I’ve been friends with Laura for about three years now and met Nadi shortly after they started dating. Being a part of their wedding was a big responsibility for me but was a lot of fun. The wedding ceremony and reception were held in Dickerson, MD at Strong Mansion which was a beautiful retreat from the city. Laura’s amazing dog Apollo was there for the whole day and leapt to be at her side as she and Nadi made their way down the aisle after the ceremony. I really appreciate their friendship and am glad that I was able to be there.
Thursday night I was on assignment for the Washington Post and was tasked with photographing a burlesque review at Ozio. I was excited at the subject matter and when I walked upstairs to the space they were hosting the Golden Triangle Cabaret I felt like I was in the 1940’s. Everyone was dressed for the event and the decor was just right. There were some technical challenges with the lighting that I had to overcome, the main one being that there really was none to speak of except for two dim blue LED’s coming from the corners. I found a painting with cream tones and oranges to bounce a strobe off of in front of where Miss Kitty Victorian was performing, did a few tests, and ended up shooting on the tungsten setting and put a blue gel on my light to balance the warmth of light bouncing off the painting. My goal was to light it and have it look as natural as possible. I shot at about f2 at ISO 1250 for about a 40th of a second and had the strobe set to about 1/32 power.
In one of her acts Miss Kitty Victorian brought out an albino Burmese Python which people seemed to like.
After suspending her presidential run, Hillary Clinton made her first appearance in the Senate since she announced that she would support Barack Obama. She received a warm reception at the weekly democratic caucus luncheon and a lot of attention from the press. I was on assignment for Politico today and enjoyed myself as usual.
Sunday morning we had a nice break in the weather and spent some time around Capitol Hill ending up at Union Station. Yvette and Nick were really easy to work with and were able to ignore me at times which is always the best. I’m looking forward to their wedding in a few weeks.
I am never sure what a given wedding day is going to turn out like, and I really like that. It makes every ceremony, reception and everything else more fun. Of course I have a schedule, but what I really love is not knowing when the best pictures are going to happen.
Renata and Stephen kept me on my toes all day with little moments and details. Examples were at the ceremony, at The Chapel of Our Lady of Lourdes at Georgetown Preparatory School in Bethesda, when Stephen flashed his wedding ring mid-ceremony to the guest and at the reception, at Congressional Country Club, when he scooped Renata up on the dancefloor which made for a fun frame of her puffy dress and shoes suspended in the air. They were a lot of fun to spend the day with and didn’t let the rain get in their way.
Jay is an unobtrusive documentarian, who insists that the best pictures happen when events unfold naturally. As an individual, Jay is pretty laid back, a demeanor that’s ideal for weddings. Amidst orchestrated chaos, he’s a calming presence.
In one of her acts Miss Kitty Victorian brought out an albino Burmese Python which people seemed to like.
