Kerry & Joe

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to shoot Kerry & Joe's Wedding! It was a great time, the guys were awesome to work with and Joe himself is such a comic, every time I turned around with the camera he had some really cool pose he through himself in and Kerry, along with her entire bridal party looked absolutely stunning!

I have so many favorites from the day, but really tried to narrow them down, and still had a difficult time, so here goes!

I really liked Kerry's dress it was just shouting style and whenever I arrived at her parents house and saw all of the vines on the front porch, I knew I had to hang the dress out there, I really like the eerie feel of this image.



Shoes shoes shoes. I really dig the shoe shots and didn't know exactly what I wanted to do with them at first, then I sort of stumbled upon the idea you see below!



Google Maps told me Joe's grandparents house was 6 or 7 miles from Kerry's parents house, what it didn't tell me is that in traffic it would take 20 minutes to get there, so I didn't have much time, I was standing on the front porch when one of the best men (there were two) showed me the rings, and down they went into the pot you see below!



The colors of Joe's suit were awesome, everything was really well blended. I am still wondering who picked 'em out!



Kerry's brother was smoking a pipe when I got back to her parents house, and the minute I framed this shot, I was thinking this looks like something from a old movie poster.



Shot of Kerry as she was walking down the stairs!



I really liked this shot of Kerry's sister with all of the girls hustling in the background.



Kerry's Dad seemed quite calm as did everyone actually, he was great to work with!





I really liked this shot of Kerry's Dad helping her to the limo.



This, I think is my favorite photo of Kerry on her wedding day, she is just beaming.



A little tender moment between sisters before the ceremony.



Joe, Gary and Gabe as they waited for Kerry's entrance.





Kerry and Joe's immediate families.



The entire wedding party along with immediate family.



Nice intimate moment between Kerry and Joe.



These guys were great to work with, they all have that GQ look going on!





Another shot of the guys once they arrived at Cascade.



Kerry's sister was such a clown, she did some really neat and goofy stuff, such as this image below.











I went to use the washroom and saw two urinals, immediate sought out Joe and told him the idea and he was all up for it!







Image from their first dance.





I have been wanting to try out my new video light, and this was the perfect place for it, I really like how the light gives a nice soft feel without being to harsh.







Someone called this little guy and he put his finger up and was like "I'll be right back!"



Obviously Joe was a little rough with the feeding of the cake.







Joe's baby brother seemed a little tired out.



Kerry's Dad - I think the cocktails were beginning to hit him hehehe Just kidding, I really loved this shot though.



Well, I don't really need to explain this next photo!



I had an awesome time guys, it was fantastic meeting everyone and the toasts really got me choked up, Joe and Kerry you guys are truly blessed..

Make it work!

-Rick O

Round One Submissions

Every year my lab has four rounds of competition for print entries of Babies & Children. Round one submissions close on March 21st, 2009.

Here are my submissions for the first round. If you are interested in having a photo from your session submitted, please email me for a release form. Images can not be submitted without a signed release form from the childs parents.



-Rick O

The Dube's at Forest Park

On Saturday morning I headed to East Longmeadow, MA to meet up with Chuck, Holly and their adorable 8 year old Hannah.

I hadn't seen Chuck or Holly - wow in at least ten years - way back when when I worked in radio, Chuck was the engineer at the station. Eventually I left radio, he left the station and we lost contact, until last month when I looked he and his wife up on Facebook. I found Holly and in turn starting conversing again with Chuck.

It really was great seeing you guys again, and I apologize to Holly for bringing up those three little letters that are like fighting letters [C B S] hehe - ya see Holly has been working for NBC forever and I wasn't even thinking when we were discussing some TV shows I watch!!!

Hannah is absolutely adorable - I had a fantastic time at Forest Park, it was an awesome place, I really wish we had more time to explore a little more, but I know that Hannah's feet were tired!

This shot was taken as we were heading back to the car - I really like the light poles as they follow the lines I was shooting against - the separation distance between Chuck and the first light pole was almost perfect!



This was near the end as well, I think Hannah was, in her own way, saying are we done yet!!!



I really liked this shot, you can see her missing tooth that she recently lost - well you can't see the missing tooth, but you can see the tooth missing, that's what I meant to convey!



This has to be one of my favorite shots - I changed my white balance to totally throw off the color intentionally to get that nice yellowish hue - I tried setting the shot up so that what appeared to be the sun was blocked by the tree and wanted to catch all three shadowed silhouettes in the shot of Mommy, Hannah as well as the tree.



This shot was a little gray for my tastes and a little flat, so I punched it up a bit and did some cross toning.



The angle of the light on her face in this shot was awesome, I was looking for a decent shaded location under a tree but not so much where the light would be totally blocked or directly overhead, this was great light coming from camera right and split dead center on the tree.



I don't like harsh sun when shooting outside, but this next shot is definitely one where I wished it had been a little harsher to emphasize Hannah's shadow on the bricks.



Another shot while Hannah was walking and I attempted to catch all three shadows, but missed a portion of Hannah, for a little girl she moves quickly!



I got down on the ground for this shot, I wanted to capture as much above her as I could, I really liked how her legs were almost posed as well as her firsts on her chin.



Every once in a while I'll break the "unwritten rule of thirds" if it works for a composition, this definitely was the case here - there was too much "alive" in the background to totally let it go, and I wanted the lead of the left tree branches in the frame.



What can I say about this image, everything was just perfect!



Again, Hannah could be a little super model, she really was coming up with a lot of poses on her own!



I was adjusting my lighting and the next shot looked a bit washed out in color and I brought back and toned down some of the highlights on her face but the light was still pretty flat. :(



Another test shot, something about this image that I really enjoy, not quite sure what it is.



Hannah has some incredible blue eyes, it's just amazing at how blue they are and I really like the whole braid thing she has going on.



I really liked the angle of this composition - I'm sure Bob (Dudacles) Lincoln will have some comment to say to me about it!!!! I wanted the tree to be in the image and see the lines in the background, this image straight didn't do it for me, so I shot it on an angle.



I had a great time guys and it was great seeing you guys again after nearly a decade! Thanks for lunch at Leone's as well...

-Rick O

The Bonelli's

Last year I did a session for Nina and her new addition Noah! Nina's sister Annette wanted to gift a session to Noah's God Parents Lisa & Pino! This past Sunday I headed to White Plains to do the session.

Pino greeted me and introduced me to Sofia and as Mom was changing Sabrina I started setting up. When I first saw Sabrina, it immediately reminded me of Brody, whose session I just shot a few weeks ago - two little chunky Italian bambinos!

I had a great time working with these two adorable little girls and Sofia was quite the little super model posing here and there for me while I was getting my lighting set up.

I just adore this first picture, she just had it all going on like a little Baby Gap model!



Sabrina looks like a little porcelain doll, she is so freaking cute!



This next shot is one of those oops I'm falling, but I'm okay, let me just roll over!



Reminds me of a little Buddha here in this next photo.



We got her to smile, we got her to smile yippy!



This is just a priceless shot, her little hat and outfit!



I always have a bunch of favorites, but I think this is definitely my favorite photo of Sofia and Dad!



Great shot of Dad playing with Sabrina here and Sabrina smiling again (yeah!)



I really look for those tender moments between parent and child, and usually they come at the most chaotic times, when the children start getting tired, this was one of those times.



I really like this shot of Dad and Sabrina as well..



Yet another great shot of Dad and Sabrina with Sabrina looking at me this time!!



Mom and Sabrina playing around a little too!



Another great moment between Mom and Sabrina!



This shot actually came from a much larger shot, but Sabrina looked away, but I really enjoyed Dad holding Sabrina's tiny little hand.



I had a great time on Sunday guys, it was a real pleasure meeting the Bonelli's! Thank you Nina and Annette! Look forward to seeing your families grow up!

-Rick O

Cold :(

I think I am finally kicking this terrible cold. The nice weather helped this weekend but unfortunately it will drop 20 degrees once again tomorrow! My friend Paul who lives in Phoenix likes sending me his daily weather report, I think its great because in a couple of months it will be so hot he will have to stay inside :) it has been a very busy month and its not over yet!

Kerry and Joe will be getting married on the 21st and it will be my first wedding of 09.

Hope everyone is enjoying this weather...

-Rick O (Mobile)