Last weekend I headed to Washington DC to photograph a wedding in Bethesda, Maryland.  Here is a selection of photos from the 2,000 that I shot.  To see more, check out my website under Weddings!

For Mother’s Day, I decided to hop on a bus and surprise my mom.  I arrived at 5 PM and was just in time for dinner with my parents and grandparents.

The next night, I headed to my dad’s observatory with him and his friend.  Three years ago, he built an observatory with the goal to take beautiful photos of the stars.  After three years of going out there and troubleshooting (and yes, most of it is troubleshooting) he is now able to take photos remotely from anywhere in the world that has an internet connection.

There are so many pieces of hardware and software that all have to work perfectly to get a great photo.  The telescope has to track and move with the rotation of the earth at precisely the same time, multiple photos have to be taken and then combined in Photoshop, and you have to have a perfectly clear, moonless night.  You also have to live in an area with little or no light pollution, which is impossible in New York City.  Growing up in Maine, I took the stars for granted.  I could always look up and see a sky filled with stars twinkling overhead.  That is certainly one thing about moving from a rural area to the city: you appreciate the wilderness back home tremendously.

Anyway, onto the slideshow!

Here is us driving to the observatory.  Most of the 15 minute drive is on dark roads lined by woods, but this is the one part where we drive through a town.

At the observatory, my dad and his friend are hard at work configuring the many pieces of software that make the telescope work.

Here they are moving around wires and turning stuff on.  Incredibly complex stuff, I have no idea what they are doing most of the time.

A shot of the observatory and the sky behind it.

The observatory and the sky in front of it.

A few weeks ago I got together with Tino and his friends and did a few laps at Liberty State Park.  Luckily we had access to a van with a flip open rear window, so I could be shooting while they rode behind us.  It was supposed to rain from 3-7 PM, and we could only start shooting at 4 PM.  Fortunately instead of rain we got beautiful soft light from 4 until sunset!

Up until recently, my understanding of light painting was very basic.  I understood the basic concept but never expanded past wiggling a bright light while holding a camera still.

In this photo from three years ago, I shot my dad’s observatory in Maine with a long exposure at night while lighting painting the name of the building with a green laser pointer.  Certainly not a shining example of penmanship, but at least I got all the letters on the wall!

While on a camping trip last year, I made my second attempt to light paint.  This time, I used a little digicam and waved a little stick that was still burning from our campfire.

While these are neat to look at, they certainly aren’t anything to brag about.  I always admired the light painting photos my mentor Mark McCarty had taken (see example here) and wanted to figure out a similar technique.

Then, I read online a light painting technique that consisted of a camera, tripod, dark room, and an iPhone.  Keep the camera steady, drag the shutter, make your iPhone’s screen white, and “paint” light onto your subject.  After a number of tries, here’s what I came up with.

This past Monday, I was sitting in my apartment in New Jersey doing computer work when i heard a plane flying WAY too low.  It sounded like it was headed right for my apartment.  As I looked out the window, I saw a 747 woosh past my building with an F16 right behind it.  While I wasn’t here for 9/11, I knew this was something out of the ordinary.  Not thinking it would return, I got back to my work when i saw and heard the planes scream by my window again.  Seeing that they were circling, I ran to my closet and threw my 300mm lens onto my camera and prepared to photograph.

A minute later, the planes flew by, and I snapped off a dozen shots.  I zoomed into the photo to see the plane’s markings, and immediately recognized the presidential seal.

I rushed back to my computer and didn’t see a single mention of it on any website.  I quickly did an edit of my photos, and just as I sent the photo to friends, news of the planes was being reported at The Wall Street Journal, although they didn’t identify it as Air Force One.  I sent a few of my photos to them, and they ended up being used on their website

here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124084538600659501.html

and here: http://online.wsj.com/video/low-flying-plane-causes-scare-in-manhattan/A5B50086-079E-4F6F-97FA-24596881935F.html

Always keep your camera ready!

I worked at Eastern Mountain Sports for about six months from last year until late January.  A month into my job, an 82 year old man named Irv slowly walked into the store.  I was immediately struck by how unique he looked, and knew I wanted to photograph him.  Irv had worked at Eastern Mountain Sports for thirty years.  Even at the age of 82, he was making the trek from the outer edges of Brooklyn to work in Manhattan four days a week.

After a couple weeks of getting to know him, I asked him if he would sit down for a photo shoot.  He said, “I don’t know, I’m a very busy person.”  The reasons for not having time were endless.  Medical appointments, ex wife was in town, had things to take care of, etc.  I offered to go to his house at any hour, whenever he had a moment, and all he would have to do was come out for 15 minutes.  I offered him lunch, then dinner.  Still, he said he was too busy.  After four months of this, I said, “Irv, you just don’t want to be photographed, do you?”  He replied, “As a matter of fact, I’m not too crazy about it”.  The conversation was very friendly and playful, but he had made his point that he was not going to make time for a shoot.

A fellow co-worker of ours had overheard these exchanges over the months.  He had worked with Irv for two years, and was convinced that if we walked Irv home and photographed him along the way, he would be flattered and get into it.  So, on a night they were both closing the store, I met up with them outside the store at 9 PM.  We walked with Irv to Walgreens and I started photographing him as he entered.  After doing some late night shopping there, we all headed to the Subway and rode with Irv to his subway stop near Coney Island.  This gave me thirty uninterrupted minutes to photograph Irv.  When we dropped him off, Irv made a point to thank us both for taking the time to photograph him.

Sometimes, you just need to put in a little extra effort to show someone how much you want to take their picture.  It goes a long way.

You ever take time to plan a shoot, get people lined up to model, haul camera gear, and then when you wake up the morning of the big day, the sky looks like crap?

That’s pretty much what happened on the day I photographed Cam.  I was telling everyone I knew that I was looking for models, and he offered himself up to be photographed, complete with an orange martial arts uniform.

We shot for a few hours in the morning.  First, some shots in the backyard.  But the background was too busy.  So then shots in the driveway, but there was a fence and a mailbox (those aren’t very kung fu-esque).  So finally, we thought it was a good idea to shoot in the middle of the road.  Luckily, I had a Travelite 750 with a battery pack so every time a car was driving through, we could pick up the light and wait for them to pass.

When I got home, I wasn’t very happy with the photos.  Busy backgrounds, obviously shot in a residential neighborhood.  I used the sandwich technique to light Cam for the first two setups (medium and large softboxes on either side of him), and then a medium softbox for the road shot, so at least I had dramatic lighting.

Then I thought I would try my luck at a photo illustration, and after several hours of work, you can see the results below.  Next time, I will just shoot on a solid background and save myself the trouble.

Hi everyone!

After telling myself for years that I would never start a blog, here we are.  I have been living in the New York City area now for over 1 1/2 years.  I picked up and left the Saratoga area, while also leaving a good network of clients that were sustaining my business.

I dropped myself in the Hudson river, lived on a sailboat that overlooked lower Manhattan with two friends, and began building my business again in a new and competitive market.

Now that I am finally settled, I have the time and energy to give a blog the attention it deserves.

Enjoy the ride!