Josh + Michele, Santa Ynez, CA

One of the issues that I encounter frequently when I first go to photograph a couple is what I like to call ‘the self-declared unphotogenic groom’. This is why I require my couples to have a complimentary engagement session; to get over the awkward. Josh was such the character who was convinced that he didn’t look good in photos. He was so convinced that the majority of the engagement pictures were on the stiffer side. I have to give him credit, however, because he really loosened up after he realized that it didn’t hurt half as much as he predicted. By the end of the engagement session he admitted that he surprisingly had a lot of fun. We went out for a little dinner afterwards and became good friends.

Michele and Josh are as opposites personality wise as you can get. Michele is a hair stylist and LOVES to talk. She can talk all day long to whoever sits in her chair and then get off of work and talk well into the evening with whoever will listen; mostly Josh. Josh is completely on the strong silent type side. Which makes for good balance because Michele talks and Josh lovingly listens. Going into the wedding I thought I was ready for Michele to be bubbling over and Josh to be a little bit of work. I was wrong. Josh just worked it right out of the gate. He made sure his groomsmen were prepared to do whatever I wanted because ‘Cameron is a cool photographer’.

The whole day was filled with love and laughter. Josh and Michele celebrated in style at the Firestone Vineyard in Santa Ynez. The rockin' Joe LaBarbera spun the tunes and Camilla did a bang up job with the floral decorations and boquets as usual. I couldn’t believe that they have been together since they were like 14 and 15; a little over 10 years! This was truly the wedding of the century for all who knew them.













And to end the night... Michele and I put our best modeling faces on for this self-portrait.

Canvas-ses Rock!

I just want to give a shout out to one of my favorite lesser-known products; the Stretched Canvas Print. For centuries Canvas has been the proudest way to display a work of art. People are constantly amazed when they come into my studio and see prints as big as 40x60 inches on my wall and canvases stretching across a wood frame at 20x30 inches. A common reaction is surprise mixed with amazement. Digital photography has come a long way in the past 10 years and the public is still learning all that it can do. Well, here is a little example of the potential that digital photography has to create works of art. I have a emotional connection with my photography because I see it as art so I get really excited when someone also sees it as art, orders a canvas, and displays it as art on their living room walls for all to see. So, go ahead... order a Canvas or two; make my day!

Oh and a couple rules of thumb when ordering a canvas.
1. Go BIG OR GO HOME!
2. You don’t need a frame. (not sure if that is a rule...maybe more like an option or advantage ;)

Something Sacred store now open!

My friend Jon just launched a flagship store for his company, Something Sacred, which has been selling clothing all over the country and even the world. I love the mixture of business, art and soul that Jon brings to otherwise simple garments. This is a picture of Something Sacred’s founding family; Jon and his wife Lealah and they’re two rough and tumble boys; Jadon and Simeon Broyles. These guys are some of our best friends. I met Lealah in my first Algebra class at Junior College so many years ago. We snickered and made jokes when the teachers back was turned but we didn’t become real friends until Jon began pursuing her. Jon has been somewhat of a mentor and close friend throughout the years. I’ve been honored to watch them get married, grow their family and build a successful clothing business.

They sell to such clothing stores as Antique Orange, Metro Park, Electric Chair and even Urban Outfitters.

Here is their history as stated on the website :
"Something Sacred was established on paper in 1998, however it has always been a dream for founder Jon Broyles. Jon's inherent love of music, clothing, creating and especially people has been the building blocks that have established this company. The earlier Something Sacred was primarily a music label that focused on band development: releasing albums and assisting musicians in getting greater record contracts. The company itself was centered around the music industry as Jon began fostering relationships with musicians, industry people, and the fans.

Clothing and music seem to go hand in hand and soon people were asking for clothing that would represent their affiliation with Something Sacred. A few select t-shirts branding the name were made and soon an entire subculture was born. Something Sacred became an identity brander that crossed cultural divides creating a demographic all its own.

Through the popularity of its clothing, Something Sacred's direction became more evident as the focus became more on creative, thoughtful, art driven design on practical, comfortable clothing. Although it originated as a music label Something Sacred is now considered by many one of the few companies who emphasizes the need for clothing with a meaning rather than fashion forward design. This being one of Something Sacred’s core values the company has aligned itself with a nonprofit organization in attempts to bridge the gap between consumerism and philanthropy.

Something Sacred now umbrellas all of the elements Jon envisioned, with influences from music, an appreciation for creative thought provoking design, deeper messages found in the world's great literature, the giving of resources to people in need, and of course a spirit of love and thankfulness to all the people who make this company what it is, truly SOMETHING SACRED."

So, next time you are coming through San Luis be sure to swing by Something Sacred and pick up some of the hot new designs. 12306 Los Osos Valley Rd.
San Luis Obispo, CA [between the Honda and Toyota dealerships].

I Heart Bakersfield!

Doug and Megan are a beautiful couple with style, lots of love and a great sense of 'cool'. Because they were getting married in the heat of Bakersfield they're wedding didn't start until 7pm. Which meant most of the portraits had to be shot before the wedding. Doug’s father recently purchased an abandoned brewery which he has been cleaning up and getting ready for commercial space. In the meantime it served us as an awesome location for pictures of the family, bridal party and especially the couple. There wasn’t a lot of light in all of the rooms so I had to be creative within the means. It was fun to be stretched by such a different environment!



How did I land a wedding in Bakersfield? Well... Last April I shot Doug’s cousin's wedding. At first I was nervous about photographing in Bakersfield because I am spoiled with the diverse locations here on the Central Coast. While there wasn’t a lot to work with, I pulled off some amazing shots on a pine tree covered hill in between the hotel parking lot and the street. With some backlighting and an angle that cropped out everything manmade the pictures looked like they could have been taken in Yosemite... Well, almost. Needless to say last Friday I was back in Bako enduring the heat and having lots of fun with Doug and Megan’s family and friends.











They definitely know how to make beauty out of the ordinary. All it takes is a little creativity and lots of love. I love it when couples create a logo for their invitations and wedding display. Check out some of their engagement pictures on a recent blog post.

mywedding.com/blog

mywedding.com is a really cool resource for finding top of the heap wedding pros in all of the major big-city locations. In the recent 'Father's Day Blog' they featured one of my photos. This is Adria with her dad cruising down the aisle. I love this picture because of the emotion you can feel between the father and daughter. I also love the leaves above and behind them catching enough light to cover them in a canopy of color. Be sure to check out mywedding.com's blog as it provides many useful tips and articles to help you plan and prepare for your wedding.

Eagle Castle Winery

I was recently commissioned to shoot some ad shots for the brand-new Eagle Castle Winery. It is nestled in the beautiful vineyard country off of HWY 46 West between Cambria and Paso Robles. First of all we photographed Bob and his lovely wife Brenda enjoying a glass of vino in the tasting room as well as on the veranda by the moat. Yes I said MOAT! The owner is so passionate about recreating a European Castle here on the Central Coast he even looked into getting live alligators to fill it. Needless to say, the County didn’t go for it. Ahh well… Our model, Bob, is also the guy who built the Castle. Bob The Builder. Great job Bob! The Castle is amazing!


Camilla Svensson Burns did an amazing job decorating and flowering the reception scenes. It worked out that they were able to use all of the beautifully set tables for the wine festival that weekend. Camilla is so quintessential, a word that I have learned from Camilla. Quintessential: Representing the most perfect or typical example of a quality or class. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Camilla on a number of occasions and I am always impressed with her ability to take flowers and arrange them into art.



We needed some shots of a bride and groom as well as possible reception setups. I asked around for a week or so and couldn’t find any models. Rebekah Pouge, the event’s coordinator, suggested my wife and I dress up in our wedding attire for the shoot. Except…who would shoot pictures of me? Rebekah explained that her husband had a ‘knack’ for photography so he could come along as well and snap anything that I was posing in. So I gave him a pro-photographer crash course and he did a fantastic job! We look hot! Especially Mrs. Ingalls. She was thrilled to dress up again! What a model!








This is Bryan and Rebekah Pouge. Rebekah is doing such a fabulous job getting Eagle Castle ready for weddings! She is not only organized and professional, but also a joy to work with. It won't be long until Eagle Castle is a landmark wedding venue on the Central Coast.

This is the patio on the rooftop. It can accommodate smaller parties or receptions. The view is gorgeous; overlooking the mountains and vineyards of West Paso Robles.

Testimonial

This is a little testimonial that I received from Rico + Rachel just this morning. They are happy... they're cat is happy... I am happy!

Hola Cameron!!!!

I wanted to email you first thing this morning and let you know that we got the pics!!! :-) They are beautiful Cameron!!! Thanks so much!!! Seriously, you did an amazing job. I love the way the package was put together as well, made it even better. :-) Honestly, we couldn't have had a better person shoot our wedding; you and Anna did an amazing job and were a pleasure to work with. If you EVER need anything at all, let us know. May you and Anna be blessed more than you could possibly imagine.

Blessings,
Rachel and Rico

P.S. The pictures I attached are to show you that even our little Benito was in love with the pics (or the box anyways ;-))

Youth With A Mission (YWAM)

A few years back my friends Jeremy and Val Sizemore started a YWAM base here in Pismo Beach. YWAM is basically a community of people from all over the world that come together to reach out to a specific community (Pismo in this case) while training for a bigger mission abroad among the nations. This YWAM in particular has an emphasis on reaching people through the arts. I was asked to teach the photography portion of the training school. So for about 10 weeks starting in January I met with 5 students encouraging their passion and gift for photography. They just returned from their mission the Rwanda this week. They reached out to orphanages and aids victims. They even played soccer against a team of streets kids and got pretty worked. They said the whole village came out to watch thinking they were an American soccer team and just laughed as they slipped and slid in the mud. Here are some of their amazing shots that they got from the trip.









Here are some of the shots that the students took as a result of assignments I sent them on. It is amazing to see unique tendencies and talents through each individual.







Kara Orendorf in particular is a film-only photography. She is crazy about printing on metal and cloth in her darkroom at home in Nashville. Check out her website! I didn't know much about her Rollie camera and so I had to call in a favor from my good friend Michelle Warren who is an amazing medium format and 35mm film photographer. Thanks Michelle for helping out and for taking these cool square pictures!



This is almost all of us: Amy Kusta, Kara Orendorf, Me, Katie Pfruender, Will Barrow and Cindy Robert (not photographed). I’ve had a great time getting to know everybody and feel honored to be considered your friend and kinda your teacher. You are all doing an amazing job using your creativity to reflect our Creator! Keep shooting from the heart. Everyone gets an A++!

Rico + Rachel

Rico and Rachel got married in Rico's father's backyard in beautiful San Marcos, California. My wife and I had the pleasure of spending a Sunday afternoon with them celebrating their marriage. They did such a great job decorating the backyard that it really had a magical romantic feel. Months before they’re wedding Rachel told me about this coral tree that she wanted pictures in front of because it was her favorite. It totally reminded me of a tree straight out of Dr. Seuss and then the next day while hanging out in Carmel we learned that Dr. Seuss is from Carmel. Interesting… In fact Rachel is very 'green' concious. So much so that her party favors were Gladiolas bulbs. We brought a couple home and are still planning on incorporating them into the Ingalls garden here in San Luis.

Well, we are really excited for Rico and Rachel. They have a long life of love and adventure ahead of them.














Here are some shots from their recent engagement session.

Love is... Communication

I talk a lot about weddings. Those joyous once-in-a-lifetime occasions that are chalk full of romance, laughter, and champagne. After all… I am in the business of weddings. But what about after the pictures have been delivered and the married days turn quickly into months and then gradually into years? What about after the wedding day?!

The days after the wedding is when those nice little ‘till death do us part’ vows are tested.

I am amazed at how much time is spent preparing for the wedding day and how much money! But what I am even more amazed by is how little time and money is spent preparing for MARRIAGE! A wedding is one day. Your marriage is to last a lifetime.

I guess that’s why so many marriages end in divorce. I hate that word. I hate that it is such an option in our culture today. Instead of the last resort that it should be, it is treated rather like a ‘get out of jail’ card.

Sure there are so many reasons to get divorced. I believe that every couple will face the idea of giving up in divorce during many points in their marriage. But what is it that leads to divorce?! How do we get from the wedding reception’s ‘happily ever after’ best man toasts to ‘Honey, I want a divorce’?

A breakdown of Love. At some point somewhere someone has stopped fighting to Love.

We humans express everything through language. We communicate ideas, feelings, emotions, hurts, hopes and dreams through our verbal and non-verbal language. Communication is a difficult thing, especially between the male and female races. It’s like completely different languages! Male-speak and female-speak. I really believe that if I want to honor my vows to my wife and stay married I need desperately to learn how to communicate to her my love in love everyday. I’ve only been married for a whole 3 months so I know that I have so much to learn! But I am determined to learn healthy communication from the beginning of our marriage and until death do us part. I don’t see divorce as a fast pass to the selfish desires of ‘me’; but as the enemy of me becoming a husband that loves selflessly.

One thing we did to invest in the coming years of our marriage was pre-marital counseling. I strongly recommend it to everyone planning on taking on the challenge of marriage. Some amazing friends named Pat & Lori were kind enough to spend something like 14 sessions with us to prepare us with the tools and resources to have an amazing marriage for a lifetime. One of the topics was communication. I know that not everybody has the opportunity to go through pre-maritals so I would love to share it with anybody that is planning a wedding or is already married. May these simple guidelines and ancient Proverbs of wisdom give you a head start on learning to communicate with the person you plan on spending the rest of your life with. And may it be an amazing adventure!

These pictures are of Pat & Lori serving us communion during our wedding. They read some verses and prayed over us, blessing our coming marriage. The bible has a lot to say about marriage and especially communication. Even if you don't believe in the bible I'm sure you will be able to learn from the basic truth offered about this topic. I know this is a list that I will need to freshen up on often as I progress through the many years of my marriage.



Communication Guidelines
(stolen from some premarital book that I don’t know the name of)

1. Be a ready listener, and do not answer until the other person has finished talking (Proverbs 18:13; James 1:19).
2. Be slow to speak. Think first. Don’t be hasty in your words. Speak in such a way that the other person can understand and accept what you say (Proverbs 15:23; Proverbs 18:2; Proverbs 29:20).
3. Don’t go to bed angry! Each day, clear the offenses of that day. Speak the truth, but do it in love. Do not exaggerate (Ephesians 4:15, Ephesians 4: 25-26).
4. Do not use silence to frustrate the other person. Explain why you are hesitant to talk at this time (Proverbs 15:28; 16:23).
5. Do not become involved in heated disputes. It is possible to disagree without attacking (Proverbs 14:29; 15:1; 25:15; 29:11).
6. Do not respond in uncontrolled anger. Use a kind response and a soft tone voice (Proverbs 14:29; 15:1; 25:15; 29:11).
7. When you are wrong, admit it, ask for forgiveness and then ask how you can change (Proverbs 12:15; 16:2; 21:2; Matthew 5:23-25).
8. When someone confesses a wrong to you, tell that person you forgive him/her. Be sure it is forgiven and not brought up again to that person, to others or to yourself (Luke 17:3-4; Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 3:13).
9. Avoid nagging (Proverbs 10:19; 21:19; 27:15).
10. Do not blame or criticize the other person. Instead, restore, encourage and edify (Romans 14:13; Galatians 6:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:11).
11. If someone verbally attacks, criticizes or blames you, do not respond in the same manner (Romans 12:17, 21; 1 Peter 2:23; 1 Peter 3:9).
12. Try to understand the other person’s opinions. Make allowances for differences (Ephesians 4:2; 1 Peter 2:23; 1 Peter 3:9).
13. Be concerned about the other person’s interest (Philippians 2:4).
14. Do not gossip (Proverbs 17:9; 18:8; 20:19; 26:22).