Beyond The Lens Photography

Sunday I had the pleasure to shoot again for Eric of Raw Photo Design…..Meet Dawn and Steve! I say don’t believe the hype because Eric told me early on that this was going to be a “Greek” wedding. Of course I began to play back scenes from “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” in horror, sarcastically thinking in my head….”Oh dear lord save me!”

When I arrived Sunday morning at the Groom’s mother’s house, I was pleasantly surprised at how “normal” (of course I use this term losely because who knows what normal really is) everyone was. I spent quite a bit of time with Steve’s family that morning, and I immediately felt like I was part of their clan. This family is amazing. Full of love, kindness, and of course…lots of tradition. So don’t believe the hype…just because it’s a Greek wedding, it doesn’t mean there is going to be tacky taffeta, over baring mother’s, or a bottle of Windex on every table as a center piece! The reception was off the hook!!!! The most fun I have ever had shooting a reception. I do want to give a shout out to the Grooms’ Men as well for being able to hang with me….you guys know what I’m talking about!

Here is Steve getting dressed…
And the guys just hanging…doing what they do…

A shot of the ring bearer…

Steve’s parents enjoying the ceremony…
Boy did these two get pegged…poor Dawn was pulling rice out of her hair for hours…

Dawn and her father…
The ladies….enjoying some conversation…hummm wonder what they are talking about
This shot cracks me up….Steve was so OVER pictures!
Steve’s parents again…dancing!
Cutting the cake…
And….just the cake…

Whenever I shoot with Eric, at some point the lyrics from this Old Dirty Bastard song get in my head. I think it has something to do with the whole “Raw” thing. I don’t even know the name of it, but it sticks…and I’m stuck, and I usually have to beg Eric to get something else going through my head. To which he hands me something like”The Funk’s Your Brother”….by D.J. who ever…….anyhow let’s get to the point of the blog…
I can’t even begin to explain how awesome it was to be shooting with Eric again…..It’s been a few months since I got to shoot a wedding with him, and I have to say….I am so glad to be back shooting again. I am kind of a second shooter snob. I believe in chemistry and flow. We have a flow…… we really feed off of each other when we shoot. When he gets pumped I get pumped…if he gets stressed, I calm him down, and when I think I’m not getting my lighting right…..he grabs my camera, fixes my settings, and then shows me what he did and why. LOVE LOVE LOVE it! It is exciting to see him in action and he never stops inspiring me. I’d found lately that the whole photography thing was just becoming “hum drum”…..and after shooting one wedding with Eric, I am all pumped and stoked again!
At any rate, here are some of my shots from the wedding we shot on Saturday at the Amber Room. Meet Maria and John (I don’t think I have any shots of John in here though).

Some details…




The rings…
Maria getting her makeup done by Danny of Faces in Danbury
This is a shot of the Mother of The Bride, and company blowing bubbles as Maria danced with her father… The flower girl…
Maria getting dressed…
The bouquet…
Maria getting her dress on…
The details of the dress…


And the flower girl one more time…how cute is she????

Ohhhhh I love nappie time……just a few wonderful blissful moments of pure utter quietness….you can hear the breeze move through the house and cars buzz from he distant highway. The birds chirping and the dog snoring. I usually use this time to get a load of dishes done, and maybe some other things around the house. But today I decided to slack off and instead use the quiet time to work on a few edits for an up coming blog post of some weddings I shot with Eric of Raw Photo Design over the weekend.

There I am, cozy on the couch with a nice hot cup of coffee and a few of my favorite shots, pretty hot and heavy into the editing. Ohhh I love nappie time. Noah has been out for about 20 minutes and I am actually getting something…….Oh wait, what was that sound? A small voice comes from the kitchen “Help”. I’m a bit startled at first cause I know it can’t be Noah. He’s got to be sound asleep by this time. Some other 2 year old must of broken into the house while I was all engulfed in my photoshop and snuck into the kitchen. I’d better go find out who is missing a toddler. To my surprise it was none other than Mr. Noah Bean. Who obviously had fallen sound asleep and then suddenly woke up to his growling stomach craving….Goldfish! Not only is he not sleeping. He has managed to climb out of bed, down the staircase, into the kitchen, and onto the second shelf of the pantry to find his yummy snack. What is a mother to do? Grab the camera and blog something while I am waiting for Eric’s three day wedding madness post! Wedding bliss will have to wait for now…..there are more important things going on in the Fuller house! Here are some shots of this afternoon’s exciting happenings.
Seriously, when is an appropriate age to put your child into daycare and not be deemed unfit?????

“What’s up Mom, did you want some Goldfish too?”
“Noah are you ready to go back to bed?”…….”NO!”
“Where did you get the Goldfish Noah?” “From that basket!”

“This one over here?”……”No mom, this one right here!”

“How are you gona get down?”……”Dunno….”

Finally……I know there are some people out there that just can’t let go, but……I believe in tough love. Thank the good lord for school cause I need a break! The boys went back to school on Tuesday and all I have to say is YIPPIE!!!!

Christian is going into the 6th grade this year. I am so proud of him. He’s changing classes this year an has study halls. I see he’s getting all “growed up” and all, but he’s still my little man!

Branndon is going into 1st grade and he is uber excited to see all of his friends from last year. He’s been asking me for a mohawk for weeks, and I must say I was all for it, but Joe resisted. I finally made an executive decision and just let him do it. I think the thing I enjoy most is that he is learning how to be independent and say what he likes, and secondly….he literally wears a halo, so anyone who knows him knows how funny it is to see him with a “hardcore” haircut! Too funny.

Of course Noah is still left at home with me. Just one more year of time though. Next fall he’ll be going to pre-school for half the day….Dear lord please let me make it till then!

So here are some shots from them getting on the bus on Tuesday.

Just a note to all of you wondering why I have been neglecting my blog…with 3 kids, a full time job, and summer activities…the blog took a back burner. I’d love to say I’m going to blog more…but who knows!

This first shot is of Noah….He doesn’t really know yet that the boys will be gone all day…
The boys getting on the bus…
Bad ass Bran!!! (I think that was wrong on some level, but I’m going to go with it!)
Deep thoughts with Christian…
Just Bran and Christian…waiting for the bus…

All 3 of the boys on the porch…