My photography was on the Today Show!!!

Maria, one of my favorite clients, was interviewed on yesterday's edition of the "Today Show" on NBC. Maria is married and was part of a segment that discussed what is the right age to get married. I am excited to write that during her interview, the "Today Show" displayed one of the images I took of Maria and her husband Louis last year during a photo shoot in Manhattan's Financial District. My blog posts of our photo shoot can be found here and here.

Thanks to Maria and Louis for submitting the photo to be used on the show. The video of Maria's interview can be found on msnbc.com. Here is a screen shot of my image that was displayed.

Shira & Jason's Engagement

A couple of weeks ago, my very good friend Jason told me about his plan to propose to his girlfriend Shira. His plan was to propose to her at the Fulton Ferry Landing near the Brooklyn Bridge at approximately 8:30 p.m. and then take her to the River Cafe for dinner.

Jason asked me if I could "surreptitiously" photograph the engagement so that he could surprise her with the pictures the next day. Of course I agreed.

In preparation for the shoot, Jason and I went to the Fulton Ferry Landing the week prior to check out the lighting conditions in the evening. What we found made for a very challenging photo shoot. There were NO LIGHT SOURCES on the pier of any kind. No lamp posts, nothing. The only thing providing any light at all was the moon. Needless to say, we could barely read our watches in the darkness.

I knew immediately that I would have to shoot at a slow shutter speed with a tripod in order to capture the lights of the Manhattan skyline. In addition, I would need to use a powerful flash in order to illuminate Shira and Jason from a distance of approximately 40-50 feet.

The equipment I used for the shoot was a Canon 5D camera, 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens, a Canon Speedlite 580EX II flash, an external battery pack for the flash and a Bogen Manfrotto tripod. The external battery pack was necessary in order to provide fast recycling times for the flash in the 45-50 degree weather.

Jason proposed to Shira on Monday night and it went perfectly. She was so excited that she did not even notice the flashes going off. It was so dark that I had to quickly focus the lens manually for each shot as I changed focal length because the camera's autofocus did not work accurately in such low light at such a distance.

Here's a quick shot sequence:







Here's Jason giving me the "thumbs up". Congratulations Shira and Jason!!!



Photo info:
All photos in the sequence were taken at 1/6 sec., f/5.6, ISO 800, manual mode, ETTL flash at -2/3 flash compensation.
1) 70 mm focal length
2) 155 mm focal length
3) 155 mm focal length
4) 200 mm focal length
5) 90 mm focal length, slight panning.

Laura & Jonathan

Back in August I did a photo session with a young married couple from Long Island, Laura and Jonathan. We did most of the photo session in Cold Spring Harbor in the Town of Huntington. This was my first visit to Cold Spring Harbor. It's a beautiful area with interesting little shops along Main Street.

Laura and Jonathan were both amazing to work with.







Whatever Jonathan whispered to Laura made her crack up. It took her at least a minute to stop laughing.

Maria & Louis - Part II

Last week I posted some pictures from my photo session with Maria and Louis in the Financial District and Battery Park City which are located at the southern tip of Manhattan. They were so enthusiastic about the experience that I have posted a few more.



This picture was taken on a walkway bridge that overlooks Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Park and the Hudson River. This is a nice, quiet spot to enjoy the view of the water.



These last three pictures were taken near the South Cove which is another park area in Battery Park City. This is one of Battery Park City's most popular destinations because there are plenty of seating areas where you can enjoy the view of the harbor and the many ships that pass through.

Maria & Louis

Last month I had the pleasure of doing a photo session with Louis and his beautiful wife Maria. Louis is an avid photographer and loves to talk about photography. He mentioned to me that
he loves to take photos of his wife. However, other than their wedding day, they have very few pictures together.

As a photographer, Louis can appreciate the value of having interesting settings for pictures. In advance of our session, he scouted out some locations in the Financial District and Battery Park City. These are just a few samples from early on in the shoot. Over the next few days, I plan on posting more pictures.

The first two pictures were taken just off of Stone Street, a narrow, cobblestone, pedestrian-only alley in the midst of the tall buildings of the Financial District. It has a great Old New York feel. I remember reading in some history book about New York that Stone Street was one of the first paved streets in what is now known as New York City. During the spring and summer, the local restaurants set up tables in the street and serve lunch to the Wall Street crowd. Behind Louis and Maria you can see the sign for Ulysses', a popular bar.







Down in Battery Park City near the Ritz Carlton Hotel, there is an interesting seating area overlooking the Hudson River. There are these great wooden benches with high backs.

Welcome to my new blog!

I am pleased to announce that my new blog is up and running.

A few weeks ago I did a photo session with a couple who recently got engaged.

Here are some sample pics: