About Us

1000 Words Photography is husband and wife team Tom & Leona (Lee) Burke based out of the San Francisco Bay Area. We are primarily wedding photographers, but do offer all kinds of other photography as well. We've been working together since 1996 and have photographed hundreds of couples weddings. We don't think you can define our style as anything specific, we use a combination of styles to create what we hope is a uniqe perspective. To see a greater representation of our photography be sure to check out the galleries on our website.
Our personalities are loose and playful, we love photographing weddings and really want our clients to have a great time on one of the biggest days of their lives. We work very hard to come up with images that will make you say "I was there and I don't remember it being like that". Wedding photography is different than most other services at a wedding because for the images to look awesome, there needs to be a good working relationship between us and the couple. We're there all day with you so there needs to be a level of comfort and trust. Over the months leading up to a wedding we typically have developed a close relationship with our couples. We still stay in touch with most of our couples and are through the different stages of life (the wedding, children, homes, job changes..). When we book a client many times we are gaining lifelong friends and that is a pretty cool thing.
Saturday, July 25, 2009

Clayton Engagement Session  

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Here are some shots from an engagement session we did last week. Really cool couple that were referred to us from past clients (thank you Rick & Kristine). Meghan & Bradley are getting married in September at her folks home on the Concord/Clayton border. The session gave me a chance to check out the home and get some ideas. We went from the parents home down the backroads of Clayton to the Wood Ranch, which is one of our favorite wedding venues. We got to see Lori & Steve who are such nice people. They let Meghan & Bradley bring their horses over to their property for the session. It was fun having the horses there, but you never know how they are going to react....for the most part they were easy to work with. I couldn't get over how beautiful Meghan's horse is...truely a magnificent creature. We went around the property and shot for about an hour and came up with some pretty cool shots (we hope you think so too!).

by 1000 Words Photography

Friday, July 24, 2009

Lake Tahoe Wedding  

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First, I want to thank one of my past brides for helping us out with the format for our blog. Bridge....you're awesome. We'll probably be making some other changes to the blog, making it more visually pleasing and functional.
Now to the wedding....every now and then we get to turn a wedding into a mini vacation. This was one of those cases. We headded up Friday late afternoon so that we wouldn't have to worry about being late to the wedding on Saturday. We stayed at Mont Bleau casino on the strip and were pleasantly surprised how nice the rooms were....and way less per night than Harah's or Harveys. In the evening we took to the casino floor and Lee sat herself down at the roulette wheel, she had never really played before, but she got HOT hitting her numbers over and over again....sooo much fun.
Saturday was the wedding in Tahoe City about an hour away. Such a beautiful drive and great weather. The wedding was at a riduculously beautiful estate right on the lake. The caretaker of the property estimated that the estate may be worth $50 million...wow. We hadn't met the couple Natascha & Victorio until that day. We had photographed one of Natascha's coworkers weddings and chose us just based on the pictures we had taken for her coworker. So we meet Natascha first, and what a really nice, fun and cool person she was. We hit it off right away and started doing the getting ready shots. After a while Victorio and the groomsmen showed up......again....super cool person and a lot of fun to talk to.
The ceremony & reception had a Native American theme from decorations to the music. That was a lot of fun and was kind of refreshing for us. It was a really beautiful ceremony rich with Native American tradition. After we finished photographing the formals we got to work with Natascha & Victorio and had a lot of fun. The reception was super nice and there was a lot of laughter being shared. It was an absolute pleasure to have gotten to photograph their wedding and are grateful for the opportunity. We hope you like the teaser pictures posted in this post.
Peace,
T&L

by 1000 Words Photography

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Wente Winery Wedding, Livermore, CA  

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Wente Winery is a beautiful venue for a San Francisco Bay Area Wedding. It is tucked away a little off Arroyo Rd in Livermore. Typically couples will have both their wedding and reception both at Wente. Getting ready is usually done upstairs in the bridal room, which for the most part is not anything too fancy. But there is a really cool window that makes for some very cool shots. There is a silhouette shot that we like to take with the bride in the window (see below). The window is also really cool because the bridesmaids a lot of times gather by the window to see the groomsmen arriving, which makes for a really nice candid shot.
The grounds are immaculate and make for usually some relatively easy shooting. There are several sets of winery doors that are fun to work with and the building is large enough that it tends to block the ceremony site from being in direct sun, keeping people from squinting and making exposures a lot easier for us as wedding photographers. Near the parking area are the vineyards, which are always fun to work in. We like to set the wedding rings on a vine for a nice detail shot (we like doing that instead of taking pictures of the couple's hands with the rings.....never quite been into that shot.

The reception room when all decorated is beautiful. For larger crowds it can provide a challenge getting around to get our shots, but the ceilings are not too tall so we are able to avoid direct flash on the subjects and bounce our strobes. The dancing and events are typically in the room adjacent to the dining room. We have done weddings where tables were set up outside and a tent is set up with hardwood floor for the dance floor. Wente is definitely one of our favorite venues to shoot. The staff is really organized, there are plenty of different backgrounds and advantageous lighting areas. We hope you like the pictures posted from our most recent wedding at Wente Winery.

Peace,

T&L

Posted in by 1000 Words Photography

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Santa Barbara Engagement Session  

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Last weekend we had the chance to drive down to Santa Barbara to photograph Sara & Jason's engagement session. We had never been more south on Hwy 101 than Pasa Robles, what a beautiful drive. It is nothing like going down on 5 to the LA area. It is so lush and beautiful, and Santa Barbara itself it so nice. That is one of the nice things about being a wedding photographer, we get to go to some really cool places. The weekend before we were photographing a wedding in Lake Tahoe, this weekend brought us to Southern California. Sara & Jason were really nice and bought us lunch before starting the session. We were at a super nice location that had a nice wooded area and then a short hike away was the beach.....best of both worlds. Drove back home a little while after the session making for a long day....but a real fun experience. 1000 Words Photography had a great time shooting this engagement session. We hope you like the teasers.








Peace,








T&L

by 1000 Words Photography

Friday, July 10, 2009

Garre Winery Livermore CA Wedding  

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We recently had the great opportunity to photograph a wedding at Garre Winery in Livermore. Bethany and Dustin took some time off from school to tie the knot. We met Bethany in the bridal suite and started the getting ready process. Bethany was absolutely beautiful and so calm and relaxed. We had plenty of time to work with and the pace of the day was very relaxed.
The ceremony was held outside in front of the beautiful oak tree. The tree provides a beautiful backdrop to photograph. One really touching thing about this wedding was that their first kiss was really their first kiss.....that had to be hard, but it meant a lot to them.....so sweet.
The reception was in the pavillion and we saw something that we've never seen before.....as soon as Bethany and Dustin were introduced they went immediately into the cake cutting....we thought that was awesome to get an event out of the way right off the bat. In a rare treat the music was provided by a live band East Bay Mud. This band was very right on playing songs from the 60's, 70's and 80's and kept the energy level of the reception very high. The dance floor was full the whole night...and you don't always see that.
Bethany & Dustin are a wonderful and sweet couple 1000 Words Photography wishes them a lifetime of happiness.

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