Although I mostly photograph weddings, I always get excited when I am contacted for a portrait session. Discussing and planning the session is like taking a peek into their backgrounds and experiences – a dancer, a business woman, a new addition to the family; each session celebrates who they are and this moment in their life.

In this case it was Takeo Uesugi, the father/father-in-law of Keiji & Becca (the first couple I ever photographed!). Takeo is an amazing landscape architect. The Japanese Garden at Cal Poly Pomona, the Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park, the garden by the JACCC in Little Tokyo – he’s designed countless beautiful landscapes across California and beyond. As we walked through the garden at Cal Poly Pomona, he pointed out the koi, described the different sounds of the water trickling under the bridge, and explained the varieties of plants that filled the garden. His serene knowledge and absolute love for what he did shined through his every word and it was an honor photographing him in the midst of his beautiful work.

The cherry on top was when Keiji informed me that an article featuring Takeo and some images from the session would be featured in the Nichi Bei Times, northern California’s leading Japanese-American newspaper. The article is a wonderful recognition of all of his work and a great overview of Japanese gardens in the US. The online version of the article can be viewed here.

And a few more shots from the session…

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P.S. Thanks to everyone who played along in the little giveaway in my last post! The winner of a wonderful little package of tea bags is Nelly! Nelly, I’ll be in touch with you soon and everyone else stay tuned for the next “Fave Finds” installment :)

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Back in December I shot an engagement session for my good friends Becca & Keiji. A couple months later Becca contacted me saying they wanted to do another shoot. Another shoot? Was the first not good enough? Were we missing shots?? As I wracked my mind for answers, she explained that they wanted this one to be a Japanese style shoot, complete with kimonos & montsukis!! How genius is that? Continuing with the Japanese theme, they decided to do the shoot in the Cal Poly Pomona Japanese garden, a garden that has special significance since (1) Keiji teaches landscape architecture at Cal Poly and (2) the garden was designed by his father (who has designed lots of other beautiful gardens all over Southern Cali). I loved the story behind the kimono Becca was wearing – it belonged to Keiji’s mother and was worn by her at her own wedding. And seriously, Becca was such a trooper in it – I’ve been stuffed into a kimono my fair share of times and let me tell you, as pretty as it is, it’s equally as painful. “Suffocating” and “rib-squishing” are also adjectives I like to use  :)

Certain parts of the garden looked just like it was fall!

We headed back to Keiji’s house after the shoot but the fun didn’t end there! Apparently an equally awesome garden surrounds the sides and back of his home. So of course we had to run around and grab some shots in there too…

A big thank you to Becca and Keiji for coming up with this fun idea and including me in it! And a ginormo thanks to Scott and his camera for tagging along this time too. Hopefully I can post some of his shots up here soon as well!