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.

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:

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!