Blog Masonry – Page 13 – Hazel Photo Weddings

Walking in Haight Ashbury

I went for a walk in the Haight the other day. It was alllllright. The sun was out. I had headphones screwed into my ears. I was a bit lost in that breeze-on-skin/tunes-flowing feeling, So I’m thinking about how my dad hitched out here to San Francisco in his early twenties from New York, how he was going to get a job making leather sandals and such. Then he ran out of money, hitched back, signed up for art school, met my mama.

The Haight is kinda sleepy really. I guess it’s a Tuesday during that post-lunch slump (aaaahhh freelancing.) So I’m walking along, taking in the sites. It seems like there’s always something coming and going along the storefronts: high-end sneakers, joke socks, sex toys. I pass yet another gaggle of young people, traveler sorts, grungy, tie-dye clad, no lie. All the sudden it feels like something fell on the back of my head, I look around vigilantly, but it’s such a light touch, maybe it was nothing, so I wander further in reverie. A couple blocks on I happen upon a vintage shop. Oh, look at these beautiful brown leather boots! Are they my size? I crouch down to try them on, and something falls from the back of my neck. I kid you not, it’s a tissue full of weed that has now spilled all over the floor. In rushed fear I scoop it up, shove it in my pocket and continue walking through Haight Ashbury…

Walking in Haight Ashbury

Running to Ocean Beach – San Francisco

Yesterday I ran through Golden Gate Park to Ocean Beach, and back from my house in San Francisco. I knew it was going to be the longest run I had ever completed, and I knew I was going to complete it. I’m 37 years old for whatever that matters. It was a 5.45 mile run.

On the run I had a revelation about my own psychic health, and about the role habits can play in psychic health more generally. For all of my life I have enjoyed a strong baseline of psychic wellbeing. As I ran, my legs moving effortlessly below me, I could feel distinctly that the shape of my life over the years has rested on my underlying psychic health.

In that moment, I smiled big and felt deliriously happy. Good habits can bring an elevated level of psychic health, even for those with a stable baseline. (I know. I know. I am definitely a “stable genius.”) I felt a wildly outsize sense of accomplishment and power, and I want to feel it again. It was so delicious.

Running to Ocean Beach San Francisco

San Francisco Marriage Proposal Photographer

San Francisco Marriage Proposal Photographer – SF MOMA

Kevin found me on yelp, figure that. He told me that he lived with his girlfriend, Maggie, down in San Diego and that they were planning a trip up to San Francisco, and it was going to be quite a trip, because he was hoping they would be engaged on the return flight. We made a master marriage proposal plan to be carried out at the spectacular Battery Godfrey. I sent him a video of exactly where he would stand in front of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge… point there, tap here, kneel there… every detail of the marriage proposal was planned out except for the rain (I hear it doesn’t do that in San Diego.) So it definitely rained. We made a backup master marriage proposal plan at San Francisco City Hall, and Kevin executed it perfectly. I have to say it’s thrilling every time I get to photograph a marriage proposal, and these two were about the nicest giddiest folks you could hope to spend a rainy afternoon photographing. After the proposal at San Francisco City Hall we headed over to SF MOMA for a few more deliriously happy photographs.

marriage proposal photographer san francisco bay area

San Francisco City Hall Documentary Wedding Photographer

J and M had a sweet ceremony in the rotunda at San Francisco’s City Hall. I love how their faces glowed with happiness right after their ring exchange and kiss. It was a blissfully quiet day, as far as San Francisco City Hall is concerned. This gave us the opportunity to explore some of the lovelier parts of the grand historical building. J and M and their small wedding party brought along not one, but two ridiculously cute dogs.

Documentary Wedding Photographer San Francisco Bay Area

A Wedding in the Forest – Gideon and Lina

A Wedding in the Forest – Gideon & Lina

Gideon and Lina’s wedding ceremony was nestled into a forest, with live trees bent into a glorious arch as the altar. I’m not sure I’ll ever top that. We used the opportunity to make couples portraits in the forest. The guests’ outfits ran the gamut from the traditional Norwegian dress of Lina’s family, to Gideon’s open collared shirt and brown wool suit. The two children stealing the show in every other image belonged to Gideon and Lina and, were part of the wedding party, and gave me life all day long. Guests used a rowboat to head back to the reception from the ceremony site. There were assorted berry pies, red canoes, croquet, oh, and the dancing, stick around for that…

Garden Wedding – Maggie & August

Maggie and August’s wedding day was one of those days that stretches on, blissfully, for years instead of hours. The confidence, the comfort, the certainty of their love put us all at ease, meaning us humans, me included.

Bay area garden wedding at the gate