Let me introduce you to this couple, Larissa and Grant. Larissa is from Germany and Grant is in the Navy. Although this was a destination wedding for me, Larissa and Grant both live in Hawaii so they know all the hottest places to eat and take guests out.  The wedding was taken place at Moli'i Gardens in Kualoa Ranch, which is minutes away from Chinaman's Hat. It was a small intimate wedding so we got to know the guests pretty well. The landscape and scenery was more than I could ask for. Just beautiful. Well, anything is better than taking pictures in NJ right? Hawaii might sound fun and exotic, but there are some trade backs that I am still facing like extreme jetlag, uneven tan lines, and my skin peeling like a reptile.

We'll start this set with an HDR (2 stops of light) landscape portrait.


























































Story behind this picture is that Larissa showed an image of this lady to the hair stylist and told her she wanted her hair to be like this lady. The hairstylist freaked out. We all had a really good laugh out of it. Such a great way to start out on the day of the wedding!

I just got done with an engagement session on Saturday right before I
leave to shoot a wedding in Hawaii. I decided to finish this set before
I take the flight.

Jimmy was able to fly down from Ann Arbor,
MI for the weekend to take some engagement pictures for their wedding
in October. Since Jimmy grew up near the beach, we decided to take a
few pictures at the beach and the marina in Long Branch, NJ. Beautiful
skies and amazing light. Two things that make pictures turn out well.

I haven't been at the beach for ages, so I'm definitely looking forward to the next few days!

Here are a few quick picks from the session. Help them pick which ones to use for their wedding!

1


2


3


4


5


6


7


8


9


10


11


12


13


14


15


16


17


18

This past weekend, I was able to meet up with Ellen and John to shoot their engagement session in Brooklyn. One thing I realized while driving to Brooklyn was how ridiculous gas prices have gone up in the city. I'm glad that I live in NJ where the gas is the cheapest in the nation and people at the gas station pump the gas for you.

It was a very hot and humid Saturday where tears of sweat were dripping into my eyes while shooting. Eventually the T-storms came in, but that didn't stop us from finishing the engagement session. Ellen and John continued to pose like supermodels, and left Brooklyn with very wet bottoms. Check back in September where I'll be covering their wedding, which will be held at a Huguenot Memorial Church and The James House Mansion in beautiful upstate NY.

Meet Ellen + John:



Took a few shots with my new 45mm f/2.8 Tilt-Shift.


















The park's security guard yelled at us after taking this picture. Oops!