On Sunday night Alisha and I went to the New York State Fair.  I’m sure many of you who have visited NY or spent time up here have probably been since it’s such a huge attraction, but for those of you who haven’t you should really check it out some time.  I’m not as much of a fair person as Alisha, or most people even, but this place can be really cool (especially since I haven’t been in at least 5 years).  There is more crazy and fun food than you could ever eat, a whole section full of cool rides, bands that play every night (Black Eyed Peas were there the night we went), and pretty much anything else you could imagine.  A couple highlights of the night were…
- deep fried oreos. wow.  our stomachs were off all night after eating a bag of those….. but even so it was still worth it!  Alisha actually ordered the bag since I didn’t think they sounded all that great (at least compared to all the other food), but I think I ate most of them once I tried one.  They were insanely good, especially when they were hot (and "melty inside" as Alisha says).  I think I added a third butt cheek after eating them, probably also knocked a year off my life, but in the end I still figured it was worth it.
- the basketball game.  Yes I drained one of those next-to-impossible shots at the basketball game at the fair.  Having a background in basketball, and a passion for playing the game, I always look for it.  They kept rimming out like crazy at first and I was convinced the game was rigged (because those shots were money, I know it!!), but Alisha told me to go again because she knew I could do it.  That doesn’t really do it justice because you have to know she spent a while watching me shoot ball after ball and watching them somehow rim out.  But she stuck with me and I finally drained one!  I won a Stitch stuffed animal that was about 4 ft tall for her daughter :))

I’ll leave the post there, but I just wanted to say what an awesome time we had.  The biggest highlight of the night by far though, was Alisha’s willingness to go on any ride I wanted or play any game, eat crazy food, etc.  It’s no secret to anyone who visit’s the blog how much time we have been spending together, and the night at the fair just showed why.  I had a great night and here are some funny pics to prove it…

PS – the last picture is of Alisha’s daughter Lillie with the Stitch doll in the backseat on Monday.  LOL!

PPS – for those of you wondering about the size of the fair… according to their website the 2 week fair draws about a million people. 

0 vote as favorite [add a comment] [send to a friend] [permalink]   

I spent my weekend off hanging out over at Neil and Liesl Cowley’s on Sunday with some great photographers and even better friends (I also went to the State Fair but that’s for tomorrow’s post).  I’m honored to have such awesome friends from around the country that I get to see and spend time with so much due to all of our travels.  Garrett and Joy Nudd were up in Rochester this weekend and it was a great afternoon of visiting, BBQ’ing, shooting, giving too many hugs, jumping on the trampoline, etc (sometimes I feel like we are all grown kids!).  Also in attendance – Alisha Clark, Frank DiMeo, Robert Kaussner, Brady Dillsworth, and several other area photographers. 

Thanks again to Liesl and Neil for being such awesome hosts, and for having us over to their house.  I also want to thank Garrett and Joy for taking the time out of their busy schedule in Rochester to head over and spend the day hanging out.  It’s always great to see you both and I enjoyed hanging out once again more than you two know. 

0 vote as favorite [add a comment] [send to a friend] [permalink]   

I finally have a weekend off!  No weddings this weekend (first weekend since April) and my next shoot isn’t until I do Sarah’s wedding in the 1,000 Islands next weekend.  As much as I love shooting weddings and all things related, it really is nice to have a break.  September is an absolutely crazy month, my busiest all year, so I’m trying to just relax and take it easy with some friends this weekend to "recharge."  The next free weekend comes around Halloween so these breaks are getting hard to come by!!

I did some portraits for Mary Beth Longo a couple weeks ago and never got around to posting them… so here are some shots from that session which also appear on her blog.

0 vote as favorite [add a comment] [send to a friend] [permalink]   

This weekend I had the honor of photographing Megan and Matt’s wedding at the Aurora Inn (which continues to be one of the best kept secrets in Upstate NY in my opinion).  Going into the wedding I knew Lauren Tillapaugh was going to be coordinating, Gillian Moritz and Lauren Tomasetti of Devenir Bridal were doing the make up, Prime Time Funk was gonna rock the reception…. the list of awesome people was a long one.  And we all know that means it’s going to be an awesome night when the bride gets a crew like that together.  The night went off perfectly (other than the spilled glass of wine!)… here is a sampling -

0 vote as favorite [add a comment] [send to a friend] [permalink]   

This weeks entry comes from Liz and John’s wedding last year at the Oak Hill Country Club (which hosted the 2003 PGA Championship by the way).  This ceremony was going to be tricky since I knew there were going to be a ton of people, not a lot of room, and some strict rules on where I could stand.  This forced me to really take advantage of my 70-200mm zoom from the side as I didn’t dare get too close, and I think it really helped shape my "style" in terms of documenting ceremonies.  Obviously I never really got up in people’s faces, but once I walked away with this tight shot of John’s real smile during the ceremony I knew I had found my style.  I loved it… and still do today actually.  Real tight, real personal, real…. well, real.  I like to always have my other shooter getting wide stuff for me from the back and sides, capturing the environment and things as a whole, while I focus on these nice tight ceremony shots. 

My style of capturing emotional tight shots at the ceremony started on Liz and John’s wedding day with this image. 

0 vote as favorite [add a comment] [send to a friend] [permalink]   

Yesterday I went up to Mary Beth Longo’s lake house in Sackets Harbor for another great day among friends.  MB, me, Frank DiMeo, Robert Kaussner, Mike Erb, Brady Dillsworth, and his friend Natalie all came out for a sweet day of having fun, BBQ’ing, swimming, and playing frisbee among friends.  Always enjoying discussing business with this group! 

By the way, Mary Beth has a brand new blog up… check it out if you get a chance!

0 vote as favorite [add a comment] [send to a friend] [permalink]   

I had the pleasure of photographing Sara and Eric’s wedding at the Fontainebleau Inn this weekend, and we had a great time.  From the time I showed up at the rehearsal dinner I knew this was going to be a fun bunch :)  Other than perhaps not being able to find the rings 5 minutes before the ceremony, everything went off perfectly! 

Everyone had fun, the weather was perfect, and the day went very smoothly.  Thank you both for letting me photograph your wedding….

0 vote as favorite [add a comment] [send to a friend] [permalink]   

I just want to give a shout out to my uncle Bernie Walker out in California.  After coaching football most of his life he was finally named head coach of a college team here in the US, and I’m stoked for him.  He has been part of a national championship coaching staff, won titles coaching American Football over in Spain and England, and now is an HC here in the states.  He takes over the head job at Pomona College.  Here is a little write up about it on www.footballscoop.com…

"Bernard Walker, OC for Pomona College takes over as HFC…The staff will be completely made over under Bernard Walker."

Congrats Bern, you deserve it!

0 vote as favorite [add a comment] [send to a friend] [permalink]   

I’ve already raved about what an amazing weekend we had with Amy and Dave on August 5th, but I have to make one more post.  The two of them were so awesome to work with, but even after the fact they are hooking me up.  They gave Alisha and I a very generous gift certificate to Mirbeau Spa as a thank you for everything, which is so appreciated by us both.  I already told Amy all of this, but this really is an awesome gift because Alisha and I have talked about going there several times.  Now we are definitely going!! 

So from the bottom of my heart, thank you both so much for the kind gift.  It really did make my weekend :)

0 vote as favorite [add a comment] [send to a friend] [permalink]   

At the end of this week it will be one month that I’ve been up at the lakehouse, and it’s been an awesome time!  I’ve really enjoyed it, as I always do, but unfortunately it’s almost over.  I had one more small get together this evening with several friends, and we had another great night.  Brady Dillsworth, Mary Beth Longo, Michael Erb, Frank DiMeo, and Robert Kaussner came out to spend the night together.  The rain held off, the water was calm, and we swam for hours.  Afterward we headed out to Skaneateles for a late dinner.  Good weather, good food, good music, good people… life doesn’t get better than that.

On a final note, a big time thank you to Mike Erb for bringing out some rocking music.  Mike brought a portable DJ system and set it up for the get together.  Thanks so much my friend!

PS- can you tell how beautiful that sunset was with the soft saturated late night light on us?

0 vote as favorite [add a comment] [send to a friend] [permalink]