Right Now

There's a tradition of couples exchanging gifts the morning of their wedding.

I'm working with Scott & Claire Catherine's wedding now & found these pictures of Claire Catherine getting hers.

She was nearly breathless. Poor girl.

It was quite a lovely bracelet.

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Char + Richard 05.30.10

The most important thing to know about Richard & Char: They don’t do anything halfway.

Richard rented a billboard on I-95 in Philadelphia to announce their engagement to the world. When their honeymoon flight got bumped up, keeping them from attending a planned family brunch the day after the wedding, Richard bought life-sized cardboard cut-out photos of him & Char to attend in their absence.

There’s more.

Richard is Jewish and Char is Asian. So they had two ceremonies in one day. They had elaborate attire for each. There was an intimate Chinese ceremony in the morning and then a large Western wedding in the afternoon. Realizing most of their guests hadn’t seen them in their Chinese wedding clothing, Richard & Char changed back into those clothes for the cocktail hour. And then back into their Western clothing for the reception.

You get the idea. These are true wedding over-achievers. Which is the best kind of all.

You’ll see that I had a lot to work with.

It was great to work at the Ritz Carlton in Philadelphia & I'm always happy to have the help of Joe Craig second shooting. Special props to Kate Duffy: car-driving, strobe-holding, stand-hauling, photo-boothing extraordinaire.

Richard & Char: You feel like old friends. I like you both a lot. Thanks for your encouragement & Philadelphia foodie advice.

And if I ever need help getting from point A to point B in Philly, I know who to call. ;)

Douglas

Alicia + Remberto 05.29.10

Note to self: When you’re in charge of driving the bride to her wedding, don’t lose your car keys.

I learn new things all the time.

The amazing thing was how calm Alicia was about it. She was the Queen of Cool. Her groom, family and friends were all waiting for her and her ride – me – couldn’t find his car keys.

Mustafah Abdulaziz helped me photograph Alicia & Remberto’s wedding and it was a great chance to return to Alicia’s family home in Bucks County. I had taken their engagement photos there in March. You may recognize the barn wall.

Remberto’s cousin from Mexico made Alicia’s dress by hand for her. I’ve never seen one finer.

Thanks to you both.

Douglas

p.s. The Mariachi band was an excellent touch.

Debbie + Frank 05.15.10

Debbie and Frank wanted their wedding to be about their family and friends as much anything else.

They surrounded themselves with the people most important to them, including Frank’s children. The entire day was warm and loving and fun and I was happy to be there.

Props to Joe Craig for his help second shooting.

Douglas

more gifts

Chauheung.

She and Richard were married Sunday.

I love them both but this image of Char is more than I could have hoped for.

Many, many more to come. But this is a good start.

Douglas

Right Now

I'm finishing up Kate & Eric's wedding tonight. I came across this image and wanted to share it here now.

It's a picture of Kate and her mom near the end of the reception. It's a wonderful moment. It sums up everything I want to accomplish in photography: keeping moments like this forever.

I think it's about as close as we can get to keeping life from slipping away from us.

Mrs. Weber's house is filled with pictures of her family, pictures going back to when Kate was little and right up to a few months ago when her sister got married in Florida. It's all there on the walls of her house.

I would really like to go back there some day and see this one hanging along with the others.

Kate & Eric: I'm a little bit late with these. I'm sorry. Soon! I promise it will be worth the wait.

Douglas

Bicycling Magazine

Well this is pretty cool.

Yesterday's mail brought the newest issue of Bicycling. They assigned me to shoot a local criterium for an article about racing.

I'm a huge cycling fan. I ride bike & love following the sport.

So cycling + photography was a good gig for me.

Here's the image they used & a picture of me shooting it from the back of a motorcycle, riding backwards. It wasn't terribly different than backpedaling down a church aisle.

The photo of me on the back of the motorcycle by Daniel Moyer. Thanks Dano.

Douglas