Beautiful Love Story – Maureen & Eric

Our final wedding of the season – with Maureen and Eric. They are not only a loving couple, but a hoot! They and their families know how to celebrate.

It was a lovely ceremony. And at the reception Eric and Maureen shared a number of thoughtful details that expressed their love not only for each other, but for their friends and family that participated. A beautiful start to their lifetime journey together.

Good luck and blessings to you, Maureen and Eric!

On the Balcony

Maureen and Eric at the Beeches Inn in Verona, where they shared their joy with their wedding guests.

Memorial Day in Phoenix

Memorial Day Monday –

Flags galore, assembled veterans, entire families with their oldies and newbies, plenty of parade marchers and vehicles and floats of all kinds showed up on this hot and sunny Memorial Day in Phoenix, NY.

 

Family upon flag-waving family lined the green lawns on Main Street in this small but proud American town.  As the crowds gathered, the balloon hawkers sold their wares, and people chose their spread of grass for a blanket or bit of sidewalk for a folding chair, to get a good view of the festivities. There were smiling conversations, local school kids playing their games, young women soaking up rays, and little children hugged and were hugged in return.

As the Veterans passed by, ranging from WW II to our present-day wars, grateful applause broke out in waves. People remembered those who gave their last full measure of devotion for their country and loved ones.  And we hailed those who have fought and returned to their families to tell the story of their sacrifice of our fallen heroes.

Just for fun

 Did you ever lay on your back with a friend and look up at the clouds to see what figures you could find in those clouds? Maybe you discovered a butterfly or train or grotesque monster or a graceful face immerging in the cumulo-nimbus travelers overhead. Clouds can sharpen the imagination that way.

Well, with photography it is fun first to NOTICE the day-to-day world, and then to stretch the imagination and look at it a bit differently. We will take a little time to do just that. We may pick up that macro lens that’s been sitting untouched a camera bag for what seems like ages and peer into the wee world for a while. Or look at life through an i-phone and shoot away shamelessly at whatever strikes our fancy. (like these roses received on Valentine’s day, for example.)  

We might choose some other ordinary objects we see daily, and explore the unseen underside, (or inside, or far side) of those objects. The invitation and challenge to ourselves is to sharpen our ‘noticing-sense’. That’s almost as useful to a photographer as Spiderman’s ‘Spidey-sense‘ is to that web-slinging superhero.

 

And we will be sharing the results with you. So for a little while, at least, accompany us as we play a bit, exploring, shooting. Follow along with us if you like. …Or pass by if you prefer. This is definitely not supposed to be work, for us or for you. It doesn’t even merit the name of a ‘project’. Just a little fun-out-loud.  …I suppose it will feed our creative juices in the long run. How could it not? But for now, we’re just having fun.

 

A Stroke of Providence

We had no clue what was about to transpire. Till that morning we didn’t know that there would be a wedding at all. We had never met or even seen Guy or Janice. But around 9 am this handsome, well-built fellah was raking the beach in the middle of a half-dozen rows of white folding chairs, and a wooden trellis decorated with seashells. Come to find out, it was the groom preparing the beach for his noon wedding with his bride-to-be, Janice.

 

We didn’t know it yet, but in less than 3 hours we would be photographing their wedding . When Guy shared the news of his upcoming wedding, like a good neighbor he also invited us along to be present at the wedding. And we, trying to be good neighbors in return, offered to shoot some extra photos of the wedding for him and Janice, in addition to what their ‘official’ photographer might shoot. As it turned out they didn’t have a professional photographer lined up for the wedding. Rather a friend with a good camera and an artistic eye was asked to take some photos of the wedding. This friend, Joy, was very happy about our offer to help shoot ~ (all the more when she ran out of space on her memory card during the wedding!)

To make a long story short, we had a great time shooting their wedding! The beach setting gave us a lot of freedom to roam around and take photos from different angles without disturbing the ceremony. It was a lovely ceremony indeed, and the minister, who had such a young face, did a great job. The wedding was followed by a delightful reception at the house a block or so from the beach. During the course of the afternoon, we began to get to know Guy & Janet, (who are sweet people, and who were really appreciative of our photos.) All of us remarked how providentially God worked it out for us to be there just at the right time, to meet that morning, to exchange our invitations, and to be available to shoot the wedding – with our camera equipment ready at hand.

We had no clue what would transpire that day – but God did!  

 

 

Reflections

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