Yesterday I had the pleasure of spending the day with Jamie and Peter
doing their engagement shoot all around the city.  Considering it’s
March we scored a gorgeous (though windy) day and had a great time.
Thanks so much you two and the finished event will be online in a couple days!

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Today we just received a new shipment of folios.  One of them I ordered for our own home with pictures of me, Alisha, and Lillie at Halloween.

Another was for a boudoir shoot that we did several months ago.  I always think the Cypress folios are perfect for boudoir… elegant, classy, and even the ribbon adds a sexy touch.  I blurred out the photo in the picture below so the client’s identity is kept secret just in case.

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I hope everyone out there had a great Easter Sunday!  Mr. Easter Bunny himself hoped on over to my parent’s house and hid all sorts of plastic eggs around the house for Lillie to find (filled with goodies of course).  After that we found his big present…. a huge Barbie Power Wheel :)
Mama putting the finishing touches on Lillie’s new wheels.  We’ve always called her Lillie Monster, which then turned to Lil Monster to Lil Monst.  We thought that would be appropriate for her New York License Plate. 

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Even though our anniversary was one month ago, we finally went out and celebrated tonight.  Those of you who know our travel and work schedules know how this could happen :)  We originally had planned on doing some dinner at Tao in the city and then doing a helicopter tour of Manhattan, but the weather has been absolutely crappy all week so we decided to change plans (as Alisha is leaving town for a month this weekend).  Instead we went up to one of our favorite places in the Finger Lakes, Mirbeau, and had an amazing 5 course meal next to the fireplace.  For those of you who know how amazing Mirbeau is, well I don’t need to say anything, but for those of you who don’t….. it’s soooo worth it.  Expect to pay at least $100 per person, but for a special treat to yourselves it’s 100% worth experiencing. 

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One of the things we like to do to continue to build and keep strong relationships with the people we work with is to send venues and planners sample albums from events we do.  Noel and Earl’s wedding last summer has certainly been documented on this blog before, and the last time I saw Nicole Goodman (the planner over at the Saratoga National Golf Club) she expressed interest in an album from their event.  Well, we finally have that finished album here in the office :)  I thought I’d post some pictures before it gets shipped out.

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In this afternoon’s BTL post, I want to talk about the timing of portrait sessions.  I realize as a photographer most of the time people hear us talk about light and they really do try and work that into their wedding time line.  That buttery soft light around sunset is always the best light, and every wedding I shoot I try and grab the bride and groom for a couple quick portraits when that light is perfect when I can.  However we do shoot weddings where the time line doesn’t revolved around the ideal lighting (shocking I realize).  And while the light makes a huge difference, there are things we do to make sure we deliver amazing portraits regardless of what lighting situation we are put in.  After all when they bride and groom have 15 minutes for portraits, and you’re put on the spot, you have to deliver… no matter the conditions you are put in.

This first example is at an awesome wedding I shot last year in Skaneateles.  The couple is Jake and Regina, and while they had a gorgeous day… they also had an insanely bright summer day with many of the things scheduled during "high noon." 

This first photo was shot right outside of Mirbeau Inn and Spa.  I set them up in this location which I thought was beautiful and let them talk and make each other laugh for a little while as we usually do.  I waited and waited for a cloud that looked like it might actually pass over the sun, and when it finally did (for all of about 8-10 seconds) I was able to grab this light.  It’s not ideal to play the waiting game at all, but if waiting a cloud out for a minute or 2 can give this result it’s worth glancing up to see if any clouds are on their way.

Most of the day there wasn’t a cloud visible anywhere though, so we had to get a little creative.  Instead of fighting the sun we decided to incorporate it in a fun and creative way.  Use it as a visually pleasing element in the photography like above.  And for those photographers wondering… we set up the photograph as you see, exposed for the background, and used a flash to fill in the couple and the bike.  And yes, the weeeeeeeeeeeee could be heard from 3 blocks away as the flash recycled between exposures :)

Here is another example of a portrait taken in really hard, direct light.  This was literally around noon when we captured this, as the groomsmen walked to the church.  The best man had some photography experience and I remember when setting this up having him basically ask me if I was nuts trying to work with that strong of a backlight.  Obviously I don’t want to be working in light like this all the time, but when needed the afternoon light can be used in a pleasing way if the situation requires it.

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Well this weekend was my birthday weekend (mid 20s for those of you who are curious) and Alisha really went all out for me and hooked me up with an absolutely awesome weekend!  We went up to Albany on Friday night for an awesome dinner.  Of course she had more than dinner planned though, and she gave me my real gift…. 2 sweet tickets to see my favorite band moe.! 

I just did a blog entry about moe. around a week ago, so the timing with the release of their new album was awesome.  I used to see moe. all the time when I was younger (first show was in ‘99) and have seen them a ton… but as I’ve gotten older and more consumed with business, concerts have taken a backseat.  They played the Radio City Music Hall this past NYE and I really wanted to go, but unfortunately we always have weddings that night.

Anyway, it was absolutely awesome to see another one of their concerts!  We had a great time together and really enjoyed it.  Surprisingly even though we’ve been together for a couple years this was our first concert together.  moe. really rocked the house (a sold out house, and the first in several years we heard) and I couldn’t have asked to share a better night together.

Or so I thought.  Ali had one more surprise up her sleeve for me…. backstage passes for after the show to hang out with the band! 

It was a really late night for us, and we slept in until almost noon the next day… which was extra nice because then we got to soak in the hotel hot tub for half an hour before we had to leave.  All around great weekend and much needed!

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Nobody envisions their wedding day as the one day of the week where we get constant rain from sun up to sun down, but sometimes it happens.  And speaking in terms of the photography… it’s not a big deal!  Sometimes we can actually use the rain to create something totally different and unique.

This image was taken during Megan and Matt’s extremely wet and rainy wedding.  This portrait actually ended up becoming one of my favorites that year as it was so romantic.  Their wedding was at a location I had shot at many times and it was very fresh and exciting to work with such a different canvas.  This is one of the most unique shots from this location I’ve taken to date, and it’s still one of my favs.

This image of Jean and Dan (inspiration board below) was taken during their rainy wedding day in their home vineyard.  We waited the spoty rain out and received some nice soft diffuse light to work with.  The slightly wet greenery all around the shot really "popped" with saturation once we set this shot up.  I know the average person thinks sunny = good photography conditions, but this cloudy overcast situation can actually be even better in many cases.

One final option if it absolutely down pours all day and we never get a chance to step outside…. we can always wait it out until night and sneak out for some nice portraits.  Fortunately for us Dena and Dan were up for anything we suggested so they let us pull them out real late into their reception so we could add a final touch to their wedding day.  Night portraits aren’t that common or popular, but they really are an amazing option for additional shots.  Thanks to the openness of Dena and Dan we were able to grab this image, which ended up on the back cover of The Bride and Bloom.   

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Today I want to focus on the location in which we take the portraits of the bride and groom.  Often times what we run into brides worrying about where they are going to get their portraits taken (although Alisha used to experience this much more often in St. Louis where people want to go to 8 locations between the ceremony and reception!).  Obviously it’s a valid concern and I do my best to let people know that it really, for the most part, doesn’t matter.  We can work with almost any situation we are put in. 

In this example of Poornima and Farooq they were married at the Turning Stone Casino.  They wanted some outside portraits of the 2 of them, but to all of you who have been to TS you know it’s a concrete jungle.  Fortunately we found this small garden with a fountain near the main entrance and we were able to capture the image above.  I know it looks like we are in some beautiful big garden but that’s really just the way I framed it.  We can work in tight spaces and alter the perception if it’s not quite ideal.

In this example of Cameron and Tim’s wedding we wanted to grab some portraits right outside Sage Chapel before we walked over to the tent reception.  I know people often times wonder is there enough there to make some gorgeous photographs, do we need to go to a different location, etc?  I took this beautiful shot of them while I was laying face down in the grass with a wide angle lens on.  I know it looks as if we are in some far away meadow on an awesome hill, but in reality they are standing on the sidewalk and I’m laying in the grass next to them.

In this last example Alisha
and I took this potrait of Lisa and Reinhardt right in front of the
barn where their reception was being held (I know the word barn doesn’t
inspire high end thoughts but they did it right, it was really
beautiful with Japanese lanterns and all).   I really love this simple
portrait with the soft buttery light, the relaxed moment they shared,
and the curtains in the entrance framing the couple.  They tried to
bring an elegant country feel to their wedding plans and were fully
successful, and to me this portrait just sums up the day.  It was one
step outside their reception entrance and took all of about 30 seconds.

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One of the ideas I’ve wanted to add to the blog was a mini-series where I get a chance to describe the situation behind some of the images I post on the blog.  One of the obvious advantages to the blog is getting to share a large volume of the work I do with everyone who wants to see it.  Another advantage though is I’m allowed to share some stories and examples of behind the scenes type things.  I think it further gives people a chance to know more about me and the way I work.  I will probably be posting a short series of these over the next week or so. 

The first example I wanted to share is how I created this image of Cameron which has become so popular (finished 2nd in voting for image of the year):

I sometimes wonder if people think this might have been done with Photoshop or if this has been manipulated to give the all white background.  I created this images by having Cameron stand in front of a large window with a white curtain that was getting blasted by sun.  Right outside her hotel room happened to be this window and when we came around the corner to first find her room in the morning (and I knew what dress she was wearing) I knew I had to use this. 

Here is an image Alisha captured of Cameron as I set her up for the pose I wanted in front of the window so you can see how things looked before I captured it.  The reason I really wanted to do this shot was because of the way Cameron’s Monique Lhuillier just grabbed her body and didn’t let go.  The original image above works so well and is so powerful because of the way that dress lays on her body (Jim Carrey’s line "like a glove" comes to mind).  If it was a more traditional wedding dress I don’t think I would have tried this particular shot.  I wanted to emphasize the sexiness and curves and beautiful lace we had to work with.  What better way than just to strip the photograph down to nothing but Cameron and the dress.  I metered for her skin tones and let the blazing sun hitting the white curtain completely wash out all detail in the background.  Below is the picture straight out of my camera, and below that is the finished image (changed it to black and white, added some contrast and grain):

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