carlie statsky photography » modern wedding and portrait photographer

When I meet a couple for the first time and immediately want to steal all of their clothes for myself I know that I’m going to love working with them…and Molly and James are one such couple. We met in San Francisco near their home and then spent what I would consider a perfect afternoon together. These two are so fun, laid back and in love, so they made it really easy for me to capture them glowing and at ease. I always love shooting in a new location, and while I’ve shot in San Francisco countless times, I’d never shot in this particular area. San Francisco was in all of it’s tourist-free, winter glory that day, so we had the best time exploring around the waterfront and on some beautiful boats. Check out their save the date at the end of the post…every time I see it I get super excited to watch these two become husband and wife at Cornerstone Gardens in Sonoma later this year.

What a treat to see one of my favorite engagement sessions featured on Engaged & Inspired today! To see the full post click here, or to see my post about this beautiful engagement session check here.

Happy New Year! 2012 is proving to be a great year so far and I’m so excited to document a whole lot of love this year. One wedding that I’m really looking forward to is Jenny & Rishi’s, as I recently shot their engagement session and felt so inspired by our beautiful afternoon together. These two are both so kind and engaging and together they make one dynamic couple. Jenny is about to become a doctor and Rishi recently launched an awesome startup called Sosh that all of you in the Bay Area should check out to discover of the most interesting and entertaining things to do in the city.  Jenny and Rishi met while studying at Stanford University, so we had to begin their session on the campus. After we had explored some of the architecture and wandered around the areas where they had spent lots of time together, we headed for the hills nearby for a champagne and pastry-filled picnic. The sunset up there was insane, and these two looked amazing together in the late afternoon light. I’m seriously counting down the days until I get to document their big day and more golden light at The Carneros Inn in Napa early this summer.

It’s always so inspiring for me to photograph in a new place, and I have to thank Becca and Tim for choosing the Rodin Sculpture Garden at Stanford for their engagement session, as it proved to be an amazing location this time of year. Becca and Tim flew in from Boston the week of their wedding, and I’m so glad that we were able to squeeze in a quick engagement session before their big day. These two quickly became comfortable in front of the camera and we had such a great afternoon exploring around the gardens. One of the highlights was discovering an installation by one of my very favorite artists, Andy Goldsworthy tucked beneath some oak trees. Images from their beautiful, game-filled wedding will be coming soon.

Just realized that I never posted this one…still one of my favorite engagement sessions ever!

I know that this is a ridiculously long post for an engagement session, but these two looked so good in every single frame, so I had to share them all. Emily and Zac flew from Boston for this session so I knew that there wouldn’t be any re-scheduling if the weather didn’t co-operate, but thankfully  it turned out to be one of those amazing fall days in California full of lovely light. The second I saw these two, with all of their chemistry together and their awesome outfits, I knew that it was going to be an amazing afternoon. Indiana at The Makeup Dolls did a beautiful job with Emily’s hair and makeup and I loved that they brought a vintage Corvette too add some Mad Men inspired sexy to the shoot. We had so much fun at each of the locations, but I think my favorite was our last stop when we got to witness the most beautiful sunset on a beach that we had all to ourselves. I’m beyond excited to document their wedding day at Hans Fahden Winery in Calistoga next year, and I’m preparing myself now for the painful process of choosing favorites when a couple is as photogenic as these two are.

Jackie and Matt live in Memphis, but are getting married at the Hollins House at the Pasatiempo Golf Club next year so they wanted their engagement photos to show the coastal beauty of the area. I’m happy to report that California co-operated perfectly that day with its warm weather and amazing golden light. All we needed was one camera, two people in love and 3 locations with three outfit changes (minus two pairs of shoes that were accidentally forgotten, but thankfully bare feet look best at the beach and my shoes looked great with Jackie’s last look.) This was one of those days that made me feel so thankful to live in such a beautiful town, and thankful that I chose a job that often doesn’t feel like work. Jackie and Matt, I had a blast with you both and I can’t wait to document your big day next year!

I think this has to be my new favorite engagement session…and that would explain why I’ve included just about every single photo from that session into this post. This was one of those fortuitous and inspiring days and I loved the company I was able to spend it with. Things didn’t seem so promising at the start though, as I had arrived early to find a huge fog bank moving towards our location. I was sure that within minutes the blue skies would turn grey and poor Lara would freeze in her summer dress, but thankfully we were able to start sooner than planned and the fog stayed at the perfect distance and diffused the light in the most amazing way and only started to sweep in just as we were packing up.

I’m convinced that there is no better way to start an engagement session than with a tandem bike. I loved all of the props that Lara and Anthony brought to the day, like their vintage blanket and custom banner, but my favorite one was the old frame that Lara randomly found on the ground when we were shooting near some hay bails. It was such a perfect fit for their vintage-inspired style that they’re planning on using it at their wedding too. Double score. Props can’t make a picture though, but personalities can, and Lara’s and Anthony’s definitely did. They both showed their sweetness, their humor and their love…and they could go from sultry to goofy in two seconds flat. I blame those two personalities and their photogenic ways for making it so hard to choose favorites and to keep my blog post brief.

I’m in love with the location that Shannon and Rich chose for their engagement session, as it shows Northern California in all it’s sun-drenched, summer glory. Shannon grew up near Stanford, so she knew all the right back roads to take to avoid a long hike and the big crowds, so we ended up finding some beautiful spots and feeling like we had the whole place to ourselves. We had such a great afternoon together as we wandered around the eucalyptus trees and open fields with the hand-painted initials and bottle of champagne that they brought along to make the day extra fun. We were all cracking up when the bottle exploded before any of us were ready and ended up all over the two of them while my camera stayed nice and dry. Shannon and Rich have such a sweet connection and I’m really looking forward to documenting their big day at the Thomas Fogarty Winery later in the year.

What a memorable experience to have all of AT&T park to ourselves for this engagement session. I had already spent one beautiful afternoon photographing Melissa and Casey in San Francisco for their engagement photos, but that session was for Melissa, and this session was definitely for Casey! Casey has been a huge Giants fan forever, and being the clever man that he is, he managed to convert Melissa into a diehard fan too. His brilliant technique was promising Melissa that if the Giants won the World Series he would propose…so of course Melissa immediately began paying close attention to each and every game and was cheering along beside him when they won that final game. Since the Giants have played such an big part of their love story, (they even live within walking distance to the stadium) I can’t think of a better engagement session location for these two.