San Diego Wedding Photography at Rancho Bernardo Inn

  Over the weekend, I got to work with Cary Pennington photography as his second shooter. This was definitely a new experience since I usually work with Fiona during weddings, but it was fun to see how others work during a wedding.

The reception took place at the Rancho Bernardo Inn. It was absolutely gorgeous there and there were a number of weddings ceremonies there at the same time. It is a great venue for a wedding and provides great areas for portraits.

During the day, I got to hang out with all the fellas as they prepped for the wedding. They prepped at home and then jumped in a limo in order to get to the church. Then after the ceremony, I had to run off to the Rancho Bernardo Inn to take photos of the location.

The church didn't allow for any flash photography and was a little on the dark side, but we made it work out .

It was a great wedding with some beautiful people. Was happy to help capture the day over the weekend.

Check out some of my images from the day.

2nd Shooter Wedding Photographer: Ernie Padaon of Be Still Photography 2nd shooting for Cary Pennington Location: Rancho Bernard Inn

San Diego Wedding Photography | San Diego Air & Space Museum | Joe + Andrea

San Diego Wedding Photography: Be Still Photog | Ernie Padaon | Fiona Padaon We had the pleasure of capturing a gorgeous wedding at the San Diego Air & Space museum. Joe and Andrea are an amazing couple and everything was planned out beautifully for the wedding day. The venue was gorgeous and unique. It took place at the San Diego Air & Space museum in Balboa Park. It is not everyday that we see a bride and groom getting married under a helicopter.

Balboa Park has so many beautiful locations to photograph and we were able to capture our portrait sessions with some of the great architecture that is around there.

Everything on the day was picture perfect. We had such a great time with both Joe and Andrea on their day. They are an amazing couple and they made are job easy.

Here is just a quick look in at their wedding photos from the day:

San Diego Wedding Photography by Be Still Photog | Ernie Padaon | Fiona Padaon

San Diego Wedding Photography | Joe and Tristanne

San Diego Wedding Photography: Be Still Photography | Ernie Padaon | Fiona Padaon We had the pleasure to capture the day for Joe and Tristanne's wedding a couple of weeks ago. The ceremony took place at Sunset Cliffs and the setting was beautiful. The skies were clear and both of them looked amazing.

Both Joe and Tristanne got ready at separate locations, but they wanted to meet up beforehand to pray and for us to capture that moment for them. We found a nice little spot where they could pray for each other before the wedding, but not see each other.

Joe then hustled down to the ceremony location to make sure that everything was set up right. He also surprised Tristanne with a limo ride down to the site. The location was fantastic!

The parties then went back to the house to celebrate with all their friends.

These two are an amazing couple and they are so much fun to be around. We were happy to be able to capture their day for them.

Check out some of the photos from their big day.

Location: Sunset Cliffs | San Diego, CA MUA: Mikala Hubbard Hair: Sonovella Cake Artist: Natalie Miller

Wedding Photography | Black and white remains timeless

There is magic in black and white photos. The images are timeless. They remain amazing and will always remain amazing. If I had the opportunity to, I would shoot a whole wedding in black and white. If there is a bride that was interested in that, I might give her a little discount to have that opportunity.

When you shoot in black and white, there is a little different look that I go for. There is a little difference in contrast that I am shooting for. Everyone sees the world in color, but can you imagine what you will be taking if it were in black and white?

Wedding photography would be amazing in black and white. In a lot of cases, there is the white dress and the man is where a black tux. We already have black and white set up to perfection with that set up, now you just need to work in the rest of the world with it.

The book and the online gallery would be so fun to look at. When you look at an image in black and white, you try to imagine the colors that were in the day. There are no distracting colors that take away from the image. It is all black and white. Timeless and beautiful.

San Diego Wedding Videography | Slideshow on the same day

San Diego Wedding Videography: Be Still Photog | Ernie Padaon | Fiona Padaon Over the weekend we filmed a wedding at the Thursday Club at Sunset Cliffs for Edgar and Holly. The wedding was absolutely beautiful and we will have their highlight video to share on here very soon. For a lot of our weddings and shoots we like to have one goal when we walk up to the job. For this wedding, we wanted to be able to put out a little sneak into the wedding video for all of the people in the wedding to see.

We weren't looking for a "same day edit" that had audio and all. It was more of a slideshow of videos for the day. We do the same thing for our photography work and wanted to be able to incorporate it in for our videography. We know that the impact and the power that it has for the clients and for marketing our own work.

We knew that the wedding would be a little rough since we didn't have a lot of time to put it all together. We dropped it all in during dinner and shared it on an ipad for everyone to see at the dessert table.

IT WAS A SUCCESS. The maid of honor asked how we were able to get that done so quickly. The bride LOVED it and couldn't believe that she was watching her own wedding, while she was still at the wedding.

We are going to continue this madness and eventually jump into the world of a SAME DAY EDIT.

San Diego Wedding Proposal photography| Stone Brewery

 

San Diego Wedding Proposal photography: Be Still Photog | Ernie Padaon | Fiona Padaon

We have done a few wedding proposals now and this one was definitely going to be the most challenging. When we were asked to capture this moment, we knew that the situation would be a challenge. It was going to be late at night and the lighting at the location was little to none.

For the proposal, we had to set up the location with some candles and a custom made box that he created and place it out on a bench that they spent their first date on forever at Stone Brewery. They would walk up on the bench and he would pop the question there.

Since the lighting was tough, we brought a video light and guessed a location that it would all go down and lit it up. Since this was supposed to be a surprise, we chose to sit back and hide and didn't want to pop off a bunch of flash. We had to open up the lens real wide and increase the ISO, but this was all about the moment. We didn't want to change up the moment and the reactions with their awareness of being on camera, so we kept the flash down.

Here is just some from the day. We will get them all fully cleaned up this week: 

How do we use Pinterest in the wedding world?

  Pinterest. One of the goals that we have is to get better at posting our own work through Pinterest. Why have a Pinterest for our own company if we are not going to share our own work>

We ask people to create mood boards all the time for their engagement photography or for their wedding photography and they get images from other places that are on Pinterest, but our latest work is not always up on there for people to search through. We are going to begin to process all our stuff on there in order to reach that market. We need to be in that market.

The Pinterest world is big and there are a lot of brides that are planning their wedding through there. We need to get into that part of the world. At first we had just dropped in images in there without writing a description on them. Without a description, they would never be found unless they personally went onto our page. It is just like SEO for Pinterest. We have to add keywords for things to be found on there.

Just like all avenues of social media, it seems that you have to be active in the community in order to get any attention. We don't have it all figured out yet on Pinterest, but we will be working our page to make it better and to get it out to everyone. The world of pinterest seems to important in the wedding world and we cannot miss out on that opportunity. We will be building up our Pinterest page as a way to market and believe that it will be a smart move for us. We will find out.

As far as our clinets, we love to see them go through pinterest and adding boards on their page. We look through those boards to get an inspiration on what they like. When we ask clients to create a mood board, we ask them to pin photos on their board and to also put a note on what it is in the image that they like. Sometimes they like the background. Sometimes they like the pose. Sometimes they like the light. There are a number of things that they could like from the photo and we just want to see exactly what they were looking at when they hit the pin button. Pinterest is a powerful tool in the wedding world and we look to get more involved with it.

Follow our pinterest page at pinterest.com/bestillphotog

Do you want to be a wedding photographer?

What does it take to be a wedding photographer? There are so many hours that go into it and the least of those hours are behind a camera. 

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Recently, PetaPixel released an article that read "You sure you want to be a wedding photographer?" I thought the article was brilliant and explained how hard it is to make it in this world.

There are so many hours that go into being a wedding photographer that people do not see. There are so many hours that go unnoticed. I love every part of this job. I love being in that big moment and capturing the best day of someone's life. I will take that responsibility in my hands all day!

It is not a job that everyone can make a living off of. It takes a ton of time to build a brand and to build a reputation. It takes a lot of determination. I admire the rockstar photographers that are out there. They have put in the time and effort to get to that level. We want to get to that level. We will get to that level.

If you are an up and coming photographer that is looking to get into this world, know that the time spent behind the camera is only a small portion of the job. It is the portion of the job that you love the most, but there is so much time spent behind a computer editing, marketing, emailing, budgeting.... The time back there doesn't end.

Then there are the moments of meeting with potential clients, that will turn you down since you are out of their price range. Then there is the nervousness that never seems to go away when you deliver the final product. All the thoughts that run through your mind in hopes that they get what they were hoping for.

Here are the questions that were asked at the end of the article:

• Do you love people, a lot, even the un-lovely ones?
• Do you believe in yourself, even in the face of regular rejection?
• Do you love the process, even if the results don’t come for a long time?
• Do you love to work for no money and long, thankless hours?
• Is accomplishment itself enough compensation for you?
• Are you willing to work 7 years for your ‘overnight’ success?
• Are you willing to pull an all-nighter because you love your clients?
• Are you motivated by your own creativity?
• Is your happiness unshakeable in the face of repeated defeat?
• Do you own a camera and a comfortable pair of shoes?

And if we said YES to all of them, then we MIGHT be the next rock star photographer.

Why should I get a wedding videographer?

https://vimeo.com/133355603 Why should people invest in getting a wedding videographer? What can they provide that a photographer cannot bring to the table? 

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Why should brides get a wedding cinematographer/videographer? There is something that movement and sound can capture that still images cannot capture. This post is not to diminish the need for photographers. We do both at Be Still and we believe that people should have both during their biggest day.

There is greatness in both stills and cinema, but we are writing this post to convince you on the video portion. The idea of seeing that first dance come to life again is incredible. You can see the look in each other's eyes and also can see the mood in the room.

The biggest benefit is getting the audio from the day. The audio from the speeches and the vows placed onto a movie type documentary will make tears come down your eyes. Those words will be preserved forever.

Trust in a professional. Trust in someone that has been to weddings and understands the height of the occasion. Look over their previous work and see if you like their style. That is what your final product will look like.

The wedding videographer that you bring on will be looking for all the details that your Uncle Bob would not be looking for. The wedding videographer will capture scenes in a way that your Uncle Bob would not be looking for and your wedding videographer will put it together in a final product that will take your breath away. Trust in a pro.

San Diego Wedding Videographers: Be Still Photog | Ernie Padaon | Jason Padaon | Simon Xaisongkham

Wedding flowers: Bridal bouquets... make them huge

 

If you are prepping for your wedding, there are a number of different things running through your mind. Creating a huge bridal bouquet should be one of them.

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Every bride has to have a bouquet as they walk down the aisle on their wedding day. Everyone has their choice of what flowers that they want to put into that bouquet to make it stand out.

A great way to make that baby pop is to make it huge! Create a giant bouquet. It is something that I have loved seeing lately through pinterest or instagram, but I absolutely love giant bouquets. They just pop and they make for amazing photos.

Go big or go home... right?

Let that thing stand out from the rest. You won't have to carry for very long and when it comes to the bouquet toss, you will be tossing a different set of flowers anyway. Fill that bouquet up and walk down the aisle with an amazing assortment of flowers in your bouquet.

Just go through pinterest right now to see if this is your style.

San Diego Flowers: Anika Aguirre Southern California Wedding Photographers: Be Still Photography | Ernie Padaon | Fiona Padaon

San Diego Wedding Photography | Eastlake Country Club | Tony + Karla

 

San Diego Wedding Photography with Tony and Karla Rivera at Eastlake Country Club. What an amazing day for the two of them!

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What a fun 4th of July we were able to have this year! We were able to spend our 4th with the amazing Tony and Karla Rivera down at Eastlake Country Club. Everything was put together so beautifully for their big day. The decor was perfect and the venue was awesome. The views at a golf course always seem to be stunning, especially when you have a bride and groom that can light it up like Tony and Karla.

The color for the wedding was purple. The color of royalty and they all made it stunning. Here is a quick glimpse into the dress and a slight look in at the bridesmaids dresses.

Before the wedding ceremony, Tony and Karla wanted to meet up for a prayer for the day and for their marriage. They didn't want to see each other until she walked down the aisle though, so we found a pillar to separate the two of them for their prayer.

 

You can just tell that Karla's dad was so happy for the occasion.   The scenery at the Eastlake County Club was gorgeous. Everything about the day was amazing. Check out some of the photos from the ceremony. 

Afterward, we went around the course with both Tony and Karla to capture some portraits of the two of them. It is always a nice breath of fresh air to step away from everyone else for that moment.

It is always fun to see the bride and groom let loose with all of their friends. After the ceremony is complete, the reception is always a good time with their closest friends.  San Diego Wedding Photographers: Be Still Photography | Ernie Padaon | Fiona Padaon Hair: Savannah Turrietta Venue: Eastlake Country Club

The ultimate snack bar for the kids at your wedding

If you are planning a wedding right now, then you can see one of the great ideas by one of our recent brides. She had an amazing snack bar.

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We were shooters for a wedding recently and it had one sweet snack bar that you should consider for your wedding! This thing is perfect! It had all kinds of treats for everyone to get to. 4 tables full of snacks all over that was ready to be taken at any time during the reception.. I loved it and the guests loved it . You could tell since it was almost bare by the end of the night.

This table was filled with Rice Krispies treats, candies, some healthy trail mix and so much more. I am sure that the kids were back there over and over again to take some of the sweets off of that table. If you have a wedding that will have a few kids running around, this is something to consider.

I remember going to weddings as a kid and thinking that the food was terrible. If there were some snacks laid out like this, then I would have been in heaven!

If you are looking to add some sweets out for people to pick up throughout the night, this is something that you should consider. If there are going to be a lot of kids, then definitely set something like this up.

Check out more photos from that little snack bar.

San Diego Wedding Photographers: Be Still Photography | Ernie Padaon | Fiona Padaon

San Diego Wedding Photography | Del Mar Powerhouse | Robert + Miriam

 

San Diego wedding photography by Be Still Photography (Ernie Padaon) with Robert and Miriam at the Del Mar Powerhouse.

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I had the pleasure of taking the photos for this wonderful couple at the Del Mar Powerhouse. The venue is absolutely amazing as it is footsteps away from the beach. It does not hold the most amount of people. but it still is an amazing beach wedding location.

Our wedding with Robert and Miriam took place right at golden hour and was absolutely beautiful. You could see so much love within the family that was their to support the two.

The biggest struggle for photographers and I would imaging the bride and groom for the Del Mar Powerhouse is the lack of space for preparation. The groom had to get prepped in a bathroom, while the bride had a small powder room to work with.  Just have to get creative in order to make it work out.

The details of wedding dresses are always amazing. They always require a number of images to capture all of it's glory. Here are a couple of the details of the fabulous dress that Miriam was wearing.

"I DO" on the shoes!

That prayer before they actually see each other. Well, Miriam did get a sneak in on him.

This location for the ceremony is still AMAZING. Right on the beach and that light coming through.

They ended the ceremony with the groomsmen and bridesmaids holding some long stem roses for Miriam and Robert to walk under. 

San Diego Wedding Photographers: Be Still Photography | Ernie Padaon Location: Del Mar, CA Venue: Del Mar Powerhouse

San Diego Wedding Videography | Same Day Edit | Juan Carlos + Aprille

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZyc7AJagjo San Diego Wedding Videography done by Ernie Padaon of Be Still Photography.

Be Still Photography is starting to get into the world of videography. Many people told us that we would be getting into that world soon and we are making the steps in that direction. It has moved quickly and this was the first wedding that we had the opportunity to film. The wedding took place in Balboa Park in San Diego and was a short reception, but we were able to capture the amazing moments of the day.

You can see the love that the two of them had for each other and for their family. Family has been a big priority for them and everyone had a great time out there.

The venue is absolutely gorgeous in Balboa Park in San Diego. The architecture is amazing and The Prado is an amazing location for a wedding.

This was a same day edit of the event. We will also be creating a longer documentary of the wedding, but wanted the couple to have something in front of their eyes on the same day. We already love the ability to tell a story with video and look forward to many more opportunities to do this.

San Diego Wedding Videographers: Be Still Photography | Ernie Padaon Venue: The Prado | San Diego, CA

Testing out some new tricks in editing

 

We have been working with some new tricks in our editing process and re-edited a  few of our photos from past shoots to see what the results would look like.

From the early results, it definitely seems like something that we want to keep building on. The adjustments are subtle, but make the images stand out a lot more in a crowded world of photography.

We will always be looking to build on what we have and will always be looking for a way to stand out in the best possible way. We think the little added touches will help us out. 

Wedding Album

Was able to get a look at this album again and had to take some photos of it. This is one of our favorite albums that we have put together. Everything about it was brilliant.

San Diego Wedding Photography | Phil + Grit

San Diego wedding photography with Phil and Grit at Woodland Heights in Escondido. 

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What an amazing wedding with Grit and Phil! These two are amazing and they put together an awesome day. They are such a fun couple and you could see that reflect in all of their photos from the day. They had a great event with some great friends and family.

We had such an amazing time working with them during this wedding. It all started with a great engagement session and then had an amazing time during their wedding. The venue was awesome and Grit had a ton of her best friends helping her put together the wedding. Since she had a ton of experience in the business in the past, she knew a lot of people that could make this day amazing.

Their daughter was so much fun and we loved spending the day with them all.

San Diego Wedding Photographers : Be Still Photography | Ernie Padaon | Fiona Padaon Florists: Cherry Blossom Floral Designs Caterer: Red Tail Catering DJ: Daniel Peterson

Mexico Wedding Photography | Kaeli + Carlo | El Cielo | Valle de Guadalupe Mexico

Mexico wedding photography with Kaeli and Carlo at El Cielo Winery. The venue was amazing and the landscape was beautiful. 

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What an AMAZING venue that we were able to work with for Carlo and Kaeli's wedding. We traveled out to Valle de Guadalupe Mexico from San Diego and enjoyed the beautiful scenery at the vineyard.

Kaeli and Carlo were awesome. The wedding was amazing. The ceremony took place in the wine cellar and the reception was upstairs at the restaurant.

The scenery was breathtaking. We loved working with Carlo and Kaeli.

Location: El Cielo Winery | Valle de Guadalupe Mexico Mexico Wedding Photographers: Be Still Photog | Ernie Padaon | Fiona Padaon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQYtzXUP5hA

San Diego Wedding Photography | Pat + Nat

San Diego Wedding Photography for Patrick and Natalie. Ceremony took place at St. John Evangelist Church and ceremony at Carlsbad Seapointe Resort.  

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What an amazing wedding that we were honored to be a part of! You could see the love between Pat and Nat as soon as Natalie stepped into the room.The emotions were flowing right from the start of the ceremony and it was beautiful. They have such great families and friends that supported them during their day.

We took them for a quick portrait session near the beach so that they could see the lovely landscape of the ocean. It was amazing. Check out some of the highlights from the day.

Wedding Photographers: Be Still Photography | Ernie Padaon | Fiona Padaon Venue: Saint John the Evangelist Church, Encinitas, CA | Carlsbad Seapointe Resort, Carlsbad, CA

Just Patrick and Natalie's brothers enjoying some good smiles before the wedding.

Natalie was glowing the whole day. Right from the start for preparation, she had a smile on her face and was looking forward to the whole thing. 

Her bridesmaids were the best.

That dress with those windows brought some amazing colors for the photos.

Right before the wedding, you can see that Natalie's dad was so excited for the day.

The natural light at the venue was perfect for us.

Natalie's brother and sister made a rap jam to celebrate the wedding. It was epic!

Encinitas Wedding | Pat + Nat

Photographer: Be Still Photography | Ernie Padaon | Fiona Padaon

We just shot Pat and Nat's wedding and we are going through all the awesome images of their day. It was an awesome event and we had a great time with their wedding party. The day was beautiful and we took a few images near the beach to show off the beauty of San Diego.

Here is just a sneak in on the wedding before we start editing them all.