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Danny & Rochelle: Beach Cities Engagement Session

Mr and Mrs Smith inspired Engagement Session in Santa Ana

Type: Downtown and Beach Engagement Session
Location and Venue: Downtown Santa Ana and Victoria Beach, Orange County, California
Photographer: Dannie Phan

Danny and Rochelle are originally from Modesto, California and they were coming to Orange County to visit college friends. It was one of those rare occasions where scheduling just aligned perfectly and we were able to book their engagement session a week before their visit.

Nature or Urban? Candids or Posey? Why not all the things!? This was a pair that was excited to try different things for their engagement session which allowed me to experiment as well. I was lucky to have two people that were ready and willing to take a dozen steps backwards to get the engagement photo I knew they would love.

Black and White Enagagement Session Close up

Beach Cities Engagement Session - Brick Wall

For a more urban location we set out for Downtown Santa Ana. I knew there would be stairs, lamp posts, and a cute little fountain. Rochelle had on her Pintrest board the cover for the Mr. and Mrs. Smith film and once I saw the two arrive in formal attire, I knew where the engagement session would go.

Despite being together for over six years their flame is as fiery as a new relationship, I had no trouble at all getting these two to kiss in front of the camera and I’m sure that many of those times they forgot I was there!

Black and white Downtown Santa Ana Engagement Session

Since the two spent most of their relationship at University California of Santa Barbara (UCSB), we decided to do the second half of the engagement session around Laguna Beach. We were chasing sunlight since we had so much difficulty finding parking, specifically outside of Victoria Beach. It just so happened that the closest beach access stairs was out of order too but we didn’t let those obstacles keep as down and we manage to get all the shots in time!

Danny and Rochelle are also fans of Disney so it should come as no surprise that the colors were somewhat reminiscent of the Little Mermaid. Many props to Danny and Rochelle for climbing up jagged rocks and treading through cold water for these shots.

 

Beach Cities Engagement Session Victoria Beach Newport

Beach Cities Engagement Session

Newport Beach Cities Engagement Session

Congratulations to Danny and Rochelle on their upcoming wedding. We had such a great time photographing their engagement session and have been itching to share them with you! What do you think?

Book your engagement session with us! We travel. Don’t worry we got you covered.

 

David Mendez Corporate Head Shot

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Headshot Photography – Garden Grove, CA
Photographer & Writer – Dannie Phan

Last week we did a shoot with Susannah with my new seamless white backdrop and while I was asking around for models my friend David mentioned that he was looking to get some headshots done for his LinkedIn profile since he’s expecting to be done with law school later this year. It was also a delight to hang out with him for a bit since we’ve both been quite busy with work and school.

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Like last week’s shoot this was also an incredible learning experience. Suzie has some acting experience and felt incredibly comfortable getting into different characters and setting up poses. Since David was going primarily for the professional business look it felt a bit restrictive and stiff at first. Plus David can be quite camera shy. Luckily everything is digital and so there was no loss in trying to have fun with the shoot. I had David give me some silly faces, we did some cheesy corporate stock photo poses and we even did a couple terrible jumping shots.

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ALSO! I highly recommend that when doing jumping shots that you’re a good three feet away from the backdrop (maybe more if you’re talent isn’t too coordinated) and remember to put sandbags on your stands. I learned that once from a bigger production shoot where we actually didn’t have any additional seamless white paper to roll from after a tear from a jumping photo with about 15 people.

I’m not sure if it was the silly posing or the wardrobe change but by the end of the shoot, it became much more natural and quite fast pace. I think if we were to do it again that we would start it off with the silly stuff and reel our way back into the business professional format. We’ll just have to wait for the next shoot.

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