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Monthly Archives: October 2009

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Katie and Nat – NH wedding photography

October 28, 2009 – 1:12 pm

So if you’ve read the about page on this blog, you are aware I’m an animal lover with a pile of pets. Because of those pets I met Katie. She was working at the vet where my animals go when needed. We got to talking ( Ok, some might accuse me of flirting…but me????) and when she mentioned a boyfriend and the thoughts of marriage, I quickly pulled a business card from my wallet and asked her to check my website.

The wedding finally came through – and yes, they hired me to shoot the photos – and on a late October Sunday she and Nat were married at the 3 Chimneys Inn in Durham, NH. The 3 Chimneys is an classic old New England Inn – great ambiance in the rooms and the food and service is first class – worth going there to check it out and have dinner by the way.

The wedding party entered the reception separately and did a dance – the show stealer was Katie’s 82-year-old grandfather cutting it up to “Men In Black”!

Here’s a few photos from a glorious event.10-18-09 KATIE and NAT wedding 10-18-09 KATIE and NAT wedding10-18-09 KATIE and NAT wedding10-18-09 KATIE and NAT wedding 10-18-09 KATIE and NAT wedding 10-18-09 KATIE and NAT wedding 10-18-09 KATIE and NAT wedding 10-18-09 KATIE and NAT wedding 10-18-09 KATIE and NAT wedding 10-18-09 KATIE and NAT wedding

By Jay | Posted in wedding photography | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Busman’s holiday

October 22, 2009 – 1:25 pm

Well, if we assume that that expression comes from when a busman went on vacation, he or she had to drive, then the title for the post works…if not, please tell me the genesis of the expression.

My nephew was married recently in Pittsburgh, PA. I went – carrying only 1 camera and 1 lens. In a total test of my willpower, I also only brought 2 flash cards – a 4gig and a 2gig. Since I always shoot raw, that wasn’t a lot of images I could retain.

Pittsburgh was unseasonably cold and rainy, but the morning of the wedding I walked down a typical Pittsburgh hill ( they’re reminiscent of San Francisco if you’ve never been to Pittsburgh) to a church I’d passed a gazillion times but had never stopped to shoot. I found an open door but the interior of the church was as dark as a dungeon, so I played around with the incredible architecture. The church was built around 1901 – the ivy covering the walls seemed that old as well. I’ll admit to wishing I had a tripod and/or some strobes along. I was shooting at a 15th of a second at F 2.8. For those who aren’t photographers, that gobbledygook simply means there was no light and it was tough to hold the camera steady – especially since it was raw damp and freezing!

That afternoon when I went to the wedding ( at a historic downtown hotel), I noticed the rest of downtown in the gloom from a room where I was going to change into a full-blown tux…this was a black tie affair – including 1 poor soul still working at 6pm on a Saturday. Made a few photos using the window as a steadying agent for the camera.

Shot a few wedding photos also, haven’t had a chance to even look to see what I got, so here’s a few photos from a busman’s holiday._JAY0101_JAY0120_JAY0123_JAY0132_JAY0139_JAY0188_JAY0184

By Jay | Posted in Fine Art, Personal Project, inspiration, photojournalism | Tagged | Comments (1)

Racheal and Patrick – Mass. wedding photography

October 13, 2009 – 8:20 pm

Saturday was Racheal and Patrick’s wedding – the ceremony was in a Catholic Church in Massachusetts and the reception moved to the Pelham Inn in Pelham, NH. These were two huge Irish families – and all I can say is the Irish are no slouches when it comes to knowing how to party! After the couple’s first dance, there were never less than a hundred people on the dance floor – young, old, it didn’t matter – everyone was there to dance and celebrate.
An added treat for me was the presence of videographer Sean Cusick ( http://www.memoriesinhighdef.com ). It’s the second time I’ve worked with Sean and if you ever need a video guy, he’s the man. So often Video and still shooters are more focused on who owns what turf – to the detriment of the job at hand and the clients – but Sean is an absolute breath of fresh air to work with. Always aware of where I am, what angle I’m shooting…and never in my frame! I think its because we have such respect for the other’s craft that we work so well together. Additionally, Roger Ramirez ( http://www.chariotphoto.com) was there as a second shooter, so some serious photo/video work was happening!

By the time we reached the Pelham Inn, it was too dark to shoot the formals outside – and the temperature had dropped into the downright chilly zone, but Racheal and Patrick – both of whom are snowmobile enthusiasts – were psyched to venture out to the lighted gazebo for some photos – they were way beyond the frost setting in! We added a couple of small strobes to just fill the light a bit and came away with a cool portrait of the couple.

Here’s a few photos from a great day.

10-10-09 RACHEAL and PAT wedding 10-10-09 RACHEAL and PAT wedding 10-10-09 RACHEAL and PAT wedding 10-10-09 RACHEAL and PAT wedding 10-10-09 RACHEAL and PAT wedding 10-10-09 RACHEAL and PAT wedding 10-10-09 RACHEAL and PAT wedding 10-10-09 RACHEAL and PAT wedding

By Jay | Posted in wedding photography | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Caitlin and Andrew – NH engagement photography

October 5, 2009 – 10:43 am

Last week I had my nose buried in the computer trying to catch up on a pile of pushed-to-the bottom-of-the-pile processing when the email alert sounded. Understand that I’ve made this sort of commitment to ignore the email for a while to get the work done, but my eyes are going buggy and – so much for the commitment – I open the email.

“Jay, I know its last second but could we do our engagement photos tomorrow or Saturday?”
I’m shooting a wedding Saturday but I’m dying to get behind the camera instead of the computer…and Friday promises to be just  more editing and processing.

Salvation!!!
You never really know until you start shooting, but Caitlin, a nuclear engineer, and Andrew, a police officer are about as comfortable in front of a camera as is possible. We met at the Great Bay Discovery Center late in the day and walked and shot until it was too dark to focus. We shot all over including going out into the marsh grass for some stunning photos – just keeping moving enough  to (almost) keep the mosquitoes at bay.
Fortunately for Andrew and I, Caitlin is a mosquito magnet – we had precious few bites to show for the adventure.10-2-09 CAITLIN AND ANDREW EXETER HEALTHCARE10-2-09 CAITLIN AND ANDREW EXETER HEALTHCARE10-2-09 CAITLIN AND ANDREW EXETER HEALTHCARE10-2-09 CAITLIN AND ANDREW EXETER HEALTHCARE10-2-09 CAITLIN AND ANDREW EXETER HEALTHCARE10-2-09 CAITLIN AND ANDREW EXETER HEALTHCARE10-2-09 CAITLIN AND ANDREW EXETER HEALTHCARE10-2-09 CAITLIN AND ANDREW EXETER HEALTHCARE10-2-09 CAITLIN AND ANDREW EXETER HEALTHCARE10-2-09 CAITLIN AND ANDREW EXETER HEALTHCARE

By Jay | Posted in esession, portraits, wedding photography | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (1)

Christine slideshow – NH senior pictures

October 2, 2009 – 2:50 pm

Wow…this was a real test of my technical in-expertise!!!
Almost a year ago I attended a conference in Boston with noted photographer David Jay. I came away recharged, psyched and with a piece of software I purchased called Showit Web.
The application’s been sitting and yesterday I decided to dust it off and see what I could do with it – uploading a slideshow to my facebook account was easy – so I decided to put a slideshow on the blog.
Too many hours later I think I finally got it! No, I just have to hope I remember what I did so i can use this way of presenting photographs.
For now, grab some popcorn and watch a show of Christine’s senior picture shoot.

By Jay | Posted in Personal Project, portraits, senior pictures | Tagged , , , | Comments (1)