One moment in a relationship….

Carefully captured.

We ask ourselves as visual storytellers, ‘what is the story’?  here it is, in a single moment - captured perfectly as Mindy walks down the isle and John sticks out his tongue at her.

I revel in the moment, and capturing this gives me great pleasure - both to work for clients who understand individual expression, and to work so hard to really capture it for them.

There’s a lot of competition in the ‘wedding photography’ market these days, but as I’ve been observing weddings since 2003 - these nuances are easily noticed to my experienced eye.  The WPJA gave me a top 5 in the nation ranking in 2004, and aging has only made me more sensitive to these moments - aware and able to capture them.

What makes a wedding personal?  Speeches is easily one of the top answers.  Seth had nearly the whole room in tears as he gave a sincere word of gratitude to Rachel, I was so thrilled to catch these expressions.

I love this, he just could NOT stop looking at her, it really did make me teary-eyed!  Luckily I could still see to click the shutter!

What other touches make a wedding unique?

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“Hey Neil  - were the pictures good?”

“um, aaah, well….the face of God smiled on me”

I can’t really explain it any other way…in case you were wondering what I was doing earlier tonight.

We had to tolerate thunderstorm downpours - but we got to receive the blessings of the August sunset.  If you’re planning an August wedding in Upstate New York be sure to plan some time for sunset portraits.

Well, sometimes as the ‘artist’ you just have to get out of the way and let the story tell:

In this rare case Deanna is not intoxicated - she’s laughing out of the giddy excitement of presenting her Groom with his gift in front of the entire wedding. At this point only Deanna and Bill’s dad - walking him down in the above image - know what’s about to happen.  The entire lawn behind me is filled with the guests at their dinner tables.

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The Man’s Guide to the Perfect Marriage Proposal @ The Art of Manliness

There are a few things you must keep in mind when contemplating the way that you will propose marriage to your lady. First, this is a memorable moment, which will be told and retold over the years to your friends, family, children, and grandchildren. Make it a story worth telling. Secondly, every woman is different; make your proposal specific to her taste and personality. Some women would love nothing more than to have all their friends and family be witness to the event, while others would much prefer a private and intimate moment with you alone. First and foremost, make sure the way in which you ask makes her comfortable.

Make it a story worth telling…..of course this is near and dear to my heart and the humor of how everyone’s expectations are botched in funny little ways is part of the cuteness of such an enormous expectation.  The expectation is the lock on the woman’s heart - and meeting it is the key to winning that heart with the Man’s gesture.  I’m writing this for the Men so this is how you have to think of it:

Give her some bragging rights!

Seriously, she needs to be able to brag you up to her friends and family - and doing this right will help her do that and give her a greater sense of confidence as she earns their approval and admiration from the story you create.  A great story makes her feel unique and special at the same time. 

Listen to couples tell their engagement story, and listen for the elements that were important to them.