Make Love Real » Manhattan

Deanna & William’s custom designed album

Neil — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:08:24 +0000

Deanna finally approves her wedding album!

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Sweet success indeed for this well planned, wonderful event. Catch the blended storylines in this intricately designed and textured wedding album design.

Here are a couple of my favorite speads:

Here Deanna is coming down the isle (which is a narrow row of cedar bushes) and my three shots on the left show her finding, posing and receiving the roses from her groom; which the key shot on the right is coming into view of the guests for the first time and was shot by the assistant photographer.

The first dace spread is a free flowing sequence that really tells about the interpersonal and environmental space is a freeform design over time. To me this is the most gratifying way to view the wedding photos – and it’s also without color.

Which leads us into the next spread – which is all about color, the emotion and mood of their after dinner portrait session in the field.

Eden’s face

Neil — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:07:26 +0000

A fine art portrait set with Eden

I love all things Asian, and so love a chance to photograph that mysterious beauty and exotic flair!

Choose your portrait session and purchase some beautiful art portraits for your loved ones.

New York city, manhattan artistic head shots

Neil — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 18:39:37 +0000

Artistic head shots on location. Give the eye contact that will get you the audition!

Professional retouched headshot package with 100 full color business cards.

Fall Engagement photo classics

Neil — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:41:59 +0000

Here’s a little summary of past fall engagement projects and some highlight photos:

Glamour portraits

Neil — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:54:49 +0000

Glamour portraits – for you, or to impress!

Purchase your portrait session with Neil now:

Black and White in Living Color

Neil — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:02:16 +0000

The models of the E Agency – Charlotte NC

I spent the day shooting for the E Agency models on the Black + White theme.

Totally Worth It to go see a NYC improv comedy act for free!

Neil — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 12:51:44 +0000

Totally Worth It Promo 4

So which one of these two hotties, I mean comedians, is getting married?

And well by now you know who’s shooting their wedding right?

Go see them in New York City!

Thursdays @ 8pm in September

The PIT
The Peoples Improv Theater
154 West 29th Street btwn 6-7

And well we might just be able to hook you up with a free ticket for your date! Buy your first ticket online with this link and contact us through the comments and we can hook you up with a free ticket for your date to their comedy show, seriously – free stuff here at Make Love Real! Read more to see other ‘trailers’ for this comedy show, and to find out which one is a Make Love Real bride.

OK – thanks for making the jump – Alicia the non-blonde of the pair is our client and she’s actually marrying another comedian….we’ll have to tell that story later.

Well, I haven’t heard any news about a breakup, so David must have survived the filming and used his massive comic wit to charm Alicia out of dumping him for the show. Enjoy and say hi to Alicia after the show! Or you can add the thursday Sept 11th event to your facebook calendar.

Take a minute to click with us

Neil — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 03:23:40 +0000

We would sincerely appreciate your help in both referring us to your friends who will appreciate our services, but also communicating with the myriad of clients you may not meet or know by reviewing our work online. We must cast a broad net to reach each year’s new clients because we don’t serve the same (wedding) client twice. So while we know many of you have made financial sacrifices to hire us, your minute or two effort here will save our future clients the additional costs of more advertising.

Add our site to your favorite bookmark service:

Review our services on external sites and please click each of these links:

Social Network with Neil:

Friend Neil on Facebook: (by far the most useful and used) if you’re not already our client, send me a note to let me know why you’re friending me.
Neil’s Myspace Page: (not that I keep up with it)
Linked in: professional networking
Twitter: neilcowley
Neil’s Flickr account where many of the images here are hosted, and much of the teaching/instructional images are found for:
www.MakeLightReal.com – Neil’s creative journal if you’re interested in learning about the creative process or technical photo stuff.
Open Source Photo – a free discussion forum for beginner wedding photographers.

You can find us listed online in these directories:

Behance – Creative Portfolios
ASMP – American Society of Media Photographers – Neil is also an accomplished commercial and advertising photographer.
Wedding Wire Charlotte NC Wedding Photographers
WeDj.com Wedding Photographer North Carolina
Adirondak Wedding Photographers in New York
New York City Metro Wedding Photographers
Rochester Club Ballroom
Enright Florists
Sheldrake Point Vineyard Weddings
Glen Iris Weddings with a waterfall overlook
Atlanta Wedding Photojournalist listed on MyWedding.com
East Coast wedding photojournalist in Charleston South Carolina
Miami Florida wedding photographer
Orlando Florida wedding photojournalist
Caribbean Island Beach Wedding Destination Villa Photographer
National Wedding Photographer.com
Phoenix Arizona professional wedding photojournalist AZ and the grand canyon
PhotoLinks – The Photography Network
Photographysites.com Wedding Photographers
Love Unscripted – Wedding photojournalist photo blog and image stream
Find a UK wedding photographer.
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Charlotte Wedding Guide
North Carolina Wedding Photographers – Member of WeddingPhotoUSA – America’s Professional Wedding Photographers
Find local North Carolina Wedding Photographers
Search for local wedding photographers in North Carolina at LocalWeddingPhotographers.com
listed at million blog list
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1 Second Film Producer
Photo.net – Neil Cowley’s profile page
Photoblog Community Profile
- Photography Home Pages
- Top Photographer’s site.
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Leading Charlotte, North Carolina Invitations and Charlotte, North Carolina Photographers listed in Decidio.com
Titterectory listing for Neil Cowley – Photographer
Charlotte North Carolina Photographer’s Directory
- Photo Ring Photography Blog listings
Boudoir South CarolinaCharleston, South Carolina’s top Boudoir and Glamour Photographer servicing Charleston, Summerville, Folly Beach, Mt. Pleasant, Isle of Palms, James Island, Moncks Corner, Goose Creek, North Charleston and surrounding areas in South Carolina.
photographers for weddings, corporate and commercial advertising
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Grant’s Park engagement session

Neil — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 20:51:41 +0000

Falling moment - inspired by the mosaic benches around Grant's Tomb

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Jeanette and Matthew met at 180 Claremont Ave while moving, so we started there for their engagement photos. We then started to choreograph the musical, but ran out of light. Despite the darkness they were all smiles, and we shared a lively conversation over the mosaic benches at Grant’s Memorial.

A birthday surprise

Neil — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:06:43 +0000

Wendy and Billy surprise me with a birthday offering while I was at dinner with them on the lower east side after some portraits.

Visit the infamous Milon of Bangladesh Restaurant at 93 1st Ave NYC

Madison Square Park Portraits

Neil — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 05:50:51 +0000

While I was in NYC a few days ago for the Photo+ Trade show, I was able to meet up with Wendy and Billy, who were married in September of ’06 at the Ausable Club in the heart of the Adirondacks. So we met in the Madison Square park and shot under these weirdish silver coated sculptures, with the empire state building in the background.

And played around in the park…

It was getting dark but even though it was late October, we were having a bit of an Indian Summer.

Go Bill, what a stud! And then Wendy took me to a crazy fun Bengali restaurant that she’s been dining at since age 7, and we enjoyed some wonderful Bengali food and conversation.

Now I have the tape of what they ‘did’ to me after dinner, but it will be a while before I get it posted….

The funky ceiling here is at the Milon of Bangladesh restaurant at 1st Ave and 5th St.

Wendy was saying that she’s been helping a few brides in her Dermatology practice. I’ve heard that birth control can really mess with your hormones and your skin but hey, maybe that’s a topic for your doctor – not my blog. She said she helps brides to make sure their skin is ready for strapless dresses and the like, so look her up at 71 Park Ave, Suite 1A.

Erin + Josh Engagement story at Centeral Park West and MOMA NY

Neil — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 06:48:38 +0000

I had been wanting to see the Richard Serrra exhibit and there’s never enough time to connect with my NYC clients so I was able to stop by the exhibit and connect with Erin and Josh at the same time. Their story was a fun one to watch unfold as well as listen to….

If you cannot view this flash audio multimedia presentation, then you can also try this page as an alternate viewable source.

Purchase a multimedia engagement session to tell your story to your friends and family all across the world.

Summer’s evening skyline sunset from Tribeca

Neil — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 06:57:18 +0000

Jessica and Jim brought me down to Tribecca for their NY wedding reception as the sun set over Manhattan.

Jessica and Jim joyously celebrated the evening with their friends and family.

Things were pretty mellow and romantic until the moon set.

Then things got a little wild.

Many thanks to Tracey from the Tribeca Rooftop for running a superb event. Also a wink of thanks to the belhop at the Grand for helping me with my numerical dislexia. We ended up with a lot of amazing shots.

Thanks so much Jessica & Jim! I’ll be glad to shoot a Tribecca rooftop wedding in Manhattan again anytime

Palm Springs CA Wedding Photographer

Neil — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 14:24:59 +0000

2005 Weddings photographed by Neil Cowley

Neil — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 20:24:58 +0000

A Note from Neil

The start of a new year is a reflective time for all of us. I start my reflection of 2005 with the gratitude and humility 2004 taught me. During that period I was focusing on developing a unique personal style putting my energy into making and thinking about inventive imagery. I looked for every opportunity to use lighting and composition to do something I had never done before. The results of that process were rewarded in 2005 with a top 5 ranking in the US by the WPJA. At the same time I was forcing my personal will into stretching my own conceptual boundaries of my craft – concepts of controlling and creating with light, shadow, perspective, and tonality – the people I served enlarged my spiritual boundaries as I stated last year “I wanted to make clear that God has given much more through you, than your dollars as I have received a new appreciation and understanding of love and art this year. I hope that I have been an equally effective conduit for God to give my talents away to you.”

Well enough for review, my personal goal for 2005 was to expand my consistency. The artistic inspiration can fall at unpredictable times and while that’s nice for winning awards, its not necessarily a reflection of skill as much as an ability to capitalize on good luck. So my intuition told me that I needed to really look at what went into those flashes of creativity I had in 2004, and learn to repeat them as a skill instead of as an accident. I’m only finishing my third year of professional service for weddings so maybe its too lofty a goal to ask myself for consistency after such a short period. But as I write now I feel a tremendous satisfaction looking back over the mountain of work that I’ve completed in 2005. Possibly I’m deceiving myself, but I am satisfied knowing that I have not overlooked the good to make something great. Sounds funny, but it has been a tremendous challenge to face this year – boredom – that could have eaten away the quality of my work as I sought to continue to top my own pictures. What brought me back to that point, was you again. Times where I began to feel rote, where I was being distracted by the small things – you gave me the expressions of Love that can not help but snap you back into focus. Love, the miracle that we give to each other; that we go through all these rituals to express and to seal; that I have the privilege to have the invitation to help you develop.

My reflection for 2005, has the same heart of the lesson learned in 2004 – learned more deeply. “The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve. (Albert Schweitzer)” This year I’ve matured enough to realize how I should act to reinforce my reflections. I see better the Tao that has helped keep me in balance and I will seek to nurture that harmony through my business practices. “We do not see things as they are; we see things as we are.(Talmud)” So this turn of my personal quest for photographic vision leads me to work to see you more clearly. I will draw upon my experience of over 100 weddings to help you express “How your Love is New” in photos and in person. I excitedly anticipate what you will teach me as my experience shows that it will be volumes.

Much respect,
Neil

Current images posted at http://makelovereal.net/

2005 events page has been dedicated to the bridal portrait

Micaela & Toby – Elim Gospel Church – January 7, 2006

Christina & Jacob – November 11, 2005 – Newark Club, New Jersey

Michelle & Brian – October 22, 2005 – Lodi New York Historical Society and Wagner Vineyards

Alexandra & Stephen – Oct. 16th, 2005 – Belhurst Castle Wedding Ceremony and Reception, Geneva New York

Sandra & Chris – October 9, 2005 – Westmont Country Club Patterson, New Jersey

Nicole & Andrew – Oct. 8th, 2005 – Saint Patricks Church and Binhampton Club

Kim & Will – Oct. 1st, 2005 – Butler Mansion Buffalo, NY

Lindsay & David – Cadet Chapel & 49′er Lodge West Point New York

Jessica & Greg – September 24, 2005 – Sheldrake point vineyard

Jen & Dan – September 18th, 2005 – Glen Iris Inn at Letchworth State Park

Leanne & Andy – September 17, 2005 – Saint John’s and Monroe Country Club

Sara & Tim – Sept. 10th, 2005 – Boldt Castle and Edgewood Resort

Lorraine & Aaron – September 4th, 2005 – Letchworth State Park, Glen Iris Inn

Elaine & Grant – September 3rd, 2005 – Chapel Hill and Monroe Country Club

Nicole & Jake – August 27th, 2005 – Belhurst Castle Geneva, New York

Shannon & Andy – August 20th, 2005 – Saint Rita and Shadow Lake Country Club

Christina & Ben – August 6th, 2005 – Bethel Christian Fellowship and Casa Larga Vineyards Fairport, NY

Mary Grace & Matthew – Auguest 5th, 2005 – Canandaigua Inn on the Lake, New York

Heather & Mike – July 30, 2005 – St. Charles Borromeo & Cobblestone Creek Country Club

Sarah & Dean – July 16, 2005 – Wedding and Reception at Glen Iris Inn Letchworth State Park

Mary & Paul – July 9, 2005 – Blessed Sacrement and Rocheter Club Ballroom

Karissa & Jim – July 2, 2005 – Perry Methodist Church and Wadsworth – Jerris Estate reception

Robyn & John – St. Louis Church Pittsford & Steamboat Landing Canandaigua NY

Audrey & Mike – June 12th, 2005 – Lauxmont Farms, Wrightsville Pennsylvania

Deb & Jim – June 11th, 2005 – Walker Bible Baptist Church & Senator’s Mansion Chili

Kelly & Peter – June 4, 2005 – Trinity Reformed Church and Woodcliff Lodge Fairport

Ella & Chad – May 28, 2005 – Sacred Heart Cathedral & Rochester City Hall Atrium

Juliette & Kevin – May 21, 2005 – St. John’s Church & Glen Iris Inn Letchworth State Park

Heather & Matt – May 20, 2005 – Saint Joseph’s church and Owego Treadway

Jeanne & Mark – April 23, 2005 – St. Thomas More & Memorial Art Gallery

Corie & Michael – April 9, 2005 – The Waterview in Monroe Connecticut

Allison & Jason – April 2, 2005 – University Presbyterian and Hemingbough Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Jodi & Dan – January 22, 2005 – Our Lady of the Lake and Crystal Springs Resort, Vernon New Jersey

Amanda & Shervyn – Jan 16, 2005 – Mansion on Delaware, Buffalo New York

Jan 5-8, 2005 – Manti Temple, UT & Strong Todd House Rochester, NY

2004 Weddings Photographed by Neil & Liesl Cowley

Neil — Wed, 29 Dec 2004 20:30:19 +0000

A note from Neil – 12.29.04

I have a debt of gratitude to pay with these words. I’ve been putting off lifting this weight from my mind due to its extraordinary size. But I recently found the catalyst, a quote: “God will give much more through you than to you.”

I am truly humbled at what you (my clients) have given me this year. You have invited me into your private moments of emotion, and extended the generosity of your families to me. You have provided reason and opportunity for me to expand my artistic vision deeper into the soul of human emotion. You have contributed your lives to my lens and you have generously donated your dollars to see my manic passion. Before this gets too self centered I wanted to make clear that God has given much more through you, than your dollars as I have received a new appreciation and understanding of love and art this year. I hope that I have been an equally effective conduit for God to give my talents away to you.

Gratitude and awe,
Neil

Naomi & Ken – November 13, 2004 – St Rose and Shadowlake Golf Club Penfield, New York

Heather & Todd – November 6, 2004 – St Francis of Assisi and Clarion Inn Niggard Falls New York

Carrie & Eric – October 23, 2004 – Geneva Presbyterian Church and Belhurst Castle Seneca Lake, NY

Christine & Jesse – October 16, 2004 – Interfaith Chapel and Crowne Plaza Ballroom Rochester, New York

Rebecca & Justin – October 15, 2004 – Annunciation and Rich’s Atrium Buffalo NY

Sarah & Jared – Oct 10, 2004 – Niagara Club, Niagara Falls New York

Chrissy & Chris – October 3, 2004 – Highland park overlook and Lilac Arches Rochester, NY

Yat Ming & Jon – October 2, 2004 – Rochester Interfaith Chapel and Daisy Flour Mill, Penfield – New York

Jackie & Brett – September 25, 2004 – St. Francis Xavier and Sherwood Inn, Skaneateles, New York

Pam & Joe – September 24, 2004 – Adam’s Mark, Grace Lutheran and Rich’s Atrium Buffalo, NY

Amy & Mike – September 18, 2004 – Hershey Country Club, Hershey PA

Sara & Tim – September 17, 2004 – The Krebs Garden and Welch Allyn Lodge Skaneateles, NY