Charmeri and Jason were filled with laughter on their wedding day. When I told Jason that I am really going to remember him throwing his head back and laughing, he told me that this is how their relationship always is. I love that.

The full post on their Playa Fiesta wedding is coming soon!

Congratulations Charmeri and Jason!

There are a slew of reasons that made me really want to work with Amanda and Jordan. Firstly, these two have been together since high school. There is something magical about the fact that they’ve been together since they were kids. They traveled the world together for an entire year which makes them extremely badass in my book. I am so envious and hope to do that myself one day. They went to UC Berkeley and lived in the town where my parents moved just before my senior year in high school. I can’t imagine a place that would give a teenager a better social, worldly education. Berkeley holds a huge part of my heart, plus I just have a soft spot for people that live in the bay. To top it off their wedding was in a fantastic little pocket of Mexico close to my heart. Their amazing wedding was a few weeks ago, those photos are coming up soon! For now, here they are in San Francisco on a beautiful fall day.

Amanda and Jordan just before a high school dance.

Here is our crew:

We started the day off with a discussion about the business side of wedding photography and the best ways to grow your business in Puerto Vallarta. We followed that with a critique of each student’s work.

Before we hit the streets we took advantage of some great light inside.

We spent a lot of time roaming through the streets exploring different ideas. I’d spent some time talking about anticipating moments, finding good compositions and waiting for something to happen, and really sticking with something until you have it. I saw this little girl peak out her door at us and got into my head that I wanted the bride and groom to go on the other side of the door so that we could get them and the little girl in the shot. She went back inside but I still had them go get into position hoping that she would come out, and she did! Sometimes when you plan and wait for something to happen, it does, and it can be magical.

Some more great light and a wonderful connection between our bride and groom.

We stumbled upon a gritty little tunnel that didn’t smell very good but Mariana and Luis were troopers and we played around.

After our shoot we went through editing, processing, and photoshop techniques followed by some cold beer! It was a great day. Thanks to everyone who came and supported. I hope to do another one soon!

Click on the link below to view Style Me Pretty’s post:

The motley crew.

Congratulations my dear friends. Alone you are amazing. Together you are off the charts.

Most of America’s Motor Hotels were built in the 30′s along the main roads of the U.S. when car culture first started. As superhighways were eventually built in new areas of town, most of the neighborhoods along the old routes were all of a sudden devoid of traffic and found themselves economically depressed. Many motel owners found they couldn’t keep their rooms occupied and had to drastically lower rates and offer monthly and weekly rates. Most American owners sold their businesses. At this point, over 85% of motels are Indian owned.

Much of America’s poor and marginalized population has no other option than to live in Motels. There is such a shortage of low income housing that welfare is actually striking deals with motel owners and subsidizing recipients to live in them. More often than not though, I meet people essentially forced into living in motels for lack of any other option. They are living day to day and can not afford to put one month’s rent and security down on an apartment, let alone pass a credit check. It is standard to find 6 person families living in one room and other motel residents taking care of each other as a community.

I have driven up and down the east and west coasts and across the southern route of the US from coast to coast trying to tell this story. I’ve had a few gallery shows and it’s been published in a few magazines but I still have some more shooting to do! I’m aiming to have a book published one day. These photos are all shot in medium format film with the exception of two 35mm images.

Los Angeles, California
This is the sight that sparked this whole project. When I saw this note on the door a whole world was opened to me and I knew I wanted to pursue this idea.

Angel, Riviera Beach, Florida
Angel lives here with her daughter who works to support her.

Pablo’s family. Rahway, New Jersey
Pablo and Kimberly lived with and took care of Kimberly’s parents until they passed away and Kimberly’s step brother ended up inheriting everything. He was a crack head and quickly lost the house and everything they had. Pablo was injured at work and they had to go live in a shelter for 6 months before they could gather enough resources to move into this motel. Kimberly was in tears as she told me their story. They lived in this room with their 3 children.

Don and his pets. Highway Host, Mobile, Alabama
Don acted as a surrrogate father to the many kids that lived at this motel. He called one of his neighbors a saint because he was a hard working man that adopted 3 children and lived in the motel with them. Don would dumpster dive for food and feed all of the children from unopened boxes of cookies and snacks. He’d been living here for years.

Will and Jamie. Riviera Beach, Florida
Will and Jamie are cousins and share a room with another friend.

The kids of Highway Host. Mobile, Alabama
The two children on the left (and a teenage girl) were adopted by a man who works full time, so the kids spend a lot of time with other families at the motel when they are not at school. The girl on the right lives here with her parents and her sister.

Pablo Junior. Rahway, New Jersey

Pablo and Kassandra. Rahway, New Jersey

Janessa and Talisa. Rahway, New Jersey
These two girls live with their mother, step-father (who has just been released on parole with an anklet), and their baby sister. They think that something bad happened to Talisa because all of a sudden she stopped talking about a year ago and will not say anything.

Oregon

Paw Paw and his grand daughter. Rahway, New Jersey
Paw Paw’s son came to the motel to visit him so he could see his grand daughter who he adores.

Ernie. Rahway, New Jersey
Ernie ended up at this motel after he had an argument with his sister at a family barbecue and she kicked him out. He was taking computer classes and receiving some help from the state.

Bonnie and the baby. Bristol, Pennsylvania
Bonnie lives here with her husband of 65, their 4 year old daughter and their 19 month old baby. They were happily living in a trailer but had a small fire and the city condemned their trailer. Her husband George had his own mobile welding rig but it was stolen and he was left without work which is difficult to find at 65. They had trouble keeping up with payments on their storage unit and the company auctioned off everything they had.

Kassandra. Rahway, New Jersey

Motel owner. Mobile, Alabama

Gitbo’ (Midget Boy). Riviera Beach, Florida
After a 20 minute conversation to convince him that I was not police, Gitbo told me that he deals drugs for a living and let me photograph him.

Lancaster, California

I’m really excited to announce that I will be giving a workshop in Puerto Vallarta this February 28th, 2012. It will be an all day affair chock full of ideas and inspiration.

The workshop with feature:
–Talk about the growth of my own business and photography.
–Slideshow and discussion about moment, lighting, composition and pushing yourself to make creative, strong, authentic images.
–Portfolio critique of 20 of each student’s favorite images.
–Group shoot with a bride and groom in which I hope to give you some new ideas for using light in creative ways and for making different and interesting compositions. I will process the images I shoot to give you an idea of my work flow and style.
–All things business. Topics will include: How to book more weddings, dealing with destination clients, the necessities for your business’ web presence, marketing, some ideas to get yourself seen on google, everything from booking to post-production.

The workshop is limited to 12 students and costs $2,700 pesos. We will begin at 10 am and finish when we finish, we’ve got a lot to go over! Please email me at elizabeth@elfoto.org if you are interested. I hope to see you there!

I’ve been the lucky beneficiary of many a DJ Platurn mix and now so are you! Click on the image below for a free download to the stellar mix that each of their guests received at their tables. FYI Luke is Icelandic and his real name is Illugi which is pronounced completely different than it looks. When he moved to California as a kid, he chose Luke (Skywalker, of course) to make things a little easier on himself and everyone else to get his name right.

Yes, Luke is very tall, and Michele’s aunt is very short!

A few shots of Michele’s awesome style and details.

She made these gorgeous bouquets herself.

Here is the slideshow I made for them.

Congratulations my friends!!