Saturday's showers held off long enough to do some portraits outdoors with Laura and Ro, who were married at the beautiful East Wind Inn in Wading River, NY.  One of my favorite images occurred when a romantic moment was interrupted by one of the arriving guests, who honked their car horn when they saw them kissing near the gazebo. Their reaction was a bit of shock and glee. And for me, serendipity.  

I had the pleasure of second shooting with Laura Bruen, a colleague from Central Jersey recently. We have been "forum friends" and this was the first opportunity we had to work together. It was a blast!  Laura works hard, but still manages to enjoy the event, and is always ready with a smile.  Frank and Jackie, the happy couple, chose the beautiful Frelinghuysen Arboretum for their formals, and the impeccable Park Savoy in Florham Park for the reception.  

My clients often ask me if a second shooter is necessary, and the answer is "it depends." In this case, the bride and groom were getting ready at different locations, making it a bit difficult for one person to get to both locations before the ceremony. And because weddings are full of surprises, the groom's timetable was significantly delayed due to a snafu with some of the tuxes and shoes.  If they had relied on one shooter, some of the coverage they wanted most likely would have been missed. There are other advantages to having a second photographer, not the least of which is having the same moments captured from two different perspectives.  An experienced photographer will help their clients decide if a second photographer is necessary, a nice perk, or not needed at all.  Factors to consider include the type of coverage they want, the size of the wedding, the locations and timetable.

Wedding season is in full swing, with all but one weekend in June booked!  The biggest announcement is that I'm about to embark on renovating an existing space and transform it into my own studio/gallery and client meeting area!  I'll be posting images of the project as it gets underway, and I expect it will be ready for clients by the end of the month.

In the past two weeks, I've had the pleasure of photographing state baseball and softball playoffs, portraits of newborn triplets, Alumni Day at Stevens Institute (with my friend and colleague Kathleen Kelly), and working on two book designs -- not to mention helping a couple of colleagues by second shooting at weddings and a bat mitzvah.

There promises to be plenty of blog fodder over the next few weeks, so stay tuned for updates!  

Wow, it's been an incredibly busy few weeks, so I thought I'd take a moment and post some updates.  The show at the Javits Center a couple of weeks ago went so well I had to run out after the first day and have more brochures printed, but the best part was meeting other businesses and having the opportunity to network and develop some informal partnerships with them.  One of my favorites was The Works Catering which is the catering arm of Housing Works Bookstore Cafe.  If you select them as your caterer, a portion of the proceeds benefits homeless New Yorkers with HIV.  So, have a celebration and do a good thing at the same time.

Perhaps the biggest news is a restructuring of my wedding packages, so that all eight-hour packages include at least a base album. Of course, everything is offered a la carte also, but there are significant savings built into the packages.  My thoughts on this are simply that I want my clients to have something tangible -- an album -- when they hire me.  Along with the new packages, I am now set up with a merchant account to accept credit card payments. 

And better yet, I am looking into offering photo/video packages in collaboration with a very good videographer!  Stay tuned for more on this development...

I drove out to Wading River, NY on Tuesday to meet Laura and Ro, who were home for spring break. We did their e-session in the snow, and as cold as it was, there is nothing like a good coating of the white stuff to make for lots of outdoor fun. I'm glad to say my hands and gear held up quite well, as did Laura and Ro! I think the snowball fight which ended the session ended in a tie... and I can't wait to do their wedding in June.

The New Legacy concert series in Ringwood, NJ, continues to amaze me!  Marcia Ball put on a fantastic performance on Sunday, with everyone in the audience stomping to the beat and dancing in our seats.  What a great way to chase away the winter doldrums and feel completely uplifted afterwards.