San Francisco/Destination Photographer, Misti Layne’s style is about exquisite, fashion oriented, fine art wedding photography that captures the essence and emotions of the subjects. 

San Francisco Family Portraits at Golden Gate Park 2012-05-18

Sareen is just a delightful, happy, curious little girl.  The only time she didn’t laugh or smile during our San Francisco family portraits in the park was when she wanted crackers–very, very much!  It’s important to go with the flow with kids.

I’m not one at all to say look at the camera.  Parents get those shots.  I want mine to say “this is a unique person discovering life before your very eyes”.  Let their personality shine!  I also love the shots most parents would hate–the crying and fits.  They are quite funny when you are done dealing with them.  Of course when your child turns teenager and sees this they will not be happy!

At Home Family Portraits ~San Francisco Portrait Photography~ 2012-05-15

I first met the Daughtery’s years ago with their adorable Pug Vito.  He was a total charmer with a toothy grin.  When they called to do some family portraits with their new daughter I remembered them ONLY when he said Vito was our dog!  We did these family portraits at their home in San Francisco.  The front bedroom had amazing natural light and we piled everyone–the dogs included of course–on the bed and created some truly simply, beautiful and intimate family portraits.

Families come in different types and sizes and capturing the nuances of a family is the goal for me.  They are never the same!  I never know what is going to happen and just go with the flow.  Especially with babies and pets.  In this case, it was both!  The dogs were just too cute and the baby, well she was totally at our mercy but the irony is we had to work according to her desires!

The images show a beautiful family in all it’s glory.  Congrats to the Daughtery’s!

Engagement Portraits Napa, Ca Wine Country ~Napa Wedding Photographer~ 2012-05-08

Sarah has been a friend for years and I am so happy she found Tres!  She’s an executive assistant at a winery and does a lot of planning for them so she planned the travel idea, the locations, the outfits and the accessories!  I love when clients have ideas!  It really brings their unique relationship to the table.  It was so fun and somehow in the process of rolling on the ground getting different angles I even ripped my jeans!  The engagement portraits to me are so important and I really do love doing them.  While I have known Sarah for years it is a great opportunity to work with couples on a fun day without stress and we learn about each other in the process.  Then too you have some great engagement portraits in the process!

Sarah has seen me work numerous times but now she was in front of the lens and for the first time ever Tres got an idea of the process too.   So because of this we have familiarity, ease and trust the moment I walk into the wedding to photograph the big day.  This is an important step in the process.  Yes you have to love your photographer’s style and images but you have to really like them too.  A florist drops off flowers and you may or may not see them.  The photographer?  Well, we are with you all day!  So it’s important to really like and trust them.

A special thank you too to the Robinson Family Vineyard!  The not only provided us with the location and the car but a great tasting too!  Yes, I do get to drink on the job!  Without them these engagement portraits Napa wouldn’t have been the same!

of Johnny Ceravolo from When In Rome ~Musician Portrait Photography~ 2012-05-04

I have always loved live music and the eclectic nature and talent of musicians.   The passion they have is awe inspiring for me.  My friend Johnny Ceravolo is an amazingly talented musician and I had the pleasure of doing some black and white portraits of him recently.  He’s the lead singer for When In Rome and I originally met them when they played in San Francisco at the Red Devil Lounge.  Being a product of the 80′s I had to go see them along with Missing Persons and it was a great show.

I wanted to do some artistic musician portrait photography and he thankfully agreed!  We went to Franklin Park in Los Angeles and the weather was perfect.  I was last there with Tara Novick at 5am a couple years ago and it was moody and misty. This time it was sunny and lent itself to the dark, contrasty idea we had of black and white film and simple.  I believe the character of a musician has to show and I believe these do show Johnny and his personality and provide a sense of who he is.  He’s an amazing talent and I got wait to work together again!

Ceremony Magazine and San Francisco Wedding Photography 2012-05-03

Ceremony Magazine recently published its first ever San Francisco edition.  It’s truly a beautiful magazine for wedding planning resources, professional wedding vendors and San Francisco wedding photography.  I’m truly honored to be a part of it and have my images and real weddings within it’s pages!  The magazine has sections for wedding ideas, real wedding’s photography with the couple’s stories, detailed information on venues, photographers, florists and everything weddings you could need.  It’s really a great wedding planning resource guide and beautiful too!

Recently my wedding images of Sara and Todd’s St. Francis Yacht Club  wedding was highlighted in Ceremony Magazine’s blog.  This was an amazing day with an amazing couple.

Ceremony Magazine is about professionals in the wedding industry and what they can do.  Speaking only for photography of course, there are a lot of people who pick up a camera and call themselves a wedding photographer.  Sadly, I’ve heard a lot of bad stories in regards to wedding photographers from brides who were crying because they hired someone who professed to know what they were doing only to be disappointed in the end with their wedding photographs IF they got their wedding photographs.  I recently heard a story of a photographer who wouldn’t go out into the rain to get a new flash card so was deleting images during the wedding to make room for new images.  I always laugh when people come in with their list of questions from a magazine that are recommended to ask a photographer but I’m happy to answer the questions.  It means you’re doing your research and taking this seriously!

When it comes to the relationship you have with your photographer it is important you love their work but also that you love them and trust them!   I hope that when I walk into that room to start photographing your day you know you can trust me, that I will deliver what I promise, that I’m coming with $25,000 worth of equipment and don’t mind getting wet if need be!

So be assured that the people you find in Ceremony Magazine are among the top of San Francisco and you can trust them!

Sara and Todd at St. Francis Yacht Club, San Francisco