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Diana + Cris :: Kensington Park Hotel, San Francisco, CA Wedding

The Royal Suite at the Kensington Park Hotel is such a wonderful place for a bride getting ready. The decor is purely San Francisco in a very funky way – blue walls with lot of details, stucco, chandeliers and zebra print carpet… Needless to say, while the over-marketed “photojournalism” principles have their own place on the wedding day, I LOVE to approach a wedding photography coverage more like a series of portrait sessions instead…preferably with plenty of time on the front end. For me, it is really all about the couple.  And it is purely awesome to work with a couple so radiant with love!  I am so grateful I could have been there in person after I broke my foot a week prior!  Thanks to my second shooter Scott who helped make sure the coverage was complete.

Congratulations to the couple — it was truly my pleasure to share such a lovely day and many beautiful moments with you and your families!

The complete slideshow can be viewed by clicking on this link.

Julia Griffin - May 13, 2011 - 4:45 pm

Love the photos and love the couple!

Earl Christie - May 17, 2011 - 9:05 pm

Beautiful Jarda! I love the black and white and the expressions you captured.

Julie Weisberg - May 18, 2011 - 12:05 am

Great work, Jarda!! That top shoe shot is the awesome!

Andree - May 23, 2011 - 11:37 pm

I long the strong strong horizontals you’ve captured, they really tell the story!! :0)

Andree - May 23, 2011 - 11:40 pm

Fabulous!!

Kate Thomas - May 25, 2011 - 12:43 pm

Wow! These are amazing!

Lorraine Marie - May 28, 2011 - 10:05 pm

Love that opening detail shot of the shoes! What a beautiful venue for a wedding. It looks like there was a lot of joy and love in this family. Congratulations to the happy couple. :)

Linnea - May 31, 2011 - 1:16 pm

These are wonderful! What a beautiful couple, and nicely captured emotions.

Dwight Fryer - June 9, 2011 - 12:37 am

Diana, these pictures are wonderful! Congrats and thanks for sharing these with me. Take care and be safe.

Neil Colton - June 10, 2011 - 1:04 pm

I love the detail shots, Jarda and your use of color. You have really captured the day here. Your style rocks!

~ Neil

[...] which is located at Union Square in San Francisco, CA.  To see his set, please head over to his blog and check out his post.  He’s got some fantastic images on there.  Originally I was slated [...]

Cooper :: Stars and Moon [creative portrait]

As I continue my never-ending search for non-traditional light-shaping tools and devices that will light the scene in new creative ways, my son threw this one [quite literally!] into my face :> – his toy turtle has these tiny star-shaped opening in its shell and a bulb inside to create an illusion of a night sky inside your home… We just put it upside down as we played and voila!

Yes, the images are little grainy and not exactly studio-lit, but keep in mind these were taken at ISO 10,000 ( like this could’ve been possible in film days, right?) in pretty much complete darkness…I love technology!

Kate Thomas - May 3, 2011 - 3:32 pm

I am totally in love with these photos! They remind me of an album cover! Very unique!

Tiffany + Brandon :: Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco, CA Wedding

Welcome to my images from a recent fairy-tale like wedding in one of San Francisco’s true castles – The Fairmont. I shot the event for the uber-talented Sam Hassas. You can see his blog-post here. The ceremony took place at the very ornate St. Nicholas church. Whenever I find myself inside, I feel like the whole place is made of gold! The wedding had a lot of amazing details and personal touches, and there was lots of love and dynamic energy in the air. Congratulations to the couple!

dan - May 17, 2011 - 4:17 pm

I love the emotion in some of these photos!
Looked like a great wedding!

William Ng - May 30, 2011 - 6:21 pm

Love the photos. Really like the one of the little boy in the church not really paying attention to what’s happening.

Mindi - June 17, 2011 - 1:46 pm

Really, really cute pics…..love the happy nature of a lot of them and their easy feelings!

Elliott Gould on the set of the new Steven Soderbergh’s movie :: Hayes Valley

Steven Soderbergh has been shooting his latest movie Contagion all over Hayes Valley these past few days. I took a few quick portraits of Elliott Gould prior to shooting a scene at Momi Tobi’s cafe outside my house last night – before I got evicted by  security. I’m sorry, but don’t blame me if you take over my Friday afternoon happy-hour space, Mr. Hollywood!

Sarah - February 13, 2011 - 11:27 am

And you STILL got the awesome shots! Will be cool when the movie comes out to see your ‘hood!

barb O - February 13, 2011 - 4:07 pm

Wow Jarda, I had no idea! Your photos are gorgeous! And I love the Patti Smith set!

Kate Thomas - February 14, 2011 - 11:09 am

Awesome! These pictures are amazing!

Jarda Brych - February 14, 2011 - 12:54 pm

Yes, it will be interesting to see our hood covered with trash :> The production co. brought truckloads of it and kept re-arranging it many times throughout the day…

jirka - February 15, 2011 - 5:45 am

Krása,zraješ jako víno :-)

Jen - February 18, 2011 - 2:56 am

I think that might even be Soderbergh himself in the right one…nice!

Julie Ann - May 28, 2011 - 8:03 pm

Great photography! loved allyoru work- wedding babies etc…
a picture does speak a 1000 words :-)

Mustaches for Kids :: 2010 Stash Bash!

The San Francisco chapter of M4K finished their annual fundraising season with their traditional holiday extravaganza at the Rickshaw Stop in Hayes Valley. The fun evening, MC’d by Jon Wolanske and Andrew Bancroft (aka MC Jelly Donut), was not short on surprises or adrenaline, and the suspense kept rising through all four rounds of competition. Although there were many crowd favorites, in the end, the one and only Bad Joke Robot won the final mustache tug-of-war and the title of “Sweetest Stash”. Still waiting for the final numbers, but it looks like this year these guys raised over $65 K for school programs for kids! They do deserve a little fun at the end, don’t they?

You can check the slideshow here (you may have to give it 15 seconds or so to buffer first). Enjoy!

Chris Giorni - December 20, 2010 - 6:35 pm

Jarda – you rock – AMAZING Stache Shots from the Stache Bash 2010. I did not know that you were the M4K SF photographer!!! I have been growing for the last 3 years, but usually am in NYC for the Bash. This year we had a new BABY! and so I did not go the NYC or to the Bash. Great Work. Hey I think that I saw you walking down Polk just before city hall about 2 weeks ago when they were having the free sledding event at City Hall. Cheers

Jarda - December 21, 2010 - 4:46 pm

Chris, glad you are enjoying the imagery but why go to NYC when you got the action right here?
Anyhoo, congrats on the new baby! We need to have a GTG / kids pow-wow soon :>

Camilla Photography - January 10, 2011 - 7:04 pm

Hey! I just saw this link to your blog on the DWF forums so I thought I’d come by…who knew I’d see so many hot staches. Wow. Made my day.

Mindi - June 17, 2011 - 1:46 pm

OMG, these are hilarious, very creative and oh so fun!

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