who is that lurking in the woods?

Braden texted me a few weeks ago and told me he was going to ask his girlfriend to marry him and if I could capture it. It was just a matter of if I was available because I enjoy love stories. Plus, this was not my first time capturing a young couple proposing. The key for me is to look like a wandering person just in the background and then when he goes to one knee, to pop out and get the proposal.

Braden pinned the spot on google and I had no problem finding them.

My wife said, “why are you leaving so early when it only takes you 18 minutes to get there?” Because My biggest fear is not getting to the place on time and missing the big event. Braden sent me a video clip of him walking down to the water’s edge. Technology. I love it.

The Weston Reservoir was the perfect setting.

Here is a list of the top 10 wedding proposal ideas. https://www.theweddingvowsg.com/top-10-wedding-proposal-ideas/

high school portrait shoot at winslow park

These fall days are so wonderful to photograph. Not only the foliage, but the light, in general, is just so nice. Winslow Park AKA the dog park is one of my favorite “to go to ” spots in Westport. There are plenty of wonderful natural backgrounds to use in your portraits.

Mimi on location using an 85mm 1.8 lens open all of the way.

The lens I used on Mimi is one of my favorite portrait lenses. The 85mm 1.8 is very fast and produces nice bokeh. I also like to use it because I like to talk with the client and have them hear a little direction. With some longer lenses, you have to stand further away and you have to shout orders.

I like to use my Godox 200 flash with my octobox. The Octobox gives me real nice flash fill that wraps around the face. It is easy to set up and only takes a few minutes to put together. I also use this box for my corporate headshots.

The flash strength is controlled from the camera so it is quick and easy for me to adjust to lighting conditions.

Winslow Park is a photographer’s paradise.

Westport’s Haunted House

Another halloween has come and gone but I had the opportunity to photograph a real haunted house. This was for Westport Lifestyle Magazine and the home is located off Compo Rd South.

The shoot began with a bunch of crows circling the grounds and in the picture above you can see a crow on top of the fireplace. It was really creepy.

I have known Bill Frawley for many years and he was the one who let me in the door. We did a walk through and I found it very easy to picture in my mind what I wanted to shoot.

living room window looking out to the yard

I shot a few brackets of exposures so I could blend them in photoshop. The blending tool is my friend.

another “window pull” but I love the wallpaper in this

one of my favorite images working handheld, no tripod.

the textures and colors were fun to capture.

second floor landing leads you to the stairs

This house is truly a wonderful place to photograph. The library used it for years storing thousands of books. Now it is empty and I hope that someday the town would bring it back to its old self. Maybe the ghosts will just leave?

Drone photography for a wedding

When drones started coming out a few years back, I always wanted to get one. But, I had to wait. Wait for technology, because when they first came out, there were tons of flyaways and it was hard to control the drone. Fast forward to today and I have the latest technology at my fingertips and the drone is so much fun to fly.

I photographed the group image here with a DJI Mavic Air 2. I adore the size and capabilities of this drone and the images are phenomenal. The shoot was at the best place to be before halloween…… Sleepy Hollow New york, right on the Hudson river.

Westport’s lobsterfest behind the scenes

Each year The Westport Rotary Club hosts a huge cookout at Compo Beach in Westport. Over 2,000 people attended this years Lobsterfest and tickets sold out quickly.

I was hired to capture the setting up and the behind the scenes along with aerial views with my drone. They were going to use this for tent placements for next year and show what the volunteers go through to get this large event going. I mixed stills with video to get what I needed. Drones can have a valuable impact to show the overall scene of an event.

There was a thunderstorm the day before the event, but it made for a nice dramatic shot.

https://videopress.com/v/aLDV5yjp?resizeToParent=true&preloadContent=metadata

video of 2021 lobsterfest

wedding at aspetuck valley country club

Funny how coincidences work. I photographed Aspetuck’s member guest tournament in July and this past weekend I had the opportunity to shoot a wedding at the very same venue. Renaud is the club’s manager and now we are very familiar with each other.

I really love the cakes at weddings, they are always so good.

The challenges in shooting weddings are working with conditions where you have to move fast and being ready for something interesting to happen. What I like most about it is showing the bride my interpretation of what happened this one day.

Photographing weddings allows me to use my knowledge of photographing portraits, shooting products and being creative.

Night photography downtown westport

I have a camera on me at all times. It is just a habit that I have and I really enjoy taking photographs. I carry a rangefinder type camera for my spontaneous shooting but every once in a while I will switch to my DSLR ( digital single lens reflex) It is a much bigger and heavier camera than my rangefinder, but it has the best sounding shutter I have ever heard. Okay, the Leica M6 is the best sounding shutter…..

For this shoot I used my Canon 5ds. Which is a 50 megapixel camera and said by most people to be a medium format digital camera. The files are huge. But the shutter is creamy and smooth. The perfect camera for architecture and interiors. But in this case, I used it to capture some night shots in downtown Westport. With the huge files I can really manipulate the images if I want to.

The spotted horse.

Financial Company Branding Photoshoot

I photographed for Felix and Steve in the past. Maybe around 5 years ago they were working just the two of them as financial planners. They needed headshots for their business and I was happy to shoot for them. Felix also needed a photographer for his wedding, and I was more than happy to shoot his wedding. Relationships are important because people remember that you did a good job or you made them feel comfortable in front of the camera. There are many reasons to why they will rehire you for something.

Fast forward a few more years and now Felix and Steve have added 3 more people and they are renting in a gorgeous building in South Norwalk. I am so happy that they hired me to photograph the new team. They are called Guidelight Financial and they are fun to work with.

Guidelight’s office is located at 50 Washington Street

it is a beautiful office with lots of light.

https://videopress.com/v/2L8TwEfY?resizeToParent=true&preloadContent=metadata

drone footage to show the office.

Connecticut Garden Wedding

We beat the storm!! There was a lot of concern whether we would beat the weather. Hurricane Henri was on its way and it missed us by a day. Unfortunately my Sunday event wasn’t so lucky but I am told they will be rescheduling it soon.

Allison and Bobby were married during Covid-19 so they chose this past Saturday to have friends and family celebrate with them. The father and mother of the groom held the event at their beautiful home on the Westport, Fairfield border. The gardens were gorgeous and we chose to take the “posey” shots there. Friends and family wandered the grounds which included a pool and a barn that was converted into a lounge.

After a tiny misting, everyone entered a tent where the party continued. I used a variety of lenses for this shoot. My favorite portrait lens is an 85mm 1.8 fixed lens, I really enjoy how you can blur out the backgrounds with it.

love my 50mm 2.5 I can get pretty sneaky with it.

getting natural images and framing nicely.

the grounds were so nice here is the barn window where the lounge was.

I am invisible when I photograph candids.

landscape photography in Washington Connecticut

There are many different types of photography and I never like to say that I am just a portrait photographer, or I only shoot products. Because I don’t. I am a multi genre photographer. Which means I do everything from corporate headshots, to architecture photography , to landscape photography. I have a drone so I also do a lot of aerials for clients. Branding photography is very big right now and I enjoy that a lot as well.

One of my favorite genres of photography is shooting landscapes. This usually entails someone from a firm giving me a shoot list or a must have list and then the rest falls on me. That is the best part, because I really enjoy getting down and dirty and getting close to nature. I have many different lenses, but one of my favorites is the 50mm canon macro 2.5. I don’t think they make it anymore, but it is one of my favorites for getting macro images and has terrific bokeh.

This shoot was for Hoffman Landscapes. They are located in Fairfield County.