Happy Holidays everyone! Today, I bring you a surprise proposal of Blake & Darla in Dumbo, Brooklyn. I got a call from Blake a few months back after he came upon the surprise proposal shoot I did with Kenan & Stephanie back in the spring. He told me that he wanted to surprise his girlfriend Darla by proposing to her while they were on their New York trip, right in time for Christmas. I was of course more than happy to oblige, and help capture the special moment for them. Now neither Blake or Darla had ever been to NY, so it was a bit tricky to figure out where exactly we were going to do the proposal since neither of them any idea where anything was. After offering some of the popular suggestions, and after browsing through a bunch of photos, we not only decided the location, but planned the exact area, exact background, time of day, and even discussed hidden signals and messages to pull off the surprise without Darla knowing. Blake convinced her that he wanted some nice couple photos while they were in such a magnificent city, so we pretended to do a normal couples session. After finishing most of the photo session, we finally made it to the chosen spot that Blake and I discussed previously, he got down on one knee, and asked Darla to marry him. How did it go? What did she say? Find out for yourself below!
* PS. This set has some of my favorite black & white shots of the year!
As 2016 officially winds down, I want to put up one last blog before the conclusion of this year. Today I present you with an engagement session of Ramy and Nikita. These two are surgical residents in NY, which means A. they are incredibly smart and talented, and B. they have no time whatsoever for anything other than work and studying. They wanted to do a fall shoot, and although our schedules weren’t matching up, I did my best to make it happen, and we were lucky enough to catch the very last bit of fall! If you don’t know, the latest trend in engagement photoshoots are schools! Ramy met Nikita at Brooklyn College, so naturally, the place is incredibly significant to these two. We met up at the school, I followed their story and the places they use to frequent, and I happened to have my camera to capture some of those moments. These two are so natural together, you would think they’ve known each other for years! I had a great time photographing these two, and I can’t wait for the wedding! Without further ado, check out the photos below:
I am honored to present to you today, the wedding of Kyaw & Suzanne. I’ve shot a lot of weddings over the years, but this particular wedding is very special and close to me. The reason being is that Kyaw just so happens to be one of my closest childhood friends. Back in the 90’s, I was a lonely 5th grader who had just moved to Queens New York, and didn’t know anyone other than my family. My english was still rusty, so I wasn’t as confident about talking to others or making friends. I remember in school, Kyaw was one of the first person who actually made the effort to talk to me, and we instantly became friends. After a few weeks, we became best friends, and pretty much did everything together. Besides hanging out in school and going to most of the same classes, we had our after school ritual of going to the local deli to get some sour straw candies, and then heading over to a comic book store right across the school, which not only had comics, but also had arcade games like NBA Jam, Monster Truck Madness, and Street Fighter II. To a kid in the 90’s, that’s basically the holy grail. Our time mainly consisted of collecting NBA and Marvel trading cards (I still have them somewhere), reading comics, playing games, talking about which girls we kinda liked, talking about how strict our parents are, going over to each others home and playing more video games, and talking about really important topics like ‘Which power ranger is the best’ [that would be the Green ranger of course!]. To be a kid, have no worries, and just play video games all the time… those were the days. I would give anything to go back to that time! After a year and a half, we moved to North Carolina, but Kyaw and I still remained friends, and kept in touch.
Fast forward 20 years, and I found myself moving back to New York. When I met up with Kyaw again, it’s like nothing had changed, and both of us were instantly reminiscing about the good ‘ol days of 5th grade. What was even cooler is that Kyaw told me that he had finally met the girl of his dreams, Suzanne. Kyaw met Suzanne through a site called how about we, and by his 3rd date, he knew that she was the one, and had asked her to marry him. I was super stoked for Kyaw, but even more excited when he told me that he wanted me to photograph his wedding! I of course had to meet this dream girl, so I had the chance to meetup with Suzanne, and even through the brief encounter, I could tell that she was an amazing person, and had a very down to earth personality. On top of that, Suzanne has one of the best hand writing that I’ve seen on anyone! I know that’s a strange thing to mention, but no one really writes these days, so it’s a remarkable skill in my opinion. These two have such a natural chemistry, that there’s really no surprise that they wanted to marry each other.
This was a very fun wedding, with really fun people all around. Suzanne looked stunning, just regal in her dress, and I’ve never seen Kyaw as happy as he was on their wedding day. It also had a lot of fun quirks that only someone growing up in the 90’s would appreciate, such as basketball trading cards as table gifts, superhero themed cufflinks, and customized sneakers for all the groomsmen! It was an honor photographing this wedding, and I am really happy for one of my best friends fo find true love. Without further ado, I present you the wedding of Kyaw and Suzanne. If you like any of the photos, feel free to click the ♥ on the photo directly, and/or leave a comment below. Please also hit the like on the facebook page, because it feeds my ego!
