new york wedding photographer and destination wedding photographer brian dorsey studios
Wanted to get a couple images up from Lisa and Johns’ wonderful wedding out the bluffs of Montauk point. These shots were from their reception at Harvest on the Pond.
I love being near the water. Not only is it relaxing, it’s always so picturesque.
Isn’t the dock just an awesome place?
One of those perfect locations…
i have the best clients.
i really do.
take susan and damian for instance. they were so fun to work with – it’s like photographing friends on the happiest day of their lives. and they really thought about their photographs when planning their day.
susan decided to get ready at Ian Schrager’s amazing Gramercy Hotel.. Julian Schnabel designed this bohemian-inspired hotel and filled each room with works of art. But the whole experience is even greater than the parts.
Love this next one.
How many people can put a red carpet and chair in an all green room and keep it from looking like it was decorated by elves on mushrooms.
Below is the moment when we allowed them to see each other for the first time. There are still a few couples who don’t want to see each other before the actual ceremony. I always try to tell them it’ll be easier on them, it’ll allow them to enjoy cocktails instead of using that time to take pictures, and it will allow them to get really wonderful photos when they do see each other for the first time.
A bride and groom can’t kiss and hug and connect at the end of the aisle. Now THIS is a moment.
and then you get to leisurely take your portraits…
without your buds going, “Dude, the open bar is open! Why are we here taking photos!”
Susan and Damian were married under the 59th Street Bridge at the way cool Guastavinos.
Thanks guys for letting us share in your awesome day!
Finally catching up on looking at some personal pictures that I took with the family over the fall and this one caught my eye.
What could be a more satisfying life experience than being in the country on a brilliant fall day and taking your kids to a local farm to pick their own apples and pumpkins. Two years ago when we did the pick your pumpkin thing with the boys we marched through the twisted tangle of somewhat spiky vines, big prickly leaves and the occasional rotten orange mass to find just the right pumpkin for each of them. They would call me over with a, “Daddy, I want this one!” and I would be manly man and whip out my trusty pocket knife and sever the gourd from it’s umbilical cord. Aaaaa. Harvesting the fruits of the earth. SO SATISFYING! It’s about as close as we urban folk come to farming.
It’s one of those kinda perfect little moments in life isn’t it? So it quickly became a tradition.
This year, was a little different, however. We tried a new place and this time the pumpkins patch looked a little too perfect.
Fact was, it was a sham.
Here, the pre-picked pumpkins have been perfectly scattered across the fields to give the appearance of an ideal pumpkin patch. I mean it takes a lot of effort to distribute these big heavy orbs so well. But still.
The bubble above my head was, “this isn’t pick your own pumpkins! At best this is pick OUT your own pumpkins, or, better yet, pick UP your own pumpkins since they were all picked elsewhere and placed there for you to pick.”
Now, when you go to Disney, you know it’s going to be a simulation. But a country farm? How do you know when a road sign saying ” U Pick Pumpkins” is not actually a pumpkin patch but a pile of pre-picked pumpkins?
It just didn’t seem right to me. In fact, I thought it was false advertising or at the very least misleading.
Anyway….
That made me think about the work that we people who photograph weddings do as well and how we present our work.
How does the public know when the wedding work a photographer shows is a reflection of working a real wedding – with all the time constraints, pressures, issues, and myriad unknowns that weddings are prone to and when has the work being shown been shot under controlled non-wedding conditions, with models or a team of assistants? When are you really going to get a real pumpkin patch and when are you going to end up with something other than what you’re lead to believe will be there?
I see lots of websites filled with wedding images shot under non-wedding conditions. If I were a client, I’d want to base my decision on images shot under the same conditions they’d be working under on my wedding day. I wouldn’t really care what they could do with a model and a team of 5 people and 5 hours and no videographers. It’s not what you’re going to get when it’s all over.
I show images that we’ve taken at actual weddings with actual clients – no models, no portfolio fluffing sessions. You want to know what you’re going to get when you only give me 5 minutes to shoot the portraits because the limo broke down? Here you go. What you see is what you’re actually going to get. The real deal. Cut the gourd from the vine real.
Unfortunately, I think I’m starting to be in the minority.
I want my clients to see and know what they’re really going to get. Otherwise it’s like following the sign to “U Pick Pumpkins” and ultimately you end up with this:
every once in awhile i return to my photographic roots. when i was a kid, i would take photographs of flowers. i would get as close as my lens would allow me to focus but it being a standard 50mm lens – that would allow me to get about 2 feet away leaving the flower a tiny little thing in a giant frame. i wanted to get right on top of it, but couldn’t.
nowadays, i have much better equipment and I can pretty much get as close as i darn well please. it’s really a bummer when your gear doesn’t allow you to do what you want it to do. that little thought has allowed me to rationalize spending money on just about anything equipment wise. drives my accountant nuts. i figure if it helps me get one kick-ass picture, it’s worth it.
these are from the welcome home bouquet my kids put together for their mother.
delphinium
queen anne’s lace
People who live in the city really need a place that they can escape to periodically. A place with woods and squirrels and deer. It helps to maintain a sense of sanity. Especially if you have kids.
Some city folk head upstate to their “Country House”, some go out to the Hamptons to their “Summer House” and some go to Palm Beach.
We go to New Jersey.
To my parent’s house.
The same house I grew up in.
The boys get to run around with the neighbors’ kids like real suburbanites and we parents get to unwind a bit. And there’s always something cool to play with out there.
Miles, our budding scientist, dragged an old telescope and my old rocking chair outside so he could make some sketches of the moon.
And Cole, not one to miss out on the opportunity joined in.
But he wrote a poem.
That’s what the “country” does to you.
We were really fortunate to do two events within two weeks of each other at two different Cipriani locations.
If you’re looking for a “Grand Old New York” wedding but don’t want to go the hotel route – Cipriani has some awesome locations to offer.
Melana and Evan’s wedding was at Cipriani Wall Street. We’ve been there on a number of occasions but I really liked the way that the florist, Aramat Events, did the room this time.
And Melana really looked stunning in her dress from Pronovias.
Stunning right?
Before the ceremony we headed out to grab some shots in the Wall Street area.
Here’s the stunning setup for the ceremony at Cipriani Wall Street.
And the shot from our “BalconyCam”.
The location is actually the former National City Bank Building. Though nowadays you may know it as Citibank.
Imagine if Citi went to build a place like that today???
But it was great the way Aramat created height on the tables to match the soaring scale of the space.
And allowed the guests to converse unencumbered.
The location also provides you with enough space for a sizable band and a BIG hora.
Many thanks to Randy Janis of Cipriani as well for helping us out that day.
Engagement sessions are really about having fun and capturing real moments.
Funny story about this shot… Vanessa and Stephen sat down in front of this really cool door in the meat packing district… but in the midst of the shot…
A dog behind the door starts sticking his nose through the mail slot right behind their heads and sniffing like he was possessed.
We went to this park for a few shots since their new apartment overlooks it.
Gotta love the meat packing district. Just full of great places.
It really was a great time and the candy that the kids shared with me really kept me going (although my knees were pretty sore the next day from squatting for 4 hours straight).
There are some amazingly creative people who come trick or treating in Tribeca. It’s really become quite a scene in the neighborhood.
Below, one of my faves of the day – Gwen, whom I’ve taken portraits of before – here as Pippi Longstocking.
Her way creative dad came up with the costume including knitting that hair himself!
And the ugly doll costumes were awesome.
But for angelic, you can’t beat this wonder woman.
I love this next shot. This kid is so proud of the costume that he made all by himself. He rocked.
The humanburger…
And I loved this shot of the Pirate with the missing tooth. Aye me hardy.
This is my son, Cole. Probably the only kid that I DIDN’T manage to get a good shot of before he ran away. He had his hair back and tied with a black bow, his black velvet jacket, a black tie, black pants, cool black glasses, fingerless black gloves and a diamond studded skull belt. We were going to powder his hair gray but he bailed on that at the last second. Can you guess who he was?
hint: He’s a famous fashion designer who heads the House of Chanel.
Some more amazing Ugly Dolls.
And a bat boy demonstrating his echolocating abilities.
This spectacular seahorse.
and our angelic covergirl…
and a few more…
Where’s Waldo?
Charlie…
The scarecrow…
And my boys and me trying hide the mouthful of Almond Joy that Cole had just given me (he picks them out when he sees people giving them away as treats – just for Daddy.) At a boy!
You can see all of the images from the Tribeca Costume Collection here.
It was such fun maybe we’ll even do it again next year…
You never know what kind of situation you’re going to walk into when you enter a bridal suite on the wedding day. There’s always this mix of tension and joy. I capture both but facilitate the latter.
One of Stacy’s bridesmaids, calling herself the Sash Nazi, made sure that there weren’t ANY wrinkles in any of the bridesmaids’ sashes. Here she shows me how seriously she took her task….
If you’re fast enough, even photojournalism can be portrait-like.
Something a little more posey than I normally do, but it fit well with the room we had.
Still pretty cool though, right?
Christine and Tommy live in Brooklyn and wanted to do their engagement session on and near the Brooklyn Bridge.
The bridge looks empty but it’s ALWAYS filled with people. It’s just a matter of timing and hiding everyone behind your subjects…
