Jesse Plenos Portrait Session: Transportation in San Francisco

June 27, 2016

Something I love about San Francisco's lifestyle is the crazy amount of transportation options you have as a professional (or anyone looking to get around without a car). Between taking one of our beautiful bridges in, the MUNI busses, cable cars, street trains, underground BART, or your own two feet, it's easy to get around.

Ive been itching to do a themed shoot around San Francisco transportation around the Embarcadero, so I was stoked to collaborate with Jesse for a classic, timeless project. Check out our results!

I also wanted to give a special thanks to Jeel for being the third team mate in this excellent set. She did a lot of great work directing and assisting with light!

Joelle's Tour of Sutro Baths and Pace Gallery

June 22, 2016

We don't get to hang out often, but when we do, we see ALL THE THINGS. Joelle flew down for a whirlwind birthday trip from Seattle to San Francisco, and we went to Pace Gallery in Menlo Park, then Sutro Baths in San Francisco. She was a good sport and let me practice both (super low) low light photography in the dark at the gallery, and speedlight flash photography outdoors.

Joelle and I figured out that we've been friends for just about 30 years. There aren't a ton of photos of us together, so I'm so happy we took some this round.

Silly Jo

Thanks Joelle for taking this pic of me!

San Francisco Portrait Meet Results: Night Edition at Mission Dolores Park

June 14, 2016

What a fun night of meeting up with old friends and meeting new faces at the last #SFPortraitMeet! We gathered at Dolores Park and found ourselves an amazing sundown with warm weather, and spent a ton of time being captivated by some skateboarding -- perfect for testing out those shutter speeds in low light.

Can't wait for the next meet-up! Stay tuned for a date in July. Follow @PortraitMeet on Instagram for more info.

Shooting Aerial Photos from a Doors-Off Helicopter in Kauai

June 1, 2016

I didn't think this would be on my bucket list, but when my husband suggested we take a doors-off helicopter ride (potentially in a storm), I said YES! And I'm so glad we went. We chartered Jack Harter for the helicopter experience in Kauai, starting from Lihue. I knew this would be a great opportunity to learn how to shoot from the air while moving around fairly quick, and I was eager to test my Sony A7.

Lens: My only regret was not bringing the wide angle lens. Because I travel with a toddler, the amount of stuff I can carry is limited, so I only carried my 55mm 1.8 prime lens (aka the workhorse for portrait photography). With a wide angle lens (I have a 24-70mm), MAYBE I could have fit an entire waterfall in one shot. But nope, Kauai waterfalls can be 3000 feet tall!

Shutter speed: Because we were moving super fast (compared to my two feet being planted on the ground 99.9% of the time) and I'd never been on a helicopter before (would it be smooth? bumpy? whippy!?!?), I intentionally shot at 1/1000 and ended up with most shots hovering around f8. In hindsight, the ride was smoother than I ever expected and maybe I didn't need the shutter that fast, but 100% of my shots came out crystal clear with limited noise.***

*** Excluding the shots taken in the rain storm. Yes, we flew doors-off through THE RAIN! The water was hitting so fast, my husband's finger got a small cut when hit with a drop. Craaazy. You will see these ominous looking rain shots. Just scroll down.

I was sure to shoot in RAW because I knew I wanted to see every detail of those mountains, and damnit I'd like to find a shark in the water if at all possible in post (this did not happen).

Thanks, Coryfoo for the grand adventure! Here 27 pics for anyone who wants to see Kauai from above. If you are eager to see more, visit my full-resolution album on Flickr (165 pics).

Our pilot, Myles was the best! Highly recommended. :)

Cory checking out the scene

Jurassic Falls!

Waialae Gorge

The rain starts

Look closely to see the rain drops

Na Pali Coast Sea Cave

Puakuau Falls Sea Arch

Yep, that's a goat

Kalalau Trail

Kahili Falls (Five Sisters Falls)

I got all 5!

Tunnels Beach

Our pilot's great hair. Hey Myles!

San Francisco Portrait Meet Recap: FiDi & SoMa in the Rain!

May 31, 2016

The next official San Francisco Portrait Meet is on June 3, 2016 at 7pm at Dolores Park. Photographers & models of all experience levels are welcome to join us in a collaborative night-portrait experience. Follow #SFPortraitMeet and @PortraitMeet on Instagram for more info!

Our last SF Portrait Meet was incredible (even with the pouring rain). We had a variety of cameras for both DSLR and mobile photography and it was nice being surrounded with like-minded creatives from around the Bay Area!

The flagship Portrait Meet group in Boston had their own session and we were able to connect via video chat. Check out the video here by Can Ahtam.

Here are some of our favorite shots from the San Francisco group. See you all on Friday, June 3 to do it again at night!