Stephanie & Ken's Wedding Slideshow | Pema Osel Ling Wedding 3.20.10

Wedding Venue: Pema Osel Ling

Dress Designer: Maggie Sottero

Best of the Bay | SF Gate

Thank you to whoever nominated us for SF Gate's 'Best of the Bay' Contest. What a huge compliment! Please click on the link above to vote for us!

Homage To Those of Whom I Am Grateful For: Gene Higa

I am one who often thinks about the past because it's important for me to reflect on how I got to this point in my life. I feel that I am very lucky to be where I am at and to have met such amazing people in my life so far.

In 2004, my fiance then (now wife) and I met a wedding photographer named Gene who had the most amazing personality ever. Yeah, he took great photos too but we fell in love with his personality first and hired him to document our wedding day. From that day on, he became my inspiration to become a professional photographer and a mentor in developing my style of wedding photography.

Gene and I have kept in touch and my wife and I continue to watch as his career continues to take off. We've always told him that it's nice to see good things happen to good people. His amazing detailed shots and uncanny ability to get couples to do fun & crazy things became an instant trademark. He is now an award-winning, destination wedding photographer who is highly sought out by couples around the world.

Gene, thank you for your inspiration, your kindness and your friendship. You have been a pivotal part of my photography career and I couldn't have done it without you my friend. Best wishes to you as you move down to San Diego to follow your heart. "Oh The Places You Will Go."

Custom Printed Photo DVDs

One of the my favorite things to do is create the photo DVD after a photoshoot. The photo DVDs we use are custom printed here in our studio. I use these for all my clients because to me, it adds that personal touch to each and everyone of our clients. To me, the generic silver dvds scream out 'BORING", while these say "CHECK ME OUT!" Here are a couple of these uber cool printed dvds that we use here at Tom Vo Photography...

Free iPads from Tom Vo Photography!

SSWEET! The new iPads are now available from Apple. And with a 9.7 inch LED display, it's easy to see why there's so much buzz around it's release. We want to share the excitement with our 2010 wedding couples. That's why we'll be giving away the new iPads (16GB WiFi) to ALL of our couples who book our 8-hour Platinum wedding photograph package during the month of April. Your iPad will be delivered with all your wedding photos already loaded so you can easily share them with your family and friends. Think of it as a wedding present from us to you. :)

Visit our website for more information on our wedding photography packages: tomvophotography.com.

What You See & What I See: Santa Clara Wedding

Julie, my bride, said she was in the process of moving out of her apartment and into a house once her and Jim were married. Immediately I heard my head say "Uh oh, empty apartment bad!" So I asked her to send me a snapshot of her apartment so I would have some idea of what to expect. Here's what she saw:

So a couple of weeks later, I arrived at her apartment to photograph the pre-wedding photos and was pleasantly surprised. Being the optimist that I am, I quickly realized that the blue bookcase was absolutely beautiful! I moved it to a spot in the room where it would pick up the best natural lighting and BAM..instant magic!! Here's what I created....

Julie & Jim | Harris Lass House Wedding

Let's say you plan for an April wedding and it rains the day before and the day after but is perfectly sunny on the day of your wedding. Well then I'd say you definitely need to give mother nature huge props for hooking you up. That's exactly what happened for Julie and Jim this weekend at the Harris Lass House in Santa Clara. The historic museum made for an amazing backdrop for the wedding portraits. The couple has requested that I not post any photos of them in it on my website or blog. I think Julie and Jim are both secret agents so of course I'll respect their privacy. lol Congratulations to you both... over.

Venue: Harris Lass Historic Museum (Santa Clara, CA)

Music: Jasmine String Quartet

What You See & What I See: Pema Osel Ling

Here's the start of new series of postings that will help give you some insight of what goes through my head as I scope out an area for wedding portraits. As a photographer I often envision the potential of seemingly common backgrounds. For example, during the rehearsal for Stephanie & Ken's wedding at Pema Osel Ling, I walked by the gift shop and noticed this pretty cool wall.

Instantly I created an image in my head of how this wall will help us with their wedding portraits. I'll make sure to crop out the flood lights above and random pot to keep the final image clutter free. So after their ceremony, we went back to the wall and together, we were able to create the following shot.

My style of photography is very simple and relaxed. And having the opportunity and ability to create photographs with everyday backdrops is what fuels my passion for wedding photography.

The Garcia Family Portraits Featuring Vinnie | Los Gatos Family Portrait

It's hard to call it work when you're walking around a park with such a sweet family on a perfect day. Tons of folks were out and the goal was to keep them out of our shot. Vinnie their rescue dog was super duper cooperative and stole the show. What a great birthday present for their dad.

Taking the Day Off | Bear Valley Ski Resort

I had a super busy weekend with a wedding on Saturday and a workshop on Sunday so I needed a mental break. I am a firm believer that you need to recharge your batteries from time to time so that you don't ever get burnt out. So with that said, I grabbed my board and my buddy brought his skis and we hit Bear Valley for a day trip. This was such an epic day on the slopes but I was one sore dude the next day. Check out some of the shots from our day at Bear.