1:49 pm

Music is the other form of art that I am absolutely in love with. I always like to start my day by letting my media player shuffle the thousands of songs I have in my library and surprise me with whatever it randomly selects. As I was organizing and picking a few highlights from Susana and Lydell’s intimate wedding in Yorba Linda, “Collide” by Howie Day started to play on my speakers. I was stopped dead in my tracks with all these feelings that I associate with this song, and I wondered if it was just a coincidence that song started to play or if my computer was smarter than I give credit.

The way that these two opposite individuals collide is definitely love inspiring. She’s quiet and shy and he’s outgoing with metro-sexual tendency’s (I learned the latter from his groomsmen.)  They both are from different Asian ethnicities, have different religious beliefs, and yet they’ve collided with each other and have this beautiful energy that you can see and feel when you’re around them.

This set of pictures will give you a quick glimpse in to their big day. If you have “Collide” in your music library, blast it!

The Bride walking down the aisle with her mom at the St. Denis Church in Diamond Bar.

I’m used to seeing the Groom do a fist-pump exiting the church, but I was more than happy to see the way he held her hand with both of his.

The friendly coordinators at the Black Gold Golf Course in Yorba Linda arranged for us to use the 11th hole on the course, which is their most scenic, for a quick portrait session before the reception.

I don’t know what Lydell whispered to Susana, but that smile is as genuine as it gets, folks.

This is the most endearing shot of the day. Just before this moment, Doug had told Susana that she had a little something between her teeth, and without hesitation, Lydell dove right in to try and fish it out for her. Instead of being disgusted that his fingers were in her mouth, she almost cried from laughing so hard. A beautiful moment in my books.

Asymmetrical cakes are awesome!

Lydell serenading Susana so softly and gently.

Winner, winner! She won top honors for having the best impression of Susana.

This gentleman won top honors for his impression of Lydell. Apparently, Lydell often asks his buddies to check if they think his pants are too tight or not. It made me laugh out loud.

Reactions to their slideshow.

Laughter was definitely a constant theme throughout the entire day. Lydell really knows how to make his wife laugh and those two share a very special connection. It was a simple, beautiful wedding and I was very honored to be invited and be a part of it. Congratulations, once again, to Susana and Lydell!

Cheers,

Danny

I am inspired.

This post is a very special one to me, so forgive me if I blabber on too much. This happy couple is very near and dear to me. Out of my small group of friends that I’ve known since middle school, Wilson is the first one out of us to get hitched. All of us are very excited and happy for him. He is one of the nicest and most considerate guy that I know, and his special lady, Caty, is equally kind to match.

They are quite the goofy and fun-loving couple and Doug and I really wanted take some great pictures for them. With some brainstorming by the four of us, we decided to go with a 500 Days of Summer themed engagement session and photograph at a few of the landmarks the movie was shot at in Los Angeles. We were all thrilled and were ready to rock!

Here we are at the Bradbury Building in the historic part of Downtown Los Angeles. It’s a beautiful building and photographing here was really cool. It was ashame we were only able to photograph on the floor level and the first stair landing but it was totally cool nonetheless.

Our next stop was a very short walk from the Bradbury Building through Grand Central Market to Angel’s Knoll in Los Angeles (right off the Pershing Square stop off of the Metro Red Line for those who like to travel on the light rails.) We were actually able to photograph Caty and Wilson on the same bench that was used in the movie, which was pretty awesome. That same day we were there was also the day that the Angel’s Flight Railway, the world’s shortest railway, resumed service since 2001.

Our next stop wasn’t in 500 Days of Summer, but the couple had seen some of the stuff that we have done before here at Union Station and wanted to get a few pictures here. We were definitely nearby, so what the heck. Why not? Union Station is always cool to shoot engagement pictures at. It’s such an interesting place to me, full of history and character that you don’t find every day.

This spot is just north of Chinatown and can be seen off of the Metro Gold Line just north of the Chinatown stop. I remember Doug telling me about this spot and I happened to pass by it with Wilson when we were on our way to the LA Street Food Fest several weeks ago. This place is a field of bright gold and purple flowers with the Downtown LA skyline in the back.

This is definitely one of my all-time favorite shots ever. Who would have their pants at their ankles right?? If you knew Wilson, you would not be surprised. I actually got inspired to do this shot after seeing a really cool wedding party picture when I was at WPPI in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago. It’s frame worthy in my books.

After a quick dinner in J-Town, we headed to our final photographing destination. Here we are at LACMA, which wasn’t too far of a drive from Downtown LA. After waiting a short while for some other photographers to finish taking their pictures, we were able to snap a few cool pictures here.

These two are a couple of people that really inspire me. They’ve inspired me that such love and passion is possible. They’ve shown me that sacrifices are worth it when it’s for the One you love. They’ve demonstrated understanding and continue to demonstrate commitment. They are a success story that I’m fortunate to witness.

Their wedding is going to be an interesting one to photograph because I am actually in the wedding party. Doug will be doing most of the work with a fellow Furious Photographer while I’ll be geared up for candid shots and other shots from the view of a groomsman (without interfering with my role in the wedding party of course). We all can’t wait until their big day in May.

Congratulations, once again, to Caty and Wilson!

Cheers,

Danny

Greetings, Folks!

One thing that I really love about my job is meeting new couples who are just so in love. It’s a beautiful thing and it is so inspiring. One couple that was oozing with cuteness and love for each other were Anh & Gary. This Bruin and Trojan couple were able to get passed their cross-town rivalry and show that anything is possible. There’s just something really cool about couples who went to rival alma maters. Are they still friends while UCLA is playing USC?? How does it work?? I have no doubts that there are any sore losers between the two because they are definitely both winners to have each other.

With <a title=”wedding photographer” href=”http://furiousphotographers.com”>Doug</a> manning the second camera, we were able to get some cool engagement photographs around The Grove in Los Angeles and on the UCLA campus for this awesome couple.

Here are a few pictures around The Grove.

Something about this picture warms my heart.

While we were riding on the little bus thing they had at The Grove, Anh & Gary were playing with their shadows .

The security guard at the Apple store was kind enough to let us use this awesome glass staircase for a moment. 

After a little bit of traffic driving on Wilshire through Beverly Hills, we were finally at UCLA. We only had a little bit of day light left, so we had to be quick about everything. With Doug’s exceptional navigational skills around UCLA’s upper campus, we were in great shape even with our time constraint.

This last shot is very endearing to me. Didn’t I tell you they were oozing with cuteness? Tickle, tickle. 

To top off our adventures photographing around The Grove and UCLA, Anh and Gary treated Doug and me to dinner and to epic ice cream sandwiches at Diddy Riese! The last time I had one of those was when they were still $1! All in all, it was a fantastic day. The happy couple will be getting married in December and I am definitely looking forward to working with them again. Congrats again you two!

Cheers,

Danny

Hey, Y’all!

Wanna know something really cool about this engagement session in Santa Monica? This stunning couple came all the way from Germany to have their photos taken by Doug for his extraordinary posing skills. Doug asked me to back him up and get candid shots along with a variety of different angles to add the photojournalistic touch and give the couple the complete package that Furious has to offer. A couple that came all the way from Germany to get their engagement pictures done in Santa Moinca?? How could I pass that up? I packed up my gear when the day finally arrived and we were ready to rock.

The Third Street Promenade was really packed that day with a ton of tourists, so went inside Barnes’ and Noble to escape the crowd. We saw this really cool elevator in there and started the engagement session there.

We made our way to the pier and went underneath it for a little more privacy and just to try something different. These next two shots were along the bike path that went underneath the pier. 

It was awesome as we got onto the beach under the Santa Monica pier because it was like we had the place to ourselves.

Of course, we couldn’t have our couple come all the way from Germany and leave without a picture with the Santa Monica West coaster and ferris wheel. 

Martin with a huge smile after Hanny laid a juicy kiss on his cheek. 

Doug was able to borrow this taxi cab from the driver with the help of a $5 bill. Definitely a small price to pay to avoid a massive amount of people walking along the Third Street Promenade and to get a shot like this.

We all had a great time. This picture below is proof!

After chatting with them during the engagement shoot, we learned that they are both exceptional pianists who tickle the ivories on stage and in the classroom. We tried so hard to find a spot with a piano to take a few pictures with, but unfortunately, we weren’t able to locate one. I’ve always admired musicians and I’ve always thought that the piano was one of the coolest things to be able to play. They asked for any recommendations on dueling piano bars and I suggested Howl at the Moon located at the Universal City Walk. I’d love to see them perform one of these days. Perhaps a visit to Germany one of these days? It’s definitely on my to-visit list!

Until next time, everybody!

Danny