Jeannette and Lionel

This post was a long time coming for me; I've been fighting with the flu since my return from the WPPI Convention in Vegas. But finally (I'm sure Jeannette will agree), here we go.

It was only a few months ago that Lionel, Jeannette and I had an E-Session down in DUMBO. Now they've completed the first part of their journey with their wedding day.

Both bride and groom got prepared at the Hudson Hotel in Midtown. No one seemed nervous to me, but then, I only covered Jeannette that morning. The honor of documenting Lionel's morning went to my guest shooter and great friend Omar. OOPPS! I mean Ryan. I'm pretty sure that nervousness had nothing to do with what caused Lionel to keep calling Ryan "Omar," it was a mistake that anyone could make. So what Ryan was wearing a 6" by 2" name tag that read "Ryan Jensen" on his jacket that also had the same printed on the back.

Ok, I'm kidding about the name tag and the jacket. But not about the "Omar" part.

From the Hudson we went to The Foundry in Long Island City, one of my favorite locations. Here Jeannette and Lionel had a small, but beautiful ceremony and reception. The Foundry is such a great location because you can transform it in so many different ways, and the ambiance is always awesome. Make sure you check back for more on this beautiful couple since we'll be doing a "day after session" at a later date. Enjoy the slide show below. (In a first for me, a good number of the images in the slide show were taken by Ryan, "great work Omar.")

The greatest moment of the evening for me came in the speech that Lionel gave during the reception. In it he said while their wedding day is coming to an end, their marriage has just begun. Now that's not a direct quote, but it is close enough for you to get the point. That statement is so profound to me, it shows that Lionel has his heart and soul in the right place and understands that the adventure with Jeannette just begun.

Thank You guys for letting me and Omar, opps!! Ryan, be part of your journey.

Well I thought it was a cold...

The morning following Jeannette and Lionel's beautiful wedding @ the Foundry last week, I jumped on a plane to Vegas for the WPPI Convention. It was an experience I'll never forget. I brought back tons of information, new ideas, inspiration, and "the Flu." The night before I flew out to come home I started coming down with what I thought was just a cold, but I wasn't that lucky. The convention it's self was so much, that you needed about a week to recover.

Besides the flu, the trip was awesome. I was able to network with so many photographers from around the world, listen to and learn from the top wedding and portrait photographers in the world. As I mentioned earlier, I've come back inspired and with a new found focused on what I want to accomplish with my clients and images. It's going to be a great year.

I just have to get past the next few days and finish shaking this flu. Check back this week for more on Jeannette and Lionel's wedding day, and my experiences at WPPI. I promise to start returning calls and emails tomorrow.

A new season begins.....

This weekend was very special for me. If you've followed my exploits here, you may be able to tell by how quickly I'm posting. Jeannette and Lionel, an awesome couple, and even greater people exchanged vows at their wedding, and as Lionel put it during his speech, "began their marriage." Until he said that I honestly never looked at the difference between the wedding, and the marriage. My friend Ryan Jensen worked with me for the first time, and we had a ball. Ryan has a great eye and an even better sense of humor. It was actually at Ryan's home that my girlfriend Simone and I watched the Giants win the Super Bowl. It's always a great thing when you can do something you're passionate about for a living, but when you can do it with great clients such as Jeannette and Lionel, and a cool, talented person like Ryan, it makes life that much better.

I'm only going to post a few images from the day, and tell you the rest of the story tomorrow, because I'm actually updating at the airport on my way to the WPPI convention in Las Vegas. This will be my first time attending (not Vegas) and I'm really excited. There I'm going to join my friends and a few thousand of my peers for this convention. Workshops, networking and whatever else one does in Vegas will make this a great trip.

Well here's the preview, more to follow....