Wedding Photographers road trip through Northern California

A few months ago we drove from Seattle to Carmel by The Sea to photograph the wedding of Faranak and Farshid. We always drive when we can. We love being able to see the changing scenery around us on road trips. We love pulling over and exploring new areas on a whim. This trip was filled with beauty, wild life, and exploration. We stayed in Monterey, San Francisco, and Eureka CA. I don’t often put personal posts on this blog but I just really loved a lot of the photos from this trip and thought Id share some of our travel photography.

While driving through Northern California we spotted this camp off the side of the road where a heard of Elk were resting. I told Joe I absolutely had to get closer. I took out my Contax 645 and got as close as I could without disturbing them. It was so beautiful to see such a large wild animal this close to me. They were so peaceful. I could tell they were used to having their photo taken, they gave me different angles, blinked there large lashes and smiled for the shot.

We met up with some of our friends who live in San Diego. They came up with their dog Lexi who became quick friends with our dog Gia. We walked along a beach just outside of Monterey.

This is the love of our life Gia, she had so much road tripping through California. She is such an explorer

 

 

The small beach town of Monterey was so much fun to explore. I loved the Spanish architecture, Pelicans, and Seals in the bay.

 

These gorgeous Pelicans joined us for lunch and sat right next to us at this restaurant on Monterey’s pier.

 

 

There were about fifty seals swimming around and tanning on the docks in the monterey bay. We spent a lot of time watching them and taking pictures of them.

 

Further North we found a tiny little town called Trinidad. Being from Seattle we are used to eating healthy local food. We had a hard time finding things to eat since most road trips and food places off the highway consist of burgers and shakes. So we ventured into this small town to eat at this cafe we had heard of that had healthier options. This ended up being one of our favorite stops. With a population of only 340 people this town was turning heads to see who these new visitors were. After lunch we wandered down to this large rock on the ocean (Turtle Rock) . We noticed a trail leading to the top of this giant lonely rock so we climbed it. It was foggy and quiet and the entire walk felt like a fairy tale book. There were giant red mushrooms, caves carved into bushes and clouds swirling around us while we listened to the giant ocean waves crashing against the side of the rock.

 

on top of Turtle Rock we weaved through tunnels of greenery as we entered the clouds

 

 

We also stopped at the famous San Francisco Bridge which neither of us had seen before.

Our dog Gia LOVES the sun and once she finds a good spot she wants to tan all day. She loved the view point up here and it was hard to get her to leave.

 

I took this with my Contax while driving through the Redwoods. The trees were so beautiful and being there during sunset was an unreal experience.

This foggy marina shot was taken in Eureka, Ca.

 

We also drove through the beautiful Sonoma Ca at sunset. The vineyards and rolling hills were breathtaking. As the sun slipped below the hills I asked Joe to pull over, I ran across the highway and into this vineyard. I walked all around it taking photos and admiring the beauty. I think we need to photograph a wedding here in Sonoma !

 

We were so grateful to be able to drive through this beautiful state to photograph a wedding for some amazing clients. We cant wait to take more road trips and more photos of our travels.