Jill & Michael's Wedding! It was a HOT one!

Yeah, sure...it was a little warm out. The Groomsmen were pretty much melting under the bright sun.
The ceremony was classic, and Jill looked superbly elegant.
The Bridal Party was lookin' SHARP!

But the party...the party was downright HOT! Jill and Michael can dance! Their family and friends were tearing up the dance floor at The White House during the reception.

I shoot and train with a great group of local photographers and I was fortunate enough to have Taria from Personal Touch Photography working with me. She is a master at organizing formals and has an easygoing style that works well with her ability to get people where you need them for a great image.
Check out her blog at http://www.tariareed.com/blog/

Also check out the proofing site from J. Mitchel Photography July 13th, when you will start to see the images from Jill and Michael's Wedding online!

Wedding Day! Jill & Mike are getting Married Today!

Jill and Mike are getting Married Today!

They are a really great couple. We had so much fun doing the E-session! I will be shooting their Wedding Today in Middle Village and the reception in Whitestone. Look for updates tomorrow and if you know them, then you know the password to see their pics on the proofing site!

First Tomato of the Season!

It is going to be a good day today. Walked out into the garden with the baby this Morning to feed the last remaining Koi (the racoons treat my pond like a sushi bar!) and we stumbled upon the first ripe tomato of the season!

It is all in the viewpoint...

There are a million great images, all around you.

J. Mitchel Photography steps away from the cliché and tells the story with a unique twist.

Thinking creatively will get you images out of the ordinary, whether you are shooting a wedding or just saying what a gray day it is in NYC.

J. Mitchel Photography provides the best creative Wedding Photography for select Brides in the NY Metro area. Amazing NYC and Long Island Wedding Photography starting at just $1500. www.JMitchelPhotography.com

Baby Update...First Food That Is Not In A Bottle!

Well, it had to happen sometime...Sunny Logann, my Daughter has been staring longingly at my wife and I every time we eat. So, after consulting our Dr., Today was the day for rice cereal mush.
UHHH! What is this stuff!

THIS is what food tastes like? I am NOT impressed.
Well, just to make you happy, I finished a few ounces. Let me just wipe the taste out of my mouth. That stuff is gross. Give me my bottle back.
That eating...that is some hard work. I'm wiped out. I am just going to take a nap while finishing my bott zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Jill & Michael's Engagement Shoot

Jill & Michael met me at the beach for our engagement session early on Saturday. We ran 4 or 5 locations and made some amazing images and even took a break from the hot sun at Marvel !

For this one, we were going for a South Pacific kind of feel. Rogers and Hammerstein always provide good inspiration and Jill and Michael wandered the beach to find just the right shells for what they wanted to say to each other.
More images to be posted of this session on the Proofing site and the J. Mitchel Photography website.


J. Mitchel Photography provides the best in Long Island Wedding Photography.

Transition Week for Sunny

Time for my Wife Erica to go back to the office. Because we are both in NYC just about every day, it seemed the best place to look for day care. Yeah...I know. We are not happy about it either. But at this point in our lives, day care seems like the best option for us until that Lotto thing works out.



We found an awesome place half way between our offices so we can see our daughter during the day from time to time. Great place, but I kid you not...it is pretty close to what our mortgage is.










So to transition both Sunny and Erica in to commuter mode, we started off with transition week where they both softly transition to work and preschool mode. Neither of them were happy about it.
















Like most bitter pills, we started off with something fun. Two hours of preschool, then the rest of the day with Mommy and Daddy.

What....should we do?

How about a nice lunch...


Mmmmm, Cuban sandwich!
(No! We did not actually feed a 4 Month old a Cuban Sandwhich)





Then the zoo!

She slept through the WHOLE THING!


"Easy Doc! Do you need your whole fist in there?"


Zzzzz

Then a walk in the park to relax...
And listen to some great music!

The Few, The Proud, The Band? Fleet Week NY

Fathers, lock up your Daughters...Fleet week is here!
The Maestro !

Forget politics. Forget if we should be doing what in whatever godforsaken part of the World. That is not these folks decision.
These folks are soldiers, in one way or another and they follow orders. Jack says "They follow orders or people die. It's that simple".

These men and women are working hard, risking their lives for our freedom. If you see military personnel on the street, take a moment to stop them and just say "Thanks! I appreciate what you do". Buying them a cold beer would be a nice gesture too.
I bumped into these Navy Band members walking from Penn to Rock Centre this Morning. They were "Armed and Ready" to play. Really nice group of people. Some of them were a little overwhelmed at being in NYC.

Am I going to be on TV? Hi Mom!!!

Long Beach Breast Cancer Coalition 11th Annual Walk to Erase

My heart is always with the beach community that I grew up in and I try to find ways to give back to Long Beach. One way is by providing event coverage for the Long Beach Breast Cancer Coalition. Today they had their 11th Annual Walk to Erase, Family Fun Walk. You can learn more about the LBBCC at:
http://www.longbeachbcc.org/

There was a large turnout and a lot of last minute registrations, as passers by realized what a great cause was being supported. The weather was perfect, mid 60's with a light breeze and a just right sunny day.

Look back to this blog and on the J. Mitchel Photography proofs site for all the images from the day. http://jmitchelphotography.instaproofs.com/category.php?event=51838&id=79052

J. Mitchel Photography provides the best in creative Long Island Wedding Photography.
I also have a gallery week coming up June 9th, at Grind Coffeehouse in Bellmore, so stop by to gain a viewpoint Long Beach and NY you may not have seen.

Janeda & Michael's Engagement Session...Sneak Peak

If you read my blog regularly (Hi Mom!), you know that the blog rarely has Wedding images on it. I have been using it more as a sort of get to know me on the personal side kind of thing. Just images from my daily travels, meandering thoughts kinda thing. But Janeda specifically requested...so here it is:
A sneak peak image from Saturday's engagement session
Janeda and Michael are diehard Mets fans, and got some great seats last night at the last minute. Sounds like it was a good Mets game last night...even if they didn't win this time. Pssst. Want to see some cool Mets pictures? Check on on my website, www.jmitchelphotography.com the real estate images section...then click on Citi Field. I shoot for the construction company building the new stadium and did a marketing shoot for the mock ups of the new Sky Booths in the stadium.

Is the Economy affecting your Wedding Budget?

Harder times are starting to take hold and many folks are cutting back on luxuries and giving serious thought to their own personal "Latte Factor". Even Kitty here, caught on 5th Ave in NYC begging for a saucer of cream, is starting to feel the pinch and is willing to go to half & half.

Your Wedding is a once in a lifetime event. But that doesn't mean the best way to start a marriage is to put yourself in debt paying for your Wedding. There are tons of ways to make your Wedding budget go further while having a beautiful, memorable and elegant event.

Think about stacking beautifully wrapped favors as centerpieces instead of the traditional flowers. They make a wonderful presentation, can be color coordinated to your look, no one has allergies to them, no one fights over who takes them home because everyone gets one and...you save on flowers because you are giving the favors anyway.

Another way to make your Wedding buget go further is to look beyond the Wedding Factory photography studios and the venue's house vendor list that treat Weddings as a boring chore. Using a smaller, independent photographer can often get you more creative images, more personal attention and a far better value.

J. Mitchel Photography provides outstanding creative Wedding photography in the NYC Metro area starting at just $1500. Most of my Brides are complete with beautiful custom albums for under $2500.

Macro Mondays...Today's Post on noticing the beauty around You

Boring ride to the office today on my usual 7:32 from Baldwin to Penn. But there is beauty and a unique view almost anywhere if you look hard enough.
This first of three images is the treeline thru the train window at normal view. Notice how the acid rain marks balance the light and dark green of the trees as we fly by? Abstract, but kinda cool anyway.
Take a look at the lettering molded into the window. Gotta love that GE makes light bulbs, jet engines, nuclear submarines and train windows. They got all their bases covered.

Now lets take a closer look at that lettering...See how the light has changed and now it is smooth tones black to white? You can see how the letters were melted into the window and appear almost chrome like. The acid marks have depth.

Last one, then you can move on...I promise.
The letters are chrome now, as if raised from a steel plate, cold and forboding. If the Terminator were Italian, he might be made from an advanced Atofina alloy.

Amazing how the view and the story changes the closer you get.

Constantly looking for the unique view to tell your story, J. Mitchel Photography provides the best in Metro NYC Wedding, Event and Realestate images.

Neon Taxi Fetish

Those who read my blog from time to time know I have a thing for NYC taxis and neon together. This morning's wet weather provided a slippery racetrack for the yellow speed demons. Only this driver's intense focus and nerves of steel keep him ahead of the pack. You can hear "Radar Love" blasting thru the glass.

This MIB Agent is just popping out of HyperDrive on 6th Ave. And you thought Men In Black was just a movie...

Don't even THINK about it!

New Yorkers are not rude.

It's just that we are direct. No parking, No standing, No Nothin'!

Now MOVE IT BUDDY!

Macro Mondays...

Macro Mondays are a weekly look at the world close up. Usually there is a story in the image. Today...the story is simple.

The Months before your Wedding are going to be hectic. The Weeks before will be chaotic and move faster than you thought possible. Write tasks down. Work a plan.
Keep your Fiance involved. Don't get caught up in the preparations too much to spend quality time together. You will only do this once...so make sure to make some happy memories of the process.

Grooms-to-be who are reading this...Plan a surprise for her for no reason. Maybe it is flowers delivered to her office, maybe it is a hand made sign stuck at her exit on the Southern State. Do something spontaneous for her.

J. Mitchel Photography provides the best in affordable Wedding and Event photography in the NY Metro area.

Long Island Wedding Photography

Sharpening the Skills....always working to sharpen the skills. I have fun last night at a marathon seminar that didn't let out until after 11PM. Ed Pierce is a master with over 30 years experience and his Captivated by the light tour presents some new ways of solving traditional lighting problems in a digital environment. http://www.edpierceseminars.com/learn.php

Not only did I gain some really great insight from the speakers into what I am doing well and why, but I learned a few new tricks and even won the raffle! I love presenting my work on framed Canvas and I won a nice 16x20 canvas print credit from WHCC, one of the Pro Only vendors I use to give my Brides the very best in prints.

By constantly sharpening my skills, I can provide the very best in Long Island and Metro NY Wedding Photography.

Interestingly, one of the hot topics of the forums was how the "wedding factory" photographers try to stay fresh and creative. I was not surprised when the straw poll came back that out of 350 seminar participants, when the question was asked: "How many of you shoot weddings"?. Almost every hand went up. "Now put your hand down if you shoot ONLY weddings" Ed said. There were three hands left, including mine.

Ed asked "Why? How can you stay creative like that"?

Parker Pfister ( http://www.parkerjphoto.com/ ) had a very insightful presentation that summed up my philosophy... By shooting for yourself...a creative outlet in landscapes and the world around you, you can see, shoot and capture the story of your Brides Wedding day in ways you would never notice when you only shoot if you get paid for the shot...when you shoot only weddings.

J. Mitchel Photography provides the best in creative editorial Wedding and event photography in the NY Metro area. By shooting with an artists eye and mindset, I get the shots that the Wedding Factories who shoot 2 or 3 weddings each weekend can't. They get tunnelvision and resort to shooting the same stale shots week after week.

Each event is special to me, and it shows in the images.

New Toy on the Way !

I had so much fun with the ringflash a few weeks ago when shooting a class in NYC, that I just ordered one. Look forward to some really great engagement shoots with a high fashion look in unique locations! J. Mitchel Photography offers inexpensive NYC and Long Island Wedding Photography.
http://www.alienbees.com/abr800.html

Since I am getting my taxes done today,

Since I am getting my taxes done today, this seemed appropriate.

How nice was the weather Today?

So nice that there were more folks waterskiing than iceskating at Rock Center Rink today.
The sun made short work of the ice at Rockefeller Center today. A balmy 74 degrees in Midtown. That was not going to slow down this guy...

Website is Down Temporarily...

Updated 7PM, Dynamods got their act together and we are back up and running.

Dynamods, my webhost, seems to be having some issues at the moment. The have been great, with zero downtime in the last 12 months, so I am cutting them some slack. The site should be back up shortly. This is affecting my email as well, so please call me if it is urgent, at 516 236 9277.

For recent Weddings and Corporate Interiors clients, you are able to view your images on the separately run proofing site at: http://jmitchelphotography.instaproofs.com/ and enter your password for access to your secret folder.

I appologize for the outage and lookforward to having the website up shortly.

Thanks,

Jeff