Viva!

so it was a Monday afternoon and we closed the shop at 4pm... which never happens if you know us. we all headed to the FORUM in Inglewood to see night one of COLDPLAY. we always find inspiration through music and imagery and coldplay gave us just that. it was if the band knew we were coming. hhhmmm, could that be possible?



first stop was some healthy dining at matt and roxy’s favorite place... chipotle. to top it off was a stop at the infamous RANDY’s donuts. whose idea was that? then on to the fabulous forum!





in a chance meeting we met the owner of one of the parking lots near the venue... richard. what a sweetheart... we asked him what he was doing working at the lot and he said he wanted to set a great example to his employee’s. we love that!



coldplay gave us gifts throughout the night and brought over 18,000 fans up to their feet and down to their knees, including us. adrenaline pumping rock opened the show and melodies that gave goosebumps brought it to a close. it's amazing to watch a group which is so tight and so talented - they can laugh, joke, or mess up a song and then dive right back into it like nothing happened. brilliant!

Erin and Gary - point magu rock, port hueneme, ca

karen and i met erin a few months back in ventura with her mother on a day with "the girls".


erin just had her hair done to see if she would like it on her wedding day and she looked radiant. i didn't think she could top it until i saw her with gary.


the two just fit together like a nice drive through mulholland highway on a cool, clear, open road day. erin and gary were excited to be out photographing their engagement session that was very dear to their hearts.


gary had said he loved erin for the first time on this stretch of beach.


wanting to highlight their dynamic i immediately focused on them and the surroundings did their job...surrounded them with amazing foliage and breathtaking landscapes.


i truly enjoy going against traditional methods and bringing to focus what most of us miss. thank you gary for pointing this out to me. i had soooooo much fun i didn't want to leave. i will soon enough have more to capture on their wedding day at the pierpoint inn in ventura.

can't wait.

-joey




press the "restart show" button, on the grey bar above, to view the show.

yo!

just when you think you are about to hit ROCK bottom matt gets creative and takes one out of karen's book of food styling. inspired by a late afternoon snack matt took off and came back with an awesome piece of art. it looked soooooooo good i reached for my favorite lens 85mm 2.8 macro, rolled up the shades and shot this beauty. here's to ..."WAKING UP" thanx matt.

Rock On!
-joey

Maria and Mike - san diego, ca

maria and mike on-line proofing website
maria and mike on-line bridal album

i remember driving back from san diego after having dinner with maria and mike thinking that there are not enough hours in the day to describe this couple, their family and this wedding day! ! maria is the first of her generation to get married so karen and i, needless to say, were prepared to photograph the wedding of the decade!


this wedding was filled with “old school” traditions, charm,

class with the fun, energy and hip fashion of today’s generation. . from the moment we arrived to the moment we said good night the bride was glowing,

filled with love, emotion, joy and 100% pure energy. the couple loves fashion and we celebrated this throughout the day with our photography! they let us do our thing unscripted, unplugged.

i can not even begin to highlight the day within the time of this post. what does come to mind is a moment that was a turning point in my career. after spending sometime with the bride and groom FAMILIA was a huge part of their day of celebration and a moment that embodied this was photographing maria’s bridal portrait in her parents master. after photographing a few frames and wanting to share my excitement and joy that the bride was so radiant on film i showed maria an image of her.

she viewed the image on the back of my camera and was overcome with emotion that she shed a tear. her reaction overwhelms me to this day.

poignant moments only became more vivid from then on.

from the father walking his princess down the aisle,
to having over 400+ people holding hands in prayer,

to the groom pumping his fists in the air after saying i do,

to an amazing editorial shoot with a 22 person bridal party,

to the extremely passionate and loving embrace after the 1st dance,

to the mother son dance that brought on a joyful laugh from being surrounded by a swarm of family,

to the march to the cake during the tarantella was definitely full of life…you almost had to be a paparazzi to keep up with them,

to a romantic “make-out session” in a old classic olds… one of our favorite “signature” images to date.


maria and mike… there are not enough hours in the day to describe this couple, their family and their wedding day...however, just ask me or karen anytime and we’ll both give you more than an ear full.

siete veramente bravi!
grazie mille

-joey




press the "restart show" button, on the grey bar above, to view the show.

Quote of the Month

art is not a category, nor a form, but a secret, hidden part of content. any artistic creation can appeal to the viewer in all sorts of ways, for instance its theme, subject, situations, story or characters. but above all, what moves us deeply is that difficult to define essence, what we call the art of the work, which is worth more than all its other elements combined.

paraphrased work from pasternak out of “dr. zhivago”

Out with the Old, In with the WOW!

Tonya & Matt - malibu, ca

… what a down right sweet bride and groom! we enjoy weddings so much because of couples like this.you could not help but to feel the love that surrounded them on their wedding day. the air was calm and peaceful. we didn’t witness any of the pre-wedding jitters… in fact it was with such anticipation… the attitude was more like "let’s do this!" tonya and matt would much rather hang out with us than be photographed. tonya is such a caring and compassionate person that she even went out of her way to “table touch” us during the dinner break to make sure we were okay and fed, to thank us for being a special part of their wedding day. she did that with all of her vendors. hugs, gratitude and gratefulness were bestowed on to us all. what more can you ask for? did we mention the home baked cookies? don't get us started! it is the unspoken trust between client... friend... photographer... artist that is given to you in those moments… even the verbal “i trust you” that allows us the creative freedom to do what we do. -karen






























what a gift. tonya and matt are treasured, viva salute’.

Sara and Chris

sara and chris, what a sweet couple and "who knew" that they would be traveling with such a fun and lovely entourage. wow!


sara and christopher on-line proofing website
sara and christopher on-line wedding album

the couple wanted us to capture moments that were unique


and stylish "signature "joey carman".




poolside portrait of the groomsmen definetly exceeded our cool factor.


we were so flattered to have been chosen to do a destination wedding in the reverse, sara and chris live in florida and have family that live locally...so the destination was theirs, locally, at calamigos ranch!




they showed us a deeper meaning of commitment.


they invited us into their lives to experience their dynamic relationship that make them who they truly are. we were inspired by the interaction between sara and her mother and between chris and his dad.


we remember the heightened energy between the guys out by the pool and also taking images of the newly married couple that brought us all back to 40’s era.


we've always said that our work is fueled by the emotion of a moment and through our lens moments are captured and preserved into timeless pieces of art.


the day was filled with so many of those moments.


we really appreciate sara and chris for allowing us into their world for just a little while to experience such a wonderful time with them.




-karen & joey

Quote of the Month

“i pay no attention to anyone’s praise or blame; I simply do what comes from my heart.”

-Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Love

love at first sight. here i am working myself to the brink of utter exhaustion and she comes in, flashes her pearly whites and says..."close your eyes." katie made me a note to say "i love you". she wrapped it up real nice and tied a ribbon around it with some really delicate multi-colored knots. soooooooooooo pretty. the photo of her is my reaction of how very thoughtful her gesture was and how beautiful she is.







my heart is filled to the brink!