Thursday, September 30, 2010

Oberly Wedding Teaser

Here's a quick tale and one of my favorite "wedding-environment" shots from this past weekend's wedding in Western MA. (full wedding post to follow in time)
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"What is that?" You ask. Well, we'll get to that in a bit. For now, just keep that image in the back of your mind as you read on:

Directions and navigation have never been my strong suit, to say the least. However, I've always managed to get by and find my way after a few twists and turns. My wonderful parents, perhaps sensing my lack of an inner-compass, gave me a GPS system last Christmas, and I've never looked back.

GPS, however, are not always privy to local *ahem* "construction", or in this case, lack thereof.

Upon arriving in Montague MA, a small town I'd never heard of prior to booking this wedding, I immediately made the turn on to Greenfield Rd, where the wedding was to be held in its entirety at the Montague Book Mill. After driving about halfway down the road, (about 2 miles or so), my TomTom GPS unit cheerfully informs me that I have "reached my destination".
Slowing my car a moment, I came to the reasonably quick realization that, no, the wedding wasn't being held at the "Montague Town Water-Treatment Facility".

After more driving, and more equally unfitting locations to exchange vows, (A dairy farm, A flea market, and residential housing) I called my brother, who just happened to be also attending this wedding as a guest.
My call to him initially only resulted in more confusion. As I was on Greenfield road, the road I was on ended in a dead end with forest and jersey barriers, and on the other end, just led out to where I came from. Brian, however, was "there" at the Mill, also on Greenfield Rd. Everything I described to him as I drove past he had never seen, and everything he told me to look for, I never saw.

Frustration was mounting, and the wedding bells were going to be sounding sooner rather than later at this point.

Then, while looking at his own GPS to help solve this mystery, my brother determined the problem...

...So "What's that picture above?" Oh just an aerial view of the 1,000 foot gap in the road where a bridge used to be that they never rebuilt.

I didn't really have time to rattle off the laundry list of problems I had with splitting a road in half and providing no sign-age whatsoever. So, biting my tongue, I managed to plot out my detour and arrive in just enough time to snap some bridal prep shots before things got underway.

So how do wedding photos turn out when this is your location?:


Stay tuned to find out :)

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Gagnon Wedding

A quick note about my blog: It's back! Workload, some sickness, and an epic trip to Alaska later, this blog will continue to be updated with all wedding, event, portrait, and personal work that I shoot. I hope you enjoy :) - Dan
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The Gagnon wedding in August with Tiffany and John was a great experience for me. I worked extensively with Tiffany to make sure that I captured the artsy and classic themes they wanted for their Rock and Roll themed wedding. Both bride and groom (and their wedding parties) were excellent sports in receiving direction from me, as well as helping to add their own twist to shot ideas and execution. What a great couple!

I will admit, I got lucky at the unfortunate fact that there was miscommunication between the wedding and the limo driver, so I was awarded about 20 crucial minutes beyond what I would have had with the couple for cocktail hour shooting. This extra time actually led to one of my favorite shots with Tiffany (1st photo below) as John worked out the details for transportation.

Here are a few shots from our shoot after the ceremony, and a few details shots from the bridal prep, and reception: