Analog Love Letter: Man of The Hour

The Toufali x King wedding is probably one of my favorite weddings I've shot so far in my life. It was the second wedding I shot with Pamela Masters and it was the first time I've ever been to Catalina Island which I ended up falling in love with. Also, the venue in which they were married in, The Casino, is absolutely stunning.

This photo that I took of the groom, Emery Toufali, was inside his suite as he and his groomsmen were getting ready and there's a pretty humorous story behind it. While I was there documenting the men's side of the story, most of the groomsmen (if memory serves me right) had no experience in how to tie a bowtie and as I'm there documenting, they spent a couple of hours having a go at tying their bowties, some having to google it, until finally getting it right. I have another photo taken with my digital camera and wide angle lens of all the groomsmen helping tie each others' bowties. This is also the first time I put my Hasselblad 500 to work.

Mr. Toufali had his style game on right. 

"Groom ties bowtie" / 6x6 medium format Ilford Delta 3200 / September 2012

Analog Love Letter: First Wedding

A couple of years back, I was contacted by my friend Pamela about possibly photographing a wedding as her second shooter. Prior to this call, the last time I saw her was in the early 2000 before she got married and moved to New York. I didn't hesitate to say yes because it's been years since I saw her, she's a very talented photographer, and I never say no to dear friends.

If I remember correctly, she tapped me because of my documentary and journalistic style of photography and she told me the duties of a second shooter is basically what I do naturally so hey! Easy. Well not really since there's a lot that goes into photographing a wedding, as a main shooter or second, but it wasn't an alien concept for me as far as what she was asking from me.

This was my first time photographing a wedding and I'm thankful it was with Pamela as she made the experience easy and with less stress and fuss. The wedding was for her friends in Camarillo, Calif. and as I was doing my fly on the wall thing, I saw this woman talking to what I'll assume were her friends and they were all having a grand time. I liked the sound of her laughter and the way the sun lit up her auburn hair. 

This wedding wasn't the last I did with Pamela. There were many more after this and whenever she gives me a call about shooting a wedding with her, I'll always say yes.

"Having a laugh" / 6x6 medium format Fuji Asita 100F / September 2007