Jay Bryant’s Domain

Last weekend I headed up north to Phillipsburg NJ and Easton PA for Rebecca and John’s wedding. The couple met prior to the ceremony at her aunt’s 200+ year old house (that Washington had visited way back when..).

And the last shot of the night of me with the bride:

Had an enjoyable day in Vineland photographing Amanda and CJ’s wedding. What started out as a rainy day ended up with great clear skies and the start of fall colors.

Great fall colors:

And one last shot of me with the bride:

Had a great day at Point Pleasant Beach with Sherry and Ron photographing their wedding. Had prefect weather and great venue (White Sands Resort).

Cute shot of the couple’s daughter:

Ringer bearer hiding from all the bridesmaids:

And as always…the last shot of me with the bride:

I spent an enjoyable day in Philly photographing Leah and Matthew’s wedding last weekend.

Some cake action:

And finally a shot of me with the bride at the end of the day:

I had a great day with Amy and Kevin shooting their wedding in Bucks County PA. I really appreciate it when a couple schedules time prior to the ceremony to do the portrait work…it makes for less stress during the day and great photographs. This couple choose Tyler Gardens at Bucks County Community College and then had the ceremony and reception at the New Hope Winery.

How many people can you stuff into an elevator??

First Look:

My new 105mm Micro Nikkor is an incredible lens:

So after all the family and group photos were done the couple stopped and had a passionate moment:

And the final shot of me with the bride:

Engagement photos of Lan and Luke at Fairmount Park in Philadelphia

On the passing of Senator Ted Kennedy, I wanted to share one of my images that I shot of him back in 1978 when I was an intern photographer at the White House. Kennedy and Mrs. Carter had just returned from the funeral of Pope Paul VI in Rome and were met by President Carter at Andrews Air Force Base.

I’ve been thinking about this image this week with the news of his death. I went on a hunt through my house today trying to find the album with the 11×14 print that I have (the negatives are in the Carter Library) to scan it and post it. After tearing through my garage and basement this afternoon for 2 hours… I was not able to find the print. I did get lucky tonight and found a slide copy in my office and did a scan of it (sorry for the poor quality…it is a 3rd generation image).

I went out after dinner tonight and shot pics of the sunset at Grovers Mill Pond by my house.

I had an enjoyable day shooting Dena and John’s Wedding at Mercer Oaks Golf Course. Best wishes to this great couple.

And of course a photo of me with the bride at the end of the wedding:

I had decent weather to shoot a beach wedding of Amy and James this weekend in Beach Haven NJ. They picked the Gables Inn …which was a good location and great food.

I’ve always said…give me a good window and I can shoot an entire album with just that window light:

A really cute thumbs up shot of the flower girls:

And some really nice shots from my assistant Lara Darpino of the couple:

And one last shot..my signature ending shot of me with the bride:

I continue to be blown away by the Nikon D700 with the 6400 ISO capabilities to shoot in low light. It has opened up a whole new set of images that I could not dream of doing before with a digital camera.

Here is an image of my assistant Lara that I shot at a wedding this weekend:

One of my photos of a sleeping groomsman from Caitlin and Jerry’s wedding got First place in the Humor category in Bella Photography’s monthly contest for June 2009.

I’m going to step up on my soapbox for a couple of paragraphs on some valuable observations that I made from the wedding that I shot this weekend for Tracy and Michael. I’ve been photographing weddings for a long time and sometimes I think people loose sight that at the core of this…it is a religious ceremony that recognizes the union of two people.

Tracy and Michael’s wedding was a celebration of their core beliefs and stayed focused on that. It was not a long drawn-out affair that I see all too often (and frankly a lot of times you get the sense it is really about the parents trying to impress friends and family).

Their reception was held at the church with minimal dancing and no alcohol. It was warm inviting environment that had a lot of good conversations from the guests. Their guests were not being held captive for a long time. The food had been prepared by church volunteers and was much better than most of the expensive catered food I’ve had at weddings. The food came out of the goodness of the hearts of the ladies involved.

I wish a long marriage and life together for Tracy and Michael…. they’ve started out in the right direction by staying true to their beliefs.

I had great weather this weekend for Marie and Nick’s wedding over in Philly. Here are some of the photos:

And one last shot of me with the Bride:

I spent Saturday up in the Poconos at the Stroudsmoor County Inn (A great venue) photographing Jennifer and Justin’s wedding. Despite having to move ceremony inside because of the rain..it finally cleared off.

I’m falling in love with my new Nikon D700…it really can do some incredible images at 6400 ISO that were never possible before: