Happy Anniversary... Happy Father's Day Almost... June was a busy month for me, but with all this we get to go on vacations, which we love! And I am a little bit late in posting the whole happy birthday post, but I must. For our first wedding anniversary, I always dreamed of going to Japan and eating all the great sushi and seeing all the wonderful sites, but with the babe, there would be no eating of any kind of sushi, so, no trip to Japan, just a trip to good ol' Las Vegas! We did so much walking and that was good for us, but we were so tired. For his Father's Day Almost, we just had a nice family dinner at my parents house and his parents joined along. But for his birthday, we went to San Diego! Not only did we go to San Diego, but we had a lot planned out which made it even better.  We arrived Friday night and ate at Old Town Mexican Cafe in Old Town San Diego. This place is always busy, consistent in how their food tastes, and has the best homemade tortillas ever! Every chance we get, we try to come to this restaurant. If you ever make it down to San Diego, it is a must that you pass  by and even order some tortillas to go! It was getting late, and with the babe, I was so tired we headed straight to the hotel. We stayed at The Bristol Hotel located in Downtown San Diego.

It was a modern boutique style hotel. Our room was so cute, and the bed was so comfortable. We ended the night watching The Boleyn Girl because I read all the books and hadn't watched the movie yet, which by the way, go and read the books, it was so much better. The next day was our funfilled day of fun for John's birthday. Whenever we go on vacations, he has everything planned out with where we are going and what we would be doing . No t is left uncrossed, really! This time, he wanted me to plan everything, talk about pressure! We had breakfast at The Daisy Cafe located in our hotel.

 

Really cute with great kitchen furniture. Had the typical breakfast and we were ready for our days adventure.  Our adventure was not a physically challenging adventure, more like a eating taste testing adventure. More on that later. We first went to Coronado Beach.

We both had never been there, and you have to go! The houses are all so cute and so different, not like our track home! We got so many home ideas that we would like to do to ours. It was really a beautiful little place to be. It made me want to ride my bike, but I'm scared I'll fall and hurt the baby.... John thinks I'm so weird! Next on the list was our Red Velvet Cupcake Taste Test Event. I tried so hard to research so many different places in San Diego to pick one up, but I couldn't find too many places. Cupcakes Squared Inc we tried at the Borrego Springs Wedding. Cute squared organic cupackes so they weren't red, but a way healthier dessert. Since we tried those, we thought, let's put that on the list, but try other we haven't tried. First stop, Influx Cafe. It was the cutest coffee shop I had ever seen. It was like the minimalist feel, good conversations around the room, and cupcakes waiting to be bought.

They had consistant texture, great color, yummy frosting, and topped it off with a strawberry on top. Super cute and homemade.

Next stop, The Daily Scoop. They are known for their homemade ice cream and has these huge cupcakes. They were so huge, we just shared one. These had a more traditional look to them, but were still super yummy.

The last stop was this cafe called Rebecca's Coffee House. I loved the look of this coffee house. It was huge with vintage furniture everywhere. It reminded me of the furniture my mom and dad had at our old house in Montclair, Ca. The smell of all the sandwiches were so yummy! They occasionally have cupcakes there, but we must have gone on an off day, they didn't have any! I was really sad, but ok cause I was actually getting really full from all the food. So, from the two we tried from that day, and the other one from that awesome wedding in the dessert... our favorite was.....

Great service, great cupcakes, great environment. The owner was really nice and took time out of his day to chat with us.  The overall environment was great and I hope they stay in business for a very long time. i plan on coming here every time we stop in to San Diego. The next place was a surprise for Jp. He works really hard and always asks me to massage his back or his knee that had the surgery. I'm not very good and Jp is so good to me, I wanted to suprise him by scheduling a massage at Bella Tosca Spa and Salon. He loved it way more than I had ever imagined! He totally played the part. He wore the flip-flops they provided, wore the robe, took a shower! I wish we had gone there earlier so he could enjoy the spa and sauna, but he didn't. He said he had a great deep tissue massage. Me being prego, I didn't want a massage cause I didn't want to lay on my stomach for that long. I thought I would just be uncomfortable, so I just read magazines and waited for him to finish his experience. I'm glad he had a great time. we definitely need to go back so I can give it a whirl. Last on the list was a BBQ spot I wanted John to try. Part of Top Gun was filmed here and had that old bar feel, but... no air conditioning! It was really hot, but we did it for the experience. Kansas City BBQ is the tiny building right behind the Palm Trees.

This pretty much ended our trip to San Diego, it was a pretty late lunch so we just headed back home. But alright, for those of you who were wondering how big I am now, it's really a fake shot cause John was telling me stick out my belly, but here you go! Totally fake, but I would like the new addition to get used to modeling hehe! But, this is how I look like after a full day of eating! It's crazy

 Happy Birthday husband, I hope you had a lot of fun with us...

When we went to shoot our last wedding, it's safe to say that we weren't sure what exactly was in store for us when we got to Borrego Springs other than we were shooting in the desert! =) But regardless, like all weddings we shoot, we always have to come prepared. Besides all our camera gear, camera bodies, lenses and all, we also bring our lighting gear. So what does that consist of?! Well right now this is what our lighting set up entails: - 2 Nikon SB-25 flashes - 2 10' Avenger Light Stands - 1 60" 60" Umbrella w/ Removable Cover - 3 Pocket Wizard Plus II's - and a 28" Apollo Softbog Again it's nothing fancy smancy but it allows us so far to get the shots we want. So today, I thought it'd be fun to share with you a time that we used OCL or Off Camera Lighting during our last wedding, along with some before and after pics as well as the final shot that I wanted. To make it easy I'll break it down into parts... The Environment: One of the first things we do the day we arrive at the wedding is scope out the diggs of where the Bride is getting ready. In this case, with the sun almost directly over the room, the only place light is really entering the room was through the door. The windows, because of the suns' position at that time, were sitting under shade so...no help there. What was cool about the room, besides the temp, was the fact the the door sat right in the middle of the two windows. The Shot We Want: Being that our best light source was coming through the door, there was no second guessing that that's where the Brides' dress was going... As we waited for all the Bridesmaids to come with their dresses, we start to use the curtain rod as the place to hang all the dresses. There were 8 total dresses, all of which were around the same length. With that said, remember "the situation"? There were two windows on each side of the door so we hang 4 dresses in front of each window. Great right?! Yes and no... Although I liked the way the dresses were positioned against the light coming through the window, there still wasn't enough light coming through. Even at an ISO 800 and my shutter speed at 250th of a sec, it was still too dark. I probably could've just dropped my shutter speed down to say 100th of a second but I didn't want just a brighter shot, I wanted the beautiful yellow dresses to pop! Are you guys still with me so far?! The Challenge: I wanted to get the yellow dresses to "pop" with color and match the illumination of the wedding dress hanging in the doorway. So how do I get more light to shine through the windows?! The Solution: 3 Pocket Wizards (one on my camera, the other two on each of the flashes) and two Nikon flashes sitting on two light stands! With all that said, the solution was fairly simple...let's make our own light shine through the window! We place a light stand behind each window in other words, outside of the room, attach a pocket wizard to each flash and set them all on channel one (same as the PW on my camera as well) so that when I take the shot, both flashes fire simultaneously. This is nearly the same shot as the one above but after a little trial and error... So finally I got the flash to the right setting and distance from the window and here's a shot more along the lines of what I wanted... The Outcome: What's great about this shot that we love is that besides a few minor bumps to contrast, this is how the shot turned out straight the camera! NO PHOTOSHOP NEEDED! =) And lastly, here's the final shot I wanted to achieve from the start, after it was all said and done... Whew! See, that wasn't that hard right?! The secret to all this is the plain old saying "practice makes perfect". Now, by no means have we perfected our craft but the better you know your equipment the easier it'll be to get the shots that you want! Remember there are probably a million and ones way you can use OCL! So let your creative juices flow and give it shot and once you do, we'd love to see and even post your results! Send them to blogit@johnlauren.com. Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Last month was a really fun month for us because we were able to be part of not just one wedding but two weddings! Both of whom, we consider our family. Our first wedding this past May was a highly anticipated one. Not only were we super excited because Darcy and JJ are one of the coolest people we know (did you see their engagement shoot?! **click here**) but how many people do you know can turn two neighboring homes smack dab in the middle of the desert into a beautifully lit Ceremony/Reception site, with a dance floor bigger than the footprint of my house, with enough food and drinks, caterers and all, to feed over 250 people??!! =) Needless to say, Darcy and JJ, your wedding was one of the most beautiful that we've seen and we're honored that you chose us to document it for you. You don't know this but when you both saw each other for the first time that day, Lauren and I were right there experiencing that moment through you too. It brought us back to the first time we saw each other on our wedding day and we hope that it was as special for you as it was for us. The moments we were able to capture of you two when you first saw each other are exactly why we love what we do as photographers. We hope you love your slideshow as much as we loved putting it together for you. **Click Here for Darcy & JJ's Wedding Day Slideshow** We love you guys and hope to see you soon!

A few weeks ago we hit a major milestone in both our lives. We saw our baby for the first time and it was amazing =) *almost getting teary eyed even as I write that* When we first found out that Lauren was, as she says it "pregos!", we were floored with so many mixed emotions...from the "woooaahhh.....holy $***!!! (please excuse my french)" emotion, to the "wow, God has blessed truly blessed us" super thankful emotion. We weren't really planning on having kids till perhaps a year or two from now so you can just imagine the looks on our faces when we saw that + sign on the pee stick! hahahah But apparently, God has other plans for us which we're definitely looking forward to. The docs have this little toy looking wheel that actually tells them when the baby will be due. So for everyone that was asking for the due date...there it is, we're having a Christmas baby! (poor kid hahaha)!) Oh yeah and it's actually Dec 20th according to what they tell us; not Dec 22nd like the green arrow says. So we walk into this dark room/office with this big machine in the corner, armed with my 40D and 24-70mm lens...(Sorry hun, hope you don't mind showing your belly to....the world hahah) It's so funny because every time I walk into the docs office, I feel like I get these super strange looks because I have this huge camera hanging over my shoulder. So as Lauren was lying down getting ready, the ultrasound nurse says..."boy, that's a serious camera you got there". hahha Here's a shot of Lauren getting ready to see our baby for the first time... Drum roll please................................................ Our first look at him or her was the regular 2D black and white deal...(that's him/her right in the middle of the monitor) Another unreal thing about this the ultrasound machine is that it's able to capture how fast the heartbeat is of the baby... And not only that, we actually could hear and even see the hearbeat. Yup...175bpm or beats per minute. So we got to see the baby in 2D, see how fast his/her heartbeat is and even hear it! Then she drops the 3D bomb on us and we were like "wwhhhaaaa!!!" =) That's him or her right there, the size of a gummy bear...so amazing! The mouse pointer that you see is pointing to the baby's head...and if you follow the shape of the body all the way down as it makes a "check mark" shape...that's the feet. And somewhere in between there, we could actually see the heartbeat beating. I couldn't help but think..."I'm looking at God creation in the making and that right there is my son or daughter..." *sigh* If you see Lauren, make sure you ask her to show you her imitation of our gummy bear baby...it's hilarious! =) So we left the docs office so in awe and excited at the same time. After weeks of just "knowing" you're pregnant to actually seeing and hearing it was nothing short of amazing. It shows us how good, awesome, powerful and loving our Lord and Savior is to us...and with all of it, we truly give Him the glory. "Thank You Lord, for such an amazing blessing"

What a weekend!

Normally we would wait till we have the slideshow and pretty much every picture edited...but...we couldn't wait to at least show you a few shots! We had so much fun shooting this wedding. We made our way to Borrego Springs, Ca... just about 2 hours away from where we live. If you haven't heard of Borrego Springs, it's okay, it was our first time also, but it is North County San Diego, but in the desert.

The main color of the wedding was yellow and she had all her bridesmaids pick their own dresses. She didn't even take a look at them till the day of the wedding! But she loved every single one of them.

Darcy is so amazing because she was able to wear the same wedding dress her mom wore when she married her dad, the same bouquet, and the same head dress! The next amazing part is she wore the same earrings her mother and grandmother wore on their wedding days. Every detail of her outfit reflected something of the past and she just looked so amazing. Although you can't really see the details in this shot, we thought this was a fun image to share with you. My husband has some eye for these abstract type of shots...I love it! =)

K... back to Borrego Spring, right smack dab in the middle of the desert! But was so beautiful. So, there is something called Twilight when the skies just lites up the canvas. John caught the moment, and probably the only time of the reception when no one was out of their seat. I love this shot! Really quick on a side note, Rachel from Plan It San Diego was awesome in working with us and filling us in on everything. If you're in San Diego and planning a wedding, be sure to give her a call. Back to the wedding...again, I love the detail! Everything was so well planned and thought out! I love shooting weddings and can't wait to show you the rest. Hope you liked the sneak peak and be sure to keep an eye out for the revealing of "Darcy + JJ = Married!"