Ananda Lima Photography - Blog

Please visit me on my new blog!

2011-11-19T22:42:00.000-05:00

Dear all,

Thank you so much for stopping by!

It was very nice to post on weddings here, but now I have a much lovelier blog. I would love to see you there: http://www.anandalima.com/blog/

All posts posted here, plus newer ones can be found there.

Thank you,

Ananda

Yingdi and Dan's Wedding

2011-06-20T23:01:00.004-04:00

With a lot of travelling with initially uncertain dates (including 2 great months in two different countries) and a little bean in the oven, I ended up having to pass on a bunch of wedding bookings for this year :-( (it was really hard to do). I really missed it, so it was really nice to be able to take a couple of shots for my friends, Dan and Yingdi. Their actual photographer was the very cute and awesome wedding photographer, Jessica Valle:

I actually met the lovely Yingdi on the day of the wedding (I first met Dan in California and I hadn't had a chance to meet her yet since they met in Ohio). It was so nice to see how very happy they looked together and how much they fit. I am so happy for them! Great catch, Dan! (...same to you, Yingidi! :-) ). It was also really nice to meet their family and friends (such nice nice people!)

The wedding location (for both the ceremony and reception) was just surrounded by a lot of green, water and light (at the Four Seasons, Columbus). Yingdi's dress was just amazing (check out the pictures below). Everything was so beautiful!

We had a wonderful time.

Congratulations Yingdi and Dan... and the very very best in your life together! (and come visit soon). Love from me, Dan-2 and baby.

Samantha and Fabien's Wedding Featured at Boho Blog!

2011-03-23T14:00:00.000-04:00

I was so happy to find out that last week that Samantha and Fabien's wedding was featured in the lovely Boho Weddings & Events blog! It is so nice to be able to see my pictures amongst all the very pretty things posted on such a great blog! Huge thanks goes to Kelly at Boho for the feature!

You may also like to see:

Featured @ Rock'n'Roll Bride

Featured @ Brenda's Wedding Blog

Featured @ Lela New York

Yatta and Marcelo

2011-03-23T12:30:00.003-04:00

In my last trip to Brazil, I had the chance to take some pictures of my beautiful cousin, Yatta, and her lovely husband Marcelo. I always love hanging out with these guys and it was wonderful to be able to see Yatta pregnant. It is so nice that we are pregnant at the same time!

It was pouring heavy rain on the day of the shoot, but Yatta and Marcelo were great sports and we were able to have fun and get some nice shots. Special thanks to Zé, who improvised some quick but lovely make up (aren't we lucky that a professional make up artist just happened to be hanging out there that day?) and Tia Dalva, Tio Morais and Sandro for the lovely location (even though we were confined to the garage because of the rain :-)).

Parabéns, Yatta e Marcelo! Desejando tudo de bom para vocês e a pequena Maria! (Não vejo a hora de ver a gatinha!!!).

Sara and Shawn's Wedding

2011-03-22T23:30:00.003-04:00

Last week, it was my friend's Sara's birthday. That inspired me to hurry up and get a post on her beautiful wedding together. (Happy belated birthday, Saritaaaaa!!!!).

Sarita is my good friend from College (we shared a small room while at UCLA). Both Sara and her now husband Shawn are beautiful people with big hearts and it was just wonderful to be able to be there on their wedding day. I was only officially the photographer for the preparations, which was great so that I could catch up with our friends who I hadn't seen in many years. The ceremony and party were photographed by another photographer who seemed lovely (will post his name here later).

My husband, Dan and I (he worked as my assistant, so nice) arrived at Sarita's parent's sunny house in San Francisco sometime mid morning. Sarita was just as I thought she would be as a bride, beautiful, happy, teary... and hilarious! She doesn't stop telling jokes, even as things got a little stressful (her veil and jewelry were lost). Her house was like a party with relatives and friends finishing up last touches, getting ready or just hanging out. A lot of very nice smiley people everywhere... and some delicious sushi take-away. It was a great morning.

Sarita and her bridesmaids were ready a little later than expected (which is always expected by photographers or anyone in the wedding world, but not brides :-)), but they had been really productive: not only were the veil and jewelry troubles resolved but they also managed to add the cutest unplanned flower girl to the wedding party right before walking out. By this time, my duties as a photographer were done, and I could just enjoy the beautiful ceremony and reception. (After getting dressed and attempting to do my hair and makeup in the 20 minute ride from her place to the reception! :-))

The wedding was just beautiful. The place was like a beautiful enchanted forest outdoors (I love California :-)). Sarita (who looked gorgeous) and wedding party walked in to some super-up-beat happy batucada (brazilian music, similar to samba). Sara and shawn said their own vowels (not read, but just spontaneously said), which were beautiful and emotional. There was a lot of color and some Latin American details through out the wedding, especially from Peru (where Sara is from). It was lovely and a lot of fun.

Congratulations, Sara and Shawn!!!! May your life together be as lovely as your wedding day.

Happy Birthday, Sarita!

Long Time no see...

2011-03-17T17:47:00.000-04:00

I haven't been here for a long time! I have some good excuses! A lot of traveling (California, Brazil), apartment hunting and...

... morning sickness! ... so at least I have some big news to share after my blog disappearance :-). We are so very happy and excited!

Well, there is some more traveling (and morning sickness :-~) in the works for the next couple of months, but I will try and check in a little more often anyway.

Engagement Shoot Featured at The Boho Wedding Blog!

2011-01-16T18:14:00.001-05:00

After a couple of days with very limited Internet access (during my usual travels through NYC - LA and SB), I was super excited to find that my photographs of Yvonne and Lawrence's engagement has been featured on the fab Boho Wedding Blog! (In fact, they are so fab, that they have been chosen as part of The Bride Tide's top 100 wedding blogs for 2011).

Thank you so much Boho Weddings and Yvonne and Lawrence for being such a cute, loving and fun couple!

Yvonne and Lawrence

Featured @ Rock'n' Roll bride

Featured @Lucky and Lovely

... and the winner is...

2011-01-03T23:05:00.002-05:00

Drum roll...

The third commenter:

Vivian!!!

Congratulations to Vivian and thank you so much all contestants for sharing your lovely snow stories with me! I really enjoyed all entries!

Pedro and Ky's Engagement featured on Lela New York!

2010-12-29T12:56:00.001-05:00

I am so happy to share that my pictures of Ky and Pedro's engagement were featured on the gorgeous chic Lela New York Wedding Blog today! Thank you so much Lela New York for the post and the lovely couple for being so great!

P.s.: Don't forget we have a giveaway going until Sunday! Add your entry to win a shoot!

Related posts:

Ky and Pedro's Engagement Featured@With This Ring Featured @Brenda's Wedding Blog

Giveaway: Tell me your snow stories

2010-12-27T23:38:00.009-05:00

Me, early into the snowstorm yesterday

I hope everyone is cozy, warm and preferably holding a hot chocolate after the crazy snow storm yesterday!

New York is the first place I lived with a real Winter and I never check weather forecasts (unless I am doing a shoot)... so I was completely surprised and jumping with excitement when I saw yesterdays madness. (In retrospect, I am so sorry for those of you who missed your flights and trains or who were inconvenienced in some other way!)

So I thought that to celebrate (or make up for :-)) the snowpocalypse that we have just gone through, I am doing a quick giveaway. Here is how it goes: share a snow memory with me. It can be a story from your childhood, a picture of you in the snow, a story you read/ saw that was meaningful to you or anything where snow was a part of it. To participate, just add your story to the comments on this post or reply to me @anandalima on twitter by this Sunday (1/2/11). I will randomly select one of the responses (not just the cleverest :-)), which will win a mini-portrait session with me in the new year (great for baby, pregnancy or engagement announcements... or a mini-boudoir!).

Can't wait to see your stories!

Update: I just remembered that you can't post pictures straight here on the comments or on twitter. If you want to share a picture, just post it on my Facebook page and then post the link on the comments here or on twitter.... and if you post both a picture and a story, it counts as two entries! (why not, hey? :-))

Winter weddings and engagements

Some wintery pictures

Wedding giveaways
Contests for Moms

Happy Holidays!!!

2010-12-25T00:20:00.003-05:00

Wishing everyone a great holiday season and a wonderful, fabulous 2011!

... to accompany our best best wishes, here are shots for our holiday cards to entertain you :-).

mucking about and setting up...

... and my favorite:

Happy Holidays!!

Ky and Pedro's Moving In Engagement Shoot

2010-12-02T21:20:00.011-05:00

I am always very excited for my engagement shoots, but I ask my clients to pardon me if I say that I was extra excited about this one.

A few weeks ago, I went to Colorado to visit my brother, Pedro, and got to meet his then girlfriend, Kylene. I had a really wonderful time and it was lovely to see that Ky and her family were not only gorgeous but really wonderful people... and my brother was so happy!

Kylene and Pedro were about to move in together, so at some point I casually said: "hey, why don't we do a moving in photoshoot, for kicks?". Unbeknownst to Ky, it was all part of a plan. Pedro was already planning to propose to her on her birthday (today!)... so the pictures (which she just got) were meant to be their engagement pictures!

I am so very excited to share that Pedro has just proposed to Kylene and she said 'yes'!!!

Congratulations on your engagement, Ky and Pedro!!! ... and happy birthday, Ky!

(And here is a slideshow with the pics.)

Shanie and Naftali's Baby Bump

2010-11-20T02:53:00.001-05:00

In a chilly, but very nice Sunday afternoon, I met up with friends Shanie and Naftali, to take pictures of Shanie's lovely baby belly. We took a pleasant little walk at the Riverside Park in the Upper West Side, which was a beautiful spot with the fall foliage and views of the Hudson River. It was a great setting to photograph Shanie, who looks so beautiful pregnant (and when she is not pregnant too, by the way). It was a little bit cold, but they managed to keep each other (and the little guy in the belly) warm and we all had a really great time! Are they such a gorgeous family?

*My mom, Tereza, was in town that day, and I took her as a photo assistant. She did a really great job!

Baby Otto

2010-11-03T20:47:00.001-04:00

Continuing with the baby/belly pictures... A little while ago,* I got the chance to spend a lovely morning with this gorgeous little munchkin and his parents. Here are some pictures I took of this beautiful family.

*I am no expert, but this was probably a long time in baby time! This little guy is probably much by bigger now.

Anna's baby bump

2010-11-02T14:07:00.001-04:00

I was so happy when I heard that my lovely good friend Anna was going to stop by my place in NYC on her way back from her travels. It was wonderful to see how pretty she looked and that the belly did not stop her from climbing up and down the six floor walk up to my apartment :-)... Here are some of the pics we took during her visit...

Wishing all the very best to Anna, Andrew and their little guy (coming very soon now!).

Baby Fest

2010-11-01T20:03:00.005-04:00

You probably have seen a lot of couples here... but definitely not many babies! Well, if you like cute munchkins, you are in luck: for some reason my friends are starting to parade some beautiful bellies/ babies and, without thinking about it it, I ended up with little a collection of baby/ bump pictures in my hands... so the next three posts (coming soon) will be on babies (two of them are still living in bellies)... enjoy!

Posts:

Otto

Shanie and Naftali

Anna

Trash the Dress Photo Walk

2010-09-13T20:07:00.003-04:00

This weekend I joined the fabulous Amanda Picone and other awesome photographers for a fun trash the dress photo walk. Amanda organizes these great informal get togethers with other NYC photographers from time to time and I love it when I am able to make it (always guaranteeded to have a good time and meet cool people). This time she brought a beautiful bride and couple (all recently married) with her.

Here are some of my pictures... *

*I will also add links to posts by the other photographers here if they post it on their blogs, in case you want to see more pictures of these gorgeous people.

UPDATE: Here are the promised other pictures of the day, by some amazing photographers:

Ryan Trupp's post
Natalie Licini (see her taking a picture of me below)

Aren't they gourgeous? ... and here are some behind the scene shots:

Joe and Joy's Wedding

2010-08-24T13:55:00.007-04:00

I am taking a break from weddings as a photographer, for various reasons (among others...)... but not as a guest. This past weekend, I headed to Michigan (with my husband and a bunch of friends from NYC, rather than a humagous suitcase loaded with equipment :-)) for our friends Joe and Joy's wedding. Even though I wasn't the photographer, everything looked so nice so I couldn't resist but take some pictures (making sure not to get in their photographer's way*).

The wedding was summery, colorful and gorgeous... and so much fun! Joy, who is always beautiful, looked amazing (though we will have to wait for pictures from their official photographer to see that: my seat facing Joe... who also looked fab :-)). I will post some vendor info (including their very discrete, smooth operating photographer) below if I get some from J&J (I was too busy having fun to pay attention to such things)... Meanwhile, here are some pictures...

Congratulations Joe and Joy and thank you so much for having us on such a fun, beautiful day! Hope you are having an amazing time in Italy! XOXO

*For uncle Bobs everywhere, this means things like giving the photographer priority for the crucial moments: staying on my seat (and not between the photographer and the bride and groom, or behind them as distracting background); not using flash too much around them in crucial moments, etc... I think their second shooter might have gotten the wrong idea because I seemed to be checking her out several times during the ceremony, but I was just trying to make sure I wasn't sticking my head right in front of their awesome close up of the couple's kiss/ ring exchange etc. (Note: although I am extra careful as a guest, I don't really mind uncle Bobs when I am the photographer... it is all part of the challenge).

P.s.: I took the picture within this last picture as part of their engagement shoot.

Samantha Grassian: Portraits in Central Park

2010-08-19T14:43:00.002-04:00

It's been a while! Things have been very busy both in my photography, life and with other endeavors, but I decided to take a quick break and post one of my many back logged postable materials, lest it shall never be done.

A long while ago (at a time when we needed hot-chocolate breaks rather than blotting-sheet-powder-cold-drink breaks during the shoot), I spend an afternoon taking headshots and promo pictures with the lovely French chanteuse and actress Samantha Grassian. Here are the pics...

Until next time! (Hopefully I can put my next thing on the queue not too many months away).

(during our hot chocolate break)

Pictures of NYC for the 21st International Book Biennial of São Paulo

2010-08-17T09:20:00.027-04:00

As well as being part of various photographer groups, I am part of a great community of Portuguese speakers and teachers called Fale Português, created by Susanna Florissi. Fale Português organized an amazing space at the 21st International Book Biennial of São Paulo, which, among many other cool things, showed a little video that I put together about Portuguese students in NYC.

All the pictures in the video are pictures that I took while walking around in the city, so I thought I would post it here:

You can find more pictures I took in NYC on my website, here or on my flickr page.

Lynn and Fabio's City Hall Elopement

2010-04-26T09:16:00.064-04:00

Earlier this month, Lynn contacted me with a lovely and top secret request: to photograph her elopement about a week later. I thought she was the coolest straight away (it is not often that I hear a bride say: "How about Thursday or Friday next week?" :-)). Lynn let me know that she was very happy with her plans and didn't really need a big production. She didn't have a set time, a big dress or a guest list, but you could really feel how excited she about getting married to Fabio.

When I met Lynn and Fabio at Lynn's apartment about one week later, they were excited (even thought they seemed relaxed) and ready to go. Lynn looked gorgeous: she is beautiful and I absolutely loved her outfit: a gray dress that fit her beautifully, a very cool white jacket and fab black shoes. I love how the colors go together. From there the three of us caught a cab to City Hall.

Once in City Hall, we spent a little while looking for a witness (we thought it would be better for me to keep shooting instead of witnessing... plus I ended up forgetting my license!). After a couple of misses, we found a nice couple who (unlike the previous two trials) was done with their city hall activities for the day and didn't leave a meter running. With the witnesses in place, we didn't have to wait long (city hall was pleasantly empty): we were called for quick but nice ceremony, they were husband and wife!

From there, we went on a walk across the Brooklyn bridge, taking some pictures along the way. It was beautiful sunny afternoon and Lynn and Fabio were happy, in love and just delightful to be around and photograph. I had such a great time!

Later on, I got an update from Lynn with the announcement where they surprised everyone they were married!

I just loved this wedding! ... Mainly because it was awesome, but also a little bit because it reminded of my own wedding 2 years ago (it was just the two of us too, and I love the way we did it!).

Congratulations, Lynn and Fabio!!!! All the very best in your life together!

Anniversary Pictures

2010-04-24T23:52:00.122-04:00

I've been so busy, I never had time to post this, but one month ago, my lovely wonderful husband and I had our second anniversary (I can't believe it has been two years already! I am so so happy, love you so piggim! ;-) )... We took a couple of pictures as we did some of our anniversary celebration activities (involving no expensive presents/restaurants, but things like sunny walks and consuming nice cheese in the farmer's market). Here are a couple of them...

Live Concert: Dennis Litchman's Brain Cloud and Cangelosi Cards

2010-04-20T13:47:00.005-04:00

Very fortunately for me and other fans, Dennis Lichtman and the amazing musicians he plays with (including singer Tamar Korn) were extremely busy playing last month... so I got a chance to catch up with them twice in a week!

Here are some pictures I took of the two performances by Lichtman's Brain Cloud (one at Banjo Jim's and another at the Jalopy Theater)... I also got to take some pictures of the Cangelosi Cards (which include Dennis and Tamar too), who followed them at the Jalopy theater.

Lichtman's Brain cloud plays country/ western swing and old-time jazz. The Cangelosi Cards play old-time jazz. They are both amazing bands. You can catch up on news of both bands here. (I've also added a video for each band at the end of the post for you to get an idea of how awesome they are).

So, ladies and gentleman, here is Lichtman's Brain Cloud (at Banjo Jim's and the Jalopy theater)...

... and the Cangelosi Cards (at the Jalopy theater):

And here is a video of Lichtman's Brain Cloud:

... and the Cangelosi Cards:

Blog love from I love Photography Blogs!

2010-04-05T20:18:00.002-04:00

Horray! Today, I Love Photography Blogs posted a little blurb I wrote about this blog (the one you are reading :-)), featuring me as a NYC based photographer! Thanks a bunch, Rick for featuring my work and for the great collection of photography blogs!

Yvonne and Lawrence's Early Morning Engagement Shoot

2010-03-29T21:15:00.001-04:00

When I talked to the lovely Yvonne and Lawrence about booking their engagement shoot, I suggested (as I often do) that we met early-ish to have more privacy and better light. Usually couples choose to interpret 'early' on a weekend to be 11 am :-), which is totally fine (it is much better to have a happy awake couple than the best lighting/ privacy conditions)... but these guys are real troopers and immediately replied with "how about sunset?".

The good stuff didn't stop there. Yvonne and Lawrence were amazing company: super sweet, funny and very cute with each other (morning crankiness factor = zero!). They picked a gorgeous location and brought cupcakes for a breakfast picnic! What a great way to start the day it turned out to be!

The shoot was at Gantry Plaza Park in Long Island City, since they had their first date and spent a lot of time together there in Long Island City (not too far from the park). The park has a beautiful view of Manhattan as well as some very cool areas. We spent a couple of hours walking around, enjoying the sun (first weekend of Spring), having apple juice* and cupcakes... and taking pictures!... Here are some of them!

Congratulations, Yvonne and Lawrence! All the best with your wedding planning and thank you for a very fun Saturday morning!

*Quote of the morning: "Juicy juice is goodness"

Girls Night Out: Samantha's Bachelorette's Dinner

2010-03-26T13:46:00.011-04:00

Happy Friday!!! I think that a girls night out post could be a good quick post to kick off your Friday afternoon :-).

I love catching up with my lovely clients when I can! Last week, friends of one of my brides, Samantha, contacted me to go to her bachelorette party. Her friends did an amazing job organizing a whole day and night of a lot of fun... I already had a lot of things that day (two shoots + social activities) and unfortunately could only come for the dinner part at Esperanto in the East Village (actually only drinks and appetizers)... but even then, I had a lot of fun with this groups of gorgeous fun ladies!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

P.s.: Oh, I almost forgot to explain! In case you are confused, Samantha is having a bachelorette party now, even though I photographed her wedding last year because that was her wedding in America and she still has her wedding in France coming up!

Wedding feature on Lucky and Lovely!

2010-03-18T17:59:00.003-04:00

Tatiana and JC's city hall wedding has been such a hit! It was also featured on the truly beautiful blog Luck and Lovely!!! (Which fits Tatiana and JC very well). I am so happy seeing my pictures amongst such pretty things! Thank you so much, lovely Melanie for the post!

Green!

2010-03-17T16:30:00.003-04:00

To celebrate St. Patrick's day, I decided to do my own green St. Patrick's day parade in my apartment. Here are some green(-ish?) things I found laying around (except for the cup-cakes, which I bought from Baked by Melissa :-)).

Happy St. Patrick's day, everyone!

P.s. 1: This shoot reminds me of two friends: Yulia because of her love of all things green and Amanda Picone for her love of cupcakes. :-)
P.s. 2: Lessons learned during this photoshoot: I should really dust my apartment. I should really buy more vegetables!

Tatiana and JC's Wedding Featured on With This Ring!!!

2010-03-15T14:11:00.004-04:00

I'm so excited to have pictures featured on the beautiful (and deservedly very popular) wedding blog With This Ring today!!! Check out the post for some additional pictures of Tatiana and JC's Fabulous wedding!

Thank you so much, Darci for the lovely post!

Rainy Weekend

2010-03-13T11:31:00.003-05:00

What a very rainy weekend in New York City! All photographic activities, other than editing at home postponed until next week :-). Meanwhile, here are a couple of older rainy pictures from warmer rainy days in the city. I hope you are somewhere warm and cozy!

Tatiana and JC's Wedding: City Hall Extravaganza!

2010-03-06T11:40:00.006-05:00

***Warning: Very long post... Sorry, I got carried away. Of course feel free to skip the text and just use your imagination :-)***

Getting married in city hall is a small and intimate kind of thing, which can be very nice, but you need to be up to something quiet and very low key, right? Wrong! Let's look at how Tatiana and JC did City Hall with style!

Tatiana started her day getting ready at the chic Manhattan Elizabeth Arden. She is normally beaaautiful anyway and looked gorgeous with her awesome hair (by the lovely Michele), feather hairpiece and a dress that was just perfect on her... [actually she had four of those throughout the wedding: a dress for the ceremony and the wedding day, another for going out with the small group at the wedding that night (which went with red heels), a dress for the reception (all white up to now) and a blue dress for later on in the reception/party]. Tatiana was super-relaxed, sweet and making me, her friends and the hair/make-up guys smile and laugh... by the time we left, the whole place seemed to be totally in love with her and JC (including me)!

JC met us there and brought her a beautiful bouquet he picked for her (see? no need to go bridezila stressing about flowers). They grabbed a couple of quick hot-dogs and headed to city hall in a limo (they mix casual and fabulous perfectly!), with the coolest looking wedding party ever (you can catch a glimpse of the outfits and shoes from the preview pictures): a couple of friends who came from the wedding from France (JC is from France), a good friend (who is responsible for the two of them meeting) and Tatiana's adorable son.

City hall was packed with couples everywhere (I guess there is a getting-married-before-the-weekend rush on Friday afternoon!). JC and Tatiana made a little party out of it, taking pictures of and posing with other couples and random wedding parties. When we finally made it into a 'chapel', Tatiana told her son that he was going to be the officiant. He was caught by surprise for a couple of seconds, and then went on like a pro, officiating a great pseudo-ceremony for them. By the time he was done (right after, he asked "are you guys really married now?"), the actual officiant came in and told us that we were in the wrong room. So we all walked into the other room to an impromptu bridal march, nicely performed by the group. The ceremony was fun and emotional... and it only took a few minutes!

After the ceremony, we headed to the lovely River Cafe (I had never been before... I am sure going to be back!) for pictures, a delicious lunch, champagne and beautiful views of Manhattan and the Brooklyn bridge... From there, the group headed back to Manhattan to the Standard Hotel, where Tatiana and JC had a room, for more champagne and amazing views. That was my last stop, but when I was leaving, they were going to go on to keep celebrating at a sunset lounge event at the Standard!

The next day, I caught up with them at a crazy fun Russian club called Rasputin (Tatiana is Russian). Tatiana and JC organized a shuttle to take all their friends from Manhattan (leaving Manhattan at 7:40pm and coming back at 3am!). It was sooo much fun, a real treat (I think especially for non-Russians like me who were in for a nice surprise!). As well as a ton of delicious Russian food, there was a pumping live band with different singers singing in Russian, English and Spanish (and wearing all sorts of awesome outfits), folk and modern type performances, lazer/light effects and even rope dancing! As they said in a recording during one of the shows: "aaaah, those Russians!!!").

... So there: city hall weddings can be whatever you want!

Congratulations on your wedding, Tatiana and JC!!! May you continue to be this awesome fun happy family!!!

UPDATE:
Extra-credit: Now that I know their names, the awesome singer on the shot below is beautiful Arksana Serija from the band Oxzana and the beautiful lighting is done by Aleksay Nikolaev's company RightLightNY.com.

Related post:

Peter and Monica's Wedding: another amazing City Hall Wedding see (they are friends with Tatiana and JC!).

Trip to Brazil

2010-03-02T01:00:00.001-05:00

Now for something a little warmer... Times goes by so quickly! Before too much of it goes by, let me post a couple of pictures of the trip we had in Brazil in January-February this year. My parents, my husband and I drove from Brasília through the states of Goiás, Minas Gerais and Bahia. It was wonderful!

P.s. 1: I couldn't resist, so I'll finish up with a little bride and groom, even though they don't really belong:

Ps2: For related posts click on the thumbnails below - Photographs from a previous trip to Brazil, including a couple from Flávia and Lucas's wedding:

Brrrrrrrr....

2010-02-26T16:49:00.018-05:00

Is it just me or was it warmer this time of the year last year? Brrrrr... The plus side (at least I see it as a plus) is that there is sooo much snow in NYC right now!!! It looks so beautiful outside... I need to work on some pictures, so I can't go out and about shooting the city like I would like to (plus it is nice and cozy on my apartment :-) )... so I'll just post a couple of old snowy pictures instead (taken at different times and not necessarily related).

Have a lovely warm weekend!!!

P.s.: If you are after snow, but something a little "sunnier", here posts showing snow (Wedding/Engagement photography):

A Winter New York Afternoon: Joy and Joe's Engagement Shoot

2010-02-20T03:12:00.008-05:00

Joe and Joy love each other and love living in New York. They are also super-cute together, but they are pretty discrete (not big on PDAs), so we picked something simple, nice and very "them" for their engagement: a nice New York afternoon.

We decided to have a warm coffee (at DOMA Gallery and Coffee), walk around Greenwich Village and West Village and finished up with a stop in Grand Central station, which are all cool places linked to their lives in Manhattan (Joe went to grad school at NYU and Joy goes by Grand Station everyday).

It was reaaaaally cold, but they pulled it off very nicely! Isn't Joy gorgeous and stylish even when she is freezing cold? It was great to spend a cozy winter afternoon with these two.

Congratulations on your engagement, Joy and Joe!

Boudoir Shoot... featured on Victoria with Roses!

2010-02-17T11:02:00.012-05:00

This morning I was thrilled to see my pictures on the gorgeous (and charming) wedding blog Victoria with Roses! (Thank you so much, Victoria for the post!).

Now brace yourselves for the content... a boudoir shoot... featuring (gulp) yours truly! Those of you who know me personally may know that I ironically really suffer if I need to in front of the camera (maybe that is why I started being the one *taking* the pictures early on)... but my husband always complains of my lack of pictures and I thought this would be a lovely surprise for him on valentine's day... (boy was he surprised!).

Here is a little something on the theme. I think more traditional boudoir shots can look very good for the right people... but that is just not us. So I decided to use a more natural style, with a lot of sunlight and wearing things I normally wear.

To make things personal, I included some pictures of a series of photographs that I took ago of him while he was sleeping in beautiful sunlight coming through the window of our tiny Manhattan apartment, a bit over a year ago (you can see some of them here, if you are curious. I love taking pictures of him). I liked how peaceful he was sleeping in the original pictures and I think they have some the love I feel for him, and how cozy our little den is. So I decided to include them and do my boudoir shoot on the same place, under the same sunlight... and for full disclosure, we call each other 'piggy' (which is why I gave him the shirt).

Well, enough chit chat... time to see some booty! :-)

***Warning: you may see more of me that you want to!*** ... but no more than you would if we went to the beach together :-)

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

2010-02-14T00:30:00.007-05:00

Happy V-Day!!!!

Hope you are you are having
a lot of fun with your valentine!!!

*pictures from Joe and Joy's Engagement Shoot. Blog preview coming soon...

Courtney and Kyle feautred on Rock'n'Roll Bride!

2010-02-13T11:30:00.002-05:00

I am finally back in New York!!! I'm so happy to be back...and very busy getting back on track!. (I'll post a couple of vacation pictures soon).

So while I was away, some of my pictures featured were featured on the faboulitious Rock'n'Roll bride again! Yeeeeeek! Thank you so much Kat ('the' Rock'n'Roll Bride) for the post and Courtney and Kyle for having such an awesome Rock'n'Roll wedding!

Escaping Winter

2010-01-02T19:04:00.005-05:00

I was loving Winter in NYC (what a blizzard! brrrr...)... but I decided to head south to a tropical beach anyway :-). I will be away from New York until early Feb. Please feel free to get in touch with me via e-mail if you would like to talk to me before then (I will have on and off access to the internet, so bear with me if I am a little slow to respond :-)).

Features: Mina and Kevin's Engagement at WeddingBee

2010-01-02T18:31:00.003-05:00

Mina has just featured a post on her and Kevin's engagement shoot at Wedding Bee! Thank you so much for the lovely post!!!!

Happy Holidays!!!!

2009-12-25T09:00:00.002-05:00

... happy holidays and a fabulous 2010, everyone!!!

Courtney and Kyle's Wedding

2009-12-24T00:05:00.002-05:00

Earlier this month, I spent my first weekend in Pennsylvania to join the awesome Courtney and Kyle on their wedding day. I had been exchanging e-mails with Courtney for several months and it was really cool to finally meet her on the night before her wedding. I loved her straight away and became even happier to be a part of her wedding as I learnt more about how cool she was (we spent a good couple of hours chatting after she picked me up).

The next morning, I followed Courtney as she got her hair done (look at how very cool was her do below) and got ready. Courtney wore a gorgeous halter top dress and the most amazing black shoes! Her bridesmaids wore white dresses with black sashes, going with the black and white theme of the wedding. I then paid a quick visit to Kyle, his groomsmen and Kyle and Courtney's cuuuuute cheeky little son.

After everyone was ready, we headed to a nice spot (a friend's - who was also the minister - deck) for Kyle's first look at Courtney right in the middle of a snow storm. The day had started clear, but as everyone was finishing getting ready, it started snowing, which was so pretty! Perfect for a gorgeous winter wedding.

From there, we drove (slowly, as it was really snowing) to the wedding venue (Capriotti's in Trescow). Their ceremony was brief, but really beautiful. Courtney's vows were written in French so they could stay only between them and Kyle wrote very beautiful vows for Courtney (writing beautiful words is one of the things he does for Courtney).

The ceremony was followed by a great party to a lot of Beatle songs and other things that were really them. Courtney did and amazing job doing the vast majority of decorations and details herself (she describes many of her DIY projects on her blog). She was also luck to have a bunch of multi-talented friends who did other things such as the her bridesmaids hair... even music composed especially for their ceremony! (Composed by Kyle's best man, Brad Podray, from Nonexistent records). From Courtney's beautiful look to their decision to do a first dance with their son (which was so very cute, even if not exactly as planned), they really chose to do what was right to them... which turned out just wonderful!

Congratulations to Courtney and Kyle and all the best with your continuing love and life together!!!

Nichole and Ben's Wedding

2009-11-29T18:16:00.045-05:00

I am crazily busy this end of the year (including a lot of editing :-)), but I had to post at least a quick preview of this gorgeous wedding that I shot earlier in the month (I will make sure to be brief this time :-)).

Nichole and Ben got married at the Tappan Hill Mansion. The location was beautiful, right next to the Hudson river and surrounded by beautiful colorful fall foliage. Nichole picked some gorgeous super-colorful flowers to decorate the venue. I took some pictures of Nichole, Ben, their bridal party and a very handsome cheeky little guy (Ben's son) getting ready in the afternoon. Their ceremony was full of love and genuine emotion and followed by an amazing party!

Congratulations, Ben and Nichole!!! All the very best wishes in your life together!

Here are a couple of preview shots of the wedding (isn't Nichole just gorgeous?)....

Tim's Proposal to Sula and Their Surprise Engagement Shoot

2009-11-22T23:11:00.021-05:00

I always love hearing proposal stories. However they happen, they are always such sweet stories and I love the look on the couples faces when they tell them... So I was thrilled when Tim contacted me to actually play a little part on his story (and to actually see it all happen)!

Tim and Sula live in Toronto, but Tim decided to bring Sula right back to where they had their first date all the way in NYC! (How sweet is this guy?!?!) Sula thought that they were coming to New York to get together with her cousin (who was one of Tim's accomplices :-))... Well, just before they were supposed to meet the cousin, they went for an early morning walk on the at the South Street Seaport, overlooking the Brooklyn bridge (the spot where they had their first date)... and then Tim proposed to Sula!!!

After Sula said yes, Tim pointed out to Sula that I was photographing the whole thing (up to this point I was pretty far away, pretending to be taking pictures of the bridge or birds :-)). He planned the whole thing so that they would have some time to celebrate before heading to a surprise engagement shoot on a location of her choosing (which was Central Park, so beautiful in the end of Fall!).

It was so nice to witness such a beautiful moment and to be part of their first day as an engaged couple! Congratulations, Sula and Tim and the best wedding planning and in your life together!!!

Janie and Ray's Wedding featured in Brenda's Wedding Blog

2009-11-14T14:35:00.005-05:00

Eeeeeek! Janie and Ray's Wedding was featured in the lovely Brenda's Wedding Blog last week!!! Brenda's blog is super popular because of the awesome non-stop wedding goodness that she posts: it is so cool to see Janie and Ray there! Big thanks to Brenda for featuring my pictures on her awesome blog!

Halloween Shoot featured in RocknRoll Bride

2009-11-01T19:51:00.001-05:00

I love Halloween! This year was so much fun! Especially the engagement shoot with Mina and Kevin!... and then seeing them featured on Rock'n'Roll Bride yesterday!!! (Thanks so much, Kat, the ultimate Rock'n'Roll bride for the post!).

Mina and Kevin's Halloween Engagement Shoot

2009-10-29T00:00:00.005-04:00

Earlier this week (the week leading up to Halloween), I met the lovely Mina and Kevin for their engagement shoot. Being totally awesome, they decided (agreed :-)) to go for a Halloween Engagement shoot!!! We met in their apartment for their own Sunday morning Halloween party, which included some pumpkin carving, dressing up and some great laughs. I had such a great time with these two! They are the sweetest thing together and so much fun to be around. What a fun e-session to shoot!

Congratulations on your engagement, Mina and all the best wishes for your wedding!

...and Happy Halloween, everyone!

Janie and Ray's Wedding

2009-10-20T07:26:00.026-04:00

It is hard to believe that it has only been a little over a week since I spend a lovely Saturday shooting Janie and Ray's wedding: the weather was really nice then, and now it feels like I am in the Arctics (did we skip Fall?). It even seems that the weather was so nice just for them! Janie and Ray told me that they followed their Chinese heritage and picked a date that gave them good luck and made sure to stick to good Feng Shui. I am not sure if it was just the Feng Shui or all the love put into it, but, as well as the nice weather, it turned out to be a really beautiful wedding.

I met with Janie and her two bridesmaids (her sister and a good friend) at the Carlton at Madison, where they were getting ready. Janie looked happy and calm, which was probably helped by the great job her bridesmaids were doing so that she would have a wonderful day. Janie is already beautiful to begin with and by the time she had her make up and gorgeous dress on she was stunning! It was then that Ray came in with his groomsman to see his bride and join the group for pictures. It was such a nice moment when Ray saw Janie for the first time, these two are so cute together!

After taking some pictures and a limo ride, we arrived at their wedding venue. The ceremony and the reception were in different rooms at the Terrace on the Park, at Flushing Meadows Park. The place looked amazing with a very elegant recurring theme of deep red, white and crystal. Their ceremony had elements of a traditional Buddhist ceremony as well as some parts of their own. This was my first Buddhist ceremony and I just loved it. It was a very peaceful ceremony lead by three monks, whose chanting was really beautiful. This was followed by some fantastic very touching and really funny vows. From there, everyone headed to the gorgeous reception hall (what nice views!) for a great evening with a lot of nice food, music, dancing and a great vibe to celebrate the new couple.

Bai Tou Xie Lao, Janie and Ray!!!! May your life together be as lovely as your wedding day was!

Finally, here are some preview pics:

Well deserved vendor credit: The guys from Allstar DJ did an amazing job of getting the crowd going (great music and beautiful lighting!). Terrace on the Park is a gorgeous space (be warned off the music if you click :-))... and finally, I need to get of the name of the very sweet and professional father an son team of videographers (I'll update it here).

Post-post update: The name of the lovely video graphers are Jonathan and Harry McDevitt and you can contact them at: jonmcd@mail.com. (They were so lovely I had to make sure to hunt their information down!)

Monica and Peter's Wedding - Features

2009-09-30T23:46:00.011-04:00

As you can see from my previous blog post, I think Monica and Peter's wedding was truly awesome! Apparently others agree with me! Their wedding was also featured on Rock'n'Roll Bride this Sunday (thanks fabulous Kat for posting!!!). The awesome make-up artist, Laura Nadeau also posted a couple of pictures I took of Monica in her beautiful make-up on her photo page.

I hope Monica and Peter are enjoying their blogosphere fame, whenever they are not at the beach or seeing a volcano (they are spending their honeymoon in Hawaii!)! (Congratulations again, guys!)

Monica and Peter's Awesome Wedding at the NYC City Hall

2009-09-25T06:40:00.010-04:00

Last week, I had the pleasure of meeting the awesome Monica and Peter (not once, but twice) to photograph their fabulous, different, super-fun, New York wedding.

I met Monica and Peter in a nice sunny morning at the newly renovated city hall. Monica looked beautiful: perfect for the occasion on a simple but super stylish white dress and suit jacket. Peter also looked great, including the removable cast he wore, which should give them a good laugh when they look back in a few years (Peter broke his left hand a couple of weeks before the wedding!). They brought a small group of family and friends with them, including Monica's family all the all the way from Argentina. (I can imagine I would have had so much fun having my overseas family experience the whole city hall wedding thing: getting a number, waiting for it to come up on the screen...). It was a great vibe, with a mixture of English and Spanish, jokes, hugs, smiles and a laid-back and obviously in love bride and groom.

After a few minutes, their number was called and we all headed to one of the chapel rooms... and very soon after came out as husband and wife!

A few days later, I met with them again for their Wedding bash (a.k.a wedding reception). They started their day in a room at the fabulous Tribeca Grand Hotel, where they spent a day in style, relaxing, getting ready and having some fun pre-party drinks. Then they headed to their party venue, just across the street.

They chose to have a private party at the hip Tokyo Bar, a Pop-Japanese-Art-Neon-Anime themed bar with about 60 or so guests. The place is just awesome and the atmosphere was super-cool! (I never knew about this place, I am definitely going back there!). Along with the theme, they brought a bunch of glow sticks for their guests, which was really a lot of fun when everyone started packing the dance floor. There was a lot of music, dancing and delicious "Japanese comfort food" through out the night (guests went back home with their glow sticks and some nice decorated chopsticks as their favors, which I thought was brilliant :-)). It was a truly great party.

I really loved shooting this wedding. The couple and guests were just lovely and I love it how they got out of the mold and did what *they* wanted to celebrate their wedding! You could really tell that everyone genuinely had a blast and it was so nice to see how cute and happy Monica and Peter looked together!

Congratulations, Monica and Peter!!! All the best in your life together! (May you keep having that much fun!).

Here are a few pics (excuse for having more than usual out: it was two events in one :-)).

Well-deserved vendor mentions: DJ Hunter Laine totally rocked!!! The staff at the Tokyo Bar were totally awesome (and super polite) and finally fabulous makeup artist Laura Nadeau a really gorgeous job on the makeup.

a couple of days later...

First Comes love, then comes marriage...

2009-09-13T01:15:00.007-04:00

I am doing a quick visit to Colorado (first time in here!) and I took advantage of the trip to say a quick hi to a lovely couple of newlyweds whose wedding I shot this February. It was wonderful Katy and Jay for a very nice Brunch Saturday morning... and to finally see that lovely baby bump I had been hearing about! Katy is radiant and looks so cute with that belly!

We weren't planning on a maternity shoot, but since both Katie and I are photographers* and had our cameras, we couldn't resist taking at least a couple of shots at the end. Here are some...

Congratulations, Katy and Jay!

*I can't wait to see Katy's pictures of her baby in a few months!

Photographs featured on the BROOKLYN ARTILLERY @ CastleBraid

2009-09-08T18:36:00.008-04:00

I am super-excited to have been invited to exhibit some of my pictures on a very cool event: the first Brooklyn Artillery at Castle Braid art Fest. The show will open to the public this Saturday, September 12th (Friday for press etc.) and will go on until October 31st. The whole thing sounds really awesome. For those of you in New York, I hope you can stop by and check it out!

Here is the description from their press-materials (see more here):

In September, Castle Braid will present the first incarnation of BROOKLYN ARTILLERY, bringing together the best of Brooklyn Arts and Music in the apartments of the new Castle Braid Building at 114 Troutman in Bushwick.

The exhibition will be launched with a two-night launch event showcasing the collective power of Brooklyn's best creative minds. The galleries of the Williamsburg Gallery Association will populate the open apartments and chic garden duplexes of Castle Braid with works by up-and- coming and established artists. Some will reinvent and reimagine the blank canvas of a living space; others will create a bona fide miniature gallery with wine and cheese receptions and a curated rotation of works. On the ground floor and in the landscaped shade of the enclosed courtyard, performers will treat guests to a living, breathing artistic / musical experience, while on designated walls specially invited street and graffiti artists notorious to our neighborhood will have the freedom to transform without the threat of repercussion.

Thank you very much awesome artist/curator Gabriela Alva for inviting me to this!

Samantha and Fabien's Wedding

2009-09-07T00:02:00.019-04:00

This Saturday I had a day très magnifique shooting Samantha and Fabien's Wedding.

I arrived in Chappaqua in the morning to walk around and get a couple of shoots of the location, while Sam was having breakfast. I never knew Chappaqua was such a pleasant, very green, fresh air kind of place (so close to NYC too!). The venue was just the most gorgeous, quaint, full of character little place called the Crabtree's Kittle House. It was built in 1790 as a barn, reformed as a lavish home in 1825 and today it is a super-cute little hotel. I love the place! (If I don't go to another wedding there soon, I may find an excuse to drag my husband there for the day :-)).

After a very nice time outside, I met up with Samantha, her mom, step-mom and friend (who was also their witness) while they got ready. It was really great to hear French, English and a lot of joking around as they got ready, doubly fun, as they were making me laugh and I am a sucker for hearing foreign languages... and French just went perfectly with the vintage chic atmosphere of the place (at least in my mind it did :-)). Samantha didn't get nervous until the very end (she is a singer and she said she was getting the same feeling as stage-fright)... and even then she continued joking and laughing with everyone in the room. Samantha's step-mom did her hair (with her mom's help) and she did her own make up. They did a fantastic job: Samantha looked gorgeous!

Fabien and Sam got married outdoors in a beautiful, lush green yard at the Carbtree's Kittle House. It was a lovely happy ceremony which really seemed to suit them perfectly. The ceremony was followed by a cocktail hour outdoors, with a lot of hugs, kisses (the French kiss twice to greet, just like us Brazilians :-)) and happy conversations.

From there, everyone headed to the dining room for an afternoon filled with drinks, delicious food (I got to try it between shots, and it was amazing!) and a lot of laughs. The place was set up perfectly for them: simple, chique, beautiful, full of character. They took the traditions that they wanted to take and let go of whatever they didn't. Each seat included a cute picture of them with instructions on how to best consume the fois gras that Sam brought all the way from her hometown for her guests to take as favors. Amongst other things, I loved Samantha's dad speech which was both hilarious and really touching (as he talked about his "little monkey"). It was also great to see some of the guests and the newlyweds getting into some lively Austrian music (Fabien's family is from Austria and France).

Everyone was really fun and sweet. I even ended up getting some of those hugs, kisses in the cheek and nice conversations too... as well as the bride insisting on having a toast with me in the end. It was a fantastic fun day!

Congratulations, Samantha and Fabien! Meilleurs voeux! All the best in your life together.

Here are some initial preview shots...

*Well deserved vendor mentions to Gustavo Zuluaga and his tres sympathique crew at Crabtree's KittleHouse for excellent, warm organizing service... the rest was on the bride groom and family who did an awesome job. (These are genuine comments: I don't take commission or anything like that :-))

Rock'n'Roll Bride Approved!

2009-08-28T15:27:00.004-04:00

This morning, I found a nice surprise on my inbox: the awesome Rock'n Roll Bride awarded me with an approved vendor badge:

I felt uber cool, because Rock n Roll Bride is just an awesome site, with some gorgeous photography in there!!! Thank you so much to the gorgeous Lela and Bubs for putting me in the RocknRoll radar!

Back Photodrifting

2009-08-26T23:22:00.012-04:00

I have briefly mentioned in passing here that I am part of a photography collective in NYC (initiated by the awesome John Paul Rodriguez), called Photodrifting. I have had a little break from PDing for a little, with so many things going on lately, but I am finally back to posting there! Checking out the site after my brief hiatus, I was super-impressed with the awesome stuff that the other guys have been posting.

I think it is definitely worth checking it out!

Jen and Rick's Wedding

2009-08-19T00:13:00.021-04:00

This sunny-beautiful-Summery past Saturday, I joined another lovely couple for their wedding.

I met with Jen and a very nice group of women while they were getting ready (her wedding planner, mother, bridesmaids and flower girls - including her gorgeous little baby girl) . It was such a great start for the day: everyone was calm and helping each other get ready and take care of three super-cute little kids. The atmosphere was really great, you could really tell everyone was really happy for Jen. Once everyone was ready, we headed to the Central Park to the Ceremony.

Jen and Rick got married at the Conservatory Gardens (such a gorgeous location!). Jen looked absolutely stunning. As Jen is an opera singer, the ceremony was filled with beautiful music (as well as beautiful words). Jen's sister played the violin, a friend played the guitar, and one of the bridesmaids (a soprano) sang during the unity Candle Lighting. Rick's dad officiated the ceremony and Jen and Rick wrote their own vows. They were so beautiful I had to work hard not to let a couple of tears escape! :-) (this reminds me of a fellow wedding photographer friend, Amanda Picone, who I remember telling me that happens to her when taking pictures of weddings). I love it how they incorporated their friends and family in the ceremony, making it really their own.

From there we headed to an awesome reception at Ill Campanello. The party was really great fun with some very lively guests, toddlers and babies included, kept dancing until the very end!

Congratulations, Jen and Rick and all the very best wishes for you and little Jaz in your life together!

Finally, here are a couple of preview shots...

P.s.: Well-deserved (I promise I don't take any commission :-)) vendor mentions: A big thanks to the awesome wedding planner Kristy Giardino from Milestone Events for doing such a fantastic job organizing the day! Thanks also the super cool Dj Gatsby for such great fun music (hence giving me the opportunity for me to get some fun happy shots).

Back from Brazil

2009-08-14T08:00:00.003-04:00

I am back in New York! I had a fantastic time in Brazil and my borther's wedding was just beautiful. I am going to miss everyone a lot, but is very nice to be back all fresh, rested and excited to be photographying Jen and Rick's wedding tomorrow! While I wait for that, here are a couple of pics from the trip...

Flavia and Lucas's Wedding

2009-08-07T21:12:00.025-04:00

As I mentioned on my previous post, I am back in Brazil for my brother's wedding. My little brother is married now!!!

The wedding was just lovely. They chose a beautiful space (Maison Mizuno in the vicinity of Brasilia, Brazil) and had an outdoor wedding on a very nice night (it is not uncommon to have night time weddings in Brazil. Many weddings start at 7 or 8:30 pm). I always thought my sister in-law, Flávia was gorgeous and she realy looked stunning as a bride. The ceremony was celebrated by two pastors - a husband and wife - who are very good friends of both Lucas and Flávia, so the ceremony was really personal to them. They decided to do spontaneous vows: not only did they create them themselves, but they also just said it all there and then rather than reading what they had written (brave of them, no?). They came out very beautiful, emotional and sincere and brought out a lot of tears on the crowd.

As I was a bridesmaid, Flávia and Lucas hired an awesome group of photographers (Studio Art Fotografia, by Antonio Leal and Gentil Magalhães) to officially cover the ceremony and formals (they were super nice and did a great job). Though we did organize for me to add some of pictures as well, covering Flávia's preparation shots* and some pictures during the wedding (we even set things up so that I would sit on the last chair so that I could escape to take some pictures during the ceremony :-) ). I ended up getting a lot of pictures to make them a nice little album... but just as well that I wasn't the sole photographer this time: I have a huge family and it was just great to spend some time catching up with my many cousins, uncles and ants (a really hillarious noisy bunch).

I am so happy for both my little brother and my new sister in law. Congratulations (parabéns) to Lucas and Flávia and all the best on their life together!

Here are some quick preview shots of the wedding.

*It was actually just me and Flávia when she was getting ready, as in Brazil it is not customary for the bride to necessarily get ready surrounded by all her bridesmaids. Bridesmaids are not color-coordinated either and there is less actvity surrounding groomsmen and bridesmaids than in American weddings. I actually only met all the other bridesmaids in the actual ceremony.

Flávia and Lucas's Wedding Rehearsal

2009-08-03T17:10:00.010-04:00

My little brother is getting married!!!!! I am back in Brazil for the wedding (life's good :-)) and I super happy for my brother and his lovely fiancé, Flávia. They are so cute together and I am sure they will make each other very happy.

Here are some shots of their wedding rehearsal the other day. Although there is a rehearsal, there isn't a tradition of rehearsal dinners here in Brazil. So the two families just went over the details of the ceremony and had a lovely sunny afternoon together.

Parabéns, Flávia e Lucas!!!!!

Lisa and JD's Korean Wedding Ceremony: Preview

2009-07-28T20:08:00.009-04:00

Last Saturday, I had the pleasure of photography Lisa and JD's Korean Wedding Ceremony (I photographed their engagement session back in April).

I had a crazy amount of fun covering this Lisa and JD's day. The fun started even before I made it there, when I started learning about traditional Korean wedding ceremonies, the different traditions, the paebaek, etc... but photographing the real thing was just amazing!

Lisa looked gorgeous in her hanbok. JD, the wedding party and various members of the family were also looking great in their beautiful traditional clothes. The ceremony was placid and beautiful and each step was described in Korean and English (it was so nice to be able to understand, but also hear the Korean part!).

The reception after the ceremony was also awesome fun, including performances by Korean dancers, a song played on the flute by the father of the bride and a lively (and super friendly) group of guests.... and JD and Lisa looking so lovely and happy together as a married couple.

I am planning to post a more detailed description of the ceremony and some of the traditions that I learnt about once all the pictures are put together. For the moment, here is a little preview.

Chukha hamnida to Lisa and JD and all the best wishes for their life together!!!!

Photographs displayed at the Eye Level Gallery

2009-07-13T08:12:00.006-04:00

Back in April/May, some of my pictures were part of a collective exhibition with an awesome group of artists at the Eye Level exhibition space in Brooklyn. A few days ago, Gabriela Alva, the curator for the show, contacted me saying that people really liked my pictures (:-)) and that she wanted to have them on display on the gallery. They are rotating 5 or 6 of my pictures (showing two at a time)... They have made some changes to the space too, which is looking nice, and have some other very cool stuff on display (traces of Fanny Allie's Whisperers exhibition and other things) . If you are in the area, stop by the gallery to have a look!

Chris and Ana's Wedding @ Amanda Picone's Blog

2009-06-12T01:14:00.042-04:00

The awesome Amanda Picone has just posted some of my pictures of Anna and Chris's Wedding on her blog (you can also see some of her amazing pictures there). I had a great time shooting for Amanda. She is such a fun person to be around, even when hard at work! She is also an amazing photographer, as you can see here.

Since we are talking about Ana and Chris, here are some additional shots of their wedding... and today is valentine's day in Brazil (Ana is Brazilian, like me), so happy valentine's day to Ana and Chris!

Lela and Bubs Wedding Pictures on Rock'n'Roll Bride!

2009-05-27T17:37:00.004-04:00

I was excited to find that the truly fab Rock'n Roll Bride wanted to feature Lela and Bub's wedding! Here is their post. Big thanks to Kat, for the post and for keeping such an awesome, creative and inspiring blog! Here is a little excerpt from their about page:

Rock ‘n Roll Bride promotes individuality and general awesomeness in a cookie cutter, pastel pink, poufy dressed wedding world. Don’t let the wedding industry define your day – let *you* define your day.

Congratulations to the newly weds, Lela and Bubs, a real Rock'n Roll couple.

Ana and Chris's Wedding

2009-05-16T10:33:00.033-04:00

Amongst all the photography activity I had last month, I had the pleasure of shooting a wedding as a second photographer to the lovely wedding photographer Amanda Picone.

Anna and Chris got married at the beautiful Crystal Plaza in Livingston, NJ, early last month. Amanda and I arrived early and got to witness the whole day: from the bride getting ready with a very lively group of family and friends (Anna is Brazilian like me, so I even got to help out with some translating), the groom and groomsmen on the way to the ceremony (I got to ride in the limo with them!), the ceremony, through to the very end of the reception.

It was an amazing wedding! The wedding location was gorgeous and it ended up not mattering one bit that there was some light rain. Anna was a stunning bride (as you can see in the pictures coming up). The ceremony was really moving, ending with a surprise poem from Anna to Chris, which brought out a lot of happy tears... and what a cheerful rowdy wedding party, family and friends partying in the reception!

Like everyone else there, Amanda and I had a really great time! Check out her account of the wedding, including her beautiful pictures... meanwhile, here are some of my pictures...

Congratulations (Parabéns), Anna and Chris!!!

Lela and Bubs Elopement

2009-05-15T13:36:00.041-04:00

I knew that this Wedding was going to be a lot of fun from the minute Lela's first e-mail. At the time, she didn't know yet where exactly everything would take place, but she knew that: (1) they would elope; (2) it would be in Central Park; (3) they liked vintage with a modern funk flare. I loved them already.

After a couple of months exchanging e-mails with me, Lela and Bubs traveled from Florida in the end of April to elope in New York City. The ceremony was set for late afternoon in Central Park's Shakespeare Garden, which is gorgeous in the Spring. Lela looked stunning ... and vintage with a modern funk flare! Her handsome groom was a perfect fit with the coolest wedding attire I have seen (these two were made for each other). The only thing was that they arrived in the Park a little late (shouldn't every bride be entitled to that?)... so by the time they arrived, their officiant was gone!!!

A missing wedding officiant would probably be a nightmare for many brides out there, but it really turned out to be a great thing in this case. Their truly fabulous local friend, Jo, stepped in to the rescue and improved a beautiful, funny, personal very original ceremony for them.

After the ceremony, Lela, Bubs and Jo headed to The Bubble Lounge for celebratory drinks, food and lots of laughs. We all had a blast!

Congratulations, Lela and Bubs!

Coming up: Featured Picture @ Cultpolitan Magazine

2009-05-01T20:26:00.000-04:00

The organizers of Cultpolitan Photojournal, an upcoming photo magazine, have contacted me asking to feature my picture "Boxer" (above) on their Summer magazine which will include photographs from New York, Copenhagen and Berlin. The project sounds really interesting and I was glad to submit. Can't wait to see the magazine this coming Summer!

Update June: added link to "coming soon" Cultpolitan page.

Photo Show: Pie Level BQE

2009-04-21T20:51:00.002-04:00

Here is a quick update on the collective photography show that I mentioned the other day. Re-cap: I am part of an awesome NYC photography collective called Photodrifting and last Saturday we had our first collective photography exhibit.

As expected, I really loved seeing what the other photodrifters came up with. It was a great collection of different perspectives on the BQE. The gallery was packed with fun interesting people and I had a blast.

As well as the photographs, the exhibit featured a DVD with moving images representing the drifting feel characteristic of Photodrifting.com.

Thank you so much Gabriela Alva (curator for the show) and Jon-Paul Rodriguez for organizing such a a great show!

Lisa and JD's Engagement Shots

2009-04-19T13:35:00.005-04:00

In their very first date, Lisa and JD stopped by the beautiful Bethesda Fountain in Central Park. Things must have gone very well from there because some time later JD took Lisa back and proposed! ...So when it came to pick a location for their engagement shoot, the choice was clear: we met on the Park for a nice April afternoon engagement session.

After a quick hot chocolate at the Boat House, we headed towards the place where it all started for them. It was so nice to photograph them there! As well a couple of closer shots, I stood back and let them do their thing, which was really fun to watch (they are*so* cute together!Lisa even tried to pick JD up!... you were so close, Lisa :-))... We continued walking through to some of their favorite spots and ended our shoot at Poets Walk, where we all had celebratory hot dogs (which was the last thing missing to make this a perfect afternoon!)

Don't they look so happy together? Congratulations on your engagement, Lisa and JD!

Coming up: Collective Photo Exhibition: Pie Level BQE

2009-04-15T20:29:00.001-04:00

For those of you in New York this coming Saturday, you are invited to attend the opening of a collective exhibit that I am part of this coming Saturday at the Eye Level BQE gallery in Brooklyn.

I am very excited about this project. I love the work of other photographers in the collective. These are the folks at Photodrifting, an amazing collective that I joined last year. To add to that, the project itself was refreshing: pictures representing the BQE on foot. It is so great to stop, observe and to see a lot of beauty in the very urban streets right by the express way. As Gabriela Alva, the curator of the exhibit, put it, a great exercise for the eye!

The exhibit will be opening this coming Saturday, April 18th and will be on until May 10th. Hope you can chek it out!

Shakima and Luis's Engagement Session

2009-04-09T13:35:00.005-04:00

Earlier this week, I met with lovely Shakima and Luis for their engagement shoot. Both Shakima and Luis are true New Yorkers and are planning a very New York wedding, so they thought Central Park was the perfect spot. (I am making a lot of trips to Central Park these days... but I can really understand how so many couples go for that place!).

Shakima and Luis are a beautiful couple and it was not hard to catch some very cute moments with them. They braved the cold afternoon by keeping each other warm with a lot of cuddles and kisses (you can really see how much they love each other!).

Here are some initial shots that I sent them as teasers.

Congratulations on your engagement, Shakima and Luis!

Peanut Butter and Pigeons: Featured Pictures @ Pomp and Circumstance Magazine

2009-03-21T20:19:00.000-04:00

I am part of an awesome collective of NYC photographers called Photodrifting. Jon-Paul Rodriguez, head photo-drifter is lining up some very fun photography projects for the group.

As part of the latest project, we were asked by Pomp and Circumstance magazine to photograph a list of "haughts or nots" which included peanut butter, speed walking, pigeons an street meat (can you guess which ones are haughts and which are haughts?).

I twisted my husband's arm to get some naughty pictures of him (so much fun!). Here are the pictures that the magazine selected.

Update (mid April): I have been giggling a lot from introducing my husband to some of my photography friends who say: "wait! are you the peanut butter guy?".