HELLO- IT’S TABIJE O’ CLOCK! Today is a beautiful day in Southern Cali! It has been rainy and gloomy this past week, so I decided to write to you outside in my backyard. Also, in relation to this nice weather, I decided to write about my cousin Edward and Shanay getting married in sunny San Diego.

The location of the wedding was at Tom Ham’s Lighthouse, at the edge of Harbor Island with a beautiful view on every corner. The couple only had 1 photographer that day… Without hesitation, I helped shoot as the secondary person, while the primary photographer still did his own thing. This was in 2017, and I was still new to wedding photography, so this was a perfect time to not only give these sentimental photos to Edward and Shanay, but to also allow myself to practice and shoot while under pressure…To top it off, this was an outdoor ceremony without a single cloud in the sky- I consider myself a natural light photographer, so I’d be a fool not to use this opportunity!

One thing I did well was dress appropriately but still comfortably. It was a warm day and I wore a short-sleeve buttoned shirt, so this was very beneficial to maneuver around. I also recently purchased a photographer backpack to make myself easily mobile and accessible to my equipment without having to leave anything behind. Since this day was impromptu for me to shoot, I didn’t have any notes on me for poses or angles, so every photo I took on this day was by instinct and trial and error. The main photographer had a list of poses that he wanted to capture- so I took a few mental notes from his ideas…To this day, I used what I learned that day and have applied it in some way with weddings I did in the future.

I was happy with the outcome of a few of the photos that I actually inspired myself (I lacked self-esteem with photographing at the time) that this is something that I can possibly pursue in the future! I photographed my first wedding last year. This wedding was a more casual setting in comparison to most, but was perfect for me because I’m still new to this. I’ll be writing about that day as well- stay tuned!

Thank you to Shanay and Edward for letting me be part of your special day- Next photo session will be group family photos!

With love,