I had a feeling this photoshoot would be awesome because I’d be playing on my home turf of Williamsburg, Brooklyn… a neighborhood I know well and love. It’s full of grit and good eats and live music and delicious coffee and is dangerously close to Manhattan. What’s not to love? (shh, don’t mention the hipsters! :P)

But when I met Mae and Teddy and they immediately mentioned that they had access to a rooftop nearby, I knew we’d be in for a fantastic afternoon. +1 for that! (Boys, take note: my [arguably stone] heart can be won with the provision of rooftop views, bridge crossings, and kitty cats :D). We had an unobstructed view of Williamsburg and the Manhattan skyline across the river. Oh what I wouldn’t give to live in a building with this kind of view!

 

From there, we headed down to the waterfront to Grand Ferry Park, a spot Mae and Teddy had picked out beforehand for our shoot. We had it all to ourselves for the first half of our time there. They thought it’d be cute to try to get some photos of them blowing bubbles with gum, which it totally was! :)



On the way back from the park, we passed by so much cool street art and graffiti that I had to stop and have them pose for me. Mae and Teddy were more than willing to oblige, and I love them for this! :D

We had a bit of time to kill before the restaurant opened (this was the 2nd location they had picked out), so they asked me if I liked coffee. Do I! Not only do I like coffee, but I’m a proud coffee snob and refuse to drink it from chains like Starbucks (gross!). So I was thrilled when they took me to Oslo, an independent coffee shop in the neighborhood that I hadn’t been to in ages. They totally get points for that! And of course, we’ve gotta have the latte/engagement ring shot:



We hung out at Teddy’s store, Boundless, for a bit with our drinks before heading off to dinner at Sui Ren, their favorite Japanese restaurant. We were able to do a quick shoot inside before people started showing up to eat. Gosh, what a cute place! Definitely a great place for a date, that’s for sure.

And then… a remarkable thing happened. I have this weird thing about me, where I have irrational aversions to certain things. Case in point: I refuse to watch Star Wars. Absolutely refuse. People have tried to convince me otherwise (sometimes even by coercion) but to no avail. See, I KNOW it’s irrational – and believe me, I am typically a VERY rational person… just not with a few select things, I guess. Well, I also refuse(d) to eat Japanese food. There’s just something about the noodles and the sushi, I don’t know… it just doesn’t appeal. So I stay far, far away from Japanese restaurants.

But obviously I couldn’t turn down dinner with Mae and Teddy, so I took a deep breath and hoped there’d be something I wouldn’t mind eating. I let them order for me, and we all ended up splitting a bunch of platters. Green tea, ok. Edamame, check. Steamed pork bun, well I’ve had that at dim sum (amazing!). I had all sorts of things on skewers, some shrimp, some veggies, I don’t even know what anything was called. And bite by bite, my irrational hatred for Japanese food diminished. I’ve never felt so full and satisfied after a meal in my life! I can’t believe I’ve been missing out on this for all this time (this always happens after I get over my stupid aversions).

So Mae and Teddy will forever have a place in my life as the ones who taught me to like Japanese food. If I was actually still keeping track of how many points they won from me, they’d be off the chart at this point. I had such a blast hanging out with them all afternoon, tagging along with them on a “day in their life” in the neighborhood where they met and now live in. They’re going to be on a tv show called ‘Get Married’ on WE TV, so they’re gonna be busy filming that, not to mention planning for their upcoming wedding :) Check out their story at the Ultimate Wedding Contest and vote for them!

Thanks, guys! And congrats again! :D

I had the pleasure of attending a wedding open house at Bubby’s this week. For those who aren’t savvy, Bubby’s is a restaurant and event space in the most fantastic NYC location, nestled between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges on the Brooklyn side in Dumbo (though they have a Manhattan location too). I can’t imagine a better view at a wedding reception, nor a better area for outdoor wedding shoots. Seriously, look at this view of the Brooklyn Bridge:

 
Bubby’s also knows how to put on a great event! They set up tables around both floors and selected some of Brooklyn’s most talented wedding vendors to come and display their work. It was so inspiring to talk to them all and see their fantastic products. Check them out!:

Artesanal Sweets | Natascha had the most beautiful cupcake display I’ve ever seen! I must have taken at least 100 photos of her table. Her PB&J cupcakes are to die for! And her cookies are decorated with edible glitter!

Bona Angela Design | table runners, hanging lanterns, vases, and votives

Root Stock & Quade | plants, flowers, gardens

 
This is the view of the Manhattan Bridge from Bubby’s:

Fine & Raw | their mission is to “save the world through silliness and chocolate” – raw chocolate, that is!

NY Ceremony Music | a cello and guitar duo

Four Strokes of Brooklyn | Michelle makes gorgeous invitations, save the date cards, place cards, seating charts, and other paper designs for events.

Our Ketubah | Elyse creates “custom-designed, hand-painted artwork and limited-edition prints for marriage contracts, wedding vows, and other special day commemoratives”.

EmersonMade | They believe in “celebrating the uniqueness of the individual, the joy of being alive and all the smallness that makes up the Big Beautiful” and make hand dyed/stitched accessories such as flowers to wear at weddings.

Lion in the Sun | specializes in invitations

Brooklyn Rehab | Alyssa had the cutest display of crafts based on a four-season theme. She’s all about taking old, vintage, abandoned and found objects and giving new life and meaning to them. It definitely makes for some super creative wedding decorations!

Nicole and Vish are all sorts of awesome. I loved them pretty much the second we met; I loved them for picking a non-cliche location for our shoot; I loved them even more for wanting to find a way down onto the rocks below the fence to pose beneath the RFK bridge:

You’re probably not supposed to be down beneath the walkway, but I’m all about going the extra mile for a good photo – even if it means rule-bending or getting dirty. And I love it when I get to work with people of a similar mindset. You can’t tell, but those rocks were so slippery! And it was a wee bit chilly down by the water too, but they gladly pranced around in front of my camera without their jackets. Such troopers!

And just when I thought they couldn’t possibly get any awesomer… they broke into an impromptu snowball fight! I swear, I never ask my subjects to start such shenanigans – they’re just that awesome that they do it on their own!

But oh wait, they get even more awesome! Nicole and Vish like making faces and being goofy! Being the self-proclaimed Queen of Faces, I appreciated this immensely! Nicole did her Lady GaGa face (not pictured in this post, sadly) and Vish did the ‘Blue Steel’ (Zoolander) pose. I had to try to control my laughter so I could work my camera, but man were they funny.

It may be late February, but today felt like the start of spring. Bright, sunny, melting snow, and not so terribly cold that I could actually get away with not wearing my winter jacket for the first time in 2+ months. Amazing! I took advantage of the lovely weather by biking into the city to check out the parade for Chinese New Year. I had made the decision NOT to be there for the start of it because being stuck in massive crowds and waiting around is essentially my idea of hell. Instead I just wandered around Chinatown in the aftermath, catching parts of the tail-end of the parade as it made its way through town, but mostly just people watching. And by people watching, I mostly mean watching little kids throw down poppers that make a loud cracking noise. I especially love all the color at these festivals… it made me go a little camera crazy!

 
I spotted a little modeling going on in one of the side streets as the parade was passing by in the background. The whole scene looked like this:

Last weekend I had the pleasure of meeting Kimberly and Aaron, a lovely couple from Virginia who’ve been living in the NYC area for several years now. They actually live across the river in NJ, right around my old stomping grounds (when I used to work over there). I’m so envious of the spectacular view they must have of the NYC skyline!

But oh boy was it a cold day! I felt so bad having them cross the Brooklyn Bridge in less-than-optimal weather conditions, but they were such troopers and didn’t even seem to mind.

Of all the times I’ve traversed NYC bridges, this was my first time doing it in snow. And how much do I love when my subjects start an impromptu snowball fight? So fun! :)

Once we got off the bridge, the cold was a bit more bearable. We had a bit more fun at Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park, between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges, with the ground completely covered in snow. And what better way to follow up their first traverse of the Brooklyn Bridge than by experiencing the famous Grimaldi’s pizza? Sounds like a pretty perfect day to me! :)