Alita + Scott {San Luis Obispo}

Alita and Scott brought their rambunctious puppy along for their engagement shoot. We had lots of fun running around vineyards, playing in San Luis Creek and chasing mailmen. Kidding! I just loved the winter light mixed with leftover fall colors. What a beautiful day and couple!

Morgan + Joel {San Luis Obispo}

Joel is one of my best friends in the whole world! He was actually the Best Man in my wedding and still retains the title even though he lives several states away. This is the guy who challenged me to live my dreams the year that I went into full time photography during a New Years day road trip.

Joel proposed to Morgan just before Christmas in his favorite book store, Tattered Cover, in Denver Colorado. He wrote her a song in which he told her 'I love you' for the first time and played it for her on his iPhone while they were sitting in overstuffed chairs browsing books. After she listened to his song he gave her a gift; an old book. He had cut into the pages to make room for a pocket watch and wrote on the page, 'Now is the time for love'. Deeper in the book was another cut out space with an antique box holding an antique ring. Morgan thought it was some sort of decorative tile and pulled it out surprised to find an engagement ring in there. The rest is history and I am so excited to be there to document it!

At the bottom of this post is a video Cana Video Productions made of their engagement session with Joel's song as the soundtrack. Be sure to experience that!

















Andrew from CanaVP came out and shot a little engagement movie of our evening shoot. Radical!


Engagement: Joel and Morgan from Ben Potter & Drew Barefoot on Vimeo.

Tara + Mitch Featured Wedding {The Knot}

Tara + Mitch’s beautiful San Luis Obispo ranch wedding was recently featured on theknot.com!

A lot about their wedding had a down-home community feel. Like we were living in the old days when the whole town came out to celebrate with a simply sweet hill-side ceremony and a wild barn dance.

To view their complete wedding and engagement session get your clicker-finger ready and click here and here.

Leah + Neal {San Luis Obispo}

Had a stupendous time hanging with Leah and Neal in the backstreets of SLO-town! We talked of food, love, and music. All of which are playing important themes in their 2010 Santa Margarita Ranch wedding. Leah happens to run a food blog, SpicySaltySweet, that you have to check out! Neal is a jazz musician. So you can see why excellent music and food are priorities for their wedding. Oh yeah, and LOVE! They definitely want to remember their beautiful unique chemistry that magically becomes visible after an afternoon spent with me and my camera. ;) Can’t wait to share their wedding details and moments with you. Coming soon (in 2010)!

Steve + Adriana {San Luis Obispo}

This was by far the BIGGEST wedding I have ever attended and/or photographed! They had over 600 guests; it was just crazy-sauce! Throwing this kind of party was no easy task. Adriana had a big vision for her dream wedding and both Steve and their amazing coordinator Patrice delivered.

The wedding was at a Catholic church in Pismo Beach and the reception at the Madonna Inn Expo Center. It was as if Patrice magically transformed the huge warehouse into a ball room fit for a fairy tale! Steve and his crew hung a huge chandelier in the center of the dance floor and there were several lounges set up around the perimeter of the room. Usually when a wedding this big goes down, so does a lot of stress and drama. It’s no easy task planning the party of your lifetime for 600 of your friends and family! I must say that through it all Steve and Adriana kept their love and adoration for each other at the center of all that they did. They were a pleasure to photograph and celebrate with the whole day through!







A shot my assistant got of me. Sometimes I risk my life for photography. ;)




I’m a sucker for mariachi!