Yoga

justine_0031, originally uploaded by jameshazelwood.

In the warmth of the setting Sun, did some photography in preparation for work with a series on Yoga. Justine and I were at Harkness memorial State park in Connecticut. This is one of my favorites from the session.

Summer is winding down -won't be able to do these outdoor shoots soon.

The Guys

j0181oneil_0245, originally uploaded by jameshazelwood.

You can only shoot this picture successfully of the groomsmen. Not a flattering angle for women, but I was looking for that rock band look. We powered a Q-flash at full power bare bulb, put it about 13 feet in the air, and the blazing hot sun at their backs.

It worked. I love this shot.

Castle Hill Wedding

j0181oneil_0330, originally uploaded by jameshazelwood.

Lisa and I were at Castle Hill for Lauren and David's wedding. See the Slideshow below. This was a great day, despite the high humidity. We covered the territory of the Island, with a ceremony at St. Anthony's in Portsmouth on one end, and a stop on Ocean Drive on our way to the Castle Hill Inn. Great couple and wonderful guests and family - Thank you all for welcoming us into this marvelous event.

Lauren & David

Family Portraits on the Sand Bar

fam1, originally uploaded by jameshazelwood.

We had a great time last week with the FIsher's as we headed out for some family portraits on the Sand Bar at Ninigret Pond.

The Plunge

OK Finally, someone has done it - a wedding site for guys. It's called The Plunge.com

Non-Lame Groomsmen gifts, Planning the Epic bachelor party, and a Blow by Blow translation of the wedding day as seen by guys, written for guys. Check it out.

And gals, if your man is giving you a hard time about the wedding day, send him to this site. It may save your wedding. Alright, that's an overstatement.

PS Warning. Some of the stuff may offend some women, remember this is a site written by guys.

Hartford Dance Troupe

dancetroupe_0082, originally uploaded by jameshazelwood.

I did some photography one evening recently for the Hartford, CT based Modern Dance Troupe. We had a great time creating some images for their publicity materials. Here's my favorite group photo.

A new way to say Thank You

Kiva.org. Today I was at an event with the Willow Creek Association. Great learning event, with about 10 speakers on the subject of Leadership. Among the presenters was the founder of Kiva.org. Check it out. Basically, it's a micro-lending website, where people can lend small amounts of money to entrepreneurs around the world to start businesses.

A woman in Africa starts a vegetable stand, a Man in South America starts his own Taxi business, a sheep herder in the the middle east, etc. I was so inspired, I've decided to start a small project with my Wedding Photography. Starting today, I'm giving gift certificates to clients, this way they get to discover the joy of giving and lending. If they're not so sure about it, heck, the first $25 isn't even their money. So it's a win win.

Kiva currently has a 97.5% success rate on repayment of all loans. Wow. maybe Citibank should talk to them

Model Shoot with an all white background

OK, so here is a lesson in how we create this kind of panorama. Special Thanks to Casha, a really smart straight A student at Boston College, who also just happens to get high marks in front of a camera. Here is where Photoshop comes in real handy. The top image is pretty much straight out of the camera. You can see all kinds of junk, including the light stands, plus the white is not really pure white especially around her legs.

So We paint the white around the light stands, and then clean up the back ground with a White Highlight Dodge tool at 10%. Then we can expand the all white background to make panoramas

The Same thing was done in this photo. I'm lovin the White seamless background, and hope to be doing more of it. Maybe next time with a 19 month old, who just had chocolate ice cream. Hmmmm, better get another role of white seamless

Facebook

We are on Facebook now. Come on over.

Workshop photos

We had a great time this week in Narragansett for another Photo Workshop. I've been hosting a few of these each year, and this was the first all on the beach. 18 photographers and 5 models. Since I'm leading these, I don't get to shoot as much - oh well. Brad Smith takes the prize with the photo of Kate holding the surfboard - love that one. (most of these photos of the models are from Brad, except Kerry on the surfboard) Kerry modeled a wedding dress she's been wearing since she was 13, oh and the three boys running along the beach were asking to be photographed, so we forced them into one photo. Great fun. I've been asked to teach a lighting workshop in September, email me if you want the details.