Las Vegas...

So I finally made it here. I had no sleep the last week while I tried frantically to finish up selecting the images to include in my portfolio, fixing them and finally sending them out to print with overnight delivery...
I have little internet access (shouldn't this always be included in hotels nowadays?) so I have no time to post updates or even work on my new website...

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It's nice to be able to go out and wear t-shirts again!!!

Darn!...

Just when I thought winter was over...


This was the scene early today at the South Street Seaport. It was freezing...
At this time it is usually packed with tourists. Most flights were cancelled today.
I'm just confused.

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And to add to the confusion, I thought that today was supposed to be Ze Frank's last show. After a year of video bloggging he was supposed to end today.. but it might be tomorrow.

Should I be happy?

I don't know...

But...
I have found someone who can continue to connect the dots for me a la "Le Grand Content" and Ze Frank:
Jessica Hagy's "indexed" blog.

You never know...

What you may find in the streets of New York.

And you have to wonder about people's sense of humor here...

I wonder if I would be included in that statement...

This city is definitely Alice in Wonderland made real.


I'm glad winter is almost over.
Can't wait to wander the streets of New York again...

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"There again was my lost city, wrapped cool in mystery and promise."

-F. Scott Fitzgerald

VC28...

Photography by:
VC28 Victor Affaro & Carlos Andres Varela.
I like the sound of that.
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A few days ago we shot our first team job.
Our setup included tethering our 5d to a Mac...
Shooting this way is great not only because can we check every detail in our images but it really reassures clients when they can immediately see their images.

We have to thank Elvis Solis (our good friend and assistant) and Susan Donoghue (Make-up Artist) making things easier for us.

Elvis

Susan

Sorry, can't show any of the final images yet...

Brad, Samuel and Gladiator...

I have been in movie mode lately...
Not that I've had the time watch any.

A movie being shot on 28th street (on my way to the studio)

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I recently read an interview with Brad Pitt with him describing the movie Babel...
He says:

"The amazing thing is that (Director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu) was trying to talk about communication and jumping to conclusions and misunderstandings without seeing others' point of view..."

It struck me because, I feel this is happening too often in our lives.
Too much jumping to conclusions... too many misunderstandings.

But where would our lives be if not for our dilemmas?
Not that I love having misunderstandings or anything like that : )

Now, Quentin Tarantino's movies are full of erroneous conclusions and misunderstandings but these are the obvious statements of most if not all his movies (I feel). I wanted to share one of my favorite movie moments based on this (and I also wanted to share my love of font based design):
----Caution----- VERY GRAPHIC AND FOUL LANGUAGE ------
No, really.


WhAt do yOu all THink?
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And now, some trivia:


What are the movies referenced?

Here are my guesses (and I hope I'm not making a fool of myself):
-Steamboat Willie, _? , Nosferatu, Metropolis, _?, Sound of Music, _?, Vertigo, _?, _?, 007, Saturday Night Fever, Tron, Predator, Basic Instinct, Alice in Wonderland, Gladiator, Lost in Translation.

Melissa, Andrew... You've got mail!

What if you and someone else's paths cross most of your life, but you never actually met?
What if this someone else is the person of your dreams?

I'll let Melissa illustrate:

"We (Melissa and Andrew) grew up in the same town, went to different schools, but knew and hung out with friends in common. A's(Andrew's) best friend in high-school, who I knew, dated my friend in highschool (they are now married) but A and I don't remember ever meeting each other. Other friends of ours dated each other as well back then, and A's brother was good friends with my boyfriend in highschool. We remember being at the same parties, hanging out at the same places, eating at the same pizza place, deli, but we never actually met...

Andrew went to business school at Hofstra on Long Island from 2003-2005. I went to Law School at Hofstra in 2006.

In 2001, we lived 2 blocks from each other. I studied for the bar exam at Starbucks every day for 2 months. I found out later that the Starbucks was located in A's apartment building. (he was right upstairs!).....

In 2002, we lived 1 block from each other, went to the same bagel place, same cleaners, same pizza place, same wine store, same diner - never met.....

In 2005, we met...

On-line on jdate.

(!)"

You've got to love mom's expression here!

It would make an interesting movie wouldn't you say?

The beautiful emotions and happiness in the wedding were definitely movie worthy. The day was just right except for the freezing cold and I have to give extra special thanks to Melissa for braving it in order to get some amazing shots. The things we'll do for photography!
Andrew I loved that you just rolled with all the punches.
But I have to give my highest regards to grandma...
93 years old and an incredible dancer!!!

Enjoy the pictures!

Look at Grandma!!! At 93!!!

I have to thank Victor Affaro for coming with me and helping me take all these great pictures.
Click here or on the picture below to see the Slideshow presentation (Please lower the volume on your computer and most importantly be patient while it loads... it will be worth it!!!)

Dahlia, trust, experience and Varaff...

Dahlia in an old elevator shaft

The fashion world is so full of it's crazy stories, that I think that no one will ever stop being surprised...
And believe me lack of experience in this particular world can really kill your self-esteem. Let's not even talk about trust...

During one of my first assignments while at ICP, I had gone to one of NY's top modeling agency's looking to find models to "test"...
They asked for my portfolio
-check
They asked for a concept
-check
They asked for a team...
A team whom I trusted,
A team I needed,
My team?... the people I took class with.
-check

Well, this team did not show up on the day of the shoot.
I didn't know what to do...
Dahlia was not happy.
Her bodyguard/boyfriend snarled
her agent told her to go home,
And I?
I stressed out...

But I told her about a great elevator shaft on my rooftop...

----
I never heard from the agency again.
I never called any of my "team" again.
but...
Don't you all think these shots are great?

I'm glad she had brought her boyfriend!

ps. I must have looked really bad holding a camera with one hand and a reflector with another, but as we all know: the means justifies the end... or does it?

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If you were to see these words, what would you think?

-VICCA

-Varaff

I need some honesty here.

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!
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I would like to thank....
Everyone!!!
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:)
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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.



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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.