Greg & Nick Get Married!
Greg & Nick
Neither a driving rain nor a pandemic were going to stop Greg and Nick from tying the knot in this past August.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. You’re probably saying to yourself “I’ve followed this blog since it started in November 2008….Mark has never shot a wedding. He’s not a wedding photographer. Why is he shooting a wedding?”
Allow me to reply:1) No, I’ve never shot a wedding. 2) No, I’m not a wedding a photographer 3) Well, because I was asked to by my friend Greg.
Full disclosure of a couple of things: I’ve known Greg for a few years now. Way back in 2014, he asked me to shoot some portraits of him to help market his yoga business. He works for the same company I do and every now and then, we see each other at an event or in the gym. But it had been a while, so when I got an email from him back in July 2019 asking if I’d shoot his wedding, I was surprised…but also honored.
We had a call a few days later and he told me he and Nick were booked Holly Hedge Estate in New Hope, PA for their August 2020 wedding. They were thrilled and excited of course. We even had a chance to meet up one Fall weekend there so that I could meet Nick and have a look around the gorgeous estate, very popular for weddings.
We all know what happened next – Pandemic.
I got another email from Greg in April 2020 saying they were postponing the festivities until, hopefully, August 2021.
In the meantime, as we were all going through COVID induced changes, they did a Justice of the Peace ceremony and bought a cute house in Lambertville, NJ!
Despite already being married, they still wanted to do the big Holly Hedge Estate party, and they still wanted me in on it. Pretty cool, eh?
Ok, so, the Friday evening before the wedding it’s raining….hard! I’m looking at my weather app for Saturday: Rain.
I start to panic a little. I had all these outdoor shots planned – what do I do if it rains? I text my buddy, Bryan Sargent, who shoots wedding every weekend in NYC. He wonder if I could pick up those clear umbrellas, that might be cool.
But it’s 9 pm and I don’t have many options. I run into CVS and buy two black umbrellas. At least it’s something. I spend the rest of night charging batteries, getting gear together, making sure I had enough media cards.
Oh, this would also be the first shoot with my new Canon 5D Mark IV. (Yes, I’ve made a switch. Stay tuned for that post.)
Anyway, I wake up on Saturday morning and it was pouring HARD in my town. I pack up my truck and head to New Hope about 35 minutes away.
And, as I’m getting closer…the rain is stopping. By the time I get there, it’s completely stopped. Humid as all hell but no rain!
I meet up with Greg and Nick early, and we walk the grounds gathering shots.
And guess what the good folks at Holly Hedge provided for me….
Even though the rain had stopped, I still wanted to incorporate the umbrellas!
We spent a good hour or so hitting different spots, all before their family and friends arrived. There were honestly times when I felt like I was shooting two models for GQ magazine. They even had custom suits!
Of course, we shot a whole bunch of photos with Greg and Nick’s family and friends around the estate. The ground looked lush and full after the rain, really a treat to shoot in. The worst part was my lenses kept fogging up between going from the air conditioned buildings to the humid outdoors.
Though they had a good number of guests, it still felt more intimate. Greg’s uncle said a few words and did the ceremony.
Then the party began!
Of course I shot a ton more photos for the groom’s. It was a wonderful experience for me, and I’m honored Greg and Nick chose me to document their special day!
Location: Holly Hedge Estates:
Hair/Make Up: Makeup By Danielle Aarci
Custom Suits: The Clothing Center
Music: Pat and Sean Kelly
Flowers: Pod Shop Flowers
Cake: Vegan Treats
Will I shoot more weddings?
Guess we’ll have to see…
© Mark V. Krajnak | JerseyStyle Photography | All Rights Reserved 2021
JSP Visual Week In Review ~ 09.11.21
A week of change as the season starts to shift to its next change.
The kids started school this week.
I now have a high schooler, middle schooler and elementary schooler to contend with.
My boys started their fall baseball leagues. My daughter went to her first high school football game.
New adventures for all of us
For us…those following this blog…too.
New days, new weeks, they all bring us something new.
New adventures and experiences.
Don’t sleep on them. Make the most of it.
I’ve been somewhat busy lately. New work to share very soon. Keep it here!.
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This Week’s Links:
What I Read This Week: Finished The Queen’s Gambit. Continuing on with Caper.
What I Watched This Week: Nothing worth mentioning.
Opinion: Stop the Sausage Machine Photos (Man, I hear this one! So much of the same old same old, especially on Instagram. Try something different.)
Watch: The Best Fall Landscape Photography Advice, via Mark Denney
Watch/Listen: Behind The Shot: Sculpting With Light with Blair Bunting
Eye Candy: We Are New York Strong via Adorama
Read: Joe McNally answers Q&A’s about Olympics photography. Round 1 is here. Round 2 is here.
Brassi: Learn about this photographer, who had a birthday this week.
Speedway: Quite the interesting project from James Maher.
Stay loose, stay lucky, be kind. Enjoy the week, and do the best that you can.
© Mark V. Krajnak | JerseyStyle Photography | All Rights Reserved 2021
Remembering 9/11, 20 Years Later
I post this photo every year on this day.
From the 9/11 memorial in Jersey City, New Jersey.
I shot it in 2007. Not sure I’ve been back since.
It’s almost hard to believe it’s 20 years on from that infamous day.
I was working for my first pharma company, which no longers exits now, then.
My boss had a TV in is office to keep up with daily events. I haven’t seen that boss in years. We were to get together for lunch in March 2020..and well, the pandemic stopped us and we’ve never picked up the thread again.
But back then, it was a beautiful late summer day.
He came to my office to tell me one of the towers was on fire. I went into his office to watch the live coverage.
Saw the second plane hit.
Work stopped for the day. We were glued to the TV set.
They may have let us go home early, I don’t quite remember.
Life changed forever after that. We still take our shoes off in airports because of one guy. No one complained about civil liberties being threatened when that started. The enemy was in a turban and we had to stop him!
Wearing a cloth mask now, though, to prevent the spread of a communicable disease that has killed millions…yeah.
Then, like now, everything is politicized.
But I digress…
Twenty years on. Hard to believe.
While you’re here, perhaps check out this interview I did 10 years ago with Joe McNally about his Faces of Ground Zero project.
© Mark V. Krajnak | JerseyStyle Photography | All Rights Reserved 2021
JSP Visual Week In Review ~ 09.04.21
Happy Labor Day Weekend here in the United States!
I know, I know…this week in review is two days late.
My excuse, I guess, is that I was hardly home this weekend, shooting to big events that were about 12 hour days.
And I had another project to get off my plate on Saturday morning before I headed to Event #1, so I really had no time to pull this together.
So, here we are, at the end of another summer.
Last summer was odd, because of the pandemic.
This summer was odd, because of all the stuff going on in my personal life.
And the pandemic.
Which sure as hell isn’t over, even though by looking at Instagram, you’d think it was.
Also this week, many areas of my beloved state got socked by Hurricane Ida. So much rain in such a short period of time. I never had so many Tornado and Flash Flood warnings going off on my phone as I did Tuesday night into Wednesday.
Thankfully, I didn’t experience any damage but many I know did. One of those affected was my friend and musician, Dan Amato.
Unfortunately, his basement studio flooded and he lost some equipment like his electric keyboard. Tough time to hit after he was just getting started again after losing so many gigs last year.
I’m thinking about offering some of my prints for sale, for between $30 and $50. Anything I sell, I’d give to him to help replace.
Would any of my followers be interested in perhaps buying a print to help him out? If I get a good response, either in my email or comments below, I’ll set it up!
Until then…
Get vaxxed.
Still mask up.
Be kind.
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This Week’s Links:
What I Read This Week: Still working on The Queen’s Gambit and Caper. Both pretty good.
What I Watched This Week: I don’t think I watched any movie/TV of note this week. Listened to a lot of music.
What I Listened To This Week: The Interrupters
Watch: The one thing I did watch was this fantastic interview by Sean Tuck with Jim Mortram. I’ve been following both on social media for awhile. This is really worth your time to watch/listen: Empathy In Documentary Photography
Archives: Browse through some past JSP Labor Day posts.
“It takes 1/15th of a second to make a photograph. It can take a lifetime to build up trust.” ~ Jim Mortram
© Mark V. Krajnak | JerseyStyle Photography | All Rights Reserved 2021
