Blog Masonry – Page 8 – Hazel Photo Weddings

Trione Wedding

Trione Wedding – Sonoma, CA – Jill & Jason

Jill & Jason were married at Trione Vineyards and Winery in Sonoma County, CA on a lovely day with diffuse light everywhere. The light gave the Vineyards a majestic moody look out behind the Winery, and they made for an incredible backdrop for our portraits.

I loved the rustic stone walls, the vaulted ceilings, and dark wooden beams in the event space at Trione. They lent an old world feel to the wedding ceremony and to evening reception as well.

Jason is a collector of film cameras and a talented street photographer. During the ceremony they had their officiant and friend make a photograph of all of their guests on a film camera. They intend to slowly take photos over the next ten years on momentous occasions, and only after a decade has passed, will they get the roll of film developed.

And… much will happen in those ten years, as Jill & Jason are world travelers. One of the cornerstones of their relationship is their love of travel, so they brought a bucket to the reception, and guests were encouraged to leave them suggestions for their “Bucket List.”

As you can see, Jill & Jason invited me to bring my Hasselblad to Trione to make a few wedding portraits. It gave me great pleasure to put a few rolls of film through my old trusty friend.

Special thanks to Lisa Bravo of Bravo Events and Weddings who made everything flow smoothly throughout the day.

Wedding planner : Lisa Bravo
Hair : Amy Braem
Makeup : Nicolette Lafranchi
DJ : NorCal Pro Sound
Catering : Girl and Fig

How much does wedding photography cost in the San Francisco Bay Area?

Here are some of the things that helped me to think through hiring my own wedding photographer…

Wedding photography is a luxury, but so is almost everything about a wedding. The weird thing about the photography is that it lasts longer than the dress, steak, wine, cake, music, etc. etc. Eventually, what the photographer saw can overtake other memories. So weird! Anyway. It is important!

One way to think about it is that you are commissioning an artist to make a body of work about you, your love, your family, and your friends. For many people this is one of the only times in their lives they will commission an artist to make work for them.

Wedding photography cost varies by market. I might have expensive taste, but one woman I talked to quoted me 10k for her bare bones package. WTF?! That is over the top. Up to 6k seems within reason in more expensive cities. Anything under 3k, you are working with someone who is either, in a market with very very cheap living expenses, is an unrealistic business person, is a bad photographer, is just starting out, or some combination of these things.

Important questions to consider when hiring a photographer:

Do we trust this person? Is this person actually the photographer who will come on our wedding day? Are they easy to be around? Will they take their commitment to the work seriously? Will they understand what is important to us about our wedding, or do they have their own ideas that they will try to impose? Will this person get along with our guests? What final product are we getting? Do we get all of the high resolution files or do we have to pay for each and every print? Do we want to order prints ourselves? Do we want a professionally produced album? Would we ever get around to making an album ourselves?

What sort of style does this photographer have? Will they capture us in natural joyful expressions? Are they too focused on making an interesting picture? Are they creative enough with their compositions? Do they take too many pictures of the cake, dress, jewelry, centerpieces? (There is a whole genre that is beholden to blogs like Style Me Pretty. This genre includes a strange amount of product photography along with the traditional coverage.)

So, there’s my two cents.

Also, my cheeky article on why you don’t need a wedding photographer: https://hazelphoto.com/why-you-dont-need-wedding-photographer/

Ashokan Center Wedding – Zoe & David

Not everyone is quite as lucky as Zoe & David, nonetheless we can still bask in the glory that is their love and their wedding. These two were married on a bright and beautiful day in early July at the Ashokan Center in Olivebridge, New York. The Ashokan Center is an environmental education and retreat center tucked into the backroads near the Ashokan Reservoir.

(Sidenote: Back in Brooklyn, David an Zoe, and their neighbors throughout New York City, drink water from the Ashokan Reservoir. NYC’s water is supposedly the reason for the burg’s incomparable bagels.)

Sometimes the choice of a wedding venue couldn’t be more obvious. Of course Zoe & David’s would host their wedding at the Ashokan Center, where they fell in love under the stars, over banjos and fiddles.

This was my favorite variety of wedding where you say yes to the traditions that make you feel good, and the traditions you’re less fond of? they disappear.

Berkeley City Club Wedding

Berkeley City Club Wedding – Jenni & Andy

Jenni & Andy were married on a sunny day in late December at the Berkeley City Club, a hidden gem of a wedding venue, right next to the Cal campus. Genius architect, Julia Morgan, was at her finest when she designed this “castle in the city.”

As the sun was setting, wedding guests gathered on a generous balcony. The chuppah holders processed. Jenni and Andy’s puppy was led down the aisle by Jenni’s niece. A pair of friends/co-officiants effortlessly wove diverse rituals into the ceremony. Highlights included: the signing of a gorgeous, colorful ketubah depicting, among other things, the Golden Gate Bridge, and their frolicking puppy; a musical performance with Andy on trombone, a friend on sax, and Jenni, with a chorus of friends, on vocals. They smashed a glass, smooched, and headed into the library for cocktail hour, where a full jazz band serenaded guests.

The vision for the wedding reception was crystal clear: “dinner & a show,” oh, and a hora, of course. (Important life rule, never pass up a chance to dance the hora.) Andy’s parents kicked off the show portion of the evening with a riotous slideshow romp through Jenni & Andy’s childhoods. There were traditional toasts, a family band, experimental music, pop covers, a jazz set with Andy and band. Such a lovely full evening!

Dog looking at wedding cake with desire. Documentary Wedding Photography Hazel Photo Bay Area

“Documentary wedding photography” 7 reasons why this is what you really want.

An emotional first look at a wedding. The groom wipes a tear away. Documentary wedding photography.

You care deeply what it actually felt like to be at your wedding, and so you want wedding photos that convey that feeling. The goal in “documentary wedding photography” is to make images that make you feel what it was like to be at your wedding years after the fact.

Boy in suit and suspenders hugging his daddy's leg at a wedding. Documentary Wedding Photography

2. You want a photo of your best friend doing the worm, of your mom teasing her sister, of your dad hugging you with tears in his eyes, of your niece with that look like she’s plotting world takeover. These are the moments a documentary wedding photographer is attuned to, and immortalizes.

A groom held aloft his cousins' shoulders during a baraat. Documentary Wedding Photography Hazel Photo

3. You want a photographer who has a keen eye for the meaningful gestures, expressions, and details that tell the larger story. A documentary wedding photographer spends years honing the ability to see the unexpected, to frame things just right, so the viewer is compelled by the photograph, and understands the scene.

a little girl in a white dress with a white basket and a bright pink troll, sticking her tongue out and observing it all on a wedding day. Documentary wedding photography.

4. You don’t want your photographer to tell you to have a second first look. One is overwhelmingly wonderful. Also, hold on a sec, how in the world can you have a second first look? This speaks to the authentic manner in which documentary wedding photographers work.

a groom and his father share a hug at the hotel before heading over to the church for the wedding. Documentary wedding photography

5. You want pictures that make you feel seen. A documentary wedding photographer can make photographs that compliment the principles that guided you when you were planning your wedding. (whether you sat down and wrote out official guidelines with your fiancé, or you just have a general sense of what you were about during the planning.) Unfortunately some wedding photography doesn’t see you for who you are, and ends up being more a photographer’s idea of what a “romantic wedding” should look like.

a Bride reading a letter from her groom before the wedding surrounded by bridesmaids and mom. Documentary wedding photography

6. You don’t want a photography company that takes over with multiple cameras, and blocks your guests’ view, and makes it feel like a photoshoot, not like an authentic event. In “documentary wedding photography” the goal is to let the wedding be exactly what it is, rather than to step in and change it.

7. You like the color of your dress and the florals you chose, and you want them to be true to life in the pictures. The style of a documentary wedding photographer can be carried into processing images after the wedding day with the goal of reproducing beautiful faithful color. Some wedding photography is significantly altered in post-processing, whether that be desaturation, color grading, or excessive retouching.

Flower girl dumping out floors in a field at a Crystal Springs Golf wedding Documentary wedding photography — Documentary Wedding Photography Hazel Photo Bay Area

Bride dancing with groom surrounded by adoring friends at an Isabella Freedman wedding Documentary wedding photography — Documentary Wedding Photography Hazel Photo Bay Area

Berkeley Hills Engagement Photos

E and B were willing to meet me early in the morning at Wildcat Canyon for a hike and engagement photo session. I think of this as the Berkeley Hills, even though it’s a teensy bit North of Berkeley. This set is a sunrise engagement session! My absolute favorite. We met early in the morning, and used the delicious soft light coming through the grass, rolling over the hills, emanating from the city below, for our glory. While sunset engagement sessions are also lovely and ubiquitous, they generally involve lots of other people in the scene to avoid. We had a particularly quiet morning, and for much of our hike, there was nobody else in eyesight. The part of the hike up on the ridge line next to the forest was special, lush and new. It was January here in the Bay Area, the rainy season, but we got lucky and had a clear, sunny morning. The rain brought out the green grass and the mushrooms.

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