James and Niru

One of my lifelong friends was married over the weekend. James wed Niru in a fantastic celebration of culture and love, and probably one of the most memorable events I've ever seen or been a part of. Not only did I get to see two great people unite, they threw one heck of a party.  With old and new friends abound, DJ Raj spun the hits and the dance floor barely stopped rocking.

I also may go my whole life without dancing and singing someone parade-style into their wedding ceremony for a solid 20 minutes. Did I mention he was on a mighty steed? No? Well he was, observing us honoring him in traditional indian fashion - white people dancing dances they just learned.

Congratulations guys, love you both.

Now, the photos...

Prior to the wedding, I was asked to photograph a gathering at the house of the parents of the bride.
The idea behind this was to capture the women getting their henna applied by the skilled artists they had on hand. Of course, I tried to simply document what was going on around me as well.

While the area we occupied was lit well enough, a larger and larger crowd accumulating presented its challenges, to find the angles and compete with ever changing shadow conditions with my limited setup.

Being relatively uninspired lately in my photographic endeavors, I think this latest body of work is enough to whet my appetite to get back into the swing of things with much more regularity. Looking forward to, of course, vacation redux after Hurricane Sandy waged it's war on my relaxation.

Salvaged shots

The photo meetup group that I attend at time announced a "Steampunk" shoot coming up. I decided it was high time I dust off my lenses, and finally get to shooting again. Unfortunately, there were significant pitfalls with this shoot.

The models were an hour late, cutting into the overall time we had. The location was not as promised (It had mentioned large window light availability), and the 3 areas set up had woefully inadequate lighting. It was far from ideal, but I managed to scrape together some shots worth posting.

At the very least, this whet my appetite for my favorite hobby again. Hopefully I'll get active out there again soon.

Trustworthy

Home and not feeling well. I decided to make the best of it by just doing a social commentary-inspired self portrait given what I am reading in the news. I don't really have an opinion on the matter, but I think this Martin case re-raises extremely interesting and ongoing questions about our society.

I also managed to break one of my lights in the kit during this, albeit learned a decent amount in the process about some portraiture lighting.

A moment of zen

The holidays always bring a certain amount of festive kind of stress, and the first in-law family gathering of the season had its moments.

For a fairly laid-back 29 year old, I felt myself in the rare situation of feeling a bit overwhelmed and over-stimulated. Children crawling over me and opening gifts, fragmented conversations in a confined space, combined with my strategic seating choice between everyone else and the food, was a stark contrast from just a few moments earlier.

Seeing the coming social storm, and just wanting some fresh air, I "borrowed" my wife away from the crowd to snag some photos in the quickly fading light. As she sat in the quiet cold, a pair of swans and several ducks made a beeline to us from perhaps a half mile away. Knowing better than I, Andrea got some bread to throw to our new fowl-friends to share.

Soon enough, we were back inside celebrating the season. However, it's times like this that remind me how often I overlook the tranquility of escaping to the outdoors once and a while.

Engaging in fun

In ancient Greece, tossing an apple to a girl was a traditional proposal of marriage; catching it was acceptance. Little did my friend Johanna know, she was to take part in this centuries old tradition on the day of her engagement.

Jay, her boyfriend and a good friend of mine, had worked in the tossing and catching of apples into their everyday routine as they had a relaxing day on Martha's Vineyard. When he finally brought her to her favorite beach and got down on one knee with the ring, he informed her she had already said yes...several times.

Upon hearing of their engagement, not only did I think Jay's tactic was clever, I was ecstatic for the couple, having known both of them since high school. When I was asked if I could do engagement photos for them, I was honored, and excited. They're great, fun people who are so clearly in love. As I hang out with them regularly, I knew they'd be a fun shoot.

When Jo told me they planned on having the shoot at an apple orchard, I had high hopes. The sun shone, the air was unseasonably warm, and the sky blue. They brought some props, and their good humor and fun.

Here's some of my favorite shots of some of my favorite people.













Congratulations, you two.

:)

Martin-Gramajo Wedding

How much can someone mean to you? While photographing the wonderful people at the Martin-Gramajo wedding, Laura and Justin showed everyone around them just what that can mean...

If means enough that you'll never forget.


It means you can make a promise to someone.


That you would walk in their shoes.


If you have something...


You would share.


If you were apart...


Then you make it count when you're together.


There were plenty of people at this wedding. Yet, so often I could tell that for much of their celebration, it was just the two of them, lost in the moment.

It was an absolute pleasure to be part of their day. Laura, probably the most laid back bride I've ever know, made life easy on me. I couldn't help but be laughing anytime I was within 10 feet of Justin. You could tell they were having fun.



Congratulations to Laura and Justin. I hope you both have a long and happy life together.

Portraits Updated: Finally!

Quick update:

My slow updated to my portfolio site continues. I've been absolutely devastatingly busy at work lately, so this has had to take a backseat for a while. I'm quite happy with the section's update as it stands. I've worked in some favorites from shoots in the past, new material, and new people. It's all spliced in throughout the section.

Next project: Landscape section. Hopefully it won't take multiple months again.

New section