Yelena and Ben’s first dance in the dramatic architecture of Guastivino’s
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Lens: Sigma 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6
Camera: Nikon D3s
Light: Sb-900 triggered by PocketWizard FlexTT5
Tag Archives: manhattan wedding photographer
Yelena and Ben really picked the right day of this weekend to get married. After the record-breaking snow on Saturday, this is what we had yesterday — a gorgeous wedding at Guastivino’s in Manhattan.
I had to fight every urge to not just stay up all night and post this whole wedding today. Finally I remembered that I felt the same way about all the other weddings I’ve photographed recently. It’s telling in a lot of ways that I’m headed to Aruba on Wednesday and I’m excited to look through and edit the great weddings that I’ve had happen in front of my lens in recent weeks.
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Lens: Sigma 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6
Camera: Nikon D3s
I was boarding a plane to Munich this past December when I saw a couple out of the corner of my eye. The first thing that registered was “Man, that’s a good-looking couple.” It took about three more seconds before I actually fully saw them and realized — wait a second — I’m shooting their wedding! Only I would bump into one of my couples in Munich.
But it’s not as unlikely as it seems. Kim is American by birth and Korbinian is German, and they both live in Munich. With so many of Kim’s friends and family here, I can only imagine the frequent flier miles they rack up. Due to their schedule, we’d done their engagement shoot the year before at mid-day on one of the hottest Manhattan days in years, and perhaps to make up for it the weather for their wedding was nice and cool, threatening rain at first but opening up into a partly cloudy day that made for another spectacular Battery Gardens sunset.
I know a lot of photographers think that the reception isn’t as integral a part of the day as the ceremony and portraits, but it’s weddings like this that remind me that the party is every bit as important. Before the ceremony, there’s still so much to worry about, from eyeing the weather to making sure about the timing and a thousand other things, and the ceremony at the gorgeous Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Steon is so personal and intimate, but to then see a couple get to unwind, laugh, cry, and dance, dance, dance with people they love and haven’t seen together in so long is a beautiful process. And boy, could they dance.
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When I’m not shooting wedding photography, I’m usually thinking about or discussing wedding photography. Yes, it’s true. The other day I had a discussion about whether and how much wedding photography imposes overly dramatic forms on love. I was asked: “Do people dip-and-kiss in real life? Do they just feel like jumping into each other’s arms naturally?”
My first thought was “Well … I do (sometimes.)” But, of course, maybe that’s why I’m a wedding photographer.
My second that was “Mila and Igor. They do.”
Dramatic, lively, and ballroom-trained? You bet they do. It was a wet, grey day in NYC when they got married at Studio 450, but that didn’t slow them or their wedding party one bit, especially their equally fun-loving and dramatic parents. Mila’s dad had me cracking up most of the day (and, as you can see below, he has some impressive hang time on his jumps.) When they reached a puddle? Yes, without prompting, Mila just jumped into his arms and he carried her across.
I’m including a few photos from their engagement shoot because they show their personality well — visiting their old haunts like his favorite chess shop — and because they used the photos for a big part of their reception design, and I’d rather show the photos than photos of photos.
Congratulations, Mila and Igor — no imposed drama necessary.
A fun, extremely nice couple? Great weather? The Central Park Boathouse? If it sounds like a nice day, wait until you get to the part with the crazy dance floor, the free-flowing tears and deep family connections, the gorgeous styling, and their obvious passion for each other.
We began the day in my old stomping grounds near Columbia University, and from there everything was in Central Park. There is so much less possible stress on a wedding day when you can simply walk from the ceremony to gorgeous locations and back again, and that allowed them a day laser-focused on just having a great time with their friends and family. Perfect.
Well this is a first — I’m blogging Claire and Johnny’s wedding during their wedding.
No, I haven’t revolutionized efficiency. Claire and Johnny are celebrating their love tonight with friends and family in Scotland, but beforehand they travelled to New York City to get married in an intimate, beautiful day — with nine people! It’s been a long time since I spent a full day at a wedding with fewer than 10 guests, and while I love the energy of large weddings, there is something really special about being able to get to know every person there.
After a ceremony at the Central Park Conservatory Garden, they finished the day with a yacht ride around southern Manhattan, and we couldn’t have had a better day for it. It felt like a great day among friends more than work — possibly because everyone, including the bride, kept taking pictures as well! On a night like this, who can blame them.
Congratulations, Claire and John — I hope you’re having the time of your lives right now.
I had a fantastic, fun session with Gina and Gary, and I managed to surprise myself with this one. Yes, I’ve been getting a kick out of using the golden rule of photography “nothing outside the frame actually exists” to turn Newark into a verdant wonderland. But when Gina and Gary told me they wanted to shoot in Penn Station I thought “Ok, this will be fun, we’ll re-enact the early stages of their relationship, capture the feeling of a surging crowd, etc.” but I never thought the station itself would look good.
Penn Station … the shame of NYC, an architectural disaster so terrible that it inspired a new movement in architectural preservation, and some great episodes of Mad Men … transformed by a dramatic underexposure and a Wells-Fargo sign (which is outside the frame, and so doesn’t exist). It actually was a delight to walk around and see the place not as my eyes would see it, but as my camera would.
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Lens: 24mm f/1.4
Camera: Nikon D3s
When Kim and Dinesh told me about the spectacle they had planned, I knew right away that this was not a story for black and white. When you combine the intense, colorful, time-honored and raucous traditions of Chinese and Indian weddings with the incredibly sumptuous space of New York’s Gotham Hall, you have a colorful day in every sense of the word.
It more than lived up to all of our expectations. The ceremony and reception were absolutely stunning, and Kim knew how to mix the traditional and the modern, offsetting her Chinese dress with some Louboutins so fantastic that she needs to win some sort of award for being able to walk on grass in them.
But what really stands out is their tenderness at every moment in a day that brought us from midtown to the Bronx and back again, through door games and groomsmen wearing lipstick and tea ceremonies and horses in the streets of Manhattan and so much more. Always tender, between themselves and to others. Congratulations.
(A few photos by Erica Camille)
It takes a brave and cheerful couple to brave Hell’s Kitchen and Times Square on Fleet Week. Luckily Cindy and Sharvin had both qualities to spare. They’re the sort of people who are so nice that they make you nicer simply by standing around them — which is exactly what midtown Manhattan needs. They added their own touch to the Studio 450 loft space with elements both classic and personal, including home-cooked desserts from family recipes. And clearly their great attitudes paid off karmically, since they win the door prize for being my first couple with an outdoor ceremony this year where it didn’t rain! Nothing like a rooftop ceremony that looks out over such iconic New York structures as the Empire State Building, the New Yorker, and (if you look carefully) Ryan Brenizer Photography studios.
Congratulations!
Today I’m finishing my busiest stretch of the year — not only a double-wedding weekend, but also full-day weddings on a Thursday and a Tuesday. Yes, they aren’t just for weekends anymore. Along the way, I’ve created some photos that I cannot wait to share. Some will have to wait for their turn in the wedding queue, but here’s one of Mina and Igor. They had a fantastic wedding on Sunday, and as you might be able to tell from their posture, they had one heck of a first dance.
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Lens: 35mm f/1.4
Camera: Nikon D3s
Lighting: One SB-900
One of my reasons for launching Moment Junkie was to affect the conversation of wedding publishing — that pictures other than stylish portraits and showcasing centerpieces were important enough to publish, since they are the heart of a wedding. I’ve had a number of photographers say “shooting for Moment Junkie” has changed their priorities, and I happily agree.
In this moment, the grandfather almost drinks out of the kiddush cup before it’s time, but the rabbi makes a timely intervention.
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Lens: Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II
Camera: Nikon D3s
From Saturday’s wedding at the Chelsea Piers Lighthouse.
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Lens: 35mm f/1.4
Camera: Nikon D3s
I’ve been wanting to do a cogent, visually oriented instruction set on the “Brenizer method” for a LONG time, and I have some exciting news on that front to share very soon. In the meantime, I’ll just say that I’m really digging the ol’ Nikon 105mm f/1.8 AIS for these.
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Camera: Nikon D3s
Lens: 35-image “Brenizer method” panorama with the Nikon 105mm f/1.8 AIS
On a gorgeous September day almost ten years ago, I had just started my morning as the editor-in-chief of an upstate newspaper when one of my reporters told me a plane had hit the World Trade Center. Five minutes later, he told me about the second one, and I knew everything was about to change. Every impulse in me in a reporter told me to drive the 300 miles and be in the thick of it, but I had to manage everything, including an afternoon edition, so I sent out someone else.
Now, I finally strapped on a camera and headed for Ground Zero, but I was met with a site of raucous celebration, not despair. Osama is dead; we even have the body so there won’t be Osama sighting for the next 50 years, and New Yorkers were in the mood to celebrate. Given that it was 1 a.m., most of the ones really ready to celebrate in public were the college kids who were ready to go anyway, which ensured the atmosphere would be of revelry, not contemplation, though we were among the graves of Osama victims.
But if any city is ready for an impromptu rally at 1 a.m., it’s this one. And I’m glad to call it my home.
UPDATE: I wasn’t there to do video, but here’s a quick one I took to just get a sense of the crowd. Also, my friends at B&H Photo asked how I did this technically, given that it was 1 a.m. under low and very tricky lighting. Images have very little editing as befits photojournalism, but I knew I’d have to capture action in near-darkness, so I brought my “night vision” set-up: Two Nikon D3s‘s with the Nikon 24mm f/1.4, 35mm f/1.4, and Sigma 85mm f/1.4. Under sodium-vapor streetlights, white balance gets truly wacky, so I used Nikon Capture NX2 to process, as it has the best white balance control of any program I’ve used.
Otherwise, the main skills were things I learned in years as a newspaper photographer, such as how to politely elbow your way through a surging crowd and get where the action is.
Students, including a girl on her 21st birthday, use street poles to show their patriotism.
Revelers spray champagne onto the crowds below
After spraying the crowd, he enjoys some of the champagne for himself
Who knew New Yorkers had so many spare flags?
And the crowd goes wild for the cameras
A woman walks past a one-man candlelight vigil
Nothing says pride like face paint
The crowd chants for peace
Marching past the 9/11 memorial
Scaling Mount Patriotism…
“Lady, do NOT go up there! You are wearing a DRESS!”
City worker takes it in…
Moments like these are more important than car hoods
The only time I have ever seen a New Yorker happy to be stuck in traffic.
The sign of the night…
Let your colonial flag fly…
Tossed toilet paper hangs above as the crowd surges
Texting in the USA…
I can’t get enough of these guys.
Carried above the crowd
Vigilant.
UPDATE: There’s a lot going on in the comments, some of it I find quite distasteful. Here’s my view as someone who was there, in it if not of it:
I would prefer Osama have come quietly, but, he didn’t. I don’t really trust these events to be related truthfully given the value of propaganda, but the whole “firing back and using a wife as a human shield” thing, if true, makes me pretty comfortable with their decision to fire back.
One thing I was VERY proud of. Nowhere in all of the NYC revelry that I saw in person or on the news was there the scarcest bit of anti-Muslim sentiment. A guy with an “I’m a Muslim, don’t panic” t-shirt was cheered everywhere he went. No one denigrated or desecrated Islam except for OBL himself. (Online and in some other parts of the country, yes, but that’s not what these celebrations were about)
What’s hard to understand if you weren’t there is that there’s a very simple reason for the atmosphere … it was 1 a.m. These were 90 percent college kids who decided to hook a left instead of heading to the bars. No hatred, no burning people in effigy, just good news meaning an excuse to hang from a light pole on a day where the cops would cheer you on for doing so. Does it really make sense to set a car on fire because your team won a basketball game? Sure, if you listen to your id.
I didn’t think it was the tone I would have wanted, but the more I see people give high-handed criticism of a bunch of people gathering in the streets just to sing songs and share a sense of glad togetherness, the more protective I feel.
I mean, dude. I saw a hippie go up to a military offer and say “Do you mind if I just … give you a hug?” And they hugged. I saw police officers laughing gleefully at people committing (victimless) crimes, yelling “just don’t get hurt!” And 400 people cheering on a Muslim guy waving an American flag I saw New Yorkers not caring about a traffic jam. No hatred, but a sense that we did something right, something we said we’d do, and brought him to justice. (And if the raid went down the way they said, it seemed to have been handled justly).
The atmosphere was joyous and inclusive. When someone shouted “Hooray for the troops!” everyone cheered, then chanted “Bring them home!” The chant merged into “End the wars!” and someone responded with their own chant: “Don’t get greedy!” Everyone laughed. This is how it felt. While the wars aren’t funny, while death isn’t funny, and while the people here took their convictions seriously, even when they opposed each others’, you laugh when anything happens that relaxes your tension just a little bit. You put 1,000 people together who are happy about anything, and it becomes a party.
Do you think none of the celebrations would have happened if he’d come along quietly? If the announcement was “We’ve got him!”
I think there would be countless debates later about what to do with the guy, but I think there would have been just as many people in the streets, and if so, then they weren’t really there cheering for death, and sanctimoniousness must be tempered.
We did the conga when Hitler died, but we also went out into Times Square and kissed nurses when Hirohito … didn’t die.
Personally, I am cheering one of the most successful, precise military actions in history. It would have been easy, but terrible and a disaster, to just send in a Predator and destroy the place. We finally made a series of right, difficult decisions after a series of incredibly competent intelligence gathering. I mean … incredible effective government decisions? Incredibly competent intelligence agencies? And it all worked together to absolutely minimize any impact on civilians? That’s a stopped clock worth cheering.
In short, Americans aren’t particularly obsessed with death — we’re absolutely obsessed with WINNING. And in asymmetric warfare, the events of May 1, whether he had come quietly or not, is as close to a win as we can possibly come.