Friday, October 31, 2008

Boo! Happy Halloween!


Sunny is giving me a scary kiss. She doesn't know about the Daddy tax yet. 30% of all Three Musketeers go to Daddy.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Photo Plus Expo...Day Two: The MPIX Popular Photography Rick Sammon New York Water Taxi Boat Cruise

Big Thank You to Popular Photography magazine and MPIX, the consumer version of Millers (one of the pro labs I use...They are AWESOME!) for sponsoring and setting up the morning activities.
The boat was packed with well over 50 photographers as we toured NYC by water. There were great lessons taught by Carey Schumacher of Barefoot Memories Photography of San Diego http://www.barefoot-memories.com and from the featured speaker, Rick Sammon http://blogs.oreilly.com/digitalmedia/rick-sammon/
I think we all put them to good use as we viewed New York Harbor, networked and made friends.
Here are a few images I shot:

There is a small possibility I have a speaking role in Rick's next DVD. Like 3 seconds worth.
A three hour tour....a three hour tour...
Actually, the weather was perfect. The seas were fine and we didn't even need to build a radio out of bamboo. (Am I really the only one who remembers watching Gilligan's Isle growing up?)
I just love the colors and contrast. I love to mush them up with a unique lens, called a Lens Baby. The blur is harder to get right than you would think. I had trouble for Months...but somehow with the Nikon D700, it just all comes together for me now.

Hard to believe such great architecture leaks like a sieve. The windows at the U.N. are notorious for it. J. Mitchel Photography is the go to source for architectural images in NY and provides architectural photography to construction companies, project management and architectural firms.
That's Ben. Awesome shooter, all around great guy and light monkey extraordinaire.

Old and new, side by side on the water.
Rick Sammon
Are we still doing the colors? I thought we stopped that nonsense?

Thursday, October 23, 2008

PhotoPlus Expo 2008

Once each year, pretty much the entire photo industry descends upon NYC and shows their wares, shares knowledge and discusses what is new in the field. And I would not miss it for the world. As a New York wedding photographer I provide the best images to my brides, am easy to work with and very affordable. Below are a few images from photowalking from Penn Station to Javits this Morning.
With the financial markets going crazy (OK, I have 15 years on Wall Street and have to be careful what I say here...my day job is in risk management/compliance(and No...I am not to blame for this markets mess!)) there is no better time to have a plan B. I think this photo about sums that up. Speaking of tough financial times, if you are planning a wedding, now is the time to think about getting the best bang for your vendor buck. J. Mitchel Photography offers amazing creative wedding photography from just $2300!












In addition to checking out the latest pro gear, selecting key vendors for albums...prints and design work and learning about the newest techniques in images, there are some amazing seminars from top industry leaders.
One of the best parts, is you just never know who you bump into. Today I was fortunate to bump into several amazing folks.




I got to thank David Jay, from Open Source Photo, my favorite forum. That's me on the left. David got a real kick out of my business card...not everyone remembers 35mm slides. David was just enjoying the show, like tons of other folks.
I let David know that what he has created with OSP was more than a place for pros to share knowledge, it is a community that fosters both professional and personal growth from members that believe there are no stupid questions and are unbelievably giving and supportive. David is not a bad shooter either. Check out http://www.davidjay.com/

I also bumped into Joe McNally...my lighting guru idol. This guy has taught me how to light. Well, Joe and David Hobby (AKA The Strobist). Joe has an awesome book, The Moment it clicks that anyone who wants to learn lighting, simply must read. His blog ain't bad either. Check out
http://www.joemcnally.com/blog/ and www.strobist.com

I have met Scott Kelby a few times before and it was Scott that put together the worldwide photowalk in August and I lead the walk for NYC. (check out the August blog posts for that one). Well, Scott is not only a guy who knows his way around a camera...he pretty much wrote the book on anything Photoshop. Actually, he was written over 25 amazing books and is one of the reasons I can edit a wedding of 800 images so well and quickly. It was great to say hello and listen in on a few of his seminars.

Catching up with D.J. Ladez of Lumedyne (who taught an awesome lighting class on the streets of NYC earlier this year) was a treat. As was seeing the instructor from one of the architectural classes I loved. Turns out we were both drooling over the same Nikon 24mm tilt shift lens, and recognized each other.

Walking the floor with two great guys that I work with, Omar Perine and Michael McNenny just made the day go by too fast.
I am always working on sharpening my skills to provide the best in NY and LI wedding photography and Cliff showed me a neat trick for adjusting white balance on the fly with the Live View on my Nikon D700.
Walking non stop (OK, I did sit during some of the seminars) from 10-5 caught up with me at the end of the day and I was pooped when I snapped this on the way out. Contributing factors were forgetting to eat all day and having a pretty bad cold. I treasure my 8 Month old daughter, Sunny, but I never used to get sick and now I get colds all the time. And they take a week or two to go away. Maybe I am just getting old?The thing about NY is...construction never stops. The economy might slow it down, but there is always something going up.

Tomorrow, I have a a spot on the Rick Sammon boat cruise... a half day seminar while circling NYC on a water taxi. http://www.ricksammon.com/Home.html
The best part??? One of my best second shooters and photographer buddies, Amos Chen, is joining me.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Radio City Sunrise


J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS Run in with the Flight Crew



Ok, first off, I am not really a football guy (my wife is SO glad about that)...I am a hockey guy, but that said, I did run into the Jets flight crew (Cheerleaders) and their promo team outside the SNY studio Friday Morning and well, lets just say they make a convincing argument. They were hocking special seats for the game and promoting JETS football in general.


Image quality may change on the blog, as I moved from my SonyEricsson K790 to an iPhone. Wife gets the better cameraphone for pictures of the baby, especially since I have my SLR with my most of the time anyway. So, images on the blog will mostly be from the iPhone, rather than my previous cameraphone.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Speed the Plow on Broadway

I am a big fan of David Mamet (sadly, I can pretty much recite Alec Baldwin's speech in Glenn Gary Glenn Ross in it's entirety), of the HBO series Entourage and love the AMC series Madmen. So to go see Piven and Moss in Speed the Plow was a no brainer.
Either I was the first one to call in for tickets, or the American Express Conceirge service really, really likes me because I was able to get two in the middle of the 5th row.

As an early engagement present, my Wife and I took a rare day to ourselves. We spent the morning wandering through a sunlight Central Park. We had an amazing lunch at Remi, enjoying the courtyard and being outdoors while still being warm and toasty. At 2 we made our way to the classic theatre and our comfy seats.

I have never taken any theatre classes...just never interested me. I go to the occasional B'way show...because, well, I live in NY and I feel guilty if I don't at least enjoy some of what it has to offer. Spamalot, Hairspray...maybe a few others over the years. Maybe because I have seen the actors in other roles...but I have always thought that TV/movie actors had it easy because they are only "on" for a few seconds to a few minutes at a time. With only three actors in the entire show, Piven and Esparza were "on" for the entire hour and a half and they didn't miss a beat. Moss was very strong as well, but I have a newfound respect for what it takes to do that. To provide that much of yourself for so long and so passionately to the role. The play was great. The performance...AWESOME.

After the show, we enjoyed an extended afternoon playtime with our daughter. And that was the best anniversary gift of all.


UPDATE 10/29/08 NY Times Review:
http://theater2.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/theater/reviews/24plow.html?scp=1&sq=Speed-the-Plow&st=cse

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Q4 08 MMP

If you follow my blog, you know at least two things about me:
1) I Use my blog as a way for you to get to know me and by seeing through my eyes, to know my photography.
2) I believe that any relationship is hard work. Marriage is no exception. My wife and I make sure to dedicate time alone to treasure what makes each other so special, and why when we are together...it is like nothing else. I call these MMPs. Marriage Maintenance Plans. Four times a year, we get away to someplace we have never been and focus on us. No distractions from daily life. Usually they are just a long weekend away, exploring someplace new, and a little bit of each other along the way. This time we are headed down to the Sun Coast of Florida.

This is Sunny's 3rd time with us and her first time on an airplane.




In her own seat, with a view of the world. She was happy and well behaved the whole flight. SouthWest was great and on the early AM flight, we had the back of the plane to ourselves.
We rented a condo on the beach in Bel Aire, near Clearwater/Tampa. Coincidentally I ran into this Chevy Bel Air in the Publix parking lot!
Staying on the beach was great! Literally steps to the Gulf of Mexico and clear bluegreen waters. We saw Dolphins swimming along the beach.Love the deep blue sky and the palm trees.
Love my wife and baby more. Sunny's first time in a pool and she had a blast splashing around. Erica loved the sun, the view and the warm salt air breeze.
With a gorgeous sunset at our fingertips, I would say the romance portion of our MMP was on track. It was certainly a romantic moment for this couple on the beach.
Once the sun went down, the night sky took over. Without the light pollution that we see in NY, we could truly see the stars in the heavens.