Jon Claxton | Photography

Mellisa and Anthony come from two really close families.  And when I say, really close families….I’m not kidding.  Both of their grandparents ended up growing up together on the same block, in the same town.  On top of that, now both of their families live directly adjacent to each other on two really beautiful parcels in Nipomo, California.  To make things even closer, Anthony and Melissa now live on one of those parcels within a second residence.  Well, during their wedding ceremony, the deacon pointed out one fabulous advantage of this scenario:  on-site babysitting.  And let me tell you, both of these families are expecting some children from this couple!   Anyway, Katie DiSimone (www.katiedisimone.com) and I traveled the countryside with them, as they prepared for the wedding in Nipomo, got married in Arroyo Grande, and had a huge celebration at the Spanish Oak Ranch (www.spanishoaksranch.net)  in Santa Margarita.  The entire event was a really impressive display of family values and good old country love.  In retrospect (while I pour through some of the photos), I get a sense that there was probably an old classic movie or novel made about a love like this….

Last weekend, I shot another great wedding with Katie DiSimone.  We met up at Summerwood Winery, where the bride and groom had rented the entire bed and breakfast as well as the winery for the reception.  The setting couldn’t have been more spectacular, the lighting on the otherhand was starting drive my camera’s light meter crazy, as there was about a 3-4 stop difference betweent the sweeping setting of the surrounding vineyards, versus the cool dark shade beneath the gorgeous valley oaks located outside of the B&B.  Despite the photographic challenges with the natural light, Annie, Casey, and their friends couldn’t have been more impressive.  Honestly, I couldn’t believe how “well put together” everyone looked that day.  They made me feel like a cafeteria worker with my usual black ninja photography outfit.  I suppose that is was happens when everyone is from San Francisco, L.A., New York, or Chicago.  I suppose it’s just more proof that you can’t find any good shopping in San Luis Obispo County.  

After staring at my work computer for an undocumented amount of time yesterday, I checked the old email personnel email account to see if I had any thing good in there.  Hmmm… only one message was in there (hey, at least it was something). Thankfully, it wasn’t from anyone trying sell me anything or try to make me anatomically superior; rather, it was from my old co-worker and friend, Vanessa Amerson.  After opening up the email, I was flattered that she asked me to take some snapshots at an local event she has organized, called Kidical Mass (http://www.slokidicalmass.blogspot.com/).  Given the 2 degrees of seperation that San Luis Obispo invokes on it’s inhabitants, I had heard of this event somewhere before but I had no idea that it was Vanessa that masterminded the event for our town.  Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised and proud of her.  Kidical Mass is a really fantastic event that gets families outside and enjoying bicycles as a group, and hopefully incorporating it into their daily transportation.  To me, the event is like a “Hello Kitty” motorcycle rally.  And as a photographer (and pedestrian) it was hard to keep up with this rough and tough group during the ride, just to get a couple of shots.  At times, I felt like a CIA Agent running along the presidential motorcade.  But from my perspective, it really enjoyed looking over and catching the glimpses of the kids expressions the faces as they past me by at 5 mph.  You can check out some shots from the day at:  www.jonclaxton.com/events/kidical_mass_june.  If your a parent/attendee, feel free to right click and download what ever photo you want.  If you need a high res photo for any reason, just let me know.