Looking through all your wedding photographer suggestions this weekend was truly illuminating- I have to tell you, you guys are spot-on. Some really top notch suggestions! I was also very excited to find a good floater in the mix, you KNOW by now how I love a floater. This one comes from The Image is Found.

I should buy floater.com and just post these daily. I’ll add that to my list of things to do that I’ll never do.

Annnyway. Here is another floater that’s been kicking it for a few days on my desktop. I call it “cat floater”. mhmm.

This is by Tom Watson; I found some of his B&W archives, and they’re very worth going through.

WHoa! Here’s another one! I’d forgotten all about you, you were below the fold on this saved post from Saturday and… wow, that’s some short term memory. Darn you, college absinthe experiment.

This one popped up on my facebook feed, like magic. I believe it belongs to a Mr. Daniel Gebhart. But I’m not sure, I still don’t understand the live feed thing. I’ll blame that on the absinthe too.

Ok- segue- here are some pictures from Gillian Laub. It makes sense to post them here because I mentioned her in the previous post as a photographer’s photographer, and these pictures remind me of weddings, because they are about pomp and pageants and debs and auditions and costumes and girls. Also because she just shot the Octomom story for the Times, and it was great. See:

Ok, now we will commence with pictures from Auditions, Debutantes and Pageants. Guess which is from which.

Fierce!

This has been a pleasant train of thought. Enjoy your day.

ps who knew Earl Grey had so much caffeine??

I was very excited by the Huff Po post, mostly because my FAVORITE writer was number 1, which made me feel “with it” (what what, Tobias Wolff!) but also because it inspired me to think of photographers’ photographers. What defines a photographer’s photographer? I suppose someone who makes imagery in an utterly authentic way- a way that emphasizes craft and perseverance over trickery and artifice. Also it’s good if the pictures are ril pretty and/or special. Folks who are in it for the love of the game.

Off the top, I’d go with Jeff Wall, Phillip Toledano, Abe Morell, Gillian Laub, Sally Mann… there are so many more- care to help me out? I am only one opinion, after all.

Anyhoo, back to my bride friend who needs a rec. She doesn’t want to break the bank, and she wants nice people who love what they do, do it well, and have a bit of fun. She promises to be a good bride and feed them dinner, too (you’d be SHOCKED to realize most brides do not think to nourish their photographers.)

SO, my suggestion to her was the fab photo duo of Ashley Macknica and Joel Barhamand, AKA A Couple of Cameras.

This is them:

And here are some of their pictures. Real, not fussy, pretty, just right.

I love this guy. There's one of you at every wedding.

Also, they set up a “photo booth”.

Darth Vader not included.

Who would YOU recommend to shoot my friend’s wedding, photo folks? I did a survey of one so far. My buddy Glenn Glasser says

“i shoot weddings from time to time – mostly fer friends though – just got hired to do portraits against seamless for a celebrity wedding and the other shooter did reportage. we tiled all the portraits on one print and presented it to the bride and groom as a fine art piece – all their friends and family on one print. a finished print usually is about 5×6 feet depending on number of guests and wallspace…”

rad.

“if i was getting married – i’d hire either tanya malott or julie skarratt. tanya and julie are aces”

http://www.julieskarratt.com

Give us more names, readers!!!!

Update- check out http://michaelgrossweddings.com. Ril nice.

Another excellent option just in (you folks are all too modest to nominate yourselves!)- Erin Wigger and husband:
http://eleigh.com

I love the husband/wife teams. Now that’s authentic.

Oh hellllo. Time for another train of thought! First let us start at Tavern on the Green, where the children match the carpet and distract us from the bride and groom. I can’t understand weddings that ban kids, they ruin the photographers’ fun. These economic times have plunged me into a flurry of nuptial shooting, and I often quite enjoy myself. Strange times, my friends. Anyhoo, if old Biffy and Buffy are getting married, send them my way. Here are shots from this latest one.

Seeing so many children about reminded me that I was once a child (!) It also reminded me that I am firmly in the “nature” camp, as I have always been utterly fascinated by creatures of the sea. More to the point: crustaceans. More to the point: LOBSTERS.

Like, seriously infatuated. There’s early evidence:

I continue to eat lobsters with fervor. Also, I shoot them.

Also I put them on my wall:

(best handmade lobster present ever. though i have a handmade lobster pillow that is also rad)

Anyway, my point is that I like lobsters. My favorite lobster photograph I’ve ever come across is Thomas Bangsted‘s.

It’s called Lobster Study, 2007.

This picture is so good on so many levels, I can hardly stand it. Print swap, Thomas?

Other funny animal things happen in Bangsted’s pictures. Did you know goats like heights? Sometimes they stand on cows’ backs. Or go for a jaunt on the jungle gym.

Oh! Speaking of cows, the cows in Bangsted’s pictures like to hang out in green places.

And the ships like to tilt.

That picture makes me think of seafaring. And seafaring makes me thinks of waves, which makes me think of these images from FOAM magazine.

Pretty. They were taken by Syoin Kajii, who used to be a monk.

NEXT? David Doubilet, a man I’ve been following since I first heard the word “nudibranch“.

Doubilet is a longtime National Geographic alum. Here he is at work. I’ve always seen his work on the Nat Geo site, but I looked at his personal portfolio this week and was mesmerized.

Whoa!

This is just…. yeah. It’s inDevils Eye Spring, Florida. Devilish, indeed.

Oh, you are cute. What are you?

Oh, you are too. Ménage a turtle, anyone?

this seems dangerous.

David and some cohorts just left their mondo agencies and started their own, WILD Photography. Show them some love, buyers!

the end.