Beastie Boys and Moby

I photographed a charity concert performed by Moby and Beastie Boys.

Best Wedding Photographer!

I was checking my web stats and found allot of traffic coming from www.best-foto.ru. I checked it out and was pleasantly surprised to see my studio name with six others as the best wedding photographers, according to the website's independent opinion poll. One of us is my ever favorite Joe Buissink who I admire very much as a photographer and as a person. Joe has been a favorite wedding photographer among celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Simpson & Nick Lachey, Brendan Fraser, Kelsey Grammer, Hillary Swank & Chad Lowe, Christina Applegate, Jenny Garth & Peter Facinelli, and Christina Aguilera. I was thrilled to meet him last year in Las Vegas.

Joe Buissink and me in Las Vegas.

One more contest winner with Stacey Ilyse

Really talented Stacey Ilyse of Stacey Ilyse Photography generously offered to take one of the Free Wedding Photography Contest applications and chose Meredyth and Crispian. Congratulations guys!!!



Their story:

Hello I heard about your contest and it just made my day. We really cannot afford a photographer for our wedding so I am applying for your wonderful contest. My other half, Crispian, and I met about 5 years ago in Music School, we are currently classical musicians in the NJ/NY area. We are having our wedding ceremony in the Secret Garden in Central Park on May 18th 2008 at 10:30 a.m. I really love this location and I was worried about the cost but it was okay and all the money you pay for the hour you have the space goes to conservating and taking care of the park, which I liked, I do not like to just throw money away. We wanted a small wedding do to cost and because we are really close to our family and friends and wanted to day to be intimate. I really wanted photography for the wedding and thought what we could we give up b/c pitures are really important to me. One reason we are having to keep this low budget is right after the wedding Crispian my FI has to apply for his green card which can be $5-6,000.00.

Thank you so much for your time we would love to be considered for this contest. Our families are so important to us and we are all spread across the country and do not see each other very offen. Because of this we really have no professional photos of everyone. Crispian's Aunt and Uncle are probably going to come and he has not seen them for 11 years. Thank you so much for your time.

Sincerely,
Meredyth.

And the winners are.......

And the winners of my Annual Free Wedding Photography contest are - Linda & Andy!!! Congratulations!!!!!!!!!



Their story ( was edited by me to leave out some very personal and private matters)

"Hi Gulnara,

Wow…awesome contest! I learned about your free wedding photography contest through the WeddingBee.com. Where shall I begin? Our story….Andy and I have been dating for 3.5 years and on March 1st, it will be our 6th month of engagement. Match.com introduced us, actually him. Andy’s profile was included in my weekly “mutual matches” email and I liked what I read. Shortly after this, my cousin and I attended a birthday party and I was astonished to see a guest there who looked exactly like the guy in the profile I had received! After numerous surreptitious stares, I realized that my mystery man was indeed Andy. For the majority of the evening, he was preoccupied with his friends, so unfortunately I was unable to introduce myself. Later on that night, I finally mustered the courage to go up to him, but it was too late as he was leaving the bar lounge. The following week, as my cousin and I were about to leave a Singles' Happy Hour, I was amazed again to see who else but Andy and a few of his friends arriving! Again, coincidentally, we all were in the same place at the same time as had happened the previous week!! It had to be destiny or at the very least, fate! Many times that night our eyes briefly met but Andy would shy away from afar. As he walked by our table, I gently tugged his arm and we began our connection. Our first date was set for that following weekend and we have been happily together (and in love!) since then.

We have always had a love for photography. It is rooted all the way back to when Andy was on his yearbook staff shooting photos in High School. He found so much joy in photos that he went on to taking snapshots of friends and posting them on a school bulletin board he created to be viewed by his peers. Today, we continue that love of photos especially by capturing images of our two furry canine “kids”, Nicky and Coffy. Gulnara, from your website, you have fabulous work and are able to capture a range of emotions from different moments. We are looking for a photographer who can portray New York City’s atmosphere and you can surely do that with an artistic flair. Your images are so freestyle and natural which completely represents the style we are looking for. We would love to feel like we are reliving the magic of the day each time we look at our pictures and we mostly wish to have them to share with our children for many, many years. Our wedding date is August 31, 2008, vows at City Hall and the Chinese banquet reception held in Flushing Queens, NY. Thank you very much for offering the opportunity of possibly having you as our photographer….it would be an honor to have you on our BIG day.

All the Best,

Linda & Andy"

Guys, looking forward to document your wedding!!
For the rest of you-stay tuned for more news!

WPJA Top 100 Photographers

I was very pleased to see my name came 28th in the Wedding Photojournalist Association Top 100 Photographers. The organization has way over 1000 members around the world. I am also the 2d in the New York State just 1 point shy from the 1st place.

I am also glad to see many of my friends in the list like the Photographer of the Year Ben Chrisman as well as David Murray , Matt Kim , Erwin Darmali , Robert Mirami .

I am really honored to be among this such a talented group.

New deadline for the contest

I am extending the deadline for the free wedding photography contest for ONE more week.

The new deadline is March 8, 2008.

I will announce the winner ONE week after the deadline on March 15, 2008.