The Best Films of 2015

This post is in honor of the 88th Academy Awards taking place tonight. 

I consider it a small feat that I've watched north of 100 films released in 2015, especially since I have a full time job which is not in the film industry. I'd seen people put together video countdowns of their favorite movies in previous years, so in 2015 I kept a detailed spreadsheet with every movie I watched so I could create my own. The fun part was setting it to songs that were also in films released in the same year.  Without further ado, I give you my take on the best films of 2015. 

After watching that you know who I'll be rooting for tonight. Happy Oscars, everyone! 

Courtney & Mike's Wedding

I had the great privilege of photographing Courtney and Mike's wedding a couple of weeks ago. I've been friends with Courtney since high school and she is one of the nicest people I know. And I've only known Mike for a couple of years but he is an awesome guy, and almost as nice as Courtney. The fact that they are both past Peace Corps Volunteers should give you an idea of just how caring and beautiful these two love birds are. 

Congratulations, Courtney and Mike! You make a truly great couple! I'm excited for the next chapter of your lives as you embark for Mexico and a life full of adventure around the world! 

Carlina & Andrew's Wedding

I got to second shoot Carlina and Andrew's wedding for a fellow photographer a couple of weeks ago. I've had like negative time to do anything for the last month so I'm just now getting to post these. Here are some of my favorite shots. Congratulations Carlina and Andrew!

The Nguyen Family

The Nguyens wanted to get some family photos with their awesome corgi and the cherry blossoms so we planned for a DC outing a couple of weeks ago. It wasn't until I tried and failed to take the Memorial Bridge into DC that I realized how terrible our scheduling was. I'd planned it to avoid the Cherry Blossom Parade but had forgotten all about the marathon! Just a teeny tiny  logistical nightmare to work around, but we got through it all right :-P    

Cherry Blossoms Portraits

The cherry blossoms where in full bloom this past weekend, so Sara and I got up early Saturday morning and headed into DC for a little photo shoot. Saturday was the Cherry Blossom Festival, so naturally DC was packed to the gills with tourists.  After a little bit of scouting we were able to find an area that was somewhat deserted and had some beautiful light. As we started taking pictures, Sara goes, "look there's a couple getting their engagement shots over there." Then I noticed that the photographer taking their pictures was someone who's work I'd just recently started following a couple of weeks earlier! What are the odds!

We were on a roll for about an hour but then had to call it quits and head back to our car before the meter expired. I didn't mind having to stop because right after that Sara and I went to put in an offer for a condo that we both really love! Keeping our fingers crossed that we get it! 

Anyways, here are just but a few of the many great photos we got that morning. Aint she purrdy?!

Sonia & Bryan Are Married!

I've known Sonia since high school and I was very excited when she contacted me about the possibility of shooting her wedding. We had a couple of back and forths online and through some miscommunication I'd thought that she had decided to go with someone else. So you can imagine my surprise when she contacted me just a couple of days before the day of her wedding saying that we should get together to finish coordinating! Thankfully I was still open that day and was able to photograph their wedding. Lesson learned: brides have a thousand and one things they have to worry about, so always get a confirmation from them one way or the other! 

Sonia and Bryan got married on a beautiful Sunday afternoon at Evergreen Country Club in Haymarket, VA. I only shot for about 5hrs but I had a great time doing it. Spanish people know how to party ;-)

Their daughter, who is beyond adorable, surprised everyone by singing the lyrics to the song for their first dance. She did a great job! More than a few tears were shed.

Incredible India

I love to travel and I love photography. If I could have it my way I'd spend my life traveling all over the world with a camera in my hand. Unfortunately, I haven't found a gig that would pay me to do that yet, so for the time being I have to settle for just a couple of trips a year. 

I think India is one of those places that every traveler and/or photographer dreams about going to at some point in their lives, so I was over the moon when Sara and I decided that that would be one of our trips for 2015. We, along with Sara's sister, Kate, spent 10 days traveling around the Golden Triangle (Delhi, Agra, Jaipur), Mathura for the Holi festival, and Varanasi. I kept a travel blog (with a ton of iPhone photos!) while we were traveling so I won't go into any detail here and let the pictures speak for themselves instead. All I'll say is that despite only having seen but a tiny corner of it, India is without a doubt the most fascinating place I've ever been to.

If you'd like to know more about our trip, or if you just want to see more photos, head over to my Bonjournal travel blog, here.

This was one of the shots on the short list for my photo book cover. In the end I decided there was no way the cover for a book on India should ever be monochromatic. I still really like the way the text fits in though, so here it is. 

The Wong Family

Do a search for family portraits on Google and 95% of the resulting images will be of parents with small children. The other 5% will be of extended families to include the grandparents, so I went into this session a little bit nervously given that this was an immediate family with grown children. But all trepidations went right out the window as soon as we started taking pictures and I saw how comfortable they all were with each other and in front of the camera. They actually reminded me a lot of my own family, and not just because they are Peruvian! I think their love for each other really comes through in these shots and I can't go through them without getting a big smile on my face.

Daddy's Girl and Momma's Boy

Classic expression of brotherly love!

Baby Dalia

This little cutie is Dalia, the daughter of new and proud parents, G and Hatem. Sara and I went over to their place to meet her a couple of weeks ago and G cooked us an awesome Arab style brunch.  All the food was awesome (she's a great cook, that G) and we had a great time just hanging out for the afternoon. Of course we took the opportunity to take a couple of pictures in between all the eating and chatting.

G and Hatem, you guys are both awesome people. I know Dalia will be just as cool as you guys! Congrats!

Nate & Ashley's Headshots

My friends Nate and Ashley are starting a real estate business and didn't want to use some bush league pictures for their website and marketing materials so they asked me to do their headshots. If you own a business, don't be a jabroni and go get some professional photos taken!