Yesterday The Breast Cancer Research Foundation had an annual Hot Pink Party. It was fun to hung out with about 50 photographers and below are some celebrities that attended the party. The assignment was done for Fashion Wire Daily .
16 of my photos were also posted on Yahoo "best" slideshow here .
The most surprising thing in Vegas was for me to see a drive thru wedding chapel. My friend Ethan Miller of Getty Images was showing me around Vegas when he told me about the drive thru. I had to make him to turn around and show it to me. I couldn't believe it!!! But there it was -the drive thru wedding chapel and happily newly weds inside of it.
While in Las Vegas I attended Digital Wedding Forum Convention Desert Shoot, conducted by David Beckstead and John Michael Cooper.
Below are David and JMC showing us how they work:
The DWF gang
Here are some of my favorites that I shot. This inspired me to convince Katya and Arthur to shoot in a desert instead of by Las Vegas fountains. (see two posts below)
The gorgeous sunset on a way back from the shoot
I just couldn't wait 'till 15th of April and wanted to let you all know that the winners of the free wedding photography contest are Dalilah and Omar!!!!!! They are getting married on November 18th this year and I am super excited!!! I am so happy to give this gift to the guys and the little girl, knowing that they will cherish the photographs from their happiest day for many years to come. And the wedding is going to be not long before my birthday and that would be the best gift I can give to myself as well. I am so grateful!!!
Here is the letter they sent me ( with the permission to publish on my blog)
"I read about your contest on “the knot” message board and thought that I would give this a shot. Omar and I have known each other for nearly 10 years, been together for 4 ½ years and engaged for 2 ½. We met when I moved to the Bronx from Manhattan and we were neighbors (lived in the same building). The first few years of knowing each other we just said hi and bye pretty much and then we finally saw each other in a different light and decided to give ourselves a chance, which was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
After 2 years of dating we found out we were pregnant which was AMAZING, we were thrilled to become parents and even more thrilled to be with each other there were just a few minor glitches:
1.I was 20 years old and he was 23.
2.My family wasn’t so happy.
3.We weren’t married.
We got through it all and when I was 4 months pregnant Omar proposed on my birthday and I of course said yes. We now a gorgeous 2 year old little girl and we’re finally planning our wedding. The date is 11.18.07, the ceremony will take place in my High Schools chapel “St. Francis Cabrini Shrine” in upper Manhattan and the reception will be held at “The Riverview” Hastings on Hudson, NY.
After having our daughter Omar and I realized how much we love photos and how important they are to us, we have not been able to stop snapping pictures of her since she came home from the hospital. After viewing your website we would love it if you could photograph our wedding, you are a photographer that will capture all of our most candid and precious moments not just the same old traditional poses. However after researching wedding photography prices for what we're looking for it doesn't seem possible with all the other expenses of our already budget wedding. I cannot tell you how glad we are to have a chance to make our special day complete and how much we appreciate this oppurtunity.
Sincerely,
Dalilah & Omar."
On the last day in Las Vegas I shot Katya's and Arthur's wedding. I met them in a russian restaurant the day before, where they announced their engegament to the friends. They all flew from Washington DC. Katys's best friend happened to be from the same city in Russia as I am-Ufa- and we even went to the same high school. Although she is much younger as I am, we had the same teachers and it was fun to remember our biology teacher who beat us on a head with a pointer.
Here are my favorites. I wasn't really allowed to shoot in the chapel so I pretended to be a guest :-) And the guys were insane enough to let me take them to the desert!
Irina and Dima are featured in the "Russian Bride" magazine. Check out their wedding I shot back in July here.
Oksana and Yura had their story and my photo of them published in the wedding section of NY Post. Check it out here
Slideshow is here
Check out the latest "WedPix" magazine where I was interviewed for it's cake cutting article TO SMASH OR NOT TO SMASH: THE CAKE
Please keep the tips in mind when cutting the cake :-)
Stay tuned for the Vegas trip update.
