Flowers, butterflies, and my Olyumpus OM-D E5.

Ahhh, symbolism...

As my wife will attest, I can't stop gushing over my new Olympus camera. I've been shooting heavy/cumbersome DSLRs with their giant lenses for a long long time now and often feel the joy of shooting casually has been killed by the logistics of hauling gear to and fro. Since the moment I pulled the OM-D E5 out of the box it's never been more than a few feet from me. I have a renewed joy for the artistic expression of photography, and that my friends makes my heart swell! Don't get me wrong, I wake up every day feeling like the luckiest guy in the world getting to make a living with what I do, but more and more I just wasn't wanting to haul around 10lbs+ of camera and lens when spending the day kicking around and that's when most of my favorite images are found...   

 Anyway, in addition to being the only camera I brought with me to Canada I've also been gradually incorporating it into my professional work shooting in concert with my Canon on several portrait assignments, a wedding, some product shots, and most recently exclusively on a two page expose on The Golden Nugget for Bucks Life-MainLine magazines. I'll post more on that when it's published. In the mean time know that I am totally impressed with it's performance and fully intend to make the switch to mirrorless completely in the coming months.... anyone want some secondhand Canon gear? ;) 

About these images: Shot with the Olympus OM-D E5 with the 17mm 1.8 lens. Note the detail in seeing the butterfly's hair in a number of these images... all handheld. 

Mike+Tanna: Philadelphia City Hall.

So an architect and an anesthesiologist walk into a bar... sounds like the beginning of a joke but in actuality it's the beginning of a beautiful life together! 

Mike first reached out to me because he said he and Tanna liked the way I use Philadelphia as a background in many of my portraits. The two were (have) moved south and wanted to capture the feel of the city they both love on their wedding day. I joined the two of them and their parents at City Hall on... you guessed it, a crazy hot day... and from there we hit a few fun spots around town. For those that have never been, City Hall is not(!) air conditioned by the way. Anyway, a neat coincidence is that Mike wanted to stop into McGillin's, where he had worked for a number of years, to say hello to his friends. I had photographed the owners of McGillin's for the last issue of Bucks Life Magazine and will be back to update their images for their website in a few days in fact... in any event, it was a fun walking in and seeing the expression on Chris jr.'s face when he saw I was photographing Mike and Tanna.

I had a lot of fun on this and I think you can tell they did too. We'll be doing more when they return for their "official" reception at one of my favorite locations, the Lowes Philadelphia, next spring. In the mean time, congratulations you two! Can't wait to do more in the spring. 

On a side note to my photographer brethren I'd like to point out that a good portion of these images were shot on a mirrorless micro four thirds camera... it was my first shoot with the amazing Olympus OM-D E5 but it hasn't been my last since and I am very strongly thinking of going totally mirrorless... more posts and images on that to follow soon.

Details to follow:

Wendy+Jim: A lovely New Jersey backyard wedding!

The latest teaser installment are images from Wendy and Jim's amazing backyard wedding. Now most of us know that planning a big party at our house can get pretty stressful, but nothing compares to planning a wedding no matter where it's going to be! Mixing the two together is no easy task and these two made it look effortless and beautiful. 

The only thing(s) missing were the pups, but check back for an update in the future as I'll be going back to shoot some fun pooch pics and maybe even get to talk Wendy and Jim into dressing up again for another "formal". Maybe a dog park "mess the dress"... I'll let you know. In the mean time please enjoy a few images from Wendy and Jim's beautiful day. 

Again I'd like to thank my great second shooter Binh!

Details:

Brides Dresses: 

Cocktail Dress: Sue Wong

Wedding Dress:   Alyne By Rivini   

Shoes:  Ivanka Trump (she says she is still in love with them and wore them to work on Monday!)

Bridesmaids Dresses:  Jasmine 

Groom and his men: Slacks by Perry Ellis and their own black sports jackets. Ties were from Menswearhouse and Pocket Squares from The Tie Bar 

Father of Bride: Sports Jacket and slacks from Jos. A. Bank: tie and square from The Tie Bar. 

Mother of Bride: Dress Barn 

Catering: Main Street Catering

Band: The Meg Hanson Group

Flowers: The bouquets , bouts , and wristlet were done by Monday Morning Flowers in Princeton.  Those in vases on various tables and little fish bowls were done by the bride. 

Tent: Sperry Tents, Belmar, NJ

Invitations, Save the Dates, Programs: Mastergraphx, Inc. Monmouth Junction, NJ  ( Groom's printing co. )