Nader and I are often asked to shoot "getting ready" photos for our brides, and we had the pleasure of working alongside Joy Fields and Chip Tuvman at two recent weddings.

Joy and Chip are the wedding styling team from J. Russell Salon on El Paseo in Palm Desert. Joy and Chip bring their own lighting, which is invaluable for brides who want to make sure their makeup looks its best, indoors and outdoors. As you can see from these photos, they are devoted to perfecting the hair, makeup and veil application for each of their clients.

We look forward to working with Joy and Chip again!

Last month, Donna and I took a trip with her family to celebrate my in-laws' 50th wedding anniversary. It's usually a good idea that I don't bring a camera along on trips like this. It's so easy to become engrossed in photographing scenes rather than spending time with people. However, Donna's brother, David, brought along a camera and wanted to capture some of the beauty at Yosemite. His enthusiasm was enough to get me going as well, so we snuck in some moments of shooting. I've posted a few of my images here. A couple of them were taken at Mariposa Grove, which is a part of Yosemite National Park containing giant sequoia trees.

-Nader