-The LVHRD crew

had their party at the studio tonight. To be invited to a LVHRD party you have to be on the "specially" selected guest list; the list then gets a text message 4 hours prior to the event telling them where the "secret" location of the party is.


What kind of party is this you ask?
well...

Imagine lots of dancing and blow up dolls

The guest list is so exclusive that Pedro came to the party...

even amateurs are welcome...

especially chicken dancers!

The cowboys and indians are left on the sidelines though...

The show and party are so entertaining that even my good friend Michael Conlon the "director of operations" here at the studio stayed for the show (my friends get the VIP view from the loft)
Over 200 people came to the party but only one came up to me to praise my red tuxedo shirt (it's a lot cooler than what you are imagining... really) so here is a picture of my new friend Jen the psychologist (whom truth be told has great taste!).

And here is La Presidenta of the 10th floor association Miss Lipton playing with herself.

A NEW YORK WEDDING...

"Do you think that if we gave you two and a half hours to shoot some fun pictures around midtown we would get some nice shots?" Remie and Oliver said to me.
-They had me at hello.

"our first dance is a salsa song... We've been taking classes"
-Again they had me at hello.

A week before the wedding they wanted to have brunch with me to go over the photography for the wedding.
I was theirs!
How could I not love these guys?
Every meeting was great and I felt more and more connected to them and their wedding. And during the wedding the maid of honor said to me that even though it was halfway through the wedding day she felt like she had known me for the longest time. Well I felt like they were all friends of mine.

Funny enough, I thought that since most of our correspondence was handled by Remie that she would be the picture seeker.
But Oliver has a deep secret that was unveiled that day....



Well the shoot around midtown went so well that several people at Grand Central came up to me to ask me if this was a real wedding or if it was for a magazine!






Another beautiful church to add to my list:



The first dance gets underway:


They even had time for games!

Thank you Remie and Oliver for being such great sports. The whole around town session is now one of my favorites and I tell all my newest clients about it!!! It was truly quite the experience!

-Jesus was here!

Well, sort of.
You see, many months ago my friend Steve Chappell met Oliver Stone for the first time. It was at an audition, an audition where Oliver Stone upon seeing him said:
"So Jesus, are you going to do something miraculous like levitate or walk on water?" And Steve, being Steve (or Jesus?), aptly and with a smile replied:
"I thought I'd just radiate pure love!"

I guess it's no surprise that a couple of months later, Steve is being congratulated, - and hugged - by Oliver Stone at the end of shooting his Jesus scene... He had been that good!
So... Depending on how you see things... Jesus was here!
Here is a quote from a review of Stone's film WTC:
"In what may be the film's most striking image, a vision of Christ appears to Jimeno..." Time, July 31, 2006
Congratulations Steve!
-Steve (Jesus) celebrates and radiates pure love. ©2006 Carlos A. Varela Photography : )

-Moms are THE GREATEST...Happy Anniversary!

"Have you seen Carlos Andres' newest ad? It's so beautiful!" my mom tells my sister over the phone... (Mom's are the greatest, really)
"Mom, it's not an ad. It's a Blog!" Grace says.
"a what?"...

My Mom loved my "Buena Vista" post. She loved it because she said she felt she connected with the wedding and how it showed much of our Latin culture and our love for dancing...
Oh the Dancing...
You see my mom loves to dance; she can't have enough of it. If she were to start a blog she would post a daily entry where she would detail which particular songs she danced on that day, be assured.
I also think she loved the B.V. entry because in a way it reminded her of her wedding which took place about two years ago. But instead of marrying a Canadian as Maria did, she chose a crazy, long haired, earring wearing, Harley Davidson riding, DJ extraordinaire, gringo. -Now that I think about it- maybe the only similarities between the two weddings was the dancing and the Spanish; being that he wore a pink tux shirt and a red bowtie to the wedding, and he decided to DJ the event himself...

Dan has turned out to be a wonderful father, husband, stepdad and an invaluable source for getting the latest lounge/buddha bar music and we are very lucky to have had him join our family.

And Dan -you are extremely lucky to have been able to sweep my mother off her feet with your dance moves (literally- see example below) and used your ye-ne-se-qua charm to make her fall in love with you!

I love you both very much.

Happy 2nd Anniversary!!!

-My newest poll

If you you were to vote tomorrow, which candidate would you most likely favor?*

A

B

C

*This poll is being conducted for research purposes only. Please be aware that many of you will not qualify to vote. Inclusion of the winning picture in my portfolio will ultimately be decided by last minute recounting. Thank You.

A BUENA VISTA WEDDING

The Acustilocos, one of the best weddings bands I have heard, get the party started!

The soundtrack to Buena Vista Social Club has one of my favorite songs of all time:
"El Carretero" -a song which was picked as the official song of Cali, Colombia's famous Feria de Cali in the early 70's. Not only do I love that song but it reminds me of my childhood, and more importantly of my parents.

On July 3rd of this year, it was playing in the hotel room where Maria was getting ready. I never imagined I would be hearing this song or even this album on any one of my clients' wedding day. But Maria and her parents had asked me to put on some music while the preparations were going on...
This was to be my first Latin wedding, and Jason, Maria, and her family made me feel like I was back home. It felt good.
It was beautiful wedding day in every sense.
and the grand finale was without a doubt a grand fiesta...
and the dancing... oh the dancing...

I would say that the playing of that soundtrack
was a foreshadowing of things to come because to me
this wedding felt very cinematic...

and the dancing!!!

-A mayor proclamation!

On a deceptively regular Tuesday (the second of this month) the mayor of the city of New York, Michael R. Bloomberg, delivered in the form of an official document, a proclamation:

-It is hereby be known that today, Tuesday the 8th of august.... (Very official stuff continued)... shall be known as "Pokemon day"!!!!

*For liability reasons I must now clarify that:
1- The person pictured above (Hulk Hogan)
is/was not the mayor's spokesperson
2- Most likely was hired by Pokemon himself

Given the excitement and buzz surrounding this day, I was hired to document it in its full glory. Here are some excerpts:

Here the Hulkster is kind enough to give me one of his signature looks:

Kelly Rippa and family worry about my safety... literally.
-I was standing on the platform edge fighting off other photographers
in order to get a good picture of them...-

Here I am angry at myself for not knowing who the Rippa's were,
and for not getting a magazine-worthy shot of them:

EARLIER TODAY...

Two visitors came to my studio to view the wedding pictures I had taken of their wedding several weeks ago.

-Susan and Joe- How had I met them?

Joe, who works for New York magazine (a magazine to which at the beginning of this year I paid a ransom to advertise in - the 2006 summer wedding issue in case you were wondering! -), ironically did not find me through my ad! When I told him about the irony of this, he, in the manner of a true gentleman, right away said:
"Thank you for helping to indirectly pay for my salary"
I sensed his smile at the other side of the line...

I didn't meet Joe or Susan until the actual wedding day but, just like our initial phone conversation, the wedding was fun and many times extremely humorous... (I must say that Joe's mom was just as quick witted as her son and having her company at different times throughout the wedding really made my day!)

-I think all wedding photographers get a bit nervous when they first show the pictures to their clients...Welll, at least I do. - however, Susan's reaction (or reactions in this case) when she came upstairs and finally started seeing the pictures, are what every wedding photographer dreams about... the excitement, the cries, the questions, the comments they were all there... as soon as the slide show started she took over my chair and did not bat an eye from the monitors for the entire hour-long visit.
When Joe told her it was time to leave she said:
"But I haven't seen all 450 pictures yet"!
Joe immediately looked at me and we burst out laughing.
Not wanting to leave? That's definitely a good sign.
You guys are definitely welcome at my studio anytime!

The wedding took place at Columbia University, which, in my opinion, has one of the most beautiful churches in nyc:

I have more if anyone wants to see them!

This next image is one of my favorites from this wedding (taken just before Joe walked down the aisle).

The smiles just kept on coming!

-Rules!

Well, I tried to start this blog a couple of weeks ago but never found the time to post again until now. I hope I can be disciplined this time.
since so much has happened this summer I will post many things from the past. There's no harm in that right?
rules:
1. Keep it short
2. Post at least one image in every entry I make
3. Don't keep it only photography related
4. Try to keep to the rules!

For my first image I've decided to post a picture of an event I worked earlier this summer. It was for "Le Tigre"-the next lacoste, at least that's what they'd like.... It was great getting together with some old friends.
the cool thing about this event was that everyone received free polo shirts, converse shoes and wristbands! wristbands? It was the first time I ever tried on wristbands and I only have one question -why?

-To blog?

-I say why not!