Monday, April 27, 2009

Give Emerald Some Love... Your Vote

I covered Emerald's wedding last year in the city of brotherly love, Philadelphia. A beautiful wedding with a 1930's era feel and theme. This year, she is one of the finalist in a bridal contest.

Show her some love by giving her your vote at this link http://www.totheeiwedbridalshow.com/Face_of_the_Show.html

The contest ends soon so act fast. Vote. Forward. Encourage to vote.

One More Year - Birthday

Yes, I have officially added one more year to my age. This year I had a small celebration with my family before going back to work. Oh yeah, one candle is all I need. I have learned that there is a point when you go with one candle and forgo needing a leaf blower to extinguish the multitude of candles.




Ice cream and cake for everyone!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Walt + April = Family

I love it when I just feel the love. Three generations in one photo in a place they call home. I was happy when Walt asked me to schedule some time for his family to celebrate their bond at his home. He and his wife always appear to be great parents and It was confirmed at the session.

I arrived a little early to see if we were going to shoot inside our out. Though it was a sunny day, the wind drove us indoors to protect the ladies' beautiful hairstyles. A quick count let me know immediately we were missing the oldest son, his wife and the third generation. With a bright outside and windows bringing it in, I opted to add some internal lighting from my Qflash set up in a stationary location to insure proper contrast and light to the shadows for this family fun setup. For couples only, I would opt for more contrast to set a special mood. Here, light means fun, see for yourself...

While finishing up with one set, this adorable little guy gave a quick lovable poses on the sofa. He feel into so naturally that I quickly stopped speaking to Walt and started capturing him.

They told me that not posing was the hardest part of the session. I guess they didn't believe I would catch a few good, unrehearsed shots, but here's proof. I love laughter. I love good, heartfelt laughter. Aside from that, I love to see cute babies having fun with their grandfather.

If this last picture does not make your heart melt, I'm not sure what will. However, there are a few more heart warming shots from the session. Check out the rest on the slideshow and at the event.


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Data Robotics Scores Again with the DroboPro

Okay, I already love the Drobo, but this goes well beyond that! My current Drobo holds up to 4 drives at any size and connects either via USB2.0 or ethernet (droboshare). I was waiting around to get the newer firewire800 model until I saw this.

The DroboPro can handle up to 8 drives of varying size and connects via USB, firewire or ISCSI (ethernet based SCSI or something like that).

I can contest that the Drobo has saved me a couple times through its ease of file management and storage failure security. I can only imagine the possibilities with a single unit that can hold up to 16 TB of data.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

How Can You Help Fight Breast Cancer


If you could do something, even so small, but could make a difference... would you?

I have friends and acquaintances who have been affected by breast cancer in one way or another. I have donated my time and photography talent to some of these same people and others and wqant to donate more of my talent.

The other day, a friend sent me an email about a way to help:
"I received this note from my sister. "G" (at an early age my sons called her Aunt G because it was easier to say than Aunt Gloria) is a breast cancer survivor and ask me to help with this request. Thanks, Den"
Here's G's note:
"Please tell ten friends to tell ten today! The Breast Cancer site is having trouble getting enough people to click on their site daily to meet their quota of donating at least one free mammogram a day to an underprivileged woman. It takes less than a minute to go to their site and click on 'donating a mammogram' for free (pink window in the middle).

This doesn't cost you a thing. Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate mammogram in exchange for advertising.

Here's the web site! Pass it along to people you know.

http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/
AGAIN , PLEASE TELL 10 FRIENDS TO TELL 10"
Take less than a minute of your time to make a difference for a lifetime.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Huey and Nneka are expecting...

One of my favorite brides is expecting her first child and had a nice baby shower at her hometown in Louisiana. Nneka and Huey have settled on a baby theme of frogs for their little child. However, I was told that the room was not yet ready, but should be by the time he arrives. Yes, he. They decided to find out who was on the way.
I guess knowing is great because the room had a nice feeling of a boy's room with the frogs and blue accents. I really loved the army of frogs on the second cake.
I haven't been a regular at baby showers, but I have found they have some good games to include nursery rhyme trivia and baby BINGO. This reminds me that one of the best loved games is not to say baby or forfeit your clothes pin. One attendee was the queen of the hill with her listening and collecting skills. Needless to say, she won that round.

I decided to go 95% of my shots available light on this one. When I did use flash, I didn't like them as much. At ISO 1600 and above, I was able to pull some nice shots which were representative of the event.




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Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Learning from Joe Bussink

One of the well known wedding and portrait photographers from California came by to speak to a few of us East Coast photographers about his style, the wedding industry and shooting film.
He had some great words of wisdom concerning technique and showed us some of his famous work. I really enjoyed some of his comments about being a second shooter on his own assignments to allow him the freedom to seek those amazing shots without others pulling him away to get the tradition images.
A man after my own heart, Joe spoke of his charity work and giving back. I like to hear others who do this because it is one of the cornerstones of my work. Joe has been influential in my style and it was a great opportunity to discuss the emerging styles for wedding and portrait photography.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Finer Womanhood Event

The Philadelphia chapter of the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority held yet another excellent event the other weekend. The Finer Womanhood Luncheon honored several key people who have made great contributions to the community ranging from a motivated child to an always caring couple.

However, the event would not have been a signature event without the sea of different hats displayed by the members. Waves of white, blue, black and more gave a brilliant glow to the room. There were several vendors showcasing even more hats that were sure to be worn at next year's event.

Between my zoom lens and 50mm, I preferred the 50mm wide open for these up close photos using the ambient lighting. These ladies were dressed to impress and did not mind a little camera time.
The fashion show started off with an outstanding dance number which was followed up by many fashionable wear for both men and women by local designers. I would surely like to see my wife in some of these nice dresses. Now let me pause to say that my wife always dresses nice and keeps me from throwing on my old jeans and shirt from time to time, but these would make a great addition to her wardrobe.
Perched on my ladder I had an excellent view of the parade of colors and styles. I shared my spot with Jerry a videographer who had a nice digital video camera and Mitchell another photographer. There was plenty of space for us and the wait staff who traveled back and forth in front of us (good thing for the ladder to take me above them). I really enjoyed having Jerry there because he had one great spotlight on top of his gear. This additional light helped with focusing whenever I was shooting what he was shooting. At other times I had to rely on the D3's to catch the fast motion before the remote flash popped.

I'm comfortable in pink and could see myself in this denim outfit with matching shirt. The models always make these things look good. This reminds me that there was a very vocal group of ladies seated a table immediately in front of my position and at the head of the runway. I think they just about whistled or cheered when every male model strolled their way.

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