MASHA.AND.RUSLAN.::.THEIR.STORY.

masha & ruslan rock!

masha was actually friends with my sister courtney during their years at buena high school, both members of the bull dog cheer squad. so when i got the call from masha that she was engaged and wanting me to shoot her wedding, i felt honored. not only that, but masha & ruslan were actually one of the first clients to hire me in my newfound career as a pro photog. i can't believe that was only last fall. since shooting their engagement, carlie & i have continually been blessed in our business and have had the opportunity to shoot quite a bit.

fast-forward from fall of 2007 to the 4th of july, 2008, and you will find carlie & i pulling up to spanish hills country club in camarillo. having arrived a bit early due to the divine lack of traffic on the 405, we poked around a bit before we were met by hallie, the most incredible venue coordinator on the planet.

it wasn't too long before the girls arrived in a stretch model a ford, about a half hour before the boys. and though i only understood about half of what was said throughout the course of the day [most of the attendees were russian & very fond of their native tongue], warmth permeated every conversation. masha, ruslan, and their families have a story that transcends words; one that follows the beat of two souls.

thank you so much for honoring us with the opportunity to tell your story with our cameras. the appreciation you have for what we do is what keeps us so excited about the job we have.

and i have to give a special thanks to masha's mother. while the slideshow was playing at the reception, she walked past carlie & i, caught my gaze, and gestured her hand towards the center of her chest as she said, 'those pictures came from the bottom of your heart.' thank you so much. thank you.

i hope the moments we captured serve as a memento for the days and years to come.

one of carlie's favorite details...



love the pearls.

so masha totally hooked up this rad 8 passenger limo, from stardust cruises, made out of an original ford model-a.  cherried out.



rockin' the floating vail trick.
by the tough-looks exuding from these 5 girls, you would have never known they would be goofy enough to rock out an entire dance mix, just previous, in the powder room [complete with vanilla ice, sir mix a lot, michael jackson, and the list goes on...]

masha looking ever-so-stunning on her wedding day.



can you find some air guitar...


mazzeltoff!


i wish i could take credit for this shot, but something tells me some of you might call me out.


probably my favorite moment captured from the whole day.
love.

ASHLEY.AND.JEFF.::.ROCK.THE.BOOTH.

we just had to try it ourselves. it looked like too much fun not to...

being inspired by our new friends, the kaisers of the image is found, we linked up with our other friends & fellow photogs, amy & aaron of ahs photography for the wedding of the century... no... seriously.

ashley had every detail planned, save one desire: to have a photo booth at her wedding. again, having been inspired by our friends, and longing to have a go at it to see if it was something we wanted to offer our own clients, we were fortunate enough to have ashley & jeff be our guinea pigs.

enjoy the habitrail of images that resulted.

rock.on.

SHANNON.AND.JEFF.::.THE.INTRODUCTION.

it's as if we were best friends.

oh wait... we are. in fact i can remember back to the very moment where my friend jeff called 'dibs' on shannon. he knew what he wanted, and after much anticipation, shannon & jeff are planning their wedding.

words can't express how rad these two are. shannon just graduated from cal poly while jeff owns & operates resist surfboards out of ventura, california.

it is such a blessing to have clients whom we have never met, seek us out to play a special part in the telling of their story. but even more so, when a friend, someone
who knows the innermost parts of carlie's and my being, finds value in what we do and chooses us... wow... so cool.

so, without further adieu, i give you shannon & jeff, two rockstars that will for sure light up the stage on their wedding day this november...




not for horses.



for modeling inquiries, please check with gabriel.ryan.photographer.






tough.

despite the onslaught of heat and the more-than-likely-chance at getting attacked by an army of ticks that would surely leave us ill & bed-ridden for the rest of our years, we made the trek to the top of a... wait for it...

mountain. that's right, a mountain.

because mountains are awesome.

we had so much fun pulling off these last two shots.
and seriously... about the model thing.


as if shannon & jeff weren't rockin' enough, here's some slideshow love...

THE.DAN.[AND.BACK.TO.WORK.NEXT.WEEK]

i wanted to give a quick shout out to my friends, family, clients, and potential clients... due to the randomness of life on the road i will not be revisiting 'work' stuff [aka, but not limited to, post-processing, blog posting, email...] until next week. in case of emergency or anything incredibly urgent, feel free to give me a call.

and here's some shots of THE daniel jewitt of monterey. we hung with dan this morning. dan owns monterey!

SOME.GABRIEL.LYON.PLEASE.

the photo-baby of ninja jeff newsom... we bring you gabriel lyon.


though we were not quite sure where the 11th member of our tour had been hiding, i guess he [gabriel lyon] had posted a link to mammothmen.com on his blog which is how this blog reader found the journal of our travels. here is the direct quote:

[June 24, 2008] April Feldt said: I am so glad that I found this blog through Gabriel Lyon's blog. You all are hilarious and I find myself checking back throughout the day for the newest antics.

LUNES.

check it at mammothmen.com

MAN.TRIP.

the things dreams are made of.

life on the road. diners late at night. when showers become second priority to awesomeness. and material possessions are limited to what will fit in your backpack or can be purchased at the next gas station. good music. wifi connections at 70 mph. more apple product than your local coffee shop.

about 2 hours ago, i had plans to spend the rest of my sunday with my bride and our awesome friend ashley parsons, maybe spend a little time working on photos, and then on to the rest of a normal week. and then i got the chance to go on tour.

that's right... what every guy dreams of. this week, gabriel ryan is on tour.

so, i hopped on a tour bus with 10 other guys, and am currently blogging from the road [somewhere between thousand oaks & ventura]. to stay in touch with the shenanigans to be had, check out the mammoth men blog and make sure to keep following my tweets.

in the words of the since past lyrical genius who has spent his share of time on the road, wesley willis...

rock and roll mcdonalds