There isn’t really much to say about this photo; it’s pretty much exactly what it looks like.  While I would love to type incessantly about the capture, that too was pretty straight forward.  While shooting Matt & Di’s Wedding in July, I saw this storage compartment for a fire hose.  I stepped back, snapped a picture, and that pretty much sums it up.  When I got home, I did a simple conversion to black and white, a little cropping and aligning, and then cleaned up the image noise as it was shot at 800 ISO.

I’ve already said in an earlier blog post that Matt & Di were a great couple to work with, and that I had a blast shooting their wedding.  What’s been even more fun for me for the past several days is going through the photos from their wedding, and seeing how happy they and their guests were.  Looking through photos after an event is my favorite part of this job.  I go out and use the experience I’ve gained in the past, and apply it to the shoot and hand, mix it with some new ideas, and work my butt off in the process.  As soon as I’m back in the office I download the photos and start looking through them with the same zeal I had years ago when I got my 4×6 prints back from the local Costco.  Back then, I couldn’t even make it out of the store before I was looking at prints.  Now, of course, I can chimp the back of the camera to see how things are going.  Nothing compares, however, to seeing the images on a full screen.

Working through these photos, I tried to select the ones I thought best told the story of Matt & Di’s wedding.  It’s tough, telling a story in a few images, but I think this is a pretty good selection of photos that tell the story, and are also pleasing to view.  I hope you enjoy them!

Last weekend I had the pleasure of working with Matt & Di at 620 Loft & Garden in midtown Manhattan.  Matt and Di, and all of their guests, were great to work with.  The love these two share was almost palpable, and so was the love their family and friends share for the two of them.  I am so glad I was able to be a present for their wedding to capture the wedding day of a great couple, and look forward to sharing the moments I captured with them and their family.

Sometimes when you’re out shooting a wedding, the posed photos become candid, and sometimes the best ones.  Karen and Conrad had just added Cody to their family, and wanted to include him in a few of their wedding photos.  I love dogs and had no intention whatsoever of saying “no,” and after I met Cody I knew he was going to be fun to work with.

Since Karen was a little concerned about her dress (read: way concerned, no dirt!) we didn’t do a whole lot with Cody.  However, after about 5 minutes of working with him, Cody still had no intention of behaving.  Conrad leaned down to have a chat with him, and Cody took his chance to reach out and lick Conrad square on the cheek.  Cody’s lightning fast tongue was too quick for me, but you can see these three were having a good time on this afternoon.

There are plenty of “trash the dress” photos out there, and I’m not going to pretend that mine is better than all the others out there, even though I probably should think mine is the best.  However, each photographer can only have one first trash the dress photo, and this one is mine.

John and Desiree were fun to work with throughout the process of planning, the whole wedding day, and throughout the reception.  At the end of the reception, the guests were all gone, John and Desiree were talking about how great it was going to be to put on some more comfortable clothes, and get some real food.  As I always do before I leave, I walked over to them and asked “Before I leave, is there anything else you want?”  John was pretty quick to say no.  Desiree, however, had a ready-made (or so it seemed) reply:  “I want to go to the beach, run through the surf, get wet, and make the cleaning bill that I’m going to have for this dress worth it!”  Not being one to argue with a bride who wants to go out and make photos, I led the way.

John and Desiree ran, as you can see, just as she had wanted to.  In the end, I had several photos in which both John and Desiree were looking at the camera, or were concentrating on not falling, but this is my favorite.  They’re both clearly having a good time, and enjoying being together, and when it comes down to it, that’s what a marriage is all about.

This photo is from a wedding in North Carolina that really was fun to shoot. Josh (left) and Monica (not pictured) were fun from the start, and helped me out quite a bit by running interference not only with their parents, but also the wedding coordinators at the church who were… uhm… very serious about their job.

Josh, Carrie, Kristen, and Adam are four college friends who’ve termed themselves “The Fab Four,” perhaps to Monica’s dismay.  As I shoot group photos, I start with the largest group and slowly work my way down to just the bride & groom.  This photo was one of the last group photos I shot, and the group was getting a little restless.  Monica, on the other hand, was not just restless but quite ready to move out and get to the reception.  She was patient with us while we got the four of them on the canon, and even humored us later by posing behind the canon pretending to shoot Josh.  Only Monica knows if she was pretending, or fantasizing.

Anyone who has read this blog when I post portraits, or has spoken with me about covering their wedding, knows that I really don’t like to pose photos.  Even when it comes to posing groups, I prefer to let the dynamic of the group, and quite often the loudest person, do the organizing.

Depending on the group, I try to get some fun shots in.  Some people trudge through the “serious” photos living only for the fun shots at the end.  Some folks dread the fun shots because they’re afraid to let go, or just don’t believe wedding group photos should be fun.

The group above definitely wanted to have fun, and didn’t really enjoy any of the serious photos.  As we were finishing up with the full group, one of the bridesmaids said to me “I want a photo that shows we’re happy for them!”  To accomplish this, I dialed the light on the group down a bit, pulled the bride & groom out front away from the crowd, and asked the group to “be happy!” on the count of three… and here we are.  I think they look like a happy group of people.

I think the photo and caption say it all on this one.  It was a fantastic afternoon for a post-wedding brunch, and all the people in attendance knew it.

Some wedding cakes are definitely more memorable than others.  You can watch Food Network almost any night and see Duff (Ace of Cakes) of Charm City Cakes or TLC to see Buddy Valastro (Cake Boss) of Carlo’s Bakery whipping up some monstrosity of a wedding cake — see Duff’s 10-tiered wedding cake as an example of a wedding cake clearly on steroids.

The one above, from Rachel & Jesse’s wedding, sticks out in my mind as one of the more memorable cakes I’ve seen at a wedding.  After a while the 4-tier white, pearlescent flower-dy, rose covered, etc. cakes all start to blend together until in my mind I see a perliteose cake of undiscernable size. Not Rachel & Jesse’s.  Sure, it’s dreadfully simple. But in all reality, it served its purpose dutifully. You see, Rachel & Jesse are what most people would call “fun-lovin’, full-of-life, crazy people.” Jesse was actually a little disappointed that I declined to “have a few” during their reception.  True story.

Back to the cake. Rachel & Jesse cut their wedding cake (not the cupcakes) and gave a slice to each of their parents. After that, and before that, the real wedding cake (above) was free to be picked over, pawed at, eaten, and voraciously attacked by the kids and adults in attendance.  And not once did you hear a sad child cry out “but mooooom… I want caaaaake!”  Why? Because when the kid took a “slice” of the cake, there was another “slice” sitting under the table to replace it.  The cake was being eaten all night, but within minutes each time, it was restored to newness.  I loved it; so did the kids.

And, yes, it was tasty too. Just don’t tell Jesse I sampled the cake but not the beer.

“Into the Sunset” is not only a horribly cheesy title, it’s also technically wrong.  The sun was setting behind us, but who wants to call a photo “Away from the Sunset.”  Yes, it’s technically correct – which pleases my overly analytical brain – but not only a corny title, but also a title that has more negative implications than I care to deal with.

This was one of those fun moments I get as a photographer when Matt & Lisa were out of their wedding garb, and just being themselves while entertaining guests at the post-wedding-post-brunch-reception beach party and bonfire.