Monthly Archives: November 2010

The Gardens at Heather Farms Wedding Photos

The Gardens at Heather Farms is a great wedding location tucked away in the hillside of Walnut Creek, CA. Located at 1540 Marchbanks Drive, Walnut Creek, CA 94598, this scenic and beautiful wedding venue is beset with flowers, a gazebo and numerous other PHOTO OP possibilities.

As your trusted wedding photographer, I really enjoy shooting on locations such as this because the grounds offers some amazing places to take your photos. I can think of a dozen places for backdrops of amazing photos here, just off the top of my head. And there are also some more urban opportunities as well if you so wish. I pretty much like to stick with the greenery, the foliage and what not.

As you can see from my photos, I go for a very natural and organic looking image.

This is a great example of how mother nature can really make her presence known on your wedding day. The morning was overcast and a bit drizzly. They actually called for rain on this day. Here you can see a few pics of the guys that I took before the wedding ceremony under the Gazebo at Heather Farms.

The Groom and Groomsmen wanted to look really tough because in real life they are puppy dogs!

The bride walks down the aisle toward the gazebo for the wedding ceremony.I always custom tailor my shooting to the bride and groom. I also take your direction and recommendations for photos if it fits within the allotted time limit. Below is a cute pic that the bride requested!Then as you can see, the sun was blistering hot. We went from overcast, to bright sunlight and I had to switch up my shooting game in an instant. Truthfully, this is what makes a great wedding photographer. Someone who can produce TURN AND BURN STYLE with the highest quality and the ability to change lighting techniques to suit the ambient mood.Below, one of the many great wedding photo opportunities at Heather Farms. I like it because there are no buildings in the background.
Like I said, just so many great spots to take pictures at the Gardens at  Heather Farms in Walnut Creek. I took close to 1000 wedding photos on this day! This is only a fraction of what I took!I got many great shots at the wedding reception here at Heather Farms. The room holds over 100 and has a great view of the Farms from it’s floor to ceiling bay windows. I realize that most of the photos so far are posed shots. So I would like to end this post by showing a couple journalistic, candid and unexpected wedding photos that I took at this wedding. I actually do take a lot of journalistic, non-posed and/or candid whatever you want to call them.

If you are getting married or having your wedding ceremony and/or reception at The Gardens at Heather Farms in Walnut Creek, CA, I urge you to contact me right away to discuss the possibility of me being your wedding photographer. Or, if you are interested in seeing more wedding photos that I have shot at The Gardens at Heather Farms in Walnut Creek, CA, please give me a call!

Posted in The Gardens at Heather Farms Tags: ca, , , , , , the gardens at heather farms, walnut creek, ,

Willow Heights Wedding Photos

I wanted to share with you some of these wonderful wedding photos that I took at the Willow Heights Mansion in Morgan Hill, CA. The owner told me that she was closing shop in 2011, which is hard to believe. I have shot many weddings at the Willow Heights Mansion in my career and I really like this wedding venue. It has a great indoor location as well as a great outdoor location.

They have a ready room upstairs where the bride gets ready with her bridesmaids. I always try and get some organic and natural moments in addition to the standard, classic wedding portraits.

Do you like this picture of the bridal bouquet?Here’s a collage of the bridal prep. Also known as pre ceremony or bride getting ready pics.I took the girls outside on the deck for some naturalistic, organic wedding photos.I didn’t pose the pics above or below. I just let the scene unfold before me as I capture the moment.I really like this tender moment between the bride and her brother as she pins the flower on his lapel.So now it’s off to the groom for his pre ceremony prep.Keep in mind that I take many pictures, including many basic posed shots that your family will love. But I also try and get some really cool creative shots like the one below.The Willow Heights Mansion has a great banquet room which overlooks Morgan Hill Valley. It’s a shame that they are closing down this wonderful wedding venue.The Bride walks down the aisle at the outside Gazeebo at the Willow Heights Mansion in Morgan Hill.The groom looks on anxiously as the bride nears. This shot is very important to me. And I can get it even if I am the only photographer as I take position near the groom for the Processional and Bridal March.Some overall wide shots, journalistic moments, run and gun, turn and burn, photographer of a ceremony at the Willow Heights.

After the ceremony we proceeded to take the requisite post wedding formals.It started to get dark so I had to turn on my flash.I use a backlight flash, also known as my lightstick to get this effect.The backlight flash also came in handy for the shot below.Picture of the wedding cake.Here’s a couple natural, candid, journalistic and real moments of a wedding reception. I get TONS of shots like this! and they are my favorite!I often do the TOASTING GLASS picture before they cut the cake, in case the bride gets cake all over her face! The flash you see on the left IS NOT MINE. I just happened to take this at the same time as a guest snapped their picture!

I hope you like my wedding photos at Willow Heights. I work a lot in the area of Morgan Hill, Gilroy, San Jose and beyond. As you can see, my style is very clean, simple and elegant. However, I do many creative shots as well but my main goal is organic and natural lighting and clean looking wedding pictures.

Posted in Willow Heights Mansion Tags: california, classic wedding portraits, film, morgan hill, , , , photojournalism, , , , , willow heights mansion, ,

San Francisco Wedding Photographer

Welcome to Robert Valdes Photography. I am a San Francisco wedding photographer with over 20 years experienced. I specialize in Organic, Elegant & Edgy wedding photojournalism that is at once expected and unexpected. In short, my clients expect AMAZING PICTURES from me and I do deliver everytime. However, I also deliver the unexpected images that go above and beyond anything that you will expect.

My website features images from weddings, engagement sessions, trash the dress sessions and all other works that I shoot in San Francisco, the SF Bay Area and Beyond.

I am also available for travel worldwide and I often shoot in Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles.

Below are some of my favorite images from recent weddings I have photographed. When you view these wedding photos, you will notice many REAL CANDID MOMENTS, not just the posed ‘eye candy’ moments but also the in-between moments and once in a lifetime moments and expressions. My goal is to capture the emotion of the moment so you can relive it forever.

As mentioned, these are some of my most recent moments. I’ve moved my LEGACY IMAGE GALLERY to a different post. Click here to see my older FAVORITES.

I am a seasoned pro with 20 years of experience. I started in my early 20′s so I’m still relatively young and have the vitality and stamina necessary to take on 10 to 15 hour shoots. You can see me in action by clicking here.

Click here to see what I look like.

As one of the most sought after San Francisco Wedding Photographer, the additional styles and techniques that I use and am interested in are: Wedding photojournalism, photojournalistic, journalistic, candid, posed formals, relaxed formals, traditional modern, eye light, butterfly light, five angles of the face and much more. I also use a BACKLIGHT that I call a lightstick which is basically an off camera flash that I use to backlight a subject or throw light from a different direction than the camera angle. The lightstick is also great for the times when one flash on the camera is not enough. I prefer the lightstick over cumbersome strobes because of the dynamic nature of wedding photography and the fact that often there is little to no time to set up strobes. I also like to travel light so that I can move to new locations quickly and easily with or without a wedding photography assistant.

I have much more information on my ABOUT page. Please click here to read it.

If you like what you see CONTACT ME TODAY as I get booked up very quickly.

Posted in San Francisco Wedding Photographer Tags: , , , , , ,