The wedding took place at Columbia Country Club in Bethesda/Chevy Chase, Maryland.  Erik and Teresa are well known for their athletic prowess, and many of their friends were athletes as well.  Scroll down to the reception to see what it is like when a bunch of athletes run a reception.

A candid shot from a distance nabs a serious face! Watch how she makes him smile…

Moshe working his magic!

After the ceremony, everyone met up for family and group photos, and I was able to nab moments like this with my long lens.  I love this.

I loved this somber shot of Teresa’s grandfather, but even more, the exchange that followed!

The reception had one of the best bands I’ve ever heard at a wedding. They are called “Nightlife” and can be found here. I’m a musician too so I have at least some reference!!! I mean it when I say they are really, really good at what they do.

Towards the end of the reception, things started REALLY cutting loose.  Bride and groom dancing on stage, crowd surfing, you name it, it was the wildest reception dancing I think I’ve seen in a long time, and it was a lot of fun!

Kids are amazing, and I can’t begin to tell you how awesome my son is.  My heart leaps when he comes into the room, and my love for him only intensifies as he grows older.  I am so proud of him – he has been learning to read this year, and is already reading full sentences from his reading lesson book.

I watched the movie “The Road” this year, and the gut-wrenching story of a man and his son moved me – no, it destroyed me to tears – precisely because of who my son is and what he means to me.

Someday…

Which color is “true” red? Hmmm….

Vehicle day at a local school.

A writer from the Pacific Northwest contemplating the setting sun? No doubt.

If this isn’t enjoying summer, I don’t know what is!!  Butler’s Orchard in Montgomery County, and a Slurpee.

Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world…. (from Casablanca)

Whoah.

For some reason, I hear blues guitar with the following shot:

Quinn! “Aim small, miss small.”  He was playing soldier here, if you can call it “playing.” lol  His love for the woods has grown a lot in the past year.

Yes, he has my serious and intense side, but he is also one of the goofiest kids on the planet.

Are we done yet, Dad?

I love this photo.  Happy Birthday, Quinn!

Second shooting is a lot of fun, and it’s a wonderful opportunity to build portfolio, and practice, practice, practice!!   Here are just a few of my favorites from the day.

The steps include color correction, noise reduction, selective sharpening and selective color pop on the sword, sky replacement using masks, layers, layer enlargement, layer blurring, and then selective painting with the brush tool.  Overall there were probably roughly about 700-1,000 individual steps between the shot as taken in camera, and the final result.

BEFORE: (straight out of camera)

AFTER

I had the privilege of being involved with helping Young Lee, a friend of mine, shoot a 3-D film in New York City.  Young is a visual effects animator and an actor, and he assembled his own home-made High-Definition 3-D camera.  Watching the tech unfold is a story in and of itself.  I was never really a huge fan of 3-D on my own, but it is mesmerizing to actually work with it and see it come to life.  You can watch the film on Youtube, here: Samurai Rumble 3-D! Red/Cyan 3-D glasses required.  You can find them on Amazon.com for pretty cheap if you’re interested.

I have a small cameo in the film as a knight.  The day we shot was very busy, as you can imagine, so we had very little time for photos, but I loved the setting and did the best I could with our limited time.  We had just about ten minutes before the sun dipped over the horizon to shoot portraits.

The other samurai in the film and in the photos is Eisuke Nakajima.  Eisuke is a kendo swordmaster, a trained samurai and a highly trained stage combatant.  He taught me more about stage fighting for the short scene I was in than I had than I’d ever encountered.  If you watch the way he moves in the film, it’s a beautiful thing – especially when you see how light on his feet he really is.  He was involved in every aspect of the film, especially a short like this that involves so much choreography.

Since this is a new blog for me, I will eventually put up some posts from my shoot with Young Lee last summer.

Marcus and I first worked together this year when he was one of the possibilities for the remake of  “Conan The Barbarian.” I did another photo shoot with Marcus in February.  This shoot, while not as difficult (translate:freeeeeezing) as the first shoot, had its own challenges.   Several feet of snow still remained on the ground in the DC area from the January record-setting snow, and unfortunately the only time we had slotted to shoot, it was pouring rain.  We had about two hours to capture all the looks Marcus wanted.  Due to these challenging circumstances and the fact I had no assistant, I was expending quite a bit of energy just trying to keep my gear dry.  I mostly succeeded.  Mostly.

My goal was to help Marcus capture some additional, distinct looks to add to his movie targeted portfolio.  We went with some costume items Marcus brought with him, as well as some things I had laying around.  As of this post, Marcus is using the images in a press kit being submitted for hopeful casting for a new film.  Best success to you, Marcus!