Winny and Terry, Part 2 - A Fisherman's Wharf Engagement Session

You may remember Winny and Terry from their first blog post what seems like eons ago now. They wanted to do two engagement sessions, one more casual (hello Giants wear and AT&T Park!) and one more formal at Fisherman's Wharf.

I had never photographed a session at Fisherman's Wharf before, and while I knew it would be absolutely gorgeous, I was a little concerned that we would be photobombed at every turn by tourists running amok. I'm pleased to say that that wasn't an issue at all, and while it was busy we were able to find lots of lovely spots and have them all to ourselves long enough to get the photographs we needed.

It was a warm evening, and the fresh smell of the water mingled with the sweet scent of waffle cones and the yeasty aroma coming from Boudin. We ventured first to the water's edge to look out at the boats.

And the only photobomber we found was a rogue seagull, searching for whatever scraps he could find. Seagulls are welcome to photo bomb my pictures any day!

Strong evening sunlight made for some fun shadows.

And some great silhouettes!

We finished up with a couple of portraits with the Petzval lens, and then a couple more by the water's edge.

Winny and Terry, thanks for two wonderful sessions! I know you're perfect for each other, and I can't wait to see what you end up doing next!

*Want to schedule an enagagement session with me? Contact me here!*

New! Zenit Petzval Lens

So, I have never been the type to haunt Kickstarter and fund random campaigns (even though I think the site's awesome and it's so great that people do), but when I read about a new/old lens type that was being re-made it caught my imagination and I signed up. I'd go into more detail, but I think it will probably be much clearer if you just go read more about it here.

Anyway, five or so months of waiting and my new lens arrived in the mail! Sorry I didn't do an unboxing video, but if those are your thing here's a link to the shortest one (there is one that's 13 minutes long! I hope it was a really complicated box).

Anyway, long story short it's not your standard lens: it's soft in the corners (well, kind of soft all over, honestly), has what I like to think of as 'painterly bokeh' and produces just lovely colors. It's also all manual: manual focus, aperture plates that you have to carry with you and switch out, and did I mention it's made of brass? Yeah, that part's kind of cool.

Anyway, I'm not sure I'm in love, but I do think I might be intrigued. I've decided to take it on my next few portrait sessions and at least use it for a couple of photos. Who knows? Maybe it'll be something I always carry with me.

None of this is Photoshop; it's all done in-camera. Which I guess makes it cooler.

So let me know, what do you think of the photos and of the lens? Keeper?