Gerald Carvalho Photography

Keerthika’s Bharatanatyam Arangetram

I seldom photograph events, but when I was called upon by my friend to photograph his friends daughter’s “Bharatanatyam Arangetram”. I was totally up for it, specially coming from South India myself, this is a cultural thing and something that’s close to my heart. I totally respect this dance, as like any other dance this takes years of practice, stamina and utmost dedication. Keerthika was performing almost non-stop for 3hrs and was flawless, a big kudos to that! A big thanks to my friends Mahesha and Ramki for having me partake in their family event and for the golden opportunity.

A quick Wiki info about the background history of this dance:

Bharatanatyam (Tamil: பரதநாட்டியம்) is a classical dance form originating in Tamil Nadu, India. One of the oldest of the classical dance forms in India, it is also known as the fifth Veda. Bharatanatyam is usually accompanied by the classical music. It has its inspirations from the sculptures of the ancient temple of Chidambaram. Bharatanatyam, as the name depicts is the combination of:

BHA- Bhava (Expression), RA- Raga (Music) and TA- Tala (Rhythm) Bharatanatyam is a traditional dance-form known for its grace, purity, tenderness, and sculpturesque poses. Today, it is one of the most popular and widely performed dance styles and is practiced by many dancers all over the world.
Click here to learn more about Bharatanatyam!

Keerthika's Bharatanatyam Arangetram

Keerthika's Bharatanatyam Arangetram

Keerthika's Bharatanatyam Arangetram

Judy + Tony & Ryan :: Family Portraits

Another great family session with my good friend and ex-colleague from PayPal, Judy! When I asked Judy & Tony what you looking for in this session, they’d mentioned that they always had pictures of one another and never a good family portrait, specially after their new special addition to their family Ryan their baby boy! I so hear them and it did SURE ring a bell for me, as I go through that all the time :). So that was our our main objective for this beautiful completely laid back family session.

I usually have a hard time making kids smile, specially looking at me :), but J+T thought me a trick that makes Ryan grin all the time, its his nick name “BOOGIE” as in booger LOL. As mean and funny as it may sound the magic word works, every time I call him BOGGIE, he goes smileeeeeee :) That was easy…., gotta think of one for my lil daughter now!!!

Judy is not only a Visual Designer, she’s also an awesome “Wedding Jewelery Designer”. Friends and brides out there, interested in custom wedding jewelery, please check out her work at “Twinkle Jewelery“, you’ll be in awe! :)

Lucky me I received a lil gift of her piece of art, which I proudly presented to my wife SSSHHHH….! Above all, these guys gave me a HUGE box of diapers from Costco, which would probably not make me buy diapers for Daphne (our baby daughter) for a month at least. Always under estimated diapers, didn’t know the actual value of them until we had our baby, it’s disappearing lightning fast. So kind of you guys, greatly appreciate it, we should schedule another session next month LOL! Thanks again for the opportunity, favors and the super hospitality my friends, I am so honored and glad to be part of your special moments :)

Here’s some of my favs from this session, please ENJOY!

Judy + Tony & Ryan :: Family Portraits

Judy + Tony & Ryan :: Family Portraits

Judy + Tony & Ryan :: Family Portraits

Judy + Tony & Ryan :: Family Portraits

Judy + Tony & Ryan :: Family Portraits

You could so tell Judy is a designer, she matched all their costumes so well…:) Ryan on the other hand was so over all this by now, he wanted to call it a day ASAP, he couldn’t convey this better than that cute yawn LOL

Judy + Tony & Ryan :: Family Portraits

J+T conveying a huge “Xie Xie” to me in that last pic, which made me speechless…, kidding not really LOL :)

Judy + Tony & Ryan :: Family Portraits

Jennifer + Christopher :: Wedding

Jenni & Chris’s wedding was the first of the season for me and it was an amazing start indeed! It was on fun wedding, not just the couple starting from their family to their bridal party were super cool and fun to work with. I was referred by Jenni’s cousin, Leslie Dela Vega an amazing photographer from New York, it’s always a honor when being referred by a fellow photographer! :)

Never on earth knew that Jenni was such an AMAZING dancer, their first dance was choreographed entirely by her and they both rocked.
Don’t believe me…? check out their video here.

Thanks for having me guys, it was so much fun to be part of your special day :)

Thanks a lot to to my good friends/associates Liem Nguyen and Jason Chan for all their help at this wedding.

Jennifer + Christopher :: Wedding

Jennifer + Christopher :: Wedding

My favs from Liem…

Jennifer + Christopher :: Wedding

My favs from Jason!

Jennifer + Christopher :: Wedding

More favs from Liem again, had similar versions from mine, but loved the way he used ambient light, another reason for me to opt for a 50mm 1.2 hahaa…

Jennifer + Christopher :: Wedding

This wedding was happening inside a dark cave beneath the vineyard, as much as it was super cool the lighting here was super challenging. I took a deep breath of relief only after I heard from the event planner that it was okay to use flashlites, so we quickly setup our off-camera gear in time

Jennifer + Christopher :: Wedding

Jennifer + Christopher :: Wedding

Jennifer + Christopher :: Wedding

Jennifer + Christopher :: Wedding

Loved the detail shots from Jason!

Jennifer + Christopher :: Wedding

The Band sure rocked and kept everyone moving.

Jennifer + Christopher :: Wedding

Jennifer + Christopher :: Wedding

Jennifer + Christopher :: Wedding

That’s the first dance I am talking about, OMG…!

Jennifer + Christopher :: Wedding

Jennifer + Christopher :: Wedding

Jennifer + Christopher :: Wedding

Vendors:

Venue/Coordinator: Meritage Resort & Spa Lisa Crowell

Cake Artist: Michelle Marie’s Patisserie , 707-575-1214, info@michellemaries.com

Officiant: St. Catherine of Siena Church

Florist: Beau Flowers , 707-224-7993, info@michellemaries.com

Musician/DJ: Eldon W. Bell , 707-224-7993, Eldon@fivepoint0.net

Videographer: coming soon…

Daniela+Octavio+Ava & Andres :: Family Portrait

A few weeks ago I was called by my good old friend and ex-colleague Daniela, to photograph her family on the occasion of their new arrival their new baby boy Andres. This session was so relaxed and fun and I kept capturing the moments as I was chit chatting and recalling memories with Daniela about our past work place. Baby Andres was not informed early on about the session so he was in the middle of his mid-day nap :). So Daniela, Ava and I headed to the park to warm up for our session, no wonder she has more pics of herself here, if only her brother knew what happened LOL.

Ava was such a sweetheart and was completely comfortable with the weird me with a huge camera running around her. I was so visioning our soon to come baby daughter at this time. Couldn’t just wait for such a fun moment with my family and our new addition.

Later joined the group were the men of the house Octavio and Andres, who fit right in. I enjoyed watching this happy family having fun and that’s another reason for me to love my job I am always amidst happy people, fun and touching moments!

Daniela & Octavio thanks for the opportunity, you guys made me so welcomed and at home, I didn’t feel like working at this session, since you guys made it so easy!

Daniela+Octavio+Ava & Andres :: Family Portrait {Teaser}

Daniela+Octavio+Ava & Andres :: Family Portrait {Teaser}

Daniela+Octavio+Ava & Andres :: Family Portrait {Teaser}

Daniela+Octavio+Ava & Andres :: Family Portrait {Teaser}

Daniela+Octavio+Ava & Andres :: Family Portrait {Teaser}

So cute how Ava covers her mouth with one hand whenever shes laughing hard and gets super excited, I’ve only see grown ups doing this :)

Daniela+Octavio+Ava & Andres :: Family Portrait {Teaser}

The siblings have already started sharing secrets, loved the way they bond together here!

Daniela+Octavio+Ava & Andres :: Family Portrait {Teaser}

OMG……, Andres is a bundle of expressions, all these moments were probably just in a minute or so. I fell in love with his adorable lil spike and he carries it so well! LOL. The last expression in this collage is mi muy favorito, more like Quepasa!!

Daniela+Octavio+Ava & Andres :: Family Portrait {Teaser}

Daniela+Octavio+Ava & Andres :: Family Portrait {Teaser}

Judy + Tony & Ryan :: Family Portraits {Teaser}

Judy + Tony & Ryan :: Family Portraits {Teaser}

Andrea + Forrest :: Engagement

Hey Blog readers…meet Andrea + Forrest, whose engagement session I’d shot a while ago. A+F chose San Francisco because its a city that’s close to their heart. We mostly shot around the Embarcadero and the Crissy field area. This is one of my another favorite engagement sessions as A+F were so much fun and were so in love, which made our job easy and l personally loved the way the pictures turned out, hope the A+E feel the same as well LOL! Adding to it our Beer break made it more fun :)

Andrea + Forrest are tying the knot in a just a couple of weeks at the Marines’ Memorial Club & Hotel, San Francisco. They’ve chose this location for two main reasons, apart from their many sweet memories around it, Forrest is a Army National Guard himself! Thanks for having me guys and I look forward for your wedding.

Thanks a ton to Jason Chan for all his help at this shoot. Appreciate it my friend!

P.S. We had tons of fun during this session, but it didn’t end quite as fun WHY…. we got so involved in the shoot and kept strolling at the Crissy fields beach, forgetting the factor we rode on a cab. After the shoot when we called the cab for pickup, its when we realized that the cab needed a physical location to pick us up. So we ended up walking for ever close to civilization where we finally found a store, where the cab finally made it. We were super duper exhausted by that time. Good lesson learned the hard way! :)

Andrea + Forrest :: Engagement

I was intrigued by these skateboarders, so thought I’d take advantage of them…

Andrea + Forrest :: Engagement

Andrea + Forrest :: Engagement

I am always a big fan of brick walls, in A+F’s case the color scheme just worked so PERFECT!

Andrea + Forrest :: Engagement

Loved the yellow background here, so to add more interest I decided to use the stripped diagonal pattern as leading lines…

Andrea + Forrest :: Engagement

My first time on the second floor of the Ferry building, loved the architecture. This spot was totally A+F’s discovery, thanks guys ! :)

Andrea + Forrest :: Engagement

The ring shot happened during the Beer break at the Marine’s memorial club, I told you Beer helps….:)

Andrea + Forrest :: Engagement

We’d jumped over a little gate that read “No access to public, trespassers will be prosecuted” to reach this cool walkway, would have chickened to do that during my regular shoots, but with a brave Marine next to me its a different story… :)

Andrea + Forrest :: Engagement

Andrea + Forrest :: Engagement
Andrea + Forrest :: Engagement

The wave shot is one of my personal favs, it was perfect timing. Trust me the water was SUPER freezing, but these guys were such troopers they jumped right in and never complained. :)
Andrea + Forrest :: Engagement

Meredith + Ethan :: Wedding {Teaser}

Meredith + Ethan :: Wedding {Teaser}

Jennifer + Chris :: Wedding {Teaser}

Jennifer + Chris :: Wedding {Teaser}

Ivonne + Chris :: Engagement

I am really excited about blogging I+C’s engagement session, WHY…..because Ivonne & Chris are real good friends of mine, Chris was also my colleague at my previous work place & most of all Chris is an awesome photographer himself (so the pressure was on in a way :) ), specializing in Fashion and Corporate Photography , visit him at Spry Photo Studios!

Our original plan was to also attend/shoot his wedding with our other good friend Liem Nguyen at Ecuador and also combine my vacation, as its been ages Stella (my wife) & I had taken a break for vacation, sounded like fun……, but unfortunately I had already booked a wedding locally for the same date, and it wasn’t a good idea to travel abroad leaving my PREGNANT wife home alone. So ended up only Liem was going to document their wedding, can’t wait to see what he’s captured.

It was a fun session + food & drinks, and their theme was “A fun at the City” and they are big fans of candid’s. Here’s some of the awesomeness. Usually I don’t blog this many from an engagement, but this time I couldn’t resist…. Enjoy! :)

Congrats once again guys, wish you both a Happy Married Life, and thanks for having me document your special moments! :)

P.S. Chris sooo spoiled me by lending his 85mm f1.2 for this shoot, it’s already on my wish list now LOL!

Last but not the least, thanks a ton to Jason Chan for lend a helping hand assisting, appreciate it my friend! :)

Ivonne + Chris :: Engagement

Ivonne + Chris :: Engagement

Ivonne + Chris :: Engagement

Ivonne + Chris :: Engagement

Ivonne + Chris :: Engagement

Ivonne + Chris :: Engagement

Ivonne + Chris :: Engagement

Ivonne + Chris :: Engagement

Ivonne + Chris :: Engagement

Ivonne + Chris :: Engagement

Ivonne + Chris :: Engagement

Daniela+Octavio+Ava & Andres :: Family Portrait {Teaser}

Daniela+Octavio+Ava & Andres :: Family Portrait {Teaser}

Daniela+Octavio+Ava & Andres :: Family Portrait {Teaser}