Category Archives: Get to know Brett & Liz

So secretly who doesn’t like playing tourist?  We never seem to get the chance to truly enjoy the sights, history and events that our city offers us because we are busy photographing peoples lives, playing with our dogs, and running our business.  This lack of sight seeing is not a reflection upon San Diego, Brett and I haven’t taken advantage of any city we have lived in.

So I can’t begin to tell you how happy I get when friends come into town to stay with us.  It’s the perfect excuse for us to go rent those silly little yellow GoCars, or tour the Maritime Museum, take the Old Town Trolly tour, or maybe kayak out from La Jolla Shores.  When a couple of our favorite friends,  Anthony and Cassie  rolled into town with 2 beach cruisers hanging out of their truck bed I got giddy with excitement.  Our poor bikes sit in back yard most of the time waiting someone to come along and give us an excuse to take them out.  (I promise we would ride them more if we didn’t on a series of seriously steep hills).  Bird Rock Coffee Roasters was our first stop on the bikes and once we were properly loaded up with caffeine we headed down to Mission Bay to start our adventurous weekend.  We navigated the alleyways of Pacific Beach until we reached the peacefulness of the bay.  Somewhere along the way to took a wrong turn and attempted riding our bikes through the sand.  Some of us were more successful at this than others.

Day 2 of Anthony and Cassie’s stay brought us to the Point Loma lighthouse.  I hate to admit that I was so young the last time I visited the lighthouse that I don’t actually remember it, at all.   Yeah I’m starting to think Brett and I need to play tourist more often.  The tide pools around the lighthouse are beautiful and the cliffside landscape reminds me of spots along the Oregon Coast.  We took a self guided tour of the lighthouse (all of 5 minutes) somehow I always seem to forget how small old lighthouses can be.  The look so much bigger from the outside.

Yep  Brett and I love adventuring in our town!

top of the point loma lighthouse san diegolooking down at the spiral stair case in the point loma lighthouselight in the point loma lighthousepoint loma lighthouse in san diegoout of focus shot of the wind blowing my jacketbrett and liz photographers of siegel thurston photography in san diegocliff view of the tide pools at the Point Loma lighthouse preserveliz taking a picture of a large succulent with hipstimatichipstimatic picture of the interior of a spiky succulent
black and white landscape of the pacific ocean and tall tree like succulents on the horizonbrett and liz of siegel thurston photographypoint loma lighthouse national park the tide poolsbrett siegel pretending to push huge rock off a sea cliffwide angle shot of liz holding her arms out to pretend to flylooking down at croc and puma shoesour adventure shoes!

nature walk at point loma lighthousehipstimatic shots of our shoeshipstimatic shots of our shoes and the point loma light house in san diegoIt’s not an adventure with us without a detour for coffee
Bird rock coffee roasters 2x espressobird rock coffee roasters

Brett’s itty bitty espresso next to my latte

liz riding a red beach cruiser with a white basket in pacific beach

I'm starting to think I travel everywhere with coffee.

                                                                                                                           um wrong turn???

trying to stand a beach cruiser up in the sand

My kick stand was the least effective of our 4 bikes, but it didn’t stop me from repeatedly trying to get it to stand up in the sand. I would get it balanced, walk away and turn around as it would topple over.  Below we documented all my attempts.

hipstimatic shots of us riding our beach cruisers in pacific beach

For two romantics like ourselves, Valentine’s Day definitely ranks high on our list of holidays. From  sneaking around trying to get each other something special(which if you run your business with your significant other can be a true challenge); to lining up an order of flowers.  Or making each other homemade cards and finding fun little gifts that say I love you in the smalest and most subtle ways. All those little things that lead up to the afternoon activity: should we go to the beach, to the mountains, or just curl up by the fire and watch a movie together??? Decisions, decisions.  Well of course doing an impromptu little shoot never hurt either. Enjoy our little fun shoot and we wish you and yours a very happy and love filled Valentine’s Day! Um Blooper Alert!I’m thinking this one might be our Lady and the Tramp moment.
Just imagine the face Brett is giving me.  There are so many it could have been.

Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah everyone!  Last year’s holiday cards were fake mustaches and goofy glasses.  This year Brett decided to rock his own mustache and I had to up the stakes with a ridiculous pair of purple pants.  We really wanted to come up with something that would make people laugh this year and after a few calls and some thrift storing we came up with this.  Kristen at White Wedding Day came to our aid and found us the amazing ski sets and shaggy rug at their rental house.  When it came time to choose what photo would win the prize of making the front of our card we just couldn’t choose.  We just loved them all, so we sent out all our favorites.  Enjoy the series and we hope that everyone has a fantastic New Years!

-Liz and Brett

80funny family christmas photos in front of the fire place

fun portraits with your pets

Had to get the doggies in on the fun

guy carrying 3 little dogs in his armsBrett & Liz 1980funny christmas photos1980

awesome 90

"I just wanna DANCE!"

80Thatawesome 80

Are you ready for the outtakes?

80

the captain

And we had a Captain moment.

unique holiday cards80hilarious ideas for christmas cards

Around 3 pm I got up from my computer to take a quick break from editing and think about a little mid afternoon snack.  Moseyed out into the kitchen to open all the drawers in the pantry and stand in front of the fridge for a while, just to close it and walk away with no snack.  As I walked away I thought it was very odd that the light in the refrigerator had been off but naturally assumed it was Brett’s fault.  Walked into our room to find my computer along with every piece of electronic equipment void of power.  Thanks to Facebook and Twitter we quickly found out that everyone in San Diego was without power.

The greatest thing about the power outage was that in the afternoon families were out in the front yard together. Neighbors were hanging out and chatting, Families were out on bike rides. Brett was out front working on our new scooters when the power went out and a few neighbors came by, brought beer, and offered to help. Normally it would have just been us out there alone!  There was a great feel of camaraderie in the community. Folks were walking to the homes of the elderly to see if they needed anything, and the mood was generally great.  Once night fell we cooked an amazing dinner via hand lit gas stove and outdoor BBQ, eating things that would have perished in the fridge. Cheese and crackers for appetizers, with sides of fruit. Then began dinner, a lone New York strip and Rib eye that we had been seasoning in the fridge for a later date. No time like the present I suppose.  Sides consisted of our favorite five grain mix from Trader Joes, Asparagus that would have gone bad and green beans sautéed with Shallots, a little butter and some agave nectar. All by candlelight and headlamps.  Once we finished our feast with friends, Brett took off into the night with a camera and tripod in hand.  First stop was Kate Sessions park.  There he found droves of people laying in the grass on blankets, motorhomes with generators buzzing as people lounged and watched for the lights to come back on. However, because of the dew it was not ideal for pictures so he moved on to downtown to see the city in the dark under an almost full moon.  Taking a few shots there he continued on to Coronado Island to catch a view from the other side.  It was a magnificent sight and one not soon to be forgotten. Once safely home Brett reflected on the evenings events and came to the conclusion we should plan one of these once a month just to get people out of their houses and away from their tv’s.  There is a whole missed community in California and its time to get to know your neighbors again.