Flashes of Hope

I got the chance to help out Flashes of Hope again this past week. This is a great organization that uses the power of photography to help kids and families battling cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. It's a chance for kids and families going through a rough time in life to get a chance to feel good about themselves. Working for newspapers for so many years this idea that pictures matter was somewhat abstract. Photographers typically don't hear about the positive impact that their pictures have in the community. Writers have their emails and phone numbers with the story but photographers are not given equal treatment. As a journalist, I always believed in the challenge of telling stories in places that weren't inherently dramatic. Not to dismiss the work I did in those kinds of places as a part of my career or those who devote their lives to that kind of work. But I find it a satisfying challenge to make extraordinary images out of ordinary situations. I was never a death and destruction kind of guy. It's great to be a part of photographing people for the simple purpose of affirming their life.

Ryan and Micah, pt. 2

So I worked late, and ridiculously fast, to get Ryan and Micah's slideshow up so that I could enjoy some time in NYC next week. I'll be attending the PDN On the Road seminar. I'll also be doing some more work on my, stagnant for this past year, religion project in Flushing, NY. No one has really seen this work outside of a couple friends and colleagues. Well, really just a couple colleagues. So, once it gets to a point of completion, I'll post it somewhere and put a link here to that. Or I'll get it published and then I'll post that.

Sachiko & Marty

Sachiko and Marty had a sweet and simple wedding in North NJ. Sachiko is from Japan, they met while Marty was teaching English, and are now making a go of it here stateside. Sachiko was lucky enough to have a couple friends come from Japan. Here's hoping the slideshow helps those who couldn't make it feel like they were there.

Micah and Ryan

A wedding is a wedding is a wedding and Ryan and Micah's was no different. Well, except for the half a dozen protesters and news crews and the mayor of Philadelphia. Micah and Ryan had the mayor, whom Micah works for until the new mayor takes office in January, perform their ceremony at City Hall. They incorporated and embraced some traditions not in their backgrounds, a Jewish Kettubah and the African-American jumping the broom, and some of their own, a reading of Mister Rogersisms as a guide to being a good person, or spouse. Their reception was held at the Penn Museum, before they headed off to their honeymoon in Israel and Egypt.

(Slideshow coming soon)

Congrats guys!

Grace & Jong

Grace and Jong had a long day of lots of stuff planned. including a traditional Korean tea ceremony punctuated by Jong carrying Grace piggy-back style in a series of circles around the ceremonial mat. Fun stuff! And then they opened their reception with a stylishly choreographed dance routine. I also got the chance to work with Danielle over at Lucky Productions Video. So great to work with someone else who's a true documentarian.

Tally - Ho

Erin and Jedd had an intimate wedding at Lehigh University, where they met, and the reception...er party, was held at their college hang-out, Tally-Ho. They sat in the booth where they sat on their first date, which was also the booth where Jedd proposed. The evening had the feel of hanging out with old friends in a friendly, familiar bar more than some of the formality of a lot of weddings.

On a roll

October's rush continues to keep life busy in these parts. Alicia and Vic began a crazy week of three fun weddings. They were followed up by Liz and Jason and the beautiful Bonnet Island Estate on the Jersey shore. Spending the day w/ Liz and Jason and their families was like hanging out with my own family. No, that's a good thing!

As if the location wasn't beautiful enough, Donna from Beautiful Blooms here in Philly had some dramatic and beautiful displays with great lighting design. And one of the best bands I've seen played. NYC Swing is phenomenal. They also played Shaun & Kris' wedding this past Summer at Yale University.

As always, the slideshow is posted at the right.

Alicia and Vic

Alicia and Vic kicked off their new life with an astonishingly unique ceremony. First of all, it was on a Wed. The ceremony was held in the Cape May Stage where Alicia works as their Marketing Director. Vic painted a backdrop inspired by the film, Pan's Labyrinth. Alicia and her father entered into a nearly pitch black theater with the bright light streaming in from the door as the only real light source until they got to the stage. They worked with the theater's lighting technician to craft a lighting scheme that included a fade to blue at the end of the ceremony. Add some ethereal music and you've got a lush, emotional setting. And of course, there was no Ella Fitzgerald for the first dance. A song from Chris Cornell's new CD set the tone.

The slideshow is listed off to the right and a few snaps are below.

busy busy busy

We're deep in the chaos of the busiest month of the year with lots of fall weddings, 2008 bookings and albums needing to get done for the holidays....new slideshows and updates on their way. well, soon. in theory.

New slideshows.....

Note the new slideshows from Whitney & Maury and Lara & Shawn....

More to come in the coming weeks!!!!

Double header

Not that I'm a baseball fan but it seemed seasonal.....This weekend was the first of two two wedding weekends this month. Congrats to Whitney & Maury and Lara & Shawn. And as if a wedding could have had a scripted ending, the picture of Whitney and Maury, at top, was literally the last moment on the dance floor.

Having just gotten married myself last summer, inevitably I pull out the high school essay question of compare and contrast when shooting a couple's wedding. Whitney & Maury made me jealous of their cake idea. Instead of a wedding cake, they had different cakes at every table. Brilliant and tasty. Lara & Shawn's wedding reminded me of how emotional and joyous a wedding can be. It reminded me of how dizzy you can feel from a daylong rush of joy.

On deck, to continue the baseball theme, are Alicia and Victor. Can't wait for this one. They're a couple with lots of dramatic ideas and style. I can't say anything too specific as there's a surprise in store for the guests.

old friends, new adventures pt. 2

After the visit to NC, Caroline and I went off to CT to my friend Corey's wedding. I could write a bunch about how beautiful and spiritual and fun it was but the picture here kind of says it all.

And I'm waiting on a picture of me, dangling 15 feet up on a ladder nailed to a tree to make this fine image.

old friends, new adventures

So the past couple weeks have been great for catching up with old friends. I first went to Raleigh, NC to visit some old colleagues from my newspaper days as well as visit my friend and colleague, Missy McLamb and her new beautiful studio/gallery space. I also spoke to a group of photographers organized by another friend and colleague Christobal Perez in the Triangle area about finding a sense of personal style as a photographer. I shot my first big time college basketball game, Duke vs. UNC, with Christobal about 8 years ago and now we're both running our own businesses and having a great time, continuing to grow, learn and make great pictures. Doing talks like these are always educational for me because I get to go back through some recent work to remind myself of who I am and to discover who I'm becoming as a photographer, and a person. It's good, fun, enlightening, surprising and rewarding to give back to a community.

Flashes of Hope

Here's my favorite pic from a recent volunteer shoot I did for Flashes of Hope. Something about her inner strength comes through in this sliver of an inbetween moment.

First post

I'll start my blogging life with a link to a recent feature in the WPJA sponsored WedPix magazine. It's an article about shooting style and starts off with a discussion about how I approach photographing a wedding and my way of looking for the essence of the many moments during a wedding. They chose one of my favorite pictures
from Rene & Matt's wedding this spring. The picture won 7th place in the emotion category of the WPJA's Spring contest.


There will be more updates coming soon....