We were supposed to be phasing out the old banner from Ian Lozada Photography. Really, we were. But when the center banner from our new bridal show booth got lost in shipping from the printers and a replacement failed to arrive in time for the Metro Bridal Show, we were forced to use the old banner one more time. Those of you who were sharp enough to use our QR code were sent to the new website, where you were routed straight to the show specials.

In case you were wondering what the new banner was supposed to look like:

As you can imagine, over 170 weddings in 11 different states over the last 6 seasons, I've learned a little bit about making the best of it when things don't work out the way they were planned, which is a very good skill to have in the business of weddings.

Can't wait to hear from you about your plans!

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.

***

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...

Here's a look at our coverage of Rashadema Bridal's recent grand opening. They've done a great job of bringing the uncluttered, personal feel of New York City bridal boutiques to Nassau County, Long Island. Adrianne Harris will do a great job of helping you find the right gown from the beginning, and also has the ability to guide your wedding planning the rest of the way.

In addition to wedding photography and cinema, we're also happy to create sharp, inviting sizzle reel videos like this one that you can embed on your website in order to present your message in a concise way that puts a face on your business. Feel free to give us a call at 888.577.6355 to schedule an appointment to talk about upgrading your website's look today!

Got a nice little surprise today when I found that Meredith and Aaron's wedding was picked up by our friends at Beantown Bride!  Go on over and check out all of Brittany's great stylings... Our filmmaking group over at Lozada Visuals, for instance, fully agree with her recent cinematography post!

Recently, I did a little bit of a different type of photo shoot for our longtime friends at M&M Pest Control, New York City's leading pest control firm. The photos were of some funny t-shirts proclaiming to the world it was safe to "Date Me… I'm Bed Bug Free!" I have no idea if they're moving many of the shirts, but they did their real job, which is to get lots of coverage in the local media. As a result, my work has recently appeared on Fashionista, Racked NY, Bikini Buys, The Lo-Down, and NearSay, and the shirts have also been mentioned in Coco Perez, the NY Times' T Magazine blog, amNew York, and New York Magazine's daily fashion update.

The funny thing is that at the time of the shoot, I was sporting quite a few bed bug bites, courtesy of a Lexington, Kentucky hotel that could have used M&M's services! But if, unlike me back in May, you are bed bug free, you can pickup your t-shirts at Funnybedbugtshirts.com.

This weekend's event was Mehnaaz and Imran's Pakistani wedding, where Ian provided still photography while our Lexington cinematographer, Blake, handled HD cinema duties. Duties ended up being a little mix and match, as Ian ran a second HD camera at times off a tripod, while Blake got called to hold an umbrella for lighting some of the portrait session. As the outdoor section of the portraits ended, Mehnaaz had an ankle bracelet come free. Imran scooped it up, and as he went to go put it back on, Ian fired a flash unit into the umbrella Blake still had pointed at the couple, and the result was this stylish, yet unposed, image…

…that there's been a change in the branding on the images in our posts. We're phasing out the name Ian Lozada Photography, as part of integrating my brother and his filmmaking into our company. While Tim is primarily going to be shooting on our New York area assignments, he'll be storyboarding and editing all of our wedding documentaries-- we have a couple of key partnerships who provide the camera work on our films in other cities like Lexington. For more information on what your film could look like, please call Ian anytime at 888.577.6355.

Shot a great wedding at Talon Winery in Lexington, Kentucky this weekend, and while we've got a long way to go as far as getting the photojournalistic shots ready, I wanted to highlight some of Jerie and Chris' details.  Not only were they super cute and personal, they were also a lot of things you can easily reproduce with just a little effort.

Naturally, they had one of our engagement guestbooks:

Tremendous job on the flowers by John Kittinger of The Best of Flowers (Happy birthday John!)

More florals, more everything after the jump...

5 minutes after I finished this shot today, a thunderstorm rolled through.  More to come from this session next week, but I've got two weddings this weekend, so have to get some rest!

We were doing formals today with Leslie and her bridesmaids before her wedding, when all of the sudden, the sprinklers from Griffin Gate Marriott kicked on without warning.  Fortunately, no brides were soaked in the making of this wedding.  But we all had a really good laugh about it.