brian dorsey studios – new york wedding photographer – top 10 in the world – destination weddings

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and i’ve never been able to use an electric chair as a prop before but you never know what you’ll find on city streets to use.

(and yes, those are real – but currently out of commission – electric chairs)

Tags: brian dorsey studios briandorseystudios cobblestone electric chairs fanelii manhattan wedding soho t-bird thunderbird

Permalink: /index.php/2010/06/24/tamra-mike-engagement-portraits-in-soho/

Category: new york engagement photos

there’s nothing like capturing the palpable excitement when the bride emerges from her dressing room for the first time.  especially when there’s an entourage the size of Allison’s.

you can see how the rest of the day played out below.

here are more images from Ron’s wedding at The Bowery Hotel

be sure not to miss the fireman!!

the mark of a great wedding is when the fire department arrives…

we had the pleasure of working with Jeannie Uyanik and Krista from C&G Weddings at Jane and Fred’s wedding at The Lighthouse.  just wanted to get a few images up to share…

“old school holdouts” take note.  in my opinion, it is much better for a bride and groom to see each other before their ceremony to do their portraits.  you just don’t get shots like these below when a couple sees each other for the first time at the altar. (see the tears on Jane’s cheek and on Fred’s jacket?)

as a photographer of destination weddings – i’ve been lucky to go to some pretty cool places with some pretty amazing people.

recently, we had the pleasure of working with jung lee and josh brooks and their wonderful team from Fete who were planning a wedding at the stunning and ultra-hip Eden Rock at St. Barths in the French West Indies.  Party central for the rich, beautiful and famous.

first, a little background on St. Barths – it’s a tiny little island off the coast of St. Martin with a postage stamp of an airstrip wedged tightly between a mountain and the ocean.  to get there you need to take a small plane that fills up at the local self-serve gas station.

and despite the fact that the planes are very small, they often end up in the ocean anyway (just check out YouTube).  which was underscored for me when I noticed this painted on the side of the plane.

i felt like i was in the cockpit myself.

excuse me, brian, would you mind helping me put the flaps down and giving me a little more friction?  sure captain, no problem…

it’s a really stunning way to arrive – unlike most Caribbean islands, St. Barts is basically a big rock – as are its many outlying smaller islands.

depending on how the winds are blowing, you can either approach the runway the hard way or the easy way.   the easy way approach gives you a great view of eden rock.

here’s a shot of the infamous airstrip and a plane taking off the easy way.  i think landing the hard way (coming in over this hill and dropping fast) results in some pretty bumpy landings as evidenced by the tire marks.

see?  postage stamp.

once we landed, we did a little recon…

the next day featured the rehearsal dinner…. and keeping with the little airplane theme, the brilliant placecards for that evening were balsawood gliders with the guests names and table on them suspended from the ceiling.

So here’s a funny little story about the value of being prepared for everything.  At this point for this event, my team and I have traveled hundreds of miles on multiple planes and boats – carrying our gear all the way since we can’t trust checking it or even letting someone else handle it.  We just can’t take the risk that something will get lost or damaged.   So I’m about 5 minutes into shooting cocktails at the villa and I hear this thud and crash of glass on concrete at the poolside.

Turns out the little clip do-dad that holds my camera to my rapid strap came unclipped and that thud sound was my Canon 1Ds Mark III hitting the ground and the smashing glass was my 24-70 lens.  Funny how $7500 of gear can be smashed because of the poor design of a $3 clip.  Fortunately, I travel with plenty of cameras and lenses so we didn’t miss a beat.   A special thanks to my amazingly patient associate, Chris whose flight arrived later that evening spent a half hour tweezering glass out of my lens.

After dark, the guests slipped into some flipflops to walk down the candlelit beach from the villa to the famed La Plage.

and the view of Eden Rock from La Plage…

In the mail today, I received a lovely Thank You note from Karen along with a copy of her latest book, “Simple Stunning Bride”.   In case you don’t know her,  Karen Bussen has authored quite a few of the most popular wedding books for brides. Her most recent – “Simple Stunning Bride” is chock full of helpful tips for planning one’s wedding day.

We’ve worked with Karen quite a few times and were delighted when we were asked to contribute to her latest book.

We have about a dozen of our images (including the back cover) featured and helped her update her section on photography tips as well.

If you’re not having a planner – or even if you are – it’s a great resource for inside hints and tips on prepping for the big day.  We encourage you to check it out!

i love it when dads get misty eyed…

we all realize that the photographs we have of our loved ones become worth more to us as time passes on.  this past weekend a 300 year old European Beech reminded me of just how quickly our photographs can sometimes appreciate in value…

The Climbing Tree held forth in a Frederick Law Olmstead designed park near the house in which I grew up.  Of course she predated Olmstead’s work.  She even predated George Washington’s work.  This old tree had seen some history.

“…Her impossibly long and knotted arms twisted out and about every which way – each completely covered with what seemed to be a hundred of years of tattoos – carved scars bearing names and dates and mathematical formulas of lover’s initials circumscribed by hearts.  She was an entire illustrated tree filled with evidence of those who stayed and enjoyed her at least long enough to make their mark.  Those gravity and logic defying branches stretched long and low – perfect for climbing.  She slowly waved them back and forth in the breeze begging passers to hop on one of her bark covered tendrils.    For those climbing aboard she provided a ready-made Indiana Jones fantasy complete with a tangled sea of writhing snake roots waiting to snap at your ankles should you swing too low…”

Occasionally I would stop by with my kids and let them climb aboard as I had done when I was their age and of course, I’d take a few pictures.

but i didn’t give the photographs much thought or place any exceptional value on them – they were just cool snapshots of my kids.

That is until this weekend.  On Sunday I was in the area again and went for a walk in the park and was stunned to find her gone.

My third thought (after, “who the heck would do such a thing”, and “why didn’t someone come up with a creative way to avoid this”) was “Oh man. I’m so glad I have those photographs!”

Sad fact that time eventually robs of us our youth, our beauty, our memories and ultimately, our existence – but the more of that we lose the more our photographs become worth to us.

And there you have it – the climbing tree reminded me of how quickly our photographs can appreciate in value.  Quite simply, before this weekend, I had a few pretty cool pictures of my kids playing in a tree.  I realize now I have irreplaceable treasures.

i’m going to quote from our own website here – our little writeup on using a wedding self-portrait studio:

“Ok. You finally get all of your family and friends together – dressed up and looking sharp. Everybody brings along a camera to take a group shot.  Oh, just let me get one picture… wait, let’s get her in this too… wait one sec…. look this way…. wait, put down your drink…. wait…look this way…. smile… wait, which button is it? Did the flash go off? Oh, you blinked… wait let’s do one more. Oh wait, do one with my camera too. And you never see them anyway. Not that that’s such a bad thing because they looked like crap. Our self-portrait studio is manned by a photographer, real equipment, real lighting, real fun. Guests take their own pictures with a remote and see the results instantly on screen. They keep going until they get what they love. They want a nice family formal – we’ll make sure they get it. Want a group shot of school friends – have at it. And after a few drinks…. they get kinda fun. High resolution files can be used to make great big images – not some little rinky dink strip that one person runs off with. No better way to memorialize your friends.”

And here’s what you get (I’ll skip past the nice family pictures to the, “sure we’ve had a few drinks” fun stuff) :

And then it starts to get out of control….

Early this morning, I met with Capitale’s Director of Catering, Larry Goldfarb and Amanda Len to chat about the upcoming year.  For those of you who may not know, Capitale is a wonderful event space in the old Bowery Savings Bank building on… you guessed it… Bowery Street on the Lower East Side.  If you want a grand Beaux Arts space that’ll fit between 200 and 400 people or so you can’t do much better than Stanford White’s stunning 1895 space.

I thought I would share some images from a wedding we photographed at Capitale in the fall.

They’ve got this great old mirrored brass elevator.

And there’s so much great culture to work with in the neighborhood!

Mike’s wonderful sense of humor…