RF Wedding of the Week: A SoCal Ceremony by Chaz Cruz

April 11, 2014

By Laura Brauer

Spring is almost here in New York City, and because it’s not quite warm enough to eat lunch outside yet, I needed a wedding with a little sunshine this week. Luckily, I knew just the shooter to go to: Chaz Cruz.

ChazCruz20130921_0042I may be a little biased (he was one of Rangefinder’s 30 Rising Stars of Wedding Photography 2013), but in my opinion, he is one of the best wedding photographers representing freshness and youth, mixed with high-quality professionalism. Plus, he always finds the off-beat or funny moment in every stage of a wedding, which is exemplified in these Orange County nuptials of Kristin and Phil.

ChazCruz20140410_0055ChazCruz20130921_0037“I had known Kristin and her family for a few years when it came time for her wedding; I had photographed her brothers wedding first, then her sister-in-law’s two siblings weddings before I photographed Kristin and Phil,” Cruz says. “So by the time their wedding rolled around, they were practically family!”

ChazCruz20130921_0046

To capture this beautiful day, Cruz used the following gear: two Canon 5D Mark IIs, a 35mm f/1.4, 50mm f/1.4, 85mm f/1.4 Sigma, 45mm f/2.8 T/S and a 100mm f/2.8 Macro, plus a 580EX II on-camera and 580EX off-camera with gels.

As for challenges, Cruz says the day went off without a hitch…except for one thing: “The only hiccup was personal, as I flew into San Diego the night before from NYC with plans to drive up early to Orange County to start the wedding,” says the photographer. “The airline lost my luggage with all my clothes, so I had to put together a makeshift outfit of jeans, old dress shirts and Converse to photograph the wedding day! I was embarrassed to be dressed so unprofessionally but everyone took it well and reassured me that its only my eye that they were worried about me forgetting!”

 

To see more of this wedding, check out Cruz’s blog post or Style Me Pretty, where it was also featured.

To submit a Wedding of the Week,  email Jessica Gordon.