Bar Mitzvah at Temple Emanu-El San Francisco
By Rudi | July 4, 2008
A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of photographing a Bar Mitzvah and one of my favorite venues, Temple Emanu-El in San Francisco. I love that at Emanu-El I can situate myself on the balcony and, without disturbing the service, I can get some great photos of the actual event — something that often isn’t the case for Bar Mitvah’s. Rabbi Kushner led a compelling service along with musical soloist Marsha Attie in the Cantoral role. I’ve enjoyed Marsha’s music at other Emanu-El services, friend’s weddings and when I’ve heard her perform with Ya-Elah in the past.
I wish I could share some of the great photos from this event but my client has a strong concern about privacy. So until I get permission to post a few more, here are ones that retain their privacy.
See more at at Halbright Photography.
Topics: B'nai Mitzvah | No Comments »
Bhavesh and Shreya’s Engagement Portraits
By Rudi | June 11, 2008
It was just over a week ago and a beautiful day in Gilroy! We met up at Gilroy Gardens where they are having their wedding next month. Stacey, the wedding coordinator was a great host showing me where the wedding would take place and helping us find some great locations to photograph in!
Bhavesh and Shreya are a really fun couple and we had a great time at Gilroy Gardens and got some great photos too! 
A romantic moment on the swan ride.
I’m looking forward to their wedding week and posting the photos after the Mendhi, Grashanti and all the other events over their wedding week — it’s going to a lot of fun!
See more of my work at Halbright Photography and check back for blog updates!
Topics: Portrait | No Comments »
Salmon Aid!
By Rudi | June 8, 2008
Last weekend I donated some time to support a good cause — saving our wild salmon population. Did you know that farming Salmon actually harms the wild salmon? The “farms” are really just netted areas in existing water ways. The non-traditional food and the antibiotics fed to the “farmed” Salmon leaks out into the open waters along with concentrated waste produced by the Salmon.
This event brought together a lot of knowledgable people and was headlined by some great bands. Thousands of people attended and thanks to the support of companies such as Sierra Nevada Brewing who was a big sponsor, a lot of money was raised to support the cause!
Les Claypool performed to an excited crowd along with the Salmon Aid Dancing Salmon!
Kids had a great time throughout the event!
Read more about Salmon Aid and how to make a difference at:
Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Springtime in the Neighborhood
By Rudi | March 18, 2008
Ok, so while my business is mostly about photographing people, this was a love and hobby long before I was doing it as a business. Spring time is such a great to be outside and see the results of our patience over the winter as flowers have been getting ready to welcome us! My wife Janie and I headed out to take a walk in our South Berkeley neighborhood armed with our camera. I took only my new LensBaby 2.0 lens with it’s Macro Kit.
For those who aren’t familiar with the LensBaby it’s a special bellows-like lens that fits where a normal lens would but is absurdly low tech. You push/pull it to focus and tilt it for different effects and to move the spot where the sharpest focus is located. It really gives a creative new way to see the world. It would be amazing for wedding details, ring photos, and some of the dancing. It’s definitely an art and not a science! Here’s my first effort around our neighborhood.
Topics: Personal | No Comments »
Shaena
By Rudi | March 18, 2008
Yesterday I spent a little time with my friend Shaena.
Shaena and I have a somewhat unlikely friendship.
First she is a cat and I’m a human.
Second, and more importantly, I’m allergic to cats. Really allergic.
I’ve always connected well with animals, allergies non-withstanding, but Shaena and I had a rough start.
The first time I pet her I got a nasty scratch from her, the second time too. My downstairs neighbor Frieda is Shaena’s caretaker and she warned me that Shaena wasn’t easy to get close to or to pet. In fact since my nice downstairs neighbor adopted several more cats, they have taken over, and driven Shaena, her first cat, out.
Now Shaena comes by when the other cats aren’t around, sits perched up on the fence in a special spot where Frieda leaves food for her.
Over the year I’ve lived here I’ve learned a bit about Shaena. First, she really needs some love and attention. Secondly, she has a really hard time trusting that, and if one isn’t careful she is libel to lash out. In my own way, I can relate to that a bit. I’ve learned that it just isn’t safe to pet Shaena when she is on her perch on the fence. I have also learned that patience, gentleness and time can be healing.
Now when I see Shaena and have a little time, I call out to her. She comes down from her perch high up and comes up to me. We sit on the railing next to my home together. She lets me pet her, she crawls onto my lap and nuzzles with me. Then after a while I go inside and scrub my hands. I’m not as allegic to Shaena as I am to some other cats which helps.
Yesterday with my new Lensbaby lens, I took a moment to take a portrait of my friend Shaena. Here’s the unretouched image
Topics: Personal | No Comments »
Getting ready to shoot!
By Rudi | March 12, 2008
I’ve been taking it pretty easy, taking time to heal after my foot surgery at the end of last year. It’s been a much slower process than I had anticipated. Now I’m getting about pretty well and have recovered from my long drive to LA and back for the convention a few weeks ago. It’s normally a long drive but not that big a deal for me but the challenge as I’ve learned with foot surgery is that the more time you spend standing (and to a slightly lesser extent with ones foot down while driving) the more the foot swells up. I lost a few days of progress with that trip but now have more than caught up.
In a little more than a week I’ll be heading down to LA again — this time by plane, to photograph a Bar Mitzvah for my good friend and fellow photographer Louis. It will be good to see Louis and to get back to work! Over the past week and from now until I leave I’m spending time every day walking to get my foot used to it and I continue to do exercises for my foot every day and spend lots of time in the gym getting my body strong again!
Rudi
Topics: Personal | No Comments »
Pro Photo Expo!
By Rudi | February 29, 2008
Last weekend I attended the Pro Photo Expo in Pasadena. It’s produced by Professional Photographers of California and is an annual event. This was my first time attending and I made a special effort this year as I wasn’t able to attend the national show in Tampa. I attended with two of my fellow members of the board from our local PPGBA (Professional Photographers of the Bay Area) group.
There were some great speakers and the tradeshow was great as well. I was happy to see that at least one company, Rice Studio Supply is increasing their offering of products made from recycled paper. I spoke with several other vendors to encourage them to offer recycled and tree-free alternatives but I didn’t find anyone else already making an offering. I was hoping to see Hanamuele’s new Bamboo based inkjet paper but they weren’t represented. I’ve read good reviews and will be ordering a batch to test soon myself.
I didn’t take my SLR with me on my trip so this is a photo of Rice’s booth from my little point and shoot. Many, but not all of the products are made from recycled paper.
Topics: Personal | No Comments »
Photoshoot with Green Event Planner
By Rudi | February 20, 2008
I had the pleasure of taking a headshot of my colleague and friend AJ a couple of weeks ago. AJ was the in house event planner at Back to Earth Catering and has recently ventured off on her own. It was a pleasure getting more aquainted with her and getting a great photo of her among the Redwoods here in Berkeley.
Topics: Portrait | No Comments »
Jhos and Julie
By Rudi | February 15, 2008
On December 2nd, I had the honor of photographing the wedding of Jhos and Julie. This wasn’t their big wedding which happened earlier (the weekend before mine) but a civil ceremony that was the legal event. They still made this a special event and were able to invite guests that weren’t at their first wedding. For me it was quite a challenge as it was two weeks after my surgery and I photographed the event seated in one position! My wife Janie was kind enough to assist me and got some great photos herself. Just to be clear, they knew what my limitations were and I wouldn’t have accepted payment given my limitations but it was a beautiful event and I enjoyed the challenge!
Topics: Wedding | No Comments »
My Foot Surgery
By Rudi | January 9, 2008
On November 16th, I had surgery on my left big toe. So I’ve been out of commission for a while, recovering and now rehabilitating. The surgery was to remove bone spurs and reposition the bone to help save the bone joint. The alternative, a bone fusion would have meant that I’d lose the ability to bend my big toe! So far the healing is going well albeit more slowly than I hoped. I’m spending around 4 hours a day doing exercises and icing to help it heal so my apologies to all that I’m a bit slower to respond than usual. I expect a full recovery and should be photographing portraits and shorter events by late February and anticipate being ready for wedding season by March.
Meanwhile, I’m slowly catching up on posting updates that I wasn’t able to post and I’m back dating some of them to put them in chronological order.
Rudi
Topics: Personal | No Comments »