PART 1 in my series on wedding photographers….

One of the first things Kate Watson, of Kate Watson Photography in the San Francisco Bay Area, said to me was, “I shoot love.”  And that’s exactly how she sees her job.  Of course she cares about aesthetics and shooting beautiful pictures, but her main concern is capturing the connection between people.  Above everything else, she wants her photographs to evoke real emotional.

To help achieve this, all of Kate’s wedding packages include an engagement session.  Not only is this so the bride and groom have some cool shots for their guest book, but it’s a way for Kate to get to know her couples, and more importantly, for her couples to get to know her.

She’s found that the best wedding shoots are the ones where her couples feel comfortable exposing themselves to her.  That way, at the wedding, Kate can make herself as invisible as possible, document the day as a photojournalist would, and capture every wonderful spontaneous moment.

When I asked Kate what kinds of couples tend to hire her, she said those that want to relax and enjoy the experience of their wedding.  She said it fits with her philosophy as a photographer: to be dedicated to the authentic, and to capture everything as it really happens.

Here are some of my favorite images of Kate’s.  Click on them to enlarge them and see how gorgeous they really are.