Happy Anniversary

In 1994, I worked alone in a 400 square foot apartment on Ludlow Street. I shot maybe seven weddings a year. I had a met with a photo rep to show my editorial work and I slipped in a few wedding photographs. The rep mentioned that a new wedding magazine was just about to start up and I should call the photo editor, Heidi Posner.

The simple clean white design of the offices of Martha Stewart Omnimedia, at 11 West 42nd street, was a startling change from other magazines. I was familiar with Martha’s main magazine, Living, known as a still life photographer’s dream, but I was not sure how they would respond to my box of loose black and white wedding images. Heidi introduced me to Creative Director Gael Towey and they both responded positively and they asked me submit a selection of my favorites.

When in late 1994 the first edition of Martha Stewart Weddings appeared on the newsstand, there had not been a new major wedding magazine in over 20 years. Brides of this era were generally frustrated with the lack of a modern aesthetic in the wedding industry. There were no major wedding websites. Information was passed by bride to bride.

In that first issue of the magazine, they published a selection of my photographs in the front section and featured a full wedding in the well (main section). As a favor, they listed my name and phone number in the contributor directory in the back. Within the first month after hitting the newstands, I received over 75 phone calls for potential jobs.

Tonight is the 15th anniversary party for Martha Stewart Weddings at The Plaza. It is a good time to recognize that we all owe a debt of gratitude to this organization for raising the aesthetic of the entire industry. Happy Anniversary to the staff. Thanks Gael, thanks Darcy. Thanks, Martha.

JD

“renew your vows” retreat update

We are in full swing to prepare for our fall retreat. We got great response and very excited about the fellow photographers that have signed up for it so far.
Philippe, John and I are finalizing details of our program and it’ll be “pushing boundaries”. We got some interesting twists in our approach to get us all to the next level.
peace,
Holger

workshop month

Our friend Bryan Johnson is holding a workshop in Birmingham, AL in November (Sunday 11/15 to Tue 11/17). He is a very inspiring guy and I am sure it will be a fun, informative 3 days. I love his work and spirit! Check it out: www.abryanphotoworkshops.com
Maybe you want to come to our retreat and then head strait down south and continue with his workshop
I think it’s remarkable how much energy there is in the “fresh” wedding photo scene…

A plate with an appetizer…

In the lights lying low and gleaming on the surface of the exterior of glass I saw water.
Abstractly I am drawn to this visual palate.
The ongoing challenge is to continually seek and find the visually compelling moments that we find in our environments, whether it is for a wedding or in our personal work.
Sometimes, when one makes a picture you do so consciously and with forethought – in essence looking for it.
The beauty of being in a wedding visually, is the light, whether natural or realized,
can often present an a compelling color and/or design which leads one to a making a personal image.

Our workshop is about using your visual sensibility to making images
wherever you are.
To embrace this idea of following through on using your visual instinct.
To create work that speaks to you on a personal level.

Pushing the boundaries.

Announcing a Fall 2009 Intensive retreat workshop. After a lot of requests we have decided to hold our first workshop with all three of us.
Click on this image to enlarge and email “tableshots@gmail.com” for any questions, reservations and comments.
Cheers,
HT, JD, PC

a family affair

A wedding is the ultimate family affair. Family dynamics create the current that buzzes under a wedding. This is when the couple takes a firm stand about their role within family. As photographers we ride this current…

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another downtown NYC wedding

To follow suit with JD’s very New York wedding ceremony I want to post the following photographs.
A wonderful couple asked me if I would be interested to photograph their small wedding on Brooklyn Bridge. I couldn’t say no to the idea of capturing this intimate ceremony on this symbol of New York City and my beloved hometown of Brooklyn. Even so it was a small event all the things that make us photograph weddings happened…

Witness

6/15/09

I Witness. Eyewitness.

This is, of course, what we really do when we attend a wedding. We stand, we observe, and we record.

I recently had the honor of being the official witness at a civil ceremony at City Hall. My first assistant ever, an English girl named Fred, returned from London to enjoy the official New York Marriage Bureau.

How good it felt to shoot a wedding this small and solemn. This was stripping the photograph down to its essence: to mark a moment in time.

Avedon

Avedon has been at the top of my inspiration pyramid for a long long time. If his work is not deep in your photo subconscious, you can get a full dose at his Retrospective at The ICP in NYC. I passed through the opening on Friday night and marveled at how he made staged photographs look so alive and made his loose images so majestic. Make the trip.

homework

I am going thru all our posts and trying to figure out where we are going with this blog. Here are the main thoughts that pop up for me:
-what makes a better photograph (taken at a wedding)
-to analyze where we all coming from and where we are going (in terms of wedding photography)
-what’s going on in the wedding “market” (closely related to previous)
-film and digital; what does it all mean (that’s huge)
-and everything else that’s smart and entertaining about weddings

what are other subjects that are of burning interest to you out there?

hey, JD and PC please chime in…. edit …