Colleen and Zach got married at Tavern on the Green. It was a beautiful, emotional ceremony officiated by Julie Laudicina. The couple portraits were taken at Central Parl@59th. Every time I shoot at Central Park, even if it is the same location, the way the light falls and the energy of the couple, make it a unique experience. Colleen and Zach are currently on their Honeymoon in Italy. I’m waiting for them to get back so I can share with you the special story of how they met in their own words.
Update: Well, Colleen and Zach are back, and just wrote me, having got the internet up and running in their new home. I was thrilled to read the wonderful story of how they met and it has been a great pleasure getting to know them. I am inspired by their sweet, warm, sincere, and passionate love. I have posted Colleen’s words at the end of the photos, as well as her really meaningful recommendation. My husband read it too and loved Colleen’s line that “It’s impossible to accurately remember how we first saw people we’ve come to love.” It made my husband and I try and remember how we first felt. To have received such an appreciative email, makes me feel very blessed to be doing what I do in my life. My work fills a large part of my life and I feel great satisfaction when I can connect emotionally with couples.
I was laughing when I read that I was a “ninja”! I have been called the Energizer Bunny- but I guess I was dressed all in inconspicuous black that evening :)
(P.S This was the second wedding I shot with my new Canon EOS 5D Mark II, which Canon just released. I felt lucky to be one of the first photographers to get it off the waiting list. It has great new features, up to 6400 ISO with very low noise, which lets me take great shots
in low light conditions without flash- something that is much more flattering and adds another option for increased creativity.)
Here is a short slideshow of the event for you to watch:
Here is Colleen and Zach’s Story in Colleen’s Words
I met Zach last Feb. 2 at the “Home Is Where the Heart Is” Valentine’s-themed fundraiser for homeless veterans’ housing in New Canaan, Conn. I was working as a reporter for the Hersam Acorn newspaper chain at the time, and volunteered to cover the event. Despite its being held on a Saturday night, I felt a strong and somewhat curious desire to do so. I’d read an advance piece on the event and knew who Zach was before I met him.
When I actually approached Zach, I felt somewhat nervous. Zach was obviously handsome, especially in his dress green uniform, and I was asking some sensitive questions relating to how he’d adjusted to returning home from a recent deployment to Iraq. (Just to clarify, Zach wasn’t homeless—he’d been asked to speak at the event by its organizer, a family friend from Wilton, Conn. who had lost her own son in Iraq.)
What struck me about Zach is the way he really listened to and considered my questions, answering them fully, thoughtfully and honestly. Often when I interview people, what they want to get into the paper flies out of their mouths before I’m even done with my question.
It’s impossible to accurately remember how we first saw people we’ve come to love, but I remember thinking Zach had beautiful hands, rugged and elegant. I certainly remember feeling self-conscious because Zach was paying as much attention to me writing my notes as I was to him. I made a mental note to get proficient in short-hand pronto. He turned to see what I was writing and had this faint grin on his face.
Our conversation was brief — all of five minutes, if that — but memorable. Soon Zach was called away for a photo, I didn’t see him again that night.
He wrote me an email “thanking me” for the article the next week, and I was sure to respond with a question. The rest, as they say, is history.
***As a side note, I have just finished looking at the 2,000+ photos Shira took at our recent wedding, and they are absolutely incredible. Shira is a real artist, incredibly passionate about her work, and I wouldn’t have had anyone else cover the event. She captured every moment, every emotion, every action, from goofy to loving to romantic… The mark of a great photographer, in my opinion, is invisibility… Shira made us feel so comfortable that we forgot we were being photographed most of the time and the photos reflect that level of comfort, grace and authenticity. After the wedding, my friends told me Shira was “like a ninja,” with the way she was everywhere, capturing every moment, and yet in no interfered with or diminished the intimacy of the setting. I felt like she was an old friend and was happy to have her at my wedding!
We love you, Shira,
Colleen and Zach
by admin