March 10, 2010
Before we get into the bulk of this post, 2 quick things. 1. I know I just did three photo days in a row. I normally don’t do that for the sake of people who read the blog for the words, not the pictures. But I had to get caught up on sessions we shot last week since I spent all of last week posting earthquake stuff. 2. The blog text has been a little wonky lately, so hopefully it’s back to normal.
On with the post…
Keith is Emily’s father, and he’s getting married to the lovely and elegant (in a very Kristin Scott Thomas sort of way) Jane in just a few short weeks! I fully realize that his gorgeous daughter’s wedding, plus a hot semi-naked girl in Santiago is a difficult act to follow but I adore how these pictures turned out. Photo session at any age = awesome.
I have to say, while 20-something year olds tend to be a bit shy in front of the camera, Keith and Jane were totally unselfconscious. It was wonderful. Seba and I had fun laughing with them and grabbing a few shots in between 
Seba always takes the best silhouette pictures. And isn’t it amazing how different a photo of the same moment can look from two different angles?!? Above^ is mine and below is Seba’s. Seba for the win!
Shooting in front of these little people on the wall was Keith’s idea and I love how it turned out. Hmmm, maybe I should hire him to location scout for me 
This is by far my favorite picture of them. They look so happy and natural together — just the way it should be. So adorable!
March 9, 2010
Outdoor boudoir session. Beautiful light. Hot/brave girl. End of story.
May I present to you…Ms. Chile Earthquake 2010!
Ok being serious now — isn’t she gorgeous?!?
This might have been the first photo of the day that I took, and she was really nervous at first — but I love how this picture came out!
This is a little diddy I like to call “Naked in Santiago,” or alternatively, “C. has a ridiculous body.”
Hot girls in Santiago hang out in their lingerie on hills all the time. That’s how we roll in Chile.
So fricken gorgeous.
My brave subject absolutely slays me in this picture. STUNNING.
March 7, 2010
Emily and Rodolfo are some of our best friends in the whole wide world. Anyone who reads this blog already knows how much I love them, so I really don’t feel like I need to say much more about this absolutely AMAZING wedding.
These two are so good looking and so happy that they are an absolute feast for the eyes. While we were taking pictures outside, someone actually asked if they were models or a real couple. Enjoy ☺
Sydney, one of the bridesmaids, found her way into a lot of interesting compositions in my photos. I think it’s because she’s really small and cute, haha!
Emily is adorable. She wrote Rodolfo a little message on the mirror before leaving the house that morning!
All the groom getting ready pictures are Seba’s. He totally rocked it, I’m so proud of him!
I know Emily really loves images that have a classic feel to them. I think this is probably the most classically beautiful photo I have ever shot. I LOVE it. Oddly enough, I actually like the way the earthquake wall repairs look too. I don’t think Emily and Rodolfo will ever forget that they got married exactly one week after.
While I was busy taking classic images of the brides, Seba was busy taking non-classic images of the groom and his men.
Another classic photo. Emily looks incredible.
They are so beautiful together. Not just because they are ridiculously physically good-looking, but because they have such good hearts. It was an absolute honor to be at their wedding as a friend, bridesmaid and photographer.
Aaaaaand this is one time where it was actually easy to choose a favorite! I am in love with this shot. Everything about it screams Emily and Rodolfo to me — elegant, but unpretentious, beautiful and fun. J’ADORE!!!!!!!!!!!!
March 2, 2010
(video via Marmotitas)
Currently my inbox is overwhelmed with emails (sorry if I haven’t replied to you yet, I will this weekend!) asking about the Earthquake in Chile. There’s one repeating theme — people want to know how they can help. So I started a little Etsy shop selling prints of some of our travel photographs. 100% of the profit on any photograph purchased between now and 8pm EST Friday will be donated directly to the Telethon on Friday being held to benefit Earthquake victims and help rebuilding.
If you are in the U.S. can you order directly off my Etsy site. For now, European readers will have to donate on their own — I suggest Red Cross. And if you’re in Chile, I’m sure you’re already inundated with places you can help, but if not, check out Leigh’s blog list of where you can donate/volunteer.
If you’re a client and you’d like to purchase a print of one of your own wedding photos for the same price as listed on the Etsy stores, that can be arranged — please contact me directly. However, those photos will not be delivered until July when I come back from the U.S.
So if you are looking for a way to help, buy a pretty picture! And if there are any of my photos that you’ve seen and would rather buy a print of, let me know, and I’ll add it to the Etsy shop. Don’t forget to buy before Friday, 8pm EST.
February 28, 2010
Yesterday, after all the earthquake madness happening all over Chile that I saw on TV, we stayed inside pretty much all day. At one point we ventured out to buy pop and water, but the only store that was open had a line around the block and the gas station, which was also open, but had nothing left — no beverages of any kind, and no food whatsoever, even though they only sell candy! On our street, there’s some kind of plumbing problem so there are rivers of water running on either sides of the sidewalk, but it’s not flooded or anything. By the looks of it, a couple of our neighbors lost their roofs, but the walls are still standing. Most of the places near us are mechanic shops or big warehouses, not residential, so we haven’t seen too many people to ask.
We had a wedding to attend last night so that was the first time we ventured out. I was surprised to see that the streets looked significantly — not Port Au Prince like. At all. In fact, if I hadn’t felt the 8.8 level earthquake less than 24 hours before, I wouldn’t have known anything happened. Sure, there were a few buildings that had rubble at their base from chunks of the facade that had fallen off, but we drove from our house, almost at the end of the red metro line, to metro Los Heroes before getting on the highway, and we didn’t see a single building that looked structurally damaged. I mean, obviously Santiago has areas that were hit very hard, but dude, this city was built to last.
The news has made things in Santiago look worse than they really are. Concepcion and further South where the epicenter hit is where the real damage is. But up here, life is shockingly normal. At the wedding last night, I would guess probably 120/160 people were in attendance because a lot of the major highways leading into Santiago are still blocked so people from out of town couldn’t get in. But it wasn’t like nobody came. The ceremony was moved to outdoors since the church they were going to have it at had crumbled enough of the structure to be unsafe. But the event center for the reception was totally intact. The real chaos is in the supermarkets where people are panicking and stocking up on everything.
But anyway. Speaking of normal. Here’s the latest family session we did. Aimee, Felipe, and Evan, are visiting from the U.S. Didn’t they pick the perfect moment?!? I guess the one benefit of the earthquake is that their flight is delayed since the airport is closed at the moment. Seba and I photographed their wedding in Chile last year, so we were happy to head out to Maitencillo and get some family portraits of them too! I think Aimee has done almost every single session that I have to offer. And Felipe’s mom found us the apartment that we’re going to buy. Best. Clients. EVER.
When Aimee and Felipe came down for the wedding, Evan was too little to come down, but now he’s a very mature 6 years old and he’s a world traveler so we finally got to meet him. I was a little nervous because 6 year old boys can be a total handful, but in the end, I couldn’t even believe how awesome Evan was in front of the camera. Aimee, you are seriously a supermom — it is rare to meet a kid like Evan that’s so well behaved and so much fun!
EWWWW, kissing is GROSS!!!!
Seba always captures the most amazing silhouettes.
Afterwards, Evan was rewarded for his good behavior with a plastic toy gun. I didn’t realize that it really is that easy to make a six year old boy that incredibly happy!
And just because I couldn’t decide on which one of these was my favorite from the session — I adore them all — I made this cool little doohicky so you can see each one
February 24, 2010
I definitely love being a wedding photographer, but I’m not going to lie, it is NICE to slow down every once and a while and do a shoot where the subject, under no circumstances, can move faster than me and my camera Aside from that, I’ve discovered that I have a passion for photographing hot preggo women’s bellies.
For this session we wanted to do something a little different than the norm — give the maternity photos a bit more urban feel to them. Melissa was the perfect subject. She’s the absolute definition of a hot momma, and she has awesome style.
The Quinta Normal seriously has the best light.
Boobies! Belly! I love this angle!
I had to ask Seba to use his long arms to get this shot. I tried like 7 times and couldn’t get it. But the end result is awesome, thank you hubby!
Aren’t the shadows and the graffiti cool?
These last two are my favorites. Melissa looks so gorgeous in the shot below!!!
And I am so happy with this shot, I had been envisioning something like it for a while now, but needed the perfect light and the perfect backdrop. I finally found it! LOVE.
February 23, 2010
We had such a good time photographing Carolina and Alberto’s wedding at la Enoteca in Santiago this past Saturday. They are both genuinely happy people. Being around them is what I imagine taking some kind of mood aphrodisiac would feel like.
Carolina is always lovely but she was an absolutely radiant bride. During the ceremony she kept tearing up when she looked and Alberto, and he would look down and smile so proudly – moments like that get me every time. I’m a sap!
Lately I’ve been a fan of series of people in mirrors. Cool, right?
Those red shoes. I die.
I think this might be my favorite shot of the whole day. Look at how happy she looks!
Seba rocked the silhouette church entrance again. Good man.
They got married at a church in Santiago called Los Dominicos de Recoleta. I had been there once a while back while I was on study abroad because it’s historic. But this time around I thought it was even more beautiful.
Every time I could see the tears in her eyes, it made me cry too!
Their guests were ummm…hardcore with the rice. They were seriously being pelted. Made for awesome photos!
I love the matching shoes and car!!!
They danced tango to kick off the reception! The crowd was so pumped after the performance, it was awesome. Carolina and Alberto are really into dancing — they also did a very professional looking waltz, as well as a mean cueca.
And then this picture is obviously from earlier on in the night, but I had to save the best for last. Love, love, LOVE.
February 16, 2010
Anita and Alan just got back from their honeymoon in the South of Chile. They sent me the sweetest email EVER. It ended with me in tears, sniffing, Seba, I love our job sooooooooo much!
One of the things this email said was that they were sad to come back to Santiago, back to reality, because they didn’t want everything to be over. So they had saved looking at their pictures for last. I feel the same way. The entire trip to Chiloe was magical. That whole place is magical! So I wanted to save something for later too. Well, it’s officially later and these are photos of the Curanto that Alan and Anita’s family hosted for the wedding guests the day after.
If you have never been to a Curanto before (GO!) let me give a quick run down of what happens. Fresh seafood is collected along the beach — shellfish, mussels, oysters, clams, barnacles, etc. Anything edible that the low tide leaves washed up was put into giant sacks that same morning. Then, the guys dug a giant hole in the ground. I would guess it was around 4 meters long, 1.5 meters wide and maybe 1 meter dip. BIG. Lots of sweat goes into making a Curanto hole. Once it’s done, the next stop is a bonfire. Then rocks are piled on top of the fire to heat them up. Once they’re hot enough, all the shellfish go in. On top of that they place fern leaves (that’s what they looked to me like in my expert botany opinion).* Then more layers of Curanto goodness go on top — a layer of leaves a layer of potato cakes called Milco** and Chapalele, another layer of leaves and then layer of snap peas, probably at least a foot thick, cover the entire things, and one more layer of leaves then typical barbecue fare like cuts of beef and chorizo (spicy sausage).
The entire thing was an experience I will never forget for as long as I live. Aside from the fact that the food rocked my world, it was just so fun — probably because I wasn’t the one hauling up 2 ton bags of oysters from the beach, but hey, I took pictures! The atmosphere was perfect. Anita and Alan’s friends busted out their musical instruments and started singing typical songs — El Gorro de Lana — also known in my world as “me voy pa’ Quellon,” because those were the words that stuck in my head and I could not get it out until like…yesterday. There’s also a special Curanto song, but the only words I remember are, “Curaaaaanto, curaaaaanto,” so I’m useless Anyway, the musical people spontaneously started singing and playing these wonderful songs (so much better than the Youtube version) and people spontaneously started dancing Cueca.
Thanks to everyone who knew the name and correct spelling of these wonderful Curanto ingredients — the leaves are called Nalca, and the potato thingy is not Milco, it’s Milcao!
So here is the view from where we, and all the guests and the bride and groom, were camping. The guys got an early start on hauling up the seafood and the rocks for the Curanto.
I don’t know how they managed to bring all the stuff up, the hill was STEEP.
And the rocks, as they are prone to be, looked HEAVY.
Alan slept in his tux. Or didn’t sleep in his tux. Needless to say, he was still in his clothes from the night before. I hear some of the shenanigans he partook in, involved a close friend of his getting IN THE OCEAN as proof of his love for the groom. You have no idea how cold it was. But that’s just a rumor, I can’t confirm 
Oh oops, I think this should be the first day. This is supposedly a typical Chilote breakfast — more raw oysters, clams, etc. With a little bit of lemon and white wine. Straight out of the shells. I am the world’s pickiest eater, but I do make an attempt to at least try stuff. I generally hate any and all food that comes from the ocean (most things have weird texture and even if they don’t, seafood always tastes alive to me. It’s weird). But I figured, when in Chiloe, does as the Chilotes do and that if ever there would come a time for me to like seafood, it was would be there. I ate a raw oyster. And you know, I didn’t hate it. The slimy texture threw me for a loop, but the flavor was good!
I’m not going to lie, that was a big moment for me. I was very proud of myself. I swallowed and then did a victory dance.
So here, the fire is heating up and they are getting ready to lay the rocks down once it burns.
In the mean time, in the kitchen, the women were preparing the Milco and Chapalele. I can’t remember which was which, but both were basically really heavy potato pancakes and one was stuffed with pork or meat. Absolutely delicious but such a heavy food I felt like I had accidentally swallowed one of those rocks after eating it.
The women are basically grating raw potato and then they strained it out. After that I didn’t see the rest of the process.
Dancing, cueca and good music, on a view you can’t pay for, smelling the Curanto cooking. Priceless. There really are some things money can’t buy.
Everyone was taking pictures and watching the whole time. I am pretty sure that I wasn’t the only one who hadn’t seen a Curanto before.
Seafood lover’s paradise. Do you see how much that is?!?
Throwing some meat and chorizos into the mix.
Here goes the Milco and Chapelele.
And the delish peas.
Once it is all covered by leaves, then it’s covered by a big plastic tarp and left cooking for about two hours.
And when you take the tarp off two hours later, VOILA! This is how it looks cooked. The women went right in with plates and started taking everything out.
They spread the leaves over the tables and we didn’t even need plates. They just piled everything up on top and it was a foodie free for all.
Thanks Waffle! This picture was all his idea
You sucked the beans right out of the pod. Mmmmm, my mouth is water just remembering.
Here you can see the spread.
I don’t think these photos do the whole thing justice, but I have a couple videos we shot that I’ll post as soon as we’re back from our mini-mid-week vacation. Best kind of vacation there is
February 15, 2010
“Karla, you are the light of my life,” Yan said in his toast.
“Karla, eres la luz de mi vida” dijo Yan en su Brindis.
And then later when I asked where she was, “In the middle of the dance floor, center of the party, obviously.”
Y mas tarde cuando le pregunte donde estaba ella, “En el medio de la pista de baile, centro de la fiesta, obvio”
Those two simple statements pretty much sum up this wedding. Karla isn’t just the light of Yan’s life, she’s a light for everyone around her – and always the life of the party. She and Yan didn’t stop laughing all night long. I loved every minute.
Esas dos simples declaraciones son un buen resumen del dia. Karla no solo es la luz en la vida de Yan, es la luz en la vida de todos alrededor de ella - y siempre el alma de la fiesta. Ella y Yan no pararon de reir toda la noche. Ame cada minuto
I love this — calm bride in the middle of chaos. The champagne probably helped a little bit
Me encanta esto — novia en calma en medio del caos. La champana probablemente ayudo un poco
Beyonce stayed at the W that night too. I wish we would’ve run into her!
Beyonce se quedo tambien en el W esa noche. Ojala nos hubieramos encontrado con ella.
The W is officially my new favorite place to shoot getting ready pictures. The hotel is a visual paradise!
El W es oficialmente mi lugar favorito para fotografia de la previa. El hotel es un paraiso visual.
Seba says that this picture, “no se entiende,” or can’t be understood. That’s exactly what I love about it.
Seba dijo que esta foto, “no se entiende”. Eso es exactamente lo que me encanta de ella.
On the way to the ceremony at Alto de Pirque, we found out that a bus with half the guests on it, was lost. So we made a pit stop at a gas station to pick up some munchies for the bridal party. Light inside the Shell station was shockingly beautiful — this picture of Karla talking about how excited she is to say, “I do!!!” is my FAVORITE of the night!
Camino a la ceremonia en Alto de Pirque, nos enteramos de que el bus con la mitad de los invitados, estaba perdido. Asi que hicimos un alto en una bomba de bencina para comprar algo para comer para la novia y las madrinas. La luz al interior de la bomba era hermosa — esta foto de la Karla hablando de lo emocionada que esta absolutamente dice, “Acepto!!!” es mi favorita de la noche.
But, in the end, we made it to Pirque. Just in time for the golden hour.
Pero, al final, llegamos a Pirque. Justo a tiempo para la mejor luz.
Bridesmaids, you have been infiltrated.
Damas de honor, han sido infiltradas
This was so funny. In Chile, couples normally dance a waltz for their first dance. So Karla and Yan started out with about two minutes of solid waltzing…and then busted out a coreographed disco dance. GREAT way to get the party started!!!
Esto fue tan divertdo. En chile, las parejas normalmente bailan un balz para su primer baile. Asi que Karla y Yan empezaron con unos 2 minutos de balz…y luego, de la nada, empezaron una coreografia de musica disco. Genial forma de empezar la fiesta!!!
Bouquet tosses can get a little crazy…
El ramo se puede volver un poco loco….
Man down, we have a casualty!
Hombre caido, tenemos un lesionado!
I adore these two. I’ve probably looked at this picture 40 times since we’ve gotten back from the wedding, but it still makes me smile every time.
Me encantan estos dos. Probablemente he mirado esta foto unas 40 veces desde que volvimos de la boda, pero todavia me hace sonreir cada vez.
February 9, 2010
Emily and Rodolfo are two of our best friends in the whole world. I think anyone who reads this blog regularly probably already knows that. Aside from the fact that she hired us to shoot her wedding, I am also a bridesmaid! Emily once said something along the lines, “I can’t expect anyone to be as excited about my own wedding as I am.” Ahem. If anyone comes even close to being as thrilled as the bride herself, I think it’s me. :) I absolutely cannot WAIT for March 6th to roll around!
Emily y Rodolfo son dos de nuestros mejores amigos en todo el mundo. Creo que cualquiera que lea este blog regularmente probablemente ya sabe eso. Aparte del hecho de que nos contrato para fotografiar su matrimonio, tambien soy una bridesmaid! Emily una ves dijo algo como esto: “No puedo esperar que nadie este tan emocionada por mi propia boda como yo” Ehh. Si alguien llega a estar lo cerca de emocionada que esta la novia, creo que soy yo:) No puedo esperar a que llegue el 6 de Marzo.
I loved photographing Emily and Rodolfo’s official engagement session. Obviously they’re ridiculously hot, but aside from that, they are also fun, natural models and have great style. Can I just say it one more time? Yes? Ahhhh, I am so excited for their wedding!!!
Me encanto fotografiar la sesion oficial de compromiso de Emily y Rodolfo. Obviamente son apuestos, pero aparte de eso, tambien son divertidos, modelos naturales y tienen un gran estilo. Puedo decirlo una ves mas? si? Ahh, esoty super emocionada por su boda!!!
Seba took this killer shot and I’m a tiny bit obsessed with it. It’s like Emily and Rodolfo just go to the park and sit around, looking hot, because you know, that’s what they do.
Seba tomo esta foto y estoy un poco obsesionada con ella. Es como si Emily y Rodolfo solo fueron al parque, flojeando, viendose bien, porque eso es lo que hacen.
Tilt shift always adds a little extra something to photos. Seba always rocks that lens. Well I occasionally do to, but I can’t rock it as hard as he can
Tilt Shift siempre agrega algo extra a las fotos. Seba siempre sacafotos increibles con ese lente. Ocasionalmente yo tambien, pero no tan bien como el
See? I told you. Here they are just laying around being hot again.
Ven? Les dije. Aca estan flojeando y viendose bien denuevo
FAVE. Love, love, loooooooove both these sets of our take on see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil. Emily and Rodolfo were perfect for this. I knew I could count on them to make it look non-cheesy and totally cool!
Favorita. Me encanta, me encanta este set de fotos de nuestra toma see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil. Emily y Rodolfo fueron perfectos para esto. Sabia que podia contar con ellos para hacerlo ver no-cursi y totalmente bakan!
-
-
-
- Dr. Mahoney and Cole rock my socks. Yay for the 9th season!
- http://www.kylehepp.com/2010/03/72-aftershock-hits-santiago/ Pretty crazy big aftershocks today.
- @jenty, they said aftershocks will continue for the next couple of months - year
- @2ndcreative, haha, clearly I should've checked Twitter before trying to find the news from some other source. Thanks for the info!
- @matukoamini, yikes, just stressing me out!
- @jessicashepard, all is fine at least in my house!
