Asah Films

A Chinatown session on film with R&P.

They got married during covid and finally decided it was time for their wedding photos. They booked a session with me in Chinatown, their first time in front of a professional camera.

And here’s what my couples tell me after every session, these two included: they felt comfortable, they got to be themselves, and they had more fun than they expected.

I only have a few spots left this year for sessions like these. If you have been wondering whether it is time to book that photoshoot, this is your sign 🥰

Fewer things are more thrilling than getting back film scans from a wedding! The process of slowing down amidst the whirlwind of the day, considering each frame, and then waiting for the images to be developed feels so aligned for the details that couples spend months planning and curating. I love when that is rewarded with snapshots of light, color, and texture that feel somehow richer and more lived-in than a digital photograph. 

Here are a few of my favorites from L&A’s gorgeous day a few weeks ago.

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Before every wedding, I love to get to know my couples.

Sometimes it’s over a coffee flight or the best local hoagie joint. Then there are sessions like this one. By the time we reach the big day, I feel like a friend with a camera rather than a vendor they hired.

A&J flew in over the holidays and we spent the afternoon at Filoli together. I got to see their playfulness, the way they love each other with joy and ease. Their wedding is in 2027 and I am already looking forward to it.

If you are planning for 2027, I take on a limited number of weddings each year. I would love to hear about yours.

It’s an extraordinary thing to witness the coming together of 1,685 years of love.

L&A worked out that was the sum of how long each one of their guests had known them. It revealed the core of how they built the day: sharing their union with their people. Friends entered first as flower children. The rings traveled through the seats, warmed by every guest before the exchange. Songs of meditation and readings on friendship and freedom gave way to moments of silence to be fully present together.

Surrounded by the mountains that have carried his family name since the 1930s, L&A got married on the land of family and in the love of everyone that carried them to this day. It was truly a privilege to be part of it.

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“I can never stop looking at our photos, so thank you again for your magic!”

I love seeing messages like these. It just reminds me that best candids happen when you are having fun with the one you love most 🥰 and I love being able to create that experience my couples!

So when the waves rolled in at Baker Beach, K&S ran in to meet them, screaming and laughing as the freezing water splashed around them. Me included 😆

Did we get home with soaked jeans and sandy toes? Yes. Was it worth it? Absolutely.

   

Before I lived in the Bay Area, I lived in Hong Kong. So when I moved here, Chinatown became my happy place. The dense streets packed with people and produce, the vibrant conversations in Cantonese, and the steam rising from dim sum dishes felt like home. This connection drives my entire approach to photographing couples in Chinatown, a living, layered place full of cinematic texture.

I’m sharing a few of my favorite stops and tips for a session in Chinatown (which you can also find on my blog at asahfilms.com). If this sounds like your kind of date, I would love to help you plan one!

In Lower Haight that afternoon, the wind came up the hill, tugging at everything.

I met T&A at the top of a few flights of wooden stairs, in their art-filled apartment, taking in the view over the city while they finished getting ready. Then we walked. Twice, we passed their neighbors who congratulated them on their engagement. We wandered through the spots that belonged to them, chatting the whole way to Duboce Park, and made it just in time to find the Muni rattling past.

These 90 minutes are the reason I include an engagement session with my couples before their wedding. The day arrives and they already have a friend behind the camera.

If you were on the block that afternoon, you would have caught the start of it. The chats, the laughs, two lovers heading off down a street they have walked a hundred times, toward a beautiful next chapter.

 

Spring at Filoli is worth the wait every year, and E&G’s engagement session is exactly why.

They have me smiling at my screen while I edit, and I just had to share more from their sneak peeks. We were blessed with perfect weather, and the rose garden was bursting (to my absolute delight because I have been waiting so patiently for them to return).

It seemed like everybody and their cousin was out to see the spring blooms too, but there is always a corner of Filoli that one can find and frolic in. The estate has a way of giving you exactly what you need if you know where to look. Filoli keeps earning its place on my shortlist for sessions like this.