in downtown Claremont, Ca. The city was founded in 1887 and incorporated in 1907. A small very pleasant, yet eclectic town center filled with mostly private owned Eatery's, bakery's, Art galleries and boutique's. The people are warm and welcoming and do not hesitate to return your "Good Afternoon" with a joyful "How are you".

I parked my car down the side of Second street and gave myself only one lens to work with, my Canon EF 50mm f/1.4. I choose this lens because it would force me to look at details and to focus on composition since I would have to get fairly close to things. I shot with as minimal depth of field as possible and just strolled the streets trying to capture the essence of this wonderful area. It truly is a challenge to just photograph something you have no idea you're there to photograph. Like a wedding you know what you're there for and who your subjects are. Here I'm looking for them...so it was really like true photojournalism. Very fun!!

Anyway.. HERE IS THE WHOLE SLIDESHOW! Hope it gives you an idea on what to expect when you visit the village in Claremont.
















Oh by the way....the pictures of a car you see belonged to a jewerly store owner who personally spent 15 years restoring it. It is his 1936 Singer (never heard of it) which he purchased in London and brought over here when he moved 20 years ago. Beautiful car, the tires are motorcycle tires, and of course the car had the most unique shocks I'd ever seen!!
Enjoy.

Car Shock absorber....Very Cool!!

It's a...??

We'll on Oct 13th we had our last Ultrasound that was just amazing. Since our last child (over 6 years ago) it amazing to see how much technology has evolved. We had one of those 4D ultrasounds that was pretty darn cool. Unfortunately, our little one's view was blocked by the cord and stuff so the normal ultra sound gave us a better view of the details.

So here is a video Clip that we hope will let you experience the joy we felt when finding out what our little surprise is going to be!! By the way just in case you are wondering, our due date is set for Jan 15th 2007.