Image of the day...

I love this shot!

Avoid U.S. Airways....

As I was about to board a flight today they closed the doors on me...
They said that they had a "weight" restriction and that I had to take the next flight!!!! Unbelievable.

It was not like I was a standby or anything. I was a full paying customer.

All they said was "sorry"
Once!
Of course the later flight was delayed and I spent the whole day at the airport.

The plane I flew reminded me of the Austrian Arrows episode of Ze Frank's blog.
It was not a fun day today.

Looking forward to tomorrow's wedding though!! I'm upstate in a Vineyard with heavy snowfall expected!!!!!!!

Sunday might be another full day at the airport though.

Images of the day... inspired by Fellini

These shots were inspired by Fellini's 8 1/2 .
Actually by one particular short scene...

I'm wondering if anyone knows which one-
It lasts only a few seconds.
But it is beautiful; Perfect.

Image of the Day... Jewish Orthodox Wedding

This was truly an amazing and unique experience...
I will share more from this wedding over the course of the week.

Image of the day... Gotham Hall

First Dance...

-----

A few days ago I saw Crash for the first time... All I have to say is that EVERYONE should watch this movie.
Made me realize how life is such an amazing experience even with all our misunderstandings.

Angel Orensanz for Two (II)

More pics from this "unique" wedding...
Thanks again to Mel!

Angel Orensanz for Two

This was an amazing wedding I shot with my good friend Mel Barlow.

No Guests.
Just the Bride and the Groom at the Angel Orensanz Foundation.

...Any questions you may have about this unique (to say the least) wedding should be directed to Mel! ; )

Image of the day, The Cava Times 2.0

Starting today, The Cava Times is changing management.

As many of you are aware the managerial style of the last team was lax, to say the least...

The new team is bringing in "Fundamental Restructuring (FR)" to this blog. As the term (FR) implies, the changes are not radical just more in step with a more modern 21st century blog (never mind that blogs were invented in this century).
We will now post at least once every two days, if not daily, but will focus on sharing one image, so as to stay focused on the artistry and appreciation of such said image.
We hope that this new format will make the reader appreciate the image more profoundly and want to come back on a daily basis.
We will however, continue to write entries in the first person as we hope it will make this blog more "personal" and you feel more connected to our stories.
thank you,
Sincerely,

The new Cava Times Management!

It's been a while...

... since I last posted.
I've been shooting non-stop and now I am working on the post-production full time. I just wanted to post a new pic that I am preparing to submit to a contest...
what do you all think????

The Details...

The details are not the details.
They make the product.

-Charles Eames
Designer

Photobooth... with Saris???

Kruti and Vipin (B&G) can't stop dancing...

Even though we don't have time for games at cavaweddings...
The photobooth seems to just keep asking for them!




The Cavaweddings crew hard at work...

With Floridian vacationer

With Bride and Groom

With Phil Mantas and Dasha Wright

Special thanks to Phil Mantas and Dasha Wright for coming to shoot this wedding with us!






-----------------------------------For more images click here ----------------------------------------


Or on the next Image...






_

Ubah...

Ubah from Click Models

Ubah has to be one of my favorite models this year.
She has a winning personality that is so upbeat that it's hard to keep up... and add to that her physical traits...
But what really won me over was wwhen our friend Lindsey from Bandwagon Productions asked her why she was always so happy and optimistic about everything.
She said (with a smile)

"You have to be when you're an immigrant!"

How great is that???

I'm glad she is our friend now.






These are just some tests shots before our actual shoot. Those will be shown soon.

Diversity...

My passion for photography does not end in wedding photography...
I love fashion and editorial photography just as much. I just haven't had time to pursue it much over the last two years...

VC28 is making it possible to go back to this.

-As always, one of the most important rules for me/us is to have fun while doing our job. For this particular job we rented a convertible to go to Coney Island and had a great day... and got some amazing shots!!!!-

I hope you all agree!






All shots by Victor Affaro and I.
This shoot was done for a Dance/Art magazine.
Thanks to Bandwagon productions for making this shoot such a success!
Oh and thanks to our Mini Cooper convertible for making it so much fun to get to Coney Island... and get wet because our top wouldn't work!!!

Developing a "style"...

Eric (an amazing fashion photographer) and his beautiful stylist bride -start off the session!

When I began shooting weddings I really wanted to shoot them under my own perspective and hopefully by doing this, I would bring a unique style to wedding photography, or at the very least to the weddings I would shoot under my name...

Over the last several weeks I have been adamant about going back to this and working hard on developing a style that is truly unique...
I have been shooting constantly all summer long...
Weddings every weekend and fashion on weekdays...
Finally, I feel I am getting closer.
These are definitely exciting times...

My photobooth has been extremely popular since it's launch, probably because it was very different to the photobooths that weddings photographers set up. I am in no way saying it is better, just unique and different.
Truly a Cavaweddings photobooth.
And now it comes in different backgrounds!!!!
enjoy!

This has to be my favorite "family portrait" of all time!!!!

Victor and I loving what we do!

I will hopefully have the time to post more often now...
There is so much new and amazing images to share.
I have to thank two people who over the last several weeks have taken the time to give me some invaluable advice and have been there while I made some very important decisions that will affect the way I shoot and handle my business.
Of course one of those is my inseparable photography partner Victor!
And thank you Mel Barlow there is no doubt that I wouldn't shoot the way I shoot without having the inspiration that your photography gives me! (-check out her site... like a friend of mine said: "it's nasty!")

VII and Workshops

In my opinion the core of wedding photography, more than the great angles, posed portraits, fashion like settings, is photojournalism.
Well I am so excited to know that in October, I will be taking a five day intensive workshop with what many believe to be the best photojournalists in the world!


After September 11, 2001 seven of the top photojournalists got together to form one of the most prestigous photographic agencies:

VII

The agency now is composed of nine members and is compared to Magnum constantly, with news agencies and corporations all over the world buying images and hiring them to shoot everything from wars to ad campaigns! You can read more about them by clicking here.
To find out about their workshops you can click here.

FRUSTRATIONS!!!

The DROBO machine is much too slow and now my computer is going haywire. I have had the hardest day! It seems like all my settings and much of my personal info has disappeared from my computer... I'm trying to see if I can somehow recoup my e-mails on this computer....
Fortunately all my images and files ares still where they should be and thank goodness I use .mac and sync constantly....
I'll keep you all updated.

The Coello's and coincidences...

Sometime last year I called up one of my favorite design stores (Design Within Reach) to ask about buying some Aeron chairs.
Lucky me that Cortney answered the phone...
It didn't take long to find out I was a wedding photographer ; )
... Skip to several days later and I had an industrial design guru and a photographer as future clients!
Yes, Carlos (coincidence?) is also a photographer.

These guys are cool.
But not above anything, just down to earth.
I even asked them to pose for some really, really, really cheesy shots -just for fun- and they played their role to the T.
And you guys should see their apartment. Very DWR.

As with most weddings, everything didn't go as planned but they just kept on smiling and having a good time.
The icing on the cake for me was when I saw that they had a band that played Salsa!!!

Cheers guys!!!
See you both soon!


Enjoy!

(Shot with an infrared D70 with grain added later)

As always please be patient while the slideshow loads! And don't forget to lower the volume -also, sorry about the music... I have no choice in the matter-...




I want to also thank Allan Zeppeda for coming and shooting this wedding with me!

ps. Cortney will be my first bride to do a "trash the dress" session. Any ideas????