Congrats to Elysa and Dan!

Elysa and Dan got married recently in Clinton, OH. Elysa is the sister-in-law of one of my best friends, Josh, who's daughter Emilie has been featured on this blog a fair bit.

One of my other best friends, Orlando, backed me up on this gig. While he doesn't shoot that often, he definitely has game.

Here are a few snaps from the big day, enjoy!

-Sam

I've had good fortune lately with flower girls and ring bearers being almost unbearably adorable. This lucky ring bearer is going to relish this moment when he gets older.

Elysa double checking that veil!

Off to get some portraits taken, train in tow.

Lately I've been playing with Nikon Speedlights on small stands with umbrellas and brolly boxes. Actually, I've been using them this way for a long time, but mostly in labs and such for corporate shoots, but I've been using this setup more for weddings, which is so much fun, because I can just move them wherever really fast, and I don't have to worry about power outlets and everything, so I could go from a standard more frontal setup for the group stuff to a cross-lit portrait like this from the complete opposite angle from what I was shooting before in seconds.

Flower girls playing hide and seek.

Elysa and Dan's first big kiss! (well, as Mr. and Mrs...)

Exiting the church through a maelstrom of confetti and flower petals and bubbles.

The bridal party shows off some crazy moves.

At the ceremony site, a kiss as the sun sets.

A snuggly dance for the happy couple.

Elysa showing off her moves on the dance floor!

Congratulations to Holly and Nick!

[ I apologize for taking so long to actually put some words to these images, but things have been *REALLY* busy lately... Anywho, enjoy! ]

Holly and Nick had a spectacularly awesome wedding in Ohio a short while ago. My buddy Dan Kullman of Bitter Jester Creative backed me up again, and we just had a great time.

So Nick's cousin is Tif, of palantir.net fame, whom I've been seeing a lot of lately. So I just have to once more thank Tif for introducing me to Nick and Holly so that I could shoot their wedding.

Congrats Nick and Holly!

Enjoy the pix, take care, bye4now.

-Sam

Holly and Nick out in the vineyards during the rehearsal dinner at Hermes Vinyards.

Holly tickling the flower girl to cheer her up a bit.

A nice relaxed moment during the portrait session. There was some questionable weather earlier in the day, but everything dried up in time, and I got some flattering soft light out of it.

Stellar dress, huh?

Dropping petals down the aisle...

And the crowd throwing some more petals at Holly and Nick on the way back down.

A cool looking red shed sets a neat backdrop.

After the ceremony we were off to the Catawba Island Club for a cool lakeside tented reception. Amusingly, the club overlooked a nuclear power plant in the distance. Nick was hoping that the sun would set in line with the cooling tower and make a nice photo, but alas, didn't quite work out. But everyone thought it was a rather funny view.

Holly's brother James gave a rousing toast while walking throughout the crowd.

Some warm sunset light for a quick snap by the water.

Nick and Holly enjoy their first dance together.

And Holly and her dad dance to a rainbow. Sometimes lens flare works out pretty cool, huh?

Adam and Aimee's Wedding!

A while back I posted Adam and Aimee's engagement photos, and this past weekend was the big day! True, there were only thirteen people in attendance (including my wife and I), but it had the energy of a big time wedding. Lindsey and I have known Adam since college, and when we met him, he was doing improv comedy and all of that, so he was just a ball to photograph.

It's always a wonderful experience to see your friends find love and happiness, and share their wedding memories with them. Sorry for getting mushy, but that's what I do.

Enjoy!

-Sam

Buttoning the cuffs. His ring (yep, he had an engagement ring too), is awesome - it's a puzzle ring and comes apart in a million pieces. Adam's gotten really good at putting it back together fast.

Adam playing with Pablo while Aimee get's dressed.

Aimee had this little hanky thing that she got when she was born. It was intended to be the "something old" for her wedding, and she held onto it for such an occasion.

The happy couple.

I climbed up on what I thought was a sturdy table to get the flowers in the background. Once I got up there, I realized it wasn't as stable as I thought, but it managed to hold long enough for me to get some shots and return safely to the earth. Just a bit more wobbly now, I think. ;)

Kisses in the woods!

Aimee showing off her spiffy dress.

While Adam does a little dance to keep her cracking up.

Such a good boy!

Adam's brother and Aimee's sister making sure that he's got the rings all sorted out.

Under the chuppah.

Big smiles!

And big kisses.

The new Mr. and Mrs.

Can I just say that whenever I drag along my lighting gear, I get yummy natural light like this? Isn't it beautiful?

Adam decided to just zip through a million characters while I just hammered away at the shutter button. Most were hysterical, this one was wasn't so, but I think it's a nice portrait.

Then he had to jump for joy!

Levitating bride and groom.

Adam was really happy. Check out that air!

Vanna/Aimee and the Ketubah.

Showing off their dance moves to the family.

Humorous toasts from Adam's brother.

The first supper as a married couple.

Yummy deserts... mmm... chocolate and hazelnut...

Adam's mom and brother rock out on Guitar Hero after dinner, Pablo is hardly amused.

The Good Doctor Yellon

Last week I photographed Dr. Yellon for a brochure for Stony Brook University Hospital's hospitalist program.  Simply, this is the part of the hospital that specializes in patients of advanced age and all of the issues that come up when you're in your 90's and stuff.

The shoot started out feeling like it was going to blow up in our faces.  The unit was supposed to find one of Dr. Yellon's patients who would be happy to have us photograph them before we got there and all of that stuff.  Being that it's a hospital and that they actually deal with life and death issues all of the time, they didn't actually get around to finding one before we arrived.  So they scrambled and were able to find a nice man (Mr. M) and his wife and son who were happy to help out.  The only trouble was that he wasn't Dr. Yellon's actual patient, but that was fine with us, they could fake it, right?  Mrs. M and her son could cozy up with the doctor in the conference room over some pretend charts and make awkward small talk and then we'd also take some photos in the room, and all would be just dandy.

Dr. Yellon was a little concerned, but was willing to play along, although he seemed a little reluctant and wanted to just get it over with.  That is, until he walked into the room and found Mrs. M.  Then he lit up like you wouldn't believe.  Turns out, he was their doctor for like 25 years, and hadn't seen them in ages.  It was magical, like a accidental family reunion.  Our only problem from then on was managing to take a shot where they looked more serious, because they were all so happy to see each other.  But honestly, I can say that I haven't seen a more caring doctor before.  He really, really, genuinely cares about and for his patients, and they respond to him in a way I haven't seen.  To me, it is of no surprise that Mr. and Mrs. M are in their mid-90's, because he makes them feel young and safe.

-Sam