Yervant, Contests and Las Vegas...

As George Constanza once said:
"I am speechless... I am... without... speech."


This morning as I browsed through the subject lines of my e-mails I read one that said: "Congratulations!"
...I wondered.
Could it be????
Naw. No way...
"It's just an e-mail congratulating me for making it into the top five, but that unfortunately my picture wasn't selected..."- I thought.
So I waited to open it, paced, made a phone call, held off until I could no longer.
-Here is what I saw:


I had won!
----
I would like to thank....
Everyone!!!
---
:)
---
Las Vegas here I come!!!
-(for more info on the contest look for the Yervant entry below)

Fashion, Romeo & Juliet and Victor Affaro...

On what seemed like a sunny day at the start of last summer I walked into the offices of Showroom 7 here in Manhattan. I was there to meet with the owner, to show her my portfolio, and to hopefully walk out with an ad campaign contract...
It was one of those New York moments... she flipped through the book, made some comments and thanked me for coming by.
I thought I lost the job.
But the agent in charge said "she liked you. I think you got it."
what?
My very own big ad campaign!
Several days later, I received the call to tell me I had the job!!!
And the pressure was on:
MTV was to be there, it was a tie-in with a movie (Downtown, will which will premier sometime this year) and I had to use actors instead of models.
Click here for the MTV segment.



------------
These are exciting times, indeed...

One of my best friends, Victor Affaro (a reknowned photographer in his native Brazil -click here for some of his magazine work-) finally kept his promise to come and live in New York...

We had met a while back at the International Center of Photography (ICP) while taking the same fashion photography classes. We quickly became good friends and found out that we shared similar goals and thought alike visually, but most importantly we had the same passion for art and photography, especially when it came to fashion photography. During this time we worked on several projects together, and felt that we definitely made a good team. (It seems there is a magazine interested in publishing our first collaboration!...)
So we have decided to form a photography team... but
we now face a daunting task:

In the world of...
-fashion photography, there is: Mert and Marcus,
-in fashion: Dolce & Gabbana,
-in wedding photography: The Boutwells,
-in cartoons: Tom and Jerry, Ren and Stimpy
-in the acting world: Brangelina, TomKat

What shall we name ourselves?

Surprises...Contests and Yervant

One of my new year's resolutions was to enter more wedding contests and submit "real" weddings to bridal magazines...
Up to now I have only entered one contest, one where only one image could be submitted. I actually forgot about it, that is, until today. The contest prize is to get a personal portfolio review by one of the world's most famous wedding photographers: Yervant, at the biggest wedding trade show in the world, which of course takes place in Las Vegas.
There will be vendors, seminars, classes, workshops, exhibitions etc...
Well the contest goes something like this:
Yervant personally chooses his 5 favorite images as finalists. Then the members of the Digital Wedding Forums (the company that organizes the trade show) will choose their favorite...
Well, guess what?



No, no I haven't won... yet.
But today I received an e-mail where I was told that I had made it to the final five!!!!
I couldn't help but share this news with you all, today ( I hope I'm not jinxing myself). I'm just very excited...I guess I have to go to Vegas now (even if you don't win you still get to meet Yervant and attend the portfolio review).
...
I wonder where I left my tuxedo.

And Danielle... what a nice surprise huh?
to see more pics from this wedding go here.


Oh yeah, keep your fingers crossed y'all!

An update and Zefrank....

Today I received a comment from Kristin on the "Eternal Youth..." entry, and I wanted to share it with you all:

"I noticed that you have posted about Aveeno's Fountain of Youth and Julian Beever's newest creation, and I thought you would be interested in seeing how he does it.
My agency recently worked with Julian to create the “Fountain of Youth” in Union Square in NYC a few weeks ago. We recorded a video of how he works and posted it on YouTube. You can check it out here.
It’s the first video we’ve seen produced of how he creates his amazing pavement drawings. Check it out, see what you think, and pass it along if you like it."
I thought it was fascinating and I am glad Kristin brought this to my attention. Thanks!

And now one of my new favorite blog/video links:
The show with Zefrank.
The random connections he makes are just like the ones in the "Death, taxes and... spam" video Le Grand Content. Click on the big duck for the newest entry, but definitely watch the first one.
Enjoy!

My own Space!!!

So I finally did it! I got my own Myspace page!!!
I know, I know... it's about time, but I just never liked the layout so right now it's in what I like to call the "beta" stages... I don't know much html, but I hate the fact that myspace is full of so much clutter... so I've been copying and pasting code from other sites and profiles in order to make it better but I definitely need help...
any takers?
For the "beta" myspace page click here.


Cavaweddings, cavaportraits, cavarts, the blog, myspace, and my studio are being updated, redesigned, and renovated! It's a lot of work and not everything will be done at once but there is much new and I don't want to ruin all the surprises so come back often to get the latest!



I am including in this entry a few of the new things coming. A sneak peak, if you will.

Hands and Feet...

How fitting.

I found this commercial in one of the many design sites I search through weekly... I've always loved Guinness commercials but this one may be my favorite: Hands
-if the link does not work go here.
Make sure you watch the full commercial as well (A reward is offered to any of my wordly readers who can get me the name of the song!!!).


This site has changed my New York life since I stumbled into it a few days ago... It taught me how to tie a shoelace that still feels and looks like a knot but will not come undone...If you've ever hung out with me you while I am wearing sneakers you know that this is a godsend. I still have to try the other 17 methods. I am especially curious about the "fastest knot"...
The shoelace site.

Westminster, Pennsylvania and Rufus

Across from Madison Square Garden lies the Pennsylvania Hotel. It is a very old hotel, in fact it is in urgent need of renovation. So I was not very surprised that when I was headed to my studio on Sunday afternoon I saw a great influx of dogs coming in and out of the hotel...


A dog hotel!
Genius!
The decrepit old Pennsylvania needed an angle, something catchy...
Only in New York I thought, only in New York.

I know, I know. I shouldn't have been surprised. But when I saw the hotel sign welcoming contestants to the Westminster 2007 Dog show, I couldn't help but feel disappointed. I mean this is New York! We need a dog hotel!

I still couldn't resist going in though. Once inside, dogs of all shapes and sizes were meeting and greeting each other, seemingly not bothered by the fact that their owners let anyone and everyone photograph them...
While shooting one of these perfect examples of a canine, an owner asked me:
"do you know who this (dog) is?"
-Excuse me?
"This is Rufus! the best of show from last year!"
-oh right, how could I forget?
-Nice doggy.

Rufus. Best of show 2006

Talking to some of the dog owners and fans, I learned a lot about the show world. It's quite fascinating. The dogs are divided into seven categories, categories which include such groupings as "working class" and "toy" (dogs)!
Rumor has it that this year a bored oil magnate (I wonder where he could be from?) has spent over half a million promoting his "dog" (are they still called dogs at this point?).






P.S. Anyone interested in investing in a "LUXURY Dog Hotel" here in NYC? I'm now taking bidders...

New Focus: Sharing & Education.

Ever since I began writing this blog I have received e-mails here and there where I am asked technical questions related to my equipment and/or my images...I have never minded sharing but I never thought that so many people wanted to know more...
Several months ago I began, at the request of a client, to give private classes. I agreed because I thought it would be something I would really enjoy. And I have... now I am being asked more and more for this. I am realizing that digital is very confusing for the uninitiated or for those who have only shot with film cameras or digital point and shoots.
With this in mind and because so many want to know, I will try to include more technical data and information about my images (If for some reason I don't, or forget to, and you'd like some more specific details, feel free to send me an e-mail).
I will include a list of some of my equipment on the right side column, which I hope you will find useful...


So to start off, I want to share this amazing video produced by Canon which details all the work that goes into creating its lenses. I hope you enjoy it and learn much from it... ( have patience when downloading though, it takes a while).
Click here.


I'm also, lately, wanting to not just share my images, but also random stuff that I run across on the internet; mostly related to New York, photography, design and the arts. I hope you all enjoy them as much as I do.

Aramire in Carnegie!!!

A few weeks ago I met a very interesting woman at my studio.
She had white dreads and carried a satchel.

She told me about her life and about her passions.
She told me about traditional Pizzica music and about a group named Aramire.
She told me about how they were coming to NY to play at Carnegie Hall.
She asked me if I could photograph the event...


I smiled...

I had to shoot from the back with no flash and a cloth on the camera to lessen the noise

No dancing allowed! But sometimes...
(85mm f1.2 lens)

I am the luckiest new yorker, I get to live my dreams everyday....
I now know how to dance the pizzica version of Tarantella and admire the music of Aramire.
New York and photography, I can't be thankful enough.


Dance for Joy.

Good 'ol Microsoft

Check out this cool Ipod parody:



Now, rewatch it and replace the Ipod with Apple's current operating system (OS X)... and voila! you'd get Microsoft's new operating system, "Vista" (except it would be a Microsoft product and you know what that means...)!

oh yeah, full disclosure due here:
I don't work for Apple.

I just own about 4 Macs that's all.

:)

Eternal Youth...

Last week my good friends at Eventage called me up for yet another one of their crazy promotions. Aveeno was to be unveiling their newest product derived from... the Eternal Fountain of Youth!
Incredible! Unbelievable! You say.
But it's true...

security of course was tight...

Big security man

Obviously, this being New York, even the fountain of youth needs to be promoted over and over again. And who better to do this than this big ominous and imposing man:

Big Ominous announcer

Even the press made it out. Although it seems that they all decided to send just one person to represent them all:

the highlight of the day was the actual depiction of the fountain of youth, drawn by no other than the very famous 3d chalk artist Julian Beever:

Even my friend Clay Enos (who by the way is one of my favorite photographers/bloggers) who has seen it all could not resist coming to the ceremony and joining in on the festivities:

Clay "take pictures" Enos

Death, Taxes and...

spam.
Who
would've
thought....

oh.
Kogler!





click here.

I'm Back!!!

Hey everyone I'm finally back from some traveling and things are finally starting to settle down for me. I have many stories and interesting things to show everyone in the next couple of days, but for now I just want to share one of my favorite moments of the last few weeks...
A few weeks ago I was coming back from a trip to Maine, and took a bus from Massachusetts to New York(those that know me well know that I live for traveling especially if I can do it by land).
And it is when you have so much time that you take the time to meet people, even if you don't really set out to do so. I just wanted to watch a movie on my Macbook but my seatmate kept staring at me and my computer. I figured he just wanted to watch it as well... so I put the captions on. He stopped looking... Strange.
So I decided to tell him that it was cool, but it turns out he wasn't interested in the movie after all... he just wanted to talk. And at first I could not believe what I was hearing:
he was a Sherpa(!!!!!!!),
and one that had climbed Everest 5 times.
5 times!!!!!!!!!!!

Migma Gelu Sherpa, my new friend!

"Well, it's good" he says "but my older sister has done it 6 times. 6 times!!!! Oh yeah, did I mention that my youngest sister became the youngest girl to climb Everest at...

15!" he says with a smile. 15!!!!!!

Ever since I had read John Krakauer's book "Into Thin Air" (short magazine story here) I had admired any all Sherpa's and for a brief nanosecond I wanted to climb Everest (a bit more dangerous apparently than your standard hike). I never thought I would ever meet one much less be sitting next to one. So I was not about to pass this opportunity up.
Some fun stuff he shared with me (basically I became like a little kid and didn't stop with the questions):
-his company only charges $24,000 to guide you up there. Krakauer did mention how some companies charge over 60K.
-He was caught in an avalanche with two other people... only he survived. And that was because he landed near the top. He went on to climb the next year.
-He tried to climb all the way to the top without an oxygen mask one year... said it's too crazy and almost impossible.
-His favorite climb was when he went with one of his sisters and a brother.
-He was learning how to read and write for the first time.
-Has friends all over the world which he sometimes visits.
-Rescued a very famous Mexican climber who has yet to write to him after arriving back in Mexico.
-Plans on going up a few more times but does not think he will ever be close to climbing as much as the current record holder (15 times) who is a short stocky superman that plans on climbing this year as well.


-Said he will keep in touch!

Oh the places you'll see...
the people you'll meet.

Let's dance for joy.

DESTINATION: PHILADELPHIA!

I remember when this beautiful bride...


was just a bridesmaid...

summer 2005!

Oh how quickly they grow up!!!

I can't even begin to tell you all how happy I was when I received a call from Danielle asking me to photograph her wedding! Not only had she been a bridesmaid in one of my most defining and sentimentally favorite weddings but she was to also have it in Philadelphia, a favorite city of mine to photograph in...
When we first arrived Danielle and her family were in such a great mood and they greeted us so well that it was a bit daunting... I think we got offered drinks about 20 times in the first 10 minutes!
From the outstart I was entertained by the Dicerbo's and their humor. Danielle made me laugh so hard when I first started shooting when she noticed how her dad would always smile and and look at the camera every time I would point it in his direction, and seeing that I didn't say anything to him, she just went ahead and blurted out "Dad! stop posing...it's supposed to be candid"! (everyone laughed... even dad)
Ah, but his smile never disappeared... you could tell he was extremely happy...and very, very proud.
And who wouldn't be? Danielle looked SPECTACULAR!
Stunning, I think is the word her French groom Bertrand used. Damn those French and their gift with words...
What great people, I am very happy to have met you all especially Danielle, her family, and her really cool Bertrand!

Despite the fact that this was to be my first nighttime wedding ( not something to be taken lightly) I think we were able to get some really spectacular photos and some amazing moments.
I hope you all agree!


















If you would like to see more pictures, there is a SLIDESHOW presentation here (please have patience while it loads and be careful with your volume).


Maria Mayer and Amber Johnson thanks for coming along with me!
PS. Heather and Joe (and Debbie) Thank you again for such a wonderful first wedding in Philadelphia. It has brought me many great moments, images and weddings, it is like I said in the post, a sentimental favorite.
PS2. And of course thank you my dearest Cynthia for always recommending and believing in me!

Slideshows

If you have been following my blog you probably noticed that I started adding slideshows to my entries...
-'bout time (I can hear some of you say).
In the online news world, slideshows have been going on for a while. However, instead of just having music accompany their images they add narration (think NPR but with pictures). The main differences between a traditional slideshow -like the ones that I and most people make- and a news centered photojournalistic one is that there is narration and a story line... not just a timeline.
As shamelessly self promoting as this blog is, this entry will not make reference to any particular slideshow or picture of mine. In fact, the slideshow I want you all to view is somewhat different than most, it is presented "flip-book"style and although it is reportage, it is a slideshow with no narration...just many story lines.
It is like watching a movie with only the soundtrack playing. Making it, in my view, an incredibly powerful and unique presentation; unique in the sense that you make it your own... it becomes personal, intimate... there is no one there. No one to tell you what, or how, to think, feel or react. No outside voices, just yours...
Listen to the beautiful music as well (I am a big fan of traditional music, especially middle eastern and Persian) see how well they go together...


For the flip-book style presentation of Iraqi Kurdistan by Ed Kashi go here.



Weep for Joy...help others.