NYC Wedding Photography

I did a shoot with Yossi and Dana in Las Vegas last March, and I was so excited to have the chance to shoot with them again. Yossi & Dana have a tender and vibrant energy between them. They are so loving and it makes them incredibly intriguing to photograph. In both shoots with them, I felt so caught up that I didn’t want to stop. There’s a crazy inspiring energy between them that I find so powerful.

Nelson, Nevada is a hidden gem of a location in the desert outside Las Vegas. The whole atmosphere of the area feels like a movie set. Actually, it has been a movie set before. The place was used in the movie “3000 Miles to Graceland” with Kevin Costner, and recently Beyonce posed there for a fashion shoot.

The combination of the amazing location, and the couple’s beautiful connection inspired me so much. When I am in a perfect shoot like that, it’s like a blissful combination of factors. I felt an adrenaline rush in my body as I snapped shots, and felt like I was floating on air. This kind of shoot isn’t about where you go, but pulling inspiration from the beautiful connection the couple has, and the loving energy between them.

It was interesting to find out that the place was a famous mine that produced several million dollars worth of gold, silver, copper and lead until 1945 when some of it was destroyed by a flash flood.

Now, what remains of the ghost town is a beautiful relic of its sordid past. As soon as we arrived we were greeted by abundant wildlife. A fox and a rabbit crossed our path and immediately I had the surreal feeling that we were on a movie set. It was so much different than a New York City scene like I am used to shooting. It was actually a very refreshing change of scenery.

The caretaker of the property showed us a picture of a 9 foot long rattlesnake that had just been found there! He warned us to be careful digging around because there are about 50 snakes living in the area. I told Yossi to sit down on a chair next to a boulder, when suddenly a small yellow snake jumped out and scared us all! Yossi freaked out momentarily, but soon decided that we should continue the shoot. I really have to thank them both for being so brave even after that! I’m sure it was a great experience for them.

I had a marvelous time shooting with with Alissa & Scott at the Brooklyn Promenade and 5 Pointz in Long Island City, who will be getting married this October at Bridgewaters.

I loved the juxtapositions of locations, the charm of the East River being paired with the urban vitality of LIC. I also really enjoyed the fact that Alissa and Scott were super excited for the shoot and dabbled in some styling with me beforehand. I just hope Scott can be forgiving that I convinced Alissa to buy some very expensive shoes from the Shoe Box in Murray Hill

The Promenade shots worked really well. Scott has that hip and and cool demeanor and Alissa is graced with that lovely daintiness that can transform a NYC skyline into a feeling of being in San Francisco.

5 Pointz is a living collage of graffiti art covering a converted warehouse full of artist studios in Long Island City. When you get there it feels likes you are diving into an overwhelming cacophony of colors. However, a couple does not get lost amidst the graffiti, but rather the graffiti provides the perfect visual backdrop of explosive eye candy that mirrors the energy and excitement of a fresh and deep relationship.

Below are a sneak peak of their engagement photos as well as the story, in Alissa’s words, of how their love came to be:

Scott and I have known each other for about 16 years but it wasn’t until we were about 16 that we started to become close friends. We definitely were flirty with each other but nothing ever came of it because as most teenagers are you have to be SURE someone likes you before admitting you like them. When we began looking at colleges Scott and I actually looked together. We took a trip to Massachusetts together with his parents and decided we were both going to go to college together. Unfortunately for me I did not get in to the school that we both chose. Scott went away to college and I ultimately stayed local and went to school in Manhattan. Through that time apart we lost touch.

In 2006 we were both living in Manhattan and happened to bump into each other at a bar. After not being in touch for almost 5 years we were both excited to see one another. I was running off to another party that night so we exchanged numbers. We met up a couple nights later to have dinner and catch up. Scott had a very different idea of what “catching up” meant and thought it was a date. I let him pay for dinner on the one condition that the next time we went out it was my treat. I think we both knew that this wasn’t a one time thing.

After that evening we continuously saw each other and spoke almost everyday. The connection between us was still there and it became obvious that we missed being apart of each other lives. Our rekindled friendship quickly became a relationship.

In July of 2009 we moved to Brooklyn together and we made a home together along with Mango our pug that is very much apart of our family. 6 months later on January 10th 2010 I woke up to a little black box next to me on the bed. I thought I was still dreaming but he surprised me with a proposal. I was ecstatic. Later that evening we went to our favorite restaurant in Brooklyn and he surprised me with both of our parents being at the restaurant. It was a very special day from beginning to end.

Our relationship began as a friendship and we always were comfortable with one another straight from the start. We knew that the night we re-met was the right time for us. Scott and I always had a special place in our heart for one another and we are so excited to be spending the rest of our lives together! We can not wait for October 23rd 2010…I might SKIP down the aisle!

After sending Bridget a slideshow with all the images from her engagement shoot, I received a very warm response:

Shira - wow! These are unbelievable, I can’t stop looking at them. You even made Art cry!!!! We are so happy that we have these wonderful photographs and can’t wait for the wedding. I can’t believe there are more! How many and when do you want me to pick up the cd? Again, thank you for such a great job. We know we picked the right photographer!!!! Both of my parents were amazed at the pictures!!!

It really means so much to receive such gracious appreciation!

I love Annie and Rich so much! You can see how in-love they are in every one of their pictures. I just finished a slideshow for them and wanted to share it with all of you, enjoy!

Annie and Rich will marry this June at Bridgewaters in NYC. It will be a special honor for me to shoot their wedding, since I shot Annie’s sister Dana’s wedding last year. One wedding, however, will not be enough of a celebration of their intense and abiding love, and they will have a second ceremony just one week later in Kingston, Jamaica at the Church where Rich’s GrandFather was once a priest.

Anne is an art teacher and it was a pleasure to see her creativity in action with many suggestions of walls and spots to shoot at. Rich, a first generation Jamaican-American, is filled with that infectious love of his culture and heritage, to which Anne readily took. They both love Jamaican music and brought with them a mini-sound system which greatly enlivened the shoot. It was an absolutely brilliant idea and created such a fun-filled energy that every construction platform and scaffold became an instant dance floor.

I have to say I was really excited by the clothes they wore. I always hint to my couples not to wear strict black or white as I feel it absorbs or reflects too much light. I love colors and ask that people express themselves and think about playful accessories. In that regard, Anne’s coat was stunning with a bright red that draws the eye and loves the camera. It was a perfect complement to Rich’s ultra hip style and funky cool Jamaican shirt. When I have a couple that puts effort and imagination into their outfits in this way, I cannot help but be inspired and have trouble taking my finger off the shutter. We had so much fun that the we all lost track of time and the shoot actually went on for six hours!

Halfway through, we did take a needed break and drank ice chocolate at the mouth watering and marvelous Jacques Torres. While sitting there, I eyed through the window a gorgeous vintage-style azure blue bicycle that I simply had to get into a shot with them. (I am always hunting for those treasures in a shoot). It was however that type of bicycle that looks extremely expensive and VERY well cared- polished and without a single scratch or blemish. I wasn’t sure in such a case if its owner would lend it to an enthusiastic couple and their wide-eyed photographer, but after hearing that they were getting married soon, she kindly agreed.

There are many genuine things I can say about my couples. Some are sweet and fun- others are stylish or elegant. If, however, I had to chose one thing to say about Annie and Rich in particular, it would be that that they wholeheartedly embrace love and life. And of course, their pictures show it.

Below is the story of how they met in their own words and their proposal:

“We had mutual friends in college and would see each other here and there over the years but had never really exchanged more than a passing greeting. It wasn’t until a few years later, in 2002, when we both happened to be spending more time at friend’s apartment on a regular basis that we really began to get to know each other better. Annie says, “I was really impressed when Rich showed me how he could do push ups while standing on his head. I could tell he was showing off for me and I thought it was absolutely adorable.” Rich says. “One night we were all out doing karaoke and I when I saw Anne get up on stage and do her thing all I could think was…wow!” A few months later we were at a friend’s birthday party and we kissed! A week later we had our first date and we’ve been together ever since!

Rich proposed on January 18, 2009. He was taking me out for the day to celebrate my birthday and he surprised me by deciding to recreate our first date. Our last stop was The Metropolitan Museum of Art. When Rich and I were first dating we spent a lot of time there sketching and looking at artwork together. He remembers, “It’s where you first taught me how to render value in a drawing. I remember it so well, I really wanted to propose in that exact spot.” The “exact spot” happens to be a little secluded section of the museum which exhibits art from South/Southeast Asia. Rich proposed right in front of the beautiful sculptures we had sketched together years before- one is a freestanding sculpture carved out of wood, called “Standing Amoghapasa Lokeshvara” and is a representation of a Nepalese deity. The others are a series of the most gorgeous wood carvings of “Tree Goddesses”. Amidst of this ancient and spiritual visual feast, Richard got down on one knee, looked me in the eye and said some special words to me and then popped the question. I said yes of course, and then he placed my great grandmother’s ring on my finger. It was an overwhelmingly romantic and meaningful moment between just the two of us.”

And, here are a couple shots of yours truly (see what a go through to get photos, luckily a bit less dangerous here than on NYC streets).
Thanks so much to my awesome and talented friend Romin Lee Johnson of Saia Studios for sending the pics!

Dustin and Natasha picked a lovely windswept day for their engagement session in Central Park, in that brief period following a storm when enough snow is preserved before the heat and radiating energy of a major city melt it away. I had not met Dustin or Natasha before and they were coming to NY for the shoot, as many couples do, to capture themselves amidst the magic of the City.

Since they grew up in Wyoming, they were no doubt used to snow, but I was not as properly dressed as I should have been in waterproof Wellingtons, and I came back later with soaked feet, swollen, and what felt like a touch of frostbite. I guess when I am shooting pictures, and feel that rush of creative adrenaline, it must mask any discomfort from the cold. Any of course, it was a very enjoyable session, so it was well worth a few red toes.

I am never sure in cases when I have not met the couple prior to the shoot, and have already familiarized myself with their personalities, that they will indulge me in what I feel is required to get great shots. I guess I require on the couple’s part, not only a joie de vivre, but also a bit of nerve. Luckily, they were both a very easy going and fun loving couple and played right along, whether lying on the ground near their Imagine Mosaic or when I had them run into those prickly red branches and they had to embrace each-other while ignoring the air of confusion of passers-by wondering what we were doing. They stood for me on that beautiful architectural staircase of the Apple Store, until the anticipated security forced us away. And when we had to beg some unwilling children to borrow their slide, we pushed on and got their more willing parents to intercede.

This, in the own words, is how Dustin and Natasha met:
“We both grew up in a small town in Wyoming, we met each other 3 years ago working for the same company. We both knew of each other but it wasn’t until then we started talking to each other and dating. We have been together ever since, We have a house in Rock Springs Wyoming, and Pittsburgh Pennsylvania as we work back and forth between them. We have 2 English Bulldogs that we love spending time with. We enjoy traveling around in the summer time catching a few Dave Matthews Band concerts every year. ”

This June they will marry at Silver Lake Lodge in Park City, Utah.

Amy and James will be married this June at the Surf Club in New Rochelle. Amy hinted that she tends to be more shy while James is outgoing and believes that if their personalities are united by contrast, then their photographs should be as well. So, while the wedding day pictures will have the water’s beauty of the Long Island Sound as a backdrop, she wanted the engagement photos to have a contrasting energetic and urban flair. It fit into the broader theme of having her wedding at a place that reminds them of their great mutual love of the water, and their engagement shots in the City that has become their second home.

I really enjoyed photographing them in the Meat Packing District, and throughout the shoot, we swapped stories of adventure. My stories always seemed to have a fair measure of timidty- of how my husband made his terrified wife take a zip line in Costa Rica or how petrified I was swimming with the sea creatures in the Red Sea. Their stories had a greater boldness to them and they teasingly laughed at me, mentioning the time they were swimming with sharks without a second thought.

I have to say that I love to capture some onlookers during the shoot.  Rather than viewing them as a distraction or blot on a perfect canvas, I try and work them into the compositions.  The second and third photos below have some great expressions.   Their curious and sometimes dead stares on a couple’s loving embrace add a lot of character and contrast.

Here are Amy’s words of how they met:

“James and I met our freshman year of college and have been together for the better part of the ten years we’ve known each other. The water means a lot to me because it reminds me of something that I feel helps to define what our relationship is about. James had always been pretty comfortable in the water having learned to swim at an early age. I, on the other hand, did not know how to swim and was actually quite afraid of the water. He had gone scuba diving before we met and had suggested we try it but to me it was a bit out of the question all things considered! I was nervous but eventually decided to sign up for a beginner’s swimming class at the Y as a start. It was an 8 week course, one night a week. When we got to the Y for my first class, James reassured me before I went into the locker room to change and watched me from behind the glass wall like a proud parent. I was expecting something pretty simple for our first class, like just getting comfortable being in the water or learning how to float but much to my dismay, the instructor informed us we were going to swim! After some hesitation, I looked over at James and even though it’s silly now that I think about it since it was only about 5 feet of water and my instructor was right there, I knew he would never let anything happen to me, so I braced myself and ended up swimming a small length of the pool. Afterwards James told me how proud he was and I couldn’t help but feel that none of it would have been possible had he not been there. He then told me had spoken to his boss - he was going to leave work early each week to come to every one of my classes. I had never even asked him to do this and it came as a complete and wonderful surprise.

I completed the course and soon afterwards, we took a trip to Roatan, one of the Bay Islands of Honduras. We signed up for the Open Water Diver certification class, and again I was extremely nervous! I completely freaked out during the mandatory swim test because I had never swam in the open ocean before. It’s a lot different and a lot scarier when you can’t see the edge of the pool and know that the safety of the ledge OUTSIDE of the water is nearby. Although he couldn’t provide any support, James swam alongside me but I ended up letting my nerves get the best of me and put my hand on his shoulder. Automatic failure. I was devastated but our instructor said I could try again the next day. James took me to the beach and got me more comfortable in the water. The next day we did it all over again. I took a while to do the required length we had to swim but James stayed right by me as tired as he was and I passed! Although there were a few more little bumps along the way, James and I got certified and have since gotten certified as advanced open water divers. This was 5 years ago and we’ve taken diving trips every year since then.

Through that whole experience there was never any pressure from him for me to do anything. I knew if I wanted to throw in the towel he would have supported me, but I can be quite stubborn at times and in this instance it came in handy.   I think there’s a big difference between wanting/trying to change someone and wanting/helping them to be a better person. And to me he’s the person who does the latter and I feel I am that for him as well.”