Here’s a slide show of Chris and Amy’s Wedding at Bay Creek Resort.

Click Here For Chris and Amy’s Wedding at Bay Creek Resort

:)

As you can see, I’m WAY behind on blogging my events, and I make no excuses other than I’ve been just slammed with work behind the camera taking pictures. Blogging the events has to take a back seat to getting proofs, albums, and the like to my clients. Of course, I COULD work 16-20 hours per day instead of 12! But, that’s definitely not the way to make my lovely wife a happy wife.

So, there has to be balance.

Todd and Tamela chose to hire me to shoot their wedding using my very smallest and shortest package (which is right now, 3 hours, all files color corrected on a DVD, and online proofing for $900) I’m thinking of doing a TWO hour package and calling it “The Elopement Special” for around $600, so I may test the waters with it. But, since I just shot my LAST BIG wedding of this season last night, I have time to play with the packages a bit.

And! I’ll have time to do the slide shows and blog posts of all the events in THAT back log!

So, here’s a little snippet of Todd & Tamela’s 3 hour wedding shoot. This is around 10 percent of what they got on their DVD (a total of 331 delivered images in 3 hours)

Here we go!

Best of luck to you Todd and Tamela!

Doing Jodie’s bridals was a lot of fun, she was really easy to work with. We started the session at our house and did some classic poses lit by window light and reflectors only, then we headed for the beach portion of the session which is what you’ll see here.

Doing bridal photography on the beach is definitely my favorite location, it’s just a matter of getting the cooperation from the weather, surf, and random dogs who just gravitate toward women wearing expensive dresses.

Here are some of my favorites from the beach portion of the session:

The bridal portrait below is “the one” that will be displayed at the reception.

Gorgeous bride eh? This is going to be a fun one!

Ralph’s father, “Ralphy” as I called him, was the “Man” at the Knights of Columbus down on Prosperity Road in Virginia Beach. I worked a great many events at the Knights many years ago and “Ralphy” and I were pretty good friends. The reason I really didn’t recognize Ralph Jr. was that when I used to see him he was pushing a broom, a mop, washing dishes, or helping his Dad put out the INCREDIBLE spreads of “Ralphy” proportions for events at weddings down at the Knights. So, now that this kid is no longer a kid and a good bit taller than me. (go figure!)

Well, Ralphy, God Bless Him, passed away unexpectedly last year. I will never forget that great big Italian man yelling to me across the whole length of Knights Columban Club “Hey Skinny! Turn it up! I wanna feel the bass!” (this was when I was playing music there of course). Once you saw Ralphy Sr do his “Parade The Beef” routine for a wedding, you’d never forget it as long as you lived. Picture a great big loving soul with a permanent smile on his face parading an ENTIRE steamship round of beef in his arms around an entire wedding reception for everyone to inspect and approve of.

Needless to say, this was a consultation that turned into a lot of stories, tears, laughter and my determination to make sure that Ralphy’s son and his new daughter in law will have the absolute best of the best from me on their wedding day and in any capacity they need me. (I don’t want Ralphy to be yelling at me from Heaven!)

Where was I?

Annie wanted to do something “different” for their engagement session, so I suggested that she and Ralph get some throw away threads and join me on the beach 1/2 hour before sunrise. If they want different, I’ll give them REALLY different.

This was one of those days where the water was much warmer than the air, so getting into the water was GREAT! Getting out of the water was NOT GREAT! But, I think it all turned out just great.

Here are some of my favorites from this sunrise trash the couple beach engagement session! (say THAT 3 times fast!)

So, I was out there at Sunrise, and I did another bridal up the beach at Sunset on the same day. That will be the next post!

I’m not complaining, I’m explaining why I’m so tardy at getting shoots up here on this blog. (ok, maybe I’m complaining a little!)

Jennifer got married this past Friday at the Contemporary Arts Center (love that place) to Derek and it went just picture perfect. But, before we get to THAT stuff, here’s a few shots from Jennifer’s Beach Bridal Portrait Session.

Here we go!

That LAST shot was the one that Jennifer wanted to have displayed at the reception. I generally bring a 16x24 mounted in a nice oak frame on one of my easels or I’ll do a 20x30 standout on 3/4 inch foamcore on an easel (displaying a bridal landscape is generally the standout option).

And oh yes, Jennifer and Derek’s wedding was this past Friday the 17th. Contemporary Arts Center affair. Just a GREAT time and there’s NO WAY I’d have all the photos done by now, but I do have this one below. So, it will have to suffice for now.

But, when you want that session shot outside, on the beach, it’s a bit unpredictable as to what kind of weather you’re going to have, and what kind of sky and wind that God has in store for you that day.

I don’t mind performing the photography end under any conditions, but I’m not the one wearing the dress, getting my hair done, applying the makeup and buying a stunt bouquet to closely mimic the one that will be carried the day of the wedding. So, I suppose that’s pretty easy for me to say!

Well, this night was a crazy one. The weather wasn’t ideal. (truth be told, the surf was dangerous, especially for a woman in a dress that when wet would sink her like a stone) So, we just went for the money shot. That ONE shot that would be “THE ONE” . I couldn’t get Melissa too close to the water and the wind was crazy (and we won’t talk about the people walking their dogs off leash, dogs that are friendly, but strike terror into the heart of a woman wearing her wedding dress) (THAT was pretty funny, and nothing happened to the dress, I haven’t lost a dress yet (or a bride to be)).

Well, here are some favorites from Melissa’s Bridal Portrait session, and at the end, the “ONE”.

Ladies, the above picture depicts what happens when your Mother tries to embed your veil comb deep into your skull. Please advise your Mom that it’s not necessary to drill that thing into your noggin, it hurts.

Now, the image below is “THE ONE”. I had to wait for the sun to go down just enough, then wait for the wind to blow the clouds to the right place, then underexpose the heck out of the background, shoot on raw, use a remote flash held by Melissa’s Mom so the wind didn’t blow it over or God forbid (a dog mistaking it for a tree). All those things come together for “THE ONE”

Of course, I did some more photoshop to the below image than the others, but nothing drastic, just created 3 exposures from the RAW exposure, combined the 3 exposures into ONE composite, masked each exposure layer, and painted in the features that I wanted with a soft brush.

Really, anyone can do it. HAHAHAHA

Melissa got married YESTERDAY! The wedding was AWESOME (and so are their pictures!) You’ll see them soon (after the bride and groom of course!)

Plan on two more shoots being posted tomorrow, trying to catch up!

I was VERY pleased with their pictures, and they’re also very pleased with them.

Here are just a few of my favorite engagement pictures of Issac and Jodie:

Issac and Jodie are getting married at the Suffolk Cultural Arts Center in November! I shot Jodie’s Bridal portraits on Oct 2nd and will be posting favorites from that session once I get the events on here before hers up and in order.

I’ll catch up eventually!

Robert and Corrina’s ceremony was at the Church of Ascension Catholic Church on Princess Ann Rd in Virginia Beach. I LOVE that church. There resides prehaps the absolute NICEST Catholic Priest that I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. Normally, there are some pretty stringent rules regarding wedding photography in Catholic Churches (NOT limited to Catholic), but he is SO laid back and friendly that pretty much anything goes. But, even though there are no rules, I still like the follow my personal rules, which are “stay invisible as much as possible, make no noise, and don’t obscure any guest’s view”.

The reception to follow was at the Sheraton Oceanfront Resort Hotel on 35th St and Atlantic. Great place for a wedding! I’ve done 3 or 4 there this season as I recall.

The wedding was FANTASTIC, even though the weather was EXTREMELY windy and the surf was WILD. The reception was BUCK WILD thanks in part to the crew from Canada, and it was obvious that EVERYONE was having a blast. I’ve chosen some very tame photos from the reception

Here are some of my favorites from Robert and Corrina’s Wedding:

Just an AMAZING day and evening! Congrats and best of luck Robert and Corrina! Thanks for letting me do your wedding photography!

LOTS more to come on the blog! I’ve got a ton more weddings, bridals, engagements, and another trash the couple to post here that are all done. I just have to find time!

The sunset ceremony was gorgeous, Bay Creek Resort and Club was fantastic, the music was great, flowers were awesome, catering was amazing, and I hear the cake was really good too. (I didn’t try that! Come on! If I were to eat wedding cake a couple times a week or so, I’d be big as a house!)

There were quite a few challenging group photos requested by Amy’s family but I got them all done during the course of the evening and the party went on till the wee hours. Having someone in the family that knows everyone in charge of getting people together for the groups during a wedding is a HUGE help. It takes FAR less time that way and leaves more time for candid wedding photography.

Here are some of my favorites from Chris and Amy’s wedding at Bay Creek Resort and Club:

Best of luck Chris and Amy!

Yes, I have been a slacker on posting to this blog. I’ve been moving my site around to a different server and I didn’t want to update it after I had backed up the database and gotten everything packed to move (so to speak). But, now it’s moved and hopefully I can catch up on ALL THE PICTURES I have to put up here. Stay tuned!

I knew it was going to be a great wedding to photograph, but it was even more amazing than I had imagined. I had just gotten a new Nikon D700 a week before and had spent a great deal of time getting used to shooting a full frame 35mm format again. Also, I was getting used to shooting very low light at very high ISO. So, I was chomping at the bit to really put this camera and myself through some extremely rigorous experimentation. This meant that I was shooting double the amount of images I’d normally shoot. I was shooting normally, then cracking off available light shots with the new camera after I knew I had gotten the shots with my normal camera rig. (so, I was carrying twice the weight all the time, all day and night) Being the sometimes foolish energizer bunny that I am, I shot this wedding ( which was a pretty long 9 hour affair ) carrying twice the weight and shooting twice as much. I got home pretty late, but I couldn’t wait to look at some of the thousands of images I shot (so, I looked, and looked and was so pleased, I looked some more), then I had to wake up my wife and tell her allllllll about it. (thank God she loves me) so, I got very little sleep. Then (to really see if I as crazy as I know I am) woke up before dawn to get ready to run the Rock n Roll Half Marathon. (which I did, and I had a BLAST!) My time wasn’t great, but that isn’t the point. I finished, and I didn’t die. VICTORY!

Back to the wedding!

That new Vista Point Center on the Navy Base is just wonderful! WHAT A VIEW! Great layout for a big wedding. Paul and Maria had some great vendors too. Flowers were awesome. Orchids all over. Blue Steel Lighting added some great wash lighting to give the walls and ceilings some color and ambience which goes a LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG way when having a wedding in a large rectangular room. Check them out here and Andrea from Ice Art did some great work as well. Check them out here.

Here is some of Paul and Maria’s wedding photography from the Vista Point Center below: After the pictures, there’s a link to their slide show which has around 170 more pictures from their wedding. I delivered 1342 pictures from this wedding. (they’re going to be busy deciding on their album shots!)

If you’d like to view a great slideshow of Paul and Maria’s wedding photography Click Here For The Show!

They went to Hawaii for their Honeymoon! Fun!

I’ve got a couple of bridal shows coming up! Kiln Creek on Sunday September 21st and Hampton Roads Magazine’s Bridal Show at the Wyndham Hotel (at the ocean front) on September 28th! If you have a wedding coming up, come out and talk with me, my 2009 schedule is already filling up fast.

:)
Paul and Maria went off to Hawaii for their Honeymoon!

Here’s a photo of Brian below.

It’s difficult to express my sorrow over this tragedy. My heart goes out to his wife Amanda and their very young son Gabe. It’s a devastating thing to go through, losing someone so young with so much of life seemingly in front. Nothing can prepare people for things like this.

I am grateful that I was able to help the families in my small way. Taking some of the worry over details out of their hands with regards to images and a very very long slide show.

So, say a little prayer if you pray, and tell the people you love that you do today.

Here’s a short version of the slide show. This one is only 12 minutes long.

Click Here To View The Slide Show

Stephanie’s girlfriends did the catering, and the families pitched in on the decorations. The whole congregation showed up for the wedding and reception. It was CRAZY fun. I can’t remember how many lemon squares or ham on sweet potato bisquits I ate (but it was a considerable number!).

It was nice to see a community pull together to support a young couple on their wedding day the way the Holy Neck Christian Church congregation did.

When there’s so much love at a wedding, the photography is so much easier and it’s just a pleasure to be a part of it.

Here are a few from Matt & Stephanie’s wedding photography, followed at the bottom by a link to a slide show of around 130 more photographs from the wedding:

Best of luck to you both Matt and Stephanie!

If you’d like to view their slide show Click Here For More Of Their Wedding Photography

Still a bit behind on the postings, but I’m getting there!

The theme for this wedding was Hot Air Balloons. Andrew proposed to Erin on a hot air balloon ride. (talk about a captive audience! If she’d have said no it might have been an uncomfortable ride after that!) Good going Andrew!

The couple, families, and friends were just delightful! What a wonderful wedding at the ALWAYS great Lesner Inn. I’ve done a slew of weddings there this season and I can always find new angles to play with photography wise to keep it fresh. The band was pretty awesome too! Nothing like a classic rock band to kick a wedding reception into high gear!

Here are a couple images from Andrew & Erin’s Wedding Photography at The Lesner Inn below followed by their slide show:

I just posted a couple of the images from this wedding because I’ve already done the slide show! So, if you’d like to get a REAL feel for what this wedding was like you can click on the link to the slide show below.

Click Here For Andrew & Erin’s Wedding Slide Show

:)

This was an absolutely fantastic photo session! Jen and Charlie had a BLAST and I managed to keep my cameras dry for a change (since the waves weren’t too rough). I know at some point I’m going to go under with a camera, but so far I’ve managed to keep my feet under me even when getting bombed by waves while concentrating on shooting the pictures. (LUCKY!)

Jen did a solo Trash The Dress back in May too which came out awesome. She just re-used the same dress. $19 went a LONG way here (which was what the dress cost at the thrift store). The tux was cheap too! Gotta love it!

Here are some of my favorites from this session:

I am in a perpetual state of catch up! I do the blog posts as I find the time because my 1st priority is processing the wedding pictures and designing the wedding albums (which have been hot and heavy lately). I’ve done 6 albums in the past few weeks. That’s quite a lot in that short time period. I’m going to post some weddings not up here yet for August and also some great vacation pictures too.

Check back soon!

Fun portrait session! Here are some of my favorites:

What a great night! I wish they were all that perfect!

She described her wedding as being “A Big’Ole Country Wedding” and described her spirituality. So, it was an easy suggestion to make.

She and her Mom LOVE the results, and so do I.

Here are some of my favorites from this session:

Then, we went to the beach. We were still under the influence of that near miss Tropical Storm / Hurricane off the coast, so the surf was WILD, and it was REAL windy. Too windy and wild for Stephanie’s dress and veil. We did what we could on the beach, but I couldn’t get her close enough to the water without it being TRULY dangerous. The beach had eroded badly and the slope to the water was very steep. So, we played it safe for a few shots and called it a night.

Looking forward to the BIG OLE COUNTRY WEDDING! August 16th!

I always love working at the Lesner Inn. The ladies that run the show there are simply wonderful. Always on top of things and never short on smiles.

Hearing Al S do the ceremony was as always a treat too. He never does the vows twice the same way that I’ve heard!

ANOTHER half Bostonian crowd on the Groom’s side of the family! WOOOHOOOO! Go Red Sox!

Just a flat out great wedding and party to follow. Here is the Reader’s Digest version of the day:

What a great wedding! Best of luck to you Filipe and Katelyn!

It was a Boston crowd for the most part, and I was right at home. (being from that neck of the woods originally) Loved the Boston accents flying around the room all night long.

Brett & Lynn’s friends and family were a blast to be around, a wonderful group of people. They were off to Hawaii for a two week honeymoon after their wedding which lasted till the we hours with a great DJ who kept the dance floor hopping all night long.

Here is some of their wedding photography coverage:

Looks like I ran on a bit with the pictures here and again, I didn’t even scratch the surface.

I guess I could post a bunch of the artistic shots I took, but I like people much better than inanimate objects. There’s nothing quite as facinating as the human face and the thousands of different expressions it can muster in a very short time.

Best of luck to you Brett and Lynn! Hope you had a blast in Hawaii!

It was a pleasure to shoot this wedding, lots of great people having a great time.

Here is some of the photography from this wedding:

Best of luck to you Wayne and Rycy!