Simple Elegance

Raul and I had the pleasure to capture the memories for Pamela and Larry Stambaugh’s wedding this past Saturday. They had a theme of simple elegance and they simply wanted to share their urban lifestyle in downtown San Diego with their guests. This wedding had a unique personality about it and we we’re glad to be a part of this special day.

 If you were a guest at this wedding and would like to be notified when the online gallery with all their photos is put online please leave a comment at the bottom of this post and I will send you an e-mail when the photos are released.

Otherwise here are a quick 30 that have caught my eye so far . . .

Margaret’s 50th

We celebrated our friend Margaret’s 50th birthday this past friday at me favorite spot to go in SD, Incahoots! Gotta love that country music! Happy birthday Margaret!

San Diego Fires

I just got a free moment and I’ve gotten a lot of e-mails and phone calls and I appreciate you all for caring. Here is a quick update on the fires here in SD. Last night the area I live in in Eastlake was notified to voluntarily evacuate. Alicia and I packed up all of our important belongings and headed a few miles north to her parents house in Bonita. We closely watched the news until around midnight and got a precious 2 hours of sleep. Alicia’s firend Katie whose father is fighting the fires for us called and gave us a heads up of a fire approaching sunnyside, about half of a mile from where we were staying. Alicia’s family started packing as I headed back to our condo. There was an orange glow all around and once I got out of Bonita Valley I saw flames on the nearby hills. I was shocked to reach my condo and still have flames in sight, I honestly didn’t think that the fire would get anywhere near that close. I grabbed some more stuff and shot a couple of quick photos of the fire by the lake. I helped a neighbor load up his car then headed back to Bonita. Alicia and her mom soon after took off to my grandma’s house while we started hosing town the house. When daybreak finally came on us we had the house dripping so I took back off to see how close the fire was. At this time Sunnyside had been mandatory evacuated and almost all of Alicia’s parents neighbors had took off. I was suprised to see that the fire actually backed off a bit and shot some more photos at a spot less then a half mile from my condo at Rolling Hills Ranch where the fire was headed down the field. Soon after the national guard asked me and the other onlookers to evacuate the area as Rolling Hills Ranch became another mandatory evacuation area. So here I am back at the condo waiting to see what I need to do next. Once again my condo lies in a voluntary evacuation zone however less then half of a mile a way has now been completely evacuated. If the winds keep where they are at that will be a blessing for us. A quick note, 1 out of 6 people in San Diego have been evacuated.

Here are some photos that I shot today as well as some photos by the photographers from the Union Tribune ( www.signonsandiego.com ) I’m off to get some rest then I’ll see what tonight has to hold . . .

a view of the fire reflected by the lake which our condo is off of

a house down the street with flames behind it

rolling hills ranch

The following photos were taken by the photographers for the Union Tribune.

Monterey Bay

We’re at our final stop here in Monterey where I will get to cross off one of the top ten things I need to do before I die – to see a great white shark! They have a baby great white at the Monterey Bay Aquarium so that is where we are headed! Monterey Bay is amazing, we drove the entire Bay ending at Pacific Grove where the waves come crashing into the shoreline. Anyways i’ll let the photos do the talkin.

Half Moon Bay

After leaving San Francisco we headed south on the 1 for 30 miles to Half Moon Bay. The drive was incredible with some amazing views of cliffs and secluded beaches. We stayed 2 nights here in Half Moon Bay. The first night we spent at the Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay. This hotel was amazing, you can see it in the American Pie movie American Wedding. The service was incredible and Alicia is still talking about the bed which was the best night sleep we’ve ever had. We woke up the next morning and went on a 2 hour horseback ride which was a first for me. Lets just say it is a once in a lifetime thing to do and I am glad to have that “once” finished. It was still amazing however and was the one thing my bride has always wanted to do with me. From there we went on a hike through mountain lion country in the redwoods, Alicia was not thrilled and her almost stepping on a snake didn’t help out at all. We stayed the next night at the Beach Inn Resort in the middle of a storm. Anyways enjoy the pics . . .

Our room at the Ritz

View from the balcony

view of the hotel from the golf course

up on a cliff

footprints

Pumpkins everywhere, I believe they said that Half Moon Bay is the largest distributor of pumpkins in the US. They also have the record for the largest pumpkin weighing in at 1526 pounds.

balcony view at night

banana slug

Alicia drawing an arrow so the rescuers could find us

redwoods

our room at the Beach House

Well that was Half Moon Bay, from here we are off to Monterey which is a 2 hour drive south, we’ll make a stop for breakfast in Santa Cruz and then head on down to our final destination.

San Francisco

So Alicia and I just got back from a relaxing 4 day vacation along the coast of California. We started by flying into Oakland and immediately driving out of Oakland to San Francisco. It was my first time in San Francisco and I only had 4 hours to take it all in so here are the photos:

didn’t have time to ride one of these but I figured a picture is a must

the local hangout at fishermans wharf

a must for Alicia, however she still thinks Disneyland’s is better

the original boudin’s

my brother Luke wants a boat, it will be named “the nasty” this boat would fit that name

my first time on the Golden Gate – photography by Alicia

stinsen beach – very secluded, a river actually flows into the ocean here

Alicia took a nap in the car so I snuck off to get some more photos of the golden gate bridge

That is it for the first 4 hours of the trip, we’re headed for Half Moon Bay!

My Workflow

Hey. I’m asking a bunch of my designer friends this question. What inspires you, and where do you start? I mean – when you are given an idea that has to be taken from concept to creation; what methods do you use to come up with the idea? Do you look at other designers work? Do you walk around outside until an idea comes to you ect… And then once you have the idea what steps do you take to get the project in its final stages. This doesn’t even have to do with work, anything you create.
Thanks – Aidrienne

What Inspires me? – What inspires me is knowing that I have the ability to take what is in the clients mind and essentially create their vision. Nothing beats getting it right for a client, creating something that they are proud of and can’t wait to get it out. Seeing a logo you designed on a shirt or newsletter is great, but it ultimately comes down to the clients satisfaction and getting them excited that is my inspiration.

Where do I start? – I start with meeting with the client, there is no use in doing some work before a meeting because you could totally be going down the wrong path and waste your time. Find out from them what they have in mind, take tons of notes so when you send them your first draft you can reference those notes and tell them why you chose to do what you did, as well as address anything you chose to leave out and why. I don’t like to look at other designers work because it narrows my focus. I enjoy seeing what other designers are doing but not when working on a project because it limits my mind. I will look at photographers and painters work to help get me in the mood. As I’m looking through that kind of stuff usually an idea will pop into my mind and I’ll know exactly what to do, its hard to describe but I draw it out real quick because if I don’t I’ll lose it quickly. From that point on, once I find my idea or “ness” I’m all set.

My workflow:

1. Meet with client

2. Research, find my “ness”

3. Draw it out on paper

4. Initial rough draft on computer – send a proof to client and address my notes from our meeting

5. 1^st proof – now is their chance to edit

6. 2^nd proof – edits are made, give them one more shot to revise, any more then that and it will never get finished

7. Final version – once again address their notes so they truly feel you took to heart what they wanted and delivered

8. PACKAGING – Make the final version look good, you would be the biggest idiot to turn in a final product on a staples brand cd. Make it look good, find good packaging like www.nashvillewraps.com

9. Do something small but extra to top it off, a simple hand made and hand written thank you note will go along way to get you referrals, add them to your online blog or newsletter so they can constantly be reminded of you and see your work. You want to be the one and only person they have to refer business to. Add them to your christmas card list, etc.

San Diego Zoo

So besides tickets for the year for Sea World my wife made the mistake of getting me year round zoo passes. My brother Jesse refuses to go to the zoo with me since it is a marathon when I go. Anyways my wife thought we would just go for an hour and a half, but I ended up with 3 hours and I wasn’t even half way finished before she forced me to leave. She isn’t a huge fan of the zoo as well so she spoke her mind for most of the day, my favorite was her beliefs on how the government wastes way too much money on bring pandas over from China because they are boring and not worth it. Speaking of Pandas, how come everytime we have a baby Panda born here at the zoo we have to send it back to China after a certain amount of time. Also why do we have to give it a Chinese name? I’d say name the bear Jack or Buck and send the bear back as an American!  Well anyways dinner is burning so here is what I was able to capture this time . . .

Friday Night Lights . . . Midway vs. Tri City

Well I finally made it out to one of my brother in law’s football games and it was neat to see that they actually are good this season. Anyways here are some photos from the sidelines . . .