Apr 28

One of My Favorite Shoots I’ve Ever Done...

Which leads me to think, dang it!... I just need to be shooting more for myself! Which is exactly what this felt like, accept it was Mary & Aaron who thought of the striking traditional Japanese garb & classic suit for their engagement session. Thank you from the bottom of my heart Mary & Aaron for blessing me with such amazing subjects! And I have to give a huge shout out to our very good friend; coordinator Michele Buckley of Mint Julep Inc. who hooked us up with this awesome couple. She also hooked up us with the wedding of Teresa Strasser, Adam Carrolla’s Co-Host of The Adam Corolla Shows. Michelle, you rock our world!!! (and in case you were wondering, there are ones of them smiling in the rest of their photos :) CLICK ON IMAGES TO VIEW THEM BIGGER!

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Film: Fuji 400H 220, Fuji 800Z (pushed to 3200) 35mm, Fuji Acros 100 120, Fuji Neopan 1600 35mm

Lab: Richard Photo Lab

Apr 25

Pics and Kicks

Check out Pics & Kicks for a sweet little article on us by the very cool & informed Natalie Norton. Thanks for featuring us girl, you rock! Also be sure to check out the complete article at the Digital Photography School due out next week!

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Pics and Kicks
Apr 24

I Used to be in the Navy...

It’s funny what us Navy boys have made of ourselves. It’s almost just too random that we were even in the Navy! My friend Leo Gonzalez, that I used to drive tractors with to tow around jets on our aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) from 1999-2002), got hired as an automotive designer for Honda, too cool!!! He just joined as the 202nd (202 members in under 2 months woot, woot!) member of Photo For The People and has shared a concept design he and his team have been working on. This one is going to be made into a Hotwheel! He was laughing because the cars Honda has on the road right now were designed 5 or more years ago, so the secret designs (literally) he’s working on right now aren’t going to be viewed by public eyes until 2012-15! Below are some images of our Carrier & Some of the Honda Racer Images that won Leo and his team the 2007 SEMA show competition award! Click here to see more of this insane design on PFTP

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A really cool image of the carrier being built. The Vinson cost $4.5 billion to build and about $1 million a day to operate. Check out this interesting spec. sheet
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Another day on the open ocean…
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You can barely see, but they would line hundreds of us in our Navy Whites along the perimeter of the carrier when pulling into a port. It was often so freezing, but an epic view.
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Those intakes are burly
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This is ridiculous!
Apr 18

Jill + Pedro

Everything about Jill & Pedro’s wedding was beautiful; them, their venues- the Santa Barbara Historical Museum, Alice Keck Park, & the details. Jill formerly designed the storefronts nationwide for Anthropology & her savvy shone through as she and her friends co-designed the wedding with one of our very favorite coordinators Zohe Felici of Events of Santa Barbara. This wedding was a photographers dream as every corner we tuned had something unique and gorgeous to photograph. Pedro hand-made Jill’s ring from wood & glass, it took him 4 revisions to get it just right. He presented to her in an Altoid tin during the ceremony – too cute! Click here to see the full story of their fabulous wedding.

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Click Here for a Slideshow of Jill & Pedro's Georgeous Wedding
Apr 16
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Awesome Lighting Techniques!
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Photo by Colin Michael

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If you are a photographer and are interested in how to make your images AMAZING through switching up your lighting technique - DEFINITELY check out this interview on photoforthepeople.com!

Colin Michael is an awesome photographer from San Luis Obispo and I think you'll be very surprised to see that he's only in his 3rd year of shooting weddings! Check out the interview and feel free to post comments/questions. I'm sure that Colin will be happy to post answers. Thanks Colin!

Apr 15

The 2nd Puzzle Piece is in Place...

Branding/Buzz Marketing. Expand your open mind on Photo For The People

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Apr 14

Gettin' Crazy in Photoshop

Every once in a while I’ll see an image that possibly has a lot of potential to get crazy with in Photoshop. I shot this image on our Canon 20d we converted to capture infrared light. This shot strays wildly from our usual style, what do you think, love it or hate it?

Click on it if you would like to see it larger.

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Apr 10

Last Pics from WPPI

!Warning, most of these are taken from our iphones! ;) Also, my links didn’t embed into peoples names so you’ll have to copy and paste… doh!

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Some photo booth images from the [[b]]( http://beckersblog.com/) party with our buddy [Joe Photo](http://joephoto.com/) & [Brion Hopkins](http://brionhopkins.com/). For the last shot Joe was like, “let’s both kiss her cheek!” then the picture flashed and I was like, wait a second… ☺ Photos courtesy of Dand Sanders’ Simple Photo Booth - http://www.fotocabina.com/
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Speaking at our platform class 1st photo courtesy [Art P Suwansang](http://www.wedding64.com/) next three from [Staja Studios]( http://stajastudios.com/#)
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I always love talking with people after the presentations we’ve done cause it gives us a chance to get to know everyone and see what knowledge was important from topics we discussed.
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The beautiful perpetual sunset at the Venation Hotel during the annual Richard Photo Lab dinner at Canaletto’s restaurant. We’re excited to revisit the Venation later this year for the wedding of [Adam Carrolla’s http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10009253-the_hammer/) co-host, [Teresa Strasser]( http://adam.freefm.com/pages/58237.php)
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This is a photo of what the hypnotist did to these poor people at the [blu social]( http://www.bludomain.com/blog.cfm). He basically had them collapse as he shot them one by one with his fake gun. It was crazy to see these people who didn’t even know each other all sprawled out all over each other on the couch! Big shout out to bludomain for hosting one of the coolest parties We’ve ever been to at the [Parisian Palace](http://www.parisianpalace.net/) and for hooking us up with Nike’s, Versace Cologne, & a Coach purse! You guys rock!!!
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Anna & I after the awards ceremony with Joe, who hosted it & our buddy [Roberto Valenzuela]( http://robertophotography.bigfolioblog.com/) who took 1st place in the “Wedding Photojournalism Humor” category at WPPI. It’s so funny cause the image he won with looks so much like an image I took at a wedding we shot in Canada. Below you can see them side-by-side. I must say though his huge advantage over mine is those kids’ eyes peering over the piano like that, too cute!
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Our good buddy Brion Hopkins attempting to walk in Anna’s high-hills and discovering it’s not so easy being a girl!
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Anna & I with [Brook Todd}(http://www.alishabrook.com/) at [The Lounge]( http://www.mandalaybay.com/dining/thelounge.aspx) at The Hotel after the [b] party. I have no idea who those random people are in back of us ☺
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Us with our awesome couple Lilia and Raymond Ahner of [Lilia Photography]( http://www.liliaphoto.com/index2.php) at the Eiffel Tower restaurant during our [Thirst Relief]( http://www.thirstrelief.org/) mentorship session with them. All money spent to bid on us went to the amazing Thirst Relief foundation to provide clean water for people around the globe, what an epic and amazing cause!!!
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Anna & I speaking at the Fujifilm booth, which I would say was probably more tiring than our platform class because it was not just once, but three separate times all spread out! Super fun though, and awesome to hang with everyone who came!!! Photos courtesy of [Rowena Curtis](http://www.rowenacurtis.com/) More photos from this post if you click the "back in time" button
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View from our room at the Paris Hotel
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Photo of the love of my life I took from my iphone ☺
Apr 08
The First Piece of the Puzzle is in Place...

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The first puzzle piece is in place on how you can stand out in the photography industry. As promised, we have an open discussion currently on the first topic of the 5 piece puzzle, Artwork/Niche Marketing, on how to make your business rise to the top! Check it out on Photo For The People

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Apr 07

Please Keep Voting!

Hey Everyone, thanks so much for your support in voting for us in the First Annual The Knot Real Wedding Awards. It's cool cause you can cast a vote once a day, and every one makes a difference. So it would be awesome if you could keep going online, and with your help we can get this sweet bride & groom's wedding published. Here's the link (ps, please make sure you rate the wedding in the overall ratings in the orange box as well): realweddingawards.theknot.com

You guys rock!!!

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click on this image when you get to theknot.com's site
Apr 03

Relaxing Evening with Friends

Anna & I went out with our good friends David Jay & Allie, Jose Villa & Joel Serrato, & Tim & Cheryl Halberg to one of our favorite eateries, Elements. Elements is one of our favorites cause the food is so delicious and it has an amazing view of the court house, which as you can see is gorgeous lit up at night. DJ remembered me for my birthday and got me this really great book, “Creating Customer Evangelists,” which was funny cause I am currently reading it. He suggested I re-gift it to one of my other friends ☺ We headed back to our new studio/condo to chill and have some truffles… mmmm… truffles… arghhh!

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What is DJ doing?
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Pretty funny, I'm the only one looking at the camera...
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DJ & Tim, looking out into their dreams
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Santa Barbara Court House
Apr 01

Vote For Us! :) The Knot Real Wedding Awards 2008!!!

Check out the info on our personal blog: michaelandannacosta.com/blog

Forward in time