Santa Barbara Wedding Photography by Kelsey Crews

Ashley and Josh’s Santa Barbara Courthouse Wedding

Ashley and Josh got married at the picturesque Courthouse in Santa Barbara, California.  The Courthouse is such a striking background for a wedding.  We had a blast walking the grounds.  I was like a kid in a candy store, photographing them amongst the many scenic sights.   

Ashley and Josh were a gorgeous bride and groom…they made the scenery that much more fascinating.  Not to mention, their attitude infused the entire experience with joy, and that enthusiasm rubbed off on me.  I left the wedding so excited that I could barely download the images fast enough.  I’m sure you can see why…these photographs show a couple blissfully in love.            

Congratulations, Ashley and Josh, on a beautiful marriage!  Here’s to a lifetime of love and happiness :)

Toni and Matt’s Palm Springs Wedding

I had the privilege of being Toni and Matt’s wedding photographer, and it was such a wonderful experience!  The bride and groom both got ready at the Marriott Desert Springs hotel, and Toni had her hair and makeup done at the Patrick Marchesson Salon.  After portraits on the hotel grounds, we headed over to the Jackalope Ranch for the ceremony and dinner.  

The wedding was so charming.  It really couldn’t have been more perfect.  Oh, did I mention that Toni is my sister? :)  We were all delighted to see Toni and Matt so happy.  It’s funny, I can’t even imagine our family without Matt now…seems like he’s always been there.  I love how he gets my sister like no one else has before.  They both have this ability to make you laugh at anything, and being around them is always a good time.

As Toni’s younger sister, I always looked up to her, so it was amazing to do something meaningful and lasting on her special day.  

Cheers to the newlyweds!!

Whitney & Chris’ Goleta Beach Engagement Session

I love this couple.  Whitney did her research, and came with a printout of her favorite poses.  They both brought their infectious smiles and their ready-for-anything attitudes. I love it when couples come prepared!

Sometimes, I’m the one making it comfortable, but they took care of that for me.  They were so comfortable with each other that I didn’t even think about it.  Their love was obvious, and they left me with such a warm feeling.

Congratulations on your beautiful engagement, Whitney and Chris! 

Melody and Joe’s Santa Barbara Engagement Photography

Happy Valentine’s Day, everybody!  

In honor of Valentine’s Day, I’m posting this beautiful Santa Barbara engagement photography session.  This is Melody and Joe’s first Valentine’s Day as a married couple. Their engagement session was so much fun!  We started early in the morning, so Leadbetter Beach was much more secluded than normal.  We ended the session at the picturesque Santa Barbara City College.  After the session was over, I knew I had just witnessed that charming, natural rapport that happens to couples in love.  I will never get sick of that :)

Rose and Joe’s Santa Barbara Wedding - Second Photographer for Meg Perotti

Towards the end of last year, I got another opportunity to second shoot for photographer Meg Perotti.  I jumped at the chance.  I arrived at the Four Seasons lobby, and awaited Meg’s arrival.  Through email, I had a hunch that I might actually be the third shooter.  When I saw Meg walk in with Jasmine Star, I knew my hunch was right. 

I felt so lucky…I was getting the chance to work alongside not only one, but two accomplished female photographers.  It was fun and educational.  I recommend that all wedding photographers experience second shooting for another photographer.  Not only do you gain experience, but you also get to see how other people work.  I’m a firm believer that you should never stop learning, and much discovery can come from being exposed to another person’s perspective. 

I want to thank Meg for giving me such a wonderful opportunity.  I enjoy working with her for so many reasons.  First of all, I really admire her work.  Secondly, she has the loveliest attitude, and that makes working for her a complete joy.  Wedding photography can be stressful at times, but nobody should ever see that.  Meg Perotti is a true professional.  This is obvious when I see how grateful her couples are to have her photograph their wedding. 

Rose and Joe are such a beautiful bride and groom.  I am blessed to have been a part of their “big” day.

Santa Barbara Photographer Goes to Europe (2010)
Part 10: The Finale in Barcelona
~A Photo Story~

We had just arrived at the Madrid airport from Amsterdam, and decided to buy a ticket to Barcelona. We walked all over the airport trying to find the cheapest flight.  When we got to Barcelona, we were very hungry and in need of a well-balanced meal, so that took priority.  It was late, but we were happy to find a place that would still take us. After our meal, it didn’t take long for us to realize we were in a bad situation. 

No hotels had any vacancies!  At one point, we accidentally drove completely out of the city through a toll, and you couldn’t just turn around and go back through the toll.  We had to take a little country road back into Barcelona…it was nighttime, and it was eerie.  At one point, we had to slow the car down because a wild boar was slowly crossing the road. We finally found a hotel around 4am. 

We had hoped to stay in the same place for two nights since we had been doing so much moving around, but they told us we could only stay the first night.  The next day, however, they miraculously told us we could stay in our room another night.  That left more time for my main goal, which was to see Gaudi.  That might be obvious because 7 out of the 10 pictures are of Gaudi’s architecture. 

The first picture is Casa Milá.  The second picture is La Sagrada de Familia.  The third picture is of a Coke can.   If you know me, you know I love Coke. The next picture after that is Park Guell, a completely amazing Gaudi experience.  I actually got dizzy from taking so many pictures.  Underneath the big open area, there are a bunch of columns and extremely detailed mosaic ceilings. Nearby, those cute little buildings look like gingerbread houses.  The park is incredible, with unique paths going every which way.  This is something incredible to photograph, but even better to see in person.

The last couple pictures are night photography shots taken on the last night.  After that, we went back to our hotel and prepared to drive back to Madrid the next day.  In Madrid, we had one last hoorah with Dan by sharing a bottle of wine we got in France. It was one of the best bottles of wine ever, but those Spanish tinto riojas were pretty incredible as well.  The next morning, we had the last of our fresh-squeezed juices and cortados. I hurried to grab one last jamón sandwich (did you know they even have little individual-sized olive oils and balsamic for dipping?).

We ended up visiting seven different metropolitan areas in thirteen days.  All I can say is, our next vacation will be in one place!  I wouldn’t change this experience for the world though.

Santa Barbara Photographer Goes to Europe (2010)
Part 9: Amsterdam
~A Photo Story~

At the last minute, we were able to get extremely cheap flights to Amsterdam, so we took our chance.  I’m so glad we did.  The Amstel River was dammed in the 13th Century to create this oddly shaped city of canals and hidden paths.  It is incredible how many people use public transportation, bike or boat there. Check out picture #7 to see just how many bikes were at Centraal Station while the bikers caught a train or tram.

We weren’t there for long, but these are some of the things we saw that are unique to their way of living:

-Houseboats  (eighth picture) 

-Dutch Pancakes, so many choices! The lemon and sugar ones are the best.

-Van Gogh Museum.  There is nothing like seeing a Van Gogh in person.

-Heineken tour…Tastes better in Amsterdam!

-Anne Frank house

-Coffeeshops, and I don’t mean Starbucks.

The architecture was an interesting mix of new and old.  The last picture is of the hotel we stayed at in Vondelpark Plaza (isn’t Vondelpark Plaza fun to say?).  The hotel was modern, but many of the places we went to were incredibly old.  We walked into a whiskey bar one night, and there were literally hundreds of whiskeys written perfectly on this gigantic chalkboard.  It was such an interesting little dive with such character…the whiskey bottles collected dust as far as the eye could see.

One night, we took a train to see Chris, a friend that I met while attending the Brooks Institute of Photography.  She went all out making us dinner.  She said she didn’t even know how to make mussels, but she thought we had to have them, so she called her mom.  She was right…they were amazing!

We feel so lucky to have had such hospitable friends in three different countries.  Thanks to all of our friends!!

Last stop:  Barcelona

Santa Barbara Photographer Goes to Europe (2010)

Part 8: Surf Competition and Dune de Pilat

~A Photo Story~ 

The surf competition was a new experience for me.  You have to pay very close attention to even have a chance of catching what they’re doing out there.  I didn’t have the right lens for catching the surfers on the waves, so I started documenting the audience.  I turned around, saw a cute umbrella stuck in the sand, and I took the shot.  Looking back at it, I zoomed in to see if it was in focus, and then I realized the people were naked!  Oops!! 

That photograph is not posted here : )  The first half of the images are from the surf competition.  After the surf competition, crépes and a bit of shopping, we had dinner with Virginia’s mom.  We had yet another night of successful conversation and laughter.

The second half of the images are from the next day at Dune du Pilat (the highest dune in Europe) and Arcachon.  We climbed the dune, and had a picnic at the top.  I took their portrait, we played in the sand a bit, and then left for Arcachon.  Before leaving Arcachon, we stopped at an oyster farm, and were able to eat oysters fresh out of the ocean.  Those were the best raw oysters ever. 

On our way home, we stopped at a grocery store to take some things with us.  We were hoping it would all fit in our bags, because the next day we would be driving back to Madrid, and flying to Amsterdam.  It was sad leaving France…looking back, France was definitely the most relaxing part of our trip.  Well, and of course it was sad leaving Occy! :(

The first picture on the next post: delicious Dutch Pancakes! 

Santa Barbara Photographer Goes to Europe (2010)

Part 7:  France~ More Beautiful Beach Shots

~A Photo Story~ 

I can’t tell you how happy we were to see a bed.  Sleeping in was definitely on our agenda when we got to Tosse, France.  We slept, and nothing woke us.  It was amazing.  We slept in, and we awoke to fresh croissants.  They had one plain and one chocolate for each of us.  Was this for real? …because I was in heaven.  You can’t find croissants that good in America.

Matthieu had to work the first day, so Virginia took us to the beach.  Little did I know it would be the nicest beach I’d ever seen.  The beach felt so isolated…it was super silky smooth and it felt incredibly clean.  Mike immediately took off, and in the second picture, you can see him walking in the distance.  It really felt like our own special beach in our own special world. 

Occy makes an appearance in the fourth photograph.  His trail of paw prints lead up to him happily digging in the sand.  As I said, Occy loves to dig!  We had so much fun watching Occy.  He’s an extremely energetic and expressive dog that constantly made me smile.  He was just one of those dogs that everybody likes. 

After the beach, Virginia took us to Capbreton.  The whole area was buzzing with activity because of a local surf competition (next blog post).  In the second to last picture, you see a young girl on stilts.  Stilts are of cultural significance to the area.  For one reason, since it was a marshy area, shepherds used them to tend to their flocks.  Another reason they used stilts was to aid in the extracting of pine resin from trees. 

The old pier in the last photograph has so much character.  We left this quaint little beach town, and ended the day with a trip to the grocery.  I think the trip to the grocery was one of the most interesting trips of all.  I had remembered liking the yogurt in France, from my trip there in the fourth grade. I thought it was odd that I would actually like plain yogurt.  The trip to the grocery explained it.  When we got to the grocery, there were two aisles completely filled with many different kinds of yogurt.  I had never seen so many yogurts in one place.  No wonder I remembered yogurt. 

We ended up buying various kinds of yogurt, cheese, candy, wine, and we even bought foie gras.  We wanted to give every part of their culture a chance.  Virginia and Matthieu were especially surprised that we would try the stinky cheeses!  So, we had another wonderful meal, filled with learning and laughter. 

We finished the night with everyone drinking tea and looking at a slideshow of my unedited pictures.  It was then decided that Mike and Matthieu would bike to get fresh bread in the morning for breakfast, which I thought was the coolest thing ever.  After breakfast, it would be the first time I’d ever been to a surf competition.  The next blog post will have photographs of that surf competition, Dune de Pilat, and more. 

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