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One More Tribute {Personal}

Jesse — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 06:02:06 +0000

I have been extremely bad about blogging lately and I know it. But life happens and honestly when I am too busy in “real” life to spend more time at my computer I am usually a happier person anyway.

Okay, enough with the excuses. Long time blog readers may remember a shoot I did last year after my Grandmother passed away. Basically very shortly after Audrey passed Mere and I decided to play “dress-up” and did a little photoshoot in Audrey’s clothes.

Well, now that my Grandpa Les is gone we decided to do the same thing. “Dressing up” in your Grandpa’s clothes isn’t quite as fun as dressing up in Grandma’s, but acting a little bit grumpy was pretty fun. I should clarify that my Grandpa wasn’t always grumpy, but in the last year of life he got old, fast, and he wasn’t thrilled about it. Can’t say I blame him.

If I am in a photo it means Kevin took it, and it’s possible he took some of the other ones too.

Emily :: Senior Portraits

Jesse — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:43:07 +0000

I had a great time photographing my second cousin Emily while I was back in California last week. She picked the PERFECT location for the shoot at – the lovely Gibson Ranch in Sacramento - and the weather couldn’t have cooperated more. She brought along her rather large horse, Splash, and as someone who hasn’t spent a ton of time around horses it still amazes me that a young woman like Emily can control a horse that big, so well. But Emily has spent her entire life on horses, so really I shouldn’t be that surprised. I am also excited to see where life in the next few years will take Emily, as next fall she will be off to college – she is still waiting to hear from a few schools, but she will be heading somewhere outside that State of California; that much is certain. All the best Emily!

For any other Sacrementans interested in portraits, Senior or otherwise, I will be back in town the week before Christmas and a few dates this summer.

Thankful for Family

Jesse — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 03:19:06 +0000

I returned to Canada today after 5 days in California, and I really feel like I hit the ground running today. I arrived home to immediately turn around and head out for a meeting, stopped by the grocery store to restock the fridge on the way home, unloaded groceries and immediately took Charlie for a walk to the bank, came home again, had a Skype meeting with a potential bride and groom and then crashed out on the couch for an hour to catch up on some Family Guy. But before today is over and the Thanksgiving weekend is officially over I wanted to say a few words about my family.

I had maybe one of the best Thanksgivings ever this year. I spent the first part of the weekend hanging out with my mom’s side of the family. This was the first time we were all together since my Grandpa passed away, and we had a good time remembering Grandpa and enjoying each other’s company. After dinner on Thursday we went into his room and started looking at some of the stuff he left behind. To our delight (sort of) we discovered that he had kept around 15 pairs of his glasses, all neatly labeled with either “fair,” “good,” or “poor” and the year. I thought it would be fun for all the Ayers progeny to put them on and make grumpy grandpa faces. So we did:

You may recognize one set of these glasses from the photo in this post, as well as the inspiration for grumpy faces.

The second half of the weekend was spent with my dad’s side of the family and I promise there are photos from there too, but right now there is dinner to be made. It was really great to see my cousins on my dad’s side of the family and I am even more excited to meet my first niece or nephew some time next year!

I have a lot to be thankful for in my life, but I want to say to my whole family that I love you all and it was amazing spending so much great time with you all this weekend. People are the best part of my life and I am eternally grateful that my family is the perfect combo of crazy and love.

Big hugs!

And Happy Monday.

Emily and Splash Sneak Peek

Jesse — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 01:15:59 +0000

Yesterday I had the pleasure of doing some Senior Portraits of my cousin Emily, here in California. This is just a sneak peek, and I must say this is the first time I have photographed a horse! And it was great! More coming soon.

P.S. For all you Canadians reading this, Senior Portraits are not in fact pictures of grandparent’s, but are photos taken during the Senior year of high school (grade 12).

Peaches and the Beach

Jesse — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 19:51:31 +0000

This post is so long overdue and before I sit down to Canadian Thanksgiving and start the season of pumpkin pie and squash I would like to say goodbye to peaches, sunny beaches and summer. Cause summer is over!

While I was in Sacramento over the summer I spent a Saturday morning with my my grandmother Grandruth. We went to the farmer’s market, the peach farm, I helped her hang some art and we had lunch together. It really was a perfect morning. While we were at Tomich Peach Farm, I took a few photos while I listened to my grandmother and the farm owner talk about peaches in a way I never even knew existed. They weighed the pros and cons of three different varietals, talked about the lug of the peaches (I am still not sure what that means) and then discussed in detail when the peaches would be best to eat. After about 10 minutes we finally had a box of the most beautiful peaches and I enjoyed them immensely for the next few days I was in town.

After a few days in Sacramento I headed down to Santa Cruz to see my mom’s side of the family and since my Mom lives in Santa Cruz, I had to go to to the beach. I actually went a few times, including two trips to the Boardwalk. At this point Kevin had joined up with me on the trip, and I think the following photos sum up the difference to how Kevin and I approach outings to the beach.

This is Kevin’s idea of fun:

I still do not understand how he can submerge himself in cold water and love it so much. So much as my little toe gets wet and I swear I have hypothermia.

This is my idea of appropriate beach behavoir (and yes I am wearing a long sleeve shirt, cause Santa Cruz just isn’t that hot):

Can you tell I am my mother’s daughter?

At least we both have a good time and are enjoying life in our own ways.

Farewell summer! This year was a great one and now I am looking forward to pumpkin pie and hearty veggies!

A Study of Half Dome {Personal}

Jesse — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 18:27:24 +0000

While we were in California, Kevin and I took a break from weddings to visit Yosemite. I’ve been to Yosemite numerous times, including celebrating my fourth (or was it my fifth?) birthday at the Awanee Hotel, but Kevin and I have only been there together once, and it was only for a few hours. So, we were looking forward to spending the night on the valley floor and our goal was to climb Half Dome. I think this was the fifth time I’ve climbed the rock, but Kevin had never been and I am glad to say we both survived (which is saying a lot because seventeen people have died in Yosemite this year- a record, btw). Between my bum knee, which held up great, Kevin’s tiny fear of heights (I never knew this), and not having quite enough water it was a long day, but we were both happy we did it. If you’ve never been to the top of Half Dome I recommend you make the trek. And trust me you can do it! There was a gaggle of 10 year old boys at the top giving their dad’s a hard time, so if they can do it, so can you. Just take a lot of water and know that it could take all day.

Okay, enough writing. Here is my study of Half Dome, as seen from all sides.

Anita and Wayne, Part II {Hillsborough Racquet Club Wedding}

Jesse — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 16:44:09 +0000

As I said yesterday the Waynita wedding was particularly special to me. I am so happy to Anita and Wayne and it is no surprise that I had great time rocking out at their reception. One of the guests even told me I had some serious moves on the dance floor, but I am going to chock that up to the open bar, which allowed me to lower my inhibitions and could possibly have affected the guests perception of my dancing, because I am pretty sure I look like Elaine from Seinfeld when I try to dance. Great dancers and those just flailing their limbs alike all had a great time.

For all the guests at the wedding please check back in the next couple of weeks for a link to the full gallery.

If you know the man (feet really) in this photo you will understand the importance of this photo. It’s pretty impressive. Why take a cab when you can take a white limo?

Vendors: Venue : Hillsborough Racquet Club // Day of Coordinator Elizabeth Clayton, Principal at Lowe House Creative // Anita’s dress by Augusta Jones // Anita’s shoes by Badgley Mischka // Hair by Trio // Makeup by Katie Feo Kelly // Wayne’s Suit by J.Crew // Bow Ties from Sam Malouf in Burlingame // Wayne’s shoes by Hugo Boss // Primary Caterer: Picante Catering, also served was Sneaky’s BBQ // Flowers by Clementine // Ice Cream (in lieu of a cake) by Rick’s Ice Cream // Photobooth by The Magnolia Photo Booth // Cellist: Beth Welch Snelling // Yellow schoolbus by Michael’s Transportation

Anita and Wayne {Bay Area Wedding} Part I

Jesse — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 21:03:13 +0000

Okay, Anita and Wayne’s Wedinng, or Waynita’s Wedding, was just too much fun to pack into one post, so check back tomorrow for the rest. I’ve known Anita for close to 10 years now and my husband even admitted to me that he had a small crush on Anita before we started going out (all three of us were on the crew team at Cal together). Anita met Wayne while Anita and I were room mates, so it should be clear that this was a very important wedding to me. It was a joy and a deep honor to photograph Anita’s wedding and while I don’t consider myself an overly emotional person, I did cry, just a tiny bit, while they exchanged their vows. I wish you two all the best and know that you will always have laughter in your life. Anita you are a WINNING bride! Anita and Wayne got married just south of San Francisco in the cute little town of Hillsborough.

Guests from the wedding can view all of the photos here. And Part Two of the wedding is here.

I would also like to tell anyone getting married in the Bay Area that you should have already hired Elizabeth from Lowe House Creative to be your day of co-ordinator. Elizabeth (and her clip board) did an amazing job making sure everyone was were they were supposed to be, when they were supposed to be there and put together one of the best laid out rooms I’ve seen. This woman knows how to throw a party people!

Also, huge thanks to my amazing husband, who is not only a great Chiropractor, but knows how to compose a well thought out photo.

Waynita – One Shot (Bay Area Wedding Photography)

Jesse — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 18:16:25 +0000

I would have liked to have a full blog post up today to share with you all, but my car has barfed up what seems like half of the things I own onto my living room and bedroom floor and they need to be addressed before I can continue editing (coming home from a trip is soooo stressful). So, I just have one shot to share today from Anita and Wayne’s AMAZEBALLS wedding. I will have a full post to share as soon as I find my floor and get some food in the house.

Megan and Vishal {San Francisco – Presidio Wedding}

Jesse — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 01:37:01 +0000

Wow, combine some of my favorite people, places and emotions and you have Megan and Vishal’s awesome wedding at the Presidio Golf Course. California, check. San Francisco, check. An amazing couple (who watched ANTM to help them learn how to pose like supermodels), check. A great venue with an awesome coordinator, check. My best friend as one of the wedding guests, check. My husband as my second shooter, check and HUGE thank you to Kevin! Fog, ok, not so much check, but it did make for great even lighting. Thank you Megan and Vishal for inviting me to be a part of your day. My first California wedding was a huge success in large part because of you two. All the best in your love and life together!

If you were a guest at Megan and Vishal’s wedding, you can check out their gallery here.

Vendors: Ceremony and Reception at the Presidio Golf Course Club. Michele Mattson is the coordinator there and she did the best job! // Dress by Pronvias // Hair by Tina Kwok at Acabello // Makeup by Dalia Munoz at Belli Capelli// Cake by The Cakemaker and more than one person thought those flowers were real, but they made them all! // Flowers from San Francisco Flower Market, arranged by Megan and her friend //