carlie statsky photography » modern wedding and portrait photographer

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.

This was one of those days that made me feel so lucky to live near a city as vibrant, diverse and picturesque as San Francisco. I loved every single location that Christy and Jeff choose for their engagement session, as each one showed a unique and beautiful part of the city. We started in the Mission district where Jeff knew about an awesome alley full of graffiti, then headed out to the Sunset area where we discovered a field of wildflowers and Cypress trees overlooking the ocean, (these have to be my favorite photos of the day) then to Alamo Square Park for the famous painted ladies, and we ended up at Baker Beach for sunset. Even though I loved the color images from the beach, there is something about a black and white image that makes you look more at the emotion within the image than just at the view, and I loved both seeing and documenting the honest and playful love between these two. We had so much fun driving all over San Francisco together and now I can’t wait to photograph their Stanford/Menlo Circus Club wedding in a few weeks!

This day was simply meant to be….we had been forced to re-schedule this engagement session a few times due to bad weather, but it was well worth the wait to get a perfect city day like this one, a day that shows San Francisco in all it’s glory. We started in Potrero Hill where we found a beautiful little community garden and got some great city views. We also visit Pier 7 and then headed over to Baker Beach for some classic Golden Gate views. I love that we basically had the whole beach to ourselves to enjoy the golden hour, almost as much as I love to photograph couples like this who so clearly enjoy each other’s company, who are so comfortable together, and who are so obviously in love. I’m already looking forward to part two of their engagement session, where we’ll have all of AT&T ball park to ourselves, and to their wedding later in the year at Clos La Chance winery.

I have to thank Jessica and Tim for having me come up to Seattle to shoot their engagement session, and basically forcing me to take an amazing and much needed mini-vacation in one of my favorites places in the US. I always seem to avoid the rain that everyone complains about, leaving me wondering why we don’t all move to Seattle to enjoy the waterfront living, the woods, and the beautiful light there that remind me of my old home in Sydney. Jessica and Tim recently moved up that way for Tim to finish his studies, and so together we explored the unchartered and inspiring new territory around the aptly named Discovery Park. It was hard to lay my camera to rest that evening, and as we headed home I even made them pull the car over on the side of the road to pick it up again and catch the very last drop of sunlight before it set into the low clouds on the horizon. Jessica and Tim, I can’t wait to see you guys again when you’re back in California for your wedding at Cornerstone Gardens in less than two weeks!

A good friend of mine used to work with fashion designers Lisa and Max when they all worked together at O’Neill down in LA, and when she heard that these two were planning on getting married in Santa Cruz she sent them my way. The moment I met Lisa and Max I knew that I had to photograph their wedding, as they seemed so down to earth and obviously in love, they had amazing taste in music and fashion and their garden wedding sounded like it was going to be both beautiful and a whole lot of fun. We planned to do their engagement session when they were visiting for a few days, all of which were rainy and cold, but thankfully the weather co-operated with us just long enough to capture some great shots and the misty rain only made the beach feel even more atmospheric and intimate, which is exactly how I imagine their wedding will feel too.

Katrina and Robbie are both talented visual artists working in the film industry, so I was excited (and slightly intimidated) to get creative with their engagement portraits. I really wanted them to love their images, and I think by just documenting them doing some of the activities they enjoy together, we were able to really capture who they are as a couple. Robbie is from the UK and he loves to have a beer or two at the pub, so we started at the Santa Cruz Mountain Brewery. There’s nothing like a pint to ease the awkwardness of having a camera follow your every move and to help amplify the fun. We then headed over to Wilder Ranch to wander around the old farmstead and do some crossword puzzles in the orchard. We followed the sun to where it set over the coastline and watched the full moon rise into the dusk light. It was one of those atmospheric evenings, one that made me feel so incredibly lucky to get to meet cool people, go to cool places and simply document love for a living.

This has to be one of my all time favorite engagement shoots…ever. Most people already know that I’m a huge horse lover, as I grew up vaulting on them, show jumping with them, sleeping in the stall beside them and lots of shoveling up after them, so this was an engagement shoot after my own heart. I immediately fell in love with this couple and this ranch and I honestly could have kept photographing them for days. We started out where Courtney and Dan first met, at a country bar called The Wrangler out in Elk Grove California. We then took the scenic roads that led to Perham Ranch where Dan keeps his other love, his horse ‘Whiskey girl’ and where he also proposed to Courtney. This property could not have been a more perfect backdrop for conveying Courtney and Dan’s shared love of the laid back ranch lifestyle, full of fun and horses and natural beauty in every direction. I’ve never had such a hard time editing down images, because these two looked so good, so relaxed and and so in love in every single shot, right down to the last American Gothic inspired shot of this excessively long blog post. Of course I am now even more crazy excited to photograph their wedding at the River Highlands Ranch late in the summer.

An afternoon spent with Lori and Nick in their San Francisco world would make anyone want to move there, including me! We started on their rooftop deck with amazing views out over the city and a good game of dominos between the bride and groom-to-be, followed by a champagne toast and a tour of their favorite places to spend time together in the city. This is a couple who definitely know how to have fun together, whether it’s running through the Presidio, playing rugby (Nick played on an SF rugby team for years) or traveling the world together, (next stop Greece and Turkey.) After getting to know these two, I am SO excited to document their wedding that will no doubt be full of a whole lot of merriment and up at Northstar in Tahoe later this summer.