So excited to wrap up Corey and Michelle’s Save the Date film for their wedding website! The photos from their Napa Valley engagement session are here in a previous post.  Our shooting locations were basically the town of Healdsburg, Jordan Winery (amazing place for a six figure wedding), Hawkes Wine and White Oak Vineyards, which was the only place that has both an impressive Mediteranean-style winery and a picturesque vineyard. Not all “wineries” have vineyards and not all vineyards have wineries next to them, so I learned. Shooting this film was trickier than usual with a spring thunderstorm passing through and because my wife came along as an assistant, that meant we brought the baby which (note to self) actually means I end up working without an assistant…that and Corey and Michelle insisted that I do wine tasting with them, so if there is a camera shake here and there it’s your fault you two!

I first met Michelle and Corey to talk about their wedding on St. Patricks day at a Brewhouse at 7pm. What was I thinking? It was a complete madhouse and we found a quieter spot that still served beers. I have to say while it’s nice to meet clients for coffee, beer is way better! I’m definitely going to offer that option to folks in the future. They had in mind to have their engagement shoot in the beautiful wine country just north of Napa in a little town called Healdsburg. They know all the wineries up there and knew exactly which ones have the best photographic possibilities. Little did I know exactly how jaw-dropping beautiful these places were — especially the Jordan Winery just north of town. You’d think you drove up to a centuries Tuscan old winery when you see this place for the first time. We took a guess that to get married here you’ll drop around at least a $100K, but apparently they don’t mind if you sneak in and do some engagement portraits at the west end of the building.

It was raining off and on which actually helped out in a way — the ground was all wet and provided a shiny look. The clouds offered a nice diffusion of the big light in sky and surprisingly we weren’t kicked off the property. We were off to Hawkes Winery and later White Oak Vineyards, both places where Michelle and Corey have memberships. This was really helpful and allowed us to sort of go wherever we wanted to take pictures.

There’s a “Save the Date” video coming out of their engagement very soon, but because I know they’re anxious to see some of the better shots here you go Corey and Michelle! Thanks for planning such an awesome day!

[dan johanson] weddings

I’ve been wanting to offer something a little extra for couples for their engagement portrait session. Introducing the “Save the Date” video which can be posted, emailed, or made into a DVD. The feedback is super positive and I am thrilled that I can provide a little something extra for couples beyond the standard set of portraits.

Featured in this film are Paul and Krista from Colorado. Paul and I spent time together in Bishkek, Krygyzstan back in 2006-07. I was thrilled that he asked me to photograph their wedding, which took place a day after this engagement shoot! The backdrop here is beautiful downtown Denver, which was quite chilly this January afternoon. But we turned it out and capped off the day with some great beer at the Great Divide, a second home to Paul who knows way too much about beer. Good thing Krista loves beer too!

I never knew anyone who met their future spouse on public transit until Rhodora and Brent contacted me about their upcoming wedding. They were riding BART to their jobs in San Francisco…a conversation started… and the rest is history. So random at first but then destiny stepped in and laid out the course for their lives. I love stories like that.

These guys have really creative ideas for their upcoming wedding in Portola Valley this December. I won’t give those details away yet so their guests can be surprised. On our engagement shoot, we started at a small park near Brent’s office where they often have lunch. From there we of course had to go back to where it all began — the BART train! Then we went to this super awesome ally, a photographers dream location, and got some really sweet pictures. And of course we had to drop by the place Brent proposed, Dolores Park which has the San Francisco skyline in the background.

Our team of photographers and videographers are shooting their wedding in Portola Valley in December and can’t wait to put up their highlight video and wedding photos. Thanks Rhodora and Brent for the great engagement shoot and look forward to seeing you soon!

I almost forgot — since they already had a wedding website, I just made them a simple gallery website with all the best photos from the day. Thanks guys for a super unique engagement shoot!

The weather said showers in San Francisco, and ok I was a little concerned. Not that we couldn’t get great pictures, but because I was afraid Andy and Julianne would think twice about pushing thru. Well I obviously didn’t know them very well because they were totally game no matter what the forecast said. How cool is that? I love them for taking a risk with me and we ended up having a great time and lots of nice pictures!

These engagement portraits are all from one general area around Palace of Fine Arts / Crissy Field on a misty September afternoon. Check out more of their photos at their wedding website I designed, which is included in all my wedding packages. Can’t wait guys for your wedding at Casa Real next April!

Michael and Jessica are by far the biggest Giants fans I have ever met, crazier than even my brother Matt who wrote two books on the team. Being a Giants fan myself, I was totally down for their engagement session at the ballpark. These guys brought signs, jerseys and lots of bubbly energy that made for some really fun pictures. And after a quick eat, we headed to Union Square for some night portraits before calling it a night. What a great time guys — look forward to your Chinese wedding/ tea ceremony!

Though Glenn and Vicki booked me a year ago, only recently did all of our paths cross at the same in SF for their engagement shoot. We were really happy to hang out with them for a bit, wondering around Crissy, the Yacht Club, and of course the Palace of Fine Arts. See you guys at your wedding!

Archie and Rosie’s engagement shoot in San Francisco was a lot of fun, not just because the locations were awesome but mostly because Rosie and Archie are really funny people to be around. Ok at first Archie was a little stiff, naturally of course because how often to people pose for “engagement portraits” let alone really know what those really are to begin with. Brides surf all the wedding sites and are usually savvy about the whole thing, but guys tend to need a little time to get comfortable with the whole idea.

My approach is to encourage couples to just enjoy the moment wherever we happen to be. They kiss, whisper, giggle, smile and point at the cute dog walking by… and I capture all the giddy goodness that engaged people naturally exhibit. If necessary I do pose couples who need a little extra help or if I see something that would be oh-so-cute, but other than that we just hang out and make pictures of their lives together.

Recently had a blast doing Zach and Stephanie’s engagement shoot at Bort Meadow. Thanks guys for the good time! Thanks also to Ed Falsken for all the help and for capturing the angles that I missed.
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Tagging along with my buddy Zac on an engagement shoot he did for some clients. We did the shoot on Treasure Island which has tons of interesting locations inside the abandoned military base. His visit lasted all of 36 hours, besting my 18 hour visit to his place in North Carolina. Here are some shots that I got of Sean and Mindy.

the zac man