In July, I had the pleasure of covering Kim + Justin’s wedding in lower Manhattan as second shooter to the very talented Lauren Volo. Above is a photo of the entrance to the illustrious Rivington Hotel, which is where the bride got ready and also where the reception was held. The ceremony was in St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral, which I had never been inside. Gorgeous.

We spent the first hour or so photographing Kim and her bridesmaids as they got ready in a perfectly lit hotel room. There’s really nothing better than shooting in 100% natural light!

I see it often enough, but there’s still something so wonderfully surreal about the sight of a full-dressed wedding party in the streets of NYC. Here, Kim adjusts her father’s boutonnière.

Next we limo’d and cabbed over to the cathedral. While Lauren shot up close to the couple, I was tasked with getting wide angle shots of the space itself, and of the crowd as they watched the ceremony.

Once outside, it was time for the formal portraits. My job was to catch the “in-between” moments, and since candid portraits are my favorite portraits, it was great!

After the portraits it was back to the Rivington Hotel for the reception, which took place on the very top floor and roof. It was perfect weather and from way up there I got one of the most amazing views of Manhattan I’ve ever seen!

Mmm, cupcakes.

1/60 sec at f/3.0, ISO 100

The photo above is straight off the camera (SOOC), with no processing whatsoever except I resized it for the web.

Last week Photojojo (my absolute favorite photography blog/store) started carrying the little Japanese NeinGrenze 5000T, a pocket-sized, dedicated tilt-shift, point-and-shoot camera. For $150. Having just received a paycheck, I was feeling particularly impulsive and I ordered one immediately. A few days later I had it in my hands and have been learning my way around it. Lots of trial-and-error, to say the least.

Tilt-shift photography is a niche genre that has started finding its way into the mainstream more and more as of late. The effect can be done in post-production fairly easily, as evidenced by the popularity of such software as TiltShift Generator and Instagram. If you’re not familiar with the technique, check out some amazing examples here! Of course, software can do just about anything these days, but it never looks quite the same as the effect produced by hardware. Unfortunately, true tilt-shift lenses for your SLR start at about $1300. Another option is a Lensbaby, which costs between $150 and $400 depending which model you get. I owned a Control Freak for awhile, but I ended up selling it because I found it too difficult to use.

The NeinGrenze 5000T is easy to use, but not easy to master. Constructed entirely of plastic and extremely lightweight, it’s definitely a toy. In truth, it feels like it shouldn’t have cost more than $50, but I suppose what I spent is the price one pays for immediate gratification, and for having the “first” of anything. I predict that the demand for this camera will create a market for other affordable tilt-shift hardware.

You have control over whether or not the flash fires, size and quality of the images (JPG only), white balance (daylight, cloudy, tungsten, etc.), EV (+/- 2), ISO (100 or 200), saturation and sharpness (low, normal, high), color (standard, vivid, sepia, or monochrome), and whether it shoots in burst. The flash takes forever to load and whites everything out, so for me I think it’s best to just consider this as an outdoor, bright light camera only – sans flash. Also, I’ve found that it tends to overexpose the scene in general, so when I remember I set the EV to -2.0. Other than that, I leave everything else on the default settings.

Shooting with the NeinGrenze 5000T is an exercise in patience and whimsicality. My biggest qualm with its functionality is that it puts a blue/green cast on every photo, and there is no way to turn that off. Through the viewfinder colors appear normal, and your choice of white balance is reflected, but the output is generally the same. As a result, when I shoot outside I set it to “cloudy” mode since that makes everything a bit orange, in an attempt to force the photo to not be so blue. Be prepared to run each photo through your editing software of choice if you want to achieve more realistic coloring.

1/500 sec at f/3.0, ISO 100

You can move the lens slightly with a little switch to make it a macro shot or wide, but once that’s done it seems to pick its sweet spot of focus arbitrarily. In the first photo, the bike is in focus which is way off to the right. On the other hand, in the photo of the leaves (color corrected) the focus is in the center. You can vaguely tell via the camera’s LCD where the focal point is when you’re framing an image, but it’s kind of a guessing game at the same time since the LCD isn’t super high quality. Fortunately, since the output quality isn’t that high, I put an old 1GB SD card in and can take around 800 photos before it will be full. So you can take a LOT of versions of each photo you want and hope that one comes out!

In this photo taken with macro mode (color adjusted), the sweet spot plane is along the bottom:

1/15 sec at f/3.0, ISO 100

To make focusing even trickier, there appears to be some amount of shutter lag.So you have to be willing to sit VERY still, or use a tripod, and it helps if your subject is inanimate! It also shoots video:

There’s a learning curve to this camera, but I love how tiny it is. I can throw it in any bag I have and just have it on me for any situation that might present itself. Here are some more photos I took with it, they are color corrected unless otherwise noted.

1/15 sec at f/3.0, ISO 625

1/15 sec at f/3.0, ISO 550

1/4 sec at f/3.0, ISO 100

1/500 sec at f/3.0, ISO 100

1/500 sec at f/3.0, ISO 100

1/125 sec at f/3.0, ISO 100

1/60 sec at f/3.0, ISO 100

1/1000 sec at f/3.0, ISO 100

I hope this review was helpful! If you have any specific questions, please leave them in the comments!

It was a truly beautiful day, sunny and clear skies despite the thunderstorm warnings. I met couples that had been together for over 40 years, finally officially tying the knot. I met their friends and families, and everyone had huge smiles plastered across their faces.

Counting down ’til they open the doors:

People were there giving out free water, which was amazing since it was 100 degrees out!

David got friendly with one of the Captains of the NYPD! That guy was awesome!

We met the majority of the couples we spoke to BEFORE they actually entered the office, since that’s where everyone was lined up. The exits to the building were all blockaded off , but people were allowed to stand across the street and watch. As each couple exited, they were met with screams, applause, and the music of a live string quartet! If they crossed the street to their adoring fans, they got confetti thrown on them and more cheering. It was amazing to see everyone so happy. What an amazing day and how lucky I am to have been there documenting it!

You may remember that back in October, I photographed my friend Amy for her feature on the online publication Daily BR!NK. Well, I took a look around the website and thought the platform was so interesting that I applied to become one of the site’s staff photographers. A few weeks later I had an interview, and voilà! Every now and then I get to photograph one of NYC’s brilliant young up-and-comers.

My first assignment was with Juan Carlos P.E., a writer and director of films and web content. His first feature was called Second Skin, a documentary that followed several serious computer gamers and explored how their lives had been affected by the hobby. I had actually seen the film on Netflix. I am a nerd.

As a director, Juan Carlos told me he isn’t used to being in front of the camera – a feeling I can completely relate to. We took our time to relax into the shoot, getting comfortable natural poses. It took a while but I’m glad we got it! We talked the whole time, and appropriately, it turned out he was most at ease with a script in hand. You can read Juan’s feature here.

While my boyfriend and I were visiting his family in Maryland last fall, his sister asked me to take some quick portraits of her family. They were just a few weeks away from adding a fourth member and wanted to celebrate their little party of three before that major life change. (I’m happy to report that little Owen, the new addition, is ridiculously adorable. Bonus photo of him at the bottom!)

And here’s baby Owen with his Uncle Ben! I really love that baby belly!

For the past couple of months you watched him impressing Jewel every Monday night on the BRAVO series, Platinum Hit – but when I became friends with Johnny Marnell a few short years ago, we were both working at a computer store and dreaming of paying the bills with our art. Ah, day jobs.

I’ve had the pleasure of photographing several of Johnny’s live performances in NYC. We decided to shoot some press photos for him on a very sweaty day in Brooklyn. Johnny was a great sport wearing that suit under the hot hot sun. Luckily he’s so photogenic that the shoot didn’t take too long, as pretty much every exposure looked good.

And some live shots, from the vault:

Johnny is a fantastically talented guy and it’s been thrilling to see him finally get the exposure he deserves. Though he didn’t win the show’s competition, I’m confident that big things will continue to happen for him! #TEAMJOHNNY

Around the end of November, my friend Amy – you may remember her from our Daily BR!NK shoot awhile back – invited me to speak at a workshop she was helping organize on behalf of Foodspotting. At the time, Levi’s was hosting an incredible interactive photo space on Wooster St. in NYC. In addition to a massive studio setup with professional lighting and other equipment, there was a wall full of vintage cameras to use and rent (for free!), large format printers, and screen printers. Over three months, there were a number of free seminars and workshops for people to learn about and play with photography. A really impressive resource.

Along with three other photographers, I spoke briefly about best practices for getting great photographs of food, specifically when you’re seated at a restaurant as Foodspotters around the world do every day! My summation: Sit near a window if you can. Avoid using the flash. If it’s dark and you have to, try bouncing the flash off a napkin or a menu so the light isn’t too direct and harsh. Don’t be afraid to pose the food, and try to take a photo before you dig in.

They also had a photo booth for people to play around in. I had a blast! Thanks, Levi’s and Foodspotting!

My first visit to Brooklyn Instrument Museum was in 2007. PSS and JMS, curators of the museum and two close personal friends of mine, have been adding to their vast collection of rare and vintage musical instruments since 2000. While the museum is currently hosted in their living room, they hope to someday expand into a bigger space, an actual nonprofit museum. They put on shows around the city once in awhile, featuring musicians who love wacky instruments, and demo-ing some out of their own collection.

In November, PSS and JMS brought some of their favorite instruments over to my studio for a session, including the one above, a Marxolin.

Ukelin:

Pianolin:

Rollmonica:

Several months earlier, I’d met up with PSS and JMS to take some photos of them with their instruments. How adorable are they?!

If you know me at all, you know that my absolute favorite breed of dog is the American Pit Bull Terrier. Though they are currently at the forefront of the “scary dog” stereotype (for which I blame the media entirely), in actuality they are some of the most gentle and loyal dogs in existence. Decades ago, before the evils of Michael Vick and others like him, pit bulls were the “nanny dogs” of choice — as evidenced by Petey, the famous pittie who watched over all the Little Rascals. If you’re interested, this blog made a fantastic two-part post highlighting some photographs from the early 20th century of children posing with their beloved pit bull babysitters.

My boyfriend and I adopted Charlie in November 2008. Click here to check out Charlie’s blog and here to read his adoption story! When our friend adopted a little tiny blue nose pit puppy (and named him Dewey!), I didn’t waste any time getting the two dogs in the studio together immediately. Since it was nearing Christmas, we had some fun with the best thing ever: dog clothes.

Then another friend’s MinPin-Jack Russell mix, Mancha, joined the party:

BONUS: This was our Christmas card for 2010. Yes, that is actually a real treat I put in front of Charlie’s nose!

Camels walking down 6th Avenue on a sunny day in October. Definitely not something you see everyday, and pretty surreal! The camels (along with some other nativity-scene critters) were in town accompanying the Rockettes for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. They posed for some quick press photos outside the venue and I was amazed by the sheer amount of LEGS those gals have. Seriously. So much leg. Flaunt it if you got it, ladies!