About A Tale Ahead

Annie & David

Hi there! We’re Annie and David, a husband-and-wife wedding photography team based in Pacifica, California. We started A Tale Ahead out of our mutual passion for capturing love and emotion through photography. Taking amazing pictures isn’t just about being in the right place at the right moment; it also means spending time getting to know all of our couples. We love hearing each and every love story. It warms our hearts and makes us smile. It also ensures your personalities shine through our lens and unfold into a beautiful picture that truly captures what you were feeling in the moment.

We’re not only your photographers — we’re your story tellers, friends, and a bundle of joy to work with!

About Annie...

Photography has been a deep interest of mine for as long as I can remember. When I was 15, I traveled to Europe for the first time and returned with 30 rolls of film. It drove my mom crazy because back then developing film was expensive! Luckily, she got over it quickly… in fact, one my photos from the trip still hangs in my parent’s home today, and they are still arguing about whose supposed artistic genes I inherited. (Probably mom’s, but I digress…)

My love of photography grew in college, where I learned lighting and composition techniques while continuing to shoot pictures of people and pets. Then one day something amazing happened while I was taking pictures at a friend’s wedding. As I looked through the lens to capture the bride walking down the aisle with her dad, I became caught up in the emotion of the moment. My heart started pounding and my eyes teared up. I realized this was something I could never get enough of – the love, the laughter, the happy tears, and the happily ever after!

Fun Things About Annie

  • I jump up and down after getting a great shot.

  • I love crafting and styling so much that I even designed much of my own wedding (talk about being a DIY bride, eh?).

  • I lived in Canada for ten years, so don’t be surprised to hear a lot of “eh” from me.

  • I love singing and have performed in ten different countries.

  • I let David wear the pants in our relationship... but I tell him which pair to wear.

About David...

I got into photography at age 9 when I received my first film camera, and took my first formal photography class in middle school. As a young student, I was fascinated by science. I wanted to learn as much as I could about the fundamental principles of light and optics so I took physics courses and checked out every book I could from the library. As the years passed, photography went from being an interest to a hobby, and then to a profession and way of life.

Today, I have a hard time putting the camera down, especially since I have such a beautiful wife and dogs. Even when I’m not taking pictures, I’m constantly thinking about ways to improve my craft and make my next shoot better than the last.

Fun Things About David

  • I like to experiment with photography by using my always-willing dogs, and usually-willing wife, as subjects.

  • After 3 years of driving between to Seattle and Vancouver every weekend to see Annie, I’ve memorized every rock, tree, and speed trap on I-5.

  • I wish I had hired someone to photograph my proposal to Annie.

  • I’m a nerd at heart and wrote my own iOS photography app, CameraSharp, which has over one million downloads.

Morgan the German Shepherd and Java the Maltese…

We’re both super cute and well-behaved, so imagine our surprise when our former owners abandoned us (Morgan at 2 years old and Java at a few months old). Luckily, we were adopted by our current real parents! Mom & Dad think we are perfect, so we suppose this means they don’t know about all our misbehaving when they’re not home. Like the time one of us knocked the treat jar off the table and then collaboratively opened it and ate all the goodies. (Nope, they have no idea…)

Some facts about us...

  • We’ve been on Reddit’s front page a couple of times thanks in part to our humans’ photography skills, but mostly due to our cuteness.

  • We may not be very bright, but we are very good at learning from each other about how to steadily become even less bright.

  • We each think we’re the pack leader, until something scary happens and we both hide behind daddy.

  • We keep mommy’s feet warm in the winter when she’s editing photos.