Wedding Photography Blog by Los Angeles Photographer Ian Grant

Rancho Santa Fe Wedding Photography – Kristin and Dimitri [pt2]

ian — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:56:17 +0000

You might remember our good friends Kristin and Dimitri’s wedding post from the other day and today we pick up at the ceremony! The couple had their ceremony at the Saints Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church which is a gorgeous Greek church nestled away in Cardiff by the Sea [somewhat near San Diego and La Jolla]. After the ceremony we sneaked away for a really fun portrait session in the back of the church. It totally felt like we were in Greece with the curvy white walls of the church. Then we headed off to the reception at the Fairbanks Ranch Clubhouse in Rancho Santa Fe. The clubhouse was on a picturesque lake complete with baby swans and the feeling like we had the place to ourselves. The reception details were tons of fun, coordinated by Alexis Ranglas, and Mae over at Mae Chan Floral Design made exquisite use of purple orchids in the centerpieces.

If you haven’t already checked it out – see Part One of Kristin and Dimitri’s Wedding.

To see more of our work please visit distinctphoto.com [it's full of portfolio goodness]

Cardiff by the Sea Wedding Photography – Kristin and Dimitri [pt1] Kristin and Dimitri [you might remember their awesome e-session] are...
Torrey Pines Engagement Photography: Kristin and Dimitri On Saturday, Tanya and I headed down to San Diego...
Santa Ynez Valley Wedding Photography – Linda and Brian Now that things are calming down a bit, I’m catching...

Cardiff by the Sea Wedding Photography – Kristin and Dimitri [pt1]

ian — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 09:10:48 +0000

Kristin and Dimitri [you might remember their awesome e-session] are the kind of people you want to hang out with – they’re funny, warm, and totally in love. They treat each other like it’s still their second date, with tenderness, giddiness, and complete attention. They know that weddings are supposed to be about things you love, so when it came time to plan their big fat Greek wedding, they planned a celebration of each other, their friends and family, and of course, purple. Kristin has loved the color since she was about two, so it only made sense to incorporate the color. With vibrant pops of the hue throughout the details, the wedding was gorgeous.

We had a lot of favorites, so today’s entry is all about the ladies getting ready and details. Check back the next few days for some more amazing shots from their day!

To see more of our work please visit distinctphoto.com [it's full of portfolio goodness]

Rancho Santa Fe Wedding Photography – Kristin and Dimitri [pt2] You might remember our good friends Kristin and Dimitri’s wedding...
Torrey Pines Engagement Photography: Kristin and Dimitri On Saturday, Tanya and I headed down to San Diego...
Granada Hills Wedding Photography – Rachelle and AJ AJ and Rachelle Price are a couple whose laughter is...

Palos Verdes Engagement Photography: Nicole and Joel

ian — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 05:49:03 +0000

Tanya and I both feel really blessed to have as many fun couples to photograph with this year as we do. Nicole and Joel are both very much part of that group! Not only are they great to be around, but their wedding is at one of our favorite venues Firestone Vineyards up by Santa Barbara! We also get to work again with our favorite planner, Joy Proctor of Joy de Vive Wedding Planning. If you remember from our previous Firestone post, the venue is simply tops, so there’s going to be some amazing photos to come!

For their engagement session, we decided to shoot out on the Palos Verdes peninsula. As luck would have it, Southern California’s June gloom had officially set in, but we decided to give it a go anyway and I really think the pictures speak for themselves. Nicole and Joel are a fantastic carefree couple, and we can’t wait to shoot their wedding in a few months!

Los Angeles Engagement Photography: Jesse and Miranda Our clients Jesse and Miranda have their hearts set on...
Torrey Pines Engagement Photography: Kristin and Dimitri On Saturday, Tanya and I headed down to San Diego...
Point Lobos Engagement Photography: Hiromi and Jeff When we first met Hiromi and Jeff we quickly realized...

Point Lobos Engagement Photography: Hiromi and Jeff

ian — Thu, 21 May 2009 07:20:38 +0000

When we first met Hiromi and Jeff we quickly realized how much we have in common with them. They both share a love of the outdoors, and Jeff even did the big proposal up at Big Sur [one of our favorite haunts]. Since we were heading up there anyway for the weekend, we decided to sneak in their engagement shoot up at Point Lobos State Reserve at the top of Big Sur. Oh, and that’s where we got married too [now almost a year later]. We caught it right around sunset and got that gorgeous central California light. I’m only posting a snippet from their session, but you might be able to catch a glimpse of their fantastic homemade matching Mario and Luigi shirts- they both have a fantastic sense of humor and you can tell instantly why they are meant for each other.

Malibu Engagement Photography: Nayla and Matt How cute are these guys? Hiking and general outdoorsy stuff...
Point Lobos Wedding Photography – Ian and Tanya [that's us] So Tanya and I have had a little breathing room...
Palos Verdes Engagement Photography: Nicole and Joel Tanya and I both feel really blessed to have as...

Finding More Old Stuff…

ian — Wed, 13 May 2009 09:46:01 +0000

In going through all my old junk [once again] I came across some of my old books I designed back in 2006 called ‘The Sick and Indigent Roomkeepers Society‘. It got me thinking how much fun it was to do and how I’d like to put out another book soon. I found a great new vendor that makes spectacular quality books, so I might just do that in the next year or so. I’ve had a great National Park book on hold for long enough, and I’m thinking about putting together an Ireland one after the next time I go [probably next year]. BTW, I have a few of the portrait books left, if you want them they’re $19.98 a pop- I had a whole show featuring the portraits a couple years back.

A side note… Tanya is a pretty good writer, I mean she’s...
2008 Landscape Photos of the Year! Every year for the past three four years I go...

Point Lobos State Reserve

ian — Fri, 08 May 2009 07:00:24 +0000

As most of my friends know, Point Lobos is one of my favorite places in the world and Tanya and I regularly make trips up there. I’ve even compiled a pretty decent list of my favorite photos I’ve taken there since 2005. Anyway, I was up there a couple weeks ago for an engagement session and snuck in a few photos on the side.

Point Lobos State Reserve With all the crazyness of having your own wedding, getting...
Point Lobos Engagement Photography: Hiromi and Jeff When we first met Hiromi and Jeff we quickly realized...
Point Lobos Wedding Photography – Ian and Tanya [that's us] So Tanya and I have had a little breathing room...

Old Photos

ian — Thu, 07 May 2009 07:55:07 +0000

Since Tanya and I moved a few weeks ago, it’s pulled out a lot of old photos from storage which is pretty fun. One of my favorite old photos [well not really old, circa 2005] is this great image of Swans about to attack a family over in Galway, Ireland. It’s always great to see how much you’ve improved over time, but this one in my eyes is a classic.

2008 Landscape Photos of the Year! Every year for the past three four years I go...
Photos with Corie [...right after this it downpoured] This is my friend Corie. She’s yet another livejournal friend...

Day Two: Mendocino Road Trip

ian — Wed, 06 May 2009 23:13:42 +0000

On day two Nick and I woke up to a comfortably flooded tent, and a constant downpour so it really looked like the weekend was going to be a bust. While I love shooting in fog, the rain really makes a days worth of photographing a little tricky. With that said, we decided to head south on the Pacific Coast Highway [HWY 1] to see the Point Arena lighthouse. On the way we saw a really gorgeous Navarro River Redwoods SP complete with sharkfin sea rocks and killer waves [that almost took us out].

Day One: Mendocino Road Trip As some of you may have followed, my friend Nick...
Redwoods National Park About a week before I got married, I decided to...
Redwoods National Park – Humboldt Stone Lagoon Humboldt Lagoons State Park, in particular Stone Lagoon is one...

Day One: Mendocino Road Trip

ian — Wed, 06 May 2009 02:58:14 +0000

As some of you may have followed, my friend Nick and I were able to escape for the weekend and go camping up in Mendocino County of California. On day one we drove overnight up to Fort Bragg from LA and stayed the night at Mackerricher State Park along the beach. During the day we explored Mackerricher and saw some baby seals and later on we headed down to Jug Handle State Reserve which I’d highly recommend. Just the peninsula area overlooking the water was worth it alone.
While it was coastal cloudy in the morning, the later in the day it got, the more rain started coming in which seriously hampered a lot of picture taking. By the end of the night it was downpouring and everything covering us got soaked. Thankfully after some serious time spent we were able to get a fire going which made everything better. The highlight without a doubt was seeing 6 Banana Slugs which are the largest slugs in the world!
I’ll be posting day two’s photos in the next couple days, hope you enjoy!

Day Two: Mendocino Road Trip On day two Nick and I woke up to a...

This About Sums Up my Weekend…

ian — Mon, 04 May 2009 22:30:36 +0000

It was a very cold and rainy camping adventure on the Mendocino coastline [this is me as I'm about to get pulled out to sea by a freak wave]. Related posts:Day Two: Mendocino Road Trip On day two Nick and I woke up to a...Day One: Mendocino Road Trip As some of you may have followed, [...] Related posts:

Day Two: Mendocino Road Trip On day two Nick and I woke up to a...
Day One: Mendocino Road Trip As some of you may have followed, my friend Nick...
2009 Roadtrip Title: The Sea of Death Tour This weekend my friend Nick and I are heading off...

2009 Roadtrip Title: The Sea of Death Tour

ian — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 07:47:03 +0000

This weekend my friend Nick and I are heading off on one of our absurdly long roadtrips again! This time we are traveling from Los Angeles to a little coastal town called Fort Bragg in Mendocino County [about 3/4 up the California coastline]. We’re going to be camping at Mackericher State Park right next to the Pacific with potential wolves waiting for our tired bodies. From there we’re taking Highway 1 down to Salt Point State Park and camping there as well. Bookmark this page as I’ll be uploading camera phone photos from the road, I’ll have to keep a running tally of how many miles we do. Till then you can look at a picture of Riley and see how much he already misses me.

For a small sampling of previous ‘death-trips’ as we call them please see:
• 2007: The Channel Island Deathtrip
• 2007: The Petrified Desert Deathtrip [camera-phone updates]
• 2008: The Oregone Deathtrip [also camera-phone updates]

We’re probably going to be on the road and posting from roughly 2am’ish Friday – 3pm Sunday.

Playa del Rey Tour of Ballona Wetlands! Probably the single thing that makes living in Los...
Day One: Mendocino Road Trip As some of you may have followed, my friend Nick...
Redwoods National Park – Humboldt Stone Lagoon Humboldt Lagoons State Park, in particular Stone Lagoon is one...

Big Moves! Giant Prints!

ian — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 07:50:27 +0000

So, if I didn’t mention it already- Tanya and I packed up our pets, garden, and photo supplies and moved quite literally two doors down [approx. 20 feet north]. What this means is a] an OFFICE! b] a new home for Riley the dog [uh, the office] and c] more space than we know what to do with! We’ve been living in a pretty small space for the last few years and when a new place opened up, we decided to make the change. We’re both kind of pack rats and this was revealed in the move, so now we’re able to spread out a bit and really get rid of that overall claustrophobic feeling. With that, it’s also gives us tons of space for beautiful landscapes on the wall! We fit one wall with some great images from my last Ireland trip and the other from Harris Beach State Park, and yet another with some vintage Salton Sea photos in white frames. What was left was the biggest wall right behind our couches. What better way to fill it then a giant 60×40 canvas of a blue Big Sur photograph! I’m pretty psyched as I don’t think I’ve ever seen any of my photos this big, but I’ll have to report back on how it looks. I’m a little scared/nervous though, this is going to be so cool!

Point Lobos State Reserve With all the crazyness of having your own wedding, getting...

Los Angeles Executive Headshots: Scott

ian — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 07:00:49 +0000

Continuing my executive headshots of late, I had a session with Scott who is an executive here in Los Angeles.

For more of our images see our Los Angeles Headshots gallery

Los Angeles Executive Headshots: Frank Another set of images I took recently is some executive...
Los Angeles Headshots: Josh Decker, Actor Something I do besides shooting weddings and landscapes is acting...
Los Angeles Headshots: Rhianna Recently I’ve been shooting lots of headshots in the area,...

Los Angeles Executive Headshots: Frank

ian — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 07:00:55 +0000

Another set of images I took recently is some executive headshots up in the San Fernando Valley. It’s nice to be branching out into a bunch of different directions and executive portraits are a nice change from just shooting actors. Frank is a software mogul up in the valley and he needed some images for various speaking and company bios.

He had this to say about his experience:
“Thank you! The headshots were amazing and I am thrilled with the final photo. This is my third set of headshots and your attention to background, lighting and other details made this the best shoot so far. Working with Ian couldn’t have been easier. Just a quick email to set the appointment and everything went as scheduled. Great job and fantastic results!” -Frank

For more of our images see our Los Angeles Headshots gallery

Los Angeles Executive Headshots: Scott Continuing my executive headshots of late, I had a session...
Los Angeles Headshots: Josh Decker, Actor Something I do besides shooting weddings and landscapes is acting...
Los Angeles Headshots: Rhianna Recently I’ve been shooting lots of headshots in the area,...

Malibu Engagement Photography: Nayla and Matt

ian — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 07:57:19 +0000

How cute are these guys? Hiking and general outdoorsy stuff are some of Matt and Nayla’s favorite activities, so it only made sense for us to head off to Point Dume State Beach for their e-session. Point Dume [somewhat near El Matador, one of our special spots] is one of their favorite getaways, so it was nice to be able to see a new great location in LA. There are tons of little amazing hideaways in LA, Point Dume is definitely one of them…it’s also home to the final scene in Planet of the Apes with the Statue of Liberty!

We caught some really amazing sunset light and found a very inquisitive lady-bug in our little adventure. Overall we got some of my favorite engagement photos yet this year, and I’ve been looking forward to sharing them with you!

Point Lobos Engagement Photography: Hiromi and Jeff When we first met Hiromi and Jeff we quickly realized...
Los Angeles Engagement Photography: Jesse and Miranda Our clients Jesse and Miranda have their hearts set on...
Palos Verdes Engagement Photography: Nicole and Joel Tanya and I both feel really blessed to have as...

Los Angeles Headshots: Rhianna

ian — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 21:39:56 +0000

Recently I’ve been shooting lots of headshots in the area, and it’s always a fun exercise to try and get the best portraits out of the client. One of my more recent actresses was a girl named Rhianna who just moved out here to LA. I heard back from her within a week and turns out she’s already booking gigs from her shots. Good luck!

For more of our images see our Los Angeles Headshots gallery

Los Angeles Headshots: Josh Decker, Actor Something I do besides shooting weddings and landscapes is acting...
Los Angeles Executive Headshots: Frank Another set of images I took recently is some executive...
Los Angeles Executive Headshots: Scott Continuing my executive headshots of late, I had a session...

UCLA Engagement Photography: Stephanie and Max

ian — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:08:05 +0000

Stephanie and Max are such a great couple and a real treat to be around! I’ve been really excited about shooting their wedding as they booked us partly on the fact that I’m a landscape photographer and the landscape up where they’re getting hitched [in Fillmore, CA] is fantastic. Very old west and rustic. I think the photos we’re going to be able to get up there are going to be amazing, so we’re setting aside a little chunk of time to get some really great portraits. With that said, we met the other day over at UCLA to get some engagement photos- they both met at the college and we thought we’d take advantage of its great architecture and spacious campus. Enjoy!

Malibu Engagement Photography: Nayla and Matt How cute are these guys? Hiking and general outdoorsy stuff...
Los Angeles Engagement Photography: Jesse and Miranda Our clients Jesse and Miranda have their hearts set on...
Palos Verdes Engagement Photography: Nicole and Joel Tanya and I both feel really blessed to have as...

Los Angeles Engagement Photography: Jesse and Miranda

ian — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 22:11:11 +0000

Our clients Jesse and Miranda have their hearts set on doing a nice modern style wedding so when it came time for their engagement session what better place to shoot than the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Downtown Los Angeles. If you haven’t visited the concert hall yet, you can spend easily a good hour just walking around the place without even stepping foot inside. It’s a piece of architectural amazement and I think we really took advantage. We’re going to be shooting their wedding in August up by San Francisco and are really looking forward to it!

Jesse and Miranda’s Wedding Postcard I know I haven’t posted Jesse and Miranda’s amazing...
UCLA Engagement Photography: Stephanie and Max Stephanie and Max are such a great couple and a...
Culver City Engagement Photography: Joe and Christina Recently I shot my new friends Joe and Cristina’s engagement...

Thank you Katie and Mike!

ian — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 20:07:17 +0000

Our wedding client Katie [you might remember our entry about their awesome wedding idea] just wrote a really sweet entry about working with us in her blog. All the pieces of their crazy ‘around the world’ wedding are coming together and they’re gearing up for a very soon departure! We’re going to be catching them at the end of their journey in Philadelphia and maybe if we can time it right up in San Francisco/Napa. Just the other day they secured the prime piece of the trip puzzle- a reservation at The French Laundry, one of the most famous restaurants in the world!

Check out their nice words about working with us.
Thanks Katie and Mike!

Katie and Mike’s Around the World Wedding! Katie and Mike are a really unique couple and...
Beverly Hills Wedding Photography – Katie and Patrick Katie and Patrick were married on Saturday, October 4th, a...
Thank You! Just wanted to send out a thank you to: •...