The Don Friedman Quartet

as a huge thank you to don friedman for posing for cultchas, i went back to the kitano lounge to hand him a print of his photo, and take more photos because this time it was his quartet who was playing. i even asked him to sign a copy of his photo for my brother.

with my prime lens in tow and my extremely new "wide angle" lens i felt a little more confident. if you click the links, you can almost tell how much i have broken the bank - one day i will extremely break it. all of these photos except the posed group shot were taken without flash.


one of the oddest things i have learned in this shoot is - if your subject is tall, he will be very well lit!!!! case in point: tim armacost, the sax player.

subjects hiding in a corner, or is blocked by their musical instruments is no easy feat too - but im glad i have these good photos.

you should go see them if you are in the neighborhood. the rest of the photos are here.

the well-fed secretary that could

My bread and butter for the last 7 years has been a secretary of some sorts. I absolutely love doing it, as i dont have to constantly be thinking about everything. as soon as the clock strikes 6, im done and out and about.

One of the most unusual perk of being ZDNY&Co's secretary (and owning a camera and knowing how to use it) is having my photos of our jewelry appear in trade magazines.

so far my jewelry photography have appeared in three publications:

Modern Jeweler (august 2009) - snake ring photo, bottom middle.

Lustre Who's Who in Designer Jewelry 2009  - distributed during the JCK and JCK Lux Shows in Las Vegas 2009- snake ring photo, first pic on first column

Jewelers' Circular Keystone (JCKMag) September 2009 - circles cuff bracelet, bottom photo

jewelry isnt one of my favorite subjects to take photos of - not only do they require so much light, they also reflect a bunch of stuff you dont need in your photo, like your face and camera on the jewelry itself - a difficult and painful thing to clean off your photo - and, i have to make them look expensive and luxurious.

it's all in the secretary's day's work.

Can you take my picture?

i am STILL stunned when i have strangers ask me to take their photos. (in some strange way, ive actually taken a photo of the owner of ben's kosher deli because he saw my camera around my neck and asked me to take a photo of him and his friend.)

Last Friday, i went out to the kitano lounge to take a photo of the Don Friedman Quartet and after i took their photo, Tim Armacost asked me if i could take his photo because the microphone company that he uses on his flute wants a photo of him using their microphone.

wow nice. i took about less than 10 shots and got this.

 

Jeanine and Rob's Wedding (and the horrors of mixed lighting)

my brother complained about the whole mixed lighting scenario at his goddaughter's christening. i never really thought how difficult and annoying it was until Jeanine and Rob's Wedding.

they had a luncheon reception and the sun was shining brightly outside and INSIDE, with that, the lights inside the ballroom did nothing to compensate the ball streaks of sunshine. and i mean big streaks! aaargh. but i really cant complain much, since the food was good. and it was fun times! (to make things clear, im not complaining about the wedding per se, but the lighting conditions to which i had to photograph in.)

another thing i learned - is to PACK MY STUFF THE NIGHT BEFORE AND HAVE ALL BATTERIES CHARGED. my off camera flash died three quarters into the reception and i had to depend on my on camera flash that refuses to fire in time. aaargh. and in general, as much as it has saved my life a couple of times, i dont really like my built in flash.

im glad my photos turned out fine. and for the record, jeanine and rob's cake is one of the best wedding cakes ive tasted. it was nice and moist inside.

pat loves it as much as i do!

The rest of the photos are here.

Popping the Portrait Photography Cherry

i started "giving offers they cannot refuse" to my friends and friends of friends 5 months ago. back home, there's a bunch of superstition surrounding a pregnant lady. there's rubbing the belly for good luck, and there's this huge no-no of taking photos of a pregnant lady.

a. i did not rub her belly (and still got good luck)
b. she loved having her photo taken.
c. she gave birth safely and is now happy with a baby girl.

as she is protecting herself from her own professional world, she asked me to not post these on facebook - im also not mentioning their names here.

the rest of the photos are here

therapeutic, at some point

one of the things that is almost always in my purse is my point and shoot. i love how documenting things can make or break a moment - like how misery can turn into great fun (or eventually turn into great fun afterwards)

im no fan of photographing miserable things, but on some days - preserving the moment is psychologically beneficial.

case in point:

this was taken during a miserable cold and rainy day while waiting for the bus to take us back to NYC at the six flags great adventure bus stop. if the NJ transit didnt forget to follow their schedule, this photo wouldnt have been taken. (fyi, my fiancee was making fun of me because i had an umbrella in my purse as well. it proved useful, didnt it?)

it was so miserable, at that point but people managed to take photos of each other and poke fun at this "waterpark" adventure. sadly, i didnt have a photo of other people taking photos.

but yeah, it was miserable.

if it didnt save their sanity, it certainly saved mine. the other photos are here

Maggie and Dieter's Engagement Photos a.k.a. The Rottweiler Experience

I got the gig of photographing Maggie and Dieter by overhearing my classmate Carol ask our teacher Rich RE: wedding photographers. Since I have no experience whatsoever in taking photos like these, I had offered to take their engagement photos.

With an offer they cannot refuse, they hired me. they told me about the rottweilers that dieter had rescued from the streets in philadelphia and that they describe them as SWEETHEARTS.

there's nothing better than having very good looking, very photogenic and very nice people to pose in front of your camera. i swear they dont have bad angles and the camera just loves them. of course, there's a bit of cheating since i did find out this day that dieter has some experience modelling. (well, if you LOOK LIKE HARRISON FORD'S TWIN, you should be, right?)

Now back to the rottweilers. after all this is my rottweiler experience. Gypsy and Sebastian are the biggest attention seekers that i have met - and THEY ARE FORCEFUL. if you stroke one on your left side, rest assured, the other one will come to your right side and ask for your right hand. of course, i was still fearful while doing this, but they are actual sweethearts. at first, i couldnt understand how a huge animal could be.

but of course, i just mustered the courage to just have this very well acted photo!!!

of course, the nice little doggy can tell that it was all a lie. hahahaha

In this shoot, i have further realized that men never grow up.

That, is never a bad thing. The rest of the photos are here.

ps. i just shot their wedding. i should be posting them soon.