This post is Part 2 of a 3-part series. Read Part 1 – Read Part 2 – Read Part 3

Brooke and Josh came all the way from Seattle to get married at Costanoa, at a time of year when it’s usually not raining around here (it was September). It’s logical to presume that they were hoping to escape the frequent rain of their current residence on their wedding day. Depending on how you define “rain” you could possibly argue that they did avoid official precipitation, but unofficially, it was in fact raining. Sort of.

What fell from the sky was that kind of mist you get in the middle of a fog, but it wasn’t cold that day and the not-quite-rain felt marvelous on bare skin. Nobody seemed the least bit upset about the moisture. Those who were concerned about getting wet held umbrellas, and the ceremony proceeded as planned.

Of course I found the foggy scene bewitching. I’m a fool for the magical potential of fog, and enjoy saying to myself that things are “shrouded” in the stuff. I was already halfway to being in love with that stretch of coastline where Costanoa sits. To see these two tall beautiful people reading e.e. cummings to each other on a coastal hillside, with everything around us clad in those shades of yellow and brown and purple and green that I’ve admired so greatly ever since moving to California, made me feel like I was floating on the romance of it all. Brooke later described that day as “effervescent,” a word that I thought fit just right. Effervescent, with fairies lurking in the bluffs. (That fruity bit about the fairies was mine, not Brooke’s.)

I know that probably sounds silly, but just look at the faces of these happy people, especially the children. We were far away from the rest of the world (that’s how Costanoa makes you feel) and it felt like time had stopped.

Hey there, Red Bat fans!  Patrick here.  Remember me?  It’s been a while since I’ve posted, because hey, Rebecca does a fantastic job with these blog posts.  Frankly, it’s kind of intimidating.  But here I am, because I have some photos I’d like to share with you.  Shocking, right?  Photos on a photo blog?  Maybe I should share some recipes, just to mix things up a bit.  Like my recipe for pickled twinkies, or badger flambe.  Ok, ok – that wouldn’t be fair.  Or (let’s face it) tasty.

Allow me to get serious for a moment. It’s been a pretty long year, and it’s been full of wedding photography.  Which is GREAT.  I like weddings.  I like tracking the journey of the couple through that day, down the tunnel to the light at the end of the aisle.  I kind of see it like one of those Family Circle cartoons with the dotted lines running all over the place and finally converging in one location.  I like the food (oh, the food), and the dancing is almost always hilariously awesome.  It’s a lot of work, but it’s rewarding work.

But it’s nice to have a change of pace. It’s nice to take photos of something that isn’t quite as hectic and emotional and, well, FRAUGHT.  And it’s nice to take photos of beautiful people wrapped in curtains with kelp in their hair at the beach at sunset right before the rain.

This is Claire.  Remember Claire?  She has a new secret venture, and these photos are part of that Venture That Must Not Yet Be Named.  She and Sushila (remember Sushila?) got Claire all dolled up as a sea nymph/naiad/nereid, complete with kelp bulbs in her hair, and I have to say, I think the results are pretty amazing.

The three of us piled into my car and drove up Highway 1 to the agreed-upon-location, but when we got there, it was pretty overcast and threatening rain.  So we headed south again AT SPEED to stay ahead of the coming storm.  We found a beach that looked perfect, scrambled out, and had ourselves a shoot.  We had a great time, and while it was freezing (it’s HARD being a model) I tried to keep everyone nice and toasty with some terrible, TERRIBLE jokes.

Sushila handled makeup, curtain arrangement, blanket wrapping, hair arrangement and production assistance.  I took care of the lensing, the shouting of “WORK IT, WORK IT”, the aforementioned jokes, and also did some blanket fetching and (if I recall correctly) shoe fetching.  Claire handled beauty, poise, grace under pressure, wind and cold, and even threw a few chuckles my way through chattering teeth.  Thanks, Claire!

I think everything turned out fantastic.  Have a look for yourself:

The Nereid(1820)
Alexander Pushkin