The Gilley Family | Joy Session | San Diego, CA | Chris

While in San Diego, I had the opportunity to photograph the Gilley family men. They had a mini family reunion in San Diego as one of their brothers had just returned from a deployment in the Middle East. With the incredibly gorgeous clients and the beautiful backdrop of the Pacific Ocean, it would definitely be my fault if the images did not turn out amazing. Seriously. Hopefully I succeeded!

Thank you again for inviting me to photograph your family and I hope that you love the images!

You can view all of the images from their session by going to www.labrisaphotography.com and clicking on “Clients” and “Joy Sessions” or if you are viewing this from your phone, click HERE!

Their beautiful wives.

Email us (info@labrisaphotography.com) about your upcoming wedding or to schedule a portrait session!

View La Brisa's Portfolio site! 

Canon 24L, 35L and 85L lens review

In lieu of the regular Thursday by La Brisa post, I wanted to share my review of a few lenses that I recently had in my possession on a trial basis. I have been wanting to try out these lenses for a SUPER long time and so I was really excited to put them through some real-life shooting situations. For me, these are legendary and mythical lenses that all photographers (well Canon ones at least) crave to have in their bags. For about 7 days, I used Canon's 24L, 35L and 85L shown here:

I absolutely loved one of them and definitely want to add it as my next lens. The other two did not wow me except in certain situations when they were brilliant. More on that later though. Can you guess which one I loved? Keep reading to find the answer.

Lastly, when trying new lenses, I always ask myself, which lens would this replace in my bag? I travel and shoot light. For every shoot regardless of subject/content, I take everything which consists of the Canon 16-35L, Canon 50L, Canon 70-200L and the Canon 100 Macro and this is the arduous journey that lead me to my current gear: Oh Lenses! At the end of each lens review, you will read why or why not I would replace one of my existing lenses. 

The 24mm f/1.4L II

Sharp, contrasty and the bokeh is incredibly dreamy. On my full frame 5DII, this lens felt really wide and it was something that I had a difficult time adjusting to. I’m sure in time, the perspective would be second nature to me, but during the week long trial, I just never felt comfortable with it. I used it in numerous situations (individuals, couples, families, etc), but I was never wow’d by it. Also, due to the length, I felt that it was a specialty lens for very specific shots. I tried to leave it on my camera for awhile during stretches of a session, but found myself constantly wanting to switch. Theoretically, this lens would replace my 16-35, but I feel like the 24L adds something dramatically different than what the 16-35 offers, but at this time, it is not enough to persuade me to add another lens to my bag.

The 35mm f/1.4L

This is part of the holy trinity of legendary lenses: 35L, 85L and 135L. Of which, I use none of them (B has the 135L and I can’t get it away from her). Maybe my expectations exceeded any reasonable offerings because I expected instant magic once I placed this lens on my camera. And I was disappointed because of my lofty expectations. Once I got over that initial hurdle, I loved how fast this lens focuses. Seriously, at any point, in any lighting situation, it focused true and immediate every time. The most incredible feature of this lens, were the colors that it rendered straight out of the camera: vibrant, accurate and gorgeous. I would definitely add it to my bag, but I’d have a really difficult time replacing my 16-35 with it because I still want the ultra wide perspective and the 35mm is not wide enough for what I would be replacing.

The 85mm f/1.2L

Incredible. Incredible at f/1.2. Incredible at f/4.0. Just absolutely incredible. I wanted to do an entire portrait session with it. The only thing that I dislike about this lens is the slow AF; otherwise, using a telephoto lens at f/1.2 is just cheating. The compression of the focal length combined with the wide open aperture yields glowingly awesome images. I was addicted to it for the entire week. I would be extremely happy shooting with my 50L and the 85L all day. Of the three lenses, the 85L is the only one where I would consider adding another lens to my current bag. Ideally, sometime in the future, I would love to shoot with all primes, but my style and budget cannot accommodate that goal, yet.

One of my favorite getting ready images that I have ever created.

Email us (info@labrisaphotography.com) about your upcoming wedding or to schedule a portrait session!

View La Brisa's Portfolio site! 

Tracy & Ben | Attraction Session | San Diego, CA | Chris

Ben and I have known each other for 20+ years. Craziness, right? I met up with him and his gorgeous fiancé, Tracy, in beautiful San Diego for their Attraction Session. We started at Balboa Park, then went to UC San Diego and finished up at Seal Cove for an absolutely incredible evening of engagement awesomeness!

Thank you again for selecting me to photograph your love for each other. Can’t wait to photograph your beautiful wedding next year!

You can view all of the images from their session by going to www.labrisaphotography.com and clicking on “Clients” and “Attraction Sessions” or if you are viewing this from your phone, click HERE!

Email us (info@labrisaphotography.com) about your upcoming wedding or to schedule a portrait session!

View La Brisa's Portfolio site! 

4th of July Celebration | Event | Yorba Linda, CA | Chris

Yesterday was exactly what I needed. My fourth of July was a calm, relaxing day by the pool surrounded by family and friends, an incredible dinner and then a firework extravaganza for the ages. Seriously, it was perfect. After staying up for nearly 40 hours over the weekend in order to surprise my wife at her hometown in California, I needed yesterday to be as perfect as yesterday was. Yesterday, I comprehensively celebrated my freedoms and it was incredible.

At the fireworks show, I wanted to incorporate portraits with the colors and movement of the fireworks. I always strive to create something different with my photography and yesterday was a perfect opportunity to try something new. After that, I tried a technique that Rik Andes Photography mentioned HERE. Thanks Rik for sharing because it creates absolutely amazing results and I hope I did your technique justice!

I hope all of you had a fantastic fourth of July weekend and that you celebrated America’s awesomeness and all of those who have sacrificed and are sacrificing their lives and their livelihood to protect our freedoms.

Before the show started, we walked around the fairgrounds and I saw this military transport plane (C-17?) fly overhead and it was perfectly symbolic of the festivities and the celebration.

These are our awesome friends, the Barretts! They were both in our wedding and Chris does all of the amazing design work for La Brisa through his business, Graphic Twist!

This is my sister-in-law, Feliz, and her boyfriend Jeff. Aren’t they cute?

Brisa and me. Yes, we are ridiculously tan. And yes, we are awesome.

Brisa with her best friend, Stephanie, and with her sister, Feliz.

This is how La Brisa does family portraits on July 4th. Boo-ya.

And here are the images of fireworks using Rik’s technique!

Email us (info@labrisaphotography.com) about your upcoming wedding or to schedule a portrait session!

View La Brisa's Portfolio site! 

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July! I surprised Brisa at her parents' house in California after photographing an incredible wedding on Saturday in Kansas! Please give your loved ones an extra bear hug and tell them that you love them today! =)

Aren't we cute???

Email us (chris@labrisaphotography.com) about your upcoming wedding or to schedule a portrait session!

View La Brisa's Portfolio site!