Photography – Page 11 – 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

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

bay area documentary wedding photographer

Waiting for his bride first look

Shoulder tap first look wedding

Bay area first look wedding

casual and elegant black tie bridal party

vanity fair wedding party photos hazelphoto

light airy bride smiling

A bamboo arch for wedding decoration

san francisco brenizer wedding portrait

Awbury Arboretum Wedding – Philadelphia – Miriam & Jeremy

Miriam and Jeremy’s Awbury Arboretum Wedding was my second time photographing at this green oasis in the urban landscape of Northwest Philadelphia. Not one, not two, but three couples I had worked with in the past were in attendance, which made for a delightfully warm village feeling.

We began with a first look on the porch of the Francis Cope House. Miriam and Jeremy approached each other back to back, and before they had laid eyes on each other, they were already dancing. I have the distinct pleasure of documenting some of the most deliriously happy moments of people’s lives, but Miriam and Jeremy’s energy had me running for a thesaurus to try to describe the fever pitch of their happiness. Insuppressible. Irrepressible. Ebullient. Rhapsodical. None of this does justice to the spirit of the day.

There were countless blessings by a flock of rabbis, so much dancing, so much singing, there was jumping rope with tied-together napkins, a raucous horah, a puppet show, and to top it all off there was Jeremy serenading Miriam with I want it that way.

More like these two please!

Vendors

Venue: Awbury Arboretum and Francis Cope House

Catering: Miss Rachel’s Pantry

Goat Farm Wedding – Amelia and Mark

Amelia and Mark were married on a warm June day at Windy Hill Farm in Cedar Grove, North Carolina not far from Chapel Hill. The two prepared for the day in a sweet old farmhouse full of antiques and curiosities. A pair of rabbits dozed in a hutch, Tiger lilies reached for the sun. The ceremony was held on the far side of a sun-drenched field under the shade of a gorgeous stand of trees at the edge of a forest. Amelia and her family made their way across the field on the back of a tractor with parasols for cover. They were met with old time banjo music. Nestled into the shade, Amelia and Mark’s friends and family shared readings and laughter. During cocktail hour guests sheltered from the sun under parasols and ate oysters. The barbecue dinner was scrumptious, the dancing lively, and the goats came out for a romp in the gloaming. It was a storybook day that I was honored to document.

Many thanks to my talented 2nd photographer, Yuri Vaysgant