I know it’s not an entirely novel idea, but I thought it would be fun nonetheless to try. It’s also refreshingly honest and “in the moment.” There’s little to no post-processing (beyond what Instagram filters are applied) and I think it adds to the spontaneity. These photos are far from perfect…but they capture a spring afternoon of two people in love so well.

Elizabeth and Louis are getting married in Miami this fall and weren’t even going to have engagement photos done, but thankfully we all found each other and made some Instagram magic. Haha

Thank you both for such a lovely evening yesterday!!

Except, as I’d find out months later, it wasn’t the end. About five months after our initial consult, I got a voicemail from Danielle. “Hi Laura, I’m not sure if you remember me, but we met back in March and I was wondering if you are still free on our date?” And of course I did remember her, and I was so excited to hear from her (more excited than I even let on, LOL)!!

Long, long story short, Danielle and Melson had initially booked with another photographer, and then upon realizing it wasn’t the right fit for them, reached back out to me. And so, here we are. We did their engagement shoot in the fall (and I decided then to save the mushiness for now) and two weeks ago, they were married at the Mediterranean Manor in Patchogue on Long Island.

Danielle and Melson opted to do a “first look,” which helped make the day flow very smoothly, and was so sweet to witness! The first look, as well as formals and portraits, was done at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Great River.

Second shooting with me that day was the fabulous Amanda Saldarelli, who was an absolute freaking champion. What other second shooter would give the bride her own shoes so that she could walk on the soft ground and not worry about her heels? Seriously. Amazing.

Danielle and Melson, thank you so much for coming back. I’m proud to call you both friends, and I know not only that we will see each other again very soon, but that you’ll be back on my blog soon too!

Unlike Anita and Sean’s wedding, City Hall was pretty crowded on the day Christiane and Todd went. But never fear – we were still able to rock it out (there will always be rocking out with whatever I shoot – this is my goal) and get lots of shots that make it seem like they were the only ones there.

It was a beautiful day, and after the ceremony some quick shots around the area, we headed up to the venue that will be hosting their big wedding next month to scope it out. (PS – it’s GORGEOUS!)

Christiane and Todd came by way of a recommendation by Amy and Douglas, and I’m honored they chose me as their wedding photographer (and asked for me to serve as the official witness for their City Hall ceremony). I CANNOT wait for next month!!

With that said, let me introduce you to Katie and Jeff’s wedding albums. They booked my top package, which meant a lot of goodies for them!!

Last night I messaged Katie, asking if she had time to meet today (without telling her why. Totally creepster of me, I know.) We set up the meeting for 1 p.m. at a Starbucks on Staten Island – the same one where we met just a little over a year ago for the initial consult. I hopped on an express bus from the city, where I had just wrapped up another client consult, and set up what I hope looked like a throne of awesomeness at my table.

Watching Katie and Jeff go through their album and re-living the day was awesome. THIS is why I love doing what I do. For moments like this.

Their albums came out so well I knew I had to show them off. So here they are! I use Miller’s Professional Imaging for my album printing. The quality is amazing and their customer service is top notch. I was having some moderate issues with the system when placing the order, so I called them up and the customer service rep walked me through step by step, then waited for the order to come through on her end to verify everything looked good. Theirs is the only 800 number I know of that is immediately answered by a human being.

Katie and Jeff received a 54 page 12″x12″ flushmount panorama album with a brown velvet cover, thick, sturdy pages and high quality printing. They also got two 8″x8″ layflat parent albums identical in pages and layout to their own. This was topped off with an album box cover that these pictures don’t do justice. It was huge!!

Albums are a great way to preserve memories. Labs like Miller’s do amazing, amazing work. I beseech you (!) to consider a professional-grade quality album if you are on the fence. These are made to last lifetimes. These are made to become heirlooms. And they come in a variety of sizes with a variety of cover options to fit your budget.

Still unsure? Consider an album as a one year anniversary gift to yourself. You deserve it.

Mary and Alex were married at Nanina’s in the Park in Belleville, NJ, a beautiful location and a perfect backdrop for their classic, timeless wedding. Mary and her bridal party got beautified at Cutler Salon in Soho, while the fun hijinks of Alex and his crew were documented at the Renaissance Meadowlands Hotel.

Mary and Alex decided to do a “first look” prior to the ceremony, and I was so happy that they did (and that they braved the cold January weather so we could go outside and use the pretty footbridge!). The day flowed very smoothly because we were able to get most family shots done before the ceremony – which meant that Mary and Alex were able to enjoy the entire cocktail hour (okay, minus the 15 minutes I kidnapped them for). If you’re considering whether or not to do a first look, this wedding is a faboo example of when it can be a great timesaver.

Thank you and congratulations, Mary and Alex! I had so much fun documenting your wedding and spending the day with you two. Every detail was picture perfect! (makes my job easy! haha)

A HUGE shout out to my second shooter for the day, Kate Meyer, who worked her tail off for 11 hours straight. I also had the glorious chance to work with McKenzie Miller once again (our first wedding together being last January’s wedding at reBar with Janelle + Yevgeny), who is an amazing videographer. We were able to confer and plan beforehand and because of this, even though there were 5 of us total covering photography and videography, we were all able to get the shots we needed without getting in each other’s – or the guests’ – way.

And then – the first look!

Being a huge history/genealogy geek, my favorite detail of this wedding was the seating chart. Mary created a seating chart in a family tree style, using wedding photos dating back generations in both her and Alex’s families. What an amazing idea!!

Every year the names of each victim are written in chalk on the sidewalk in front of the building in which they and lived. Even if the building is no longer there, or has changed, the names are still (temporarily) imprinted. Having lived in the East Village for several years, I can tell you that it was pretty much impossible not to see at least one name on every block. It puts things into perspective too, so that even the most casual passerby could figure out that a victim of the fire walked and existed in the same spots we do now.

Here’s a great article about the chalking as well as the fire.

All of these factors combined to make this wedding one of my most favorite shoots ever. I LOVED that Anita and Sean dressed for the occasion – a wedding is a wedding no matter the size or location! – and the relative emptiness of the Marriage Bureau all helped to create a perfect ambiance for these photos.

A little vintage, and a little modern, all rolled together with a wonderful couple who have been together for many years, who have children together, and who love each other. I was honored to be their official witness.

Anita and Sean, thank you so much for letting me capture your special day. Thank you for your adventurousness and total willingness to venture outside on a very cold February morning. I think it was worth it

With all that said, I want to talk about an issue that has recently surfaced about Pinterest. There have been some excellent points made by several people, about Pinterest, copyright infringement, and liability. If you haven’t read Kirsten Kowalski’s post about Pinterest and copyright infringement, you can do so here (and also her follow-up post after speaking with the founder of Pinterest is here).

While everyone should take these issues seriously, for photographers it is an especially important topic. Photographers make a living off of the photos they take. Which means that every time something is posted without credit, regardless of how innocent it may be, it is essentially stealing (hence the copyright infringement). What makes Pinterest’s terms of use so scary is that technically, everything you pin (credit or not) could be construed as copyright infringement, as you are republishing something without the creator’s consent.

Here’s another scenario for you – imagine you sell some fun craft items or jewelry on Etsy. You’re surfing around on Pinterest and see a picture of one of your items (let’s say it’s a unique piece of jewelry made out of reclaimed items), and that it’s been re-pinned 3,489 times. So why haven’t you seen an uptick in sales? Then you notice – the picture was uploaded rather than pinned from your Etsy store, and there’s no link back to your store, and no identifying information. So all those people who are re-pinning from the original pin (and all their re-pins) have no idea it’s your item that you sell. So now, not only have you lost out on sales, but you risk people copying your design and passing off this original piece as their own. This has a profound impact on your business.

And as of right now, Pinterest states in their terms and conditions that the pinner (aka you) is responsible for all legal fees – your legal fees as well as Pinterest’s – if Pinterest is sued over something you’ve pinned.

Scary stuff, right?

So now the question is – what should you do? A ton of photographers out there are on Pinterest themselves, and their blogs and website have “pin it” buttons (including my own). So does that mean they will sue you if you pin one of their images? Probably not – but you must pin with caution.

Let me tell you right now – there is a bad way to pin and a better way to pin. Here is an example of a good pin, followed by an example of a bad pin. It’s the same image pinned in different ways (using one of my own images on my own Pinterest page – since I most likely will not sue myself ):

Here’s a SUPER bad pin (I pulled out all the stops for this one):

The differences may seems small, but they can have a huge impact. Here are some other tips:

1. Credit, credit, credit. Credit your brains out when you pin. Pin from the original source – if you can’t find the original source, seriously re-consider pinning the image at all.

2. If it’s a blog post you are pinning from, pin from the link for that specific post (as opposed to the blog page in general, since newer blog posts will push those images off the main blog page).

3. If you feel the need to, it may not be a bad idea to shoot an email to the photographer/whomever owns the image to ask if it’s okay to pin.

4. Do NOT use the “upload” feature. I know we all have pictures saved to our computers of wedding/decor/etc images that we love and want to share with the world, but trust me, I feel like this will be the single biggest butt-biting (aka things that will end up biting you in the butt) issue. In fact, I think Pinterest should get rid of the upload option altogether – as well as block pinning from all photo sharing sites (such as it does with Facebook).

5. Never, ever, crop or alter a photo.

6. When it doubt, don’t pin. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.

With the exception of the last point, nothing here is foolproof in terms of protection (I’m sure any good lawyer could find loopholes with an emailed consent). Even if a blog has pin it buttons all over the place, you can’t automatically assume pinning from the blog is okay. But you can pin responsibly and drastically decrease the likelihood of anything bad going down in the future.

It’s kind of a kooky story.

The story of Cliff Dwellers begins during the Great Depression, when one Blanche Russell gave up a highly successful dancing career back East to tend to her husband, Bill, who was suffering from tuberculosis. The couple packed up and moved to the Southwest, crossing the recently completed Navajo Bridge across the Colorado River south of Lees Ferry.

The Russells only made it a few more miles, however, before their car broke down near the big rocks. Blanche got it in her head that it wouldn’t be a half-bad place to live and the couple threw up a lean-to of tarpaper and boards against the largest rock. Then, she started serving food to passers-by in return for labor as the house got larger.

Pretty soon, the couple had a full-scale restaurant on their hands and added a hand gasoline pump for some of the earliest motorists to the Canyon’s North Rim. They also catered to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in wagons who were taking the Mormons’ nearby Honeymoon Trail to have their marriages sanctified at the temple in St. George, Utah.

According to author Kay Campbell, who wrote a booklet about the Cliff Dwellers lodges, the Russells sold water they took out of nearby Soap Springs and also sold pigeons out of a coop they kept at the site.

After about a decade, though, Blanche tired of the isolation and sold the structures to a local rancher named Jack Church, who turned the restaurant into a bar during World War II. Then, Art and Evelyn Greene purchased the land in the late ’40s and kept the old dwellings, which then consisted of eight buildings and a gas generator, open until the new Cliff Dwellings Lodge was opened in the early 1950s.

Source.

What makes this story so interesting to me is the concept of just coming across a site of land and claiming it as your own, and then being able to sell that claimed land only 10 years later – you certainly can’t do that nowadays!

Plus there is an actual old model car tipped over and lodged between some rocks on the site. I’m not sure if it’s the actual car the Russells were driving that they just left there, though I believe that’s the assumption.