Ian Lozada: Images and Words

Let me tell you a secret...

2009-09-21T21:01:00.003-04:00

My blog has been relocated to the front page of IanLozada.com... update your links/RSS feed and head there for all the latest news and images from this season!

Check out an album design!

2009-07-15T08:58:00.005-04:00

Thanks so much to everyone who stopped by my booth at the Kentucky Bride show this past Sunday. It was great talking with all of you and hearing about your wedding plans. Congratulations to Rachel Barrett, one of my April 2010 brides, on winning the grand prize of the night at the Castle Post!

Also, let me know if you need a copy of the new issue of Jacki Allen's Kentucky Bride Magazine-- I shot the cover and the bridal fashion shoot inside, and two of my brides are featured in the Real Kentucky Weddings section! If you call now, I'll mail you a copy right away!

Don't forget that our show specials expire soon, but if you mention this blog entry when you contact me, you have until July 31st to reserve your date!

***

I recently put up a full album design over on my Facebook business page. Go take a look!

Reason #135 to Love the Kentucky Derby...

2009-05-03T14:10:00.002-04:00

No, I didn't Photoshop this, and no, I didn't borrow it from someone else. Really.

Ian's Pathetic Playoff Beard: Day 9

2009-04-23T16:24:00.002-04:00

Declan is the only one in the family willing to photographed with me anymore.

With the New York Rangers' 2-1 Game 4 win over the Washington Capitals last night, the Broadway Blueshirts are guaranteed to survive at least to Game 7, and are pretty good bets to advance to the next round to face the Boston Bruins. As a result, my Pathetic Playoff Beard Fund to benefit Anna House currently stands at $74.

Things I've learned/heard so far through this experience:

1. These things itch.
2. Babies like to grab whiskers.
3. My mother asked me how much she'd have to donate to get me to shave it off.
4. I'm pretty sure my oldest daughter is actively rooting against the Rangers at this point. She likes the fact that this money helps other kids have preschool and infant care, but she's not kissing Daddy anytime soon.
5. Being half-Filipino, I still can't grow enough beard to look like I just haven't washed my face yet. Although it grows more on my neck than on my face.
6. I'm a lot more appreciative of the great child care my own kids get. And I'm grateful that unlike the Anna House kids, I'm not having to drop them off at 5AM.

We're still accepting pledges-- you can pledge either to sponsor my attempt to grow something resembling a playoff beard for each day the Rangers are alive, or you can pledge a set amount if you were told there wouldn't be any math. Contact me at Ian@IanLozada.com for info or check the Anna House website for donation information.

For more information about Anna House and the Belmont Child Care Association, please visit BelmontChildCare.org or click here to see the Anna House video.

Wherein Ian Attempts to Grow A Playoff Beard...

2009-04-19T21:59:00.005-04:00

Paul Mara has his playoff beard all year long.

So the New York Rangers (and a few other NHL teams) are having a playoff charity promotion, encouraging fans to grow a playoff beard with the team to benefit Madison Square Garden's in-house charity. Maybe it's because I'm not sure I want to involved with anything called "Beard-A-Thon", but I wanted to do something that fit a little bit better with my interests and that more of my friends across the country might want to be involved with.

Since so many of my friends are either Kentucky-based, parents of small children or, like me, interested in all things horse racing, or some combination of the above, I hit on the idea in conjunction with fellow New York Rangers fan Teresa Genaro of the Brooklyn Backstretch blog, of doing the playoff beard to benefit Anna House, which provides child care to backstretch workers at Belmont Park. Basically, what we're asking you to do is pledge a small amount, a nickel, a dime, a quarter, a dollar for each day that the Rangers stay in the playoffs (which started on Wednesday, April 15th). Since the Rangers won their first two games, your minimum commitment is twelve days, and your maximum commitment (and unfortunately for me, very unlikely-- we're seeded 7th of 8 teams in the Eastern Conference) would be to June 15th (or 62 days).

Now, of course, there's only one problem with this whole thing... I've never been able to successfully grow a beard. So this may get quite comical. Here's what I look like after Day 5 of the experiment:

Oh dear.

***

Please contact me at Ian@IanLozada.com to make your pledge... I'll email you the information on how to make your donation to Anna House so that you get your tax benefit documents. In addition, the person who makes the largest pledge will get a print of my photo of General Quarters winning the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland last week.

Furthermore, any Kentucky or New York based 2009 brides, who make a pledge will get a free two hour photo session with me this spring!

So, if you don't have a hockey rooting interest, hopefully you will now, and we can do some nice things for the kids of the people who make horse racing go for all the rest of us!

Say it with me, kids: Let's go Rangers!

Engagements, engagements, engagements!

2009-04-06T20:41:00.009-04:00

As spring begins to appear in bits and pieces, I've been starting to get the e-sessions going again. I recently had a week where I had four of them, two in Lexington, two in New York. Oddly enough, three of them were for Lexington weddings, however.

I started off on a Tuesday with Heather and Vann, who chose Keeneland, before we moved to downtown Lexington.

The next day, Carlyn and Scottie met me at the UK Arboretum, followed by Jacobsen Park.

After a travel day, I was back in New York, and Sunday afternoon, Julia and Vlad (and Julia's daughter Nicole!) met me in the Conservatory Gardens in Central Park, before we moved on to the Harlem Meer in the Northeast corner of the park. (A week later, I did their wedding in Brooklyn, so look for that here on the blog shortly...)

Finally, Neema and Arjun met me on Tuesday. They're getting married in Lexington this June, but he's a resident at New York Hospital, so they asked to do their session in Central Park. We started there, but before long, we were wandering Chinatown and the West Village, before trying to get to the Brooklyn Bridge by sunset. We realized we weren't going to make it when we got out of the subway, but lo and behold, we were at the docks for the Staten Island Ferry, which just happens to A) be a free ride, meaning no lost time getting tickets; and B) it goes past the Statue of Liberty. Which isn't a bad place to find yourself when the sun's setting.

As always, you can see more from each album on my business Facebook page...

Help support one of our favorite venues!

2009-03-22T13:03:00.004-04:00

One of my favorite Kentucky venues to shoot a wedding at is the beautiful Acres of Land Winery in Richmond. I did Bethany and Ryan's wedding there last August and I have another wedding there in May. Tina Orr and the staff there take great care of us, and the views are just spectacular.

Early Saturday morning, they had a fire that burned down the winery's restaurant and tasting room, located on the other side of the road from the wedding venue area. The Land family says they will be rebuilding the restaurant soon, and on Tuesday, they'll be opening up a temporary tasting room in the winery production building. It's worth the drive to Richmond to pick up a bottle of their best-selling Vignoles or my favorite, the Chambourcin, which is a great red wine for people who don't like reds-- it's best chilled, unlike most reds.

Stop by and tell Lowell and Katherine that I sent you!

Spring thaw: The March/April special

2009-03-11T22:20:00.007-04:00

I don't know about you, but I'm a bit relieved that the season is finally starting-- three engagement sessions next week, and first wedding of 2009 in two weeks (not to mention the twins' first birthday!)-- but at the same time, I'm wanting my calendar to fill up a little more, still. I've always tried to give people flexibility when it comes to payment schedules, so we're making a couple of changes to help you spread things out a little.

First off, I'm no longer requiring people on the 3 payment plan to have their last payment in 60 days before the wedding. We're now taking that last payment when you make your final album approval, which means your last payment comes after the wedding.

Second, through April 30th, I'm offering a shooting fee only coverage (including unlimited time on the wedding date and an engagement session) for $1900, due in two payments ($1200 at booking, $700 due 30 days before the wedding). Associate photographers and dvd's of finished images can all still be added off the a la carte menu, and you even have the option of ordering coffee table books and albums direct through Pictage, which they'll design for you at a reduced rate from my full service album design service. Of course, you have the option at any time to upgrade to one of our regular album-included coverages at any time.

Call right away at 859.402.0634 to set up an appointment to hear more!

Greatest Hits post...

2009-02-24T00:51:00.004-05:00

From time to time (until we sell the house on Long Island), I still do New York weddings on a subcontract basis, and the firm I work with out there asked me to put together a slideshow of some of my recent stuff. I thought it would fit nicely here as well. Enjoy.

Calendar Update...

2009-02-07T10:15:00.004-05:00

As booking season rolls along, I'm getting a better sense of what's available and what isn't. The bulk of the inquiries of late have been for the fall. September's entirely gone, and the front half of October now is, as well.

Here's the current scorecard:

March 27, 28
May 9, 16
June 6, 12, 13, 14
July 12, 18
September (all weekend dates)
October 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11

The good news is that if you're an August bride, we're still wide open, and if you're an April bride who's scrambling still, there's still hope-- but call me immediately at 859.402.0634 for some unadvertised specials.

Sleeping Beauties: The February Specials!

2009-01-28T21:15:00.009-05:00

I'm offering two special collections for February, featuring beautiful photobooks and albums from Zookbinders. Each collection is only available to a limited number of brides, so the first brides to get in a deposit will get their choice! My daughter Caroline got to name the offers, and she's been on a big Disney Princess kick, so here goes:

Offer 1: The Briar Rose (5 available)
Engagement session
Unlimited time on the wedding date from Ian.
9x9 inch Photobook lay-flat coffeetable book (40 sides) with wraparound photo cover
DVD of all finished images with printing rights release

Price: $2850.00 ($1500 due at signing, $675 due at 90 days and at 60 days before the wedding date)

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Offer 2: The Princess Aurora (3 available)
Engagement session
Unlimited time on the wedding date from Ian and an associate photographer.
10x10 inch Zookbook lay-flat album (40 sides) with Reflectionz photo cover and two matching 6x6 Photobook clone coffeetable books (each additional Photobook is $250 with this offer)
DVD of all finished images with printing rights release

Price: $4500.00 ($1500 due at signing, $1000 due at 90 days and at 60 days before the wedding date, $1000 due upon album design approval)

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I've never offered the DVD on a basic-level package before, so this is an excellent opportunity, and the upgrade package gives you two photographer coverage, a premium album and parent books as well as the DVD at a discounted rate.

Offers good now through February 28th, 2009.

Kentucky Bride Magazine...now with video!

2009-01-21T00:50:00.010-05:00

I've been waiting a long time to post this one....

In November of 2008, Jacki Allen and Jaimeson Gann of Kentucky Bride Magazine brought me in to shoot their Bouquets For Every Season spread for the January 2009 issue of the magazine, appearing on pages 54-57. It took the better part of an afternoon to shoot these lovely bouquets and boutonniers, crafted by E. Stephen Hein Florist, and we did the shoot at their spacious store on Winchester Road.

Jacki was kind enough to take a little footage and snap a photo or two of me at work with my little Leica point and shoot camera, and I synced it up so you'll see what shots coincided with which images.

I've been sitting on the footage for 2 months-- the day after the shoot, I had it edited into this footage so I could send my daughter Caroline the movie to show her a little of what Daddy does all day. Hope you enjoy it too!

***

If you have a bridal show specials flyer from either of my appearances this month, I'm extending the show specials to include weddings booked by January 28th. Call today at 859.402.0634 for an appointment!

The Kentucky Bride Bridal Show...

2009-01-16T10:18:00.003-05:00

... is this Sunday at the Lexington Convention Center! Register now to get $2 off your admission for your whole group. Your admission includes a copy of the latest issue of Kentucky Bride Magazine, chock full of great images from yours truly!

Also, check out our show specials: http://www.ianlozada.com/Jan09BridalShowSpecialsflyer.pdf . I'll have contracts at the booth so that you can lock in your date before it's gone!

New year, new blog look...

2009-01-14T13:14:00.004-05:00

Just got tired of looking at the old template.

Also, I figured that the design of the Christmas Card was no longer a big secret, so...

Yes, the twins have personalized "Thing 1" and "Thing 2" onesies to go with Caroline's Cat-In-The-Hat chapeau.

Already plotting about the theme for next year's cards. Maybe they'll actually go out before Christmas this year.

Thanks to everyone who came out to see me...

2009-01-12T10:57:00.004-05:00

... at the bridal show at the Embassy Suites yesterday. I think I heard that we had over 700 brides show up.

I've extended the show specials through next Sunday's bridal show, so call now to book your date. If you didn't get a copy of the show package specials flyer, click here.

It seemed like a lot of you were looking at the same dates-- a lot of people telling me they needed May 23 and 30, June 20, July 11 and 25, August 29, September 5 and 12, October 17 and 24. Those dates should go relatively quickly, so don't wait.

For those of you who missed me this time, this coming Sunday is the Kentucky Bride Bridal Show at the Lexington Convention Center, and admission includes a copy of the new issue of Kentucky Bride Magazine! Hope to see you there...

It's Bridal Show Time Again!

2009-01-10T23:39:00.010-05:00

Hey, folks, come down and see me this Sunday at the Embassy Suites, where I'll be appearing at the Winter Bridal Show from 11AM to 5PM. I'll also be at the Kentucky Bride Bridal Show the following Sunday at the Lexington Convention Center-- the new issue of Kentucky Bride magazine will be available to all brides attending the show! I'll have special bridal-show only package deals available at each of the shows, so make sure you lock in your date right away!

See you there!

Christmas Card Outtakes...

2008-12-15T01:16:00.007-05:00

Shot the family Christmas Card this weekend. Probably cut it a little too close to lunchtime, and we had a very pouty Caroline to deal with. I worked around her for the most part, and basically got two usable frames of her with siblings, and even that took getting a ham sandwich into her just to pull it off. (Needless to say, those two are in the final product, and not here.)

For those who Kristina has on our list, I won't blow the surprise of the final card, but I did want to share a couple of my favorite shots of Declan and Audrey. I'm pretty sure the two individual ones here will make it onto our walls in a nice 20x30 or so.

The State of the Schedule...

2008-12-09T10:32:00.003-05:00

We're already deep into booking season for 2009 around here, and I just wanted to give you a feel for what's available and what's almost gone at this point. With another June date coming off the board today, late spring is beginning to close up.

These dates are already booked:
March 27, 28
May 9, 16
June 6, 12, 13, 14
July 12, 18
October 9, 10, 11

In addition, I have multiple people looking at each remaining Saturday in May and June, so if you wait for the bridal shows, you may get shut out on your date. On the plus side, I still have April open, and late summer is still relatively untouched, although I expect that to change shortly.

I'm taking appointments for next week to talk about booking, so give me a call at 859.402.0634 right away to reserve a time!

And you thought I only shot brides and horses...

2008-12-08T10:55:00.004-05:00

Did a baby shoot yesterday for 6 month old Malachi and his parents, Dawn and Sam, yesterday. It's amazing how much gear I can squeeze into A) my trunk, and B) a Brooklyn apartment's living room.

Best. Thanksgiving. Ever. (Also new pricelist information.)

2008-12-03T22:29:00.007-05:00

So I'm with the family, visiting my folks in Long Beach, Long Island, and I've got a camera out, taking a photo of Caroline, who's playing with a napkin on top of her head, pretending it's a Pilgrim woman's hat, when my brother starts giving a speech. Now, celebrating Thanksgiving with us are Tim's girlfriend, Nadia, and her family. Well, as soon as Tim starts this, I have a feeling something's up.

It was.

So, long story short, I'm not available Columbus Day weekend (Oct 9-12), because I get to be a groomsman for once. Congratulations, Tim and Nadia!

***

In other news, the 2009 pricelist is available on my website. The big news is that I've listened to your requests and a coffeetable book is now included in all coverages, with the option to upgrade to a premier quality album that reflects your personal style. Also, included with all premier albums is a DVD of all finished images-- there's no longer a requirement to buy parent books to get the DVD.

The schedule's filling up quickly for 2009, so call for an appointment right away-- next availability for meetings is December 16th.

Catching up with the Lozadas...

2008-11-03T11:24:00.007-05:00

It's been a busy October around here. Shot in my eighth different state this year (Connecticut, for those of you scoring at home). Did headshots for a couple of my Lexington friends. Got to go to the PhotoPlus show at the Javits Center in New York as well, and took in seminars by wedding photographer Joe Buissink and commercial portraitist Michael Grecco, as well as all the great talks at the various booths by standouts like Vincent Laforet, Joe McNally, Cliff Mautner and others.

Even more important, however, was getting in some much needed time with my wife Kristina and our three wonderful kids. Caroline has really blossomed since starting preschool-- everyday I'm amazed at how bright she is. Declan and Audrey finally moved out of their bassinets and are now upstairs in our house, finally in cribs. In a related story, Declan slept through the night for the first time last week. The little guys thoroughly enjoyed Halloween... Caroline went as Cinderella, Audrey wore a ladybug costume that Caroline had worn before her, and Declan was a monkey-- and if you know how physical Dec is, then you know it was quite appropriate! One of the best moments was Caroline, with her hair up, and feeling pretty pleased with herself, greeting her grandmother at the door on Halloween, exclaiming, "Grandma! I'm gorgeous!" Can't make this stuff up.

Weddings: Jennifer and Ben, Berry Hill Mansion

2008-10-20T09:37:00.009-04:00

Yeah, this is a little overdue. Some of you have already seen these images through the Facebook site, but I wanted to get them up here as well.

***

Jennifer and Ben won our little contest to guess the twins' birth dates earlier in the year. They looked at the target window, selected a date six months in advance of their wedding day, and hit it BANG! on the nose.

The bridesmaids and Jen got started at Euphoria in Palomar Center for hair by Kassi and Jennifer before proceeding on to the lovely Berry Hill Mansion in Frankfort for the festivities. The sun was skimming the treetops by the time of the wedding, giving us some excellent glowing light to work with.

I worked with Michelle Elliott of Studio E in Louisville, and we might have set up some more portraits than usual, but they were clearly worth it. As usual, most of the images follow my regular "Love Unscripted" style, however.

As always, more pictures available on the Facebook page...

I'm catching up, really...

2008-10-10T15:00:00.004-04:00

I realize it's been awhile since my last blog posting, but I've got the first of 4 weddings uploading to Facebook right now towards the next wedding post. It's been a little crazy here, as I'm finishing out a string of 7 weddings, 4 states, 2 time zones in 22 days with a doubleheader this weekend, but before that, I'm running out the door this evening to do a stills shoot for a television production in Manhattan. Anyway, watch this space on Monday for some of my favorite moments of the Three Wedding Weekend!

Also, we're getting well into booking season, and a number of dates have come off the board already. I've got meetings with 4 different brides next week, so you'd better hustle if you want to lock in your chosen date!

Things we learned yesterday at the bridal show...

2008-09-16T00:14:00.003-04:00

Thanks to everyone who came by the booth at yesterday's bridal show at the Embassy Suites. Special thanks to Sarah and Brittany, two of this year's brides, who stopped by during the day and put in a nice word for me here and there. Clearly, if I find out in advance of January's show that I'm going to be surrounded by people distributing cake, punch, a white chocolate fountain and other goodies... I'll have to bring in skewers of shrimp just to get in a word edgewise!

On a more serious note, I noticed some distinct trends in the wedding dates that you were telling me. The number one wedding date for next year is clearly going to be July 11th, or 7/11 for those of you scoring at home. Number two with a bullet on the list is May 30th-- no coincidence that it's the Saturday after the first week teachers are done with school! Some other dates that I heard a lot... July 25th, October 3 & 10, and of course, the big holiday weekends: May 24th (Memorial Day), July 4th, and September 5th (Labor Day). I still have all of those days open, but I don't expect them to last long.

As always, the first bride to get a signed contract and a booking fee to me for that date will get the reservation. Don't get shut out of your big day!

Weddings: Bethany and Ryan, Richmond, KY.

2008-09-07T21:03:00.005-04:00

It's been a great year for great wedding venues, and last weekend was no exception. Bethany and Ryan chose to get married at the gorgeous Acres of Land Winery in Richmond. If you haven't been there, make the drive down I-75 and check out the tasting room and their restaurant as well. For those of you who like to try something different, I recommend the Vignoles (white wine) and especially the Chambourcin (a red you can chill).

For Bethany, after having her hair done at The Color Room, she went back to the nearby Doubletree Suites on Richmond Road in Lexington to meet up with her bridesmaids and get their makeup done. On one of my first Lexington visits, I stayed at what was then the Sheraton Suites, and it's still a beautiful hotel-- the interior balconies overlooking the lobby are one of my favorite features in any area hotel.

Bethany and Ryan had the actual ceremony in a section of the vineyard at Acres of Land called The Colonel's Point. With the vineyard right next to you, you have the setup right along this area where the hill just falls away, to a tremendous view. Stunning.

After the ceremony and some formals, Bethany and Ryan escaped into the Barrel Room for a few moments alone and some portraits, before heading into their reception.

It was a beautiful day with a truly delightful couple! Many thanks to Jennifer Creed for helping with the second shooting!

See more on the Facebook page!

Weddings: Tiffany and Craig, Fayetteville, WV

2008-08-15T16:53:00.006-04:00

If it's August, this must be... um, where am I? I'm finishing a string this weekend of 5 weekends, 5 weddings, 4 states. For those of you scoring at home, that's Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia last weekend, and Massachusetts on Sunday.

Anyway, this past weekend, it was the New River Gorge in central West Virginia, a kayaker's paradise. In fact, for North Carolinians Tiffany and Craig, two people who met on a river in their kayaks, this was where they'd gotten engaged, and this was the place they wanted to share with friends and family. Since their love of whitewater extends to nearly all their friends and to Craig's family, it was a given that the vehicles lining up at the Confluence Resort for their wedding would be toting a rainbow's worth of colored kayak shells.

The resort was a fantastic place for a wedding. At the bottom of the hill, there was a path, leading to an overhang with a magnificent view of the river gorge below. That was the setting for the wedding ceremony, conducted by a minister who had known Tiffany since she was a small child. Their reception took place at sunset with a bluegrass band playing the music, a wonderfully appropriate touch for this serene location.

More photos from this wedding are available, as always, on the Facebook page!

So where was Ian during the bridal show yesterday?

2008-08-11T15:31:00.003-04:00

I know, I know. My stuff was in the new issue of Kentucky Bride, but I wasn't at the show? What gives?

Well... I was doing a destination wedding for Tiffany and Craig, a lovely couple from North Carolina, at the Confluence Resort in the New River Gorge out in Fayetteville, West Virginia, which, for this pair of kayakers, was a dream location.

I'll have some photos of their wedding up later this week, but I had to share a couple from their day after session right away-- towards the end, we found a waterfall, and bless their hearts, they didn't care if it was ice cold if they could get this...

More to follow soon!

Wedding images: Danielle and Jaushwa, Frankfort, KY

2008-08-07T18:05:00.005-04:00

As frequent readers of this blog know, I shot Danielle and Jaush's engagement photos a few weeks ago. During that time, they let me in on a little secret... "We're already married."

They had originally decided to have a very small ceremony back on Valentine's Day, only a couple of family members present. But somewhere along the way, they decided instead to go ahead and have a bigger ceremony later on, which they could share with their friends and even more family members. This might have had something to do with the fact Danielle had seen a really spectacular dress. On the other hand, it would mean that she'd have to speak in front of people, and that kinda terrified her a little. (Having talked with many brides, I can assure you, it's a common feeling.) She was more than a little nervous that morning...

Well, the big day came at last, and Danielle and Jaushwa got married at Choateville Christian Church, just outside of Frankfort. Danielle said all the right words in the right order and sounded terrific doing it. Jaush not only played and sang a song he'd written for Danielle, but he also sang his vows as well. It was a touching, heartfelt ceremony that readily acknowledged the fact that they'd done this once before. In a way, it made the whole service just feel like it wasn't just about the couple but that it really involved everyone who had come out to support them in this part of life's journey...

By the end of the day, it was easy to see not only how much they meant to each other, but how much they cared for their families, and their friends. Talking with them throughout this process, it was clear that they weren't the type of people who were doing the bigger version of the wedding because our society tells you this is the type of wedding you're expected to have-- they were doing it because their marriage was something that they wanted to share with so many of the people who matter most of them. And in the end, isn't that what we all want to preserve most from our wedding day?

For more images from this wedding, click here to visit my business page on Facebook!

Weddings: Brittany and Mike

2008-07-28T22:39:00.005-04:00

Had a blast this weekend shooting Brittany and Mike's wedding at Georgetown College. Brittany came to me really late-- another photographer had bagged on her. That's where I came in. And I'm so glad I did. Couples like Brittany and Mike, and their families, they remind me why I love wedding photography so much. Just marvelous people to be around, and on top of that, definitely the most laughs I've had at a reception (at the new Hilton Garden Inn in Georgetown) all year!

For more photos from this wedding, check out the Facebook page!

E-session: Danielle and Jaush at Cove Springs...

2008-07-28T21:06:00.002-04:00

Went out last week on an engagement shoot with Danielle and Jaush. It took awhile to get this one done because of Jaush's extensive travel schedule for his youth ministry work, which means that their ceremony is right around the corner. I mean, this weekend.

They took me over to Cove Springs Park in Frankfort... just a really pretty location. The last shots were actually done out back of the church where they're getting married...

More from this session available on the Facebook page...

Nami & Robert: Double the ceremonies, double the fun!

2008-07-24T09:47:00.004-04:00

What a weekend! I made the short drive up to Hamilton, Ohio this weekend to shoot two days of celebrations for Nami and Robert's wedding-- they started back on Tuesday, I think! Nami and Robert went and had two wedding ceremonies on Saturday-- a Hindu ceremony in the morning, then back to the hotel for a quick change, and back at the same venue for a lakeside Western ceremony...

The weddings took place at Lake Lyndsay Lodge, a few minutes north of Cincinnati off I-75. It's a beautiful venue that can hold a little more than 400 people, and they have their own private lake. Really stunning.

One of the things I love best about doing Nami and Robert's wedding is that this wasn't just a ceremony uniting two lives, it was really a day that united two families. Over the last 6 months, I've gotten to know all the parents and many of the other family members, and I can tell you these folks are as excited about welcoming each other into their families as they are about welcoming Nami and Robert into their respective families. Easily one of my very favorite weddings I've ever done...

More images from this wedding available on my Facebook site!

Out to Lunch: Shanghai Bistro...

2008-07-10T01:32:00.002-04:00

As a Lexington newcomer, I'm constantly looking for new places to get a good meal. So from time to time, I'll tell you about my latest finds...

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A long time ago, I got a great piece of advice about Chinese restaurants. My Chinese friend told me, "Look for a place that looks like an absolute dump, but is always filled with Asian people. Chances are, it's pretty good. No self-respecting Chinese would pour the money into the decor when he could put it into the food."

I've followed that advice for years and it's never led me wrong. Whenever I see a stylish looking place, inevitably it's filled with Westerners. Even when my father and I went to Hong Kong last year, every nice looking Chinese restaurant was filled with Westerners, and I pulled Dad back from the doorway of a few of them until we saw this place operating out of a basement with a line out the door. We got on the line, and had one of the best meals of our lives.

***

Tonight, I finished up meeting with a bride and her planner, and went out looking for a bite to eat. I knew the new row of restaurants on Sir Barton Way (Bajio, Smashing Tomato and Shanghai Bistro) had just opened up, but I didn't feel like anything specific. I figured I'd read the menus outside and pick one. First off... those weren't menus up by the doors, they were building permits. So I went in the first place, Smashing Tomato and realized they were a pizza place, and I'd just had that for lunch. No go. I was going to buzz right past Shanghai Bistro because it looked too stylish, when a series of Chinese guys walked in and immediately started to order. That stopped me in my tracks. I thought about it, said, "You only live once," and went in.

I wasn't going to let them off easy, however. I knew I had to order something that could easily be a disaster in the wrong hands. I ended up ordering the General Tso's Chicken ($10). When the General is done badly, it's soft, not crispy, the sauce is bland, and you get the feeling that you're sitting in the food court at the mall. When it's done right, it's delightful. The other thought in the back of my head was that $10 is about the right price for General Tso's. Depending on where I go, it ranges from $7.95 to $12.95 at Chinese restaurants back home, but when you get caught in one of those all flash places, it ends up drifting a little higher above that scale for some unknown reason.

They said it would be a few minutes, and I grabbed a bottle of Kikkoman soy sauce, got my drink and sat down. It dawns on me that it's 915 PM on a Wednesday, the place closes in 45 minutes, and the joint is still half full. One of the guys comes out of the kitchen with my plate, and it looks really well put together. Sauce is just the right color, broccoli tastefully arranged to one side, small bowl of white rice on the side. I took a deep breath and brandished my chopsticks.

And got a very pleasant surprise. On most chinese takeout menu's, General Tso's is usually listed as being a spicy dish, but it rarely comes out actually spicy. This was not the case. From the beginning, those tell-tale red pepper flakes were visible on each morsel, although I never saw that little chinese pepper that looks like one of the cigarillos Clint Eastwood smoked in the Man With No Name movies. Each bite had a nice crispy snap to it, and not only was the sauce the right basic flavor, it had a subtle little kick to it from the pepper. Moreover, I didn't run into the usual problem of there being an area of the plate where the sauce was too thick and the crispiness turned into sogginess. This was consistent the whole way around the plate.

I was pretty happy with it. Look, one dish doesn't mean a restaurant's great or anything like that, but it's worth another visit.

Shanghai Bistro is located on Sir Barton Way, just between Winchester and Man O' War at 2200 War Admiral Way, Suite 170 in Lexington. (Don't ask me where they got the War Admiral Way part, the menu says right under the mailing address "Corner of Sir Barton Way and Winchester Rd", which isn't exactly accurate either, but you should find it easy enough. Visa/MC/Discover.

Wedding: Stephanie & Dave...

2008-07-09T02:02:00.004-04:00

You can tell that my wedding season is finally hitting full stride. The blog entries are now getting to be about 48 hours before the couples see their complete photos. I feel shame.

Anyway, I recently got to shoot Stephanie and Dave's wedding at First United Methodist and the Boone Center on the UK campus. Steph and Dave are fabulous people, just loads of fun to spend time with. And as soon as I get around to acquiring a new smoker or dragging my grill down from Long Island (the house still hasn't sold yet... grrrr.), I plan to spend more time with them, as both Dave and I are barbecue aficionados.

I'm going to get some selected wedding day photos up now, but don't be surprised if I follow up with some of their "day after" session images tomorrow.

What a superb dress!

Something old...

A momentary escape...

The big sendoff!

First dance...

Steph's dad, escorting her mom out onto the dance floor in her wheelchair. A really touching moment, with Steph and Dave in the background to boot...

When I grow up, I wanna be this kid. I mean, seriously, if I'm him, I'm getting a vinyl photo banner of this moment to drape over my locker at the middle school!

Linkage: The guide to Bachelor Party photo, um safety...

2008-06-26T12:50:00.002-04:00

From Popular Photography... a guide to keeping your groom from being caught in embarrasing photos by his dumb buddies. Just a little tongue in cheek. Although I have to admit, I love the idea of the censor bar sunglasses!

E-session: Bethany and Ryan at Waveland...

2008-06-13T15:46:00.005-04:00

Went out to Waveland State Historic Site in Lexington with Bethany and Ryan, who are getting married later this summer. Much to my surprise, we were sharing the grounds with one other couple taking photos, plus a children's photography session.

Shooting with Bethany and Ryan is lots of fun, despite the oppressive heat this weekend. They're very comfortable with each other, and they also are tons of fun to talk with while we shoot. We probably spent half an hour after the shoot just talking about our dogs, wedding planning and other things.

Let's get to the images...

Wedding images: Megan and Nathan, The Mansion at Griffin Gate

2008-06-13T12:15:00.007-04:00

Back in action at The Mansion at Griffin Gate (Marriott) last weekend for Megan and Nathan's big day. A little warm what with the recent heat wave, but the flowers didn't wilt, and neither did I. What a beautiful location for a wedding. Donnie White and Suzanne Morgan of Modiste kept everything running smoothly. Nathan gave one of the most emphatic recitations of the wedding vows I've heard in awhile-- you can tell when a guy believes what he's saying with all his heart. And Megan was just stunning, and a joy to spend the day with...

Nathan and his band, Woodbine, played an original number for Megan near the end of the reception.

More photos available on my page on Facebook!

Because I know some of you want to include your dogs in your weddings...

2008-06-11T10:24:00.002-04:00

I've discovered over time that a lot of my brides own multiple dogs. Some of them even want a favorite pooch to be part of the wedding. This morning, I saw on a dog owner newsletter the perfect item for those of you who fall into this category...

I give you the Pet Petal Pushcart. It hooks up to your favorite canine and it's like a little wagon, which you fill with flower petals. As your flower pooch walks down the aisle, (or for those of you with Jack Russells like me, gallops down the aisle), the cart dispenses the petals.

They have a video, but embedding was disabled, so here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzQIkQBy44k

I can't wait to see how long I go before I see one of these through my viewfinder!

Kristina works the iPhone camera...

2008-06-02T17:52:00.005-04:00

Since I'm away from home again, Kristina's been breaking out the camera on her iPhone and sending me little snapshots to make me homesick or something like that.

Audrey (foreground) is now 9 lbs, 13 oz, while Declan's a big ol' chunk at 10 lbs, 14 oz. Audrey tends to like things quiet and not overstimulating, while Declan loves loves loves new places and experiences. Still wondering where all the blonde hair came from, but Declan looks a lot like I did in terms of facial features at his age.

I'm pretty sure the look on Audrey's face here can be best described as, "Do. Not. Want. Mom, get me out of here!"

The June Promotion...

2008-06-01T16:30:00.003-04:00

If you book a deluxe coverage (unlimited time from Ian and an associate photographer on your wedding day + engagement session) before June 30th, I'll include a 20 page Best Wishes book of your engagement photos (a $165 value) for you to have your guests sign at your wedding! It's a great way to preserve the thoughts of your best friends and family-- you can even choose to include some of your own images of your friends and you having fun so they know where to sign. You can also include vacation photos of you and your fiance... the choices are up to you.

Make sure you mention seeing this offer on the blog when you call or email me.

E-Session: Jennifer and Ben

2008-05-22T22:51:00.005-04:00

As a photographer, I spend most of my life watching the weather report and pleading to my local deity to just please, please, please not have it rain on Saturday. That was the case this weekend, when I kept hearing that rain would roll in around 4 PM, and I had a 5.30 PM engagement session planned.

(Mind you, when it does rain, I try to convince the couple to try it anyway-- rain can lead to incredibly sexy pictures, and if it's not happening, I'll be happy to go out on a second day anyway.)

As you'll guess from the images... the rain held off. Fun was had. We got our photos on. Good times.

One of the best parts of my job...

2008-05-18T21:36:00.003-04:00

... is getting a chance to meet new brides and share with them my work and explain how I try to cover a wedding. It's such a positive experience, and I get a lot of validation as brides tell me which images speak to them.

So, when I was scheduled to be in Lexington already and a shooting gig got cancelled, I jumped at the opportunity when Kate Webster of Bridal Potpourri asked me if I'd like a booth at their bridal show this weekend. I thoroughly enjoy every aspect of bridal shows (OK, maybe not the transportation of the couch...) and this one was no different. In fact, because so many of you this time were '09 brides, it was more fun, because I only had to tell a handful of people I was booked on their date-- nearly every one of which had either August 2 or October 4.

I'll be calling a number of you tomorrow to let you know if you've won one of the ten 16x20 prints we were giving away, so look out for my call, and make sure you call me as well about when you might want to sit down and discuss your photography needs-- remember, a lot of you were asking about the same dates, so book as quickly as you can!

Some of you asked about copies of my pricelist-- sorry about the trouble I had printing it this morning-- which you can see at http://www.ianlozada.com/pricelist.pdf In addition, you can also see some of my recent work that hasn't hit the website if you find us on Facebook.

Wedding: Sarah and Brandon-- A Storybook Inn, Versailles, KY

2008-05-14T15:43:00.008-04:00

As many of you know, most of my shooting to date has been in the New York/New Jersey markets. It's not easy to start your business again from scratch in a new place where people aren't familiar with what you do. So Saturday's wedding was really special for me: Sarah was the first bride to sign with me, and her wedding coordinator, Alicia DeBoor of Great Expectations, was the first one to refer business to me and has become one of my best friends in the area. They believed in me before anyone else in Kentucky had even heard of me, and I've been looking forward to this wedding for a long time.

The venue, A Storybook Inn over in Versailles, is a beautiful bed and breakfast not far from the courthouse, and not enough people have heard about it. Even if you've already booked your site, it doesn't mean you can't stay a night or two in one of their three fabulous suites, each of which is inspired by a classic film-- Casablanca, My Fair Lady and Gone with the Wind. They capture the flavor without being cheesy, and you'll love it.

***

Anyway, on to the images...

How amazing were Sarah's eyes?

There's something about the moment you step into the dress that just speaks volumes. I wanted to capture the quiet grace of the moment.

So often, the groomsmen are one of afterthoughts of a wedding. These ones wanted to have fun and have a special image for Brandon that he didn't know about. No way could I give them any thing less than a "guy's" image.

I love the juxtaposition of the bridesmaid and flower girl interacting, with the quiet anticipation written on Sarah's face here.

I couldn't leave out some images of the wonderful details Alicia and Deanna of Great Expectations worked so hard on...

Looking for an album that really stands out?

2008-05-08T15:46:00.002-04:00

One thing I'm always looking for is ways to show my pictures that are unique and vibrant. I recently took a panoramic picture of the twins and had it mounted on half-inch gatorboard with a glossy finish for my mom for her birthday. It was like nothing she'd ever seen before.

I recently came across a new album company called Couture Book that really understands that Wow Factor. Their books are all about style, about standing out with elegant, romantic looking books that speak to the person inside. Even better, they don't make you constantly choose which pictures to leave out-- their books are priced in 100 page increments, so that you don't have to give up a thing.

Needless to say, this is a very special book, and it's not for everyone. If you're interested in it, call me for pricing for your preferred style.

More E-Sessions: Nami & Robert...

2008-05-07T23:34:00.006-04:00

With one eye on the weather report, Nami and Robert scheduled their engagement session for today. Robert knows the folks over at Parrish Hill Farm in Midway, so we had an absolutely stunning location to work with. (Plus, one of my favorite racehorses ever, Derby and Preakness winner Charismatic, was foaled there.)

Working with Nami and Robert was a breeze. They have such an easy familiarity that it was like the camera wasn't even there.

Once their session ended and we got back in the car, it immediately started to rain. What timing!

Nami and Robert get married this July up at Lake Lyndsay Lodge in Hamilton, Ohio.

E-Session: Stephanie and Dave

2008-05-06T00:03:00.004-04:00

Had a great time traipsing through downtown Lexington with Stephanie and Dave, who are getting married in mid June. The Lexington Opera House made for a particularly fun venue along the way. Afterwards, we caught dinner at Brooklyn Sports Grille and Pizzeria, where oddly enough, we talked about barbecue. (Up till a few minutes ago, I didn't realize the downtown location was owned by the folks at the Brooklyn Pizza off Man O'War-- probably because unlike the Helmsdale Place location, they can actually cut a slice into triangles. When I get pizza at the other one, it inevitably ends up having a fourth side. What's up with that?)

Anyway, here's a taste of the images:

The sun shines bright on my new Kentucky home...

2008-05-04T15:54:00.004-04:00

As many of you know, I love horse racing and got my start in photography leaning over the rails at Belmont Park to produce the portfolio that got me my first photography job. I've been going to the Belmont Stakes for years, but I've never been to the Kentucky Derby before.

Until yesterday.

With a longtime racing buddy, Mike Babor, I had seats right on the rail at Churchill Downs for Derby Day. And while I never got around to a mint julep, I got plenty of images of the hats, the pageantry, and of course, the horses!

The break...

Cool Coal Man guns for the front...

Infield Denizens strain to get a glimpse...

Here's Big Brown taking the lead in the Derby:

***

I've got engagement sessions and a wedding over the coming week, so plenty of new stuff to come!

Blue Grass Stakes day at Keeneland with Nami and Friends...

2008-04-19T16:24:00.004-04:00

So I actually managed to slip away from diaper changing last weekend to shoot an assignment for Nami, one of my July brides, who was having an outing with her friends to Keeneland on Blue Grass Stakes day before her bridal shower. We started out with mimosas at the hotel before making our way out to Keeneland. Since we were on the Clubhouse side, I ended up breaking out a suit and tie-- add 15 lovely ladies and I felt like was auditioning for The Bachelor!

I'm not sure the day's events managed to clear up the Kentucky Derby picture, but we certainly had a great time and got some great images, too...

We're home!

2008-03-29T22:08:00.005-04:00

We're in for a doubly sleepless night tonight... But, my, it's good to have my family all together at home finally.

Congratulations to Jennifer and Ben, who hit the March 27th date exactly. No secret how they picked the birthdate... it's exactly 6 months before their wedding day! The $100 worth of gift cards to Malone's should be going out in about two weeks-- I left them on the table in the studio before I headed back to Long Island. (Whoops.)

Double Delight!

2008-03-28T08:22:00.004-04:00

Declan Samuel, born 2.30 PM March 27th. 6 lbs, 9 oz, 19 inches.

***

Audrey Rose, born 3.39 PM March 27th. 6 lbs, 4 oz, 18 inches.

***

Mom and kids doing fine!

Like Father, Like Daughter...

2008-03-21T00:26:00.002-04:00

I wish I could say I took this shot.

My daughter was playing around on the breakfast nook this morning, hitting all the buttons on Kristina's Macbook. Somehow, she opened up the Photo Booth application, and managed to light off the camera, which was already set to the "Glow" effect. And judging by the self-portrait two and a half year old Caroline took, I think I'm going to have some competition soon!

Studio test shots...

2008-03-14T13:40:00.005-04:00

So, I get a call from my Mom yesterday... she needs an emergency head shot done for a seminar she's teaching soon. So I start setting up the lights and backgrounds in my living room when... my daughter wakes up from her nap. Now I still haven't taken my test shots, checked my exposures, or for that matter, decided if I want to use the studio flashes or just go with window light. But, my daughter needs amusement.

So... what do I do? Combine the two! (Of course, her mother would have asked me to do something about the bed head, but I was in a rush!)

Popular Wedding Dates still available!

2008-01-19T14:59:00.000-05:00

Coming out of the last bridal show, I've been fortunate to have a number of brides contact me and book their weddings over the last two weeks. Surprisingly, most of the dates I've booked recently were for September and October, which means a lot of the most in-demand dates for Lexington brides are still available.

For instance, according to the registrations from Jacki Allen's bridal expo this month, 56 of you have June 7th weddings. Given the number of wedding photographers in Lexington, I'm pretty sure a lot of you are looking for a photographer for that date. I've still got an opening that date.

I've also still got a number of May dates, same goes for June, and all of August is still open. July's getting a little tight, but call for your date. Judging by the calls I'm getting, none of these dates are going to last long, so call now!

No, really... this is January?!?

2008-01-09T13:08:00.000-05:00

In ancient Rome, they used to have a calendar of 355 days in a year, and if the High Pontiff of their state religion didn't add an extra month of 20 days every two years, eventually, the calendar would get out of whack and you'd have the seasons get matched up to the wrong months.

On a day as beautiful as it is today in Lexington, I think we've gone back to that system.

I went down to Keeneland today. One of my recent brides, Heather, is down at the sales, and I wanted to give her the new copy of Jacki Allen's Premier Bride Lexington, because one of the stories in the magazine (pages 192-193) features Heather's wedding. Heather loved the story, and her friends were oohing and aahing over the pictures! Her folks also mentioned that the Christmas cards I designed and the custom gift albums I did for her flower girls' Christmas gifts were a big hit.

After we finished over there, I went down to the sales pavilion to see some of her horses being auctioned off. I tell you, I'm listening to the auctioneer's rat-a-tat-tat delivery, and I'm thinking, "I wonder if he gets enough oxygen in between words to not get light-headed?"

Anyway, it was great to see Heather and her family again. Like I always say, my brides and their families become my friends as we go through this process.

Bridal Show Edition: Contest time!

2008-01-06T18:45:00.000-05:00

Thanks to all who stopped by my booth at the Lexington Bridal Show at the Convention Center today! I had a great time talking with so many of you. And with that in mind, we're going to have a contest.

As I'm sure you know, Kristina and I are getting closer to the birth of the twins, who are due on April 20th. So here's the deal: Use the contact form on IanLozada.com to submit your information, including your wedding date and the date you think the twins will be born. Keep in mind that twins are usually born before their 40 week due date. The bride (or groom) with the closest guess gets a $100 gift card for Malone's.

The fine print: One guess per couple, and you must be getting married in 2008 or 2009 to enter. If two or more people guess correctly or are the same number of days away from the actual birthdate, then one of those entries will be drawn at random for the gift card. If the twins arrive on either side of midnight and have two different birthdates, and two people guess one of the correct dates, each will get a $50 gift card for Malone's, provided they are the only person to select that date. I hate the fine print, don't you?

Good luck to all!

Website update...

2007-12-18T12:10:00.000-05:00

Those who know me know I'm not really a very good housekeeper. I do a reasonable job of keeping the studio presentable, but my office at home, well, it would take Hercules and a navigable river to clean it properly. Therefore, it should be no surprise that I lost the instructions for updating my website. Since I couldn't sleep last night, I ended up taking the photos in the site, and figuring out in Photoshop exactly what sizes everything was supposed to be and such.

Long story short, for the first time in 9 months, the main website for my studio is actually up to date. Three of the galleries feature new weddings, and gallery 5 includes engagement photos as well.

One from Column A and one from Column B...

2007-12-06T19:34:00.000-05:00

At every point in the process, if you asked either of us what Kristina's first pregnancy was, we would have told you we both felt it would be a girl. Caroline Grace proved us right.

This time, from the very beginning, we have both felt we were looking at a boy and a girl. In fact, Caroline always said she wanted a brother AND a sister. Well, we're getting pretty good at this prediction thing.

The lower child (who will be born first if delivered naturally) is a son, and the upper one is a daughter. We're overjoyed.

Now all we have to do is agree on our son's name... (See last post.)

OK, folks, I really need your opinion this time...

2007-12-01T00:19:00.000-05:00

When Kristina and I were expecting our little Caroline Grace, the name was a state secret. Even though we knew she was a girl, the potential boy's name (since discarded) was closely held.

I don't have that luxury this time. We definitely have a 1st choice girls name. No problems there. But we have very different ideas about boys' names, and she's told me in no uncertain terms, that she needs to know that my first choice name for a boy is not too outlandish for words. Even if it's going to be one of a pair of twin boys.

As you can tell, I don't have the most common name in the world. I like it that way. I know that when someone calls out, "Hey Ian!", they're talking to me. I want that for a potential son. I also like Irish and Scottish names. No matter what we pick, you can be assured that all of the names we are discussing come from either Ireland or Great Britain.

While we are not Catholic, my first choice name is a saint's name, and it means "full of goodness", although there is also an alternate meaning out there of "man of prayer." I like both qualities.

Depending on whether or not the other twin is a boy or a girl, we have two major options on the middle name to go with it:

Declan Samuel (other twin is a girl)
Declan Spencer (other twin is a boy)

Please share your thoughts in the comments. Kristina and I both really would like to know what you think.

The Number One question I get during the holiday season is...

2007-11-29T12:11:00.000-05:00

..."What compact digital camera should I get so-and-so for the holidays?"

And the sad truth is, I don't know. The funny thing is that even though it's my profession, most photographers I know don't use point and shoot cameras a lot in real life. My walk around camera when I'm not toting my Canon 5D... is the iPhone. I'm probably more qualified to give you a recommendation on something I use regularly, like a GPS (I couldn't work without my Garmin Nuvi 360 with the bluetooth and the voice prompts with street names).

We have two digicams in the house. My wife has a Canon Powershot SD600 I got for her for her first Mother's Day, and we also have a Leica D-Lux 3, which is a little on the pricey side and isn't exactly a great value, to be honest.

And what do we use those digicams for? Video. My Leica has less motor noise than my camcorder, and I can put it in my pocket, so that's what I do with it. (This is the part where you're supposed to roll your eyes.)

All that said, I can give you a few pointers on buying a camera these days:

1. You really don't need all those megapixels. No, really. In fact, we're now getting to the point on digicams where some of them (I'm looking at that Leica on the shelf right now) have too many for their own good. Because they're trying to pack so many pixels on these itty bitty sensors, image quality is actually deteriorating on some of the newer models. If you're not going to print bigger than 8x10 (and most of you will never print bigger than 4x6), there's no need for more than 8MP.

2. Smaller is better. You know what makes a camera useful? When you carry it with you. If it's too big to bring somewhere, what good is it? Most people are best off with a camera no bigger than a deck of cards.

3. Look for simple. Now that I think about it, I end up having to help buy one digicam a year. You see, my father ends up replacing his annually. It's not that he's a gear geek or anything-- he ends up giving one away about once a year when he goes overseas on medical missions trips that he leads. Dad happens to take great pictures completely on instinct. He doesn't know an f-stop from a bus stop and he has no idea what the rule of thirds is, but he knows what looks good. He's looking for something that he can focus and shoot with. For Dad, face recognition technology is great, because he gets the focus right nearly all of the time. The Olympus cameras he prefers also have a little menu where he can look up what he wants to do, and tells him how to set the camera up for that type of shot.

4. SD cards rule. Dad actually got away from the Olympus cameras this time because he found out the hard way that the xD cards that Olympus and Fuji like are hard to find, and as a result, pricey. Sony's Memory sticks are a little easier to find, but nothing beats the good old SD card for being cheap and easy to find. Especially good when you're on a trip and need to run to Target or worse yet, some store in a foreign country. It's better to have more cards than you think you need than to run out of space during a once in a lifetime trip like your honeymoon.

5. CNET.com has great camera reviews. They're written for normal people, and many of them even include video to illustrate their points.

***

"OK, but what if I'm buying a camera for someone a little more advanced, you know, a camera that looks like yours, Ian?"

We've finally gotten to the point where DSLR's (the cameras with the interchangeable lenses where you can look right through the lens) are getting affordable. Like between $500 and $750. And the two big manufacturers (Nikon and Canon) both make great cameras where you'll get great features at low prices. Sony has also made some interesting cameras that work with old Minolta lenses, too.

If you had a SLR film camera made in the last 15 years, you might want to stay with the same brand of camera. The lenses will probably work on a new DSLR from the same company. I use lenses from my old Rebel G film camera on my newer Canon equipment all the time.

One of the best investments you can make, by the way is an external flash. The pop-up flash built into your low-end DSLR's is hardly better than the one built into a point and shoot. Anything that will let you point the flash at the ceiling makes a world of difference.

Do It Yourself package pricing...

2007-11-27T12:54:00.000-05:00

The most common question I get in my e-mails off the website is about package pricing. Of course, I have a natural aversion to the idea that someone like me should be telling you what your needs are. You know better than I do what items are most important to you and your family.

Today, I talked to a bride who had a modest budget-- not an overly small budget, but not the type where money is no object, either. In short, she's like a lot of people. She didn't think that it was going to fit, but one thing I knew from previous phone conversations is that she really liked my work a lot, and I really want to help someone like that out.

So, first off, I laid out what the items we'd talked about would cost a la carte from my pricelist:

Shooting fee: $1500
9.5 x 13 inch album, 30 sides: $1200
11 x 14 print: $56
2 8x10's: $50
Assorted smaller prints and wallets: $75-100
(All prints in a package are added up to one lump sum print credit)

Basically, we were looking at $2900 or so. A little on the high side for her. But she wanted to make up a pre-paid package, and since I'm getting paid up front on that, I can work out a discount of 10%. That got us down to $2610... still a touch high.

Now if you've gone to http://www.ianlozada.com/pricelist.pdf recently, you know that the pricelist expires on Saturday of this week. The only major change I'm anticipating is that I'm adding one smaller sized Graphistudio album, at 8x12 inches. We're going to slot that in at $900 for 30 sides, with limited choices on covers and paper style.

We swapped that in for the medium sized album (with an additional discount for prepackaging) and we were able to make the numbers work. In fact, I was able to show her that if she asked people to give her Pictage gift certificates as wedding gifts, she could drop the print credits and get a gallery wrapped canvas instead and still end up in her budgeted range.

The point I'm getting at is that I want to work with you to help you get the things you want within the constraints of your budget, but I also want you to have the freedom to make your package fit you, not what I say you should want.

Heather and Patrick...

2007-11-15T13:49:00.001-05:00

So enough of you have commented on my recent lack of blogging that I felt shamed enough to get back to it. Actually, my attention has been commandeered a lot as of late by our two upcoming arrivals. I have a roll of sonogram prints next to me from my wife's last 3D sonogram-- those two little 'uns have cute little faces! Just no names. Partly because we don't know genders yet (Dec. 6th is the big day!), but mainly because we can only agree on one girl's name. Everything else is... difficult.

With that in mind, maybe it's best that I go back to showing you wedding photos instead. In fact, it's time to unveil some from my first Bluegrass area wedding, a couple of weeks ago in Georgetown. Heather and Patrick got married on the family horse farm, and you could not have asked for a nicer setting.

One of my favorite moments is that one where it suddenly hits the bride that this is really happening...

Many thanks to Mackenzie Spalding of One Fine Day Wedding Consultation and her staff for all their help!

New Pricelist is Up, new prices are down...

2007-10-02T14:17:00.000-04:00

I just put up my new fall pricelist, good for weddings booked by November 30th. You can see it at http://www.ianlozada.com/pricelist.pdf . The most significant change you need to know about is that we've dramatically lowered our prices on gallery wrapped canvas prints, the type that really define a wall space in your new home. The vendor who prints them came out with new pricing for pros that significantly lower my costs, so I wanted to make sure you get the benefit of that.

Here are the changed prices for Gallery Wraps:

16x20": $250
20x24: $300
24x36: $400
30x40: $525
36x48: $750
40x60: $1050

In addition, I'm honoring this price for anyone who had booked under the previous pricing plan. I'm really excited about this, because I think this is far and away the best way to display in your home that one image that says everything about your wedding.

It's True: I Control The Weather

2007-09-27T17:04:00.000-04:00

Well, kinda sorta. Let's just say that I have the power to end central Kentucky's drought woes. All I have to do is reschedule Heather and Patrick's engagement session enough days in a row to refill the reservoirs. Because so far, we've tried twice to get their engagement pictures done, and twice all we've had to show for it is thunderstorms and downed tree branches.

In the meantime, all the local farmers can make their checks out to Ian Lozada Wedding Photography...

***

New pricelist coming out next week-- one of my vendors lowered their prices on gallery wrapped photo canvas printing, and as a result, I can offer some significant price cuts. More on this on Monday.

Housekeeping...

2007-09-08T22:40:00.000-04:00

Since my talents don't extend to web design, I use a template to run the IanLozada.com website. Unfortunately, I don't have the ability to change all of the content tabs. Until I figure out how to change the "raves" tab to "pricing", I've just uploaded a copy of my pricelist in the background files to the website.

Long story short, you can find my current pricelist at http://www.ianlozada.com/pricelist.pdf at anytime. Or at least until I figure out how to alter that template.

I've Heard of Buy One Get One Free, But This Is Ridiculous...

2007-08-31T15:30:00.000-04:00

As a select few people know, Kristina and I found out that we were expecting at the beginning of August. Well, we've had a bit of a wild ride since then.

About nine days ago, we went in for Kristina's first sonogram. At the time, we believed her to be about 9-10 weeks along. What they told us was that they found two sacs in her uterus, but one appeared to be empty, and the other had fetal tissue, but was showing no heartbeat. Clearly, this was not good. They ordered some blood tests, and told us that the levels of pregnancy hormone would tell us if we still had reason to believe that the pregnancy was still continuing. They also said that in many cases, people conceive two, and only one survives the initial few weeks, but until sonogram technology got to a certain point, most people knew nothing of the other child. In other words, we were iffy to have even the one child out of this pregnancy at this point. The one hope we clung to was that the original physical examination had us much further along than we anticipated, and perhaps they had the wrong conception date down, and the increased uterus size was from the fact there were two embryos. It wasn't a lot of hope, but my, how we clung to it.

We did a LOT of praying over the next 24 hours. The hormone levels kept going up, so they were cautiously optimistic, and scheduled us for another sono, this afternoon. Kristina had some familiar symptoms from when she was pregnant with Caroline, so we were hopeful to see one pregnancy continuing, but we were still praying hard for both children.

Kristina didn't want to look at the screen this time, so that was my job. I didn't say anything, but immediately, I saw some familiar shapes in both sacs. Sure enough, the sono tech changed the number of fetal pregnancies on the machine from 1 to 2. Soon afterward, the sono tech told our midwife, "I hear two heartbeats."

Sometimes, God rewards your faith and your prayers in an amazing way.

When Caroline was born, we put a Bible verse on her birth announcements, and it's pretty appropriate right now:

"The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy."--Psalm 126.3

Back from Lexington...

2007-08-18T02:21:00.000-04:00

... and something's gone horribly wrong in the basement, I suspect. It smells a little musty down there, and there's evidence of water on the floors. Ugh.

I miss my Lexington apartment already.

***

Of course, I'd be much happier to be home if Kristina and Caroline weren't still in California, but they're coming home on Monday. In the meantime, at least Maggie, my Jack Russell Terrier, is happy to see me. However, Dorothy, Caroline's goldfish (named after Elmo's Sesame Street goldfish, of course)... well, there's gonna be a new Dorothy when Caroline gets back home. And this time, I'm not letting my mom put the fish in a goldfish bowl. I know that's how Elmo has his Dorothy, but fish need more water surface than that if they're going to live. The aquarium's coming out of storage this time.

***

As I walked home from the railroad station (I took the JFK Airtrain and the Long Island Rail Road to get home), I passed a Burger King restaurant, and it dawned on me that I've never seen a BK in Lexington before. I don't think I've seen Wendy's here, either.

You see, I have an ironclad rule of traveling... don't eat anywhere you can eat at home. It's a great rule, and it means I get to try a lot of food I'd never have otherwise, but it also allows me into most chain restaurants. Long Island is one of the least chain-saturated places in America. Folks, we don't have Denny's here. No Cracker Barrel, no Waffle House and no Bob Evans. No Sonic, and no Hardees. Chik Fil-A isn't open on Sundays in New York... or on any other day of the week. WE DON'T EVEN HAVE DAIRY QUEEN. If I'm lyin', I'm flyin'.

But here's the thing... While I've done a good job of staying out of McDonalds, Arby's (which just came back to Long Island this year), TGI Fridays and Moe's Southwest Grill, at what point do I finally say, I've been in Lexington long enough that I can have a John Coctostan at Moe's? It's a real conundrum.

I need some help here. Somebody give me a good reason for either keeping up my stance, or ditching it. Leave your thoughts in the comments. Best reasoning gets dinner at your favorite Lexington restaurant on me. Contest open to anyone who isn't related to me and lives in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Winner announced first week of September.

(Pretend I inserted some lawyer talk here.)

Gwen & Jeremy...

2007-07-31T02:46:00.001-04:00

Saturday's wedding was very special for me. Long before they were clients, Gwen and Jeremy were already friends of mine. To be such a big part of their happiness was really an honor. They were married at the Taj Lounge in Manhattan, and while it's an awesome venue, lighting the photos was a little tricky because it's so dark in there, and there aren't any neutral colored surfaces for me to bounce light off of. I have to say, however, I'm thrilled with my results.

Some early highlights:

Gwen and Jeremy are both involved in a company that provides medical anatomy artwork, so it was natural that they found a way to involve art in their wedding, replacing a unity candle with a unity painting, which they intend to display in their new home.

Scheduling update...

2007-07-26T18:15:00.000-04:00

In the wake of the Lexington Bridal Show, I've been fielding a lot of inquiries and have already booked one wedding off the show. As a result, I thought I'd pass on which dates have come off the board over the last three weeks:

2007:
September 8
October 6, 7, 20, 26, 27, 28
November 2, 3, 4, 18

2008:
January 6
May 10
July 12, 18

Since Brian and I talked to over 200 brides on Sunday, I would recommend you don't wait to make sure you lock in your wedding date! In addition, if you book over the next two weeks, I am booking Lexington area engagement sessions during the week of August 13-16th. After that block of time, I don't project that I'll be doing any Lexington engagement sessions until October!

***

This weekend, I'm shooting one wedding in New Jersey and one in Manhattan, then flying out to Memphis for a conference Sunday through Thursday.

There's good tired, bad tired and awesome tired...

2007-07-22T23:34:00.000-04:00

...and meeting so many of you at the Lexington Bridal Show today definitely falls under the awesomely tired bracket. I'm still amazed that I got my booth back into the minivan after assembling the table and sofa.

It was great not just to talk to so many brides in one place today, but also to see how many of you really get what my work is all about. I can't wait to give you ladies some gorgeous images for your albums. I sense my calendar is about to fill up very quickly.

(Special note: Thanks for finalizing your booking today, Sarah! I can't wait to shoot your wedding!)

The only thing that was not so great about today... I've got about 300 pieces of Ghiradelli chocolate and Lindt truffles I've got to find a home for. And my able associate, Brian, somehow managed to skip out without taking any of it home with him!

Getting ready for the Bridal Show!

2007-07-20T19:13:00.000-04:00

It's Friday night and I'm sitting in my hotel suite here in Lexington, with stacks of Chinese food containers around me, and everything smells like really good chocolate.

Come by my booth at the Lexington Bridal Show to find out what I'm talking about! (You can still sign up at http://www.Lexington-BridalShow.com to get your coupon for $2 off admission.)

My favorite bride of all time...

2007-07-13T00:30:00.001-04:00

10 years ago, on July 12th, this bride

saw fit to take this man

to be her husband, and since then, I have lived happily ever after.

In other words, my July 12th's are booked in perpetuity. Happy 10th Anniversary, darling.

Photographer toys, Episode 37419...

2007-06-26T00:02:00.000-04:00

The less photographed females of the Lozada family...

Once upon a time, my future wife was a drama major in college. Like every other would be actress, she went and paid to have some headshots done. Now, Kristina's a bit of a blinker. And clearly this guy wasn't a very good photographer, because out of 100 frames he took, only 6 of them didn't feature her eyes shut. And those 6 were half-blinks.

Needless to say, she's had a mistrust of studio flashes ever since. So it wasn't without some trepidation that she sat down in front of my new octabox last week. Let's put it this way-- she wanted the dog to be part of the session, too, just so it wouldn't be all on her.

Well, she's finally got her headshot.

My, I'm a lucky man.

Engagement Session: Gwen and Jeremy

2007-06-24T01:29:00.000-04:00

Got to spend time with one of my favorite couples today. Often, my clients become my friends over time, but this is one of two weddings I'm doing this summer that are friends who became clients. (The other set has their E-session next weekend.) Jeremy and I used to play together on our church's worship team back when I had more time for my bass, and Gwen takes care of our little Caroline in the nursery at Crossroads Christian Church in Brooklyn. They're perfect for each other, and it really shows on camera.

I met Gwen and Jeremy up at the Cloisters, a great old church/castle up in Fort Tyron Park up at the northern tip of Manhattan. Today, the Cloisters houses the Metropolitan Museum of Art's medieval collection. We shot there for 90 minutes, then went down to Little Italy for some more photos and dinner at a sidewalk cafe. It was an absolute blast, and I can't wait for their big day!

Here are a few of my favorites:

Ladies Day at Belmont Park!

2007-06-11T23:25:00.000-04:00

I've been splitting my time equally between wedding and editorial work recently. Got home at 3AM early Saturday morning from shooting a wedding at the W Hotel in Manhattan's Union Square and was back out the door by noon to shoot at the Belmont Stakes. It was a really exhilarating day as some of the finest horses in the nation were competing in the six graded stakes races, topped by Better Talk Now's last gasp finish in the Manhattan on the grass and then Rags To Riches becoming the first filly to win the Belmont Stakes in 102 years. There was no doubt she was the best bred horse in the race, and to make it even more impressive, she stumbled to her knees at the start, basically giving the boys a head start. Her connections have her pointed to at least two, possibly three, of the remaining shooting days on my New York horse photo schedule, so I'm looking forward to seeing her in my viewfinder a lot this summer!

The cover of tomorrow's Daily Racing Form...

2007-05-24T21:22:00.001-04:00

...can be seen here.

http://www.drf.com/covers/052507.pdf

I've never had a cover before.

Appearing elsewhere

2007-05-24T14:54:00.000-04:00

Today, on the Daily Racing Form website (http://www.drf.com), a photo I took of a Nick Zito trainee, Sun King, appears on the front page, illustrating David Grening's article (http://www.drf.com/news/article/85148.html, free registration required) about the former Kentucky Derby starter, who will be one of the favorites in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park, a race he lost last year by a nose.

Always fun to have some of the other work come to light...

Getting closer...

2007-05-22T21:20:00.000-04:00

Just got back from a week in Lexington, meeting brides, attending a meeting of the Kentucky Bridal Association and doing some house hunting. Unlike, my most recent trips to the Bluegrass, however, I had company! Kristina and Caroline flew in Friday night so Kristina could make the Fayette County Public Schools job fair and talk to people about special education teaching positions.

In every category, the trip was an unqualified success. Kristina's feeling good about connecting with some of the principals, I met with one absolutely beautiful bride who really enjoyed my photos, we managed to narrow down some of our ideas about what we want in a home and where we want it, I hit the superfecta on the Preakness, and Carrie even tolerated the airplanes well!

But the highlight of the weekend was unquestionably taking our little girl to the Kentucky Horse Park. Caroline loved loved loved all the different horses, and she kept calling out, "Come here, horse! Here, neigh!"

You can start the clock now on how soon until she asks Daddy for a pony.

Home again...

2007-04-21T00:28:00.000-04:00

Arrived back in New York yesterday. Severely jet lagged... I woke up at 330 PM today.

Internet connections during the second week of the trip were a lot harder to come by, so I'll be assembling the remaining videos over the next week or two.

In the meantime, here's an Engrish.com posting just waiting to happen that Dad and I found in the marketplace in Leyte...

Trip to Lamak...

2007-04-11T06:52:00.000-04:00

(You may want to make sure you watch the video podcast first.)

Well, the first thing I found out when we hit the road this morning was that we were staying in Cebu Province/Island, but NOT going to stay in Cebu City. In fact, we went over the mountains clear to the other end of the island, to the village of Lamak (yes, I mispronounced it on the video), where a church in the neighboring town of Balamban is trying to plant a second church.

This was the second clinic Dr. Titus Bantiles, our lead doctor, had done in the area recently. By the time we arrived, there was already a large group gathered. We ended up seeing almost 300 medical patients, about 50 dental, and 50 vision patients. We also had a station set up to provide daycare for the children of many of the patients, who sometimes had a considerable wait.

Despite the numbers, it started off much like the other clinics. Our team did a little program in the beginning with music, preaching and various health lectures. The local church leaders participated. The doctors went to their stations, and it was time for “Riders up.”

I started doing the usual photos, filmed my usual opening piece for the video, and a couple of amusing spots on the vendors who started showing up to hawk food to the patients as well as having my dad doing some errands for the dental staff. I laid out the first few minutes of the video by the time we broke for lunch, at a church member’s home. The lumpiang was particularly delicious, and I had some time to talk with our host, who is one of the many overseas workers (oil refining) and was home while waiting for a visa for his next assignment, plus the pending birth of his child.

When we got back, however, something was different. Various people on the counseling team kept calling me over to shoot video of unusual cases, not all of which made it into the final podcast due to YouTube’s 10 minute maximum length.

Quickly, it turned into an emotional afternoon. Suddenly my own daughter’s little upset stomach I heard about this morning didn’t quite seem so serious, especially since Caroline had kept down her crackers at last report.

As I continued to add each piece to iMovie (I still haven’t gotten the hang of Final Cut Express yet), it became obvious that if we added the right follow-up pieces, we could have the defining piece of our team’s time together.

You could feel the team’s sense of wanting to be able to help, but not knowing if there were enough resources to help, and in the case of Brian’s patient, the added frustration of knowing that even heroic measures weren’t likely to help.

We’re seeing a number of needs come together at once—an amputee who needs a wheelchair so that she can continue to run her store now that her husband has left her. The woman who needs cataract surgery from two days ago, who doesn’t have the government health card that would keep her surgery to a manageable $200 USD. A child whose unusual vision problems will likely require hospitalization as well. The list goes on, and we haven’t even gotten to the particularly troubled areas yet.

But as I watched the local church members in action—it’s not an accident that Pastor Ben took responsibility for that mother and child’s goiter medicine and baby formulas—I realized that there’s a lot of support in place for them if we can get them a little more help.

***

When I decided to go on this trip, I knew I was going to mainly take still photos, since that’s my expertise, but I also wanted to do a series of videos in the style of Dane Sanders’ SimplePhotoMinute (http://www.SimplePhotoMinute.tv). A couple of weeks before I left, Dane, who’s also a Christian, aired a piece on the short term missions trip he was going on to India. That’s when I realized the type of impact that something like this project could have. And mainly I mean on me. If it impacts you or the supporters of Dad’s missions organization as well, that’s just an added benefit.

God’s put a lot of opportunities in my hands lately. It’s clear that he wants me to use them for more than just my own family, or even my own community.

***

Catching a boat to Leyte this evening for tomorrow's clinic. Back soon.

Bring Good News Minute #2

2007-04-10T10:42:00.000-04:00

Here's the video for the second of our trips, the one to Bohol I described in the last post.

Tomorrow, we're doing a clinic here in Cebu City, and then we're in Leyte for the following day, coming back late at night.

Today was largely a day off, with some sightseeing, and travel back to Cebu. We also shipped the medicine for the final leg off to the team of doctors who will meet us for that clinic, which is on the main island of Luzon. Since we'll be leaving the central islands, we'll switch to a team from my Dad's childhood church, the Cruzada Church of Christ in Manila. They'll meet us for a clinic in an area devastated last December by a typhoon and the eruption of the Mayon volcano.

Update from Bohol...

2007-04-10T08:24:00.000-04:00

Here’s the first in a series of video podcasts I’ve been putting together for the medical missionary group that my Dad heads up:

***

Yesterday, we conducted a medical clinic here on the island of Bohol, a two hour ferry ride from Cebu. The local pastor whose church is affiliated with our visit met us in his jeepney, which is basically a mini truck that’s modified to carry about 10 passengers in the back. Jeepneys, incidentally, are everywhere. The vast majority of them are brightly decorated because they act like private buses that run regular routes. (It’s advertising to have them brightly/garishly decorated.)

Unfortunately, this jeepney broke down in the town center, about 2 miles away from where we were supposed to conduct the clinic. Our lead doctor quickly hired three tricycles—not the kid’s toy that you and I think of, but rather a light motorcycle with a lightweight sidecar frame that holds two people facing forward in a canopy, and either their baggage or two people in the back. For those of you scoring at home, that means we’ve got a total of 5 people, including the driver on board.

In a related story, the tricycles ended up having to stop about 100 yards away from our destination because the hill was too steep for them to carry that type of load. Still, after the hikes the last two days, this was nothing. We saw about 120 people—I’m told the clinic this weekend ended up serving 170 people—mainly children. Our optometrist saw one adult, however, who needed a level of care beyond what we could provide onsite. This woman had an advanced cataract problem that will require surgery. The missions organization will foot the bill for her transportation to Cebu and the cost of the surgery, which works out to about $200 USD, but in this rural region of the Philippines, that’s nearly three times what the average worker makes in a year, according to our lead doctor.

After our clinic, we stayed here in Bohol, getting rooms in a local boarding house, and eating across the street at one of the local grilling stands. And if you know how I feel about grilling, you know I was in heaven. Some of our younger team members spent the time asking me about the various sports Americans enjoy, and we had a great time.

Afterwards, as my Dad and I went back to our room, I got my first chance to watch Filipino TV. First off, let me say that the state of Filipino acting is far better in their commercials than it is in their telenovelas, which make the Mexican soap operas on Telemundo look like the Royal Shakespeare Company. Especially when you consider that they incessantly switch between Tagolog and English, which is not too far from normal around here anyway.

The thing is, the Philippines I’m seeing on the TV shows and especially in the commercials has absolutely nothing in common with what I’ve seen here in my four days, whether it be the rural areas, where you expect it, or the urban areas. And I’m realizing that I’d forgotten is that the major industry of the Philippines is what they call balikbayan—which basically means returning workers, but actually denotes Filipinos who take jobs (most often as nurses and also as doctors) in other countries like the US and Dubai, and send money back home. Their economic impact is so great that they keep the right to vote even after becoming citizens elsewhere.

I wonder if I’ll see the same discrepancies next week when I finally get to Manila.

Quick update from Cebu...

2007-04-08T17:12:00.000-04:00

Just got back last night from taking pictures for a free medical clinic in Asiotes, a village high in the mountains above Cebu City here in the central Philippine islands. The village is inaccessible by roads, and it takes a 90 minute hike to get there-- the last 15 minutes is at a 45 degree angle, and on the way back down, it was a muddy, dangerous mess. My dad fell once, but luckily didn't slide.

The villagers were wonderful, opening their homes to the 15 people on the team. It was a little difficult for me, as the one person on the team that didn't speak Tagolog, since only 1/3 of the adults and none of the kids spoke English. That said, as soon as I started showing the photos (to be posted soon) to the kids and their parents, I had a smiling parade following me everywhere.

Asiotes has no running water or electricity, so we had to bring in our own supplies, including drinking water and toilet paper, in addition to the medicine. I did not envy the porters on the team.

The medical team served over 100 people from here and the surrounding villages-- Asiotes is only about 30 people, including children. The optometrist was especially busy, as they'd never had an eye doctor come up before.

We conducted the Easter Sunday service the next day-- it switched back and forth between English and Tagolog, so I could follow a quarter of it or so. My dad and the lead doctor both gave sermons.

We're off to another island in a few minutes, so I don't have time to upload pictures. I found I forgot the DV cable for my camcorder, so I'm now taking all my video on SD cards, using both the camcorder and my little Leica point and shoot. The Canon 5D was too bulky to bring to Asiotes, but it will go on today's trip.

The Great Adventure...

2007-03-31T20:07:00.000-04:00

...And no, I don't mean an amusement park in Jackson, NJ.

Late on Wednesday night, I'm flying out on the first leg of a trip that will have me in Cebu, Philippines by Good Friday. This is the first time I'm ever going to use my passport. That's right, kids, 34 years old, and the only time I've left the country is to go to Canada. Which isn't much more out of my way than going to Philly, in reality.

My father is already abroad on the trip, in Myanmar (formerly Burma). My dad has used his retirement to coordinate logistics for short-term medical missions trips, getting doctors and dentists to free medical clinics in countries such as India, Pakistan, Egypt and Thailand. I'm going to document one of these trips as we go to Cebu and also to an area just outside of his hometown of Manila that has suffered damage from a volcano and from a typhoon over the last year. On the way back, I get a tourism day with Dad in Hong Kong, where I've made arrangements to go to Happy Valley Race Course to shoot some pictures.

The toughest thing about the trip, of course, is missing my wife and daughter, who will be hosting my in-laws while I'm gone. Thank heaven for videoconferencing. There's also been a lot of vaccinations and things like that, too.

I'm going to try and update the blog from time to time while I'm out here, including pictures and maybe video. Keep checking back!

On the road again...

2007-03-14T01:01:00.000-04:00

I do miss my wife and my darling little girl. Thank heaven for iChat video conferencing.

There's a funny thing about working out of a home office: Sometimes you actually have to abandon the office to get anything done. I'm out in Lexington, Kentucky for tomorrow's meeting of the Kentucky Bride Association, an wedding vendors group serving the Bluegrass region. I flew in this afternoon, settled in to my hotel room, with the full intention of eventually going downtown to scout out locations for future engagement shoots.

Instead, I ended up opening my MacBook and finally bringing my new website live, which meant new photos, music, and a new logo. Unfortunately, I need to work some bugs out, so I need to talk to the authors of the web template I'm using, but I think it'll be a good look. I also got a chance to play with the trial version of Adobe Lightroom, which is an awesome workflow/editing program. I have no doubt I'll be ditching Apple Aperture shortly.

I'm really tired. I did a second shooter gig for one of New York/New Jersey's wedding photography firms, and had to rush my edits back sooner than they normally require just so I could come out here without it hanging over my head. That meant 4 hours of sleep Saturday night, 2 hours Sunday night, and then with packing for this trip, 3 hours last night so I could hop the AirTrain out to Kennedy Airport. But I feel energized again being out here, and I'm looking forward to meeting people in the industry tomorrow night.

Anyway, let me know what you think of the new site!