The marine layer hovers in the distance like it usually does in Monterey. But on this day, in the distance it continues to stay, leaving the beautiful grounds of the Monterey Plaza Hotel and Spa continually kissed in beautiful golden sunlight. The wedding has all the sights and sound you would expect from a seaside venue. The squawking of seagulls flying high overhead. The bustling of tourist as they made their way around the sideside village. The smell of the ocean within arms reach and the sound of the waves as they announce their arrival.

The wedding ceremony was held on the terrace overlooking the ocean. The brides maids’ dresses swayed and danced to the ocean breeze bringing it’s deep, vibrant hues to the ceremony. Derek’s dad did a wonderful job officiating the ceremony despite claiming he may be more nervous than the bride herself. Lisa’s nerves may have appeared ever so slightly once her wedding coordinator Sarah Ward came by the hotel room and announced that it was time. But that was quickly replaced with excitement as the day and hour has finally arrived for her to marry Derek. The wedding ceremony itself was kept short and sweet so that Lisa and Derek could spend more time dancing the night away with their friends and family. Dancing they did as it started early and brought an end to the night.

Lisa and Derek - thank you so much for sharing your special day with us. We wish you both a long, long time of happiness in a galaxy near, near to us all. Have the best of time on your Mediterranean cruise you two. Much love. -DH

The beautiful bouquet with touches of something blue.

The gown was absolutely beautiful.

Something blue…

Now for something old…

Like me, Derek is a big fan of Star Wars. Ok…with a Star Wars themed wedding cake, he may be a bigger fan than I am.

In case some of didn’t notice, there is a new California law that went into affect last Tues, July 1st that requires everyone using a cellphone while driving to utilize a handfree device like a bluetooth headset.

According to Cnet, headset.com wanted to bring light to this new law by giving away a free Plantronics Discovery 925 if you happen to get caught using your phone while driving without a handsfree headset. We’re not sure if headset.com is promoting the safety of driving with a proper headset or encouraging you to break the law and get a free bluetooth headset. Either way, if you find yourself with a ticket, you may lessen the sting by getting a freebie. ;)

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Emily and Russell’s engagement slideshow is up. It’s always hard to find that perfect song that fit with what I feel and envision for the show. But I work tirelessly until I can find that one song that portray the feeling I have while processing the photos. Either that’s the artist side of me or the perfectionist side of me talking, I am not sure. Just a tip for you photographers out there. Try to do your song searching in the morning because searching through hundreds of songs at night puts me in that relax state where I can not keep my eyes open. :)  So without further ado…enjoy!

Each June bring with it excitement, anticipation and joy for many as they close one chapter in their life to begin a new one the following fall. Today Monica graduates from middle school and look forward to beginning her life as a high schooler come fall. It’s so awesome to witness her grow and mature these last two years as she assimilate to life in a new city living with her uncles and making new friends. Enjoy your summer vacation and a big congrats!

Here’s Monica surprise to see me sniping her with my telephoto. Her friend said check out that guy with the big lens. To which Monica replies: OMG…I know him.

Can we say…Happy?

“Presenting…my two uncles, Denny and Lee!”

Looking more and more like a young lady everyday.

Acting silly which is perfectly ok for her age. :)

Congratulations. We’re all proud of you and what you’ve accomplished. You look amazing today.

Their memory differs slightly about how they first met. She said it was her cab he was trying to steal. Somehow Russell remembered it a little differently. These minor details can get fuzzy after seven years. Many of which were spent long distance, racking up the phone bill. Emily confesses to getting in trouble once racking it up at work. These were the days before unlimited long distance calling plans and one needs to be creative when trying to “reach out and touch someone.”

But that’s all behind them now as they look forward to planning for their future and saving for their first home. First thing’s first…get through the final planning for their wedding coming up at the end of August. The ceremony and reception site they picked out in wine country Sonoma is absolutely beautiful.

We are so excited and can not wait to be there to witness and capture the result of your planning as it comes to fruition. Here is a small selection from the day. We went overboard and got more images than our typical engagement session. But it will at least make up for your average of two picture per year of dating. Father’s day festivities cut into time in front of the computer so check back tomorrow night for the slideshow. In the mean time…enjoy this small sampling to hold you over.We started off with some urban in trendy downtown Palo Alto. All the pictures was taken a square block near the Apple store.      Can you believe we found a mini forest in the middle of downtown Palo Alto. We had to work this into the session. The setting sun made for some gorgeous flares and beautiful back lighting as you’ll see below.  We just love these tiny gesture and soft touches like these. These are the things we look for and make sure to capture during the wedding day. It is usually sweet little moments like this that can go unnoticed.      Emily and Russell - thanks for trusting us and spending your Sunday with us. We kept saying “one more shot and it’ll be done,” but the beautiful surrounding just begs for more pictures. It was all worth it as the day just got better and better and you guys were so fun to shoot. And many thanks for taking us out to dinner afterwards. The food was delicious as you can tell by what little was left on my plate. :)

Hello everyone and hope y’all had a terrific Saturday. We didn’t have a shoot scheduled today so that allowed us to catch up a bit from traveling the past three weekends in a row. Woke up bright and early today and quickly hop on the computer to catch up on some news and my rss feeds. After that, took the family out for breakfast before returning home to get work done. Was able to catch a few minutes of the US Open to watch Tiger finish off his day with some spectacular putting. The exciting news this year is that the US Open is being held at the Torrey Pines golf course here in sunny San Diego. Or at least it was sunny were I was today. June gloom was in full effect along the coast for most of the day, casting a marine layer that blanket the courses at Torrey Pines. However the sun did come out towards the end of the day, giving the tournament players a spectacular view of the setting sun. Speaking of setting sun, here is an image from Emily and Russell’s engagement we did last weekend.  We caught the golden rays of the sun as it begins to set, illuminating this patch of Lavenders with just creamy, soft and delicious lighting. Check back tomorrow for the rest of this series. We got some fantastics shots and can not wait to share with you all.

 I think most of us are always looking for ways to work smarter and more efficiently. Since I am traveling more often for destination weddings, I wanted an automated way to check in to my flights 24hrs ahead. With that in mind, I came across this site that allows you enter your name and confirmation number and the web program will automatically check you in on these airlines: United, American, Continental and Delta. Even though some of these airlines have assigned seating, getting checked in first before everyone else can get you first dibs on first class upgrades or assure that you board first and are guaranteed overhead luggage space. CheckinSooner is free for guest users and will email the confirmation printout to your inbox. Or you can simply get a duplicate printout at the kiosk in the airport.    I do realize that the one airline that can benefit the most from this service is mysteriously absent from this list. I think Southwest’s lawyers have been sending cease and desist letters to websites offering this service and is the reason why they are absent from this list. CheckIn4Me is one such service that is looking into the legalities of offering this service for Southwest travelers.  Please share with us if you have any other tips or tricks on airline travels.

It’s Monday and Apple’s developer’s conference begins this week with the traditional Steve Job’s keynote. The most anticipated announcement is the sucessor to the last years most hyped and Time magazine’s “Invention of the Year.” The new iPhone 3G features faster internet speed, a hardware based GPS and version 2.0 of the iPhone software all at a $199 price point.

Here at DavidHam, we are pretty demanding of our gadgets and gear. And though the iPhone in it’s current incarnation does have it’s shortcoming , there is no doubt that it is a very useful business tool that allows us to stay abreast of news and important communication while on the go. With the release of the SDK that allows third party developers the opportunity to create feature rich application to extend the capabilities of the iPhone even further, it will definitely make this communications device even better. July 11th can’t get here soon enough!!! That is when the new iPhone 3G is available for sale here in the US. Are you guys gonna buy one?

In other news…I’ve just got back today from an awesome engagement session in the bay area and can’t wait to share that with you guys. Plus other things that have kept me really busy in the last month. Traveling puts us a day or two behind and it adds up when you’ve been traveling back to back the last 3 weeks. At least there’s only remnants of the flu remaining in my body. :D

***update: news today shows that the announce price is already subsidized and that all iPhone purchase must be activated instore on a qualified 2yr AT&T plan. Furthermore, they increased the unlimited data plan for the 3G iPhone from $20/mo to $30/mo. I don’t think this is very good news for iPhone fans and certainly not good news for current iPhone users who want to upgrade to the new 3G device. :(

Last weekend, we had the pleasure of meeting Lisa and Derek for the first time. We met up with Lisa and Derek at Lick Mill Park in Santa Clara close to where the two currently resides. The late day sun lit up the canopies of the surrounding trees which made for an awesome backdrop. Lisa and Derek’s easy going and friendly nature completes the recipe for some deliciously fun pictures. We ended the session in downtown San Jose before Derek had to run off for a poker tournament. Check out a few picks from the session below and hit up the slideshow for more from the day. 

Lisa and Derek - shooting your engagement session makes us all realize that your wedding day is right around the corner. We can not wait till Aug to celebrate and document all the special memories that your day is sure to be full of.

As many of my friends know, we love how modern web technology are helping friends and family stay updated and in touch with one another. Tools such as twitter and blogs represent some what I am talking about about.In the realm of modern business, one of the most critical tool to allow potential clients to be able to view and connect with your work is an online web presence. However, getting a cool, dynamic and customized one usually take a lot of time, knowledge and/or money. Enter Showit sites.David Jay is an awesome photographer who also makes some of the most useful tools we use here at DavidHam. We received an invitation from David Jay to get together and figure out what we photographers needed in a website design tool. It was awesome to meet and be able to influence the design of a tool that will allow for anyone to be able to easily create a dynamic and very customizable website without having to know any flash, html or css. From the looks of the current beta and insight into where David Jay and his team is taking the tool, it will be a good one indeed.A quick snap with David Jay before we left for the night.And one of our favorite photography starlet, Jasmine Star and her hubby JD. I didn’t get to tell Jasmine that she looks fabulous that night and JD is just so down to earth. Wish we could had more time to chat. I have lots of questions to ask and simply adore you two.