In the heart of Beverly Hills is a fantastic award winning 5-star gem, the Montage. From their website, “Embraced on all sides by beauty and refinement, Montage Beverly Hills welcomes you to a getaway in the heart of the Golden Triangle. Literally steps from the incomparable shopping and dining of Rodeo and Canon Drives, this Beverly Hills hotel is a celebration of its legendary setting. Business and leisure pursuits are equally at home thanks to Montage’s coveted location, unmatched ambiance and highly personalized service. Whether you’re planning a pivotal business meeting or romantic weekend, our Montage associates at this resort will cater to corporate and social affairs with finesse.”

A perfect venue and a beautiful summer evening for Anne and Andrew’s rehearsal dinner . . .

Anne and Andrew utilized the rooftop Conservatory dining room for their intimate event . . .


The dining room overlooks the Hollywood Hills where you can see the world famous Hollywood Sign in the distance and the Griffith Observatory.

More info about the Montage Beverly Hills, “Exuding vintage Hollywood style paired with modern luxury, Montage Beverly Hills offers the best of both worlds. Sophisticated, inviting and reflective of its glamorous Beverly Hills setting, this urban oasis is set in the midst of a vibrant city. Distinctive amenities include award-winning cuisine, a 20,000-square-foot spa and an iridescent rooftop pool with panoramic views. Impeccable service is also in flawless alignment with your every 21st Century need.”

Alice and Adam are really funny together, very playful and honest. For their engagement pictures it was only appropriate for us to start at their old stomping grounds at the Carpenter Avenue Elementary School in Los Angeles. Instead of wearing their school uniforms, Alice made a quick stop at Macys that morning for their outfits. Perfect . . .




After school we drove down to the Santa Monica pier to continue a beautiful engagement session.






Life is beautiful!

Turnip Rose Wedding

From Wikipedia’s Griffith Observatory entry, “Sitting on the south-facing slope of Mount Hollywood in L.A.’s Griffith Park, it commands a view of the Los Angeles Basin, including downtown Los Angeles to the southeast, Hollywood to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest.”

What more could you ask for in a view?! And this spring day was all about the view!! Could you believe there was NO smog hovering over the Los Angeles basin on this day?!?! WOW! Miracles happen.

Well they say that opposites attract. That is true for Jan and Don, at least as far as their choice in football teams. RIVALS!! Do they sit on the same side of the field? And YES, your eyes do not decieve you!! These are a matching pair of old school Air Jordans. . .



At the end of the day, Jan and Don are together and that is what matters. Thank you for inviting me on your day to Los Angeles.

Griffith Park Observatory
2800 East Observatory Road
Los Angeles, CA 90027
(213) 473-0800

Enjoy beautiful Huntington Beach! . . .

Shorebreak Hotel
500 Pacific Coast Highway
Huntington Beach, CA 92648
(714) 861-4470

As a photographer the Irvine Regional Park in Orange is a great place for engagement pics – tons of trees, wild flowers, shade, sun, water, open spaces, secluded spaces, train tracks, etc. I’ll definitely be going back there with couples in the future.

Irvine Regional Park
1 Irvine Park Road
Orange, CA 92869

Chris and Lizzy are an inspiring couple – the first time they saw each other at church there were immediate sparks. They didn’t waste any time, 20 minutes later they were sitting at the Gypsy Den in Costa Mesa having coffee and coversation. They were soon engaged, married and then went to India for 3 months to serve in small villages that lack water, education and basic health care (Harvest India). Solid people. Way to go Chris and Lizzy.

For their engagement pics, we naturally went back to The L.A.B. in Costa Mesa, home of the Gypsy Den and all kinds of other lovely places. If you like color, texture, and smiles then you may want to have your photos taken here too!

The sexiness is just oozing out of this photo, make it stop. . .

Thanks for all the fun! Hope to see you again soon.

Julie and Kraig came up with a NEW surprise idea for their engagement session – the desert! Thank you for this! What a great way to put me out of my comfort zone. The desert sun was hot and high when we got there (somewhere off the 15 & 138 frwys in the Silverlake area) and it looked, well . . . like a desert.

We ended up having a great time and got some wonderful pictures.

See you soon when you tie the knot at Strawberry Farms Golf Club!

But not Tim and Kristina. hahahah. If you have been following my posts, you know that I like to say that “they met the old fashioned way.” In a bar of course! Even better than that, they were both rooting for the same team – UCLA! I mean, this union was blessed from the very beginning. Tim comes from a long line of UCLA history, and Kristina graduated from UCLA not too long ago.

It was only natural then that the engagement session started at UCLA (and that Kristina would be wearing blue and yellow)! Complete fun. I have been to UCLA before for portrait sessions, but this particular day I ended up learning quite a bit. First of all, there was a home basketball game going on. No parking. Then I learned about the attack squirrels that roam the canvas. True. That’s where our afternoon begins! . . .

We had a lot more fun at UCLA but we had to leave to make it to Santa Monica Pier for sunset. After a stop at Westwood In-N-Out Burger we arrived at a very familiar landmark. . .


The Santa Monica pier area turned out to be a new favorite for me. There was a lot going on there including games, street performers, anime characters, beach and sunset.


Underneath the Santa Monica Pier . . .


We ended up with a lot of great pictures for Tim and Kristina’s engagement session. They came ready to have fun, ready to try some silly ideas from Hoffmann and they had a positive attitude. Two of my favorite pics from the day are next . . . you can sense a real connection between these two and can’t miss Kristina’s genuine smile. . .



Every once in a while I take a cool picture . . .

My nephew Jordan came along and tested out some of his SLR video equpiment. The result was a great video montage that he put together for Tim and Kristina: Los Angeles Engagement Video. Check it out!

Kristina had her hair and make-up professionally done for the engagement session. Thanks to Amber Ayala in Los Angeles.

Kristina and Tim will be getting married at the Ruby Hill Golf Club in Pleasanton, CA.