Tonight I was photographing an engagement session with Molly and Jeremy and as we were crossing a bridge in Central Park we saw this man propose to his girlfriend on one of those gondola rides.  It was wild!  I’ve never seen anyone propose before, it was pretty special.  You all know me, I love emotion…. and that was emotional.  I snapped some pictures and told them to call me if they wanted them, I’d be happy to give them out :)  To whoever you are…. congratulations on your engagement!

Our engagement shoot tonight was gorgeous and I’ll post some on Sunday, but in the mean time here is a tease.

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My life is now complete.  For those of you who, like me, grew up playing the greatest game invented by mankind… Super Tecmo Bowl… you can now play it online HERE.  I can now edit proofs, design albums, and return emails all while watching Barry Sanders run all over opposing teams.  And you don’t even have to take the game out and blow on the bottom to make it work.  Life is good :) 

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On Monday I had the pleasure of attending the Manhattan Bride soiree celebrating the release of their new issue (which I make an appearance in by the way).  It was a great event and chance to meet a lot of new people in the industry, which is always something I look forward to.  Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera to grab some shots (what, do you think I’m a photographer or something?!), so you’ll have to take my word I was there.  Just some of the people who left an impression were Event Ergonomics, Always A Bridesmaid, Loft 11, and The Garrison. 

Once Alisha and I walked out of the party it was such a beautiful night that we decided to walk around a little and have a mini date before we had to jet out of the city.  Ali had never seen Times Square so we swung by there for her to see that crazy place (it’s funny that it’s a touristy place to visit, because once you see it you really don’t have any desire to go back and I think Ali felt that way as well).  Broadway was completely closed down because they were having a live opera broadcast onto the huge screens in Times Square.  It was wild to see Broadway lined with red carpet in the street with hundreds of people sitting in chairs where you’d usually see bumper to bumper 40 mph crazy traffic.

After she took in Times Square we decided to check out the ice cream phenom store called Pinkberry.  I had heard about this place a couple times, and we both love our ice cream, so we had to check out what the buzz was about.  The ice cream is very tart, and I really liked it, but anything that isn’t dosed in chocolate Alisha isn’t crazy about.  I think Ali’s favorite ice cream would be double chocolate ice cream, with a chocolate swirl, chocolate chips, with some chocolate fudge on top.  Then a chocolate milkshake to wash it down.  I really liked the light yogurt they had though, and hope to go again.  I see they have one right in Chelsea so I might be all over that (we went to the one in Chinatown, and it just didn’t look like it fit in at all).

Before we left I swung by the studio and waiting for us was a gorgeous Vera Wang invitation (is there anything that lady doesn’t make?) to Tanja and Matt’s wedding this November.  It’s tough because I’m already dieing for that wedding to get here (Tanja is more beautiful than all of the NYC models I’ve ever worked with, and I’m not just saying that), and hearing her telling me about her Monique Lhuillier dress and now getting this invitation… well it’s killing me!  Look for a very extended post on that wedding once it’s over.

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This evening after football I wanted to make sure I got some recent work out to magazines.  While I am printing contact sheets to send out I thought I’d post some of my personal favs from the last couple weeks…

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Week 1 was a decent start at 4-2, while week 2 came in at a disappointing 2-3-1 to make me 6-5-1 in making picks.  Here are the games I like this week against the spread -

Lions +6.5
Eagles

I am obviously partial since I am a huge Lions fan, but they won against the spread in week 1 and pushed in week 2.  The Lions finally, after about 50 years, have a good team and it’s going to take a couple weeks for the bookies to give them accurate lines.  Even though McNabb played his school ball in Upstate NY, his off the field distractions all week were stupid and not what the 0-2 Iggles needed.  They might be able to ride the home field to a tight win, but they will definitely not win by more than a touchdown (I actually think the Lions win outright).  Plus the Eagles are wearing their absolute horrid throwback unis… so they deserve to lose.

49ers +8.5
Steelers

The 9ers D has been suffocating so far and I think the Steelers offense is going to have trouble against them.  Alex Smith is struggling without Norv Turner calling the plays though, and they don’t have enough yet to pull off this upset on the road.  I can see them losing by a field goal maybe, but not by this margin.  Their defense is too stout to let them lose big.

Cardinals +8
Ravens

The Ravens offense is the reason for this pick.  In week 1 they made the Bengals D look all world, but that same defense was torched by the Browns (the Browns?!) for 50+.  The Ravens offense isn’t good enough to blow teams out right now, and the Cardinals offense is just waiting to let loose.  I know the Cards were a hot pick early in the season by many "experts," but new coach Ken Whisenhunt needs some time to turn things around.  They aren’t there yet, but their potentially explosive offense will keep them hanging around long enough to make this a game.

Panthers -4
Falcons

The Falcons are the definition of a mess.  Joey Harrington looks so bad that he looks like….. well…. um…. Joey Harrington.  The only thing the Falcons are winning this year is the first overall pick.  The Panthers look like a strong team that for some reason isn’t putting it together again this year, but they have to steam roll over this awful Falcon team.

Cowboys +3
Bears

Da Beers!  I love picking against the Bears :)  Rex Grossman is about one step above Joey Harrington at this point in his career, but he is so hard to predict as he’ll look awful one week and great the next.  The Cowboys’ offense is averaging over 40 points a game right now and looks unstoppable.  They definitely won’t put that up against the stingy Bears’ defense, but they will score enough points to put pressure on Rex and that might be ugly.  If a team is actually able to score points on the Bears they don’t have an offense that can keep them in the game.  While the Bears’ D seems to scare everyone, they won’t be able to overcome the offensive stats in this game… The Boys average 41 points a game while the Bears average 11 points a game.  That is too much to overcome even for Chicago’s strong D.

UPDATE 3:51

I’m going to call in some last minute picks before the late games to see if we can get things rolling.

Washington -3.5

Denver -3

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I have started to photograph more and more Indian weddings over the last 3 years and have really taken to these events.  Ruchir and Vaishali over at Rose Events helped me through my first Indian wedding back in 05 and were extremely helpful in showing me the ropes.  Obviously capturing one of these events is a whole lot different than photographing most of the American events (for lack of better terminology) I shoot on a more regular basis.  One of the biggest differences during the day, and it’s something I love, is when it comes time to dance at the reception.  The Indian weddings I have been too have off the hook receptions with all night dancing and a packed hardwood.  All of them have had choreographed dancing to start the reception presented to the bride and groom and I love it!

I swear the minute the music starts it’s like everyone in the building makes a bee-line to the dance floor and doesn’t leave until the food is served.  And everyone knows how to dance too!  Most of the American weddings have the traditional wedding songs mixed in with some stuff that’s currently hot and the dance floor is mildly filled throughout the night with various circles of friends (women usually yell and have their hands up while the guys seem to bob the head a lot and watch what the other guys are doing).  The Hora at Jewish weddings can be extremely intense, but Indian weddings seem to have that intensity all night long.  I don’t know how they do it, but it’s awesome to watch.  It can look like a night club at times.

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I had the pleasure of shooting the Ciarla family portrait yesterday.  Lynn learned of me through Nicole Nettune (that still feels a little weird to type Nicole) from Nicole and Scott’s wedding earlier this year.  It’s about that time when portraits start coming up left and right :)  Thanks so much for allowing me to photograph your family!

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I had the pleasure of shooting Rosemary and Greg’s wedding this weekend with Alisha.  We switched between full blown rain showers and sun so bright we had to wear sunglasses on the drive over so I didn’t know what to expect.  Once I saw how beautiful our bride was, an Ines DiSanto wedding dress hanging in the room, and a location in the Finger Lakes that was photogenic to say the least… I knew we were good to go no matter what Mother Nature had in mind.  Thanks so much for having me at your wedding and congratulations!

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We had a gorgeous wedding in the Finger Lakes this weekend that I can’t wait to share.  Look for this images either tonight of tomorrow morning.

Now on to the business at hand… football picks this morning :)  I’ll keep all my sports posts going forward to one thread since this blog focuses on all things wedding related.  Look for updates to this one post throughout the day though.  Here are the games I like today when factoring in the spread (bold illustrates my pick) -

Bengals -7
Browns

Packers +3
NY Giants

Saints -3.5
Bucs

Lions -3
Vikes

Cowboys -4
Dolphins

Seahawks -3
Cardinals

I like the favorites this week, what can I say.  I generally like picking favorites early in the season anyway since bad teams like the chiefs, dolphins, bucs, giants, and browns haven’t really been exposed for as bad as they are.  You’ll see these teams getting 10 or more points later in the season, but right now this early in the season they are getting undeserved respect.

UPDATE

The Browns/Bengals game has been a great one so far surprisingly.  65 points so far between them and it’s only half way through the 3rd quarter!  Did I say take the Bengals?… that was a typo, I meant take the over.  The Bengals defense has been horrid, even on the short week of prep they shouldn’t have given even 20 to the Browns team.

UPDATE

Well I was 1 win and 2 losses in my early game picks, let’s get back on track for the late games.  Big surprise that I’m glued to the Lions game…. their offense looks absolutely unstoppable, even playing against the Viking’s tough D.  Kitna can only stop himself.

UPDATE

Touchdown Lions!   T-Jack has already thrown 2 interceptions for the Vikings and that offense cannot have success playing from behind.  While I obviously want the Lions to cruch them, the Vikings can’t abandon the run… they have to stay patient and not force things.  Their defense hasn’t even come close to stopping the Lions though so I’m hoping they’ll force the issue and try pushing the ball.

UPDATE

The Lions are winning, but Kitna has been knocked out of the game.  We’re hearing that he could come back after the half, but that is not a good sign at all.  I know fantasy owners like Drew are going to be bumming.  I said they couldn’t stop Kitna…. well that’s one way!  Factoring in the point spread the Lions are a push, the Cowboys are a push, and the Seahawks are losing.

UPDATE

Wow.  The Lions and Vikes go to overtime in extremely dramatic fashion.  Kitna was knocked out of the game and the Lions could not do anything on offense turning it over 3 times.  Kitna comes back in the game to lead them all the way down the field and Hanson misses the game winning field goal.  The Vikes toss a screen pass that goes for 20+ and then try and field goal that looks good with 2 seconds left…. only to bounce off the post!

UPDATE

WOW.  W-O-W.   The Lions win in overtime once again in dramatic fashion.   Kitna’s numbers will bum out fantasy owners, but that game was about as impressive as it gets.  It was ugly, but after getting knocked out of the game Kitna brings them back for an awesome win.

That’s it for the sports blog of the day… I’m pooped.  I’m going to finish up the salsa and take a nap.  Thanks to everyone who visited the blog today and increased my weekend traffic, don’t be afraid to leave comments as well. 

Look for the wedding images soon!

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We have our little monster going to pre-school finally!  We love having Lillie around, but when we have her around all day for weeks with no break we go a little nuts since we basically work from the home office.  I’m walking over to the board to write down some things to add to the "to-do list" and stepping on animal crackers on the way over much to the amusement of Lil in the other room.  She’s going to be a little prankster just like me :)

Anyway, I had to take some shots of her on her first day getting ready.  Here is the classic Lillie smile.

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