Hello and Welcome to my Photo Blog!

I really appreciate you stopping by! My name is Melissa McClure and I am a wedding and portrait photographer based out of San Diego, CA, but available to travel worldwide. I have been shooting since High School yearbook days and graduated with BA in Photojournalism. I love hanging out with my friends/family, travel and blogging :)

I hope you will take some time to catch up on my blogs. Check out the archives too! I love what I do and can't imagine being in a more awesome profession. Being there to capture the bride and groom on their amazing day is so important to me. I love creating family heirlooms.

Enjoy the blog, and don't be afraid to leave me some comment love!

A gorgeous Oregon Family

I feel like such a blog slacker!  Life has taken a turn for the busy lately…I have a lot to blog about though!

When I was in Portland I met up with an old friend, Gena and her lovely family!  This was my first time meeting her hubby, Chris and their newest addition, Samantha!  

We met a small park in Tigard.  These guys are troopers, it was over 100 degrees that day!  Unheard of in the area!

 
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Sweethearts.  Carson (almost 2), Addison (8.5) and Samantha (2 months!)

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The beautiful couple!

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How adorable are they???

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Thanks for letting me capture your family, Gena and Chris!  You were awesome subjects, can’t wait to photograph the kiddos in the future!

xoxo, M

Melissa and Jason are married!

A few weeks ago, I had the chance to second shoot for the fabulous Tracy Kumono!  I drove up to Long Beach for the wedding of Jason and Melissa. 

The groomsmen were a crack up!  They had spent the Bachelor party in Mexico and all came back with these masks.  I was shocked they didn’t make an appearance at the Reception!

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Don’t worry, the groom had finished that Tequila way before the morning of the wedding!

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Handsome!

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There ceremony took place at a golf course.

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Married!

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I loved this wall of pink flowers!

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So cute together!

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Fun name cards

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And their yummy cake!

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Their first dance was so adorable!

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This was one of the highlights of the evening.  This groomsman made up an entire song about their relationship, it rhymed and everything!  The best man played along on his guitar!  The whole room was in tears from laughing.

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Jason getting jiggy with the bridesmaids!

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Thanks Tracy for having me along!  Best of luck to the happy couple!

xoxo, M

Reve and Sarah are married!

Last Sunday I had the honor of photographing Reve and Sarah’s wedding!  You may remember their “hot” engagement session awhile back.  These two are so fun to be around, so in love and always making each other laugh!  

My day started and ended at the Hilton in Mission Valley.   The fantastic Brenda Swann made sure the entire day went smoothly and was on time!  This woman knows what she is doing!  Call her for any coordinating needs, you will not regret it!

Fun with some bridal details are one of my favorite parts of the day!

 Flowers by Tess Silk (619 427-0778).

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Jon from Elite Image Limousine was early (as usual)!  I was super impressed with the white Hummer limo they have!

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They exchanged vows at their church in National City.  I was pretty limited during the ceremony and could not move around, but I made the best of it being creative!

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Just outside the church, this had such a 70’s look to it!

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After we all loaded up in the rad limo and headed to Presidio Park!

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Doesn’t Sarah look like a model??

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Ok you can tell by now I’m totally loving this sort of processing.  Very vintage feel.  I attribute it all to Totally Rad Actions - a must have for all Photoshop users!  This one is called Pool Party.  It just sounds fun.

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Back to the Hilton!

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Sarah and her Entourage!

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Her sister and MOH was so adorably pregnant!

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I loved this exchange between Sarah and her work colleagues. 

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Mmmmmm Candy Bar!

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Best Man’s Toast

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Thank you Sarah and Reve for trusting me from the beginning and wanting to share your big day with me!  I hope you are having the most amazing time in Hawaii!

Julia and Brandon - Thanks for coming along and also for letting me buy the margaritas after!

xoxo, M

ENJOY YOUR SLIDESHOW!!!!!!!!!!

 

One Light Workshop - Portland

In between watching the Olympics at my parents house and picking end-of-season raspberries I had a day to sneak off and attend an awesome workshop hosted by the Lighting Master Zack Arias. Zack travels to cities across the US (with future plans to go Internationally) to teach willing photographers about off camera lighting set ups.

I highly recommend this workshop to anyone at any photography level. And if you aren’t able to attend the one day Intensive, don’t miss the opportunity to buy his new DVD which will be going on sale again this week!

This will be a long post full of tons of photos because I met some really awesome photographers at this workshop!  We had an amazing 14 hour day bonding over bare bulbs and “quiet” images.

Some of the images below I cannot take full credit for.  Zack set up his lights, showed us what he would do and then let us run wild with it.  While I shot the image, the angle and lighting were not originally mine!  I will note above the photo if it started as Zack’s creation!

Here is the Master himself, while Shannon patiently models!

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Our gracious host, Boone using his pocket wizards on our model Parrish.    

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These two lovely ladies in front are Jessica and Jessica!  

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Here is a sneak peek at one of Zack’s set ups.  He really showed us no matter what location we were in, you can get a killer shot with a little magic lighting!

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Another of Zack’s set ups - Parrish again!

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Most everyone :)  (Zack on the ground)

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My new pal, Tera Pettit!  She’s a Nikon girl, but I still love her.

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The man, the myth, the…Zack.

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Tyler doing his thang! 

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Good job Boone…hold up that light stand!  :)

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Zack was setting this up, I couldn’t resist getting one shot off with the umbrella!  See how much it lights up!  We were nearing dark at this point.

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Zacks set up, my angle!

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Parrish took a break and Tyler jumped in!  Doesn’t he look gangsta?  :) 

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A few more of our awesome models!

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Boone and William (who also came up from So Cal for the workshop) checking out their shots!

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After it got totally dark, we headed inside and broke up in to groups to play with lighting on our own!  My group really tried to think outside of the box…here is my buddy Mitch modeling.  We were on a 2nd floor with slatted floors.  The light was on level one and I was shooting in to it.

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And Shannon showing off her best karate kid moves.  Lighting set up off the back right.

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Alright, that was a ton of links and images!  I feel accomplished for a Monday!  

I had a great time networking with some awesome Portland (and beyond) photographers!

Thanks Zack for sharing your secrets with us!  And congrats to you and your talented new wife!

xoxo, M

Sarah and Reve - the Teaser!

Just one quick shot of this great wedding I shot tonight!

I’ll be blogging regularly again soon!

xoxo, M

MIA and a winner!

I’ve been a little busy lately…I’ve actually been hiding out in Portland Oregon for the last week!

(Image from Google.com images, it was not taken by me!)

I attended the amazing One Light Workshop by Zack Arias. I hung out with the folks in Beaverton. I had a few family shoots before and during my visit. I showed Tim the Pacific Northwest for his first time. I melted in the 100 degree weather (ummm hello? Where is the rain?) It’s been a successful trip but tomorrow I actually head back to So Cal for an event on Saturday and wedding on Sunday!

I come up for air on Monday. Oh and I plan to get back to my blogging schedule then!

Thanks for your patience. I love all the comments and emails I have been getting lately. I’m truly blessed with amazing clients, friends and family!

Big congrats to my photo buddy and sometimes assistant Brittney Pecore for being my 1,000th commenter on this blog!!! Check your inbox soon for your Itunes gift certificate!!!

xoxo, M

Crystal and Walter are married!

A few weeks back I had the pleasure of helping out a fellow San Diego photographer, Nic at Tamarack Studios.  He brought me along to help out with his lighting and to take some photos :)  I had a lot of fun and also got quite a few great images.

The wedding took place at the La Valencia hotel in La Jolla.  It was a gorgeous location and I love how intimate the ceremony spot is!

 
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The Harlan Family!

My cousin Paul asked me to take a few photos of his girlfriend and him so we met at McCloud Park in Escondido for a mini-photo session.

It’s amazing how time flies!  Paul is about 12 years younger than me, so I can remember before he was even born!  I was the flower girl in his parents wedding then!

So its a trip to see him as grown up as he is!  He is also an extremely talented musician and will be playing the guitar at my wedding!

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Here he is with his girlfriend Julia

 

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Tim took this shot!  I love the creativity of it :)

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And here is my wonderful Aunt and Uncle.  They are the only family I have left in California!

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It was fun catching up yesterday, we need to see each other more often!!

xoxo, M

Michele and Justin are married!

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to second shoot for Ahmed with AA Creation Photography.  I jumped at the chance especially because the wedding was at the fabulous Mission Inn in Riverside.  I’ve always wanted to explore that place!

And it did not disappoint!  It was also much larger than I imagined!

Michele and Justin were an amazing couple!  Michele had modeled before and it showed as she was posing for her portrait.

See?  She is gorgeous! 

 
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Michele and her girls!

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Justin and Michele wanted to see each other before the ceremony and after they did, they were so much more relaxed!

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Isn’t this a great staircase at the Mission Inn?

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I loved these little name cards.  They made me think of Dawn and Norvin

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Just before the ceremony.

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I love this moment because it is not posed at all.

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Some quiet words with her father just before the doors opened.

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I thought this was a fun shot of the best man!

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Walking around the Mission Inn was so much fun!

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Jelly Bellies are my favorite candy!  Top Banana is my #3 fav (only getting beat out by Juicy Pear (#1) and Buttered Popcorn (#2).

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They had this awesome choreographed dance.  Justin is a body builder and Navy Diver.  Look how easy he makes it look to pick her up!

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And one final shot outside the chapel.  

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xoxo,

M

An Announcement and a Contest!

Big news people! I have a new website! This has been long time coming. Shout out to my mother and my good friend Kim for creating my former one! My made the whole thing and Kim coded the flash. But all good things come to an end!

www.melissamcclure.com

Please visit the new site and give me some feedback! What do you think of my new colors?

 

And now, a contest!  I am getting close to my 1,000th blog comment!  We are on the home stretch here…under 50 comments left to reach 1k!  If you are my lucky #1,000 you will win a $10 Itunes gift card!

The comment doesn’t have to be on this particular blog, scroll down for some of my latest work!

xoxo,

M

AJAXed with AWP