Eucalyptus Magazine recently contacted me for permission to use one of my photos to accompany an article on holistic medicine schools in their March 2010 issue. So, of course, I said yes! Check it out below. Or, if you’d like to read the article in full, visit them online at:http://eucalyptusmagazine.com/

I hope you enjoyed my post. Click here if you’d like to see more Photojournalism, View My Portfolio, or Contact Me.

The day started when I met Sarah and Anthony at the Claremont Resort Hotel and Spa, which if you don’t know, is a fabulous place in Oakland, Ca. The hotel was established in 1915, and I just love the vintage feel.

The facade of the Claremont Resort Hotel and Spa…..such a great place for a wedding! The history of this place is just amazing. Check out their website for the details!Sarah and Anthony’s totally cute lil pup. Check out the bow tie!

From the Claremont Hotel and Spa, we went up into Tilden Park to the East Bay Regional Parks Botanic Garden, where an intimate ceremony was held. Even in the “off’ season, this garden was gorgeous, and I highly recommend a visit if you haven’t been there already.

After weeks of rain and cold weather, the sun came out this day for Sarah & Anthony.This is Anthony’s Nana, Hazel. If I could adopt her as my grandmother, it’d be a done deal!Anthony, smiling.This is the fabulous outfit of one of Anthony’s good friends. I just loved the juxtaposition of colors, patterns and texture.Topping off the outfit was the sneakers. Sweet!I LOVE the trees in the background. Yay for Winter!Everyone just looks so incredibly happy.I really like this photo. Something just so sweet about this picture of a father and his daughter.Cheers to mother and daughter matching cowboy boots!Sweet sisters.Trees!I love the tattoo. Nice shot by my assistant, Breck!I love this shot. So serious, but it totally works!From serious to silly! How cute are these ladies?Such beautiful eyes! I’m officially jealous.Rock those cowboy boots, girl!Proof they’re really married!I love Anthony’s look in this photo.Sarah is so pretty. Wow.Snapped this just as the Parks Authority asked us to stop. Oops. Still, a nice shot tho, eh?Sarah smiling for Breck.After these fun shots at the botanical garden, we rounded out the day with a dinner and celebration at Oliveto Restaurant in the Rockridge district of Oakland. The food was great and the space reserved for the group was perfectly cozy.After listening to Anthony’s impromptu speech at the end of the night, where he told Sarah what she meant to him, I gotta admit, I got a little teary.Shot this while eating dinner in the next room. Camera in one hand, fork in the other. Yeah, that’s how I roll. I like the expression on Sarah’s face that Breck captured. She’s having a blast!
Here we go!I noticed Mom’s tattoo as I went over to Sarah to say goodbye.

Sarah and Anthony were just such a pleasure to work with. I really enjoyed meeting their family and friends. Everyone was so down to earth and friendly. It’s clear, Sarah and Anthony are very loved. And, the love they have for each other is very inspiring. Sarah and Anthony’s wedding was the perfect reminder why I photograph weddings. So for that, THANK YOU, Sarah and Anthony. It was such an honor to capture these moments on your special day. Enjoy!

Claremont Resort Hotel and Spa
41 Tunnel Road
Berkeley, CA 94705
510-843-3000
http://www.claremontresort.com

East Bay Regional Parks Botanic Garden
Tilden Regional Park
Berkeley, CA 94708
(510) 544-3169
http://www.nativeplants.org

Oliveto Restaurant
5655 College Avenue
Oakland, CA 94618
(510) 547-5356
www.oliveto.com

I hope you enjoyed my post. Click here if you’d like to see more Wedding Photography, View My Portfolio, or Contact Me. Special thanks to my assistant on this wedding, Breck. He’s moving out east soon and starting his business, so if you need a photographer in the Boston area, let me know!

This nice shot was captured by my assistant, Mischa.

San Francisco City Hall
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA
http://www.sfgov.org

I hope you enjoyed my post. Click here if you’d like to see more San Francisco weddings, View My Portfolio, or  Contact Me. Have questions about getting married at San Francisco City Hall? Check out my Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page.

1) I am a certified charter member and currently serve on the Board of Directors for Greener Photography. Greener Photography is a place for the photographic community to consider the environment; learn to conserve and better preserve our resources and images; and connect by sharing suppliers, ideas, and methods. Together we can learn how each of us can be more green, advocate for change within our field, and provide a place for informed discussion about how we can make photography greener. Photography is an art form that allows each of us to interpret the world around us. The nature of our tools and traditional materials makes photography a high-tech field; it is an energy-intensive activity. We believe that we can make our high-tech field more green by implementing environmentally-friendly practices, and encouraging suppliers to do the same.

2) I am a member of Green America, as well as a member of the Green America Green Business Network. (I am 1 of only 10 photographers in the United States approved to currently have this designation). Open to members of Green America, the Green Business Network is a  highly selected group of socially and environmentally conscious business leaders. As a member of Green America’s Green Business Network™, members conduct business according to standards that reach beyond contemporary practices in addressing the needs of consumers, employees, the community and the environment. They certify and can demonstrate that they strive to operate in a socially just and environmentally sustainable manner.

3) My company is currently in the process of being reviewed (and hopefully approved) as a Green Business by the Bay Area Green Business Program. The BAGBP distinguishes small businesses that protect, preserve and sustain our environment. Thier partnership of environmental agencies and utilities assists, offers incentives, and verifies that participating businesses conserve energy and water, minimize waste, prevent pollution, and shrink their carbon footprints. Businesses that meet BAGBP standards are officially recognized as “Bay Area Green Businesses”.

4)  I  have modified my business practices to be more environmentally friendly. I’ve covered areas such as business practices, technology, office work flow, and client products & services. Simple tips I recommend for any photographer to become more green include: reducing/reusing/recycling, using non-toxic/eco-friendly products, employing local vendors and staff, eliminating paper waste (go paperless!), using electronic media, employing energy saving techniques, using public transportation/carpooling, purchasing carbon offsets, and investing in green technology. My company also offers a special eco-friendly wedding photography option for couples interested in having an environmentally friendly wedding album. These albums are made by Cypress, an environmentally sustainable company, and are:
• Acid-free, which keeps your photos in a PH-neutral, archival environment.
•Tree-free, made from 100% cotton linters, which are a waste byproduct of the textile industry.
•Chlorine bleach-free, keeping harmful chemicals out of our homes, not to mention our water sources.
•Sourced from environmentally conscious suppliers.

5) I have had the pleasure to work for, as well as photograph, many San Francisco Bay area green businesses and environmental organizations. I always enjoy working with companies who’s mission are in line with my own values. Just a few of my favorites include:

Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)-Environmental Defense is a leading national nonprofit organization representing more than 500,000 members. Since 1967, they have linked science, economics and law to create innovative, equitable and cost-effective solutions to society’s most urgent environmental problems. EDF is dedicated to protecting the environmental rights of all people, including access to clean air and water, healthy and nourishing food, and flourishing ecosystems. Guided by science, EDF evaluates environmental problems and works to create and advocate solutions that win lasting political, economic and social support because they are nonpartisan, cost-efficient and fair.

Pet Camp:
Located in San Francisco, Pet Camp offers day care and boarding services for both cats and dogs. They’ve made a commitment to being green by becoming a Certified Green Business in San Francisco, as well as installing Big Ass Fans, converting the dog poo into energy, installing energy efficient lighting, heating, cooling and plumbing.

Alonzo Printing:
Alonzo Printing Company was incorporated in 1976 and has grown to become known as one of the premier printing companies in the Bay Area. Centrally located in Hayward, the professionalism and dedication of Alonzo’s work force is evident in the quality of products they produce, which have earned numerous awards for printing excellence. Alonzo has been green before the term became a buzz word…they use all recycled paper, soy based inks, and employ energy saving techinques such as turning off all lights & machines when not in use, and installing energy efficient lighting. Alonzo also has in the works to coordinate a shuttle to its facilities from the BART station, to encourage its employees to use public transit.

Veritable Vegetable:
Founded in 1974, Veritable Vegetable is the nation’s oldest distributor of certified organic produce. Veritable Vegetable’s warehouse facility measures 25,000 square feet and its inventory contains over 9700 items, of which 97% is Certified Organic. Currently, Veritable Vegetable has employed eco-paint, flooring, furniture and lighting for its administrative offices, as well as temperature regulated fridges, timed energy efficient lights, and natural gas powered trucks. And, one of the many benefits of working at Veritable Vegetable, employees have access to the freshest organic produce at less than wholesale prices….YUM!

Lick Wilmerding High School:
Lick-Wilmerding is an independent, college preparatory, co-ed day school in San Francisco serving 440 students in grades 9-12. Lick-Wilmerding High School inspires students to become self-directed lifelong learners who contribute to our world with knowledge, skill, creativity, compassion and can-do confidence. Toward this end, Lick-Wilmerding integrates a distinguished college preparatory curriculum with a distinctive program in the technical arts. As a private school with public purpose, Lick-Wilmerding encourages participation in community service and is committed to developing innovative educational programs that will benefit students and teachers throughout the Bay Area.  This high school is doing some really interesting things to be sustainable: they serve organic food in the cafeteria where they also recycle and compost food waste, have installed solar panels on the roofs of their buildings, integrated “living roofs” into the school’s structures, implemented energy efficient lighting and energy saving techniques, and maintain a plant and meditation garden.

Temple Emanu El:
Dedicated in April 1926, the magnificent building at Lake Street and Arguello Boulevard is the third site of this congregation. Congregation Emanu-El serves the community in many ways. They focus on hunger/poverty, the environment and literacy, offering both direct service and advocacy on behalf of their clients. They operate two food pantries and a vegetable garden at their cemetery in Colma; tutoring programs through both Back on Track and the Jewish Coalition for Literacy, and work on a wide range of environmental programs.  Currently, the congregation is making efforts to go green, including recycling, composting, maintaining a garden, offering “green” events to the community (weddings, bar/batmitzvahs, etc), and integrating energy efficient lighting.

If you have more questions about my green/eco-friendly business practices, please feel free to Contact Me.

Tucked at the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in North Lake Tahoe California, just steps away from the legendary ski lifts of Squaw Valley USA, PlumpJack Squaw Valley Inn Lake Tahoe was built as the home for the 1960 Winter Olympic delegation.

The mountain escape is a comfortable and casually elegant year-round destination. With slope-side access and some of the area’s best hiking, PlumpJack Squaw Valley Inn Lake Tahoe, on Lake Tahoe’s north shore, is a fabulous location for a wedding!

Brita and Ben were a great couple to photograph. They were fun and easy-going, and even weathered the 40 mph winds and cold tempertures to let us photograph their first sighting outdoors against a great backdrop of mountains, fields and big sky! (By the end of the evening, it was even snowing!)

Here are a few of my favorite wedding photographs from the day at the PlumpJack Inn:

PlumpJack Squaw Valley Inn Lake Tahoe
1920 Squaw Valley Road
Post Office Box 2407
Olympic Valley, CA 96146
(530) 583-1576

I hope you enjoyed my post. Click here if you’d like to see more Wedding Photography, View My Portfolio, or Contact Me.

Here are a few of my favorites from our time together:

San Francisco City Hall
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA
http://www.sfgov.org

I hope you enjoyed my post. Click here if you’d like to see more San Francisco weddings, View My Portfolio, or  Contact Me. Have questions about getting married at San Francisco City Hall? Check out my Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page.

Dia de Los Muertos in pre-Columbian America is at least as old as the vivid 3000 year old recorded art history of Mesoamerica. Its best know symbol, the skull head, represents rebirth as well as death. Life was but a dream or mask, and death was when one would meet the real world. Like its spring counterpart, Carnaval, attempts were made to repress it by the Catholic church authorities, but it was too deeply ingrained in the people. While Spaniards viewed death as the end of life, the natives believed the dead came back and visited.

Communal expression, is widespread in Native America. It aims to re-create the sacred in the present moment. Communities regularly seek to be restored to their original fertility in cyclic ceremonies of renewal, and thus promote the continuance of life on earth.  Throughout the weeks surrounding November 2nd are innumerable altar exhibits and special displays which demonstrate and sell the pieces which mark Day of the Dead.

Calaveras, the animated skeletons which remind us that death is best approached as an inevitable greatest life journey are the most popular in both San Francisco and Mexico, either as small sculptures or as prints by the great Mexican artist Jose Posada. Yet the palate is large, with many that serve on personal ancestor altars like sugar skulls, marigolds, candlesticks, incense-burners and images of the Virgin of Guadalupe.

I hope you enjoyed my post. Click here if you’d like to see more San Francisco Photojournalism, View My Portfolio, or  Contact Me.

And, just for fun, I thought I’d post a few photos I shot this past weekend on our annual visit to the pumpkin patch in Pescadero. What we didn’t realize this year is that the weekend we went was also the annual Halloween Festival. Unfortunately, the roads were jammed with traffic moving at a crawl, and there was no parking (or good pumpkins) at the patch we normally go to. So, we decided to head out of town, when we came across a new pumpkin patch. This one was great…no crowds, plenty of parking, cheaper prices, tons of great pumpkins to choose from, AND they allow dogs. Yipee! As you can see, Otis the pug had a fabulous time at the pumpkin patch in Pescadero.

© Rebecca Wilkowski

© Rebecca Wilkowski

My Michael Jackson inspired pumpkin. R.I.P. Michael!

Click here if you’d like to see my Wedding Photography, View My Portfolio, or Contact Me.

This wedding cake looked SO yummy!

Beautiful wedding flowers for the bride!

Getting ready and unveiling the dress upstairs at the Hamlin Mansion. I love how excited the bridesmaids look, and how Inken looks on in anticipation of putting on her wedding dress!

Bridesmaids helping each other look fabulous before the wedding upstairs at the Hamlin Mansion.

Such a gorgeous wedding dress!

Celebrating before the wedding ceremony (and taking an edge off the pre-wedding jitters)!

Inken’s shoes, looking great against a backdrop of San Francisco!

Inken, as she gazes out of a top floor window at the Hamlin Mansion and collects her thoughts, just before the ceremony. (Breathe!)

On the stairs outside of the Hamlin Mansion.

I love the flare caught off the pillars of the entrance of the Hamlin Mansion.

The grand staircase of the Hamlin Mansion!

After hearing music, but seeing no musicians, I went hunting for the source of the wonderful sounds. Alas, I found them hiding upstairs, with just enough time to capture one photo before I had to run back downstairs for the wedding ceremony to start!

Andrew and Inken at sunset on the balcony of the Hamlin Mansion, with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. Don’t they look so happy?

Bridal boquet!

I LOVE the Barbie & Ken-inspired dolls!

Inken’s mom getting down on the dance floor. You go girl! (Can I take you to ALL of my weddings?)

Oh yeah, and I’d love to bring this gentleman along to all my weddings, too. EVERYONE should have this much fun at a wedding. Thanks for hamming it up in front of my camera, and making photographing weddings that much more fun!

The two sisters, eating the yummy wedding cake. Caught ya!

This is probably my MOST favorite picture of the night from the Hamlin Mansion. I was so close to putting my camera down and joining these ladies, but alas, I had to capture the shot first. (And THEN i got out on the dancefloor to have some fun myself!)

Hamlin Mansion
2120 Broadway Street
(at Buchanan St)
San Francisco, CA 94115
(415) 389-8069

I hope you enjoyed my post. Click here if you’d like to see more of my San Francisco Bay Area (and beyond!) weddings, View My Portfolio or Contact Me.