It was through a random conversation that this Boston wedding photographer had during a smidgen of downtime at the Mass Audubon Habitat in Belmont when I learned of Norm’s knowledge and apparent love for orchidaceae or the orchid. I told him how I buy them, usually from Trader Joe’s, and can never get them to re-flower–let alone live more than a month in my captivity. While he told me many things about how to care for these delicate flowers his advice was to just “lightly mist” the plant–particularly the flower.  He said this absolutely nonchalantly as if it just made sense. Problem solved. There may be a metaphor here and I could go into how it relates to marriage and relationships but I won’t.  What I will say is this–Norm gets it. I see what Cheryl sees in him and somehow this one little shred of his character gleaned from a snippet of idle conversation in the middle of his wedding said so much.

Just FYI the orchid my wife, Asha, received for being a room parent at my daughter’s school is still full of flowers and thriving–lightly misting all the way.

Cheryl adds the finishing touch to her wedding look--what else a single orchid.

Last look before wowing her waiting groom.

Sneaking up on Norm.

Norm gets a first hand look.

Home grown from Norm's personal stock.

Practicing some dance moves in a quiet moment.

The hardware amongst the flora of Cheryl's bouquet.

Something old.

Mom worried about the details wipes a lipstick kiss at the alter.

Rings readied to be passed throughout the audience to be blessed by each.

Lots of emotions at the alter.

Sealed with a kiss.

The main room.

The toasts became roasts.

Our night ended with a first dance...

And a last kiss.

Once again I must thank my wonderful assistant, Renee, and all these other wonderful vendors:

Caterer: Season to Taste Catering (Cambridge)

Florist: Jeri Solomon Floral Design (Melrose)

Cake or desserts by: Dessertworks (Norwood)

Linen & Chairs (If other than venue): Linens: Be Our Guest

Calligraphy, Invitation and all stationery Design: Designed by our bride, Cheryl McCaffrey

Entertainment Provided By: George Farrell Jazz Band (Boston)

Wedding gown by: Alix and Kelly

Jewelry by: Earrings by Swarovksi, Gold mesh bracelet by J. Crew, Silver antique bracelet, Cheryl’s Grandmother’s, Engagement and wedding ring by Jade Moran

Make-up by: Chantal Ambroise for Bobbi Brown

Me and my Honey in Millenium Park having some fun!

Last weekend I got engaged again for the first time. It was months in the planning: A trip to Chicago to see Oprah’s last studio show (thank you to our fab client Julie for the tix), a romantic getaway sans kids for the first time in 8 years (dog years at times), and a modest little 10 year anniversary gift for my wife, Asha. A long time ago, almost 10 years ago, we were busy buying a condo and moving. I was too poor and she was too practical  and the standard engagement style ring never materialized. I promised her then that if she can hold out until our ten year anniversary that I’d make good on the customary ring thing. Years passed and I’m sure she had forgotten my promise. Dharma was born, then Sarada. Dog died. Jobs came and went and the usual snowball-rolling-down-hill Life we had just kept jugging along collecting everything in its path.  Anniversaries were celebrated and I quietly remembered. Birthdays and births. Laughter and our fair share of tears but through it all I remembered. It is no small feat to celebrate 10 years of marriage and is something of which I’m very proud.

So fast-forward to Chicago 2011. I’m carrying this ring around with me everywhere. I was genuinely nervous–I mean she could say no, right? After all she has spent more than 10 years with me and my socks on the kitchen table, shoes in the hall, tardiness, etc. Also, I was afraid she’d hate my choice of ring. I asked Dharma if she thought Mami would like it and her response, “I’d take it!”

So where to do it? Do I get down on one knee? Should it be private or public? We were only in Chicago for a couple days so I was under the gun. The first night didn’t have the magic and I think we even bickered about some stupid thing. Before we left for dinner that night we were randomly watching some Ben Afleck movie and the damn guy has this scene with Jennifer Anniston where he has her pull the engagement ring out of his grubby cargo pants. WTF! Ben, man!  He just stole my thunder. That night the restaurant  just wasn’t right and plus I still had Ben on my mind.

From the Sky Deck in the "Sears" tower--would have made a great spot to pop the question.

Day 2 Oprah Show: OK. It was a possibility. We waited in line (not good). Then had to check all our belongings so I had to insist that I get the claim check ticket and casually asked the woman securing our stuff to let me have the box with the ring. She says to me laughing, “You gonna get engaged on the Oprah Show.”  That was out now and way too public–not us.

We did stuff like this all the time when we were first dating.

In the end it happend just as it should have, organically, as we exited the Art Institute of Chicago. The rest I’ll keep to myself and between us but it was magical and meaningful. We cried and laughed and fell in love all over again.

Lens Babe!

Tulips were everywhere.

My Muse: We did stuff like this all the time, too.

Some big fountain along the Lake.

Two kids and 10 years and somethings haven't changed at bit.

How fabulous was this!

Photo by turistas just like us.

Oh my God! She's crazy (to have married me).

No engagement shoot is complete without the feet--103 stories above the street.

Asha right after it all went down.

I think we did this kind of stuff back when, too.

Chicago is home to the most skyscrapers of any city in US but they couldn't compete with Asha on this day.

So where to from here, Cleopatra?

And that is how it all went down those 2-1/2 days last week. I gotta say a big thank you to my Mom who took care of our littlest one for us. And to Jess, Gav and the kids for entertaining Dharma for a couple days. We put our network to the test and we couldn’t have done it without them. Lastly I want to thank Maria at Absolute Titanium Design for working with me all those months coming up with this one-of-a-kind ring for my truly unique Woman.

Do you hear that Asha--I'm no muggle!

My favorite comment this year and certainly way up there on the all time list. Thank you, Kathy. While I do find it amazing to be party to moments like these, the magic is in the moment. I gotta think there must be some magic between these two to begin with.  I look for this at every wedding but only rarely does it all come together like this; maybe that is magic–with a tad bit of luck and a dash of skill.

Live shoot!

Where to find inspiration–that freshy–fresh, wow!–That little bit of zip to start the next cycle. I’m at the first of several workshops sponging up everything I can. I’m a snob. A show-me-the-money, what–can–you–teach-me, snob about attending workshops. My inner journalist is banging a lead pipe against the inside of my skull as I listen to my mentors and workshop-goers alike. Don’t get me wrong here–I am going to get my money’s worth of value if I have to squeeze them like limes for my famous homemade margarita mix (using natural limes, brown sugar and a splash of OJ–but that is another blog post).

This is how I roll and I expect the same no–holds barred, take–the–sissy–gloves–off–approach to any and all critiques and small tidbits of wisdom leveled upon me. I don’t need anymore smoke blown up my ass–less there be an explosion of all the sugar-coated, patty cakes that is usually digested at these things. I’m a big boy–let me have it.  I’m here to learn and be inspired — my craft depends on on it and my clients expect it.

That said: Here’s a few more images from a live shoot we did today. I learned a few things. I met some nice people. In the end I’ll take my 10% away and apply it to what I do leaving the other 90% to those that need it more.  For this small edge I will be 100% better and my clients will be 100% happier.

I gotta remember this monument for my next Concord wedding.

12/31/09 - Boston, - Sarah and Noah are married on New Year's Eve at the Lenox Hotel.

The year that was ended the same way for us at DMPJ as the previous year with a gorgeous, snow covered New Year’s Eve wedding celebration for two beautiful people.  Mozoltov to Sarah and Noah–what a great way to begin a life together.

It is one thing I really push for in the colder months that my couples try to brave the cold and elements.  This gives their wedding another dimension from the interior shots–usually taken with added light from our speedlights.

I always say to my couples not to worry about Mother Nature since she has her own plan but shiny, wet walkways and streets reflect so much light that when mixed with the artificial sources of the street lamps and storefronts contribute so much to the overall image.  Anyone of my couples who have done an engagement shoot with us will tell you that we love taking advantage of the city lights.

A big “thank you” to the GM at the Lenox that got us on the roof-top. It was one of those things that was promised to Sarah and Noah but it took the GM to make it happen at the last minute.

There is nothing like New Year’s Eve in the city. Last year we were down in Providence, Rhode Island for a 400 person fest at the convention center after a blizzard dumped a foot of snow on us all day. It was nice to have this wedding right here in town and thank you to Winter for providing the right form of precipitation sprinkled just lightly enough to make all things pretty.

We had Chris Gagne shooting 5D MII video and it is his sweet and cheap, ah inexpensive, SIMA LED that gives these last two shots the perfect light.  I’m becoming of real fan of these lights for still photography and plan to make the investment to the more expensive but simply better Litepanels brand.

Getting back to the video for a second we are experimenting with fusion products to find the right mix for out style.

We are busy following a tremendous 1-1/2 month trip to India. Michael and I ran a very successful VR workshop in the slums of Mumbai with the help of the organization CORO for Literacy and their incredible staff.  Asha and I finished up the year traveling with the girls in south India as most of you have already seen on our facebook pages.  There is a post coming for our Traveling Family Circus blog soon.

So this is how the year begins with Winter all around us and 2010 weddings piling up.  Visual Reportage is planning our annual Guatemala sojourn and NESoP is giving Michael and I the go for a reportage on Detroit with 16 of our best and brightest students this March.  Asha and I are resting up for the official start of another wedding season sometime in late March.

What I think is best at this point is to just say peace to you all this coming new year and new decade. Let’s hope it can end and begin for us all like is did for Sarah and Noah.

Don’t forget to celebrate World Metrology Day this May 20th. I know I will.

This is for real. I’m not making this up. This past January, January 28th to be exact, I received this email:

Dear Mr Cooper,
I am a fellow American working at a non-for-profit intergovernmental organization known as the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM). We are the custodians of the international system of measurements (known as the SI) and we coordinate scientific metrology worldwide in benefit of science, commerce, health care and the environment. (You might recall our organization from your science classes in school as the people that keep the Kilogram in a vault in Paris.)

Every May 20th, we celebrate the signing of the international treaty that created our organization in 1875 with an event that we call “World Metrology Day“. This event is meant to raise awareness of the importance of measurements to daily life and the promotional material that we prepare is distribute in about 100 countries and translated into about 30 languages.

The theme for this year is “Measurements in Commerce” and as every year, we have prepared a draft of the 2009 WMD poster (see enclosed PDF file) to kick start our campaign. As you will notice, I included one of your beautiful photographs in the poster and I would like to obtain your permission to make use of it. I selected your photograph as it brings to the poster a child perspective as well as a ethnic element.
I look forward to your response and please do not hesitate to contact me if you have questions regarding this request.
Best regards,
Pedro Espina

OK. I had this pic on our travel blog: www.travelingfamilycircus.com and it seems Pedro found it by searching Google with the search string, “ethnic, fruit stand, child”.  Lucky for me that I attached keywords, captions and copyright info to every photo I post on line.  Even luckier for me the Mr Espina is an honest man and still luckier for me that Mr. Espina had a budget to compensate me for the image.
Now for the fun part. Pedro says the poster will be in 28 countries and 30 different languages which is kinda cool considering I just took a shot on vacation, uploaded it to my blog and forgot about it:

Then last week I’m boarding a plane for a conference and workshop in Vegas and I get a call from someone asking me about a pic I shot over Hull of the wind turbine there.  He wants to use an image he found on the web from one of my aerial shoots I did in 2007 for a permanant project at the Museum of Science.  Again, Google and meta data to the rescue.  Instead of having this image on my HD collecting dust it is circulating cyber-space.  Again I’m lucky that the crew at the MOS have morals and did not just grab it and use it.

Cape Wind turbine from 3,000 feet looking toward Boston.

The moral of the this story.  While there may well be many, many people thieving pix from the web without attribution or a drop of payment to the hardworking photogs shooting this stuff there are some willing to do the right thing.   I’m going to choose to look at this as half full and hope that we can all give Pedro the props he deserves.

…is better than a tail with two heads–any day. This is the true story of a wedding-photojournalism photo-illustration.

Last week I received and email from my beautiful and  lovely client Kati, who asked me in no uncertain words to either crop out her mother from a photo or possibly perform a very delicate entire-head transplant.  Kati explained that this photograph (Exhibit A below) was one of her favorite shots but that she wished her mom could have been making a better face.  In her defense her mom forewarned me before the wedding that she did not take great photographs.

Exhibit A

Nonsense! We have plenty of really nice photographs of her from all angles throughout the entire wedding night and this beautiful woman danced and partied like a teenager. Note exhibits B-D:

Exhibit B

Exhibit C

Exhibit D

However, Exhibit A was one of Kati’s favorite shots with her two incredible parents in the limo on the way to her wedding ceremony.  What was I to do? Cropping her dear mother out of the moment (a moment she most definitely shared) seemed a bit harsh. There were certainly other shots from the limo that yielded a great image of her mom with her dad–but there was just something about this one image that Kati just couldn’t let go.  Something in the way she glowed sitting between two people that she loved dearly.  I couldn’t just stand by coldly when I possessed THE POWER!

Like a sugeon playing God (maybe one of the guys from Nip/Tuck or House) I could give this photography new life and  put a smile on the face of this damsel in distress. I must remember the line of a young Peter Parker in Spiderman:

Yes it pains me to be thinking this but maybe I’m creating the Frankenstein Monster. Maybe this will leap off the operating room table and wreak havoc or, just maybe I have the arrogance to believe I can control it–yes, yesssss, I can control it:

And so it began that cold, dark night in early March with a wicked New England blizzahd howling outside, I sequestered myself in my office and began to work.  Photoshop oozed from my pores and my eyes glazed over with glee.  You’ve all done it! You know you have. We’ve all swapped heads with friends, put our heads on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s rippling body and dropped ourselves in scenes of history like Forrest Gump.

But this was different, right?  Right.  This is giving my client 110%.  After all we soften wrinkles, whiten teeth and remove tattoos, what’s the difference with performing complete head replacement therapy? Oh the darkness of it all.  Will this agony I feel deep inside last forever?  Journalism is having a tough enough time these days with great news organizations going belly up every day. Certainly journalism doesn’t need me messing with it’s step-brother’s-friend’s-little-sister-twice removed–WEDDING PHOTO JOURNALISM.  No Glen, say it ain’t so.

The deed is done. I give you Exhibits E + A = F and leave the last word to Kati: “It is absolutely PERFECT!!  Can I order a couple of separate prints for me and my parents wall?   Four 5×7′s?  Two black and white and two in color?  Whatever you think about what looks best in the album-I love this pic so much-thank you guys!!!”

Exhibit E

Exhibit A

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: Exhibit F - Just the way it happened

Addendum: Just so there is absolutely no confusion the above rant and associated videos are ment all in fun and while I think this may be very obvious I wanted it to be stated.  Also, I have the blessings from my awesome couple to use their likenesses and quotes.

Niveen makes here way to her Shaadi at the Lyman Estate in Waltham.

A lot has been written and discussed lately about HDR photography, especially in wedding photography.  As a photojournalist I have been scolded (that’s putting it mildly) by colleagues in the wedding biz for employing these techniques in connection to something as statedly pure as photojournalism–but c’mon folks, seriously, these are hardly matters of life and death. Let’s just enjoy.

That said I must state that most of my so-called HDR images are actually faux-HDR since I mainly use only one RAW photograph to create them and that is where I started with the above image of Niveen during her wedding last month.  From the get go I use a combination of Lightroom and Photo Mechanic for my workflow. First ingested through Photo Mechanic where a first rough edit is done (PM is made for speed and efficiency–other programs like Lightroom or Aperture simply can’t compete). After the first edit I import that raw edit to LR where the real work begins. For 90% of my images LR is all I ever use–the other 10% is a combo of PS4 and other programs like Photomatix Pro, Topaz Adjust and NIK software as well as a plethora of PS actions.

The image was selectively over saturated in LR using the TAT (target adjustment tool) in the H/S/L part of the Develop module. From there I opened it in Topaz and adjusted using manual controls but something similar to the preset of “vibrance” or “crisp”.  This usually produces a good deal of digital noise especially with high ISO indoor shots in low light. I ran a noise reduction filter on the image and then opened it in NIKs Color Effects Pro choosing “polaroid transfer” from the style presets–again some manual adjustments since every image has its own voice.

I’ll attach a sharpening filter, usually HIGH PASS in PS, and always on a separate layer so I can selectively sharpen the areas that call for it.  Like a painter knows when his piece is finished you just know when the image is done.  It is quite easy to go too far, too fast, and do too much with this stuff so I try to limit this part of my workflow to the images that really ask to be finessed with these techniques.

I’m always learning which for me is what keeps things fresh and exciting.  The students I mentor and teach at the New England School of Photography are a constant source of  inspiration and I’d be remiss if I didn’t recognize their contribution to my work.

Some great HDR tutorials are available on-line. Here are my favorites: Vanilla Days and Trey Ratcliff’s incredible site, Stuck in Customs.  Trey’s stuff is simply exquisit!

—

I also have some video shot with the Canon 5D during this wedding that I will post soon but just some quick things on my ever growing passion to incorporate the moving image into work. We (my students and I) found some great and relatively inexpensive add-ons for this camera from SIMA. We like their <$20 LED light, their ~$10 side bracket for mounting things like lights and mics. And speaking of mics the RØDE VideoMic is hands down the best mic for the buck we’ve found.  Mounted to the side bracket you can still shoot photographs and the bracket allows a greater deal of stability. Look for a post soon,

-GC

I was hired out by my wife who is on the educational committee at my daughter, Dharma’s, Montessori school to take some photos of the kids in action throughout their day. I spent 4 hours with them as they did everything from tracing maps of the US to multiplication and geometry lessons.

Next time I will do some interesting portraits of them all and finally shoot them on their ski school day (ski school–I sure didn’t have ski school as part of my Friday routine back in elementary school).  If anyone with kids ever has the chance to spend some quality time in their childrens’ classroom, I’d say jump at the opportunity. I think my dad visited once when we had career day at my 4th grade class–I was probably dead embarrassed even though his presentation was one of the coolest since he was a police officer.

I’ll continue to update this project which will end in a picture book to be autioned off to raise money for the school in April.

——

We are debuting a new logo created by our friend and designer Lauren Kennedy at Charm Stationary and Design. Check her out. She’s great to work with and does real nice work!

—-

On Visual Reportage Workshops news I am looking for anyone who can get me some these meds for the malnutrition clinics in Guatemala we support (my apologies this list is in Spanish but it should be easy to figure out for medical people–plus, this is the United States so we should all start learning the soon to be most spoken language of our country).  We leave the first week of March if anyone can help out:

CLINICAS FAMILIARES ATKINSON
Asociación Nuestros Ahijados DE Guatemala ONG
Carretera a San Felipe ## 106

LISTADO DE MEDICAMENTOS
ANTIBIÓTICOS
1. Amoxicilina + Ac. Clavulánico        Uso pediátrico
2. Amoxicilina                Uso pediátrico y adultos
3. Azitromicina                Uso pediátrico y adultos
4. Cefaclor                    Uso pediátrico y adultos
5. Cefadroxil                Uso pediátrico y adultos
6. Norfloxacina
7. Ofloxacina
8. Trimetoprim sulfametoxazol        Uso pediátrico y adultos

ANALGÉSICOS Y ANTINFLAMATORIOS – ANTIPIRÉTICOS
1. Diclofenaco                Tabletas, ampollas, gel.
2. Ibuprofen                     Tabletas, gotas, líquido
3. Indometacina                Tabletas, supositorios
4. Acetaminofen                 Tabletas, gotas, jarabe, supositorios
5. Naproxeno                Tabletas
6. Piroxicam                     Tabletas Ampollas,gel

ENFERMEDAD PEPTICA
1. Ranitidina Tabletas, ampollas
2. Famotidina
3. Lanzoprazol
4. Omeprazol
5. Hidroxido de aluminio y magnesio
6. Sulcralfato
7. Pantoprazo
8. Antiácido     (Peptobismol)

TOPICOS
1. Hidrocortisona
2. Betametazona
3. Dexametasona
4. Crema triple antibiótico
5. Ketoconazol o antimicoticos

ANTIPARASITARIOS
1. Metronidazol Tabletas liquido
2. Tinidazol
3. Albendazol

HIPOGLUCEMIANTES ORALES
1. Glibenclamida
2. Repaglimida
3. Glizide
4. Metformina
5. Glimepirida

ANTIHIPERTENSIVOS
1. Enalapril
2. Cilazapril
3. Telmisartan
4. Losartan
5. Diovan
6. Furosemida
7. Antilipidicos
8. Hidroclorotiazida

ANTIALÉRGICOS
1. Meleato de clorfeniramina            Tabletas, ampollas
2. Dexametasona                    Tabletas, ampollas,  Jarabe
3. Metilprednisolona (SOLUMEDROL)        ampollas
4. Benadryl
5. Loratadina                    Tabletas, jarabe

ANTITUSIVOS – MUCOLITICOS
1. Robitutussin
2. Tussin expectorant
3. Pediacare cold and cough
4. Ambroxol
5. Carboximetil cisteina
6. Ambroxol + Clenbuterol
7. Ketotifeno
8. Montelukas

SOLUCIONES – OTICAS Y OFTALMOLÓGICAS
1. Antibióticos con o sin esteroides

VITAMINAS
1. Prenatales
2. Para niños y adultos
3. Centrum adulto y 3er. Edad
4. Calcio + Vitamina D
5.  Vitamina C 500 mg

Hello World and welcome to our first official post.  With this space I hope to create an open source and forum on all things visual.  While a good chunk will be devoted to my 3 main businesses–wedding photography, visual reportage workshops and teaching–I do want to have a place for my observations on Life in general and some of the wonderful and talented people I work with to be able to reach out and communicate as well.

Here is a quick vid capture with my Canon 5D Mark II during Ryan and Kristen’s wedding last month:

Ryan and Kristen – Heel Click! from Glen Cooper on Vimeo.

My first post was inspired by a videographer/documentary producer I worked with on a wedding last month.  I was using my 5D Mark II, shooting some video (much like the snippet I posted above from another wedding), and she was watching me with great interest.  We started talking about video, photography and the ever merging marriage of the two mediums when she said, “Soon it will all be called “digtal media” and photographers and videographers will both be competing for the same clients.  First off I thought–most videographers can’t shoot stills (at least not the way a still photographer does) and second a still photographer using a DSLR shooting video can’t shoot video (at least not the way a video guy or gal can).

While I think there will be business for both I do believe still photographers willing to learn video will have the advantage. Will we (still guys/gals) be able to do both symultaneously (no, at least not very well) but for me (Decisive Moment Photojournalists) since I always use a second photographer like many wedding photographers do now-a-days; I am starting to see this second camera person shooting documentary video instead of stills.  Yes a digital media company is what we will eventually become–it is just up to us to continue to impart our style on this new media.

Just some other things:

Check out David Bergman’s incredible shot of the inauguration last month. It is over 14,000 mega pixels but the resolution is amazing. Click here to see it. I found my friend and Boston Herald photographer, Angela Rowlings on the very top of the photographers area. You can read all the detials on David’s blog: www.davidbergman.net/blog.