Make Love Real » new york

Engagement portraits over Letchworth falls

Neil — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 05:32:34 +0000

Tony and Laura hit the secret trails of Letchworth with my guidance…

and make some beautiful casual portrait pictures.

Stay tuned for the wedding photos coming up shortly!

Janelle and Saad at Cornell University Ithaca

Neil — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 22:24:51 +0000

I met Janelle and Saad at the Islamic Center of New Jersey for their Nikka ceremony and followed them on a lovely drippy day in June through the Cornell Campus for Janelle and Saad’s wedding day festivities. Here’s what it looked like:

I’m more than glad to fill you in on the details:

Thanks guys!

Penny & Will’s Lake Placid Destination Wedding

Neil — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 14:42:47 +0000

Wedding Ceremony downtown Lake Placid NY at the Adirondack Community Church
Wedding Reception at the Lake Placid Club Boathouse by Crowne Plaza
Flowers and decoration by Trillium Florist, Tupper Lake, NY
Wedding cake by the Lake Flour Bakery, Saranac Lake, NY
Slideshow music free courtesy of Amazon.com
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Penny and Will held their wedding near their first and favorite vacation spot – Lake Placid NY. Penny and Will are silly and full of love for life and each other while they brought their friends and family together to celebrate this shared love. Will was excitedly explaining to me how he wanted to drive to the top of Whiteface mountain to take pictures between the ceremony and reception and I was hesitant to make any promises knowing that the weather on top of a 5000ft mountain in the last days of May in Northern NY is as likely to be snow as sun. Again this day the universe smiled on me and gave us good weather while on the summit of Whiteface Mountain. Here are a few of my favorites from up there.

When we first came up a cloud was rolling up the mountain, while the sun was still shining over the cloud giving us a mystical and unique light!

The temperature on the summit was a brisk 45 degrees with a stiff 20-25mph breeze. As the cloud rolled over the summit we were momentarily lost in fog and then rested just under the belly of the cloud.

Will and Penny were surprised when I told them on the way to the summit that it would be great to be hit by a cloud, and they were even more surprised when it happened. My wilderness experience in the High Peaks has taught me about the amazing ecological conditions these mountains reside in. If you are yearning for a mountaintop wedding ceremony, Whiteface mountain just North of Lake Placid is an amazing summit. You can drive to within a few hundred feet of the summit and then take either the elevator or stairs to the top. But here is the panoramic view:

The Adirondack Park is really just a big swamp with mountains interspersed amongst it, and this picture captures that quintessential environment with the bride and groom.

Thanks so much guys for bringing me back to the Adirondacks for your great wedding day!

Sara & Jeremy’s slideshow

Neil — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 16:19:18 +0000

Sara & Jeremy’s slideshow from Belhurst Castle

Sarah & Jeremy had an emotional (men crying during the ceremony) silly (did you see those bridesmaids) and funny (um, ringbearer’s finger in the cake – people eating goldfish) wedding celebration. Entertainment for the night was masterfully hosted by Kevin Colangelo. And is Jamie trying to stalk all my NY weddings, or has she just become the best wedding hair babe in WNY? My wife and I drove up with the family to see friends so Sarah got the bonus as My wife as the assistant photographer. She seems to be sneaking pictures of herself into everyones proofs lately, so if you got one psychoanalyze it for me.

New Blogger Contest : Multimedia engagement session award!

Neil — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 03:09:29 +0000

We are searching for a new bridal blogger!

Blogger contest take two and YouTube version

Blogger talent search contest or YouTube version.

Ungodly Fruit – Soundtrack by Wax Taylor

The prize is a free multimedia engagement session by Neil Cowley with a value of $3000. The quest is for a storyteller with heart and humor to tell the stories of wedding planning and engagement from inside their head and out through the web. Submit your journal, blog, video log, or contest entry to the comments here to be considered! Multimedia submissions will definitely score you bonus points!!

What is a multimedia engagement session?

If you are chosen as the new blogger, I will help you design your engagement session and schedule it for as soon as possible. Your themed shoot will also produce Save the Date Cards, and a Signature Wedding Guestbook. You will then be responsible for writing 20-30 posts from your engagement and wedding.

Who else has blogged for you?

Deanna was our first bridal writer who’s creative, heartfelt and zany posts were a lot of fun! You can view her multimedia engagement shoot slideshow, her post reflecting on the engagements, her wedding slideshow, and her post reflecting on the wedding experience and journaling/blogging. Deanna is planning to incorporate some of her reflections in her album design.

The entries will be judged by Neil, My wife and Deanna on the basis of creative writing, personal presentation and emotional candor. We are looking for writing style, emotional expression, and humorous visual flair (like Deanna’s barbie page).

How can I blog this, pass on the word, tell my friends?

Click the Embed button on the above video and copy the code to your own blog or site – or use the YouTube Version with Neil or My wife.

Paste the link to your post in the comments, so everyone reading here can find your site!

http://makelovereal.net/blogger/

Click this button to post this page to your Myspace, FaceBook, bookmarks or other sites:

Display Preferences: natural album design and layout

Neil — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 18:35:35 +0000

Tammy and John’s wedding album custom designed by Neil Cowley.

Tammy and John’s wedding was held at the Genesee Country Museum and this natural organic album design flowed from their gorgeous event. Read the extended post below to see the full design and read Neil’s discussion of the design elements.

Here a SimpleViewer Flash gallery should be displayed. Click here to open the post in your browser to see the gallery.

Here you can see the full layout of the photos by Neil & My wife Cowley of this 70 page album. If you hire both Neil & My wife to shoot your wedding – you too will have a hard time cutting out enough photos to keep your album to 70 pages.

Creativity in the design

What are your display preferences for album design?

Here you can see one particular spread that pushes the creative envelope for combining original photojournalism style photography and the album design. That’s Tammy’s mom peaking through the hanging dresses on the left and a shot looking through the dresses of Tammy laughing hysterically.

I’m particularly proud that our images are ‘flawless’ enough to be spread across two pages in the album design. When an image is printed 19″ wide full bleed, any imperfections show right up. This romantic image from behind is on of the side moments, that allow for suggestive interpretations and is place at a point in the flow of the album that allows the viewer to catch their breath for a moment as they traverse the pages. This suggestive photo journalistic image asks for a pause and reflection in the transition of the story of the album.

Do photojournalists do group photos? YES, of course! Are full bleed two page photos good design? Yes, all the design intention was put in while holding the camera. To me, the ultimate album would be all double truck images of all the defining moments of your wedding. However, I’m not super-human yet so that does seem a out of reach for us mortal photographers.

The floral design for this Rochester NY area upstate wedding was done by Thrive Flowers.

I look forward to creatively expressing your wedding photos in the album design.

Personalized guesbook design for William and Deanna

Neil — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:02:45 +0000

Well, hopefully you’re not sick of these two yet, but let me show you their personalized guest book design since you’re getting to know them.

You can view their full 48 page custom designed book from their destination engagement session after the jump, or order one here.

Here a SimpleViewer Flash gallery should be displayed. Click here to open the post in your browser to see the gallery.

Each image is a ‘spread’ in their guest book, starting with the cover and then working through the pages. each spread is designed to allow space for their guests to leave comments, share stories and put the pen to some encouraging words for Deanna and William. I shot their engagement session at the exotic location of Letchworth State park in upstate New York. Their shoot lasted 6 hours mostly cause we talked and got to know each other as much as shot pictures. I convinced them to get up before sunrise to see if we could catch the sunrise coming up over the gorge, and we did. We then took pictures through different locations in the park, specifically the set of small waterfalls – where they jumped into the water – was were William proposed to Deanna.

I value making intensely personal pieces of art, and so if you’re reading this thinking “Neil would never come to where we got engaged to shoot our pictures” you’re wrong. In fact – the engagement media package is available for anyone to purchase independent of hiring me to shoot your wedding. You can view the details in our shopping cart, and purchase your special story in your locale as the price includes travel within the continental US. What story can I tell for you?

Wendy & Billys Adirondack Album

Neil — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:32:52 +0000

Wendy & Billy finalized their album from their Adirondack mountains destination wedding. My wife and I were both there to capture this amazing event, it’s so fun when clients hire us to work together. You may recognize their mountain sized photos populating the rotating headers here in the journal, or recognize them from their preview gallery from September 16th, 2006. Sometimes it takes a while to get to greatness……

…..over a year later I hope it shows in their album design.

Here a SimpleViewer Flash gallery should be displayed. Click here to open the post in your browser to see the gallery.

Wendy and Billy chose to print their album on Metallic paper to give it the most color and contrast with a sharp metallic cover to match.

Cool moon rising: What’s your display preference?

Neil — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 04:33:39 +0000

So it’s been a while since I’ve discussed a picture, and I thought this would be a good one to talk about. I shot this image at a recent November wedding with it’s bride only counterpart. I enjoyed creating this image in an empty lot next to Christina’s (the bride’s) parent’s home where she prepared for the wedding. The enjoyment came from being able to create mood and style easily in the early evening that comes in November. The frame above was made at 5:03:22PM between the ceremony and reception. The early sunset gave me the chance to control the lighting in the image by using my strobes instead of relying on the mood of the natural light.

Planning for pictures

The early evening gave us ample time between the ceremony and reception and the double bonus of having both daylight and dusk to make pictures in. With a wedding plan that allowed us two hours of shooting between the ceremony and reception I was able to shoot several styles of pictures with the wedding party and the couple. The November temperatures, the foliage valiantly holding on the Red Oaks and a freshly dressed bride inspired this photo’s tonality:

Even though the day was started with a light snow and the grey skies remained through the day – with my equipment and vision I was able to create a unique photo for Christina. She was brave enough to wear her lacy dress into the weeds before the ceremony to win this great photo!

Composition and presentation

I made a new category today in the content management system here called presentation as I will be posting some interesting presentation options soon. Let me talk just a moment about the composition and how it affects presentation of the photo. First, the proportion – or the size of the couple related to the overall image – has several relationships to how you may or may not appreciate presenting the image in your home. My experience in preparing images for display in my clients homes, mailing as postcards and designing into websites has shown me that there are two general groups of clients that hire me; the visuals and the emotionals. One group are generally more bold and visually literate, meaning they have greater experience reading, using, or collecting images. The other group of image buyers are less sure of what they want in visual terms but are drawn to My wife & I’s work on emotional terms and the romance of documenting real moments of family and friend’s connections.

The visually literate bunch, often work in advertising, communications, or practice photography as a hobby and have more graphic tastes in photos and a stronger tolerance for seeing themselves in the photos. The emotionally motivated bunch, have less of a tolerance for displaying themselves and would rather see demonstrations of love but not of themselves. Interesting paradox, I know since it’s their love that is demonstrated.

Print size and proportions

No client represents either of these polarities completely, however I felt Christina and Mike were somewhat of the more romantic type and so I composed several of these images in this proportion to give them the opportunity to make a large print where they don’t feel visually large in the print, but can cherish their togetherness and warmth in the chill night air under the moon. The scale of this image should allow it to be printed as large as some of our largest prints, meaning 4 feet tall by 6 feel long on a fine canvas frame. If you have a big blank wall to cover in your home, we can take care of you!

Browse the ‘Where Art Lives’ category to get more ideas about how to frame, mount, and creatively present your wedding and portrait images.

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Lucky sevens in Letchworth

Neil — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 03:11:41 +0000

Erica and Josh joined their lives at Letchworth in front of the falls 07-07-07

Here a SimpleViewer Flash gallery should be displayed. Click here to open the post in your browser to see the gallery.

And here are some of my eclectic favorites, from preparation:

The first moment Erica realizes she’s a bride:

In front of the gorgeous second falls in Letchworth State park:

And a wonderful end to the evening:

The mountain of leaves in Cobbs Hill Park

Neil — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 16:20:25 +0000

So we were on our way to see if we could get some nice sunset pictures from the top of Cobbs hill and we saw this mountainous pile of leaves near the playgroud. And I mean mountainous, to get to the top to jump Erica and Josh climbed a good 14-16ft up and Josh convinced Erica to jump with him. I only got one exposure per jump, but as you can tell – it was a good exposure! My clients are the bravest people in town – the 10 year old that was there thought we were the coolest adults he’d ever seen!

You can see some group photos we’ve taken on the wedding day at Cobb’s hill overlook of the Skyline of Rochester.

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

Atmospheric Glory for Christina and Ben

Neil — Sat, 06 Aug 2005 14:42:25 +0000

I think the highlight of my night was God’s atmospheric christening of the start of this couples new life together:

The kind of evening that makes you want to stay up and dance all night….where the aromatic humidy just slighty condenses in your lungs as you breath deaply….the gentle cool carrying the scents of a hot day’s work and the promise of the refreshment of night as it settles into your bloodstream.

Pair that with the evidence of young love and you’ve mixed a coctail that’s sure to ignite some crazieness.

May the sweetness of this evening follow you for years.

Atmospheric Glory for Christina and Ben’s Casa Larga wedding reception – view this link for the complete gallery and sideshow.

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