After seven years together, Hammad decided it was time to pop the question — he would ask the love of his life to marry him and to spend the rest of their lives together. After mulling over possible locations for the big moment, he decided on surprising his girlfriend Sonia with a proposal on the sand dunes at Ocean Beach. To ensure that this moment would be picture-perfect, he went and scouted out the spot a few days before the big day, even taking photos and recording a video of the route to reach the perfect spot. [ read more … ]

The pandemic doesn’t stop love; it merely changes the way we celebrate it. Nasim and Justin had a private civil ceremony last week with their family in attendance over Zoom, and the next morning, the three of us went out for some elopement portraits. We started at San Francisco City Hall [ read more … ]

Vicki and Wai-en met online like seemingly everyone does these days, and their story together quickly blossomed from there. (I think the last… 5? 6? couples we’ve talked to were all first brought together by the magic of the Internet — which would have been quite unbelievable even five years ago!) The two moved in together right as the pandemic was beginning, and they found such joy in being quarantine buddies that they officially got engaged in September. Fast forward two months, and here we are for their engagement photos at the Palace of Fine Arts and Baker Beach 🙂 [ read more … ]

Despite all that 2020 has brought us, this year still has its bright spots. Amy is expecting in the next few weeks (yay!), and we went out for a maternity photo shoot to memorialize the joy and anticipation of her pregnancy journey. Since she and her husband are leaving San Francisco, we chose to take her maternity photos at Baker Beach, right in front of the Golden Gate Bridge. This was a maternity and family session mixed into one, made extra fun by little Benji 🙂

Martin’s Beach is a hidden gem of Half Moon Bay with an interesting story (see Wikipedia). Past its very unassuming entrance is a quiet beach with calm waves, coastal cliffs, and an absolutely perfect ocean sunset view. It’s a spot that Ozzy and Ashley had stumbled upon and shared memories together in the past, and it’s where he chose to ask for her hand in marriage. Check out Ozzy & Ashley’s Martin’s Beach surprise proposal below.

This was a very exciting moment to witness, and I love the energy jumping out of their photos 🙂 As they say, “never turn your back on the ocean” — you might just get a surprise if you do!