A few weeks ago, we went up to Maine to do a photo session with Sophia and Seth.  Sophia and Seth invited us to stay at their beach house and were kind enough to invite our 15-month-old daughter, Lauren, to come with us. For those of you who have never been to Maine, it’s a 5-hour drive from NY. 5-hour drive with a a baby…hmmm…that might not be a pleasant experience. We had visions of non-stop crying.  And, what happens when we get to Maine?  It would be a completely different environment for Lauren and she might not like it.  Oh no, possibly more crankiness to ruin everyone’s good time! 

To our pleasant surprise, all 3 of us had a great trip.  As you can see from the below, Lauren really liked the O’Donnell beach house.

What was the attraction?  The rocking chairs on the porch that she could sit on, push back and forth and basically play with all day long.

What was our secret to keeping her happy in the car, you ask?  No, it wasn’t a portable DVD player playing Barney.  It was actually the motion of the car.  We didn’t know until this trip, but our daughter seems to have inherited my sleepy gene.  I get sleepy from any type of motion.  Planes, trains, automobiles – they all make me sleepy.  I’m usually snoring away before the plane fully takes off (unlike poor James who can’t sleep a wink).  Lauren basically slept the whole way to and from Maine.  Yes, about 5 hours each way!

Unfortunately, this sleepy gene has its pluses and minuses.  James’ sister recently gave Lauren this cute little bike, which she loves.  After a few minutes of being wheeled about, however, her thumb goes in her mouth and she’s ready to take a nap because yes, the motion is making her conk out…

Susan and Julius – thanks so much for the unique and thoughtful gift. We very much appreciate it!

It took Reena hours to get ready.  And it’s not because she needs a lot of extra help to become a beautiful bride.  Reena is naturally a beautiful woman, but an Indian bride on her wedding day has a lot of extra make-up and accessories. 

This little girl is watching with rapt attention as everything is applied…

…and the final product is truly magnificent!

After spending so much time observing the detailed preparations and the pre -wedding emotions, James admits to getting a little emotional when the stunning bride walked into the ceremony.  It was very sweet to see all of the tension disappear and Reena’s face light up when she saw Ryan.   

 The ceremony has many traditions, one of which involves rice as you can seee from the below.

This picture is actually from Reena’s sangeet.  In an Indian wedding, the bride has a sangeet a few days before.  It’s like a mini celebration with a lot of traditional dancing and singing.  At her sangeet,  Reena’s hands were painted with elaborate henna, which we found to be fascinating.  The intricate patterns made her hand look like a piece of exotic art! 

During the vidai part of the day, the bride says good-bye to her family.  It’s a very touching time and as new parents ourselves, we can definitely understand Reena’s father’s feelings as he hugs his soon-to-be-gone little girl.   

According to Reena, “we LOVE the pics… we really are speechless.”  Since last year, we’ve photographed a charity event for Reena’s cousin and the wedding of the same relative’s professor.  And, in 2 weeks, we will be photographing the wedding of another one of her cousins.  Thank you, Reena, for always thinking of us!

To see more photos from the wedding, click below.

For the past few years now, we’ve photographed the National Italian American Foundation’s (NIAF’s) annual golf tournament at the Rockland Country Club. The NIAF is a nonprofit foundation that promotes Italian American culture and heritage.

Thank you, Nick, for again inviting us to be a part of this year’s tournament! We’ve enjoyed it every year and are always touched by how proud the NIAF members are of their Italian heritage. And, of course, it’s always fun to see a celebrity close-up. At dinner, the event always has a famous Italian American as a guest speaker. A few years ago, it was an actor from The Sopranos.

If you’re interested in a full day of activities including breakfast, golf on a championship course, lunch, cocktail hour, and a dinner reception while helping to raise money for NIAF scholarship and educational programs, please contact Nick (see event brochure below).

The first of the 3 is Clare and Nick’s wedding at The Mill in Spring Lake Heights.  These are 2 of our favorite photos of the happy couple.  They’re also some of Clare and Nick’s favorites too, it seems.  How do we know that?  We know because they selected these 2 images for their thank-you card.

Clare was an absolutely beautiful and stylish bride.  As you can see, the back of her dress is fantastic and don’t you just love that jaunty featheredveil?

The couple’s dog was part of the wedding party, but alas, she wasn’t very cooperative for photos.

Not to worry, ring bearer to the rescue!

We always like to see our brides and grooms having a good time.  It’s your wedding – you should have a ball!  This couple in particular had a great time when their friends and family started singing to them.

After the celebration, we and the wedding party went to nearby Spring Lake.  As youc an see, Spring Lake has some beautiful spots for photos and this old bridge really caught our eye.  While it might not seem like it, we actually took this picture from very far away (to get the cool faded look to the trees in the background). 

According to Clare, “the pictures are gorgeous.  It’s taken about a month to look through all of them!!!  They’re just beautiful.”  Thank you, Clare, for the kind words.  We’re very happy to hear that!

To see more of Clare and Nick’s wedding photos, click on the image below.

Orange and Grey Sky
- Photo and poem by James Thompson

As the grey storm clouds linger to take a rest,
we see the orange light from the sunset to the west.

Looking over the Manhattan skyline,
Mother Nature once again has blown my mind.

I take five quick photos in a row
and use magical powers to combine them for this photo.

One that shows dramatic gray clouds without losing the sun’s glow,
thanks to technology and other things that I know.

This photo may be a little more dramatic than how it actually looked,
but so was that love scene you read in a book.

Like Mr. Cartier-Bresson, we try to capture our brides & grooms at the perfect moment and have our photos tell a story. Even though Mr. Cartier-Bresson’s work is mostly from the last century, his work is still widely admired because it is timeless. We have the same philosophy about wedding photography. We want our images to be timeless, not the product of the latest trend or special effect, but something that will make you go “wow” for years. For those of you whom we’ve had the pleasure to meet, one of the photos on our “wall” is actually of one of our first brides in 2003! You wouldn’t have guessed it, huh? Mr. Cartier-Bresson once said “to take a photograph is to align the head, the eye and the heart. It’s a way of life.” We could not agree more.

If you are interested in seeing the work of a photography legend, we highly recommend taking the time to visit the MoMA before the exhibit ends on June 28th. It is the first retrospective of his work in the United States in three decades. If you plan on checking it out, we must warn you that it’s extensive. We suggest that you give yourself one or two hours to see the exhibit at a comfortable pace. In fact, we actually have an itinerary for you. La Maison du Chocolate is near the MoMA and has some incredibly yummy chocolates. Why don’t you go to the MoMA, then stop by La Maison du Chocolat and then come by and visit with us? The map below has our Day of Chocolate and Art for you!

View Day of Chocolate and Art in a larger map

These are 2 of our favorite photos of the happy couple.

Mary’s sister gave a very touching speech.  It turns out that Mary is a heart surgeon and many people owe their lives to her.  One guy in particular chased after her just to thank her for saving his brother’s life.  Brains, beauty and a very sweet person to boot.  Mr. Schumacher – you are one lucky man!

Mary and Jim hired some belly dancers for their reception.  For those of you who read our blog regularly, you know about our Best of 2009 photo contest.  This was one of the images that got a lot of attention.  Not votes, but attention from admirers with some very funny comments like “my vote is for #21, but this photo has my heart.”

The happy couple recently wrapped up their wedding album.  I really like this page because our pictures and our design really capture the festive mood of the night.

According to Mary, “the pictures were absolutely gorgeous. I love the song you put for the slideshow. It made me cry.  You really know how to put pics together to bring out the tears.”

To see more of Mary & Jim’s wedding photos at the West Park Winery, click on the image below.

We thought you would enjoy a little break from the wedding postings and share some photos that will help you appreciate the spring weather.  In case you’ve already forgotten about last winter’s snow storms, here are some photos that may bring back some memories.

After the first storm, James went sledding in Central Park and took some photos with a little point-and-shoot camera.  After the second storm, he decided to go into the park with one of our professional cameras to capture some fine art photos of the winter wonderland.  As you may remember, the second storm was a whopper and caused many trees to fall.  And,  one of the falling trees actually killed a man in the park.  James was actually photographing in the area where the person got killed.   He didn’t realize it until he suddenly noticed all the police tape!

In this photo, notice the small tree that fell under the bridge.  It’s such a beautiful scene with the manhattan skyline lighting up the sky and trees reflecting in the water.  Too bad the tree was blocking the view of the little bridge.  If only James was strong enough to move it for the photo.

This is a view of the bridge from the opposite side.  Doesn’t the sky look stunning?  It’s all due to the lights in the Big Apple (and of course, how James took the photo).

 This last photo was created using High Dynamic Range techniques.   Yes, believe it or not, wild geese live in Central Park!