Africa day 7: Gotta finish this!

Man, I'm backed up on posting our travels in Africa! For those just coming on board here at the blog, you can check out all my africa posts here ;)

Anyways, today (Tue, May 25th) we left Olifants lodge here at Kruger National Park and headed back toward Skukuza. On our way we stopped at the Letaba lodge to see if we could book a night at Skukuza :)

As we left the Letaba lodge, we saw this adorable little guy!





He's a scops owl and is about the size of my hand (literally). He was amazing!


We had no idea the garden of Eden was in Kruger! So many animals in this little spot :D


It doesn't get much better than baby elephants, does it?


This might be my favorite shot/moment from the whole trip. I mean, how often does one get to see a lion staring down dinner?!


This spot was so flippin' peaceful. I could have stayed here for hours and hours...



At Skukuza, they only had ONE room available. It was the mansion! We had no choice so we grabbed it :) It was probably a 3000 sq. ft. house and here was our view at sunset from our back yard...



One more post and I think there'll be no more Africa :( Oh well, looks like we'll just have to go back, I guess :P
Bobby

Smugness according to South Park.

South Park's Mr. Brovslovski driving a Toyota "Pious" - obviously a knock off of the Prius :P


"What you all need to do is to just learn to drive hybrids and not be smug about it!" Kyle from South park.

If you've followed my blog for a while, you know that I have a genuine love for this planet and it's wildlife (I'm fond of humans, as well :).

Gandhi once said “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians." That's sort of how I feel about hybrid car owners (not all, by any means). It seems like the idea of hybrid cars is awesome - but I see quite a few hybrid owners sort of rubbing it in that they have a hybrid.

Today Garrett saw a hybrid with a personalized license plate - those aren't easy to come by or all that cheap - that said "boo opec." I immediately thought how fun it would be to give that person the South Park episode about hybrid owners :) Then I thought some of you might like it...





This second clip has a bit of foul language in it - so don't watch if that offends you - but I just love the way the South Park guys think!



You can watch the whole episode here (which ends up making it clear that hybrid cars are in fact good - before I get labeled a loony :P). It's one of my all time favorite South Park episodes :)

What do you guys think?

Ask Lindsay #2

So here's another ask Lindsay post :) I love doing these, so let's see what she has to say!

Lindsay in Nadi, Fiji.

1. Bobby knew that he was going to marry you within a couple days of meeting you, when did your heart figure out it felt the same way and what were the top 5 qualities that attracted you to him?

So our friend Josh asked this question - that's how he knows about when Bobby knew he wanted to marry me :) Alright Josh...

First, can I just make an attempt at describing what it's like to be loved the way Bobby loves me? Anyone who has someone committed to them whole-heartedly, from just about day one knows what I experienced. Bobby is the most loyal, die-hard, consisently faithful and caring person to those he loves -- more than anyone I've ever met. And I was the humble recipient of those qualities from the get-go. He puts everything into those he loves, he doesn't know how to hold back, and it's especially true when it comes to being my man. His relentless concern for all-things-Lindsay hasn't let up since those first few days 9 years ago, and what girl doesn't dream of something like that? ;) All that to say it did NOT take long to fall in love with him. We met at the end of September in 2000 and by Thanksgiving of that year I was certain that this hot, skateboarding California boy with THEE best sense of humor was the one for me. I think I pretty much answered both parts of that question in one go, huh?

2. Do you have any tattoos?

Oh, how I wish I could answer this question with a yes. I think of myself as a heavily tattooed girl trapped inside a tattoo-less body. :) Eventually I plan on getting several -- some reflecting my love for Bobby, some about my devotion to God and walking the straight and narrow, and others that I think are just pretty. A lot of people are surprised to hear that I would gladly take on a half-sleeve... gasp!

3. (two similar questions - so they'll go together :) A: Your sense of style seems classy. What magazines do you read, if any, to help you with your fashion decisions? Where do you shop? B: Bobby told me he picks out your clothes...is this true? And if so, do you think he has a future in styling? :)

I know it's not easy to believe, but yes, Bobby doesn't just comply when I ask him to go shopping with me... he LOVES it. Again, how did I get so lucky? I LOVE clothes, I spend tons of time on urban outfitters' website, and somehow my husband matches my enthusiasm. My favorite store to go to is Anthropologie but really he's good at finding any diamond in the ruff. If nothing else he definitely has a future as MY stylist :)

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So enough questions about me (well you can ask more, I guess :)... Now I want to hear some random questions for Bobby! These posts have been so fun -- thanks again for asking :)

-Linds

FAQ's #2: wedding day change-ups

It's been a while since my last FAQ post, so here we go again. This time I'm only answering one question though - as it's a good one!

Jennifer wrote...

"...Now that you're in the wedding industry, what would you have done differently about your wedding? ...Any tips for us who haven't tied the knot yet?"

You know, Lindsay and I don't regret a single thing about our wedding day. We were young, dumb, and crazy in love :)

Now, having said that... here's a few things we'd likely do differently if we knew then what we knew now...

1. Don't see your bride before the ceremony!

We were sort of surprised/forced into not seeing each other the night before the wedding and the day of - until Lindsay walked down the aisle. My people grabbed me and her people grabbed her and everyone insisted that it would be SOOO much better if we waited.

My opinion on this is that it totally depends on the couple. For some, waiting and seeing each other at that last moment before becoming man and wife (when she walks down the aisle) is the pinnacle moment of the wedding day. But I've since seen a bunch of couples see each other before the wedding and I can see it's JUST as special to them. One couple, in particular, got ready together. One of my favorite weddings ever. It wasn't a very traditional thing to do, but for them I could see it was just as special as anyone else's wedding day. I think if we got married knowing what we know now, we'd either see each other before the wedding day OR actually spend the whole day together.

2. The Dress I

We wouldn't be so strict on making sure I NEVER saw the dress. I remember Lindsay was TERRIFIED that I wouldn't like her dress. Little did she know, I couldn't have cared less if she came down the aisle in pajamas! But we think it could be a ton of fun to go out dress shopping together. Maybe narrow it down to our favorite three and she surprises me? But this is probably more unique to our situation as I actually find more than half of Lindsay's clothes :) Ever since we started dating, I became in love with shopping. Not shopping for me, but it's so fun going out and finding clothes that look beautiful on Lindsay :)

So yeah, we might do the dress thing differently.

3. The Dress II

Lindsay very well would have ended up in a white dress, but I think she should have been able to choose whatever color dress she wanted. Not every girl feels pretty in white, so I think we'd start from scratch, try to find the dress she felt most pretty/hot/beautiful/sexy in and gone with that. If it was white, great! If it was some other color, great too!

4. Tips/Advice

It might sound like we're anti-traditionalists - but we're TOTALLY not! We had a ton of traditional aspects to our wedding :) But I'm all for conserving traditions that mean something to you and literally EVERYWHERE else doing whatever you like! If it's getting ready together, wearing a non-white dress, having off number bridal party (4 groomsmen and 7 bridesmaids, for example) dress shopping with your fiance... plan your wedding as if you didn't know about these outside rules! Honestly, how many people would insist on having a cake there if you weren't supposed to???

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So on our way back from Sydney yesterday, we got bumped to business class :) I've had a business class flight to Beijing and almost couldn't enjoy it because Lindsay wasn't experiencing it with me. Well we recently got premiere status with United and since this was our first official trip with the new status, we were hoping it would happen... and it did! Couldn't be a better flight for it to happen on...

These go ALL the way back and turn into incredible beds! Not to mention filet mignon was on the menu :D

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Any of you already get married and have something you'd change up? Getting married and doing something different?

Bye Oz + sneak peak

Well today we get home from our trip to Oz and Fiji. What a great trip it was! Both weddings went great, meeting a bunch of photographers was awesome, and to top it off, all the kangaroos an animal obsessed guy like myself could ask for :)

Right now, we're flying home (should get in around noon) and as sad as we are to leave, it'll be so nice to be home and stay home for a little while. We might be hitting up South America in the next couple months, but the definite next up??? Thailand and Cambodia!!!

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Also, here's a quick sneak peak Lindsay grabbed from the wedding in Oz. We've got to run to catch our flight, so I'll post more soon :)



Bobby

Our photographer meet up in Oz :)

So we had such an awesome day today! It was our first photographer meet up internationally - and I'm so psyched on how fun it was! Here's the group that came out to hang here in Sydney...


From left to right: Ben, Lucy, Patrick, Bernadette, Luke, Nick, Peter, Lynn, Lindsay, me (Miriam not pictured yet :)


Sydney :)


Peter and Lynn flew out from Melbourne just to meet! I freaking love these two :D


Bernadette makes the happiest children on earth. Seriously. It's insane.


Here's Ben trying to coax us into going back and talking to Anthony Kiedis (singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers). He was walking around where we were with a girl. Ben and I were going to go and ask if they needed a wedding photographer :P


Nick and Miriam - newlyweds, by the way :)



To you guys who came out on such a last minute, hardly planned, no idea what we're going to do meet up... thanks so much! I loved hanging out with everyone, shooting, grabbing dinner. Really, it was a great way to end our time to Oz.

If you want to know about potential meetups like this, follow me on my Twitter account or be my friend on facebook! I told people via one of those two outlets that we'd hang out (Can't remember which one :)

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We're staying at the incredible Intercontinental a few steps from the Opera House (literally) in Downtown Sydney :) They gave us a free upgrade to a room with a view of the Opera House and the big Sydney Bridge! It's amazing, but we're SO excited to get home to our dog!!! Lame, I know :)

To Luke and Michelle, you both were truly the best hosts! I'm so glad we stayed our entire time in Newcastle and just hung out instead of traveling about. Thanks so much for everything you two :) Tell Bella and Mickey (their two INCREDIBLE dogs that slept with us :) that we miss them already!

Bobby

More Oz (video this time!)...

So I've absolutely loved this trip. However, I've got to be honest... we've been traveling so much lately that while I was excited about coming to Oz and Fiji, part of me wanted to just stay home with our dog. I was really only looking forward to shooting the weddings and hanging with my friend, Luke. Outside that, I just thought I'd want to get home. Well I have been blown away with how much I've enjoyed our time out here.

The last three days have been spent almost exclusively with herds of wild kangaroos. I can't get enough of them. I just keep going back for more and only leave when it's too dark and they leave for the night. They let you come right up to them or just walk right through a massive herd of them. It's right up there with walking next to hippo and elephant in the African bush. Seriously.

Check out Luke's blog post for a ton of awesome photos of our kangaroo sessions :) Here's my favorite (but more on his blog so go check it!)...

Now, here's some video from our time with the roos. This place is incredible. Even if you don't care about me, I'd say fast forward to the last minute as it's 5D Mark II footage - shot WIDE open - and it looks pretty incredible (if you ask me, at least :)...



Bobby

Australia: A dream come true

Cheesy title, but I'm not kidding. I was here in Oz for a couple months a few years back - you'd think that I'd have seen at least ONE wild kangaroo being here that long, but I didn't. It's long been a dream of mine to see them on their own, in the wild. Well, thanks to my friend Stephanie out in New Zealand, my wish was granted.

She told me about this incredible place where there are herds of wild kangaroos - which you can get right up to! I did :)

Later on, we drove (and got wildly lost) on out to Newcastle to visit our ripping photographer friend, Luke. We're shooting a wedding with him tomorrow - so excited about that - and they've been incredible with hosting us while we're here. Tonight's been great finally meeting in person :)

Anyways, here's some of the most beautiful animals you've ever seen!

Fiji: Enexpectedly pleasant

So I knew probably the main thing about Fiji that everyone knows - it has some of the world's most beautiful beaches. Lindsay is OBSESSED with beautiful beaches. I don't seek them out particularly, but when I get around them, I quickly love them like Lindsay does (if that makes sense).

Well the most unexpectedly pleasant thing about Fiji? The people! Oh my goodness. EVERYONE we have encountered has been the most charming, sweet, sincere person you could ask for. Seriously. This reason alone gets me excited about coming back to Fiji in the future.

On to some photos :)


The view from our balcony. An infiniti pool and then the gorgeous Fiji ocean. Wowzers.


It's basically all coral reefs where we are (a few sand beaches, but mostly coral). I LOVE this! So many little animals to discover... it's incredible. These guys are ALL over the place. No clue what they are. Anyone know?


How pretty is this guy? They were all over the place, as well.


The tide was low - we're actually really far out in the ocean - probably a few hundred feet. And the sun just rose almost directly into my eyeballs. That's why I look so awesome here :P


The country side here is breathtaking.


We crossed this bridge to get to our private beach :) There's this beach here that I guess either no one knows about or no one goes to because it's so hard to get to. Well we were just fine with that! Lindsay and I literally had a good two mile stretch of beautiful beach ALL to ourselves the entire day. Romantic much? We stayed there all day today... incredible. Very worth the scary bridge crossing :)

I didn't really take photos at our beach... I was too caught up in how crazy it was that we had the whole beach to ourselves.




Crossing the scary bridge on our way back :)



Fiji was so much better than I expected it to be. I knew it would lend incredible beaches - I just didn't expect everything else it offered. Can't wait to come back and explore more of this beautiful country!

Wish us luck - tomorrow we fly over to Australia :)

Bobby

Fiji Wedding: Teaser!

So we've just gotten into our room here at the Shangri-la resort in Fiji... What a wedding! No rain, by they way :) Good news there.

I don't know if I've ever been this tired, so I'm going straight into photos!

This is Kevin and Michelle's back yard at their honeymoon sweet. Not bad, huh?

This wedding was so ripping, I did something I almost never do... Use my flashes! :P

Check back later for more from this awesome wedding. Tomorrow we're going around Fiji for fun :) Wish us luck!

Bobby

Hello Fiji!

So our flight was late - but who cares!? This place is beautiful! Michelle and Kevin hooked us up with a beautiful ocean view room here at the Shangri-la Fijian Resort :) Lindsay's in heaven.

We got to our room, and right outside of it the whole wedding party was partying down! We walked out and within a few minutes, this happened...



I freaking love couples like this. Seriously.

Bobby

And we're off again!

We are at LAX yet again... On our way to Fiji to shoot an awesome
destination wedding! Then it's back to Australia. I spent a
couplemonths in Oz a few years back, so I'm psyched to go back :)

Anyone ever been to Fiji or Oz? Something cool you know of that we
need to do? Hook me up with some insider knowledge :)

She looks cute, sure... but she's CRAZY! #2

You may remember my post last month about how Lindsay is a crazy sleep talker... it's INSANE! Well I told you I'd post some more of Lindsay's psycho sleep talking stories - so here it goes!

My last real job about five years ago was valet/bellman at La Costa resort. I worked the graveyard shift. The insomniac in me LOVED it! Sometimes Lindsay would visit at 1am and bring me In n Out (a famous burger joint out here in California for those that don't know)... I just loved it :)

Lindsay usually wanted me to call her just before she went to bed - and one night that caused something crazy to happen...

Lindsay picks up the phone. She doesn't sound happy (which is very un-Lindsay), so I ask her if she's okay. She responses with an annoyed tone "hmff... I'm fine." So I dig deeper. "Are you okay?" I ask. "I'm fine!" I move on.

"What are you doing?" I ask. This is where it gets weird. "I closed a deal," she says. At this point, Lindsay works as a preschool teacher. I'm wondering a) what kind of deal would Lindsay be closing as a preschool teacher and b) why would this deal transpire in the middle of the night?!

Me: "You closed a deal?"

Lindsay: "Yes!"

Me: What kind of deal?

Lindsay: "A business deal..."

This is when I start to get it. I've realized she's sleeping. I had no clue she was capable of sitting up, picking up the phone, answering it, talking to me... all while she's asleep! When this happens, my tone of voice goes from normal to trying not to laugh. And for some reason, this always sends sleep talking Lindsay over the edge to near violent! It's hysterical :)

Me: "Well who'd you close a business deal with?"

Lindsay: "Ughhh.. A man!"

Me: "A man? What man?"

Lindsay: "The yellow man!" - as if I should have known that :)

Me: "Who's the yellow man?"

Lindsay: "I don't know, but he always wears that stupid yellow jacket!"

That was about it. I can't contain myself any longer, my laughter wakes her up, and she says she needs to get to bed. I love this crazy, temper tantrum side of my wife :)

Sidenote, here's a picture from my favorite place in the world. Just at the base of Olifants at Kruger Park in South Africa.


Rhino, wildebeast, water buffalo, and zebra grazing at sunset :)

Have a great weekend everyone! We leave Sunday for a wedding in Fiji and then another with our friend Luke Arms in Australia, so we'll talk soon from the other side of the globe!

Bobby

Africa Day 6: possibly our best find

So today (mon, May 24th) we talked to one of the workers here at Olifants... Such a sweet man :) He told us about the border crossing into Mozambique, and we decided "hey, let's go to Mozambique!"

Well, on our way there we see just about everything! Elephants, giraffe, zebra... all over the place! The road to Mozambique is really built for a 4WD vehicle - not a VW chico. There's literally no one out here, so when we find animals, it's just us and them. I love it.

On our way Lindsay spots the prize. I don't know how she saw them, but she did. Four lioness and at least 6 lion cubs. We pull back, park, and there they are - about 25 feet from our car! The lioness are laying down and the cubs are all playing. It's amazing. We've seen big male lions, but for some reason, I have always wanted to see lioness more than lions - and this was about as good as it gets! We stayed for about an hour :)


It's so cute, because the mothers couldn't care less about us but the cubs stare us down like they want to rip us apart!




I know that lions don't charge vehicles. I know that. It just doesn't happen. But when you're hanging out a window, 25 feet away from a full grown lioness, and she starts to get up... you start to forget that fact :)




This was just such a beautiful experience. One I will never forget. I just kept looking at Lindsay the rest of the day saying "I can't believe you saw them!" I felt like getting her a lifetime gift certificate to Nordstrom's Rack, or something :D

We got to the border post and walked across. The officials on the Mozambique were very confused as to why we wanted to cross :)


Mozambique.


Happy in Mozambique :)


Can I just say how much I love warthogs?


I didn't get any photos of the next event, but another dream for me came true! We found an elephant at a place where you were allowed to get out of your car, so Andrew and I jumped out and walked toward him. A big bull that was eating from a tree. We got about 50 feet away from him. Being on foot so close to such a massive, beautiful animal was something I'll never forget :) As we walked closer, we realized we weren't more than a mile away from where we just saw a pride of lions - so we should probably not walk any further :)


Lindsay spotted some elephants from this bridge.


I just love seeing tracks over in Africa. You're imagination can just run wild with all the possible animals the tracks could be!

Another incredible sunset here in Africa :)

Noel + Heather: Full wedding

Full weddings are where it's at! When I meet with photographers just starting in wedding photography, they are typically quite surprised when they find out I don't bring a ton of photos, samples, handout sheets, etc. when I meet with my potential couples. Want to know why I don't? Because of full weddings!

Full weddings give my couples the ability to know what they can expect from me more than anything else that I can think of. Sure, we can tell our clients "I'm more editorial" or "I'm more of a photojournalist" - but pictures are the proof. So when clients email me, I typically end with "here's the last few weddings I've shot." That way, they can see what I've recently been doing and judge my consistency for themselves - as opposed to just seeing a handful of my favorite images over a bunch of weddings.

One thing I think I've done well is gaining trust from my couples. I've had the most incredible couples who totally trust me in my art. I really believe that having my couples see so many full weddings is what gives them confidence in their booking me - so I don't tend to get shot lists or nervous brides wondering "did he get that shot?!?" because they've seen what I do on a regular basis. Now, if what I do doesn't tickle your fancy, than this obviously wouldn't help :) But the assumption is that those who have me shoot their wedding like what I do... fingers crossed!

(I don't get paid to say this) I make all of my slideshows, this one included, with Showit Web. It's freaking amazing! For the feed readers, here's a direct link to the slideshow :)

Africa Day 5: more awesome!

I love South Africa. It's officially dethroned China as my favorite to travel to - which is huge as China has held the #1 spot for 8 years now!

We headed out this morning (Sun, May 23rd) for our sunrise safari drive here at Olifants. First thing we see? A lion laying in the road! He got up, walked off about 40 feet, and layed down - never giving us more than a tiny glance.

We noticed as he walked off that he had been in a fight - nothing too bad - but you can see his face is a little scratched up.

After he layed down, he started roaring - which was INSANE since we were so close to him. Then after that, another lion (that we couldn't see somewhere across the street) started roaring back. It was so amazing to hear them go back and forth with each other.

Sunrise.

This cute warthog just jumped on this little hump on the ground and posed for me :)

Another ele.

They don't look like it, but these hyenas are actually still puppies - just about to leave the puppy stage. They were running just like puppies (all wirey and unbalanced) and they were just playing around. So cute. They'd tackle each other and then jump in the water. It was adorable :)

A bunch of giraffe walking in front of us. Such odd, amazing animals.


Want to see something cute, then hear something cute???

So giraffes have poor senses of smell and sound - so they hang out with zebras (who have great senses of smell and sound). Zebras have poor eyesight so they hang out with giraffe because of their great eyesight and bird's eye view. So it was so cute to see them together all the time and know that it wasn't just coincidence... they were helping each other. How cute is that?!

Baboons.

Elephants and hippos.

Water buffalo.

The Olifants river.

Lone baboon.

Dad giraffe nuzzling with one of his babies.

Cute :)


This isn't that great of a picture...


But it was so cool to see! It's a bull elephant forcing a rhino out of a water hole. This elephant meant business! And even though the rhino didn't want to leave, he didn't have much choice.


A couple sunset shots...

How cute is this little guy!?


A couple handheld shots (about 2.5 second exposures) of the stars. The stars out in Kruger are like nothing I'd ever seen before...

What a day :)

Bobby

Africa Day 4: Bush walk!

So today (Sat, May 23rd) we're doing something I've been dying to do! We're going with two expert trackers (both with elephant rifles) and going to hike through the bush :D

**DISCLAIMER**
Now, before anyone gets mad at me for walking through the wild with guys with guns... don't worry. In 30 years of bush walks, there hasn't been a single human fatality. Also, our trackers had literally led thousands of bush walks - never having to have shot an animal yet. This is scary to some, but quite safe for both humans and animals ;)

John, our guide and tracker, explaining that if an animal charges us, do not run - adding that there's nothing in the bush that can kill you that can't catch you if it wanted to. Sounds scary, but it's actually comforting :)

Vussi (please excuse if I misspelled), our other guide and tracker. These two were just as cool as it got for me. I mean, how much cooler can you get if you already walk through the bush and stand down lion, rhino, elephant, hippo, water buffalo, etc.??? Not much, in my book. These guys have the best job in the world, in my opinion.

Right when we got off the truck, we heard elephants trumpeting. Awesome sound! We walked over to the river where we heard them, and they had just crossed. It was so beautiful I forgot to take photos!

Then John and Vussi noticed hippos down the river. Hippos are the #1 killer of humans in Africa (with water buffalo being #2) - but they are such beautiful creatures. I was hoping so badly that they would say "let's get closer" instead of "we better fall back". John and Vussi took us closer :D

We were about 40-50 feet away from these incredible animals... on foot! This was such a dream of mine. It was really cute because when we were far away the hippo were spread out in the water. The closer we got, the more they clustered up. It's so incredible how these massive creatures (that outnumbered us obviously in weight/strength, but also in number) have an instinctive respect for us humans. Hearing hippo grunt directly at you while they're staring you down - all within a stone's throw - is such a thrilling experience!


So, like I said, the #2 killer of humans in Africa is water buffalo. This is usually a big shock to a lot of people, as most think it'd be lion, or something like that. We came up on a good 300+ heard - again, like 50 feet away - but we had a rivine separating us, so we were hardly threatened (even if we sort of felt like we were). Water buffalo are much less prone to cause trouble to humans in big herds. They feel safe and secure. Still, they were wary of us, but we kept our distance (sort of :), and they just kept their eyes on us. As we're sitting down, a bush no more than 2o feet in front of us had been hiding this lone bull...

He was on OUR side of the rivine! It's so nice being with experts like John and Vussi. You just look to them, see they're calm, and you immediately know everything's fine.

Eventually, the huge heard ends up stampeding away - it sounded like a building was crashing down. What a sound!


Walking through the bush.


The ground at the dried out rivine that had separated us from the herd of water buffalo.


On our way back to the lodge at Olifants. Awesome times.

We headed out for the afternoon on our own. I love that you can get in your car and just go here at Kruger.

The bridge over Olifants river. You're allowed to get out of your car on this bridge :) Crocodile and hippo are all over the place, so it's a rad spot to look down and see them.

The crew :)




I love elephants.

More cute and cuddly zebras :)

My favorite shot of the day. Zebra at sunset :)

I wish I could thank John and Vussi again for making a dream of mine come true. I can't wait to do it again next time we're here!

Bobby

Stupid Stories #1 - Women's bathroom.

Probably five years ago, I was at an In-n-Out burger joint. That's where it happened...

I walk into the bathroom - notice nothing. I barely for a second think "where are the urinals?" - but I notice nothing. I go to the bathroom - notice nothing. I wash my hands - notice nothing.

A girl walks in - I notice nothing. She looks at me like "What?!?" like she's all confused - I notice nothing. I even tell her "don't worry, it's okay." I mean, everyone walks into the wrong bathroom every once and a while and I didn't want her to be embarrassed, you know? She walks out - I notice nothing. I finish washing my hands - notice nothing. I grab paper towel to dry my hands and next to the dispenser I see something that isn't typically sold in bathrooms (at least male bathrooms)... tampons - I'm confused, but still, I notice nothing.

I think "why are they selling tampons in the guys bathroom?" I notice something.

I turn around and I feel like I've just been in a Quentin Tarantino film short, or something. Immediately I see myself walking in the bathroom and seeing everything play out with a new perspective - no urinals, girl walks in, looks freaked out, walks out, tampons... I'm in the women's bathroom!

Now I start thinking about that poor girl. What the heck did she have to be thinking!? She walks into the women's bathroom, sees a young guy (who clearly isn't in there to clean the bathroom), is freaked out by the fact that he's in there, and then he tells her "don't worry, it's okay." That poor girl. I'm an idiot :)

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So how did I get to this stupid story? Well yesterday we headed up to OC to hang with DJ, JD, J*, and non-blogging Regis Chen. The Counter (a burger place) ruled my world, by the way! I want to eat there today already!

We then headed off to the the first OC SMUG (SmugMug User Group). Jasmine hosted it and in true J* form the 100 or so chairs weren't nearly enough... there were 250+ people there!

Jasmine tearing it up!

I got to meet a lot of you who have been following the blog and it was awesome meeting in person! The craziest was Kathryn Brown - who came out all the way from Florida!

Kathryn with Jasmine and DJ :)

Now, I've gotten some facebook messages from a few of you who said you were too shy to come up... Next time you better come up and say hi! It was so nice meeting you guys in person - and it only would have been better had I met more of you :D

At some point when we were setting up, I walked into the ladies room. Idiot. Later, when the meeting was over and we were all mingling, I did it again. I told the story to a few of my blog readers there and we all decided it was blogworthy :)

It's sad how many of these stupid stories I've got. Have a great weekend guys!

Bobby

Noel and Heather: Wedding

Well one of the reasons we had to rush home from our recent Africa/Europe trip was to shoot Noel and Heather's wedding. These two really knew what they wanted with their big day - and it looked beautiful! Their wedding was at the historical (and beautiful) La Valencia in La Jolla. David from Hit It kept the night going strong with his DJ skills. A Dream Wedding by Sharon got a curve ball with the weather (so we had to go inside), but you wouldn't have known with how smooth they kept this wedding running!

Also, big ups to Heather and Noel for literally not caring for a second about the weather. I love when a bride and groom are so excited about getting married that rain doesn't get to dictate how they'll enjoy their wedding day!

*Update* I totally forgot to post about Noel's job... he's also a photographer! I posted this right when I was going to bed, so I was way out of it :) but I love shooting for photographers - it's always such an honor when they choose me :)

Noel getting some final things in order.

Awesome pocket watches as gifts for the groomsmen.

Love this shot of Noel.

Love this shot of Heather even more!

Ready for my favorite shot of the day???

....BOOM!

Heather looks flippin' stunning, right?!

There's a little story to the next two shots...

When meeting outside for family pictures, Noel's dad (who's such a happy, enjoyable guy, by the way), looks to the level up at Noel asking him where I am. The second shot is him realizing I'm directly in front of him :)


I'm more and more convinced that if Lindsay and I got married again, we'd spend the whole day together. Here's Noel and Heather minutes before they're about to walk down the aisle. I know it's not traditional, but I love the idea now :)


Not a bad second choice for a wedding location, eh?






I love the feel to this one :)


Cocktail hour.


Dad hugging his new daughter.


I love catching moments like this (staring at Noel's ring). It's like their both realizing that it's finally happened!








If you do this at a wedding I'm shooting, just know that I will shoot and I will blog it :P


Like I was saying, Sharon knows what she's doing. How are all these details?! Oh, and the linen on the tables were my favorite touch - thanks to A Perfect Table.

Oh, and by the way, I love my job :)

Bobby

Africa Day 3: Kudu sausage!

So today (Friday, May 22nd) we are leaving the Skukuza lodge here at Kruger and heading up north to the Olifants lodge. We're thinking the drive will take four or five hours... we'll see :)

Before we headed out, Dane saw a lizard in a tree. I climbed ten or so feet up and caught him. He was so rad.

We drove about 30 minutes and saw this huge bird in the road. I noticed it from my trips to our local zoo (the San Diego Zoo) - I always think of a really bad looking transvestite with too much fake eyelashes when I see it at the zoo. It looks just the same in the wild :) There's only 1500 of these in the whole world, by the way.

Here he walked up to our car. There were two, but this guy was the most curious :)

We couldn't help it and gave him some granola. Hey, at least it wasn't gummy worms, or anything...

We drove on and saw an elephant. Then like three more next to that elephant. Then like five more next to those ones (and so on, and so on). Well they made there way to the road. We weren't ready for what we were about to see.

A huge family of elephants (a good 30 of them) all crossing the road. Big ones, little ones. It was incredible. It was so cute to see the big ones walking so nonchalantly - while the little ones looked like they were sprinting in order to keep up with the grown ups much larger strides :) Lindsay cried when the final elephant crossed and they made there way into the bush. It really was a beautiful experience. We talked to one South African lady who's been to Kruger about a hundred times. She didn't even see the start of the crossing and said this was the biggest family of ele's she's ever seen. We got so lucky to see it :)

We made our way to a picnic area - one of the very few places in the reserve that you're allowed to get out of your car (where you aren't fenced in), went to the bathroom, stretched our legs, and ordered lunch.

We of course hoped to see a lion or something on foot - but instead we saw this guy...

I'm shooting with a 24mm lens on a full frame camera - so I'm about 3 or 4 feet away from this guy. I inched my way to him over about five minutes thinking he was going to fly away at any minute. He never did (and he never seemed to care). When I finished taking photos, stood up, and walked away, he still never cared. In fact, he started making his bird noises - which sounded like a fishing line being wound up. Really cool little guy :)

Our food came off the "braai" - kudu (a type of antelope) sausage :D

These are their common birds that are constantly hanging around ready to eat your leftovers. They're really shiny - almost like gasoline when it reflects in water - sort of changing colors in the light. So cool.

On our way again - Dane driving through the bush.

As we're driving, we all started talking about how we hoped to see a giraffe. Well, we found a TON! This guy, probably our fourth giraffe, actually walked right toward us and stopped about ten feet from our car. They're such sweet animals.

I knew that giraffes aren't aggressive - and won't charge a car - but as this humongous animal got closer and closer, you sort of start to second guess the knowledge you have :)

Here he is just eating away.

As we're watching the giraffes, a car of Indians pulls up to us to let us know about lions ahead! They've apparently gotten a giraffe right on the side of the road about an hour and a half away! We're so excited about seeing lion, so we tear ourselves away from our giraffe friends and book it - hoping they gave us the right directions.

The scenery on our way to Orpen (where the lions are).

When we get to the lions, there's a ton of cars around. We almost get in line, so to speak, and wait 'till the cars ahead of us leave so it'll be our turn. Right as we pull up, we can see the half eaten body. We also notice that there are two adult males - most likely brothers. One of them gets up and walks closer to us, so we get a good view. Eventually we make our way to the one guarding the body...

Here he is looking DEAD at me! We're about 40 feet away. Remember, no fences. These are free roaming lions! So awesome.

We watch the lions for about an hour and a half - but eventually have to leave in order to make it to Olifants before the gates close at sunset. Off we go again.

We're starting to realize that we aren't going to make it to the gate in time. We have no clue what happens if you're late. Do you get fined? We're probably a few hundred miles away from the nearest exit from the reserve (Kruger is 7,000+ square miles!), so I doubt they'll kick us out. Either way, we know we shouldn't stop for anything.

The sun setting as we drive along.

And then we see our first rhino! No way we can't stop. It's far away, but it's got two babies! We head on. Just as we're saying "we can't stop anymore!", we come up on a bunch of rhino, wildebeest (which we haven't seen yet), and zebra (which we also haven't seen yet and were REALLY anticipating) - all grazing peacefully together in the sunset. Whatever the consequences, we were stopping. Add to that, they were all super close to our car! It felt like the garden of eden, or something. It was truly breathtaking.

We tear ourselves away from the rhino and race to Olifants. We're late, but the gate is open! No consequences :) Tomorrow is our first bush walk (where two trackers with elephant rifles walk you through the bush in search of animals!). I've dreamed about doing this for so long!

Bobby

Scott and Cheryl: Family time!

So I met Scott last year. He lives up in Stockton and emailed me one day saying "hey, I'm going to be in SD... want to grab lunch?" Little did I know, we both had so much in common. Both lived in SD county, have wives that taught/teach preschool, both photographers, skate/snow/surf... obviously, we hit it off :)

Well I haven't actually seen him since that day about a year ago. He emailed me this past weekend telling me they were down and wanted to do a family session with us - I was psyched not to just shoot him and his family, but more to hang out again! For those of you that know Scott, you know what I'm talking about. One of the nicest guys out there.

Anyways, here are the photos...

Huntley was literally burying himself :D


Scott trying to convince Huntley that taking more pictures really is fun ;)


Looking for seals.


Family tickle fest :)




How hot do they look here?!


I love Cheryl's overall look :)


Baby sandwich!

Scott, it was so rad shooting and catching up again. Cheryl, Eden, and Huntley, it was a pleasure finally meeting who Scott always talks about :D

Bobby

Noel and Heather: Sneak attack!

Sometimes I think I take on more than I should. This weekend seems like that might have been the case to some - but I'm so psyched I crammed everything in that I did :)

Tuesday we were staring ten feet away from a giant (wild) african elephant in South Africa, Wednesday we were in Paris eating tartelette frombois (raspberry tarts - but didn't you think I was cool for a second since I wrote it in french? No? Well, at least I tried. And my french grammar is terrible, so I probably misspelled in my attempt to look cool :), Late Thursday/early Friday we arrived home in the states, Friday was backing up all 200 gigs of photos/video we took, cleaning all my gear, clearing memory cards out, charging batteries, etc., Saturday we shot a wedding, and Sunday we shot a family session. All the while we are battling the obvious jetlag - plus I got strep throat. The doctor gave me medicine, but it's got codine in it! So I'm trying to do all this already jetlaged, then I have to take my prescription (with codine) which makes me way more tired!

But guess what? The jetlag, messed up throat, and codine wasn't about to spoil our fun. We had a great time this weekend and wouldn't have done it differently if we could go back in time!

Anyways, I wanted to have a full blog post ready today, but I just couldn't get it done. So here's a sneak peak of Noel and Heather's ripping wedding from Saturday...

I should have a nice, full post later this week :)

Bobby