The Mundy's

The Mundy's live in my neighborhood.  They're a super nice family and we happened to pick one of the nicer days in recent memory to capture the family in action.  The children are Jack, 6 and Caroline & Grace 2. 

We gathered at a local park on a sunny Sunday afternoon.  To start most sessions, I like to give people something to do...could be anything.  In this case, the first thing I wanted them to do was to walk.  Just hold hands and walk down a path that was surrounded with trees and had the first signs of fall. 

When there are kids involved, I also like to make sure we get the "must have" shots taken care of first.  Here's one I really liked. 

Keeping things moving, we moved into doing some different pairing - mom with the girls, dad with son, etc.  Once we captured the posed shots, we walked over to a playground and ended the session with some candids.  I pulled a couple images together that I thought were fun. 

Nice day, nice family.  Fun to capture the little ones while they're still little.

Suman + Rishi + Nyla

​Last I saw this happy couple, they were a couple.  Things have changed - for the better.  Nyla is a 4-Month-Old cutie and as you can see from the first image below that we have a sticker to help us keep it straight :-) 

Here's lookin' at you​

Nyla was sitting in her car seat when I arrived and we pretty quickly got started shooting.  Not surprisingly, she wasn't sure what to make of me initially.  I can just imagine what a baby would think of a stranger showing up in her house and keeps moving a large black square to my face and then away.  Never thought about it before but maybe its more like a game of peek-a-boo to her.

True to character, Suman and Rishi had a bunch of scenarios planned.  I've posted some of my favorites from the session.

Surprise!​

So much fun.  Looking forward to the next shoot!​

Melissa + Michael

Each wedding is a little different.  Different cultures, different family dynamics, some traditional, some not, some very long and others relatively short.  One thing that’s true every time is that this is one of the most important days in this couple’s lives.  It also seems consistent that if the bride and/or groom was nervous in the minutes leading up to the ceremony, most let go and have fun once they seal it with a kiss. 

Michael is like many grooms that I’ve recently met.  On the outside anyway, he seems pretty easygoing and just happy to have friends and family close when he makes his commitment official to his bride-to be.  The preparations for the groom are such a contrast to the bride’s.  There is no make-up artist, nobody getting their hair done and usually takes all of 20 minutes for the entire set of groomsmen to go from casual to fully dressed.  When I cover this part of the day, most of the images are taken in the last few minutes before the limo arrives.

Melissa, on the other hand, had a way of communicating how she felt through her facial expressions.  I put together this series of six images that span a five-minute period while the toasts were being given.  I have to admit that I don’t know Melissa that well, but I’m pretty sure you would always know where you stand with her, good or bad.

This doesn’t happen at every wedding, but sometimes the couple will make an extra effort to add something unique to the event.  For Melissa and Michael, they had a special fire truck (since he’s a volunteer firefighter) and a car that reminded me of the Dukes of Hazard for their getaway.  

Best wishes to both of you.  So glad I could be a part of your day.

Deepa’s Pre-Wedding Party

This was the second event I shot for Deepa and Anuj.  Something that comes across so strong with this couple is the importance of family and friends.  Yes, we all say it’s important but, when you see the genuine nature of the love expressed at events like these, I consider it a real honor to be able to capture it.

This event was just before their wedding (August 11), and many of the same faces from the bridal shower were here as well.  There were fewer people but no less emphasis on quality.  Food was catered, a live band was in place for music, a bartender for drinks and yours truly to capture it all.

Deepa had the henna done earlier in the day, which took hours to complete.  The artistry that goes into this work is really impressive!  If you look closely, you can see their names written on the palm of each of her hands.

By the time they’re reading this, they are already married, so congratulations to Deepa and Anuj. I can’t wait to be a part of the next event in your lives.

Shefali + Neil Engagement

Shefali and Neil were introduced to me through a former co-worker and friend.  I was asked to capture their proposal.  It's hard to believe that was almost six months ago. 

Shortly after, we scheduled a date to shoot the engagement.  We set a date - then had to move it. We set another date and got to the venue only to realize that none of us had read the "Hours of Operation" very well - it was closed when we arrived. Rescheduled again.  Then, rain.  Yikes!  It really shows the character of this couple as they remained determined and flexible.  As you can likely guess, our determination paid off.  Yea!

We met last Friday at a place called the Grounds For Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ.  It's about an hour's drive for each of us and we arrived around 7:00pm, after work, ready to shoot.  We strolled into the park to find our first setting.

We were off to a good start.  There were so many great places to shoot here, it made it easy to grab a couple of Shefali looking stunning and a nice image of Neil in his formal attire.

 

 

Here's one that had such a great setting with trees on either side...

Neil was looking for some camera time here...

Some playfulness...

And one more of Shefali..

Congratulations guys!  I wish you all the best on your wedding day which is fast approaching!  August 11th.

Nicole + Ryan

I met Nicole and Ryan on their wedding day when I was asked by Dan (a fellow photographer) to help cover the event. Dan and I joined Nicole, her mother, and the bridesmaids in the bridal suite to capture some details (shoes, dress, hair & make-up, etc.).  Nicole seemed so at ease as she sat for the finishing touches on her hair. Being surrounded by such close friends and family helped, I'm sure.  One of the favorites from the morning was this one of her making sure all was good through her compact mirror. 

 

I only stayed for a few minutes with the girls then drove to get some time with the groom for his preparations. Once I rounded the corner to the grooms parents' house, I knew I was in trouble because I noticed the party bus had already arrived.  My first thought is that I had very limited time to get what I needed.  As I entered the house, I said hello to Ryan and asked how much time we had.  He said, "About 10 minutes.  Is that enough?'"  Sure :-)  We can make that happen.  We set up a couple scenarios. Snap, snap, snap and they were on their way.

When I got to the church, I had a quick look around and saw great opportunities to get some interesting perspectives during the ceremony.  They had a balcony in the back and on either side of the church.  I was able to roam about to get images from unexpected vantage points. 

 

Next, we're off to Jersey City for the reception at The Liberty House.  I quickly moved around to capture the setup of the food and decor.  Here are a couple of my favorites... 

 

This day was one of the hottest of the summer, so we were fortunate that most of our shooting was indoors; however, we did get outside for some of the formals.  With such a nice backdrop of the NYC skyline, we took the opportunity to work it into the shot. The girls were particularly silly which I loved.  

The rest of the night was focused on capturing people having fun.  No problem at this wedding!  They had a great band called Night Moves which were fantastic, especially when the bride joined in toward the end of the evening to lead a Billy Joel cover.

 

Hetal & Divyang's Wedding in Maryland

During the Memorial Day weekend I took a trip down to Maryland to second shoot a wedding with Sunny, a photographer I met at Suman & Rishi's wedding two years ago.

I knew it was going to be a long day 8am to midnight plus a 3+ hour drive so I made arrangements to arrive the night before. It was an easy drive and it was a particularly hot weekend.

I made it to the first location which was a hotel with a nice open space where they started with some pre-event pictures. Well, pre-event for that day. This was day two of the wedding which is often true for Indian weddings.

Here are a few I captured along side Sunny in the morning.

 

With a Hindu wedding procession, a baraat is when the bridegroom enters on a horse and rides up to the venue with lots of dancing and general celebration along the way.  Here are a couple images I captured during these celebrations and the ceremony.

 

I tend to gravitate toward the cute kids at any event I'm covering. Here are a few images from the kids at this wedding. I love it when I can capture a special moment that they'll look back on someday. 

 

Let us not forget some dancing and singing...

 

Finally, a fun, stylized shot we did with a car they were using for the day.  We setup some off-camera lighting and came up with this one...

Congratulations guys!  What a fun event!

Deepa's Bridal Shower

This past weekend I was invited to shoot a surprise bridal shower.  The sister of the bride to be, Anju, asked me to capture this special occasion in celebrating her sister's upcoming wedding.

Anju told us the arrangement was that her sister, Deepa, was going to stop for ice cream and to call Anju with some ice cream flavor choices.  This gave the group enough time to wander across the street for the "surprise".

The decorating around the backyard was fabulous!  There were some very clear themes in place, many of which had some wonderful stories behind them.  For example, the Chanel No. 5 was their grandmother's perfume that she always wore.  She recently passed, and there was a great tribute that their grandfather made.

The girls with their grandfather...

Many friends and family gathered to share stories, eat, drink, play games and ultimately celebrate the relationship they have with Deepa.  

More friends and family...

Here are a couple more details and a decorated umbrella for Deepa.

Gifts

and don't forget the cake...

Congrats, Deepa & Anuj!

Kate & Jeremy's Wedding

Kate & Jeremy are the type of couple you hope you come across at some point in your life. They have so much going for them: friends all around, family that clearly loves them, and what you see from them is giving that love right back. I had the pleasure of photographing their wedding on June 2 in Sayville, Long Island at the Land's End Resort.

The day started at Kate's parents' home. Here are a few moments with Kate, her sisters and friends getting ready for their big day. 

At Land's End, a small crowd gathered for the excitement of the first look between Kate & Jeremy.

Next up were some formals.  These are a few of my favorites. 

Vivian, the flower girl, chatted about her new dress and stopped long enough to smell the roses.

Food was served and the ceremony began, officiated by Jeremy's step-father.

Some of the details from the day...

It's always more fun when couple's aren't too conservative with this tradition.  They had fun with it!

Father-daughter and Mother-son dances

Some jumpin', dancing... and boom, the night was over!

Thanks again, Kate & Jeremy. I really enjoyed spending the evening with you, and capturing your special day. Also, a big thanks to David Grogan who was such a help, all-around second shooting and assisting with lights throughout the night.  For the full set of images, you can visit this page.

Vendors

Florist: Flowers by Burton

Hair/Make-up: Michael's Place

DJ: Vivo Entertainment

Second Shooter: David Grogan

Fashion in Vegas

As I wrote in another post, I recently took a trip out to Vegas for a very large video conference called NAB.  Another thing I arranged for while I was there was to shoot with at least one model (tried for two but didn't work out) while I was there.

 

I posted a casting call for models for the dates I would be in Vegas a couple months back on a site I've used in the past called ModelMayhem.  Its a great place to find models, make-up artists and other professionals in this space to help each other build up each others' portfolio.   The model I chose was Meli.  She's done quite a bit of modeling and has started to rely on this as her primary source of income.  As it turns out, she was also modeling in the Canon booth for NAB.  Who knew!?

 

I also arranged for a co-worker to help me out with the shoot as he was interested in the shoot and I was interested in showing him how I work and getting a little help in the meantime.  Meli arrived with her husband and a bunch of potential costume changes.  We're ready to go!  We started off simple doing beauty shots and moved into some other concepts.  Ultimately I'm trying to communicate emotion and tell some stories in the images.  I've included several of my favorites.  More can be found on the gallery.

 

NAB in Vegas

Several years ago, around 2004 I'd say, I became interested in shooting video.  I had a mid to low-end Sony camcorder that wrote to a digital Mini-DV tape.  At the time, I think I paid ~ $1000 for it which is interesting to think about what features you'd get in a camcorder now for the same $1000.  I bought the camcorder mostly to play around with until I came across a work project that challenged me to think differently about what I'm capturing and how to get your message across to your audience.

This work project was a part of an annual event that challenged all of the IT community to present something fun, creative and entertaining.  At the time, "The Apprentice" was just becoming popular so we did a spoof on the show.  It was the first time I was filming, directing, editing - all for the same project.  In addition, this project allowed forme to work with several others on the writing and logistics.  We had multiple cameras, sound equipment and not surprisingly some that were less than motivated than others to participate.  All in all, I can say that I spent many, many hours diving in and learning about how to story-tell. 

Shutterstock Booth

Back to the point, when this interest started to take off for me, I wanted to learn more about the industry and the people in it.  National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is the largest video related conference in the US each year.  It covers about 5 million square feet of the Las Vegas Convention Center and has ~ 100,000 attendees. Its huge!  And I've been wanting to attend this show since around 2004.  This year, because of the work that I'm doing with Shutterstock, I was able to attend to represent the efforts Shutterstock as a vendor at the NAB. Shutterstock is a marketplace for buying and selling stock photos and video and I was there, along with several of my co-workers, working the booth.  It was the first time being an Exhibitor and the first time attending NAB.

 Gear

Long story short, it was a very successful event.  Lots of great people that stopped by the booth and it was such a fun experience to talk to people about their work and how Shutterstock can help them meet their goals.  Oh, and one thing I managed to work into my time in Vegas was a shoot with a model from ModelMayhem.  I've used this service several times in the past and had pretty good success. More to come on that soon.

Will You...

A couple weeks ago, I learned about an exciting opportunity to shoot a proposal (thanks Tejal). Yes, capture someone planning to propose to his girlfriend and not get noticed.  Sure!  Sign me up.  Sounds like fun and a great challenge.  After a few texts exchanged with the groom to be, Neil, and we're set.  Pictures were exchanged so we knew what each other looked like and I landed in Hoboken at the Esplanade at 3PM ready to capture the magic.  I waited for a few minutes and sent a text to confirm I was in the right spot.  I was.

 

A text came back and he said they were just entering the park.  I spotted them and tried to make myself invisible.  Unfortunately, that was hard because for whatever reason, there weren't many people in the park at this time.  I'm kind of standing out in the open and stalking this couple like a paparazzi.  Not to worry, there were only a couple people that looked at me kind of cross because I have this rather large camera with a big lens shooting people that appear to not know I'm pointing the camera at them.  Its for a good cause.

 

They rounded the park toward the water and then came up the center in the grass and this is where the proposal began.  I captured a few images and gave them a few moments together.  Neil then introduced me to his now fiance Shefali.  I congratulated them and we headed over to a bench to snap a few images.  I can't wait to get an appointment with them to shoot their engagement - with Shefali knowing its about to happen :-)

Congratulations Neil and Shefali.

Friends and Family

Not too long ago I learned that a very good friend was pregnant.  A friend that I used to work with and a friend who's wedding I shot.  Maternity isn't something that I've shot before so, this came from searching the web for ideas and collaborating with Suman & Rishi on some thoughts they had for fun shots. 

Together...with room in the middle

 

We were fortunate enough to have a room in their building to shoot without people around, except for one lady that was on a video conference call in the next room the entire time we were around.  This worked out really well since this location was very homy.

 

 

I thought it would be interesting to setup a shot where they had lots of books, "Special Delivery" in this shot, where they're learning and discovering.  Rishi and Suman are a great team and its such a great experience each time we get together.  Congratulations to the both of you!

Pleasing My Senses

Earlier this week I was thinking that it might be fun to try and identify things I like by running through the 5 senses.  I thought it would be helpful to run through each sense and give some explanation of how I think of it and why its important to me.  I think we all look to connect with others and this may be a way I connect with you - or maybe not, which is fine too.  Either way, I'm putting it out there for you to enjoy - or NOT :-)  Here we go...

Sight

As a photographer I'd say sight is pretty important.  The visual appeal of something is what connects me to it. Emotionally.  This can be true whether its a person or a setting or an object.  With a lot of things, the devil's in the details and I tend to pay attention to them.  From a photographic point of view, I like to consider both the technical and emotional impact of a scene.

When I think of things that are pleasing visually, things like these come to mind:

• a child's smile
• clean lines; simple design
• happy eyes
• beautiful light
• ginuine emotion

Things from my life that are burned into my memory are the day I got my first car, my first trip to NYC, the moment I saw my wife as she walked down the isle and the day my daughter was born.  These are just a few of the events in my life that will always be with me regardless of how much time passes.

This is one of the primary reasons why I love photograhy so much.  The opportunity to capture those most important moments in people's lives is quite an honor.

Stay tuned for the next sense...

A new [p]interest

Okay, a little corney on my title.  More to the point, something I enjoy is finding new, exciting, and photographically - is that a word? - relavant things on the web.  I've been hearing lots of great buzz about this site called Pinterest.  I created an account and so far, so good.

What I like about it is that its a different way to discover images.  I like the concept of being able to create boards which you could think of like a folder or a category.  Within that board, you can post images that you want to group together.  I'm using it for two things so far.  The first is to use it to put some ideas for my next shoot.  The second is to start to work on a new idea I have that I'd like to call "Pleasing my senses".  More to come on that. In the meantime... 

Website Changes

At the moment, I have two jobs.  My "day job" focuses on optimizing product teams to be as self-guiding and self-sufficient as possible.  We build customer experiences that help people discover and license photos and videos for any creative project they're working on.  For photos, we're targeting designers, marketers, and other creatives.  On the video side, we're helping producers, editors and others that are usually involved with putting together commercials, documentaries or the like.  The site is called Shutterstock.  Check it out when you get a chance.  

My other "job" is photography.  Actually, it doesn't feel right to call it a job.  It's a passion.  It's my creative outlet.  Its the first thing in my life, outside of family, that I'm focused on making sure that I spend time on and on improving each day, week, month, etc.  The reason I brought up the "day job" is that I learn a lot about user experience, design, marketing, etc. from my day job and once in a while I need to remind myself to apply those learnings to my photography business.  Case in point, my website.

I've made some changes to the site.  Nothing too dramatic but I've added some features that keep me current with things I learn about by being in both the web/internet and photography industry.  First, I've updated the design template.  I tend to like a very clean interface with light, thin typeface and not too much happening on a given page.  I think it helps you focus on the task at hand instead of being too distracted.  Second, I've added some insight to other ways I produce material through a flickr module on the right side of the Journal.

There will be more changes to come so stay tuned.

8 Down, 358 To Go

I've tried this before (and failed) but I'm trying it again...an attempt to shoot an image a day and post it.  Some self-imposed rules are things like: 1) I must post something everyday. 2) The image posted must be shot on that day and 3) Whenever possible, include some details about the context of where or why I chose this image or even how it was shot.

Here are the first 8.  Wish me luck on making it through the whole year.  All of these, by the way, are posted each day on Flickr so follow along and hold me to the 1 image per day goal.

2011 Favorite Photos

My second square collage of the year.  New trend?  Not sure.  Anyway, after around 5,000 images taken in 2011, I've narrowed it down to this small set of images that stood out for me.  For more about each photo, scroll below for some detail about each one.

Row 1, Picture 1 - Model & friend Anna, from Madagascar taken in downtown NYC
Row 1, Picture 2 - Bride Marian from a second shoot of a wedding taken in November
Row 1, Picture 3 - Kate & Jeremy's engagement shoot in Long Beach, NY
Row 1, Picture 4 - Second image that stood out for me from Anna
Row 2, Picture 1 - Wedding shot upstate NY, bridal party showing off their boots
Row 2, Picture 2 - Another one from Marian's bridal party
Row 2, Picture 3 - Kate & Jeremy's showing their hands
Row 2, Picture 4 - "Just Married" from Marian & Antwan
Row 3, Picture 1 - Bathtub of beer from rooftop work party at Cooper Square in NYC
Row 3, Picture 2 - Ring of lights from the Red Rock Hotel in Las Vegas
Row 3, Picture 3 - Random building in Pittsburgh, PA
Row 3, Picture 4 - NYC skyline from the rooftop of Cooper Square
Row 4, Picture 1 - Emersyn smiling pretty just after her nails were done
Row 4, Picture 2 - Emersyn's friend Lara playing dress-up
Row 4, Picture 3 - Son of one of the groomsmen from Marian & Antwan
Row 4, Picture 4 - Emersyn on the up-swing on a playground

Marian & Antwan's Wedding

As a follow-up to my previous post for the wedding of Marian & Antwan I wanted to put together an album layout from the images captured as a second shooter.  It doesn't give you the entire flow since my role is to help the primary shooter get what he needs.  There were however, a few opportunities for me to capture images and what I'm posting here is a result of those moments.  I picked out a few of my favorites to give you a sense of how I experienced the event from start to end.

 

I arrived in the morning with the task of shooting the groom getting ready.  Uh, didn't work out exactly because they were already ready!  Hmm...go with it, right?  So, we shot a variety of shots with the guys in the house where they were getting ready.  There was a really cute little boy that I wanted to feature.  The image below is the result.  I also shot some reflection off the party bus as the guys were waiting to jump in.  Kind of different.

Guys prep

This was a Egyptian couple and the church had some interesting detail.  By the way, I was really thrown when people were chanting in the ceremony.  Everyone has their traditions and it's interesting to be an outside observer.  Just wish I had some audio to share with you to give you a sense of how it sounded.

Church Detail

Bride & Bridal Party

Since the priest was running a few minutes late, I was lucky enough to get a few minutes with the bride to shoot a couple images.  She was beaming on her special day and is as nice in person as she appears to be in pictures.

Bridal PartyCeremony

A couple shots of the bridal party and a quick capture of the bride and groom during the ceremony.

Just Married

This shot of Marian & Antwan just after they exited the church is one of my favorites.

Reception Details

First Dance

Finally, a few of the first dance as bride and groom and the dance with their parents.  Congrats guys!  This was the first time I worked with Mike and his crew, and they were such a nice bunch of guys.  Two were shooting video and we all had fun working this event.  I'd love to work with them again.

Help Portrait: Take 2

This past weekend I took some time away. Time away from friends, from family and from anything else I could potentially do on a Saturday to volunteer for a great cause called Help Portrait.  This the second year I've participated and this year was just as rewarding as the last.  Here's how it works: 

First, you find someone in need.  Take their picture.  Print it and give it to them. That's pretty much it.  Oh, and you do all of these things in the same day, for free.

This year, we were at a small church called Humanity Baptist Church in Newark.  As I rolled up, I sat in the parking lot for a few minutes since I was the first one there.  It was 11:00.  Shortly after, Jarvis (the organizer for this event) along with several others arrived.  I got out to introduce myself and help bring some things in.  Once we got setup, people began to arrive and it was already noon.  I was on the edit/print station again this year which is a tough spot, especially at the end of the day.

For the participants, they would enter and immediatlely be paired with a greeter which would explain how things work, have them fill out a permission form for using their photos, take them over to a hair/make-up person if they so desired, escort them over to have their pictures taken and then make sure they knew where to go to get their final product (that's where I come in).  I would grab the files from the shooter, import them, speak with the family for them to pick one they want to have printed.  Once the selection is made, I clean up the image and print it.  If the family chose to, we would print a second image for them on matt paper for them to write a message. This is one example shown to the left.

Of course, I'm leaving a few things out.  The patience of the families, the good spirits of all that were there and the great feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day.  One story that stuck out was a family that asked to have their picture taken but couldn't make it to the church where we were setup.  So, a few of us went to them. The picture was of a little girl (about 10) that had breathing tube and wasn't expected to live much longer.  She gathered with her mother and father for a special family portrait.  Very sad but a great example of the power of photography capturing that moment for that family.