Weddings: I don’t do many of these, because it allows me to engage with full soul with the ones I do. Here’s are a couple of contenders for favorite photo of 2014. A beautiful, legal wedding in San Francisco’s City … Continue reading
When you step foot atop Twin Peaks in San Francisco, you imbibe sweeping views of a thriving metropolis nestled in nature. There are vast swaths of gray hugged by adjacent seas of green and blue. It’s not Brooks Range-esque wilderness, but as Bill Cronon professes, “what brought each of us to the places where such memories became possible is entirely a cultural invention.” Although I don’t always completely agree with Professor Cronon’s view of a necessarily anthropogenic wilderness – San Francisco undoubtedly stands as living proof that cultural intervention has allowed for these memories to be accessible (my interpretation) to the masses, not the few private property owners. Cultural intervention has also preserved a taste of wilderness, and the home of this unlikely resident of Twin Peaks, the Mission Blue Butterfly. MBB’s fly from about April to May, each year, a reminder of how delicate biodiversity can be, while at the same time celebrating the incredible resiliency of this tiny, ephemeral butterfly.
Two Golden Hour Restoration Institute volunteers restoring habitat for lupines, the host plant for the Mission Blue butterfly.
Iris douglasii coming into bloom.
I’m very excited to be working with NATGEO this afternoon helping photographers get the most out of their camera! The 2014 Bioblitz is already looking to be a tremendous success as more people get out and learn about the natural resources in the Bay Area’s Golden Gate National Recreation Area. I hope to see you all out there geeking out on nature!
We have one (maybe two) slots left for our February 1 workshop in San Francisco. This will be modeled after the January workshop where we spent the day going over techniques/methods – photographing – talking and repeat! We had a great time and I’ve heard lots of positive feedback from attendees.
Who’s this for? Amateurs who are interested in getting the most out of their camera (usually a DSLR, but an advanced compact is great too!). You’ll be joining a small group of about 4 people and will be working together and learning as a group. It will be fun, instructional, and very interactive with fast feedback on what you’re learning!
I’ll be kicking off this December with a double-decker banana Sunday type blog post thingy… The December desktop calendar – celebrating family and the outdoors AND a formal announcement for a SF photography workshop for 5 people who want to learn how to get really great photos out of their DSLR.
After being fortunate enough to be published in the San Francisco Chronicle this past Sunday – and yes, we had a full page, no ads, it was awesome! – I’ve been asked by a few people to see more pictures of this unique wedding. I can’t say enough about how amazing it was to photograph Alicia and Mike’s big day. Beyond the klezmer, the delectable food, and the home brewed honey wine, the community was just amazing.
I’ve never quite seen a wedding community dance for quite this extended of a time… It was epic! Continue reading
Leah and Adam are about the sweetest people you’ll ever meet. They have kindness in their souls. And they’re good listeners too, making for a really fun engagement session at Stow Lake, in Golden Gate Park – San Francisco. The cherry trees were going off, and it was green as green gets for our golden California. It was lots of fun, and no, no one went swimming in the lake today!
Sometimes you’re just at the right place at the right time. And sometimes that’s enough, but if you don’t have the right people, the place and time are almost meaningless… well at least for photography. And actually, as I think about that a bit more, it’s a truism that rings throughout everything we do. Pleasurable, fulfilling life experiences become so much richer when place, time, and personality come together.
So here we are at Golden Gate park enjoying a remarkable spring day when we come across a gang of people.
I recently photographed a wonderful marriage in City Hall. Kim and Tim (the Im’s) looked stunning especially with the grand architecture and history surrounding them. They are fantastically warm and kind people who have been in love for some time and finally tied the knot.
For me, it was great to be a part of their wedding and to witness what happens in City Hall. After delivering their finished photos, I spent some time finalizing a few pics in a low-contrast, high ISO feel with grain and old times. This isn’t typically what I offer clients (unless they ask specifically), but I thought the BW finish and the feel of the event worked nicely. Continue reading
If there’s a magazine in the Bay Area that seems to sing to my skill set and interests, it is Bay Nature. Bay Nature is an organic journey into all things natural that shape our landscapes and inspire the people who live in them. Everything from redwoods, to tiny rare annual plants to mushrooms to the people who help conserve the resources live in this regional magazine. Its the whole ecosystem, the anthropocene at its finest. (I just learned to embrace this word at the 1st ever Society for Conservation Biology Congress in Oakland at which I spoke on some of my ecological work in the Oakland Hills and beyond)
Lech Naumovich Photography 