California Wedding Photographer, Photography Worldwide – Victor Sizemore’s Blog

Last weekend I drove to San Francisco with my good friend Fenton and his fiance Katie to shoot their engagement session. It rained all week in California so we didn’t know what type of weather to expect in the city as usual. However, we had an awesome day with bits of rain and clouds here and there which added to the mood.

I’ve known Fenton for 10 years now. We played baseball together in Kentucky at Brea College. We also did two road trips in college, one of which was 8229.6 miles door to door from my house in Kentucky. We drove a loop around the country going I-40 straight to Las Vegas then Death Valley, Sequoias, Yosemite, San Francisco, down the coast, LA, San Diego, Mexico, Yuma for the Super Bowl, White Sands, San Antonio, New Orleans, Nashville and home again. Gone 30 days on the road! We stayed with everyone we knew in the areas, sleeping on floors and couches. We also camped and even slept in the car several times.

Here are some photos of me, Fenton and Lucian from the road trip. Then some from the engagement session in Frisco.

Sequoia National Park

I just had to post this one of Lucian brown bagging the Anchor Steam and talking to the street guy.

Me on the tracks up the coast. A head shot of my brother-in-law Michael Hedden outside his college apartment.

My beautiful wife, Rachael and Elijah at 6 months at Hotel Del Coronado.

Us with Hector before heading down to Mexicali for the night.

We started at the Palace of Fine Art where it was still raining on and off. I saw a couple bride and grooms too.

We had an awesome day after the rain. Here we are down at Chrissy Field by Persido.

Of course Baker Beach is always good…

I had to mix in a “Shot” at my favorite liquor store.

Before leaving town we hit up Buena Vista by Ghirardelli Square for the original American Irish Coffee. It was strong but amazing!

In September I went to New York City for not one, not two but three engagement sessions. Normally I like to take an extra day for myself to enjoy the city but this was a jam-packed two and a half day business trip!

Day 1 – Staten Island – Heather and Chris

I arrived in Newark around 4pm where Chris picked me up and we went back to Staten Island. I know Chris through my buddy Vinny who was one of my college roommates in California. I was in Vin and Devin’s wedding last year and now they are expecting TWINS!

Heather and Chris decided to shoot at a park at the base of the Verazano Bridge then head over to the old fort. We had a clear and amazing view of the city that afternoon. That night we all had an amazing dinner a Da Noi. They start you with an olive topanuad, we order mussels in white sauce as an appetizer and I had veal with shitake and sage over pasta. They are getting married next July in Staten Island. Might be a good family trip for the Sizemore clan to rip up the Big Apple.

Day 2 – Jessica and Michael – Central Park

I met Jessica and Mike at the famous Plaza Hotel at the southeast corner of Central Park to start our shoot. We photographed some very iconic and picturesque spots in Central Park. We wrapped the shoot with some drinks on the Westside and then Michael and I went to the Rangers preseason hockey game. He had seats on the ice third row. You can really feel the hitting that close! My first hockey game, loved it!

Day 3 – Alison and Erik – Central Park and Meat Packing

We also started in Central Park but met on the westside just above Columbus Circle. We hit a one spot in Central Park I had never been. It was a lawn near the great divide. Then we went to The Standard hotel over the High-line, it’s pretty sweet! Then ended the shoot in Meat Packing. After all the work we went to dinner at a small Italian place called Frankie’s. I had the wild boar ragu.

We had a great shoot downtown at some of my usual spots but tried a couple new ones as well. I love photographing in LA because the urbanscape is always changing so there are new things every month. We had a great dinner at Pete’s Café in the Old Bank District. My family and I actually looked at a Penthouse Loft in the old Farmer’s Merchant building, but downtown is not quite kid friendly yet.

Lisa and Paul are getting married in Palm Springs in October at the awesome Riviera Hotel. The wedding is going to be amazing! Check out some of my favorites…

The family and I drove up to the Bay Area a few weeks ago for a bit of fun and business. I had a couple consultations and an engagement session with Kellie and Tim. Their wedding is in Laguna at Three Arch Bay Park a very intimate and private setting off PCH. Tim is getting into Bourbon was we talked about a bunch of great places in San Francisco to have a nice drink. My short list is Bourbon and Branch, Library Bar, Rickhouse and Whiskey Thieves. During school Kellie used to work for a family member as a sales rep for St. Germaine the new Elder Flower liquor. She turned me onto some libations with St. Germaine and bourbon. I can’t wait to try them out!

Here’s the engagement photos from the same trip to Charleston. Catherine, Jason and I had a great time roaming around town through all the beautiful streets. Half-way though the shoot we stopped at the Blind Tiger for a cold pint! Later than evening we hit up a Charleston staple called Jestine’s Kitchen. You feel as if you are to dinner at your Granny’s house, just making yourself at home in the dining room. Mrs. Jestine Mathews lived to be 112 years old! Enjoy and stay tuned for Catherine and Jason’s wedding photos next week.

Last week I shot Stephanie and Sam’s engagement session at USC. They went to school there and actually met in Spain during a study abroad program through the college. We tried to beat the college rush by shooting before class started but campus was still crawling with people. Not too mention the international student orientations and concert in the quad. We still managed to get our photos done quickly, under an hour… Then we went for a drink downtown at there “go to” place called Rivera. It’s only fitting that they would love a modern Latin inspired restaurant with a killer bar! Stephanie and Sam had a couple awesome cocktails and I had a Thomas Handy Rye neat. Check out these photos and stay tuned for their wedding at the Ritz-Carlton in September.

Last week I had the pleasure of photographing Lizzie and Christian’s engagement session. Some of you might remember Lizzie from the Las Vegas mentor shoot this past February at WPPI, if not check it out. Lizzie is originally from Kentucky and former Miss Kentucky 2002 so we immediately hit it off! For the shoot they wanted a more stylish, Hollywood feel. The wedding is at Bacara Resort in Santa Barbara which oozes ‘Old Hollywood Glam’ surrounded by Spanish warmth within a siren beach setting. I can’t wait, it will be my first wedding there!

We started at the Viceroy in Santa Monica and I love to shooting there, however it was rather busy especially for a weekday. So I didn’t get to shoot all the places I would have liked. Then we headed for the Hollywood hills and finished up at the Griffith Observatory. Lizzie had two awesome Betsy Johnson dresses and Jimmy Choo’s to match. Christian wore a nice summery linen suit with a killer belt buckle. I love a great belt buckle but it takes time to find the right one for you. It needs to say something about you or represent you in some fashion, no pun intended. I had an awesome one which I actually made until Sammy slammed it on the title floor pretending it was a whip. He was Indiana Jones of course. It was an old silver dollar mounted on a plain buckle, I choose to show the eagle side of the coin. Being real silver it tarnished nicely with the buckle face. Somehow the silver dollar got miss placed in the move before I had a chance to re-mount the coin. I’m sure there’s another fitting buckle for me out there waiting to be discovered! Enjoy.

This has to be one of my favorites!

Diane and Kevin originally wanted to shoot their engagement session on the beach and I thought, argh!!! (Very pirate like as well) I hate shooting at the beach too much! I try to only shoot 2 or 3 engagement sessions at the beach per year, for those couple that really, really love it or want some ocean and are not even getting married close.  Anyway, Diane and Kevin are such a stylish couple this shoot suited them much better. When Diane emailed me with the option of shooting at their friends Bed and Breakfast I was all over it! The place is called Korakia Pensione in Palm Springs, it’s an awesome Moroccan style villa.

They even had one of the best rooms lined up to shoot in and for Rachael and I to spend the night; however, we had to bring the kids and couldn’t use the room, bummer! We ended up staying at the Ace Hotel which was super cool and very kid friendly. Two huge salt water pools, killer food and bourbon selection. The waiter rode a skateboard around to deliver food and drinks by the pool. Anyway, Diane and Kevin were such an easy couple to shoot. I’m really looking forward to their wedding next May in Mexico. Diane may also be our model for the 2nd Annual WPPI Mentor shoot in Las Vegas. Enjoy…

This time of year tends to be busy with engagement sessions and creating custom Save the Dates.  Below are a few that we have recently designed for upcoming weddings.  They range from multi-fold pieces and custom envelopes, die-cuts and simple, yet effective postcard!

Jenna and Reggie’s Old Hollywood Movie Ticket

*Front

*Back

Erin and T.J.’s Tri-Fold

The image in the center is the back side of the Save the Date and the two sides fold over to create the front cover.  

*Front Right – Back Center Panoramic – Front Left

*Inside spread: Left, Center, Right

Megan and Kyle’s – 5×7 Postcard 

*Front

*Back

Christine and Richard’s 5×7 Folded Golf Score Card ‘Save the Date’

*Front

*Inside spread

*Back

I shot this session in November before Thanksgiving and it was a ton of fun! Christine and Richard love to play golf. We didn’t have time for a real round so we decided to go putt-putting at Boomers in Irvine. We also got in the batting cages after, me included. I had to knock the dust off the ole’ swing! Christine got some sweet shots of me in action! Then we headed down to Laguna for some evening shots around downtown. I could not believe the sunset, it’s the best one I’ve seen in a while! Christine and Richard are getting married at the Resort at Pelican Hill next May. We are currently designing a cool golf ‘Save the Date’. Enjoy!