Bill called me up a few weeks back and he told me he’s going to propose to his girlfriend, Jacquie. Not only that but he wants me to capture it as its happening. This is a first for me. I have to figure out where to be and not be too obvious until Bill drops the question. Jacquie met me once while I was shooting another wedding. On top of that Bill wants me to choose a location. No Problem on that end. I know this city like… well I know it pretty good, let’s just say. So the day comes. Bill feeds Jacquie some line about wanting to go to Central Park to see the location of a scene from Home Alone 2. It’s kind of the perfect cover. Bill and I are corresponding back and forth during the morning and I give him a good old fashioned “You got this!” pep talk. I mean its the least I could to, he did teach me how to bartend afterall. I chose the castle near where they do Shakespeare in the park. Jacquie walks right passed me and doesn’t recognize me, they have the balcony all to themselves. I even caught them on the bottom of the castle as they took a selfie! Afterwards we went out for a drink and a few more pictures. The night was over for me, but Bill had one more surprise. He had two tickets for Mariah Carrie at the Beacon for her Christmas show. Needless to say Jacquie was overwhelmed.

David is a friend of mine from the rock n roll blog days. I stuck around one night at Jersey City’s now defunct Automata Chino venue after Roadside Graves played and saw The Press (his band) play. I dug the heck of their band and as time wore on I became friends with the guys, even booked them a few times. Ancient History, though.

Fast forward to the present and I’m looking for a couple to shoot for my blog and David tells me he’s just a few days away from proposing to his girlfriend Angela. TOO PERFECT! I’ve been saving a special location for just the right couple… Coney Island! We wandered around Surf Ave looking for a few great spots to shoot and scoured the Boardwalk for some neat backgrounds.

I dig Luna Park, but the old park has the really grungy rides and a really cool nostalgic vibe. I decided to focus on that park of Coney. We walked by the Wonder Wheel and around the Haunted House over to the Cyclone. David mentions the last time he was years and years back when he first moved to the city he wanted to go on the Cyclone but was short on cash. Bummer, Well now I couldn’t help but tell them my treat for coming out here with me was to put them on that ride!

Afterwards we walked back around the boardwalk and got some great photos from the beach. As the sun was coming down we made our way back to the car. David and Angela’s photos came out awesome! I can’t wait to shoot here again!

In early Fall, I met up with Yuliya and Devin to shoot their engagement in Central Park.  One of my favorite locales for photos, with some of my favorite folks. Yuliya and Devin are friends of mine from the local gaming scene, board games card games that sorta stuff.  It’s a well known fact that I like games (I’m a better than average Risk  player). Yuliya was more than familiar with the park and found some really great spots with amazing light. It was great to hang out with good friends and take a casual day with some shots in the park.

Christina Fillari grew up right down the block from me. I moved into the neighborhood in 5th grade, she showed up in 6th. We couldn’t have been more unlikely friends. I was into Dungeons and Dragons, she was a Cheerleader. Strange as it may seem, though, growing up in the same neighborhood creates a bond. We hung out on Friday Nights playing flashlight tag in the neighborhood. And I even tried my hand at Cheerleading (with some nudging from her and a few other friends).

As we grew up we kept in touch and would pass each other by back home (always waving as each other as we passed), Christina grew up and moved on from the neighborhood, as did I. When I found out she got engaged, I demanded to shoot her engagement, claiming first dibs!

We lucked out with a really nice day in Hoboken on the pier. It had been a while since we’d seen each other but we picked up like there wasn’t more than a week of missing time. Brandon seemed to enjoy it. One of the things that I really like about shooting friends is how easy it is to get into the zone. There’s no awkward getting to know you stage and by proxy the other person, in this case Brandon, warms up to you pretty quick as well. It helps that I have a little trouble shutting up when i first meet folks.

Once we finished up at the pier we walked over to Bin 14 for some wine and Burgers. Once Brandon left to freshen up, I leaned into Christina and quietly told her, “I like him!” She perks up and whispers, “Me too!” We had a laugh, actually we had a bunch of laughs. It was a really fun day.

Sometimes before I do a shoot I have a theme in mind. Other times there’s a bit of serendipity involved. Let’s flash backward about 10 years. I’m 23, a waiter in New Brunswick and I’m about to move in with my co-worker, Cindy Becker. What a formative time in my life. I was out on my own for just a little more than a year. Cindy and I had just really become friends. I was making ends meet at Old Man Rafferty’s, a veritable boot camp for the service industry. Anyhow you get the picture. Cindy and I worked together we played together, we were drinking buddies and we were very protective of each other. Not that we didn’t terrorize each other from time to time as well. The best way to describe our friendship was as siblings.

Time is a funny thing. It passes rather quickly, and suddenly you’re in your thirties trying to figure out how to become an adult what parts of you are worth holding onto and what parts (including friendships) are worth letting go. I made a lot of friends back during my 3 year tour at OMR, I can’t say I’ve kept in touch with everyone. Cindy is one of those people though, if you make a small effort she’ll keep you locked in. Over the years we’d call each other to keep up and chat. I’m seeing this girl or what not, she’s buying what seems like at least a million bulldogs and one day she tells me she’s engaged. “Excellent, when do I meet him and let’s do a photoshoot!”

It’s been like 5-6 years since either one of us has seen the other in the flesh. She calls her and Ethan are downstairs in the car. I make my way down, Americano in hand. I slam it, and the first thing she tells me is that I haven’t aged a day. Ha. Sometimes the best friends are also the best liars. Maybe I do look the same as 10 years ago, I don’t feel the same inside (which is likely a good thing). I meet Ethan. And we make for Brooklyn Bridge park.

One of the things about being a photographer is this moment when you meet a new person, model/client/assistant you’re gonna do it a lot, it’s a tricky thing. I’m an easy guy to trust. And trust is so important during a shoot. It means you have to be both likable and approachable, folks need to be comfortable around you. Here Cindy and I am catching up, and I’m thinking how do I get Ethan involved in the conversation? Cindy tells me how they met, she’s asking me about my life and how it is living with my girlfriend (at this point it’s been 2 days) I’m here catching up 5-6 years worth of news with her meanwhile Ethan is trying to figure out where the hell I’m taking them. I start telling them about Brooklyn and what’s been going on the last 3 years since moving here. I crack a few well timed jokes about myself, we get lost in the moment and more than once we get a little lost. And just like that Ethan is in the conversation. In short, I don’t advise taking wrong turns on purpose but this time we were all so tangled up in conversing with each other it just sorta happened. I realized rather quickly that I really like Ethan.

So I was talking about theme and how that applies to this shoot. Well I guess I would say the theme here is Higher Love. Yep like that Steve Winwood song from the 80’s that plays on those slow jam stations. Between the imagery of the Brooklyn Bridge in the background and the way you see two people ebb and flow so well together it just seems like it works. To quote Steve, “Without it life is wasted time.”

Chris might just be one of the funniest guys I’ve ever met, and I’ve met quite a few funny cats in my day.  When he and his fiance, Katy, told me they wanted me to be their wedding photographer I was really excited to get the chance to shoot another old friend’s wedding.  Growing up I was extremely good friends with his younger brother, Harry.  In fact, I still am!  We used to hang out in their family’s basement on the weekends and stay up all night playing video games and listening to music.I had my friend Jimmy assist on this one.  Jimmy is one of Kate Connolly’s associate photographers and I very talented guy.  He has a total way with the group shots and was one heck of a snappy dresser.  We actually both showed up wearing the same thing!  Which confused the Brides family when we got to the door.  The Katy’s father tried to shoe us away when we got there.  I can’t blame him though.  It was Saturday Morning we were dressed alike and the two of us looked pious enough to be peddling our religious values door to door.  After a quick laugh about the misunderstanding and a little sweating, we were welcomed in with open arms.  Jimmy and i went to work.

Katy has a big family!  Everyone was really excited.  We finished up with some family shots at Katy’s then made our way to the church.  Chris’ folks were there, I said my hellos and how do you dos and we got set for a really great ceremony.

But let’s be honest, the real magic happens at the reception!  The DJ’s were a riot!  Chris and one of his friends danced the knife-fight scene out from Beat It!  The night it self was a lot of fun.  Katy looked wonderful!  Chris was hilarious.  It was great seeing my surrogate South Jersey family all together having a good time.  Here are some of the best shots from that night.