Casa de Lola & The House of Cool

On April 10, 2013 by vard

A couple of months ago I was approached about doing some work for a lifestyle blog run by Nathalie Barros.  I had previously done some work for Nathalie’s boyfriend’s band and she thought I might be a good fit for the style she was trying to bring out in her posts.  Her blog centers around her daily adventures, from shopping with friends in NYC to travel & cooking and trying to come to terms with her miniature Weimaraner Lola on who gets to sit on the couch.  And she makes the whole thing cooler posting her blog in both English and Portugese (she’s from Brazil)!

For me, working with Nathalie and Lola gives me a chance to shoot in a completely different way.  More freedom and less structure…I can pretty much do anything I’d like; which plays right back into ‘all the other shooting’.  If I do something interesting or technically challenging when I’m working with Nat, it’s easily reusable in the regular Studio D shooting.  And, more than anything else, it’s just fun!

Check out Nat’s blog here, or her fan page here and say hi…and thanks for reading.

Rock on!

 

Ah The Good Light…

On February 26, 2013 by vard

Right now I’m about 50/50 on editing and shooting; still making progress on the backlog of images I have, which is a good thing.  But I am still shooting quite a bit.  Here’s a few from a recent shoot, as well as some recent editing from an older session…

I’m a lighting nerd through and through and these are great examples of the kinds of stuff I really enjoy shooting.  Thanks for checking them out.  I’m working on some new ideas for the blog that will be diving deeper into complex lighting shoots like these.  Keep an eye out for those in the not too distant future.  Have a great one.

Rock on!

Italy – Jumping at Opportunity!

On January 29, 2013 by vard

Connie and I recently had an opportunity to shoot a wedding in Italy for some close friends of ours.  This was definitely on my ‘dreams’ list for what being a photographer could be, but it never really budged into the reality category.  And then it did…

Kyle & Rachael asked us to shoot their wedding a little over a year ago.  At the time it was supposed to be here in north eastern Pennsylvania.  What started off as a rather large event here in the States was morphed into a more intimate and memorable experience when they decided to take the whole shebang to Italy.

Sixty or so friends and family from the States and another twenty+ from Europe all convened in Palombara Sabina, Italy, just north of Rome.  We spent the first few days getting to know our fellow travelers and covering everything paparazzi style.  It was fun, and everyone got really used to having us around, which always makes for easier shooting at go time.  The wedding itself was held in a castle (Castello savelli) about 20 minutes away from where we were staying.  Perfect weather, great people and an amazing location; it’s a pretty good mix!  The day after the wedding a large group of us moved our base of operations down to Rome proper.  9 of us in one apartment made for some great ‘getting to know each other’ opportunities.  We’ll leave that at ‘you had to be there’…you get the idea…it was crazy fun.

On New Years Day we gathered up as many of the friends and family that we could and did some ‘formals’ outside of the Vatican and in downtown Rome.  It’s probably not a secret that I don’t mind making a scene when shooting…everyone should have their princess/rockstar moment, and this was Rachael & Kyle’s!  As much fun as it was to be shooting there, it was as equally fun watching what was happening.  Taking a step back to watch everyone enjoying an epic moment in their lives was really neat and something I’m glad I remembered to take the time to do.

Italy was amazing!  Unfortunately we couldn’t bring the short people with us, but we did get very good at Skyping with them.  Maybe next time ladies…Oh…and big thanks to my grandmother for hanging with the girls for a week and a half.  They miss you and are looking forward to July in Cape Cod! :D

Thank you one last time to Rachael, Kyle and both of their families.  You REALLY know how to throw a party!

 

Up next: info on new print pricing (it’s getting a lot cheaper), more blogs about what we’ve been shooting and editing for the last few months, and plenty more…

Thanks for reading.

 

 

Mermaids in Maine

On August 10, 2012 by vard

Every August we try to run up to Maine to see my parents and sister’s family and get away from the busy season for a few days.  It’s a chill time with family and friends that have funny accents.  This one was a short trip, but a great time just the same.  We spent most of the 4 days there hanging out at the lake and doing very little beyond catching up with everyone.  We also found some time to get in a shoot with the girls and the mermaid fins we made (thank you again Jermaine & Grandma Donlin for finishing them off).  And, not to be left out of the camera fun, I snapped of few of my dad churning up the lake on the wave runners (next time, remove the iPhone from your pocket padre!)

Dad and I also enjoyed a few beers trying out some long exposure night shots on the dock…on a clear night at the lake you can see zillions of stars…it was awesome!

We finished the trip off with a stop at Seawall on Mount Desert Island; one of our favorite places.  We whipped out the fins for a few more shots, but had more fun watching all the tourists snapping shots of the girls doing their mermaid thing…it was great!

We love it in Maine…August 2012 was a short trip, but we’ll be back up in Oct to shoot a wedding and hang for 10 or 11 days…can’t wait to be back!

Thanks for reading!

BriggsFest Day 2

On July 9, 2012 by vard

Another BriggsFest come and gone.  As always, had a blast all weekend.  Great people, great music and an amazing venue…you can’t ask for more.  A huge storm blasted through on Saturday…tore through some vendor stands and made a general mess of the place, but after an hour or so everything was back together and the music was on.  And no injuries too…which was the cool part.

If you ever have  a chance to get to this event, I HIGHLY recommend it! :D  And yes, that giant slip-n-slide up on the hill was in fact AWESOME!  If whoever brought that has it there next year I’m going to find it hard to shoot the bands! ;)

Rock on & thanks for looking!

Briggs Farm Blues Festival (BriggsFest) Day 1

On July 7, 2012 by vard

Ahhhhhh…the highlight of my summer!  Here’s a quickie from yesterday’s festivities down on the Briggs Farm.  The heat only added to the awesome.  Stop down today if you’ve got some free time!

Rock on!

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