Who Wants a FREE Photo Session???-EDITED

All you former and future brides of mine who read my blog regularly I have an offer you can't refuse! I have been taking photos on the side for awhile and am thinking about expanding my services and need your help building a portfolio. If you are getting married and want to do an engagement session with me for free, hit me up. Even if you are already doing one with your regular photographer, let me know if you want to do another with me. :)

If you were already married recently and want to do a "trash the dress" session with me, let me know. (if you don't know what that is..google it! Very cool pics but not for everyone.)

EDIT:

OKAY ..I was not expecting the response I am getting! I thought maybe one or two of you guys would respond but in little 24 hours I have had about 20 emails! I am thrilled that so many of you trust my artistic talent enough to take pictures of you.

Obviously, as nice as it would be, I cannot shoot all of you guys. So for the next few days I am going to assess what I am going to need and how the schedules work.

IT'S NOT TOO LATE...PLEASE still inquire if you have not done so and are still interested .

Email me at daniel@dvartistry.com and send me some pictures of yourselves if you have not already done that.

I am NOT looking for "perfect model" types..(but if you are that...thats ok too!). Because I am a novice at this and need some great photos to build up enough for a website, I am looking for people who are comfortable in front of the camera and are adventurous and have a great sense of self confidence.

This is what shines through on photographs more than looks. :)

tammy + lance- lake tahoe wedding extravagance

Wow! What an incredible weekend and I honestly don't know where to start. I am very thankful to former Laker girl, turned event coordinator extraordinaire Jeni Waters for hooking me up with this gig. I used the word "extravagance" on this entry for a reason because Jeni, Lance & Tammy pulled out all of the stops on this one. It was held at the beautiful Edgewood country club right on Lake Tahoe and even though there was rain off and on, it did not dampen the spirits of anyone involved for one minute. It was a big fun party from from the fun-filled prep session until the last song played by the most kick-butt band of all time. They even had fireworks. And I don't mean sparklers, I am talking full fledged fireworks!

Besides the bride Tammy being incredibly beautiful and extremely photogenic, the thing that really stuck out for me with this couple is that it was obvious that they truly enjoyed every minute of it and took nothing for granted. Lance and Tammy were so humble and thankful for everything and truly appreciative of not only their family and friends but of of their vendors as well.

Got a chance to work with Jim Kennedy yet again which is always a treat. Just a great guy who is just fun to be around. He snapped this shot of the bride and Jeni that I crashed last second:




Wes and I took a break from shooting to take a couple goofy photos in the photo booth they had there:



Groom left it up to me to choose music for the Cinema Reale so I chose a couple of my favorite songs. I used two because both Cat Power's "I found a Reason" and Coldplay's "Don't Panic" are each only around 2 minutes long. I thought it worked out perfectly.

ann + wes - anaheim sheraton wedding

I know I probably come off sounding cliche because i am always saying how much I love my couples. Honestly, it's just because I seem to get hooked up with the best couples and ann & wes are no different. The weekend prior to their wedding was very hectic for me (4 weddings!!) so going into their wedding I was looking fwd to shooting only theirs. We had such a fun first meeting just days before their wedding which made me look forward to their special day even more. They are such a sweet couple who, I could tell from day one, really valued my services. (And like i always say, this pumps me up and makes me want to do the best job ever)

Prior to our meeting, i had only dealt with Ann over the phone so I was anxious to meet them in person and finally meet Wes the groom. It turns out, he had a song picked out for their Cinema Reale and wanted to run it by me. I had never heard the song before, and like i told him when he asked what I thought about it, I won't be putting into my iPod anytime soon but because of the lyrics, I knew the song was a really song for a wedding clip. Wes did his research on my clips and knew that I loved to match stuff with lyrics and found a perfect song for that!

As far as the actual day goes, lucky we were rested up for this one! From early morning tea ceremonies at both houses, to the traditional american ceremony, to the reception at the Sheraton late into evening, it was a loooonnng day. But we enjoyed every minute of it and the pay-off was hearing them saying that I exceeded their expectations!

julia + michael - cicada wedding los angeles

Ever since our first conversation just a few weeks ago, I was really looking fwd to shooting this wedding. This is because on the other line was Julia Sweeney former Saturday Night Live star (most notably "Its Pat" sketches) and current writer and producer of her own critically acclaimed one woman shows like "God Said Ha!" and most recent "Letting Go of God". As a huge SNL fan of the "golden years" growing up, I was very aware of Julia's sketches "It's Pat" and always thought they were some of the funniest skits from that era.

Julia is such a warm and sincere, sweet person who had one of the most unique stories about how she met her now husband Michael. So unique the story just had to be told so she wanted to me to come out two days before her wedding interview the suspects involved with this most unusual courtship and create a short clip to show at the reception. She also had seen some of my same day edits and couldn't believe I put them together in a few hours and was also excited about the prospect of having one shown at her reception. Usually when we do both a biography video and cinema reale we show them together in one seemless piece, but Julia had the genius idea of showing it right before the reception to essentially show the audience how we got to where we were at that point. The wedding ceremony was officiated by another SNL alum, Don Novello who was best known for playing "Father Guido Sarducci". He came out and did a short monologue in character before doing the officiating of the ceremony. It was a huge hit.

Got a chance to work with Mary Sushinski of Occasions again and her and her crew are awesome. They are so on top of everything but yet easygoing and extremely helpful. Love that combination! Also worked with photog James Johnson for the first time. He was a lot of fun to be around and talk shop with. A true artist who is one of the remaining few who still shoots on film. Hope to work with him again soon.


Later on, we showed the Cinema Reale which Julia decided would be good set to Ron Sexsmith's "Wastin' Time".

alexis + omead- spanish hills country club wedding

Omead and Alexis are a gorgeous couple. We had a lot of fun shooting this beautiful wedding. Prep was shot at Omeads breathtaking home right on the golf course where they had their first sight. Groom chose Jeff Buckley's cover of the classic Leonard Cohen song "Hallelujah" which I felt matched the day's events perfectly.

Got a chance to work with Hallie from Spanish Hills again. She is tremendous. So helpful and sweet!

jackie + albert- turnip rose wedding

Jackie and Albert are super sweet. Just so easy going and a pleasure to shoot. The day just flowed so smoothly and I was actually for once done with the video before i was scheduled to show it!

I also got to work with photog Leigh Miller again. She is super easy to work with and a true talent.

The song I used is a cover of one of my all time fav 80's songs "Melt With You" sung by Nouvelle Vague. Bride and Groom are a little bit shy and I think it kinda lended itself to how the song flowed with the footage. The song was perfect fit for them and their day.

bryan + cherise - wayfarers chapel- universal hilton wedding

Bryan and Cherise are a special couple. They don't take themselves too seriously and I always love that trait in people. Spend just a little bit of time with them and it becomes clear that they are very much in love with each other but are also really good friends too.


They also have great taste in music and chose No Doubt's "Running" for their Cinema Reale. Its a sweet song but a little quirky which called for some different type of editing. I also added some of their vows because they were so genuine and sincere.

NEW SITE IS UP!

I am SO excited about this! Its been a long time coming. Dirk from MediaCore Design has been working hard on it for a long time.

It is still getting the bugs worked out but feel free to give feedback!

NEW WEBSITE DESIGN

Thanks in advance!

pam + josh - los angeles river and gardens

Ever since I met them a few months back, had been looking forward to shooting Pam & Josh's wedding. We all clicked really well during the meeting and had a lot of fun so i knew it was going to be a great day, and it was. They are warm, genuine, down to earth, and very loving people. It was truly an honor to cover their special day.

By the way, that little cutie pie with the big blue eyes, is their son Evan. I got to hold him and he spit up on me. I felt honored.

For the last year or so, I had been wanting to use Dashboard Confessional's "Stolen" for a Cinema Reale. It has all of what you want in a same day edit song. Its sweet, without being cheeseball, and has some cool crescendos and changes in tempo that make for a perfect song for this type of edit. Up until now, no one took me up on it. I am so glad it was this couple who decided to use it.

katie + casey - oasis country palm desert

If have seen those eHarmony commercials on TV, you may recognize this couple ! They are my first, but not doubt not my last, eHarmony couple. Beautiful spring day with Oasis providing a gorgeous backdrop. They are a very sweet couple so I was really glad that they loved their video. (Katie is another self-described "blog stalker" ;) )

It was also the first of back to back weddings working with my good friend Gavin Holt. He is not only a tremendous photographer but a really good friend. He always makes the day go smooth.

Katie & Casey left it up to me to pick the song so I chose one of my all time favorite "love" songs; Nina Gordon's "Tonight and the Rest of My Life". It is such an awesome song and perfect for a same day edit.