TinyComet Photography Blog - Salt Lake City / New York City Wedding and Portrait Photography

More NYC

2012-01-30T22:29:00.002-07:00

A little bit more from my favorite city, this time taken with my real camera.

Bride's Choice 2012

2012-01-23T21:51:00.001-07:00

Well THIS is pretty exciting!... :)

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{Salt Lake City, UT} – January 23, 2012 – WeddingWire, the nation's leading wedding Marketplace, is excited to announce TinyComet Photography has been selected to receive the prestigious WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2012 for Photography!

The esteemed annual awards program recognizes the top local wedding vendors from the WeddingWire Network who demonstrate excellence in quality, service, responsiveness and professionalism within the wedding industry. While many industry awards are selected by the organization, TinyComet Photography was selected based on its stellar reviews from past newlywed clients.

TinyComet Photography is recognized as part of the top five percent of wedding professionals in the WeddingWire local vendor community, comprised of over 200,000 wedding professionals throughout the United States and Canada. The Bride’s Choice Award recognizes the best local wedding vendors across 20 service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers, based on their overall professional achievements throughout the past year.

“WeddingWire is thrilled to honor the success of the top-rated wedding professionals within the WeddingWire Community,” said Timothy Chi, CEO, WeddingWire. “Since the launch of the Bride’s Choice Awards™ program four years ago, thousands of outstanding wedding professionals have been recognized by the bridal community for their supreme service and dedication to the wedding industry. It is with great pleasure that we congratulate TinyComet Photography for their continued professionalism and commitment to enriching the wedding planning experience for engaged couples.”

We are happy to announce that TinyComet Photography is one of the very best Photographers within the WeddingWire Network, which includes leading wedding planning sites WeddingWire, Project Wedding, Brides.com, Martha Stewart Weddings, and Weddingbee. We would like to thank our past clients for taking the time to review our business on WeddingWire. Thanks to their positive feedback we were able to receive the WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ for 2012.

For more information, please visit our WeddingWire Storefront today at http://www.weddingwire.com/biz/tinycomet-photography-west-jordan/f39f5a51b8dc556c.html

To learn more about the Bride's Choice Awards™, please visit www.WeddingWire.com.

About WeddingWire, Inc.
WeddingWire™, the nation's leading marketplace serving the $70 billion wedding industry, is the only online wedding planning resource designed to empower both engaged couples and wedding professionals. For engaged couples, WeddingWire offers the ability to search, compare and book over 200,000 reviewed wedding vendors, from wedding venues to wedding photographers. WeddingWire also offers a comprehensive suite of online planning tools for weddings, including wedding websites and wedding checklists, all at no charge. For wedding professionals, WeddingWire is the only all-in-one marketing platform for businesses online and on-the-go. WeddingWire offers one simple solution to build a professional network, improve search visibility, manage social media and reach mobile consumers. Businesses that advertise with WeddingWire appear on WeddingWire.com, ProjectWedding.com and other leading sites, including MarthaStewartWeddings.com (NYSE: MSO), Brides.com and Weddingbee.com.
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NYC + iPhone

2012-01-21T20:30:00.000-07:00

Wandering through my favorite city last year in May, a few days before the wedding I flew out there for, and snapping shots with the iPhone and my Holga. Don't know where the Holga shots are and I'm probably not gonna dig them up. There's actually a shot on the website that you can check out. It's the 4th shot from the beginning (the lake at the park - love that shot). It's the only shot I kept from that trip I think.

Anyway, iPhone shots:

3 days later, the DAY before the wedding in question, I ended up in the hospital with an incredibly painful ulcer, followed of course by a Lamborghini Gallardo sighting. Ulcers and Lamborghinis go together? I hope not...

Kendall in the summer

2012-01-18T21:41:00.000-07:00

It's been forever and a half... The last 3 months or so have been absolute hell... Let's see if I can't return to consistent blog posting.

Here's Kendall from last summer. Doesn't she look a lot like Britney Spears in some of those shots?

While I was in St. Louis...

2011-10-31T12:41:00.000-06:00

As with any city I visit, I like to wander, enjoy, and take pictures.

Also, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! Here's my costume for this year

Luke + Lindsay in St. Louis

2011-10-28T13:18:00.001-06:00

Have you noticed the exciting new look on the blog??? It's much more like me to have a collage of pictures than a column of text and pictures... Click on the images or text, and you'll still get the classic view. Don't like the weirdness? You can change it to how it used to be on the top left corner by clicking on "Classic". You have a host of other options to choose from as well. Enjoy!

Alright, onto the pictures!

It's been a while! How are you? Good? Good! Me too. Been incredibly busy, a trillion things have happened since I've been gone, but here I am, back at last!

And I'm going to catch you up with this wonderful couple: Luke & Lindsay were married in beautiful St. Louis, Missouri. You may remember them from 2 other shoots (bridals here and engagements still on the website), and I finally shot their wedding.

Yes, there was rain on the wedding day, and yes, for those of you who know your gaming history, these are absolutely moves from the old-school video game called Streetfighter. I remember playing and beating that game when I was just a kid :)

Here are the results:

TinyComet and Elenin

2011-09-15T11:02:00.000-06:00

I happened to Google "TinyComet" this morning and came across a curious discovery.

You may already know this, but there are people who believe that Niburu is a (fictional) planet which will somehow bring the end of the world on December 21st 2012...

Total load of crap. In fact, please someone book me for a wedding on December 22nd so we can have a good laugh about it.

But these are the same people who believe that the Tiny Comet Elenin, which is in fact a real comet floating around in space, is somehow going to spell disaster for earth...

Also a total load of crap.

But it means that now, and probably more so in the future as December 21st 2012 draws closer, when you Google TinyComet, amid the large number of links that take you to this blog or the website or Facebook or whatever, you may find theories about the end of life as we know it and the comet that will bring it to us.

So I just thought I'd share a video from a NASA Space Scientist David Morrison, explaining away all the craziness:

The summer ends...

2011-09-05T20:46:00.000-06:00

I can't believe summer is already over... Every year, when Labor Day rolls around, I say exactly the same thing. Maybe one day I'll live in California, where the summer never ends.

In the meantime, here's some shots of my boys at the local swimming pool, and a rare couple of pictures of me too.

And now a bunch of shots I took with my good friend Brittany. Wandering around in her neighborhood with a Holga:

Felicia Fuller

2011-08-29T21:14:00.006-06:00

This girl was absolutely astounding to work with. She knew how to move and just look at her! Aaaaand, she does BALLET!! My head is gonna 'splode...

I've been waiting so long to share this with everyone, and the time is finally here...

If you don't say it, I will:

Holy crap!!

Many thanks to Felicia for all the hard work (she makes it look easy, but it was hard work doing ballet moves in a studio while keeping track of lights) and Genevieve Jaslowski for hair and makeup and holding up the reflector outdoors

Some random stuff

2011-08-23T16:29:00.003-06:00

I remembered a picture I wanted to update my website with (I ended up adding 2 new images to my Personal Work gallery, here - VERY proud of image #1 right now, plus it reminds me of beautiful New York City), and as I dug back into my old archive of unblogged photography, I found a photography outing I'd done recently with one of my best friends and had to share.

Enjoy.

Ghosts

2011-08-12T13:43:00.003-06:00

Working through a wedding and came across this little gem:

Tip of the Week is late....

2011-08-11T20:09:00.001-06:00

It's been a tough personal few days... Tip of the Week will be back on Wednesday next week.

TinyComet Photography's Tip of the Week

2011-08-04T11:22:00.003-06:00

Welcome to another installment of TinyComet Photography’s Tip of the Week!

Last week, I talked about strong winds on your wedding day. Today, GROUP PHOTOS.

Ask any photographer and most of them will tell you that group photos can be the most stressful time in the whole wedding.

By a long shot, too.

The fact is, large groups of people are incredibly disorganized, really hard to keep together and oftentimes not at all interested in standing still and smiling for pictures. And let’s not forget parents, whose kids never wanna stand still for pictures under any circumstance! So it’s important that you start with the largest group you want for pictures first, then cut down the group into smaller and smaller chunks. If you don’t do this, people will scatter very quickly. Pretty soon you’ll send someone to look for Uncle Bob, but by the time he’s back, three of your cousins are gone...

The people closest to you (immediate family, close friends, bridal party, etc.) usually stick it out to the end, but almost everyone else will sprint to the buffet! Get them shot first and send them off as soon as you can!

Here's an example of a recent group shot:

If you'd like more tips, scroll down on the blog to find older entries, email me or visit the websiteand get in touch that way.

Tune in next week for another installment!

Kyle + Xan = Models

2011-08-01T14:41:00.005-06:00

Yes, this is technically a couples shoot, but these guys were pros, so that's not very fair to real couples... Still, this was a fun shoot :)

TinyComet Photography's Tip of the Week

2011-07-27T21:19:00.006-06:00

It's been a busy day but I haven't forgotten! Welcome to another installment of TinyComet Photography’s Tip of the Week!

Last week, I went over some tips for what to do if the weather on your wedding day is overcast. Today, I’m going to talk about something similar: STRONG WIND.

Let’s get the obvious out of the way: unless your man has long hair, he doesn’t have to worry about wind in the least. But you, the bride, are worried. You’re worried about your hair, you’re worried about your veil and depending on your dress, you might be worried about that too.

Don’t worry! Even if the lining of your veil isn’t heavy enough to keep it down, it’ll get you laughing through your tears at the altar as you try to keep it under control, and that makes for awesome pictures. As for the dress, I’ve never seen one lift up from a gust of wind, even those beach dresses made with the lightest of fabrics. And your hair? The answer there is simple: wind does absolute WONDERS for your hair! If it’s slicked back, not much to worry about. But if it’s down, the wind will blow it around to make shapes you couldn’t otherwise get without wind.

Don't believe me? Check this out:

This gorgeous bride was shot on the rooftop of a New York City building. The wind was blowing really hard that day... And MAN did it make for some amazing shots!

Here's an example with a professional model:

As you can clearly see, even with your hair in your face, things can look quite stunning.

If you'd like more tips, scroll down on the blog to find older entries, email me or visit the website and get in touch that way.

Tune in next week for another installment!

More from my good friend, Holga

2011-07-25T21:07:00.006-06:00

Here's some more random stuff from my recent visit to beautiful New York... Oh how I miss that city...

Sadly, I didn't give the dude a dollar for a joke. I was too worried he would suck and I'd just stand there awkwardly, not laughing... Also, I didn't have a dollar bill, and he probably didn't take American Express.

TinyComet Photography's Tip of the Week

2011-07-20T16:19:00.004-06:00

Another installment is here!

Last week, I went over the terrific importance of good lighting. Today, I continue with more info on lighting, but this will be more like words of reassurance: DEALING WITH AN OVERCAST WEDDING DAY.

If your big day has bad weather on the horizon, don’t panic!!

First off, an overcast sky means softer lighting, and that will make for soft, beautiful results. Sure, you won’t end up with really dramatic results the way you’d get if there was sunlight, but an overcast sky also means that a photographer can shoot from any angle and not worry about BAD light (like direct sunlight, as mentioned in last week’s Tip of the Week).

Second, even if it rains, professional photographers have equipment that can withstand bad weather, so no worries there.

Finally, rain makes for incredible memories and more photo ops than a sunny day. A stolen kiss from under the umbrella, running for cover as it comes pouring down, groups of people huddled together and smiling at their misfortune. The list goes on and on. I do get that nobody wants rain for their wedding day, but everything can be turned to your advantage!

The following shots were taken on a wedding in St. Louis, where the weather was absolutely sunny and perfect... Until the wedding day, and then it came pouring down (it was almost torrential rain during parts of the ceremony!).

Tell me they don't look happy anyway! Rain schmain :)

If you'd like more tips, scroll down on the blog to find older entries, email me or visit the website and get in touch that way.

Tune in next week for another installment!

NYC Wedding - Holgarized

2011-07-19T17:04:00.004-06:00

Early into my conversation with Lauren about shooting her wedding in downtown Manhattan (specifically in gorgeous Soho), she made it clear that she was very interested in my shooting some quirky Holga photography for her.

I just about fell off my chair when she asked for it...

I'd never had anyone ask me to shoot with my beloved Holga before, so after a quick warning about its unpredictability, I absolutely jumped at the opportunity!

Goodbye house!

2011-07-19T16:51:00.007-06:00

It's been a long time comin', but the sign is up at last. I've created a ton of memories in this house, but it's time to move on.

I'll be moving towards downtown Salt Lake City and I've got to say it; I'm thoroughly gonna enjoy living in an apartment again. I just hope my neighbors there are as good as one of my neighbors here! haha

Oh and here's a more artistic shot of my house, as found on the website in my Holga portfolio:

I love that shot... It's the kind of scratched up 5x5 print I can imagine showing to my grandkids someday as a place where "the old man used to live".

Goodbye house...

TinyComet Photography's Tip of the Week

2011-07-13T16:59:00.004-06:00

Welcome to TinyComet Photography’s Tip of the Week! I'll be doing these every Wednesday :)

Today, I begin with possibly the most important tip of all: LIGHTING.

I can’t emphasize enough just how important light is... Light truly is everything in photography.

Now, with engagements and bridals, I have more say in when and where we should go (which any good photographer will do primarily because of light), but for your wedding, it’s all you! So when you’re booking your ceremony/reception venue, think about how much natural light you’ll get indoors for example. Does it seem dark even in broad daylight? Take a camera with you for some snapshots, because your camera is your best gauge for how dark it really is in there (your eyes can adjust to just about anything). What about outside? Is there any shade? Sunlight right in your face may feel great, but it makes you squint and makes for harsh, unflattering shadows.

Here's a couple examples from my own work.

Indoors, poor lighting with occasionally cool stuff:

Outdoors, hiding in the shade, bright sunny day:

If you'd like to know more, please don't hesitate to email me or visit the website to get in touch.

Tune in next week for another installment!

Nick & Kari

2011-07-12T15:01:00.005-06:00

I've shot Kari not once, but twice before. Suffice it to say that I always enjoy working with her. This was a bit different though, because she and Nick (her very handsome boyfriend) needed to have some new headshots done for their numerous acting gigs.

A major shift from just a few years ago, acting headshots tend to be in color these days. I still preferred black and white.

A couple Holga shots

2011-07-05T21:01:00.004-06:00

It's been such a difficult few months... Here's a couple random snapshots from my trip to St. Louis:

Rob + Jessica (and their dog)

2011-06-30T12:31:00.005-06:00

I must admit, I've forgotten Rob & Jessica's dog's name... But MAN was he strong! He was only about 2 years old, but he was big, strong and full of energy and excitement.

These two were such fun to work with. And I've already shot their wedding, so that'll be coming soon(ish) as well. Getting Jessica to giggle was such an easy task that it was the serious stuff she struggled with! Getting her to NOT smile was a sure fire way to have her burst into laughter.

Here's some of the stuff we ended up with:

Featured!

2011-06-20T22:22:00.000-06:00

I've been too busy with work to keep up here on the blog, but here's some exciting news: Scott & January's engagement session from not too long ago was featured on The Bride And Groom's blog!!

Click on the image below to go to it.

Lindsay's bridal shoot

2011-06-14T14:40:00.007-06:00

Lindsay wanted to surprise her husband-to-be with a bridal session, so she specifically asked me not to mention anything anywhere, especially on Facebook where he might catch wind of what we'd been up to, until after the wedding...

Well... Despite a major setback, that stunning wedding (mark my words, it's gonna end up being featured on the website - yeah, it's that good) took place on May 14th, so I'm finally free to share these gorgeous shots with the rest of you awesome people :)

Oh and if you just glance at these shots, it'll go without saying that Lindsay is a real treat to work with. She was super excited about being around horses (thanks Lori for hooking us up!) and brought with her, as she always does, a terrific sense of humor and her laid back attitude. You really, really can't go wrong with any of that!

Video games and how far they've come

2011-06-10T14:07:00.005-06:00

I'm not even gonna warn you; if you're not interested in geeky video game stuff, the title already has you running in the opposite direction.

I'm not sure that I can call myself an avid gamer. I think avid gamers spend enormous amounts of time playing and I just don't have that kind of time anymore. Even late at night, when all the work is done and I can relax, I usually choose to watch some TV over playing a game.

Now, even though I don't enjoy a great TV show as much as I enjoy a great game, there's a couple of reasons for it. The first is that if I start a game, I know I'll be invested for at least an hour, and it's already midnight by this point. I like my sleep. The second is that playing games makes me very tense. So not only will it be 1 or 2am, but now it's gonna take me another hour to fall asleep.

TV, being the passive medium that it is, throws me into auto-pilot mode just in time for bed, all in the space of a 22-minute show.

Still, I do love my games.

And I recently pre-ordered my copy of Battlefield 3.

But today it finally dawned on me how far video games have come when, as I watched the beautifully rendered stills from the in-game footage, knowing full well that they look that much more spectacular in motion, I randomly and very suddenly thought of PONG. All I could see in my mind was a still frame of PONG (not that that's hard to do) while my eyes were seeing screengrabs from Battlefield 3...

Holy cow...

So I can't help but wonder how much further we'll go in another 40 years of technological progress. Virtual reality has to be the next logical step forward, but let's be honest, it hasn't made the leaps and bounds we might have expected from it, nor is it as widely popular as video games. A computer is much more accessible. So is an XBox, a Wii and a Playstation.

So there you go... This is a photography blog, but I used to be a 3D Animator and I remember what it was like working for a gaming company. I'm still into gaming, so every now and then you're gonna get stuff like this :)

The other Nicole

2011-06-08T21:52:00.005-06:00

Remember Nicole K from last week? Well this is the other Nicole; Nicole Wimmer. Also from McCarty Talent, except she's in charge of a sizable portion of the operation there. When I need to book talent from McCarty, Nicole is almost always my point of contact.

Now, this girl really knows how to move. I've known few models like this in all my time working with them, so it's always a real pleasure, but she did have a harder time than she's used to for our shoot.

You see, Nicole was beginning to rebuild her portfolio as a plus-size model... If you've skipped ahead and glanced at the photos below, I know what you're thinking, and I'm with you. Unfortunately, the realities of the modeling world are so radically different from real life that the definition of "plus-size" begins much sooner than it otherwise would.

So, not having modeled in quite some time, working the camera as a plus-size was very different from the usual for Nicole.

Still, she does know how to move and it absolutely shows:

Nicole K

2011-06-01T15:16:00.005-06:00

Not long ago, I had the tremendous opportunity to work with a new face, plucked from the local acting and modeling agency, McCarty Talent. Immediately after seeing a few shots of her, I knew I wanted to work with Nicole K. I knew she was fresh into the modeling scene (ie. hasn't quite learned how to move naturally for the camera) but felt confident I could get the shots I needed out of her.

I'd say I placed my bets well. Here are some of the results:

Crimes of the Heart

2011-05-22T10:57:00.008-06:00

It's been a while. One day short of three weeks in fact. And according to recent predictions, today is The Rapture: D-Day + 1! How are you feeling? Good? Good. I feel hungry, but otherwise I'm fine :)

Back to reality though; this was a behind-the-scenes shoot I did for Crimes of the Heart, a play performed superbly by some of my local actor friends. I didn't get to see the play for myself until 2 days later, and what's funny is that I had about as much fun observing the behind-the-curtain craziness as I did watching the play.

So many funny things we had to whisper and hold back the laughter for...

Promise, I did not write this, nor did I encourage it. What's really funny is what I'm not posting here, but these messages to me got completely out of hand! Somehow it ended up involving silverback gorillas.

Scott & January's Engagement plus a little something else...

2011-05-02T11:47:00.012-06:00

Before I begin, an exciting announcement:

TinyComet Photography is teaming up with the immensely talented wedding planner, Taylor-Made Weddings and Events!! Make sure you connect with Taylor on Facebook as well.

As a wedding planner, Taylor's job is multi-faceted. Her work means removing stress from your life, it means paying attention to minute details in the way only an experienced wedding planner can do, it means dealing with issues on the fly and resolving them professionally, and so much more.

Hiring a wedding planner makes a world of difference, so check her out. Oh and as an added incentive, when you book me for your wedding photography, you get $100 off of any of Taylor's packages!

Alright, onto some photos. Here's a recent engagement shoot I did with Scott & January.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'm all about showing off who you are and what makes you unique. Pretty pictures of couples in fields are great, so chalk it up to some A.D.D. on my part if you want, but I need to try something new and different every time I go out with my camera, so when I go out to photograph my millionth engagement shoot, there's nothing more new, different and exciting than a couple of unique individuals:

Oh hail

2011-04-25T21:04:00.005-06:00

Spring can be weird sometimes...

This is what Salt Lake City looked like prior to a massive hail storm, which hit right as I said goodbye to my models:

I shot Kari Hawker (again - that's because I always love working with Kari) and her boyfriend Nick's acting headshots downtown. Nick actually starred in a short film I shot recently and was terrific in it. Anyway, those headshots will be coming soon

A few more from my film photography

2011-04-24T14:36:00.006-06:00

It's been and continues to be incredibly busy. Eight shoots between Wednesday and this coming Thursday... They're not all huge shoots, but they're keeping me out there, shooting.

I love weeks like this. Sure it's hard, but man does it feel good to generate some new work.

Here's the last of my shots from my rolls of film from right after my trip to New York:

New York City

2011-04-16T22:13:00.004-06:00

I never, EVER tire of going to New York...

I didn't get a chance to really shoot much while I was there. I was way too busy meeting with clients and such and I was only there for two full days. Shoulda planned a longer visit.

On the plus side, two of the clients I was meeting were brides, and I'm very excited to be shooting one of them next month! Bonus visits to the city! :)

Can't wait to go back.

Here's a mixture of 35mm and Holga shots:

Kari Hawker

2011-04-04T16:48:00.007-06:00

Some models make me exclaim "holy s#!t!". Every time I work with them, I can't believe what I'm getting.

Kari is one of those models.

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this on the blog before, but there's more to modeling than just being pretty. There's professionalism, there's reliability, there's flexibility, there's passion, there's creativity, there's versatility, there's hard work, but above all, there's the way they move.

Photography is of course all about the STILL image, but I can tell you how well a model moves by looking at their work. The better they know how to move, the less a photographer has to do. With an exceptional model, you just point, shoot and occasionally suggest something.

Now I know that the large majority of my blog audience aren't models. I mean, I work with handsome and beautiful people, but modeling is an art in and of itself. Ergo, most people aren't models, regardless of how good they look.

So my job with you becomes to coax it out of you, to get you in a situation where you feel so comfortable that you forget the camera is there...

And that's when you're a model too :)

Back to Kari.

The last time I shot with her, it was in a cemetery and I kept asking her to look really sad. This time, it was all about looking really cool and man could she pull it off! Kari has all the qualities I mentioned above in spades, plus she's ultra nice. The complete package.

I hope I get to work with her many, many more times.

Mathew | Kristina // Engaged

2011-03-24T11:50:00.008-06:00

Yoga and a game of poker are two things I've never shot before. I had no idea what to expect; I don't know the first thing about yoga and I almost never play card games, not even poker. But man, what a blast Mat & Kristina were to work with on these concepts!

If you've seen previous engagement sessions I've shot (Justin & Melanie, Colby & Cayla and Luke & Lindsay - all under gallery ONE on the website), you'll know that I decided some time ago that it would be much more interesting if I shot a cohesive series that's unique to that couple rather than aim for a series of great but disconnected imagery that don't represent the couple in the least and looks like everyone else's photography.

It's more work for everyone involved, but I've been enjoying it a ton more than what I used to do.

Here's what we got this time:

Become a fan!

2011-03-22T15:53:00.003-06:00

Yup, I finally broke down and got myself a TinyComet Photography page. I'm a little late to the party, but hey isn't that how the rock stars do it? Show up late, check out early :)

Anyway, go check it out and become a fan!

Some cool photography coming soon.

It's cold in my garage

2011-03-17T12:52:00.005-06:00

I recently moved my studio background gear from my cramped little basement, with a ceiling so low that when I reach up I can lay my hand flat on it, to my garage, where the only way I could touch the ceiling is if I stood on my car's roof.

Or, you know, on a ladder or something.

But so it's given me a ton more space than I used to have. And with models 5'8" and taller, it helps to have both the vertical space and the depth to get the shots I want. I have no clue why I didn't do this sooner, but here I am now.

And here's Ashley, my first guest in my cold garage (I'll be getting a space heater when they're back in season):

Catching the Train

2011-03-07T13:45:00.005-07:00

Heather is a model I'd had the opportunity to work with before. She was wonderful and I immediately knew we had to try working together again.

Here's what came of our recent shoot:

Wandering through the neighborhood

2011-02-28T16:36:00.009-07:00

My girlfriend recently invited me and my boys to a treasure hunt. Yes, a treasure hunt. Apparently there are little cans and other tiny containers, hidden throughout the city and the country, that have little trinkets inside...

Once you find the (hopefully) well-hidden container, you open it up, fill out the log with the date and location, place another item inside and put it back in its hiding place. Some of the trinkets have little tags on them so you can see where they've traveled and how long they've been traveling.

Intrigued, I said yes. The following images (aside from that first one) is what resulted. All the shots were taken with my Elan 7E with a 50mm lens.

My little boy still carries the golf ball he got like it's the most valuable thing he's ever found

The X96 Film Festival

2011-02-24T00:05:00.005-07:00

I feel like a rock star.

I know that X96 is just a local radio station, I know that a sizable portion of the audience must have been crew and actors, but people I didn't know went out of their way to shake my hand, give me a hug and tell me what an awesome job I'd done on my short film called Coming Soon.

I just feel like a total rock star.

Let me back up a bit.

X96 is a Salt Lake City-based radio station. I went to their film festival with no expectations other than an opportunity for a night out. I think there were 23 films in total and the rules required that the films run no longer than five minutes, including credits.

The pre-show is over, all the theater seats are filled, the lights come down and the films start playing. Just three or four films into the festival, my film begins... And now my heart is pounding, I'm shaking in my seat, trying to control my breathing.

Is the audience gonna like it? Will they get it? Will they laugh in the right places?

The first joke comes along...

The audience roars.

I can't believe it. Forget that I can't believe it, I've never even heard such a large audience laugh to one of MY films! The film manages to offer perfect timing for the laughter to die off just before the next joke rolls around. The audience roars again.

This went on throughout the whole film. What a joy it was to hear so many people laugh! But once it was over, I could breathe normally again, I was no longer shaking and I could just enjoy the rest of the show.

So all the films are done and it's time to announce the nominees. There were only six categories. Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Drama, Best Comedy and of course, Best Picture.

Ready?

We got nominated for Best Actor, Best Drama AND Best Comedy as well as Best Picture.

We won... Best Actor and Best Drama and shoulda won Best Comedy if you consider the audience's reaction to our film compared to the contender (basically the other film's cast and crew cheered louder than we did when the nominees were announced).

When Bijan got called up for Best Actor, I cheered like a maniac. I was so excited for him and he'd done such a terrific job. When I got called up for Best Drama, I hesitated, thinking they'd made a mistake... I don't know what I sounded like up there on the stage, but I'm told I did fine. Even got a few more laughs.

And the suspense when they got around to announcing Best Picture was excruciating... I remember the auditorium fell silent, Bill Allred proclaims, "And the winner is............". A loooong pause... Someone behind us yells out "COMING SOON!!"

Sadly, the X96 film festival announced, big surprise, that the film called X96 (I believe the word to describe that title is "pandering") would win for Best Picture...

To their credit, the film titled X96 was something to behold. Good photography and great effects.

I don't feel cheated in the least and frankly, I feel like this is a huge win for me. Gauging by the audience's reaction to my film while it was playing and even afterwards, given that we were nominated for so much...

Well...

I feel like a rock star.

NYC's 2011 Wedding Giveaway!

2011-02-14T09:08:00.008-07:00

VALENTINE'S DAY STORY TIME!!!!

It's no secret that I'm in love with New York City and perhaps more importantly, that I'm moving there soon. Well... Soon-ish.

Fall of 2012!!

But one of the most exciting things I had planned for my move, was to offer a free wedding giveaway for 2011 to New York brides.

Yup. Free.

The rules were painfully simple: brides sent in their love stories leading up to their engagement. Best story wins!

I received an overwhelming number of entries, each more beautiful than the last, but one story stood out above the rest for me.

And here's the lucky couple. Michelle and Lazarus:

Laz & Michelle met briefly in the year 2000, seven years before reconnecting completely by chance.

Six years after their brief encounter, they bump into each other by way of a mutual friend. What are the odds of that in New York?! And yet... Still nothing.

Another year goes by and they come into contact once again. Third time's a charm, because this time it finally sticks. They start going on dates, sparks fly and the rest, as they say, is--

Wait wait wait... After all of this unbelievable luck, they did start dating, sparks did fly, but there was a real problem and their struggles were far from over.

Seven years is a long time. Long enough that Michelle had had enough time to become so hurt and jaded by past relationships that she had practically shut down emotionally. She cancelled dates, refused to spend time with him and generally kept him at bay. She was determined to keep him out of her heart.

Meantime, Laz won't let up. He sees something in her that has him convinced this is the girl for him. So he keeps calling, he keeps setting up dates (only to be shot down) and at one point walks - doesn't take the subway, doesn't take the bus - he WALKS from SoHo to Midtown to get her a Valentine's Day gift.

During a snow storm.

And I don't know if you've been to New York in the winter but the cold is brutal over there.

That relentless persistence finally pays off for him as Michelle begins, reluctantly and slowly, to open up. Before long, she finds herself falling deeper and deeper in love with him, losing the sense of control she once held so dear.

Fast forward to their 3-year anniversary, last year in June, and they plan a trip to Greece, including a visit to Santorini - iconic for its architecture and exceptional for its views - where Michelle had always dreamed of going.

They began their trip with Athens, then Mykonos, then finally Santorini.

And as they sat for dinner at a quaint restaurant overlooking the Caldera, the sun begins to set, the light turns a golden color and Laz gets off his chair and on one knee. She can't hold back the tears. Neither can he. He asks her to be his wife and of course...

She says yes.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

Justin + Melanie

2011-01-28T10:16:00.010-07:00

After picking out a bunch of personal favorites from Justin & Melanie's beautiful wedding for the sneak peek, I decided to do something very bold (for me at least) and go almost exclusively to black & white on all the images.

I'm really happy with what that did as a whole and it seems as though black & white is becoming a habit of mine. Almost anytime I try something in black & white, I fall in love with it and decide to leave it that way. Some of my shoots are even designed to only be presented in black & white, though these are usually model shoots (doing one later this afternoon! Woohooo!!).

Maybe my body is preparing itself for something I don't know is coming... Like going color blind...

Justin & Melanie, don't worry; your discs will still have everything in their original, non artsy-fartsy state as well :)

I'm going to start with my personal favorite from the whole wedding and quite possibly one of my all-time favorites:

Justin & Melanie's rehearsal dinner

2011-01-19T10:38:00.010-07:00

I hope you've already seen Justin & Melanie's engagement session on the website, under gallery ONE, but here's their rehearsal dinner I was invited to.

As always, working with them is a joy. Their wedding day will be coming soon.

The Piano Man

2011-01-10T18:18:00.007-07:00

There's nothing quite like beautiful light on a movie set. And this one had it in spades.

I always love being on set. It's just so much fun. Mind you, this is coming from a guy who's never been on any set other than small independent productions. I just love them to death, and I go shoot them whenever I can.

So when my good friend Andrew James called me and asked, "My brother Danny is shooting a short film in a really cool location, can you come shoot behind the scenes photography until midnight or later for no pay?", I didn't hesitate for even half of a hundredth of a second to jump at the opportunity.

Because first things first; if you're a photographer expecting to get paid for shooting on movie sets but you don't live in LA, you're deluded.

And since I'm not deluded, don't live in LA and love what I do for a living, I was on-board in a heartbeat, no pay and all.

Here's some of what I got from the set of The Piano Man. There were a lot of pink and purple colors that I wasn't so crazy about, so a lot of them are black and white. Besides, it focuses you on light rather than color.

Enjoy!

Art & Fear

2011-01-09T12:35:00.002-07:00

I struggle with art constantly.

Constantly.

A fellow photographer once suggested on his blog that the book Art & Fear was a must-read. Now, I don't blindly follow suggestions from fellow shooters thinking it'll bring me equal amounts of fame and fortune, but the title of the book did grab me.

Art and fear DO in fact go hand in hand (in my experience at least) and so I felt it may hold some great personal value.

I've almost reached its end and I can confidently say that it has done exactly what I needed it to.

I'm not as interested in learning technique, discovering some trick of the trade, or what have you, as I am interested in peering into what a fellow artist may be feeling during the process of creation. To me at least, that's infinitely more valuable than "hey if you use this brand new piece of gear, all your problems will go away".

Because - surprise! - they don't.

Besides, what photographer wants to be reduced to a mere technician? Yes, I hold a machine in my hands to do my art, but my aim is to be an artist first and let the machine extend my vision for others to see.

And that brings me to the quote I wanted to share on this blog, from the book Art & Fear, which itself quotes Anne Truitt's Daybook:

"The lawyer and the doctor practice their callings. The plumber and the carpenter know what they will be called upon to do. They do not have to spin the work out of themselves, discover its laws, and then present themselves turned inside out to the public gaze."

Four rolls of film

2011-01-06T21:40:00.000-07:00

I am completely enamored with film photography.

Shooting with my Holga camera (as seen on the website's HOLGA section under the gallery called THREE), has been quite the struggle to say the least. Mine is not modified at all, so the results I get are almost a complete surprise because of the incredibly poor way in which it was built. That's just how Holga is. It's part of the fun.

But then I bought the Canon EOS Elan 7E for a ridiculously cheap $55, and now I actually have a light meter! I actually have focus points! I actually have access to great lenses (the same ones I use professionally)!

In short, now I finally have the control I need from my rolls of film, and I can get what I want rather than hope for some happy accidents.

Let me start with one shot from my beloved Holga, then the rest is all taken with the Elan.

Oh my... What beautiful colors you have...

These are from a photo excursion with two special ladies in my life. Lori, thanks for tagging along in the cold, and Brittany, thanks for inviting me. Where are YOUR shots anyway?? Here's to you both :)

Sledding fun with the boys!

This is from a recent engagement shoot (coming soon), a past model shoot and then a random shot from wandering around on a recent foggy afternoon.

I know I've been awfully quiet around here since a couple days before Christmas, but I should be back to normal now. Keep your eyes peeled for more... stuff :)

I WIN!!

2010-12-23T13:50:00.003-07:00

NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

I love this shot. These two had such an energy going between them that this kind of happened on its own. I had them repeat it afterwards, but this first shot was so perfect that I didn't need the remaining attempts.

From another recent shoot I did with Stefania (left) and Marielle (right). I'm not posting all the images because some of them are sensual, even ambiguous, so I wanted to give you guys the choice to skip it. It's nothing bad at all really, but I prefer to play it safe.

CLICK HERE to go see the rest.

The Music Project - Part 2 of Infinity

2010-12-20T11:53:00.009-07:00

If you haven't seen Part 1, go check it out to better understand where I've been going with this. Progress is happening very slowly on it, but it's happening.

So here is Part 2. It was inspired by another one of Regina Spektor's songs, on the same album as Part 1. The song is called "Lady".

It started as a simple idea to show a performer getting ready, then performing. Pretty boring now that I've had some distance from the original plan, but as I listened to the song from time to time, I started seeing much darker images in my head. Anger, hurt and just overall self-loathing.

Once that happened, I immediately realized that it would be much more interesting to marry her wildly contrasting character facets into the same shoot and turn the subject of my study into a successful but self-loathing artist, something I'm sure many artists can relate to.

On one side, her impeccable, performing self, then on the other, the day to day agony that feeds her inspiration to create the kind of music her audience loves her for.

I worked once again with the wonderfully talented Shanda Palmer (makeup), Ashlen Saunders-Duke (hair) and for the first time, the absolutely gorgeous Cosette Jarrett, who incidentally had a really hard time with the character I threw her into.

Cosette is such a joyful and sweet woman... Asking her to smoke, smash a guitar, violently throw booze at a brick wall and generally appear very hurt, angry and troubled was a stretch and very much the opposite of what she's like in real life, but she pulled it off incredibly well.

Last but not least, many thanks to Suzanne Walker for allowing us to shoot backstage and on stage.

Oh and speaking of which, yes, it was snowing HARD at the end of our shoot! It was an amazing experience and gave the images a different feel than I'd expected. One that I think helped us in the end.

Hope you enjoy!

NURF Wars

2010-12-18T15:56:00.004-07:00

NURF Wars, a movie I shot so very long ago, back in the old days of DV tapes (remember those?) is now finally done!! And it's the reason I've been so quiet on here. Because the last part of making a film (in my workflow at least) is to make the music.

And I worked on the last portion of that original score for two weeks straight... I knew it would take about that long, and that's why I put it off as much as I did; because I find it hard to chip away at music-making.

Instead, I have to lock myself up in my basement and stop seeing daylight for a couple of weeks, just so it doesn't lure me out of the house, never to look back at my project again.

So I've been working relentlessly on what ended up being a score that ran all 18 minutes of the film. By the end of those two weeks, I was really tired of making music.

What I've found exceptionally hard to do in composing a score for movies is that you have to hit specific marks. The music has to swell and quiet down in just the right places. That's fine on its own, but you have to anticipate those peaks and valleys far enough ahead of time that you can ease into them and make them support the actual film. Not to mention mood changes, weaving in a recognizable theme, multiple things going on at once, scene transitions, etc...

It's pretty exhausting.

But in the end, it was well worth it. I can tell the progress that was made from the first song I made to the last one. I learned to handle the software and I learned to improve the craft.

I'm still no musician by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm no longer falling on my face, wishing I could just get myself to quit trying.

So without further ado, I hope you enjoy the last portion of the movie's music. The file is 18MB and 12 minutes in length, so if it doesn't load right away, give it a moment.

Enjoy!

WARNING: Music starts kinda loud :)

Breaking more stuff

2010-12-05T19:48:00.005-07:00

Apparently in keeping with my destructive habits, I broke my flash in addition to breaking my guitar, although to be fair, I broke my guitar on purpose, while the flash, I didn't want to break...

In the last portion of the shoot, there was a lot of wind and snow. The stand this flash was on top of, being a cheap and very light stand, toppled over and crashed down onto the cold hard cement. Without an umbrella to break its fall, although it remained in good aesthetic condition, it refused to fire after impact.

What REALLY gets to me is that for some reason, I never thought to pull out my third flash to substitute for the broken one...

And although the shoot took place over two weeks ago, I doubt I'll ever forgive myself for that one. Grrrr... The replacement was RIGHT THERE in my bag!!!...

Bah... Anyway, so I was curious as to why it wouldn't fire anymore and I thought I'd open it up and see what I could figure out.

I didn't figure anything out.

It just looks like I REALLY hate Nikon.

Breaking stuff

2010-12-05T17:42:00.005-07:00

Yep, I had a model recently break my guitar.

Nope, I'm not kidding.

Seeing as I only had one shot at this, what you see above is the test shot before she did the real smashing, to make sure I had the look I wanted, she was hitting the right spot on the wall, coaching her to make the right face, etc.

Stay tuned for the real shoot, coming soon!

A few updates

2010-12-02T15:22:00.004-07:00

If you're already my friend on facebook, then you just found out that I made a slight update to my website while still working on another one.

Go under gallery THREE and then click on iPhone to check it out.

Pretty soon, there's going to be a HOLGA section for all the Holga shots I've taken since starting to mess with it. Keep your eyes peeled for that, and in the meantime...

Hope you enjoy the new photography!

Heide model shoot

2010-12-01T21:21:00.008-07:00

A little while back, I posted about a personal crisis I was going through.

You may not have clicked through to what I wrote on my other blog (because it also contained some mild nudity from a recent model shoot), but, frustrated with my work and feeling like it was headed nowhere, I finally concluded that in order to make progress artistically, I was simply going to have to shoot a whole lot more.

Nothing groundbreaking or inspiring in and of itself. Very simple.

Just shoot more.

So I started doing just that with this gorgeous exchange student (just 17 years old), called Heide. All I knew going into this was that I had seen and was greatly inspired by ads for David Yurman jewelry and wanted to do something similar.

Here are the results. I'm very excited about these! Enjoy!

Many thanks to Heide for braving the cold wind and for working so hard with me!

Colby & Cayla - Engaged!

2010-11-30T14:53:00.003-07:00

I've been working on this one for a while and I'm very excited to report that just like I did recently on my pictures without pictures blog post, Colby & Cayla's engagement session is on the website! They're the first couple under the gallery section called ONE.

Enjoy!

The People Through My Lens - Jerramy

2010-11-24T09:47:00.005-07:00

Beyond just being an actor with whom I've worked on five short films (including the endlessly delayed NURF Wars - still in the works, naturally), Jerramy is another one of my close friends.

Strangely so, I think, because we're so radically different. Yin and Yang I suppose. I'm all about controlling my environment, he's all about going with the flow. I have a hard time letting go of precise planning, while he lets things evolve however they will.

So my first struggle with him when trying to setup this shoot was pinning down what exactly we were gonna do.

Me: "What defines you, Jerramy?"

Jerramy: "Living life, filling it with love and dreaming."

Me: "Dude, I can't shoot that..."

Love, for example, simply as a concept, is too broad and abstract to capture in an image. I shoot the consequence of love when I shoot a couple, I shoot the expression of love with a kiss or hands clasped together, but I can't shoot love. And I can't shoot life. And I can't shoot dreams.

So I kept trying and trying to pin down something tangible to shoot. This proved to be very difficult with him. We did come up with some ideas, but nothing I was crazy about.

So when I decided to meet him by a park, still without a solid plan I felt confident about, I called...

Me: "Hey where are you?"
Jerramy: "I'm in the north parking lot. I'm sitting on the curb next to my car, playing my guitar."

Me: "Don't move!! This is you!! This is our shoot!!"

Screw the park; we shot this in the parking lot instead! And this is my best representation of Jerramy. Easy-going, filled with hopes and dreams, and loving life however it comes at him :)

Oh and here's the NURF Wars poster Jerramy was the star of. See? It's making SOME progress! And yes, the "One Man. One Last Job. Lots of NERF Guns." tag line is obviously meant as a joke. Otherwise I think it would mean I'm currently stuck in the 80s.

The People Through My Lens - Lee

2010-11-22T10:03:00.003-07:00

The People Through My Lens project is still very much alive, and here finally is another addition to it.

Lee is another one of those uber-talented folks I know. I seem to come in contact with a lot of them! Poor guy's been waiting for me to finish my short film NURF Wars since February of 2009... Yes, Lee was in that.

Anyway, I've worked with him since then on projects from other local filmmakers, usually where I'm shooting behind the scenes stuff, so I knew him pretty well and knew right from the start that I wanted to include him in this.

I went to his house and although I wasn't gonna be able to shoot him in action as an actor, we started chatting and I quickly re-discovered just how involved he is with music. He regularly performs on stage, working closely with a lot of theater productions and, to my great delight, writes his own stuff. Either for the stage or for fun.

I always love to watch creative people at work. There's something deeply special about being the creator to something that is uniquely yours...

Ok, without further ado, here's Lee!

Luke + Lindsay. Sign-In Book!

2010-11-18T15:45:00.005-07:00

There's nothing quite like having an engagement sign-in book on your wedding sign-in table. Show off some great photography and give your guests a glimpse into your character as a couple.

Even more fun, give them an opportunity to scribble in some well wishes, tell you they love you, provide you with some marriage advice, or of course, the obligatory teasing and joking. There's always someone to do that and it's always awesome :)

I'm really excited to have just placed an order on Luke & Lindsay's sample 12x12 Sign-In Book!

Here's the book in question:

Call or email me so we can discuss how to make a sign-in book a part of your big day!

November 17th - "National Unfriend Day"

2010-11-17T13:30:00.004-07:00

I just read this news article about Jimmy Kimmel declaring today a National Unfriend Day, essentially asking us to unfriend those people on our facebook lists that aren't real friends.

I feel like I have to stand up and say something here. Partly because I get to shamelessly plug my Facebook profile and invite you to add me as your friend, and partly because it's such a benign issue that I feel safe in showing the strongly opinionated facet of my character.

At the time of this writing, I have four hundred and fourteen friends. That's a stupidly high figure and it always makes me laugh to see the friend count climb. If anyone had that many friends, life would be one huge, relentless party.

And make no mistake. I used the word "relentless". I could have used a word like "continuous", but that sounds like fun.

"Relentless" sounds like hell.

But obviously, none of us can claim to have that many actual friends. Of course not! In fact, thanks to Facebook's continuously (or relentlessly, depending on your perspective) updated functions, I've found myself needing to categorize a large portion of my "friends" into smaller groups.

The reason for this was initially very simple: I needed to be able to quickly see who was currently online in the chat window.

My personal record of online Facebook friends is currently at 46. That's a lot of online people to chat to... And I don't usually wanna talk to any of them.

Eventually, it became about organizing them in such a way as to be able to figure who I wanted or needed to talk to, just by glancing at my list.

If I need a heart to heart or just feel like chit chatting a little, I look to my A+ friends. I called them that because Facebook lists everything alphabetically, and nothing beats an A+, so they're always at the top of my list of online friends.

Oh and because they're real friends. I have sixteen of those in that group... SIXTEEN. Out of more than four hundred! And out of those sixteen, I'm very close to only six of them.

So I have six real, close friends out of four hundred and fourteen. Definitely sobering.

But if I need crew for an upcoming shoot, I have a Photography & Crew category. If I need to reach a model with a concept idea, I have a category for that. If I need to talk to one of my past or future clients, I have a category for that too.

And now we're getting to the heart of the issue.

Because now Facebook sounds a lot like a networking tool. You have a few real friends, and the rest is whatever you want them to be.

So where's the problem? In the article, Kimmel mentions Facebook cheapening friendship in its real sense... Sounds really stupid to me. If Facebook calling it "friends" is the issue, then this is a terminology issue. Would he feel better if we called them buddies instead?

"Hey when you get home, buddy me on Facebook" or "Why did you un-buddy me on Facebook ya jerk?!"

I understand and even agree to some extent with Kimmel's rationale for this. That Facebook's probably haphazard choice of calling everyone a "friend" is likely to give people a false sense of kinship when there isn't one to begin with.

But as long as I can mentally separate Facebook's definition of a friend from the REAL definition of one, I have no problem having over four hundred of them.

So uh... Add me on Facebook :)

Did you know about the other blog?

2010-11-14T20:28:00.003-07:00

Every now and then, I post something on one of my blogs that I don't post on the other. I keep the various facets of my work separated as much as I can to keep people from wondering what it is that I actually do.

But it's no secret to the readers of THIS blog that I love to shoot pictures of models.

I shot one recently that I'd like to share, but because of the nature of the photography this time (there's some mild nudity), I didn't feel it'd be appropriate to post the images here.

This isn't explicit by any stretch of the imagination (you can basically see through a female model's lacy nightgown), and I would encourage all of you go take a look. Many will see it as art, which it is, but I know that some of you may object categorically to the idea, so I didn't wanna force it.

I also have some thoughts on my recent crisis (juicy!!). Perhaps that'll excite a few more of you to go look :)

http://rajibarbir.com/blog/2010/11/14/my-yearly-crisis/

Enjoy!

NYC - Part 2

2010-11-08T20:17:00.009-07:00

Part 2 is here! What? Did you think I'd forgotten?

Well you'd be kinda right... I almost forgot. I've been Photoshopping furiously all day trying to get a very large sample album prepped for design. One of 5 more that I need to work on this month.

Anyway, so here is part 2 of my trip to NYC, in Holga-mode. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! Can't wait to go back in March.

Oh and I LOVE medium format film! I'm finally starting to get the hang of my incredibly light-hungry Holga and it's making me want to have some more control over a roll of film.

Now, although I'd love a medium format professional film camera like a Contax 645, it's much more expensive than I'm willing to spend on one right now (several thousand - not to mention development costs and then you have to think about lenses and I'm stuck having to buy cool but expensive Zeiss lenses), so I bought myself a 35mm Canon Elan 7E for an awesome $55! I should be able to use the lenses I already have on it. Bonus!

NYC - Part 1

2010-11-07T20:20:00.011-07:00

I've had a lot of catching up to do since coming back to Utah, but here at last are the pictures from my trip. I'm splitting up the pictures in two parts. Today, I post the pictures taken with my iPhone and my real camera.

Stay tuned for Part 2, coming tomorrow. They'll be Holga shots, so you know they'll be interesting!

Day 1: Spent most of the day in planes or the airport. When I landed, my phone started shutting down randomly, often and mostly wouldn't come back on. My sense of direction was in there (Google Maps), but even worse, so was my hotel's address... Then when I finally got to the hotel, it was a lot more dodgy than Travelocity had made it appear online. I switched hotels and got myself a long overdue dinner for a measly four bucks.

Delicious food is everywhere and at every price.

Day 2: My first actual day in NYC was spent wandering in a jetlagged haze and trying to get Apple to tell me what was wrong with my phone. Long story short, I now have a new one.

MAN I love New York's fall colors...

Day 3: I saw a couple of cops waiting for the same train I was about to get on in the subway. I had my giant pro camera with me, so like a crazy person I decided to try shooting some video in a public place and see what happens.

Cop: "Sir, what are you doing?"

Me: "I'm shooting some video..."

Cop: "You can't do that here, sir."

Me: "Why?"

She really didn't like that question. Fortunately, I was able to defuse the situation and she left me alone.

The law doesn't actually prevent you from shooting photography or video in any public place. I actually looked this up long before the incident, though I also knew that photographers have been getting increasingly harassed by authorities and stupidly painted in a very negative light.

I did end up shooting video in the subway, just when no authorities were around to give me trouble for it.

Still, I was bummed about the incident, wandered into Central Park again but within a few minutes got some calls from real estate agents wanting to show me apartments.

Day 4: After a long and busy day, my good friend Brittany requested some pictures of the Brooklyn Bridge. I was more than happy to oblige. It was already on my to-do list anyway :) Along the way of course, I took pictures and footage of what I could.

Day 5: Attended the PDN Photo Expo. Like a bridal fair, but for photographers shopping for stuff.

Later that night, wandered some more. It would be my last night there... :(

Day 6: Waited to push off from the gate for a little longer than expected, then finally climbed to the skies.

Day 6.5: The same night I got home, despite having already accomplished a LOT while in NYC (I know they pictures don't make it seem that way), some friends invited me to a Halloween party, so I went.

The dancefloor:

Some Holga shots

2010-11-05T12:35:00.005-06:00

Seems like forever since I've posted anything on here. It's been a weird month: busy, sick, New York, home, busy... and here I am now.

So here's an older roll of Holga shots I took before going to NYC. At the bottom, you'll see a belated Halloween slash my-birthday shot.

Yes, I'm a Halloween baby. I just turned 97!!! ;)

I'll be posting a bit more frequently so I can be a bit more caught up.

Featured!

2010-11-04T00:26:00.001-06:00

A couple of my summer weddings were just featured! One on BrideAccess and the other on The Bride And Groom

Enjoy!

Pictures without pictures

2010-10-31T21:49:00.003-06:00

So the next photo shoot in the queue for the blog was supposed to be Luke and Lindsay's engagement shoot from before I left for New York, but their engagement was so awesome that all the stuff I woulda posted here ended up on the website anyway.

So go check it out! It's under album ONE.

I want to also mention just how awesome these two were. I had already been wanting to expand the range of pictures in an engagement session to beyond simply posing the couple together, so when Lindsay (who had no clue what I was planning behind the scenes) suggested some ideas for the shoot, my head exploded and I subsequently wrote her several long long emails to make it happen the way I wanted.

Going back to my visit to New York, there may be some of you that didn't know I was there, but that would only be possible if you've either not added me on Facebook or you're not following me on Twitter.

If you'd done either, you would have seen a massive amount of activity during my week there. Plenty of pictures, many of which will be posted here soon...ish...

Yep, I love New York. I even bought the t-shirt.

Again.