Kristen & Edwin

My trip down memory lane is in no particular order.   In fact some of the weddings that I plan to post about are from before 2008 (after all, I just started writing this blog).

Anyway, enter Kristen and Edwin.

Kristen was the definition of the relaxed bride.  While many brides sweat every detail about their wedding day,  Kristen focused on the major components and seemed to let everything else fall in line as time progressed.

They had a small intimate wedding in Alexandria, Virginia in mid October.  It was unseasonably warm on their day and other than a bit too much sun, it was absolutely beautiful (yes I know I say that a lot, but these are my favorite weddings, so what else would you expect?).  

But, lets set the way-back machine back to one week before the wedding.  I met up with the happy couple outside of the White House for an engagement session.  Yes, I said the White House.  The groom decided to propose to his bride there and she couldn't think of a better place to take engagement pictures.  We started there (in the middle of all of the tourists taking pictures and looking around), then we strolled down to the monuments to continue with the session.  

Note to all couples who like this idea. Sunday is definitely the best day to take pictures in DC.  There are several terrific locations to use around the monuments, so the question is how far do you feel like walking and how do you handle crowds.  Most people are polite and give you a little space to take what you desire as long as you don't take very long to do it.  The results were pretty outstanding.

Now, back to the wedding day.  So, we have some engagement photos.  What do we do with them?  Kristen told me what her favorite shots were and one of them was enlarged, matted and mounted in a frame.  The guests for the wedding signed or wrote a note to the couple as they picked up their candle, placed their seeds and went to their seats.  

Yes, I said candles and seeds.  They were integral elements of the wedding ceremony.  The guest placed seeds in a pot.  This symbolized the sowing of seeds that leads to the fruitful growth of marriage.  The candles were ultimately used to light the unity candle.  The Best Man carried a lit votive to the guests seated last row. They, in turn, lit the candles of the guests in front of them.  This continued until the flames reached the mothers of the bride and groom. Once their candles were lit, they lit the candles that represented the two families.

I love it when I get to see something new/unique and the seeds and candles was a very unique element in this wedding. 

The rest of the evening was filled with family, friends, food, music, dancing and celebration.  We ended the evening with a portrait of the newlyweds under the moon.  Truly lovely indeed.

There will be more weddings from 2008 soon.

New Year Babies

I know that I was strolling down memory lane, talking about some of the great weddings from 2008. But how can you start out the new year without talking about babies? After all, isn't the unofficial symbol of the new year a baby? They always report on the first baby of the year, but never the last. Interesting, but I digress.

One of the more interesting aspects of photography is taking pictures of pregnant women and young children. I'm sure that you've seen the standard hands on the belly or the hands forming a heart on the belly of a pregnant woman. These are often very beautiful images. However, there are many other artistic options as well.

Photographers are observers as well as authors of a sort. A photojournalist communicates what he or she sees through the images that he/she captures (okay, I guess I should have said that this is what I do, but lets hope that its universal).

There are so many different ways to view a pregnant woman or happy couple that I still find new inspirations. I believe that it is important for everyone to have a pregnancy portrait. There are a number of memories in our lives. And the pending birth of a child is one of them. Most women don't really appreciate how beautiful they are when pregnant. And, unfortunately, most of us men fail to tell them how beautiful and special they are when they need to hear it the most. That's where the pictures come in. They are a permanent memory.

So, for all of the pregnant women out there, the soon to be pregnant, happily pregnant couples, etc. Get out there and have some pictures taken, or take your own. Find something to make your pictures unique to you and have fun taking them.

Anjie & Wayne

I had a lot of great weddings in 2008. As I sit back and reflect on last year, a few of my great customers/friends come to mind.

Anjie & Wayne are a great couple. They got married in August of 2008 in Harrisburg, PA.

I can't say enough about their day. Everything seemed to cooperate with them. When something seemed to go wrong, the solution ended up improving their plans. The weather threatened and it actually rained heavily during the ceremony (which was planned to be indoors). However, when the ceremony ended and everyone went outside to watch the dove release, there was no sign of rain. In fact, you couldn't even tell that it had poured earlier.

After the ceremony, dove release and formal portraits, we all went to Italian Lake Park for some additional portraits with the entire bridal party. There is nothing better than having a cooperative group of people who care about the bride and groom. They did everything that I asked without complaint and we ended up taking some great photos. I was truly impressed when I asked them all to take a Jump for Joy. I was certain that the picture would be phenomenal, if I could time it just right.

That was our last shot with the full bridal party. Everyone except the bride and groom went to the reception. Anjie, Wayne and I went to the state capital to take more pictures. At times like this, I just let the couple set the pace and Anjie and Wayne didn't disappoint. We had the capital plaza to ourselves and I placed the couple in front of the fountain and let them do their own thing. They enjoyed themselves, I had fun and the limo driver relaxed and watched things unfold.

The rest of the evening was wonderful. We arrived at the reception ready to party. The guests were seated, the bridal party entered and Anjie & Wayne had their first dance together as a married couple. There were several heart-warming toasts along with the groom sharing the story of how he and Anjilla arrived at this day. Guests ate, danced and enjoyed cake. Anjie & Wayne laughed, cried tears of joy and partied until the very end. Fun was had by all (even me).