DON GREGORIO BRACOMONTE

Don Gregorio is a master of ceramics from the village of San Juan De Oriente.  Descended from the native Nicoya tribe who were the original potters of the region, Don Gregorio is at the forefront of efforts to preserve the ancient traditions and techniques of pre-columbian ceramics.

Whilst out working the fields around his house as a young man, Don Gregorio unearthed several pre-columbian artefacts with his plough.  Thus began a deep fascination with the skills of his ancestors, which drove him to park his plough and participate in a government funded ceramics workshop.

Twenty years on and Don Gregorio is now the talk of the town – When you go to San Juan De Oriente, home to most of Nicaragua’s potters, and you tactfully ask a non-potter the question “who is the best potter in town” most say with a hint of reverence in their voices…. “Es Don Gregorio – y  vive ahi”

We made a film about Don Gregorio and his artistry – view it here

DON EDMUNDO JOSE SANCHEZ

We could tell this man has led an interesting life, on account of all the distinguished looking people that come up to him and warmly shake his hand in the local supermarket.  Forever the driver, Don Edmundo insists on absolute control of the shopping trolley, until a person from his past emerges from behind a tower of Bounty hand towels, and we are forced to fend for ourselves as he stands and natters about daring deeds from a time very different from the Nicaragua of today.

Don Edmundo first learnt to drive freight trucks during his time in the army.  Amidst the rubble and chaos of a stricken post-earthquake Managua, whilst some of his higher ranking officers were off looting shops, Don Edmundo and his team of soldiers turned their army truck into a makeshift ambulance service. Confronted with rife corruption amongst his commanding officers who were siphoning off army rations, lining their own pockets and letting their men and families go hungry, Don Edmundo took a stand against his superiors and ceremoniously turned his back on them during a passing out parade.  He was promptly committed to a mental hospital, where most of the trouble-makers of the day were sent.  Thankfully this sojourn with the insane was mercifully brief – and he was soon free to play his part in the fast approaching revolution.

DON SALVADOR RODRIGUEZ

Don Salvador soon became our favourite vendor in the whole of Managua after his simple workshop delivered an expertly customised portable fuel tank, on time and within budget.  At over 70 years of age, we think it may have been a while since Don Salvador has actually picked up a welding torch himself, but he still clearly rules his steel shop with an iron fist.

Torn between a happy life in the country and a more affluent life in the city, Don Salvador was forced to sell the family farm to pay off his elder brother’s gambling debts, and moved to Managua many years ago to take up welding.

Due to his affable manner and incredible prices, we try to give his small workshop as many little jobs as we can, because sadly business does not seem to be booming for Don Salvador – who has found himself in fierce competition with all the other fuel tank workshops that have sprung up around him – many of whom seem to be owned by various members of his own family.

Newport Beach, CA: Baher & Nourane had a traditional Coptic Orthodox ceremony at the Archangel Michael Coptic Orthodox Church in Santa Ana. If you are wondering about the Coptic Orthadox Church, see this article on wikipedia. Despite the Ring bearer taking a nap halfway through – the ceremony was beautiful, poignant  and a pleasure to photograph. Their lively reception was held at the Newport Beach Marriott.

To see more of Jacob’s wedding photography, please visit his wedding gallery on our main website.

To see more of Jacobs awesome stuff, please visit his wedding photography gallery on our main website.

Fresh from celebrating St Patricks day, Al shows us his own unique way of expressing his love for the Irish Clover!

A Venice beach photography session would not be complete without a shot of a grungy camper van – the multiple presence of which makes Venice the special place it is.

On Saturday the planets above Venice Beach lined up perfectly and I found myself with this lens, a camera and my favorite person in the world to photograph, my eternal muse, who also happens to be my wife.  Kate agreed to be my guinea pig whilst I got to grips with the lens, in preparation for Al and Beth’s engagement shoot  which would take place in the same location the day after – so it was a location scout and a private self taught workshop all in one – exhausting!

I’ve always been amazed at how quickly designers I know can rustle up a cool logo or a flyer, with seemingly little or no effort, and just for a moment last week I was like one of them.  My enlightenment came when I decided to subscribe to The Shoppe –  a design resource for photographers offering a really neat collection of templates, textures, backgrounds, marketing materials and photoshop brushes and actions.  After spending time exploring all their awesome products, I found and downloaded a photoshop brush that I knew would be the key for my new logo design.

For a while I’ve wanted to do an overhaul on the Jinger Studios branding, and I have had an image in my mind for several months now on just how I thought it should look like.  Something Floral, something Henna, plus the simplicity and color scheme of our old logo (which was designed by my brother) .  I found exactly this ‘look’ in one of the photoshop brushes provided by The Shoppe and I had my eureka moment as I was playing with my new brush sets and making a mess on my screen.  Using this new brush, and a few other elements from their range, I was able to knock together a logo that I’m really proud of, and I feel gives a proper sense of the type of style and aesthetics that our photography studio values and embraces.

When it came to producing a line of holiday greeting cards and save the dates that we could offer our clients as a fun way to show off their engagement or portrait images – we turned to The Shoppe again.  Their range of templates was just what we were looking for – enabling us to go a little bit more artistic than the average greeting card.

These templates are fully customizable and can be tweaked to suit the many differing tastes out there.  But beware!   Flushed with a confidence in my own new design skills I tried to change a template too much and unknowingly tore apart the delicate lines of good design aesthetic that had been wizarded together by The Shoppe and accidently created something a six year old would dismiss as ‘noise’!   After that I decided to keep my needless but enjoyable tinkering to a minimum and the following examples are the results!

SAVE THE DATE (FRONT AND BACK)

“Chocolate Forest – 5×7″

GREETINGS CARD  (FRONT AND BACK)

“Vintage Blue – 5×7″

GREETINGS CARD (FRONT AND BACK)

“Snowflakes – 5×7″

SAVE THE DATE

“Dark and Unique – 5×7″

GREETINGS CARD (FRONT AND BACK)

“Muted Elegance – 5×7″

GREETINGS CARD (FRONT AND BACK)

“Fun and Clean – 5×7″

I think the main benefit of our subscription to The Shoppe has been the ‘unlocking of creativity’ as far as graphic design goes.  Of course as photographers our main focus is on capturing timeless, awesome photography – and in so doing we don’t have the time available to source elements, design and make our own templates.  Having a resource where we can pull good design ‘off the shelf’ and adapt it to our own specific needs is invaluable to us, as we can both concentrate on the business of providing excellent photography to our clients, while at the same time have the ability to package that photography with the cutting edge design it deserves.

See our full range of  HOLIDAY GREETING CARDS

See our full range of  SAVE THE DATES

Chris didn’t have to direct Alexandra and Christopher for this shoot – they were very naturally at ease in front of the camera and had a beautiful glow between them – which made for very hot images at times….thank goodness it was dark!

Shika & Darren met Jacob at the Huntington Gardens in Pasadena last month for their engagement session.  Shika & Darren both have year passes to the gardens and we can see why. There are so many beautiful spots here that it was difficult for Jacob to stop shooting… round every corner was a romantic setting that was a pure gift for engagement photography. Shika & Darren were the ideal couple… beautiful, natural, easy-going, fun, friendly… and Jacob  can’t wait to sho0t their wedding!

To see more engagement and wedding photography by Jacob, visit our engagement photography and wedding photography galleries on our main website.

Chris took these shots when he was testing out the new Profoto 8A power pack – that’s photographer speak for a really powerful and fast stobe lighting system.  By fast, we mean that the flash can go off at up to 20 times a second… which helped Chris to capture these lovely time frozen sharp images – lucky he was all excited with the techy stuff and not actually thinking of the real world implications of a martial artist flying towards him posed to do a Judo kick!  I think I might be confusing all my martial art lingo on this post – please forgive me Bruce.

If you are drumming up the courage to pop the big question and propose on Valentine’s day this year, then why not mark the occasion with an engagement shoot?  For the entire month of February, we are offering a special deal to any couple… newly weds, newly betrothed, married for years or just started dating – there is always a reason to get a stunning set of pictures with the person you love.

VALENTINE’S OFFER – $450

Includes 2 hour shoot in Los Angeles

DVD with high resolution files of shoot

5 free 8×10 prints

5 free 7×5 prints

Password protected Online Gallery

contact us to book your session!