Bar Hopping with Tiffany & Greg
When Tiffany reached out to me saying that her and Greg are getting married in November but would love to get some pre-wedding photos done in their 3 favorite bars in the city, I said ..”tell me when. I’ll make it work!” Think about it! Most of engagement, pre-wedding photos are from parks, pretty locations, maybe with Golden Gate bridge behind the couple. And there absolutely nothing wrong with that. I enjoy those sessions and over the years have shot many of them.
Admit it.. bar hopping for engagement session is quite original. It’s even more special because Tiffany and Greg actually met at a bar in the Nob Hill area. They said that bar isn’t there anymore, but they really enjoy the idea of going out on the weekend and hitting some places walking distance from where they live. And I like the idea of not just imposing a photo session on a couple but using their real environment and build a session around that, not the other way around.
We met at the Peacekeeper and took it from there. Tiffany and Greg have so much of that natural chemistry and my goal was to ease them in front of the camera at first and then let the drinks do the rest :) In reality we just hit it off quickly chatting about life, people, places they like, their wedding plans, a bit about me and my family. It truly felt like old friends hanging out, having a few drinks and talking. I wanted to make sure I capture very candid, real photos but I also wanted to give them few artistic shots, include the mood, feel of the place and show my perspective on how I see them.
Each location was quite unique. The Peacekeeper has this modern, fresh look with a lot of natural light. Royale has a very cool 2nd floor. I love frames and it provided the perfect location for that. In few other shots I incorporated the location and general San Francisco vibe. Ace’s is where we spent the most time.
With around 200 photos, it was hard for me to select these photos as highlights.
Sahar
Sahar is an exteremely talented individual. While being a professional actress, she also enjoys being behind the camera. She carries her Soviet Union film camera called Smena and takes photo of things and people she finds interesting. She writes very cool, complex, visual poetry. During the session as we talked about movies, we talked about singing and turns out she also plays piano and sings. So with all these broad creativity my concept was to tell a story of time as it relates not only to Sahar but to people in general. I wanted a poetic, thoughtful, moody, hopefully session to showcase as many sides of Sahar as I possibly could. And she just went with it completely!
Old Hollywood Photoshoot
Have you noticed our infatuation with the past? Our desire to go back in time wether it’s fashion, music, film. There’s something very charming in the notion of feeling something that happened before us.
I loved old classic hollywood images - for the light, the techniques, for this almost naive romantism bordering on non explicit sexuality that was showcased in the eye as opposed to exposing body parts. It was sensual, inviting and mostly in black and white which has its own charm.