Updating my website

I finally got some time and I've been updating my wedding galleries with this summer's wedding, reorganizing the review section and also modifying the senior pictures.

http://www.daveblakephotography.com

Erika and Josef

I had the wonderful pleasure of being Erika and Josef's Wedding Photographer up at Ann Arbor at Hopewell Junction. I've been wanting to go up there for a while now, as it's the counterpart to Ceola Manor in Jefferson Valley, and I was pleasantly awarded by the wait. Erika was absolutely stunning in her dress, and Josef was a very handsome chap. I only stayed till 8pm, but I hear the party went on for quite some time.

Congrats to both of you!

Erika and Josef's Wedding Photos at Ann Arbor, Hopewell Junction

Jeannine and Vincent's Wedding

On Labor Day weekend I was treated to a New Jersey style wedding when I was the photographer for Jeannine and Vincent. A lot of driving, and a lot of shooting was involved in this one, but the end product is a lot of pictures for the lucky couple. And might I say, boy can they dance. I guess it helps when you are a professional dancer. Wow!!!

http://daveblakephotography.com/weddings/jevi

Tara and Matt's Wedding

This Saturday I was blessed to be the photographer for a lovely young couple, Tara and Matt. They got married along side the Hudson River on Harvest-on-the-Hudson in Dobbs Ferry, Westchseter. It was a beautiful wedding procession, and we got to do a wide range of photographs with Tara and Matt. My only regret was not being able to do the family pictures outside in the garden, but with it being 95 degrees it seemed best to do them indoors.

http://daveblakephotography.com/weddings/tama/

I especially liked the opportunity to take pictures on the river at dusk, and got to try out my new 35mm 1.4 lense for the first time.

7/14/07 Wedding of Satya and Nicole

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of being Satya and Nicole's photographer up in Haverstraw, NY. We were treated to a wonderful day which started at the church for a nice ceremony, and then a church stairs interlude for guests to take pictures and for the release of the butterflies and bubbles. We took the opportunity to use the side of the building for some more urban pictures, and then we were off to the reception at the Haverstraw Elk Club.

There everyone had a wonderful time enjoying the lovely view, and I had a great time with the formals and candid pictures of the event. I hope Sanya and Nicole are having a wonderful honeymoon as I write this.

Pictures can be viewed here:

http://daveblakephotography.com/weddings/nisa/

My 7-7-7 wedding

On 7-7-7, a super popular wedding date, I had the privilege and honor of being Jamila and Jimmy's wedding photographer at the Fountainhead in New Rochelle. It was a lovely wedding, and Jamila looked stunning and wore a simply lovely wedding dress. The pictures can be viewed here:

http://daveblakephotography.com/weddings/jaji/

Storm Photography

I found this site and thought it was awesome and immediately brought myself three 16x20's. I would check it out if you are a storm fan like me.

http://www.extremeinstability.com

Wedding Vendor Forums

I recently joined the Wedding Vendor Forums, a great way to network with other wedding professionals.

http://weddingvendorforums.com

Ron and Senny's Wedding

On June 9th, I was privileged to be Ron and Senny's wedding photographer at Westchester Manor in Westchester, NY. Although there were some scheduling glitches with the rabbi, the deed was done in style, and then a wonderful party ensued. Pictures of this event can be viewed here:

http://daveblakephotography.com/weddings/rose/

Eileen and Chad's Wedding

Two weekends ago I had the honor of being Eileen and Chad's photographer at Irvin's Sunnyside Cottage in Tarrytown, NY. It was a beautiful venue, and even though trains occasionally roared past, it simply put in perspective the lovely sounds of nature when they were not present. This was only formals and ceremony.

The full album can be viewed here:

http://daveblakephotography.com/weddings/elca/

A bit of work for the North County News

I did a bit of free-lancing today and shot a graduation today for John F. Kennedy.

I'm remembering why I hated my graduation - boring and hot! But it was nice to be shooting again, as I've taken a couple of weeks off.

Next week is a biggie, 3 weddings and a portrait session for Somers PTA.

What me, sleep, never!

Zachary's Bar Mitzvah

Last weekend I had the pleasure of photographing the L.'s middle son's Bar Mitzvah. I knew the L's previously from shooting their oldest son's Bar Mitzvah, also both at Temple Beth Am in Yorktown and at The Pinnacle in Somers. This one was cooler, clouder, but just as much fun. I think everyone had a blast, including yours truely. It will be a few years until the youngest one is ready to be a Bar Mitzvah, but I'm looking forward to seeing him and his brothers once again.

All pictures are posted here:

http://daveblakephotography.com/mitzvahs/zachl/

Dave Blake Photography
Dave Blake Photography

Digital Scrapbooking

My very good friend Cindy was telling me today about her digital scrap booking efforts for her young niece. She's putting together a 'year one' album, which I thought was adorable. It also got me thinking of possible applications in my business, which I could see being applicable for weddings, but much more likely would revolve around the portrait side of my business. What exactly? I do not know, but it could be an interesting avenue to explore over the next few weeks.

We shall see...

Dave
Dave Blake Photography

New Sections

I added two new sections to my website

Resources is a guide which outlines some of the things you should be aware about wedding photography and the business of wedding photography.

http://www.daveblakephotography.com/resources.shtml

Reviews (for back of a better name) is a summary of some of the reception halls and parks I've been to. This includes my favorites such as Ceola Manor and Traveller's Rest.

http://www.daveblakephotography.com/reviews.shtml

Dave Blake Photography
Dave Blake Photography

Website fixings

I added a couple of new sections to my website. The first is 'Reviews' which is where I talk about the various places I've been to and my thoughts. The second is 'Resources' to which I'll be adding links to other vendors and little articles, most of which will be echoed here.

http://www.daveblakephotography.com

Butterflies in the air

For those looking for live butterflies for release after your wedding ceremony, you can try these sites:

http://www.butterflyreleases.com/
http://renaissancebutterflies.com/
http://www.amazingbutterflies.com/
http://butterfliesabound.com/

They do make for beautiful pictures, but really only if you have some sort of foilage near by. Otherwise they don't tend to stick around for any meaningful amount of time. It is best to have these during a daytime wedding as well, as both they aren't as photogenic during the dusk and night, and they just want to sleep once it gets dark and cooler.

A past wedding where I was fortunate to have live butterflies released at was at Ceola Manor in Jefferson Valley. These are the pictures from about a year and a half ago.

http://daveblakephotography.com/weddings/anderson/

It dies a quick death

Well, seems my photography contest site is going to die a quick death. After two days of being in the pennysaver, I've had a whole 2 people sign up. Not a good sign, considering the ad cost me $150! But, with all things, there are upsides - such as I have more time to focus on my photo business.

Oh well, you never know till you try!

Pet Photo Contest

Today (literally - after midnight now) I find out if the last two months of hard work pays off. I've been working on a photography contest site, and the first real run of it is now active. So if you want to win $150, enter for free here:

http://www.photopayoff.com/ap/viewContest.jsp?unid=32

I should know by this Friday if this site is a dud, or if it has real potential.

Follow-up on Beth's Bat Mitzvah

I just wanted to share the full color album from Beth's Bat Mitzvah.

http://daveblakephotography.com/mitzvahs/bethw/

New offerings and pricing structure

I decided that for those who book 6+ hours, I'm going to give a break on the price. For longer bookings, there's more downtime, and I want to price it accordingly. I'm also going to start offering press book albums. These look like magazines, rather than the thick hard pages in many wedding albums, but they can be made much cheaper than regular albums, and multiple copies can be produced a little additional cost to the clients.

More details can be viewed here:

http://www.daveblakephotography.com/weddings.shtml

Weekend activities

This last weekend I had the pleasure of shooting Ellen's and John's wedding on a beautiful day. This was actually for a studio, so I'm not sure if I can share the pictures, but I was really happy how they came out. It was a very long wedding, but the nice thing about it was I was able to go to the house and had an extended time for the formals, so I was able to really concentrate on that.

I think if the question is ever posed, I'm definiately going to suggest adding time for the portraits rather for the party. Usually, it only takes 90 minutes to get all the pictures needed at the reception if the cake cutting is not covered, so it is time and money well spent to go to the house and get all those additional wonderful pictures.

Beth W. Bat Mitzvah

Yesterday I had the pleasure and priviledge of being the photographer for Beth W.'s Bat Mitzvah over at Northern Temple Israel and at the Mount Kisco Holiday Inn on what was a beautiful day.


Beth did a wonderful job during the service, and, fighting through the giggles, proudly chanted her way into womanhood. The party was a lot of fun with a really rocking DJ and some wonderful decorations by Ballon's by Brian (who always does a wonderful job.) I believe all the kids had a great time as everyone was always dancing, and even the adults got on the dance floor. And of course who can't love a chocolate fountain.

I've known the W's for a few years now, and I really am glad that I could help record Beth's special day. I think this is it for now, as they've plum run out of kids below 13, but I hope to still be around when Beth and Lindsey walk down the aisle. I'll share the pictures in a couple of weeks once they are done.

Hello World

Hello all. This is my first of many posts to this blog. I have to do some quick coding on another project, but hopefully over the weekend I'll be able to add more. But in the near term, I have the W's Mitzvah this Saturday to which I'm looking forward to. I've known them for a long time, and it's always a pleasure to work with them.

To be continued...