Engagement portraits of Kara Hanson and Dean Fox taken last month at our favorite park, Glen Arbor in Murrieta. Be sure to watch the slideshow at the end of this post to see more of Kara and Dean’s beautiful pictures!
To view the entire collection of images from Kara and Dean’s session, please visit www.pictage.com/1248435 and fill out the guestbook.
On Sunday, December 11th, I photographed a beautiful engagement session with Jennifer Dominguez and Sergio Gutierrez at Glen Arbor Park (aka The Dog Park) in Murrieta. Despite the chill factor, it turned out to be a pretty good day for an engagement shoot. The weather was cooperating (as we’d just had heavy rains the week before), the early afternoon lighting was perfect, and the park was beautiful, as always in winter, with green, green grasses and a heap of amber colored leaves blanketing the ground beneath the trees.
Here’s some highlights from the shoot!
To view the rest of the images from the session and/or to order prints, please visit Jennifer and Sergio’s online web gallery at www.pictage.com/1186409.
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On Saturday, July 30th we were at Glen Arbor Park in Murrieta to photograph the engagement portraits for Mary-Alice Welshon and Clint Navrkal. I will be photographing their wedding on September 3rd in the Murrieta community of La Cresta.
Mary-Alice and Clint were one of those couples that started out initially wary of the camera. But, as usual, after the first series of shots (in the first five minutes of the session) they were having a good time snuggling and walking through the beautifully-wooded park.
I really love photographing at this location. People who have never been to this park typically don’t believe it’s right in the middle of Murrieta. It really looks like it is way out in the wilderness somewhere.
Although I have to admit to having my “usual” favorite spots to shoot at this location, I did break out of the mold for several of their shots and caught some unique angles that I am sure will be part of my “usual” again in the future.
Here are some of the highlights:
On Sunday, June 26th, we were at one of our favorite locations to capture beautiful “woodsy” engagement portraits — Glen Arbor Park in Murrieta (also known to locals as the “Dog Park”). Today’s portrait session was for Charlinn McCuiston and Chris Watkins.
As is the case with many people, Charlinn and Chris consider themselves somewhat camera-shy. And, as usual, within 10 minutes of starting their session, they both started to relax and trust that I probably knew what I was doing.
The funny thing is, this past Sunday when Charlinn and Chris came into the studio to view their images and to select their favorite (for the 16×20 mounted print included with the session), they loved so many of the shots that they had trouble selecting just one. (That is a common problem with our couples — and a good problem to have!)I love so many shots from this session as well. Here are some of the highlights:
Courtney Campora and James Carter love their dogs. We love dogs too! So, when they gingerly asked about including their dogs in their engagement portrait session, we quickly said, “No problem!” We set up a split engagement portrait session for them on March 27th. The first half was in the morning at Glen Arbor Park in Murrieta. We’ve photographed there many times before and love the variety of areas to photograph portraits here — especially when dogs are involved.
The second half of their engagement portrait session was in Old Town Temecula. Courtney and James were so much fun to photograph. For a couple that started out the day at the dog park saying, “We’ve never taken professional photos together like this before and are not sure what to do!”, they certainly turned into a very photogenic couple.
They were clearly in love and enjoying their time together in front of the cameras — not only my still camera, but the second camera for the engagement session video that my son Josh shot and edited. Highlights from the day, including their final engagement video are below.
“Our favorite engagement photo is the one where our dogs, Nikki and Jake, are running towards you, and James and I are kissing in the background We just love this photo! It is so cute!!! James and I love our dogs, and just the fact that you were able to get any pictures of us with our dogs is amazing, especially with them running all over the place and not following directions, ha ha! I also love how you captured our dogs’ personalities – Nikki (the boxer) is so serious, it looks like she’s pointing at something far off in the distance; Jake (the bulldog) is happy go lucky, he’s looking right at the camera and smiling…so funny!!!” – Courtney
We love, love, love our photos, and the video is amazing!!!! Thank you so much!!! – Courtney Campora
On Sunday, November 21, 2010 we were at one of our favorite local portrait spots, Glen Arbor Park, in Murrieta, photographing Leanne and Tony Mass and their two sons. We know Leanne through La Masters of Fine Jewelers. She and Tony were needing to update their family portraits quickly so they would have time to get their pictures back and order personalized Christmas cards. We snuck them in just under the wire! The weekend before Thanksgiving is just about the latest you can wait to hold your session if you want to be able to have prints back in time for the holidays.
Glen Arbor Park, better known as Murrieta’s unofficial “Dog Park”, has a unique woodsy element to it that is hard to find without heading into the hills of De Luz or Santa Rosa Plateau. The trees here are gorgeous, especially in the fall when they show the season with changing amber leaves.
Leanne, Tony and the kids were very easy to photograph despite the fact that they had such a hard time keeping straight faces! Their portraits are classic and well put together, while their candids show a little more of their goofy sides. Here is just a small sampling from the Mass Family portrait collection:
To many people, including Rachel and myself, their dog is like a member of their family. On Saturday, August 28, 2010 we photographed this beautiful dog, Lucy, at Glen Arbor Park (better known as the “Dog Park” to the locals of Murrieta).
Earlier that morning, we’d received a call from Lucy’s mom who was having a hard time locating a photographer who could photograph and produce images of Lucy in time for Lucy’s dad’s birthday the following weekend. It was a rare occasion that our afternoon was free, so we jumped at the opportunity and met up with Lucy and her mommy later that day. Lucy was very patient with us during our hour with her. She was very good, despite all of the distractions with other dogs wanting to play. With a break in the summer heat and the afternoon sun casting the perfect light, we were able to catch Lucy in near-perfect relaxation. Isn’t she pretty!
On Monday, August 9th, we met up with high school Senior, Jenna Dunn, and her family at the Glen Arbor Park in Murrieta to photograph Jenna’s Senior Portraits. After about 45 minutes of shooting in the wooded area of the park, we headed to Laguna Beach for about another hour of shooting there — with Jenna’s friend, mother, and grandmother in tow.
We all had a great time! And, Jenna and I pretty much got soaked by the spray of the waves shooting through this hole in the rocks on the last couple shots.
On Sunday, May 16th, we had the pleasure of photographing the engagement session of Helena Stevens and Jay Hakomaki at Glen Arbor Park (better known as “the Dog Park”) in Murrieta, California.
The woodsy location was a perfect backdrop, and the sunlight through the trees created some amazing colors!
Rachel and I had a great time working with Helena and Jay. Their pictures look fantastic, and we can’t wait to photograph their wedding this October!
