San Diego Wedding Photographer | Evan Bishop Photography | Southern California & Destination Wedding Photojournalist » Evan Bishop Photography is a Southern California wedding photographer based in San Diego. Specializing in wedding photojournalism and destination events.

Evi and Jonathan are awesome! And I am totally excited for their wedding next year at the Twin Oaks Garden Estate in San Diego! For their engagement photos, we started at Balboa Park, where Jonathan proposed to Evi during a picnic in front of the Botanical Gardens.  On the 3rd of July, we joined what seemed like thousands of people in Balboa Park (they were there for the pre-4th of July concert) for their engagement session.  We had planned to start at the beautiful Spreckles Organ Pavilion at Balboa Park, but the concert put a kibosh on those plans, so in the land of endless kachinks (that’s a shutter sound) we found several remote locations to shoot, and Jonathan and Evi managed to forget all the traffic stress getting to Balboa Park, all the people wandering through the park, and be with just each other.  They did a fantastic job forgetting about me even, and there were times when I would pack up and leave them alone for what seemed like minutes before they realized I wasn’t there still photographing them.  After Balboa Park we had planned to visit Sunset Cliffs for the second half of their engagement session, but we had such a good time in Balboa Park, we lost track of the time, and ended up at the beach well after sunset.  Since we were there, we made a couple of quick images, while Evi froze and Jonathan held her close (to keep her warm of course), but ultimately decided to save the beach portraits for another day.  So keep tuned in for day two of Evi and Jonathan’s engagement session, in the meantime, enjoy a few images from the first day!

Click on the large image above or any of the smaller images below to view a gallery of Evi and Jonathan’s engagement photos from Balboa Park in San Diego.

I am so excited to be photographing Joana + Roberts upcoming wedding in October.  I met with Joana and Robert to talk about their wedding plans after their wedding planner Lindsy Hines recommended me.  The first time I met with them, Robert did most of the talking and Joana was quiet and shy.  Before we had our engagement session they wanted to meet up again to talk about what to expect.  It seems they had lots of questions about what the engagement session would be like.  We met at Sogno Di Vino which is an annex of their favorite restaurant in Little Italy Bon Appetito for a glass of wine and to talk about the upcoming engagement photos.  A glass of wine turned into a bottle, and we talked for over an hour about their wedding plans, wine, work, how they met, and a little bit about the photo session.  We decided on shooting in Balboa Park which is very close to where Robert works, and he often runs through the park during the days.

We met up by the Prado, and walked over to Alcazar Garden to start their photos.  I love Alcazar Gardens because it seems to be off the radar for a lot of visitors to Balboa Park and is very beautiful.  It’s a small area, but includes some of the great architecture that Balboa Park offers and is a quiet place to start portraits without all the people that you’ll find throughout the rest of the park.

From the quiet of Alcazar Garden and the front of the Museum of Man, Joana and Robert got changed and we attended a rally at the Spreckels Organ Pavillion … this was the exact opposite of the garden, I mean, there were literally hundreds of people around the pipe organ with someone screaming into a microphone to the point of being distorted past comprehension.  Robert and Joana did great even though they couldn’t hear me, at this time, they were totally comfortable in front of the camera and gave me great looks for the photos.  

The arboretum is another great location in Balboa Park and a spot Robert was excited to photograph around.

As the light faded in the park we were sad that the cafe lights that line El Prado, but we still took advantage of the fading light and got some great twilight shots on the main boulevard that travels through Balboa Park. I’m so looking forward to Joana + Robert’s wedding after their engagement photos in Balboa Park, and it’s coming up fast!

Family and friends can go to Pictage to register to view the images from their engagement shoot as well as their wedding photos as soon as their available by clicking here.

I had an absolute blast with Joseph and Hyun at Balboa Park for their engagement shoot.  They’re having their wedding in April, and wanted to have some shots of the two of them together before their big day.  We chose to meet up at Balboa Park which is a fantastic location with tons of beautiful scenes and backdrops.  I call it the land of infinite Kachinks … as in shutter snaps, because everywhere you look is a fantastic frame, background, architecture, you name it! Unfortunately, weekends at Balboa Park in San Diego can tend to be let’s say … crowded! With some couples, it can be a bit daunting to pose, and relax in front of a camera with so many people milling about, walking behind you, in front of you, stopping and staring, etc.  Joseph however, was a pro right from the beginning, and pulled Hyun in to him whispering in her ear, until she relaxed.  Before long we were all chatting, and laughing, and I think forgetting that there were hundreds of other people around, and a camera between us.  It was a really great time, and we stayed until the sun set on the park.

Hyun and Joseph, I can’t wait until your wedding in April!  Check out a few more of their engagement photos below!

Janna and Pon traveled from their home in Kansas to San Diego for a long weekend retreat after all the stress of planning their wedding.  Before they left, Janna got in touch with me after seeing my article on Trash the Dress and Day After sessions on the blog and wanted to bring her dress along to San Diego to get some great shots including palm trees and the ocean … scenery they obviously didn’t have in their wedding photos.  Since Pon has family in San Diego, they have vacationed here a lot, and truly love the scenery so it made sense to them to have images that were not only unique from their wedding photos, but also from a place that holds many fond memories for them.

We started in Balboa Park, the land of endless ‘cachinks’ (the sound of a camera shutter) as I like to call it.  Seriously, everywhere you turn here is another amazing backdrop and photo opportunity.  I absolutely love the huge roots of the Fig trees in the park which I found the first time I did a day after session there with Melissa and Bryce.  After that shoot and exploring the park some more, I found another tree with an even more extensive root system so I wanted to bring Janna and Pon here to see what we could come up with.  After shooting in Balboa Park, I knew that Janna wanted to include the ocean in the background and loved the Sunset Cliffs shoot with Josel and Brad so we headed to Ocean Beach.  Unfortunately the tide was too high to go to the cliffs at Sunset, but we were able to get under the pier, and onto the rocks next to Newport Avenue for some fun creative shots.

Kristy came along to help with lighting, and posing, and we had such a blast hanging out with Janna and Pon during their shoot.  Check out a few of the images from the shoot below!