I had the chance to cover my first wedding with my dad last weekend. I felt a little more relaxed knowing that I had the flexibility to take pictures other than those of the bride & groom as his pictures would count as well. Very few can argue how photogenic kids are, much less smiling kids in wedding attire.

The bride is beautiful, naturally, and her wedding was the first I'd attended that was held at an Army Base (Ft. Belvoir in VA). The food was delicious and the ceremony pretty quaint for black folk - memorable nevertheless. Usually you notice these things but it took me a few looks to realize that she had no jewelry on except her ring.

Emmanuel and Jackie are one of my favorite couples in the Washington Metro area. Before their wedding shoot they wanted to get a couples photo shoot and as it was still cold outside, I invited them to the studio.



Their chemistry in front of the camera was an obvious testament to the strong emotions they share. I've been invited to photograph their wedding as well...It is safe to say that Emmanuel was successful in sweeping Jackie completely off her feet!

This picture was taken at a wedding a while back, found it in my stash and it reflects my mood today.
I'm excited and passionate about a lot of things, most I do out of my free will and I offer my time and services...well, for free. It's frustrating when it is not appreciated, or worse yet, even acknowledged. Makes every statement afterward seem like it is, to borrow a South Florida term, "coming from the side of yo' neck." Leads to that: Yea...whateva look.

I'm sure a lot of readers are used to  the itake photos est. 1985 brand & mantra. Early this year, however, I did something that I've been wanting to do for many months. Collaborate & partner with like-minded, progressive team of creatives who are just as passionate about photography as I am. team 1000 words is a group of young Ghanaian men and women who want to set the standard on wedding photography and videography in the country and beyond.

Each photo/video man has a super hero pseudonym that helps identify his work among the team. Mine is...wait for it... red shutter. I always 'acted' as the red ranger when we played Power Rangers as a kid. Go figure.

My first installment with the team is this valentine's day video to you all (see below). Happy valentine's day to you and yours! I pray that you find your group of team members who can truly help with your collaborative success!

 

Do you notice my profile pictures blended in the background? Credit: Timmy

 

At Pajohn's in Kanda. Photo Credit: Enam

Click to watch my first video as the red shutter!

As I was editing pictures from a wedding I recently covered in Gainesville, I realized that I was proving my previous theory on kids being best dressed at these events, right. Who could pass on sharing such a pretty smile with the world? I know I couldn't.

Every day doesn't bring the same amount of joy, and for some reason our painful memories may outlast happy ones. In some instances however, despite those dreadful times a smile can be contagious, and a healthy habit. I didn't feel like smiling today until I saw this picture I took from a wedding: hopefully it makes you smile as well.

I saw Eian, my frat brother, and his family at a wedding recently. I remember going to the baby shower earlier in the year and now their baby, Soleil, is a little toddler. Makes me note how time flies!

"One of the things I love about couple shoots is that the affection between the two can be very apparent as the soon-to-be-wed unknowingly pull you, the photographer, into their world."- e.a.g

If you've read any of my earlier posts on Greek life, you've probably figured out that I'm a Theta man and when one of my homeboys from VA, a proud Sigma, asked me to take pictures of him and significant other ( she's a Zeta), I showed up with a brown & gold version of my itake photos est. 1985 t-shirt. True to form the couple's attire, like the color scheme of their planned wedding next year, was blue. And hence the double entendre in the blog post's title.


Paving the way to state his case...


Bra bra thinks he's spitting game...in between shoots the couple share how they met.


Broham's trying to steal a kiss.



One thing I learnt during the fun shoot as the couple were laughing and hugging the duration of the session...it's easy and incredibly promising to look forward to the future with someone you love, especially if that someone is also your best friend.

So I'm back from my line brother's wedding, catching up on work, stuff to do at the internship as well as reflecting on the past weekend's events in Gainesville. When our line of 14 brothers crossed in 2006, a little over half of us had significant others- maybe that should have been an indication that one of us would get married this soon. Well that and the over a dozen recent weddings in the chapter already. Congrats Mr. & Mrs. Roe. [more pix to come]

A few years ago there was a catchy hiplife song ( hiplife: a hybrid between hip-hop and Ghanaian hi-life music) and the hook went something like "You may kiss your bride *mwa*" Summer is definitely 'wedding season' and it is easy to see how older couples catch the bug, like the catchy hiplife song.

Cris and Curtis have been dating since high school. I attended West Potomac High with Cristina and met Curtis at senior prom. Years, almost a decade later, I was excited to asked to be the photographer at their quaint union in Arlington, Virginia.

Davis Wedding from itake photos est. 1985 on Vimeo.

High school friend, Cristina, has been dating Curtis.... well since high school. Union of Cris and Curtis Davis, Friday July 6th, 2012 Arlington Virginia.

November was an exciting month! My line brother got married (now we're counting down who is next) and it was a beautiful quaint ceremony. And while we were in Gainesville, Florida (at my alma mater UF), our fraternity chapter welcomed four new members into the fold. Like welcoming a new member into the family, as Greeks, we take new membership seriously and one of the remarkable moments (amongst many, for me it is also graduation) regardless of how long you've been in an organization, is the probate show. When you see a potential come into their own and publicly declare their affiliation to a brotherhood/sisterhood you hold dear; it reminds you of your journey and an appreciation of how far you've come. In our case, in upholding Scholarship, Leadership, Citizenship, Brotherhood and Fidelity.

Of course my camera(s) came along. This time I was equipped with a D90 & a 1.4 50mm fixed lens I was excited about. One of my frat brothers who has recently picked up photography also came with a D90, but he'd left his mount-on flash at home. I had an idea, something my dad had spoken frequently of doing at a wedding! I swapped cameras with my friend and mounted a 17-50mm 3.5 on mine and set his (with the 1.4/50mm) set to gray-scale pictures only. All my shots would be in black & white!

Having Bassy (@SavvyShotsPhoto ) taking pictures with a mount-on flash gave me the flexibility to capture raw emotion (or as much as I could very quickly) without the distraction of color. More importantly, it let me shoot at low light setting without getting too many blurry images. At different times we swapped cameras and tips as we captured as much of the event as possible. We both ended up with about 1000 pictures from the event, let me know what you think @itakephotos1985:

Series 1:


Series 2:


Series 3:


Series 4: