Here’s a little teaser shot of the new office. We’ve got it painted now and everything moved into place, just about! Can’t wait to start meeting up with couples here.

When I was a graphic designer, photography was one of my biggest sources of inspiration. It’s funny, but now it’s the complete opposite -> Design inspires me to push and experiment with my photography.

There are a lot of inspirational wedding photographers out there, but instead of going to them for inspiration, I love to look at design magazines and books. I don’t want my creative vision to be tainted I guess – haha…

Here are a few books/mags that have been inspiring in photography / design:

Switching form Design to Photography:

One of the game changers for me years ago was the realization that taking an amazing photo so much more satisfying than making a design, and this is why:

1. Interacting with an actual person is so much more rewarding than working alone for hours in front of a screen all by my lonesome. Inspiration through relationship is much more impactful.

2. Photos are instantly gratifying – you either get it or you don’t. With design, it was always a possibility that I would be starting over from scratch over and over again.

3. I found that the photography community was so much more encouraging and open to sharing ideas, whereas the design world seemed to keep to themselves and put all their effort into being the first one to accomplish an idea.

Here are a few of my designs from back in the day:

And here are a few photos that I’d say are inspired by my design experience:

What inspires you guys!?

A while after booking us – I think it was right after the engagement session – we were having a beer at the Mercury Lounge and Clayton told me an awesome story about when they first met us: “Man, when we first came into your house, I could smell a poopy diaper… and I thought to myself, ‘these guys are real.’”

I laughed and shook my head. “Dude, you’re awesome for telling me that.”

I freaking love that story because honest conversations are such a breath of fresh air (opposite of a poopy diaper smell – haha).

Don’t worry, I’ve since vowed to change all diapers outside on days that we have clients coming over. And as for being ‘real’, the battle against becoming cardboard cutouts of ourselves continues onward.

Okay, now about this wedding: It’s definitely among my all-time-top-5. If you can’t tell by the many, many photos below – I just couldn’t help myself. We really connected with Clayton and Neda and had a blast shooting their wedding. And did I mention it was at the historical Granada Theater!? It was so different from the other wedding we shot there because of the way they set it up.. you’ll see!

Much love,

Austin (& Dara who is saying “Austin, come to bed already!”)

I love how everybody smiles at our girls. Aliyah will do something cute (like breathe) and undoubtedly everybody within 20 feet will start smiling. They’ll look at her, they’ll look at me, and we’ll share a moment – just for a second. And that second is just long enough to relieve the feeling of disconnection to the world, which I think sneaks up on all of us.

The thing about Aliyah is that she’ll make someone smile even if she’s not smiling! The other day she made some girls laugh while signing Twinkle, Twinkle at the top of her lungs and inviting them to join in. Today, she tripped over a curb, ate it, and got right back up like nothing happened. Some random guy and I both started cracking up.

When I go for a walk without my girls, I feel like a cop driving his non-squad car home after work. "Where’s the love, man?" Hehe… We all need to smile more at each other!

A few months ago, we got an email from Cindy from An Enlightened Event asking if we would like to photograph a charity event for little Nina Fredeen who was suffering from an inoperable brain tumor. At the same time, our newborn Devan was in the hospital with Dara after nearly suffocating in my arms because of RSV (a nasty cold especially in little ones), so we felt especially connected to the Fredeen family and said yes immediately.

This is Nina.

The event was scheduled to be today at the Natural History Museum, but sadly Nina went to heaven February 21, just a few weeks ago.

Because of the hospital bills and everything else, Friends of Fredeens have organized an online benefit for the Fredeens through eBay. There are some amazing things up for auction, including a 6 hour wedding package from us, 8 pints of McConnells ice cream, A Case of Cordon Wine, and even 4 VIP tour tickets to see Conan (which we’ve even bid on!)

Here is a complete list of items being auctioned off (with eBay links):

GO BID ON SOMETHING!

**UPDATE** After an awesome eBay auction, our donated services raised $2250 for the Fredeens! Thanks to everyone else who bid and donated!

We recently got an email from the fine folks at Wedding Wire notifying us that we were selected among the top 5% of the wedding industry to win a Bride’s Choice Award for 2011. As I would have said when I was 10, “Badness!”

We were awarded with a similar recognition from The Knot last year with their “Best of Wedding” Award, and once again it was a huge honor and big surprise.

Thanks to all of our couples for spreading the word about us and being so awesome at writing reviews. If we took your pictures and you haven’t reviewed us on WeddingWire.com yet, don’t make us beg! Okay, we’ll beg. Please, please, pleeeeaase! Haha, okay, now seriously. Do it. Please. Thanks.

Love you guys,

A (& D)

PS: New site coming soon. BOOYA!

Our 2nd daughter, Devan was born today after 18 hours of labor and no drugs!  Yes, Dara is my hero right now.  Seriously, she is the all time champ!  I’m so proud of her and our not-so-little one who made it through perfectly healthy.  Devan is 9 lbs and 21 inches long.  She is so mellow, very loving, and hardly makes a peep.  This is our favorite New Year ever!

Our hearts have grown bigger through this experience, and we are even more in love with our little family.  Wow.

Love you guys,

A&D

It’s fun to see our photos in other places. Here are a few recent ones :
Lovely Bridal show cased Julian & Kelly’s weddding:

and so did this Dutch wedding blog:

Forget.me.knot Weddings featured Nicole & Tim’s Wedding:

A Magician used one of my iPhone photos of Aliyah to make this DVD cover:

MyWedding.com used some of our photos for their Wedding Resource Guide – here are a few:

Holy crap! Remember when she was this little? This picture marks the first time she’s slept in her “big girl” bed… which makes me wonder: what are we gonna call the actual big girl bed, once she moves into that? hahah.

I was just editing a few detail shots from Andy & Rachel’s Yosemite wedding and came across a few that just blew me away.  Taking these photos was fun – but opening them up on the big screen is a whole other level!

You got to love the 80′s throwback look on that ring shot and the dusty glow on Rachel’s shoes! This is the best occupation we could ever ask for – AAAHHH, Awesome

Side note: The testimonials page is back up and running.  Happy Memorial Day!