Project Pow Wow

A "pow wow" is what we call a small get together of skilled photographers and one heck of a day of shooting pictures. It's a day full of ideas, creativity, and skilled execution. I've been trying to set one up by the beach in Wilmington, NC. I have been working on this project for some time and have some great commitments. The last step is landing a handful of models - something I'm almost done with.

What truly makes this a fun and worthwhile day are the photographers that come out. I have been talking to some of my local photographer buddies and thought I'd extend the invitation publicly. If you're interested, you can just post a comment to this thread or send me an e-mail. Please include your name, number, the dates you are free (look below for timing details), and website.

THE DETAILS:
Denise Maeyaert, Manager at Savvi Formalwear - providing wedding dresses, tuxedos, bridesmaids dresses, etc.
Nilofer Khan, Supervisor at Mitchell's - providing hair and makeup services.
Models: TBA
Date: TBD (middle of May to end of June.)

As I get more commitments and as more things are finalized, the information on this post will be updated. Please check back to this post for updates.

Of cappuccinos and chilly mornings...

Honestly, a lot of things in life are about timing - cappuccino is no different. There is rarely anything like two teaspoons of brown sugar, a sprinkle or two of cinnamon, and a foaming end result of warm espresso goodness on a chilly morning. I don't want to get up out of bed, but I have so much to do. In between juggling meetings, trying to spend time with one of my closest friends before he goes off to residency in Richmond for four years, and traveling with the Boss Lady, I have had no time to process pictures and to design the six albums I need to.


I decided to add some new things to the blog - one of which is "The Look Out". Every now and then, I'm going to put up some information on projects and ventures I have developing for the near future. It gives everyone something to look forward to and it keeps me on point with my plans.


In regards to upcoming excitement, as you can probably see, the blog looks a little different. I redid some CSS and matched the blog to the incoming business cards. They should be here within the coming week and as soon as they get in, I'll have some pictures up. Also, I'm working with a friend of mine to develop his portfolio - he's a videographer, graduated film school in directing, and works in LA - and yes, as soon as we finish a couple of upcoming projects together, I'll be featuring his work for all of you to see. We're planning on adding full wedding videography services by the summer and we're very excited about it.

Album Samples

I've been meaning to take some shots of my albums for a while now, but never really found the time to do it until this past week. I'm not much of a product photographer and, moreover, a product decorator. I'm a people's photographer - hence, the wedding business =). So, the whole candles thing was my attempt at ... well... being "decorative".

First up is the introductory coffee table book. This beauty can come in very big sizes - like 15x10 and 16x12 - and lays completely flat. The pages are thin, the whole book is pretty lightweight, and everything is water and heat resistant. The colors come out beautifully and the book can serve as a great coffee table centerpiece.






Next is the flushmount album. Now, this book has a plethora of cover and page options from metallic prints to two tone hand stitched leather covers. The metal "armour" slab cover pictured here is one of my absolute favorites when it comes to having a black and white picture for the cover. As pictured, the album lays flat, has a very reasonable thickness of pages, and boasts handmade stitching and mounting. This album can be tailored to have almost any type of "feel" or "look" and serves as a great higher end family album.








One thing some couples do is mix and match albums. Getting a nice flushmount album for yourself and then getting coffee table books for parents or guest displays is a really smart idea in that it keeps the main album clean and safe. I have a couple more albums coming in soon. I'll post some pictures up when they get in to show exactly how different these albums can be made to look.

I hope everyone has had a nice weekend,
Have a great week!

The Mumtaz Family | Portrait

While in Florida, we decided to do a portrait session for my uncle's family. On this trip, I only had an 85mm lens, so everything that you see in the three posts I made today was taken at 85mm.











































Who is that handsome fellow in the blue shirt!?

Our Vacation

These batch of pictures are from our trip to Orlando this past weekend. We had an amazing time with my Uncle's family. On Saturday, we decided to go to Animal Kingdom and MGM Studios. I get motion sickness very easily, so just walking around looking at stuff at Animal Kingdom worked out nicely for me. My wife and her cousins are more adventurous, so MGM was definately a treat for them. By the way, if any of you ever go to MGM, plan your day around the stunt shows - absolutely amazing.

I absolutely loved checking out the wildlife and a lot of these pictures were taken on the safari while we were moving at 15-30mph over rough terrain. I think the truck stopped twice and both times for about 10 seconds. Also, another disclaimer - I'm not a wildlife photographer. So, here are the pictures (all of these are straight out of camera)...























And now for MGM...

My Wedding.

I know I've been absent for a couple of weeks or so, but I promise I have a very good excuse...

I got married!

The past few weeks have changed my life in a way that I can't put into words. The happiness, added responsibility, and the realization of growing up are just some of the welcomed aspects of this new beginning.

Now, the photography! Ayesha Ahmed was our contracted photographer along with two of my second shooters. All together, the number of the pictures taken is probably in the thousands. The team was absolutely amazing and the best part was that we were all friends. We laughed, screamed, and joked on each other while being a part of a beautiful day and wonderful photography. The wedding was a three day event and the following links show Day Two; the actual wedding day:
Part1
Part2

So, I hope this post makes up for my blog absense. Day Three was held in Brooklyn and I was in my home town of Staten Island for a little over a week. We just got back yesterday (I threw up on the flight due to turbulence).

Thank God, everything is settling into place.