December 14, 2010
It is family portrait time….. Holiday cards are coming.. I have spent the past few weeks shooting adorable newborns, cut babies and super sweet families. Instead of breaking the down for you I am going to give you a few highlights of what I have been doing fo the past few weeks. SEASONS GREETINGS. Maybe I can get it together to shoot my own family now…. hmmm wishful thinking.
September 26, 2009
This has been great, but now go check out the bigger better version of myself, the NEW blog blog.jenniferroper.com.
While you are at it you can also view the brand new website here
Same content but all new look, whew it has been a busy week. Hope you enjoy.
Jennifer
September 21, 2009
So I went to a Knot networking night last week. I know how bad I am about networking when I spent the entire time talking to food people. Either that or you can tell where my interests lie.
One was The Fry Girl, she comes to parties and events and has a mini doughnut making machine. Let me just say YUM!!
The other woman I met, that I thought truly had a unique idea, was timree at timree.com. She does a bunch of different things, hand painted thank you cards and plates but what I thought was so cool was Live Event Painting. She comes to your wedding or event and literally paints a painting from what she sees. Here is what she was painting right there on the spot. What an awesome thing to have. (in addition to great photos)
No pics of these ladies but because I am a huge francophile I was excited to meet the woman from Les 3 Sens (the 3 senses) they are an all french catering company. There isn’t a French dish I would turn down so I am dieing to taste them.
Lastly I ran into my favorite videographer Isabel Gonzalez. We have worked together many times. I always love her work and she and her team are so easy to work with. If you don’t realize this sometimes photographers and videographers battle it out for positioning so it is key to have people that work with each other and I am always excited to have work along with me.
September 21, 2009
I am doing family and kid portraits in the park. Should be a great time, it is almost filled and I will have tons of great new things to post I am sure.
September 15, 2009
I am not going to lie. I was a tad nervous coming into this wedding. Dana and I have mutual friends so when she called me last year she she already had her mind made, I was going to shoot her wedding. Of course she had seen my work and new it was a good fit but there is an extra level of pressure when you are shooting a friend or acquaintance. On top of that she was having an intimate (20 people) family only wedding with a brunch to follow the next day with friends. This sounds easy but often smaller weddings are more difficult to shoot because there isn’t “much” going on. Luckily I had been to and shot at the Viceroy before so I knew I had lots of fun options. After the first 10 minutes with Dana and I saw how truly stunning she looked I started to relax, then when I took the dress photo below and now consider it one of my favorite dress photos, I really started to calm down. It was a whirlwind 4 hours that first day, don’t look for a first dance or garter toss but check out these kick ass (Dana’s words) portraits and more.
Cheers to Dana and Cory. Huge Congratulations.
September 8, 2009
I don’t even know where to start with Chandra and Jonathan’s wedding. Chandra was one of the reasons this blog exists. She has been such a vocal fan of my work turning me on to various cool wedding blogs and having a ton of great ideas for her own wedding. I could start with how much I loved our engagement shoot together but so many of those shots are posted in the engagement section. I guess I will just jump in with how beautiful she looked and how great her and Jonathan are together. I love that they are high school sweet hearts who made it through the cross country college experience together. I have a feeling that this day was planned in Chandra’s head for a long time. Her ideas and attention to detail turned and already beautiful location into something so much more personal. I had shot at La Venta several times and lets just say I really loved this wedding. With so many great shots to chose from it is hard to decide what to post. To view the slide show click here http://www.jenniferroper.com/slideshow/fredrick
make up by Flawless Faces
desserts by Vanilla Bake Shop
food by New York Food Company
calligraphy by Barbara Kua
Flowers by Greenwich Floral Design
stationary and printed goods Katrina Derhake of Tilde Designs
August 28, 2009
Julie and Nate decided on a Mexico wedding after celebrating her sister’s Mexico wedding in San Miguel de Allende. (which I also shot) Opting for a fun beach wedding Zihuatanejo proved to be a perfect spot, a cute fishing village with great beaches. Everything took place at The Tides Hotel and believe me fun was had by all. For me looking back on an older (2007) wedding is always weird, trends and technology are always changing and I tend to be extra critical. What struck me about looking back on these images is that emotion never goes out of fashion. Yes they had a beautiful setting, they were gorgeous. Their friends and family fun and beautiful. But I am more struck with how extraordinarily happy they are, how so many emotion packed images there are. That to me transcends it all.
August 27, 2009
Last year and was lucky enough to add a another Mexican city to my ongoing tour of the country. Todos Santos is a couple hours outside of Cabo San Lucas and Brian and Kellie didn’t just choose this artsy beach town as the destination for their wedding, they are building a second home there. Because of this, myself and all of their guests were treated to more of insider’s view of the town. Friday night was a fun rehearsal party at Hotel California. Mexican flavors all around. The wedding and reception were held at a private residence on the edge of town. The backdrop to the ceremony was an empty beach and vast skies. Guests lounged around the property with margaritas and mariachis then sat down to a formal dinner. I saw this often, but, my favorite weddings have a blend of laid back attitudes, crazy fun, and just enough class and sophistication. Kellie and Brian pulled that off to the tee. They have so many adventures in store for them I will live vicariously through them.
Alvaro Colindres helped bring their ideas to life. He coordinates weddings and events and lives full time in Todos Santos.
The setting
There was this amazing this amazing abandoned building next to the house, complete with a graffiti heart
August 18, 2009
I have been thinking about this subject and what advice I could give to people for their wedding day relating specifically to the photography. I am going to throw some things out there, stream of conscious. Some tips may seem obvious others maybe not but as often as I am asked this question I decided it is worthy of an entire category.
*RELAX, it is so obvious, but so important, if there is only one thing to keep in your mind on your wedding day as a whole and especially while being photographed. It shows when you are stressed, or your mind/eyes/energy is elsewhere. Take a deep breath, everything else will wait. RELAX
* A shot list to refer to during the formal shots will help everything to run smooth
*Allow yourself enough time, I am sensitive to not wanting to being away from your cocktail and reception time but do give at least 30 minutes to shoot with the just the two of you, a lot of that time might be going from one location to another.
*Think about lighting. Mid day is the worst time to shoot (harsh shadows). If you have any control over this part of the day try to schedule your portraits early or later in the day.
*THE KISS…. That beautiful moment in the ceremony, when you kiss for the first time as a married couple, hold it. Doesnt have to be a make out session but hold it for a few seconds. It is a great photo moment, the more (photo) options the better.
*BACK DOWN THE AISLE. Same idea as the kiss, this is photographically one of the best times of the ceremony. Take your time, no need to run. Look up. Look around. Look at each other. No need to look at the ground.
*BE NATURAL. I know it is easier said than done when you have someone staring you down with a camera, but it is important. Look at each other, look at me, look around. The goal is for you to look great and also capture something special between you. If you are not the type to run and jump around or contort yourself into crazy poses, then don’t. Stay yourself.
*Let me kick everyone else out. Most people find it difficult to be photographed with an audience. Let me tell everyone to go away. Its okay they will forgive you and I can be the bad guy.
*FORMAL PORTRAITS. As a rule of thumb closer is better. I like to mention being a little bit closer than what feel natural. This applies to group shots as well as couple shots. What feels like a normal space in a photo looks like a huge gap. Cozy up.
*NO TALKING, seriously, often when I tell people to relax they start talking, that may feel natural but let me tell you, not so pretty in the photograph. Look at your self in the mirror while you talk. See what I mean. I want you to be natural but not that natural.
*Have a last dance or something nice towards the end of the wedding, a grand exit, a group hug, fireworks, a kiss. It is a great way to end your album and those photos are priceless
Hopefully you find this helpful, I could go on and on with little nuances and I will add things as I think of them. The main objective is for you to enjoy your wedding day and it will come through in the photos. I don’t like to give heavy direction, I like being there for the moments. If you see me out of the corner of your eye you don’t have to turn and smile, most likely I am there waiting for “that” moment to come.
August 5, 2009
Engagement shoots are a great way to get comfortable in front of the camera, have a chance for us to get to know each other photographically or just for fun. I love shooting on location and here in LA the possibilities are endless. The beach is always popular. I like the Santa Monica Pier for its varying background options. Sometimes your own neighborhood works well or a favorite spot of your own. I also love UCLA, LA River Center , Greystone Mansion and just walking around downtown LA.
Engagement photos make great save the date cards, accents at the reception or have me custom design a bound book as your guest sign in book. Or…do it for the fun.
