HEDGES & CROLL WEDDING - OJAI, CALIFORNIA!

I can't believe the weekend has come and gone. An amazing and beautiful blur...at least that is the way I remember it. From the serene drive up to beautiful Ojai, the amazing groom's dinner at Boccali's as the sun set over the trees in the west, to a momentous ceremony where there wasn't a dry eye after Bobby and Hillary exchanged their own vows, followed by a reception set underneath the stars that will forever be cemented in my memory.

Bobby and Hillary are two of the most righteous and beautiful people I know. I am grateful to have them both as friends. Bobby and I go back 12 years and as he likes to say...I'm his "newest" friend. It's an honor that I will take with me for the rest of my life to know that I am in his company. Thank you Bobby and Hillary for letting me take part in your most joyous moment in life. I love you both. So much more I want to say, but ahhhhhhh...I have to read two scripts tonight!

Here are a few of my favorites from the weekend. Thank you to my camera assistant, 'LOVEY' for taking pictures while I was standing up for Bobby!

HOLTZMAN & HUSSEY WEDDING

Ohhh what a weekend! From the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Bourbon Street Bar, to the Holtzman Residence just outside of town, mini-golf on City Island, and finally culminating at the beautiful Harrisburg Civic Center where Matt and Liz were married. It is one of those rare weekends that I will remember for a lifetime to come.

Some of my most fond memories as a young kid growing up in Minnesota were with my dearest and best friend Matthew Paul Hussey (don't worry Kyle, you are my best friend too, but it was Matt's wedding!). To share this amazing weekend with him was too special. It feels just like yesterday that we were trying to out-skate each other down at Klapprich Ice Rink on those cold Minnesota nights under the lights. Well...Matt won out of course and I couldn't be happier of all he's accomplished. But more than anything, what makes me the most happy, is Matt finding the love of his life in a small Pennsylvania town known as Wilkes-Barre.

See I didn't know Liz all that well before this weekend. In fact, I think I can still count the number of times I've met Liz on one hand...but after this weekend, I feel like I've known her much longer...and she is exquisite, the kind of person that makes you feel at ease, with a big heart and sweet smile - she is perfect for my friend Matthew.

And luckily enough, Matt and Liz gave me the opportunity to cover the whole weekend as their personal photo journalist, catching them at moments that truly encapsulate them as individuals and as best friends. Simply put, it was an awesome experience.

To be honest, this was kind of a learn as you go experience for me...I've never really photographed a wedding, been to many of course, but never covered it from start to finish (If only I had brought my damn tripod, I could have remotely set up the camera to photograph the ceremony!) - whataya gonna do...I was in the wedding!

I'm currently weeding my way through all the frames, but here are some of my favorites of Matt & Liz. Those of you visiting my blog for the first time, you can click on each individual picture to enlarge them. Many thanks to the Hussey & Holtzman families for letting me into their lives.










Many more photos to come so stay tuned.

HOLLYWOOD SIGN 2010!

I never like to do things half-ass so when my friend Ned said, let's go up to the Hollywood sign and take that photo we'd been talking about for the last eight years, I packed all my gear, Nikon D3, Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8, attached the sticks to my Lowepro bag, and we headed up Beachwood Canyon around 1030am this morning. It was a beautiful summer day, low eighties and my only complaint was that there wasn't a cloud in the sky, kind of made for a boring back ground. Scattered clouds are always fun and make for a more interesting scene, but we got creative with some fun shots to make up for the fact.

The backstory goes, Ned and I have been talking about taking these shots for eight long years, probably longer. Back in college we used to write these almost "chose your own adventure Hollywood emails," how we were going take over the city, and make our mark. We were young then, naive, dreamers (we're still dreamers!) but we've both achieved milestones as of late, which I guess is what finally got us off our asses to take the shot - Ned starting his own company and Amanda and I having our first baby.

Anyway, we hiked up the trail. There is a great spot that is kind off the beat and path of the main loop. As you hike up towards the sign, after the second bend, you actually head out away from the H sign, down a path that if you didn't look close enough, you'd probably miss it. Its quiet, you don't get all the tourist traffic and people staring at you. In fact, you get a great angle with the sign in the back ground. After about an hour and 253 frames later, I think we got the shot...check it out, as well as other fun frames from the shoot.

The Shot

Other Fun Moments

GULF OIL SPILL

Just wanted share some amazing pictures from the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill. A sad moment and devastating to our environment and economy, but these photographs are a must see of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig ablaze. National Geographic Channel obtained exclusive footage of the disasters first 36 hours...truly amazing images.

Click on the link below:

http://www.neatorama.com/spotlight/2010/05/25/deepwater-horizon-oil-rig-the-first-36-hours/

MOTHER'S DAY

A few days late never hurt nobody!

Last Sunday was a very special day...it was Amanda's first mother's day and to sum it up in one word, perfect. Music class, lunch at Barney's Greengrass, and a mini afternoon photo session that I've been putting off for a couple months now. I'd literally painted a picture in my head long ago- the three of us in our cozy bed, white comforter, lots of pillows, and beautiful natural light streaming in through the window (no flash!) With only a few minutes before Sylvie was at her wits end, we managed to get about 30 or so frames over 8-9 minutes. You're probably asking yourself did I set the timer on the camera for each shot? Well, I actually used this great option on the D3 called interval shooting. I set up 10 intervals, each interval shooting one individual shot. The intervals were roughly 10 seconds a part. At the end of the day, it worked out nicely. We did a bunch of different set ups and got some great stuff. Here is my favorite from the batch.



To see more pictures from the session, please visit:

http://www.andrewcalof.com/#/mother-s-day/