I wanna give back a bit. On Tuesday, September 28 I will be starting an Avatar Event for local creatives, professionals, and random Twitter nerds interested in updating their social media images. Say goodbye to your current avatar of you drunk at Vini’s taken by your friend on their 1st generation iPhone, and say hello to a creative, professional image that will make people say “hot damn.” All mini-sessions will be unique and no two sessions will be shot exactly the same, so there’s going to be plenty of room for creativity, personality, and of course a little fun. Below are the details:

When: Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Meeting place: Broadway Studios south parking lot
Shooting place: Within a block or two of Broadway Studios
Cost: $75 due at the time of reserving your time slot
Slots: 30 minute sessions at the top of every hour from 10am-7pm
What you get: TWO of your favorite hi-res images, fully edited as digital downloads. Additional images can be purchased for $25/each.
What’s cool: If you like the images and want more, the $75 fee can be applied towards a full, custom session at a location/s of your choice (like your studio, office, in the field, etc.)

Only nine (9) spots are available for this event, so the sooner you book your slot the better.

TO BOOK YOUR TIME SLOT PLEASE VISIT THE FOLLOWING LINK: http://rcjavatar.eventbrite.com/.

Once confirmed I’ll get in touch with you to chat a bit more about you and what you do. If you have any questions at all please feel free to give me an e-mail at ryan@rcjonesphotography.com. Thanks amigos, and I look forward to seeing you on the 28th!

Mike Vitale, @mikevitalemusic; James Collier, @jamescollier

Johnny Q, @johnnyQ3PO

Eldon Daetweiler of Fresno Modern; Michael Macias of The Cube Marketing, @CreativeQube

Sheila Hakimipour of Urban Diversity Design

Chance and Dominique James of Chance James Photography; Layne Lev of Hundred10 Design, @laynelev

Love the Captive, @lovethecaptive

John Wallace; Miguel Wilson

Nicole Giordano, @y101nicole; Conlan Spangler, @thisisconlan

RJ Miller

Alright my friends, take a seat. This is a big one! Even though they’re currently Southern Californians, they decided to get married back home in Merced last month. It was a bit hot but still turned out wonderful. Both Stephanie and Mitch have awesome families that made me feel like I was at home, so I was able to get some really cool stuff. And I was introduced to UC Merced, where we shot some creative portraits and I gotta say the architecture there and all the lines made for some great shots (thanks for the recommendation guys!) Thank you both for trusting in me to come out and spend your day with you; I’m really proud of the shots so I hope you enjoy them too!

Derek spent some time with Mitch and the guys, so the next few are his. I love that limo shot.

Took this as I was slipping on water and falling right on my butt.

I was looking forward to Marisa and Andrew’s San Diego wedding next year to begin with, but after spending the day with them for engagements I’m even more excited. We started the day off with Sunday champagne brunch (awesome) at Marisol in Shell Beach, then moseyed over to Pismo, hit up some wineries, and then finished up back at the beach in one of the coolest little coves I’ve ever found out there. So all in all it was an eventful day with some beautiful scenery, good people, and of course…champagne. Marisa and Andrew, thanks for keeping the day fun and I really hope you enjoy the pics! I’m pretty proud of what we got so thanks for the beach recommendation too. See you guys soon, enjoy!

This is obviously not Marisa and Andrew, but I like the shot anyway.

Small and intimate is what Serena and Curtis’ wedding was all about, and it was so cool to shoot for such a sweet couple and their great families. The ceremony was at the All Saints Church chapel in Pasadena for immediate family and the reception at the Westin right around the corner, so it was a nice to be down in Southern California again. We attempted to head over the Pasadena City Hall but got beat out by four other wedding couples that had the same idea at the same time; apparently it’s quite the photo op. But we made due and killed it with some other locations nearby. So anyway, big congrats and thanks goes out to my friends Serena and Curtis for brining Derek and I along for the day; we truly enjoyed and we hope you both like the story we were able to tell. Enjoy!

I’ve been to excited to post these from Rebecca and Jerry’s engagements in Carmel for a while now. I love a nice little day getaway and Carmel tends to do the trick. But anyway, Rebecca and Jerry will be getting married in Jamaica next year (hey guys look over here…HINTi’mstillavailable!HINT…) so before they ship out they wanted some fun engagement pics on the beach. It was the World Cup final day as well, so everywhere we went there were people spilling out of the bars and restaurant. But it was a beautiful day and I’m really happy with what we got. Enjoy the pics my friends, and have fun in Jamaica!

Anne officially wins the award for “greatest story of how we met”. Back about 5 years ago I went on a cruise with my soon to be brother-in-law, Troy and we were seated at the same dinner table as Anne, Michele (who was in the wedding) and two other friends. It was Michele’s bachelorette party and we all became friends and have kept in touch over the years. Last year I get a call from Anne saying she was getting married to Jack (who I met a couple years ago), and the rest is history! So it was a mini reunion for me and awesome to see a bunch of old friends. Plus, Anne and Jack are diehard Giants fans so let’s be serious: they’re pretty great. They got married on a gorgeous day up in Burlingame at Kohl Mansion, which is hands down one of the coolest venues I’ve ever shot at. With an elegant outdoor ceremony and classy indoor reception, it was a beautiful day from start to finish. Not to mention, Pop Rocks, a ridiculously talented and entertaining band played a couple sets (bands are awesome at weddings, people!). Anyway, a huge thanks to Anne and Jack for bringing me along and letting me tell their story for the day. Derek and I had such a great time and we hope you enjoy the pics. Thanks my friends and GO GIANTS!

Venue: Kohl Mansion
Coordinator: JBD Events
Band: Pop Rocks

Out of all the weddings I’ve shot at Wolf Lakes, Janae and Ray’s was my very first one on the Garden Side. So even though I’m really familiar with the property, I shot it with new eyes and I gotta say it was pretty awesome. The day was beautiful and went flawlessly, thanks to Cassandra from Weddings by Cassandra. Janae and Ray were so sweet and easy to work with and gave me pretty much free reign, so we were able to get some really cool stuff from the night (including one of my favorite night portraits of the year — the last one in this post). Another big thanks goes out to Jamie Allio for coming out and helping me out with lights for the day as well. Janae and Ray, thank you letting me tell the story of your wedding day, and I hope you enjoy the pics (I sure do!)

Flowers: Simply Flowers
DJ: Haro Entertainment
Coordinator: Weddings by Cassandra
Venue: Wolf Lakes Park
Invitations: Exclusive Creations

Reeling from the excitement of traveling to Spain by myself, I had a free weekend and some generous friends to crash with, so back in May I booked a last minute trip to New York. I could 100% see myself living/shooting there very easily in the near future; the anonymity and chaos of a city that intense is beyond inspiring. Not to mention the quality of light in the city is unlike anything I’ve ever seen, so it made the street photography nearly overwhelming from a visual standpoint (but so, so awesome). The way light reflects, bounces and diffuses throughout the city is just incredible and I can’t wait to go back and spend some serious time documenting the streets again. Many thanks to my good friends Devon, Megan, Niki, Denver, Theresa and Amorette for hanging out/being my tour guides for the trip. Enjoy!

I’m not entirely sure what’s going on here, but I know that I love it.

Niki and Theresa.

When all 4 yellow things came into frame I really couldn’t shoot fast enough.

On a gorgeous, although somewhat windy day a few weeks back, my friends Robin and Bryan got married at Wolf Lakes. Not only did I get to spend the day with an awesome couple, but I got to see some past clients and friends as well, which is always a nice treat. Cool and relaxed the whole day, Robin and Bryan (and their awesome friends and family) made my day way too much fun, so it was fun to go back and relive the day through these pics. Thank you both for bringing me out and trusting in me to shoot your wedding, and I hope you like the pics as much as I did taking them. Congrats my friends and enjoy!

I just happened to be walking behind where the guys were taking pics for Bryan’s mom, and someone mentioned getting a jumping pic. So I sneakily crept around and waited for the jump to happen without them knowing it.

Love this light.

What a whirlwind Jennifer and Jay had the 24 hours before their wedding day! The forecast was for possible thunderstorms (as an outdoor wedding), so the day before the wedding everything got moved to indoor venues. The magic workers, Sheri and Nadia at Star Events, pulled it off without a hitch and secured New Hope Community Church and Classic Catering…the day before! And seriously, after spending the whole day with Jenn and Jay you would’ve never been able to tell. They were calm, fun, and relaxed as ever, and I had such a fantastic time with them. And to top it off, they had Krispy Kreme donuts (sprinkles!) delivered from San Francisco, so needless to say I was a happy camper. So…Jennifer and Jay, even though I couldn’t join you for tacos the next day, I couldn’t have had a better time working with you on your wedding. You’re real people, you’re good people, which means you’re my kind of people. Enjoy the pics my friends, and viva KrispyKreme!

Huge thanks goes out to my new full time associate photographer, the talented Derek Tipton, for joining the team and doing a great job with this wedding. You’ll be hearing a bit more about Derek in the coming weeks. He has a handful of pics below, including the awesome black and white first look shot of Jenn breathing out. Love it! Thanks Derek.

Even when surrounded by pretty women dancing with me, I’m resilient and work through it. I love my job. (shot by Derek).