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

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…

from the files of – you never know what you’re going to get to work with while shooting in central park – comes Mr. Bubble.

It seems there’s someone trying to give The Naked Cowboy a run for his money….  he blows bubbles all day long at Bethesda Fountain.

check out the upside down reflection of the fountain in the left hand side of the bubble

and the right side up reflection in the right side….

Can’t wait to photograph their wedding at the Essex House this spring…

I wanted to share another wonderful wedding shot by my Associates, Ron and Chris.

Jen and james live in greenwich village so we wandered around their locale for their engagement session.

i wanted to share another fantastic wedding photographed by Ron and Chris.

erica and danny’s beautiful wedding at capitale.

you’ve got to love a bride in a wedding dress willing to get into a trash filled grafitti covered truck in chinatown -now  that’s heart!

my favorite part of the following overview shot are danny and erica’s new york mets jerseys hanging over their chairs.

and off the newlywed’s walk into the sunset…

on the bowery.

when it comes to hiring a photographer to capture one of the biggest moments of your life – your proposal – few guys really have it all together and manage to think that far ahead.

craig is one of those guys.

he arranged to surprise his girlfriend, Clarena with an on-ice proposal at the skating rink at Rockefeller Center.  and i arranged to be hiding in the wings to surreptitiously capture the big moment.

you’d be surprised to know how much planning has to go into getting a shot like this one… while still keeping half of your subjects unaware of what’s going on.

a pretty sweet moment planned by a pretty sweet guy

can’t get much more romantic than that.

here’s to all the guys that plan ahead…

brie and aaron had a stunning wedding at the metropolitan club in manhattan.

and i thought the raw silk runner was a great match for the room…

such a cute couple.

decor was done by the wonderful and fun to work with David Beahm.  Check out the copper mirrored tabletops.

that image you see in the table above is the reflection from the ceiling’s trompe l’oil

clear glass chargers… brilliant.

the grand entrance

the first dance… soul street bringing everyone to the dance floor.

and then this amazing duo came out – Black Violin – wandering with wireless violins – cranking out some classical tunes until the hiphop dj joined in and the 3 of them rocked the house.  awesome!

and the self portrait studio once again was a huge hit with everyone.

If you’re looking to have an old school new york city wedding you can’t do much better than The Plaza Hotel.  Debra however wanted it to reflect a bit of her personality as well so she meticulously planned out some amazing details.

like leopard print and purple table linens…

and these amazing flower filled birdcages…

and a cake to match.

making for a completely new spin on on school.

new york city wedding photography always has to push an envelope in some way – in a city filled with unique people you need to provide unique wedding images in unique locations – like the Ghostbusters’ firehouse.

But let’s start at the beginning.

Dorothy’s ruby red slippers ain’t got nuthin’ on Francine’s tourquoise Loubatins.

below – a great shot of the guys by Ron

and Francine was radiant

as francine and peter see each other for the first time…

mail order bride?

in my photography lectures, I always stress how unique shots are everywhere around us – you just need to have your eyes open, think outside the box and be willing to ask for crazy things with a straight face.

excuse me, Mr. UPS Man, would you mind if we climbed in the back of your truck for a sec?  In the case of the Ghostbusters’ Firehouse shot (top and below), I actually had the Fire Chief move the ladder truck forward to even out the light across the face of the truck and the firehouse.

Below: “The Spectacle” by Ron.

The 18 person bridal party on our way to Tribeca Rooftop.  Keeping the ladies having a good time while avoiding breaking their ankles on cobblestones while in high heels is a neat trick.

on the Tribeca Rooftop