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Tuesday, April 23, 2013

The Lesson Snow Taught Me About Photography

Posted in Engagement Sessions

Recently snow taught me a lesson.

Yep. Simple, bare, unadulterated snow.

The lesson took place a few months back during an engagement session I did in December. I’ve already shared recently how photographing in the snow can be a lot of fun. :) This winter, I’ve done a number of shoots in the snow, and while this of course isn’t the first year that I’ve photographed in snow, I feel like this year in particular, the snow has taught me quite a bit about shooting in different environments and utilizing what you have around you to make great images.

At the start of the shoot, I got some fun shots, in some fairly standard spots: stairs, trees, open spaces with pretty backgrounds, etc etc….

But then we got to a place where I found that there wasn’t as much to work with except for snow. Lots and lots and lots of the white stuff. Generally, as a photographer the rule is use what your environment gives you to make great images. If you have lots of color, use the color. If you’ve got great light, then make the most of the great light, but for some reason, I’ve rarely seen many photographers take a similar stance with snow. There’s something almost scary about snow and being OK with letting nothing but white dominate the majority of your frame. You feel like you need some other hints of color, or texture, but then I realized that in leaving those things out, I got a few frames of beautiful simplicity. The simplicity and “nothingness” of the snow allows the photographer to direct the viewer to exactly where he wants their eye to go.

It was at that moment on the hill that snow taught me that sometimes, it’s ok to not have depth.

Ok, to not have texture.

Ok, not to have interesting light.

Ok to not have all the things that I usually fall back on to make a great image, because ultimately great images (at least great images of people) don’t rely on those things.

Great images are made from great moments, and great emotion. And you don’t need all those things to accurately document a moment or emotion.

Many thanks to Kate and Brian for an awesome shoot… And thanks to snow. For teaching me once again, to just let go, to see and embrace what what I have around me, even if what I have around me is a lot of nothingness.

Till next time….

Posted in Engagement Sessions

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Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Washington DC

Posted in Current Affairs, Misc. Photos, Personal

I’m just gonna come right out and say it. I seriously love Washington DC.

Ok wait… On second hand, maybe I should have prefaced that. :)

Like most Americans I want to angrily pound my head against a concrete wall out of utter frustration when I see how dysfunctional politicians and political parties in DC can be. However, I love the history, the monuments, the museums, and the memorials of DC. As absolutely cheesy as it sounds, I love the reminders they give us of our past and the glimmer of hope those things present us for our future despite the tough obstacles and battles we face as a nation. I’ll always embrace a chance to visit DC, particularly if it’s not during the heat of summer or the bone chilling depths of winter.

A few weeks back I was there for a rare commercial shoot and spent some time after the shoot just exploring with no particular agenda in place.

While I had no idea when I scheduled the trip that the Supreme Court would be hearing one of the most controversial cases of the decade, I knew that I had to try to make a quick stop down there to see what all was going on. Even though the decision won’t get handed down for a few more months it was definitely an electric feeling to just be there outside and see so many people demonstrating so passionately for what they believe in.

Being at the Supreme Court while a controversial case is being heard is an unforgettable experience. Most of the people down there were normal every day people who had traveled across the country to either proclaim their emphatic opinions, revel in the energy of a passionate crowd, or just wanted to be able to say that “they were there.” (More than likely, it’s probably some combination of all three.) Of course, there were lots of interesting characters, some of them even protesting things that had absolutely nothing to do with gay marriage (like the issue of infant circumcision). There was this one interesting guy who was holding a Bible in one hand and a poster with a biblical verse in the other and was preaching to the crowd wearing a little microphone connected to a loud speaker on the ground next to him. Not sure exactly why he was wearing what seemed to be a potato sack over his suit… He and the protestors had a “mostly” civil discussion. It was certainly entertaining to watch. :)

If you’ve never seen the Vietnam memorial in person, it’s almost worth a trip to DC just to see that alone. The sheer number of names on the wall is utterly staggering. I wasn’t alive during Vietnam, and I’ve been to the monument several times in the past, but it never ceases to make it’s mark on me.

The Lincoln Memorial. Another favorite of mine in DC.

Posted in Current Affairs, Misc. Photos, Personal

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Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Photojournalistic baby photos

Posted in Personal, Portraits

There must have been something in the water last year.

While Katie was pregnant last year a flood of past clients came to us letting us know that they were either pregnant as well or had just had babies that they wanted us to photograph. While I don’t consider myself a “baby photographer” I really enjoy doing these sessions. I’ve often had people ask me the difference between shooting weddings and shooting babies, and to be completely honest there’s actually very little difference in how I approach them.

Now, I’m willing to concede that it’s quite rare that wedding shoots involve fun things such as projectile vomiting, poop, or coordinating for nap times, but the heart of my job is still the same. I tell couples that when they look back at their wedding album 25 years down the road I want the the photos to remind them of how they felt on their wedding day. It’s the exact same for baby photos. If they look at their kid’s baby photos the day after they drop their kid off for college I want those photos to remind them of how they felt when that college bound 18 year old was just an 7 pound infant who was on a every two hour feeding schedule.

As a new parent of a 5 month old I’m realizing that this period of parenthood is at both “the best of times and the worst of times.” For as great as parenthood is, the truth is it’s really really hard when you’re sleep deprived, you can’t remember the last time you showered, you have spit up all over your shirt, and even though you’ve tried everything you can possibly think of your baby just WON’T STOP CRYING. And yet despite all that… I wouldn’t trade the last 5 months for a billion jillion zillion dollars. No way. And I know that it’s not gonna be long at all until this specific period of wonderful newness is over and we’re on to a new stage, and then another, and another after that.

But right now…. I never want to forget this.

I know as much as I want to deny it, there will come a day (all too soon) when Vera is too big and cool to want to cling onto my index finger, and she’ll be too heavy for me to pick up and cradle in my arms, and the daily games of peek-a-boo will be a relic of the past. So, when couples come to me and ask me to shoot baby photos for their newborns I resist the popular modern trends of putting their sleeping baby in a basket with a cute puffy pink or blue bow tied around the handle or carefully place them sleeping on a perfect velvet pillow.

For me, that’s just not real enough.

I’m not judging those who take those kinds of photos or those who seek them out for their kids. It’s also not that I don’t care about capturing pretty pictures… it’s just that for me, the more real an image is, the more it parallels our actual experience, then by definition, the more pretty, and beautiful, and wonderful it is. I just want to capture who that baby is and who those parents are at their core. Baby sessions are awesome, because I honestly don’t really care what the baby is doing. Sleeping, smiling, screaming, eating, or a combo of all of the above because that’s real. That’s what I want to document so that when years down the road when that kid is getting scholarship offers to Harvard in the mail, or getting married, or even having babies of their own, the parents can remember what right now felt like.

Any parent knows however that “right now” changes A LOT with a baby in the first year. So I did a number of newborn sessions last summer/early fall and then have followed those up with 6 month sessions this winter/early spring. At some point down the road, I may highlight on the blog each client/baby individually in their own post, but for now I’ll just post a few of the images from the different newborn sessions here and then a few of the 6 month sessions that I’ve done more recently.

Now fast forward a little bit to some images from some of the 6 month sessions….

Posted in Personal, Portraits

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Friday, April 5, 2013

Beaver Creek Winter Wedding Photography

Posted in Weddings

I love shooting multi day events. For many couples their wedding isn’t contained in just one day, but rather they invite their guests for multiple days of cool activities leading up to the actual wedding. Jon and Ashley who are from Brooklyn invited guests from all over the country to come celebrate with them up in Beaver Creek, CO not for just one day, but three. The wedding was much more than just a mere ceremony and reception, there was tubing, welcome parties, tuxedos, smores, skiing, classic books of literature, etc etc. To say it was a fun party would be… quite an understatement. :)

Here’s just a small sampling of the 6,000 some images I captured over three days of shooting Jon and Ashley’s epic wedding weekend.

The weekend started off with a fun rehearsal dinner up at Allies Cabin in Beaver Creek.

Ashley made the chalkboard menus herself. Amazing.

The next day the gang met out at the tubing hill. So much fun. I’m not gonna lie… I may have put my camera down and enjoyed one or two runs down the hill myself. :)

Later that evening, everyone met up for a fun welcome party at the Westin in Beaver Creek where people not only had dinner, but fun smores as well. :)

And then the actual wedding day…. :)

Jon is a graduate of West Point and served our country both in Afghanistan and Iraq. I think it’s safe to say he knows how to shine a pair of shoes. :)

Beaver Creek got a good bit of snow on Saturday, and it provided an amazing backdrop for the pictures… (more to come on this below…)

The timing of heavy snowfall couldn’t have come at a better time than when I was shooting pics of the bridal party and Jon and Ashley alone. Snow works well when it’s snowing HARD and the weather didn’t disappoint. :)

This next image might just be my favorite shot from the whole weekend. I just love how happy they both look. The wedding, the parties, the snow… months worth of planning had finally come down to this day and everything was perfect. Ashley’s expression in this image isn’t something I can “direct” or ask someone to do… You just have to set up a shoot in such a way that it can happen organically and then be ready to capture it.

Ashley and Jon had a super creative theme for guest table cards. They created these bookmarks and then put them in these old books. They continued the theme in the guestbook, asking people to write notes in the margins and blank spaces in old copies of classic books that they had collected. Super original idea that was executed really well!

First dance

The next day I joined Ashley and Jon out on the slopes to document their first run as husband and wife.

Ashley and Jon… You guys are amazing and your months of hard work and planning paid off in an incredible three days that I don’t think anyone who was there will soon forget.

The wedding wouldn’t have gone off nearly as smoothly as it did without several people, first of whom would be the amazing Rachel Hagen of Talia Events. Not only did Rachael do an outstanding job of making the wedding go off without a hitch, she did it while being pregnant! Unreal! I’ve looked forward to working with Rachel for a few years now and was so glad we finally got to work together for this event.

A few of the other venders who did outstanding work for Jon and Ashley:

The Cake: Intricate Icings (you may recognize Rachel, the wizard behind Intricate Icings from several of her appearances on The Food Network)

Flowers: Bare Foot Flora. Amazing Amazing Amazing. :)

Posted in Weddings

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