We’d love to stick around all year long, but we gotta shut the studio down to gorge ourselves on cupcakes! Russell Gearhart Photography will be closed from Dec. 22nd – Jan. 4th.
Thank you to Crumbs Bake Shop for some delicious red velvet. Have a very warm and happy holiday season, and we’ll see you in the new year!
Zoey + Nick, married on winter’s solstice in 2006, are a very talented couple. She can design a mean website (like mine!), and he can write comedy for your side-splitting pleasure. Their ceremony was at PJ’s Abbey, a cozy church-turned-restaurant in the heart of Orange, California. I consider them long-time fantastic friends, and would like to show them off a bit!
Until now, I hadn’t noticed Zoey’s hand toying with Nick to keep the garter on!
It’s always fun to dig into the archives to see nuances from only a few years past — both with the lovely people in the photos and the evolution of my approach to shooting.
Happy 3rd anniversary, you two!
I had the honor of photographing senior portraits for my niece, Asia, over the Thanksgiving weekend trip to Utah. Not that I’m braggin’ or nothin’, but I think she gets her good looks from her uncle.
The stuff in Asia’s sketchbook proves she’s got some of the best raw natural drawing talent you’ll find anywhere. I remember her drawing running animals with accurate posture and legs when she was 12! The girl’s gonna get a call from Disney one of these days, no joke. And I’m not biased because she’s my niece.
Who wants to do a “trash the prom dress” session? We nearly did!
Heels in a tree swing? Crazy woman!
My dad and my brother built this treehouse for Asia and her sisters many years ago … AFTER I grew up, of course. But I’m not jealous.
A huge thank you to Shannon Martineau and the Shivwits Native American tribe for her help in letting us use the fantastic abandoned Mormon chapel and their land. The building created such great texture for Asia and the prom dress she wanted to wear!
Congrats, Asia, on a wonderful senior year!
Over Thanksgiving weekend, we photographed a couple exciting families … and the first I want to show off is the Worthens. What a fun, rambunctious family! Jen & Bryan’s wonderful kids — Abby (7), Alex (5), Savannah (2), and Ben (3 months) — kept Ingrid and me running … just the way we like it! The three older kids each brought their own named stuffed animal (Theresa, Michael, and Meow Meow, respectively), and 3-month-old Ben brought his parents.
When I first asked Alex his name, he told me “Bob.” That pretty much set the tone for the rest of the session.
That’s a big kid in that basket.
Jen and Bryan even sneaked in a photo of their own.
Dogpile!! This was Abby’s idea, which she whispered in my ear. Even with all the fidgeting knees in their backs, Jen and Bryan somehow kept smiling. I only got one photo of this moment as Savannah slipped lower between her dad and mom, but one was enough!
Thanks for such a fun session, y’all!
Hey y’all!
I want to share with you more photos from a fantastic, stylish, marvelous couple I was honored to photograph in early October in New York City & New Jersey. René + Ed, both lawyers and world-travelers extraordinaire, met at a Halloween party in Louisiana. These two fit together like puzzle pieces, and they look good in front of a camera too.
True to their worldly ways, their two-part wedding spread over two states. Their official civil ceremony was in NYC …
after which we trolled the city for some photos.
My favorite shot took thirty seconds from start to finish, in which we borrowed a magazine stand from its grumpy-but-patient owner. My awesome assistant, NYC-local photographer Alejandro Duran, held a flash out of frame behind René on the right side. The natural light streaming into the plywood box from behind me, along with a fluorescent tube above Ed, did the rest of the work. Ha ha, I can find Buttman magazine — can you?
Afterwards, they had a small party at Café Asean in the West Village.
Then on Saturday, the girls (René, Catherine, and Zoey) got all dolled up in NYC, then hopped a limo two hours to Skillman, NJ.
René + Ed had their white wedding in his parents’ gorgeous backyard. The clouds, which had been threatening moisture, broke mid-day to become my favorite light, that lovely post-rain drama.
And then my favorite moment of the evening …after cutting (smearing?) the cake, Ed needed to clean his glasses! Inventive solution, if I say so myself.
Congratulations, René + Ed! May your many years be happy!
Oh, if I could shoot Stephanie + Ryan’s wedding every weekend! Now I know, it’s easy to say that every couple is my favorite. But these two have a style all their own, almost straight outta Middle Earth. Their wedding was so creative thru-and-thru that it’s impossible pick only a couple favorite photos! They were hitched on the secluded hilly grounds of the Center for Energetic Healing in Simi Valley, CA, which has no lack for forest-y nooks and crannies.
We were nearly done with the bride-and-groom session — and they were getting tired — when I spotted a tree trunk up a hill. It was a bit of a hike, so I gingerly suggested that I had one more crazy idea. I remember that Stephanie, though her feet were hurting, replied something to the effect of: if your wedding photographer has an idea, you should go with it. (Sound advice!) So we braved the hill, the ants, and the sticker bushes to make Ryan a Prince Valiant:
My other favorite image came at a very emotional moment during the ceremony. They had one of the most heartfelt ceremonies I’ve seen, and there was barely a dry eye in the crowd by the end. During a fantastic reading by her bridesmaid, Ann, Stephanie spontaneously reached for Ryan’s hand, then turned and looked at Ann. The moment gave me butterflies:
Happy one-year anniversary, you two! May you stay well!
What’s up?
I’ve just returned from a destination wedding of sorts (for me, anyway!). Rene + Ed had a magnificent two-part wedding in New York and New Jersey, and I want to share a couple quick favorites:
More to come … sooo much more … these two were way too easy to photograph!
On Oct. 5 & 6, 2007, I photographed two weddings back-to-back at PJ’s Abbey, a church-turned-restaurant in Orange, CA. With killer stained glass windows and a homey interior, it’s such a great location, and I’ve been lucky enough to photograph a few brides and grooms there. While searching my archives, I came upon these two couples, and thought it’d be great to share a photo from each!
The first back-to-back couple was Shelly + Gary. She’s such a gorgeous bride, and he’s a bit of a jokester and fun fellow; they remind me a lot of my own parents in how they relate to each other. And they got enough country in ‘em to belong in the down-home stylings of PJ’s Abbey!
The very next day, Ken and Sylvina had a very beautiful wedding at the same restaurant.
Ken + Sylvina seem to have a wonderful sense of communication that’s all their own … one of my favorite photos from the night is a quiet one, with both of them at the bar late in the evening. I don’t think they knew I was there when he slid up to her. One thing that’s great about photographing people is being able to sense how they interact with each other … and then challenging myself to show it!
Happy 2nd to both of you couples!
Ooh la la! Heather + Brian got married in the lush setting of Cambria Pines Lodge, 45 minutes north of San Luis Obispo. Heather and Brian are my wine-tasting buddies, so I have first-hand knowledge that they are a VERY CUTE couple (and putting it in ALL CAPS allows me, as a macho macho man, to declare such things in all seriousness).
These first photos are from the day before … Heather + Brian took family and friends to see the Hearst Castle, which will make any photographer drool. We snuck in a few portraits while touring one of the pools.
On the day, Heather got girlied up at the Bladerunner Salon & Day Spa in SLO, and they both got ready at the lodge.
Theirs was a very intimate wedding (only 60 guests!) in the gazebo garden. Their extra-furry ring bearer stole the show.
We made a mad dash through the gardens and then to the ocean for some portraits as the sun went down. The results turned out beautiful!
The party may have been intimate, but the festivities were fantastic!
Thank you, Heather + Brian, for the opportunity to photograph your celebration, and may you stay so darned, ahem, cute.
Hey!
Last weekend, three of us photogs (Keara, Greg, and I) donated our time in Santa Maria, CA, to photograph Cruzin’ For Life. What a blast … smokin’ cars and a suntan, all in one big shoot!
It was the 6th annual Cruzin’ For Life, which benefits the Marian Cancer Center in Santa Maria and the American Cancer Society. They really make sure that the donations stay local to help Santa Maria cancer patients and research as much as possible.
The best-lookin’ events for the camera are the car show, the cruise, and the burnout competition. The cars made laps up and down Broadway in Santa Maria during the cruise, and I got to hop a ride for a few awesome photos!
Now, the burnout competition … if you’ve never seen one of these, you’re really missing out. Basically, the cars tear up the asphalt and their tires by spinning them, all to create the loudest noise and biggest plume of smoke that their cars can muster. Greg and Keara shot some awesomeness from the ground, and I was able to score a fantastic view from a scissor lift.
One of the car’ tires actually smoked red when it peeled out. Sometimes, we in the lift ate smoke, but that was part of the fun!
Of course, the Photobooth got to come out at the dinner, so I’ve put in some highlights from that too …
Thank you to the Cruzin’ For Life board, who showed us a very good time! We hope to do it again!
