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Amy + Clark: An Underwater Reception

As my girlfriend quoted, “just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming….”  When my sister told me she was having her wedding reception in an aquarium, I had to say, “Really?  You can do that?  SWEET!!!”  I’ve never heard of an aquarium allowing this.  What a great idea and what an amazing  chance for cool photos. So my girlfriend Allison and I grabbed our bags and headed out to Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Now first things first, I had to get lunch at Braums.  If you know me, this is a must every time I’m in Oklahoma.  Allison was amazed at the quality of the burgers and anxiously awaited the next time we would come back so she could get ice cream.  With Cherry Limeades in hand, we headed off to freshen up at the Doubletree Hotel at Warren Place.  Then off to Amy and Clark’s in Bixby for BBQ.

At Amy and Clarks, we got to see lots of friends and family that I hadn’t seen in a while.  The Bill and June had come in from Wisconsin along with Bill Jr., Paula, and the kids.  Oren was there minus Jennifer who was in Alaska en-route first thing Saturday morning.  The Greenwoods happily arrived, again giving me the opportunity to explain how small of a world this is being that I met Mike and Julie in California before they moved back to Oklahoma 4 years ago.  My aunts from Oregon and Australia braved the long drive in my parents car from Colorado, making this a BBQ from around the world.  Even Karsten made a detour from his 1 month roadtrip on his way back to Colorado. It was great to see everyone again, introduce them to Allison, and eat some really good Oklahoma BBQ.

The day of the wedding reception, we all met up at the Oklahoma Aquarium, appropriately located on the only place in Tulsa I would expect an aquarium to be, on the riverside in Jenks.  As the public were still leaving the facility, Amy and Clark were near the reception area walking around.  What an great idea this was.  The tables were surrounded by aquarium tanks.  The florist had even decorated the kids tables with live hermit crab centerpieces.  The DJ had his booth set up off to the side, the food was in the center, and the delicious wedding cake was in front of the shark tanks.   This was perfect.  As people arrived, we started to get photos.  We got our family portraits quickly out of the way so that everyone could continue walking around and enjoy the aquarium.

After some amazing appetizers, more photos, and the cake cutting, we all sat down for a delicious Beef or Chicken meal.  What no Fish? 

The DJ rocked his beats to the dancing of all the kids, and even Amy and her friend Ron did a little two stepping as some country music jumped on the speakers.  As guests left the event, a wishing tree sat at the front table where guests could write their best wishes and hang them on different branches.  The night was over, and good times were had by all.  It was my pleasure to photograph my sisters reception and I couldn’t have been happier to see all my friends and family again.  It was a great idea and I wish the best to Amy and Clark for all the rest of their years.  Cheers!!

Katie + Anthony: Engagement Session in Long Beach

The one thing I really enjoy about Engagement Sessions is all the different types of locations that one can go to in the Greater Los Angeles area.  Long Beach (not too far away but not exactly right next door) is one of those places I rarely get to go to.  Now granted I have been to a concert at the convention center, biked the Long Beach Marathon, and taken off on a cruise from their port, but I haven’t really taken a lot of photos down there.  

Katie and Anthony suggested maybe going down there to look around the pier, The Pike, and lighthouse.  Great idea, I thought, and it surely was.  There were a lot of great photo opportunities, and some not so ideal.  Note to self, The Pike will not allow “professional” photography as it is technically private property.  Unfortunate, but we found other places to go.

Right down the street was a great park over near the large Wyland painted Long Beach Arena.  Very nice colorful bridges surrounded by water made for a nice start to our 4 hour session.  We continued walking around toward the Lighthouse and park in front of the aquarium.  Being a Saturday, it was definitely a crowded day, so we strategically placed ourselves in locations without too many people.  The weather was also amazing, sun shining, no clouds, and a slight breeze to keep us from completely sweating while walking around.

As the sun started to set, and the Queen Mary slowly fading off in the background, we moved onto our final outfit and Katie and Anthony were still toughing it out.  They talked and laughed, while my assistant Ari and I continued to come up with interesting locations and backgrounds.  My particular favorite shots are the silhouettes, as sometimes a simple looking photo, screams 1000 words.  Hands held, faces pointed towards each other, still portray a strong feeling of love can be seen through the shadows.

Thanks again to Ari Zadok for helping out and thank you to Katie and Anthony for walking around to all the locations.  I hope you both had a great time and I look forward to taking more photos later this year.

Teaching and Learning, the OC way.

When my friend Sarah said she bought a Digital SLR and that she wanted me to teach her a few things, I got pretty excited.  I love sharing the art of photography with anyone willing to learn.  This is probably one of the main reasons I’m the photo editor of the Santa Monica College newspaper, because I love to see people grow.  I too love to learn, and of course just get out and shoot some great photos.

My girlfriend Allison, also decided to come, as she’s always had an interest in photography as well and borrowed my old Canon XT to play around with.  We got to Balboa Island, down in Orange County off the 55 and PCH.  This quaint little island has some truly amazing houses, a wonderful little main street with shops and restaurants, and a ferry that takes you over to Balboa Peninsula.  This was perfect, so many things to take photos of.

So we started walking around, taking photos, experimenting with the settings, and explaining the terms of photography.  Both Sarah and Allison got the basics pretty quickly, and started to take photos of fun flowers, signs, and even a boat taken over by pirate seal lions.  Sarah’s husband Justin showed up and we took the fairy across to Balboa Peninsula.  A ferris wheel greeted us no arrival with Balboa bars, a pier, and more fun things to see.

It was a fun day topped off with an excellent dinner at this little Italian place on the main street called Giorgio La Trattoria and then a Balboa Bar(Ice Cream Bar) or Frozen Banana coated in your choice of topping made fresh just for you.  Apparently, Dad’s Donut and Bakery was one of the original Balboa Bar providers.  These were so tasty, I would go back down there just for those.

Thank you Sarah and Justin, I had a great time and will come down for more ice cream whenever you want.  Hope your photos turned out great and I hope to see them on your Confessions of a Feminist Golddigger blog soon!

Pirate Seals

Gina + Sky E-Session: Destination Arroyo Grande

Do I want to travel 3 hours away to a quaint little coastal town past Santa Barbara, past Solvang, and past Santa Maria near Pismo Beach?  Definitely!!!

When Gina and Sky hired me for their wedding after seeing my ad on Facebook, I was excited to see this scenic little town about 3 hours north of LA.  Situated off the 101 next to Pismo Beach, and with a population under 18,000, this little town was perfect for a romantic wedding location away from the hustle and bustle of LA.  Growing up in Santa Maria, both Sky and Gina had some nostalgic connections with the area as we walked around town near a trickling stream taking photos on the bridge, in the park, and at their favorite Ice Cream store, Doc Burnstein’s. WOW!! Now that’s some  good ice cream!!!!

We then headed shortly down the road past Pismo Beach and up to Shell Beach. Here, colorful cliffs fell to the Pacific while huge boulders of white rocks sat motionless in the water.  This is what California coastline should look like!  With a pathway down to the water, we quickly descended and took some fun photos on the beach and against the cliffs with shadows.  As the sun started to set, we went back up to the cliffs and finished the day off with some romantic sunset photos.  This is definitely the way to watch the day end as the yellows and oranges filled the sky with a silhouette of trees, rocks, and two people in love.

Afterwards, Allison and I had some tasty clam chowder in Pismo Beach at Splash Cafe.  Definitely a must try if you’re in the area and want a huge bread bowl of some hot, soupy goodness.

Thanks for being such great tour guides and thanks again for the amazing ice cream, I think I’ll need to stop there every time I go up north now!!!  :-)

Toni + Jon = Love + Maternity

With a last minute call to do a Maternity portrait session with Toni and Jon, I jumped on the opportunity as I am new to Maternity Photography.  Treating it like an Engagement Session, even though they are already married, I had a variety of poses in mind for them to show off their love as well as their soon-to-be plus one.

Toni suggested the Historic Library in Redondo Beach Veteran’s Park.  I scoped out the location and found multiple spots that would be great for some photos.  We walked around taking photos as they laughed and joked with each other.  Even their cousin Chris came along and snagged a few shots on his cell phone making Toni feel like a celebrity.  They were a great couple full of energy and life.

It was a fun session and I tried my hardest to get as many different poses and styles to combine this photo session into one.  I would definitely do more of these and was very happy with the outcome.

Now that Toni and Jon will have some photos to show at their upcoming baby shower, I wish them the best for all of their future events.  Thanks for everything!!

Alex + Corina E-Session: Fun with Art

Today was going to be a fun day, as the sun came out blazing with barely any clouds in the sky.  Alex and Corina met me over at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), where I had seen an amazing visual art piece by Chris Burden.  Urban Light has 202 cast iron lamp posts situated in a square and varying in height.  This solar powered, functioning art piece is exactly what I thought of when Alex told me he was an art teacher.  And so our journey just naturally began here.  With many different angles, and spots to choose from, these lamp posts made perfect props.  Next time I visit her, I’ll try to coordinate a night engagement session to observe the full potential of this modern art piece.

After some great photos within and around Urban Light, we headed to Westwood park for some roller skating and skateboarding.  Alex and Corina changed into matching “The Buttons” shirt, an inside joke, and proceeded to skate around with minimal falls.  :-)  It was a typical California sunny day to get photos in the park, ironically while my parents sent me emails from Colorado amidst a freak snowy blizzards.

Our last stop was obviously another museum.  Why try to hunt for locations around town that may kick you out, when you have amazing free architecture, museums, parks and sculpture gardens right at your fingertips.  We headed up to the Getty museum. I haven’t been to the Getty in a while, and definitely not with a good camera.  So this was definitely a treat for me.  There was so much to see, so many places to go, and so many people wandering around.  We tried to find shady, secluded areas.  We would often have to wait for people to walk by.  This might be better organized during a week day when it wasn’t so popular. We even went inside to get a few shots near famous Van Gogh’s or Monet’s.  This truly was a great place to get photos, as there were opportunities around every corner.

As the 4 hour session came to a close, I was confident that we had a great collection of photos for Alex and Corina and that today was a huge success.  I thank both Alex and Corina for being such great models, even when I had some fairly random ideas.  They were both easy to work with and I look forward to shooting your beautiful wedding in June!

Carlos + Eliross Wedding

Having been booked for this wedding almost a year ago, I was very anxious to photograph Eliross and Carlos’s special day.

With an early start, my assistant Karin Schulz and I headed over to Hair Conspiracy over on Anxa and Sepulveda where Eliross was getting her hair and makeup done.  After a bunch of fun shots, we headed to their place to meet up with everyone else.  As we found great lighting under the awning, I took a few quick shots of Eliross looking very elegant with her bouquet and wedding dress.  Soon we were off in the Hummer limo arriving at the church just in time.  At the Calvary Assembly of God, Eliross and Carlos’s guests had arrived and were seated in the church awaiting the wedding parties entrance.

It was grand day, with some great photos at the Korean Bell of Friendship in San Pedro and a reception back at the Calvary gym.  Over 200 guests attended the day’s festivities full of chocolate covered strawberries, fajitas, and even personalized M&M candies.  Thank you to Eliross and Carlos for letting me share their special day with them and I hope they had an excellent trip to Disneyland!

Please contact Nathan Nowack Photography for print ordering information.

Click on photos to enlarge.

Mike + Sarah: E-Session

Today was an engagement session with Mike and Sarah.  I was looking forward to this one as I have been getting a lot of inquires for weddings at Wayfarer’s Chapel in Rancho Palos Verdes.  As I drove up, this amazing glass chapel stood overlooking the Pacific Ocean with an amazing garden, water fountain, and grassy lawn.  This was a nice location!  I can see why it’s so popular.

Mike and Sarah were ready to go, as we started out long day of engagement photos.  We moved around the chapel grounds quickly as a wedding was scheduled in an hour.  We then headed down to Point Vicente Park, near the lighthouse.  This was a great location as well, with amazing cliffs, nice green grass, low palm trees, and banquet hall area overlooking the water.  This picturesque lighthouse was also a great location to search for whales, as a local marine group was doing so and had already spotted 3 whales that day.

We continued to take some fun photos, as both Sarah and Mike were very willing to do anything I suggested.  They threw in their own little humorous faces, interesting poses, and even balanced on a pole like Karate Kid.  Even with Sarah’s continuous smile and Mike’s determined stare, the love between these two could definitely be seen as they walked hand in hand.  Their fun attitudes and array of natural poses gave me tons of different options to photograph.

We ended the day with a trip to Torrance Beach during sunset, where Mike and Sarah took a stroll on the beach, drew a heart in the sand, and climbed a lifeguard tower.  The sunset was perfect with an romantic calmness as we all

watched it fill the sky with beautiful colors.  It was a great session and I can’t wait for their wedding in October.  Thank you to Mike and Sarah for being great in front of the camera and keeping the day fun like it should be!

Choon + Tessa E-Session

This weekend, Choon, Tessa, and my lovely assistant/gf Allison met up at Loyola Marymount University to start a fun filled Engagement Session.  Although it was overcast day and a little windy, the two were happy to meet up and we jumped right into it by getting some great location shots on the beautiful campus in Playa Del Ray, California.  As we continued to take photos, we got a pleasant surprise of live music being played in the eastern grassy quad.  From reggae to electronic to rock, our background music was anything but romantic but humorous for our photos as we continued to snap away.

We finished up by heading to Playa Vista for some great shots in their park near the Promenade.  Choon humored me for a few crazy photos and we finished up not going to the beach but possibly saving it for another day.  We had fun, we had music, we got some great photos and I thank Choon and Tessa for a great session today and I can’t wait to photograph their wedding in August!!  Cheers!!