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Body Flow – NH portrait photography

June 29, 2009 – 9:20 am

Last week I was shooting photos at Synergy Health and Fitness in Exeter, NH. The photos were to be used as part of a project to update their website.

Its always a challenge to shoot and give a sense of people using a  facility without having the clients be identified, so mentally I was prepared to shoot lots of silhouettes and backs of heads.

When I wandered into a spin studio I saw an instructor doing what I thought was yoga amongst the stationary bikes. Although there wasn’t a ton of it, the light was really cool, the colors of the room and bikes were outstanding and the instructor, Michele Tillson, was so into her routine of stretching that she barely noticed I was there.

Turns out it wasn’t yoga but Body Flow, which as Michele explains is now being taught all over the world. Originally the program was started by a gentleman named Les Mills,from Australia. Its described as controlled breathing,concentration and a carefully structured series of stretches,moves and poses to music that creates a holistic workout that brings the body into a state of harmony and balance. It has 10 tracks to go through: first is a Tai chi warm up, next…sun salutations,yoga standing strength , Balances, Hip Openers, Core Work, Twists and Forward bends, followed by mindful relaxation.

Looked pretty amazing to me, made some neat photos – want to check it out? Synergy’s website is http://www.synergyfit.com6-23-09 SYNERGY6-23-09 SYNERGY6-23-09 SYNERGY6-23-09 SYNERGY6-23-09 SYNERGY6-23-09 SYNERGY6-23-09 SYNERGY6-23-09 SYNERGY

By Jay | Posted in commercial photography, Personal Project, photojournalism, portraits, Uncategorized | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)

Joanna and Ryan – Maine wedding photography

June 18, 2009 – 1:13 pm

News flash – it was raining in New Hampshire last Sunday. It seems like its been doing that a lot lately…and two engagement sessions scheduled to boot.

I called Joanna and Ryan – “What ‘cha want to do?” Not even a moment’s  hesitation – “Let’s shoot in the rain!” was the response, then ” The rain won’t hurt your camera, will it?”.

We met in Vaughn Woods State Park in Maine and had a great time. The light was pretty subdued ( almost nonexistent in the deep woods) so I used a small flash with a warming filter. Put the flash on a lightstand and remotely triggered it…instant late afternoon looking sun! We must have looked like quite a sight, wandering through the woods, pouring rain, slickers, rain boots, photo gear, laughing all the way! But it was raining pretty hard so there weren’t any others to either gawk or laugh at us.

As we emerged from the woods the rain turned torrential so we headed for a small picnic shelter to finish shooting.

Ok, so we all got a little muddy, but nobody slipped on the wet clay or went tumbling into the river, the camera equipment all still works and I’m thinking we ended up with some very fun photos – here’s a selection from the shoot.

6-14-09 JOANNA and RYAN6-14-09 JOANNA and RYAN6-14-09 JOANNA and RYAN6-14-09 JOANNA and RYAN6-14-09 JOANNA and RYAN6-14-09 JOANNA and RYAN6-14-09 JOANNA and RYAN6-14-09 JOANNA and RYAN6-14-09 JOANNA and RYAN6-14-09 JOANNA and RYAN

By Jay | Posted in esession, wedding photography | Also tagged , , , , | Comments (1)

Matthew and Stacey – Maine wedding photography

June 13, 2009 – 11:00 pm

A little east of Bangor, Maine is the small town of Holden. It’s actually the first place in Maine I experienced – went there on a rare family vacation long time ago when I was a kid – and it started an affair with the state that’s never ended. I’ve visited, resided, went to college, and done lots of photography in Maine, and I continue to call it home even though I wasn’t born there.

What’s that got to do with Holden? Well, last weekend I went back there for Matthew and Stacey Brown’s wedding. It felt like a return to my roots. There was nothing fancy about the affair…but so full of love, joy and excitement that the Ritz has likely never seen a wedding like it.

Matthew cried more than Stacey – no small feat since she’s pretty emotional. Friends and family provided a down home pot luck of treats to eat and the wedding coordinator, Coleen Perkins did more than coordinate – she also decorated the hall, was a third of the catering staff, baked the cake, did table favors…and performed the ceremony!

Here’s a few photos from a most touching day.

6-7-09 MATTHEW and STACEY6-7-09 MATTHEW and STACEY6-7-09 MATTHEW and STACEY6-7-09 MATTHEW and STACEY6-7-09 MATTHEW and STACEY6-7-09 MATTHEW and STACEY6-7-09 MATTHEW and STACEY

By Jay | Posted in wedding photography | Also tagged , , , | Comments (1)

Meridith and Ben – NH wedding photography

June 1, 2009 – 12:22 pm

This weekend Roger Ramirez ( my colleague at Chariot Photo – www.chariotphoto.com -) and I were on New Hampshire’s Squam Lake shooting Meridith and Ben’s wedding – how else can it be described except for incredible! After a week’s worth of cold rain, the weather broke Saturday morning – the sun shone, the temperature rose…and the mosquitos and black flies were caught unaware, so no bug issues to complicate an outdoor wedding. The only sounds competing with the officiant were loons calling each other and the water lapping at the shore.

One of the great things about doing wedding photography is being around so much positive energy. I know it sounds pretty corny, but with all that love and joy in the air, there’s just no room for anyone to be grouchy!

When it was time to shoot some photos of the pair, we decided on trying to get to an overgrown  point sticking out into the lake. The couple ( they are truley a can-do couple) jumped in a rowboat and started across to the spot. When Ben stopped to take off his jacket, Meridith grabbed the oars and kept on rowing – no weak female model here! They stopped to climb up on a raft, Ben picked his new wife up…and one of the sweetest moments of the day happened!

Here’s some photos from the weekend.

5-30-09 MUCCI-McDONALD5-30-09 MUCCI-McDONALD5-30-09 MUCCI-McDONALD WEDDING5-30-09 MUCCI-McDONALD WEDDING5-30-09 MUCCI-McDONALD WEDDING5-30-09 MUCCI-McDONALD WEDDING5-30-09 MUCCI-McDONALD WEDDING5-30-09 MUCCI-McDONALD WEDDING

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

Steph and Tucker – NH wedding photography

May 26, 2009 – 7:59 am

After a few days of unseasonably hot weather, Saturday brought a perfect day – no humidity, temperatures in the low ’70′s – one of those perfect late May in New England days. And for Steph and Tucker the day couldn’t have been better – they got married!

Steph is one of the most in the moment full of life people I’ve ever come across. Nothing seems to shake her ( except when she realized she and Tucker were the only ones on the dance floor, at which point she made sure everyone at the reception joined them), her laugh is infectious, and she just beams with positive energy. Tucker, on the surface, is the quieter more reserved part of the duo…but that’s only on the surface. When you get to know him he is a perfect compliment to Steph.

The wedding was terrific – here’s a few photos from the day.

5-23-09 STEPH AND TUCKER5-23-09 STEPH AND TUCKER5-23-09 STEPH AND TUCKER5-23-09 STEPH AND TUCKER5-23-09 STEPH AND TUCKER5-23-09 STEPH AND TUCKER5-23-09 STEPH AND TUCKER5-23-09 STEPH AND TUCKER

By Jay | Posted in wedding photography | Also tagged , , | Comments (1)

New Website

May 19, 2009 – 8:16 pm

It’s been a labor of love – and sweat – and frustration – and major help from friends old and new…but the new website is finally live.

I started talking about doing a new site in the fall with the goal of being online with it by the end of the year. I was still talking about it in January, February, March…you get the drift. This afternoon it finally was as done as it was going to get without public viewing and feedback, so take a stroll over and let me know what you think.

A few thanks need to be made public:

Designer Erica Plante was instrumental – she thought of ways to use photographs that made a purist like me quiver…until I saw how well it worked – the designs of the text pages and the new logo are all her. Thanks, Erica.

Photographer and colleague Roger Ramirez – unbeknown  to me – knows the inner workings of websites – code to me is a CIA mystery movie – to Roger its a map to achieve cool things. His patience with me especially when I was afraid to hit the button to take down the old and bring up the new was fabulous. Thanks, Roger.

The shell of the site was purchased from Flash Pallette (http://www.flashpalette.com/. They have a number of really killer sites, but better yet, the guy who runs the show, Shannon, is all about customer service. He answered questions from me night and day, put up with my simplistic view of how a site oughta work…and solved problems, soothed my fears, and generally made me feel like he’ll be on my Christmas card list this year! Thanks, Shannon.

So, having said all that, please go to the site, check it out and send feedback – its a work in progress ( I hate that cliche) and I want all the input I can get.

And the signifigance of the mushroom…none really, but since this is a photo blog I wanted to have something of a visual nature…and I like the photo!

5-9-09-mushrooms080___tonemapped_lzn

By Jay | Posted in esession, infant photography, inspiration, Personal Project | Also tagged | Comments (0)

Jon the Painter

January 27, 2009 – 7:33 pm

That sounds almost biblical! Monday morning I set off for North Walpole, NH to meet up with Jon McAuliffe. Jon’s an artist, managing to do portraits – of the painted variety not photographic variety – for a living. Jon also happened to be selling a Mac G5 that I was needing – one of those must have been fate connections that you can make on Craigs List where he had advertised the machine.

So off my dog and I went, across New hampshire into Vermont then back into New hampshire to meet one of the amazing people of New England. We took care of business ( the computer), then I dragged my gear into Jon’s studio to do some portraits of a portrait artist!

Fun doesn’t begin to describe the time – and while shooting I learned all kinds of interesting things…never thought about the fact that there are agents who specialize in political portraits, or that painted portraits are making a huge comeback as wedding gifts!

So here are some portraits of Jon – if you ever need a painted portrait, contact him through his website, http://www.mcauliffe-art.com/.

If, on the other hand, you need a photographic portrait, contact me! It’s easy, http://www.jayreiter.com or email jay@jayreiter.com.

By the way, he’s no slouch when it comes to fine art painting either – don’t know his rates but his work is definately worth hanging on your wall!

By Jay | Posted in HDR, portraits | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)

TJ Wheeler

January 23, 2009 – 11:07 am

Amazing blues and jazz musician.

Musical activist.

Guitar and vocalist extraordinaire.

These are all words that have been used to describe New Hampshire artist TJ Wheeler.

After hearing him perform at The Cornerstone Montessori School (http://www.cornerstoneschool.org) in Stratham as part of a week-long residency working with students about the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King and other incredibly important issues – as well as a ton of music thrown in -  I’d have to call him just plain phenomenal! The school invited me to shoot the concert – here’s a selection of photos that just cannot do justice to the show he and the students put on. Click on a photo to see a larger version.[gallery]

By Jay | Posted in Cornerstone School, music, photojournalism | Also tagged , | Comments (1)

Bridal Show

January 11, 2009 – 8:29 pm

Today was the  bridal show in Portsmouth, NH sponsored by The Bay, 98.7 FM (http://www.987thebay.com) – and it was a testament to the hardy nature of Maine and New Hampshire brides ( and a few grooms too) – an overnight storm dumped a fresh half foot of snow on top of the ice-covered streets and walks. Undaunted, 200 brides – and assorted Moms, fiancees and other support friends showed up at the Frank Jones Center to view exhibits, lingere shows, and various vendors – including me.

Here’s a few photos from the day. Directly across from my booth was e-Clips Salon where I shot a few photos. If you want to check them out ( they do great work!) , they are on Islington Street in Portsmouth, NH. Give them a call at 603-427-5555.

[caption id="attachment_141" align="aligncenter" width="700" caption="The team"]The team[/caption] [caption id="attachment_142" align="aligncenter" width="700" caption="Talking"]Talking[/caption] [caption id="attachment_143" align="aligncenter" width="700" caption="Makeover"]Makeover[/caption] [caption id="attachment_144" align="aligncenter" width="700" caption="The e-Clips Salon crew starts in on Joanna"]The e-Clips Salon crew starts in on Joanna's hair.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_145" align="aligncenter" width="700" caption="Joanna is unaware of the changes happening to her hair as the hairdo continues."]Joanna is unaware of the changes happening to her hair as the hairdo continues.[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_147" align="alignnone" width="700" caption="Joanna's mother, Linda, got into the act as well, getting the makeup treatment from the e-Clips Salon."]Joanna's mother Linda got the makeup treatment at e-Clips as well.[/caption]
By Jay | Posted in wedding photography | Also tagged , | Comments (1)

Drika portrait

January 4, 2009 – 9:55 pm

After dealing with a computer owner’s worst nightmare – a major league harddrive crash and corruption – I’m back to posting and writing.

Finding photographs from the various backups I have in place has been a bit like playing hide and seek – guess who was it!

I recovered a lot – and hopefully the rest will be recovered by a data recovery outfit in Cambridge, MA – I’ll let you know in another week or so.

Its funny, you never know what you have till its gone – silly little things like presets for printing and photoshop actions to speed up the workflow – back to reinventing the wheel.

Almost a year ago Drika Overton – one of the world’s great dancers – and I spent a sub zero afternoon along the coast of Maine shooting for a show she was putting together. I really didn’t get the concept then, but when I saw the show I was in total awe. Can you imagine a jazz group, a moderator reciting poetry and prose and tap dancers doing what I can only describe as modern jazz tap…if there is such a thing – all speaking to Rachel carson, the original environmentalist!

Still trying to recover the show photos – here’s the photo we came up for the poster.

By Jay | Posted in photojournalism, portraits | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)