I realize it doesn't look like it here on the website (a few of our contracts have had non-disclosure clauses in them), but it's been a very busy fall here at Lozada Visuals.  We've been running around with the video equipment a lot on some commercial projects, and done some red carpet work for a Romanian news agency (don't ask), and October was pretty much all weddings and bar mitzvahs.

So it's nice to have something I can finally put on here.

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I've known Suke for about a decade now.  Well, "known" is a grey area, I suppose, since I only actually met him for the first time in person yesterday.  We both had been regulars on a message board for soccer fans throughout the world (He supports Liverpool, I support Arsenal), and we have similar senses of humor, so we've talked lots over the years on BigSoccer and on Facebook.  Our kids are all in the same basic age bracket, too.

This weekend, I got a note from him:  I need some family photos done quick, we had a bit of a disaster going to the mall photo people.  No problem, we set up a time to get together, and away we go.  When I arrived, Suke and his little guy Kieran were still waiting for his wife Maureen and daughter Josie to emerge from the playground, but Kieran turned it on right away, and by the time big sister joined him, it was clear why they'd had problems with mall portraits:  The kids wanted to love the camera, but they needed to be themselves and move, not sit still for perfect poses.

We spent about 90 minutes letting the kids show their personalities, letting them interact with Mom and Dad, letting them be free to be themselves.  If that meant Kieran would brandish a stick every chance he got, that was OK, because this is the way his parents will this stage of his development-- his favorite toys really are sticks.  And Josie, she's a performer.  She loves the attention, but she also loves to sit and debate silly things with Daddy, and there's great stuff in that interaction, too.

More pictures after the jump...

As I'm going through the photos, I'm trying to bang out individual portraits of each family member, as well as both kids with each parent, both singly and with their sibling, and I asked Maureen and Suke to get in a portrait of just the two of them.

Maureen told me in the midst of this, that they'd never really had a chance to do pictures like that, just the two of them.  They'd had a courthouse wedding and hadn't had pictures done.  So, while the usual family portraits are great, I'd like to think that by having these last few images, I was able to give them something special they hadn't anticipated… a few images to tell the love story still going on amidst the parenting.

Here's the valentine card Caroline's handing out in kindergarten today...

Hope this is a year for all of you to celebrate someone who you love, no matter how big or small. Also, congratulations to all of you who are getting engaged today!

Take a look at some of the wedding things we're looking at today after the jump...

Anthropologie's new (and long awaited) B H L D N wedding line asks, "What Type of Bride Are You?" Take their survey here. The line includes wedding dresses ($600-4000), shoes, jewelry, hair accessories and more. (Available online only)

I recently had the pleasure of hearing noted wedding planner Tara Guerard speak at The WOW Event in Lexington.  She's giving away a copy of her book Weddings By Tara Guerard on her blog today.  Click here to enter.

My brother Timothy and I have been talking lately about teaming up on some things to incorporate his filmmaking into the business here, and we've been looking at a lot of Super 8 wedding films, Photo/video fusion wedding films, HD documentary style wedding films and other things that break the mold of traditional wedding videography as we search for inspiration.  Right now, we're loving this engagement shoot film by New Jersey-based Fiore Films that I saw on Style Me Pretty.

So we lost most of last week to a bad cold, and the first thing to go was the blogging.  To make up for it, I give you a sneak peek at the photos I was shooting this AM of the twins for their Valentine's Day present for Mommy.  (Hopefully, Kristina is too busy this week to be reading my blog.)  I'll photograph Caroline when she gets home from school this afternoon.

To be on the safe side, maybe we should put the photos on the other side of the jump, don't you think?

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My brother Tim's band, The Turbo A.C.'s, swept through Lexington Tuesday night to play Buster's Billiards and Backroom.  Having shot the back cover of their last album, Live to Win, they were looking forward to having me updates some of their promo photos.  They're putting the finishing touches on a new album set to drop in October, just in time for their European tour... check them out!

One of the opening acts, The Loaded Nuns

One of the things about weddings is that they often seem to be too familiar after awhile.  You start looking for the same things, you set up in the same places in the aisle, etc.   But then one comes along that busts up all your usual routines, and for me, Meredith and Aaron's wedding certainly did that.

Their original plan involved a small ceremony in a nearby state park, but someone pointed out that there was no alternate location at that site if the weather turned sour, and boy, was that a good call.  The day turned out to have a light, but steady, drizzle, and instead of fighting the weather, we got a charming venue that was perfect for the intimate size of the gathering and promised fun for all.

It's that time of year again-- I'm knee deep in editing this summer's weddings while trying to schedule meetings to talk with brides about next spring's weddings (plus a couple still for this fall!), which hasn't left lots of time for blogging, especially if I want the kids to remember who that guy who shows up every other week is. I think my wife remembers who I am, but I've been on the road lots this season-- six different states this year.

I'm overdue for a real wedding post, and you'll see a new quirky one tomorrow - the ceremony took place on a carousel in Massachussetts!

Also tomorrow (Tuesday August 17), my brother's Tim's band, the Turbo A.C.'s, invade Lexington. They're playing Buster's Billiards down in the Distillery District, and you know I'd love to see a great turnout for them here in their only Kentucky appearance. If you're a new bride that we haven't booked yet and you introduce yourself to me at the show, I'll give you a substantial gift card towards your wedding photography-- trust me, it'll be a lot bigger than the price of admission, even if you bring your whole wedding party!

As for the promised fun in this post, I was on Improv Everywhere's site and saw this great mission from last year, where they throw a surprise wedding reception for a couple getting married at City Hall... Enjoy!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lVS22y4uoU

Took a break from editing during my too-brief time home for Thanksgiving to shoot the portraits for our annual Christmas Card. With the twins now 20 months old, we're able to get them to do a little more in front of the camera.

The basic setup for this one was white seamless paper for the background with a Alien Bees B800 monolight through a beauty dish, just to the right of the camera, as our main light. I used a white coffeetable as a combination stage/seat, as some of the photos were taken with the kids having their legs dangle over the edge, some with them standing on the table so they could move around. I also had a small flash high above at camera right running through a 1/4 inch Honl Speed Grid as a hair light, and a second small flash with a second Honl Grid behind the table lighting up the background.

Just because you've planned things well, doesn't mean they always work out right.  I noticed quickly that one of my Pocket Wizard radio controllers wasn't consistently firing my main light.  I ended up disconnecting it, and using the hair light to trigger the other two.  That required a second adjustment... it cost me a third of a stop of shutter speed.  Even on self-assigned gigs, you have to be ready to adapt quickly.

Kristina and I had a pretty good idea of our selects before the shoot was over.  The easiest part was the mixing of the five photos-- I've had this concept (and the previous year's card) in mind since before the twins were born.

I'm out of ideas for next year.  Maybe I'll let Kristina come up with the next concept... Naaaaaah.

We'd been trying to get the weather to cooperate with us for awhile to take family portraits of Eugene and Lily and their two children, Louis and Autumn.  As you might have guessed by their daughter's name, it was really important to them to have fall colors in their session.  Lily had told me in our initial conversations that while she wanted some posed portraits, she was more interested in having the majority of their images be candid photos of her family being themselves.

We got most of the posed photos out of the way early, figuring that the kids would have more patience for it early, then got them into places where they could play, first a playground, then in an area with great light and lots of colorful leaves on the ground-- if you give kids a chance for free play, they often reward you with their most genuine smiles of the day, and they may even give you a playful moment with Mom the above photo.  In addition, I made a point of getting a few of Mom and Dad together for some relationship shots.

After our session, we wandered over to Angelo's Coal Oven Pizza on West 57th St. for dinner together.  I'm a sucker for coal oven pizza places every time, and I wasn't disappointed.  Highly recommended.

Those of you who have talked with me are familiar with the fact I never touch the cake at a wedding I'm working, even when I'm a personal friend or even family of the bride.  Well, for the first time in five years, I left the camera in the hotel room, and I even ate the cake.

The occasion?  My much loved brother Tim and his wonderful bride Nadia got married on Sunday, and for the first time ever, I was a groomsman.  Best of all, my oldest, Caroline got to be a flower girl, got to dance with Daddy at a wedding, grew up faster than her parents ever believed possible.

Not that Declan and Audrey didn't try to participate-- Declan tried to march down the aisle, and when his sister got chatty, he and his twin were picked up and relocated to the back of the sanctuary.  Audrey then chimed in loud enough for everyone to hear, "Bye!"  Later, as Nadia was giving her half of the vows, Audrey sensed what type of life change she was in for, being married to Uncle Tim, because a little voice started insisting, "No, no, no, no, noooooooooo!" (Luckily, no one other than Audrey's parents heard her.)

Anyway, I did take a couple of shots of Caroline in her flower girl outfit before we left for the wedding.  Enjoy!