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Wedding photography – Style & Serendipity

January 1, 2018 Neil vN 6 Comments

Wedding photography - Style & Serendipity

There's this balance I feel I need to maintain in my professional photography, and especially with weddings. The photos I take, need to solidly be within the style that I show on my website - this is what my clients hired me for. On top of that though, there is the urge within as an artist, and as an obligation to my clients, to produce more. To deliver photos with a little extra. Something slightly different. I want to expand what I do, and expand on my style and 'look'. So with every shoot and every wedding, I'm always looking for  Read more inside...

How to overpower bright sunlight with on-camera flash

June 3, 2015 Neil vN 34 Comments

how to overpower bright sunlight with on-camera flash

How to overpower bright sunlight with on-camera flash

The photograph on the left shows one of the toughest lighting conditions you get to deal with. Your subjects are half in the sun / half in the shade ... and there is no way you could interrupt and change things in your favor. There is no way to have the flower-girls move. No way to bring in additional, off-camera lighting. You can't scrim the sunlight either with large reflectors. There are these times when your options are limited, but you still have to get the best out of this challenging situation. There is one viable option  Read more inside...

Slideshow: Favorite wedding photos of 2014

December 26, 2014 Neil vN 8 Comments

favorite wedding photos 2014 slideshow

Slideshow: Favorite wedding photos of 2014

2014 was an incredible year with so much happening. I traveled around the north-eastern parts of the USA to photograph weddings - Connecticut, Vermont, New York, Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. I even had the wonderful opportunity to travel abroad, where I photographed a wedding in Australia! Of course my photography involved the usual mix of portraits, families and headshots, as well as commercial work and corporate photography. For me though, weddings always stand out because they are such emotional experiences. As a thank you to  Read more inside...

Using video light for romantic portraits of the bride & groom

October 10, 2013 Neil vN 15 Comments

Using video light for romantic portraits of the bride & groom

One of my favorite photos of the day. Why can't wedding portraits of the bride and groom be a little bit sexy? When I went back to the bridal suite during a quieter moment in the wedding reception to fetch some gear I had left there earlier, I had this thought that mmmm, yes! romantic portraits of the bride and groom on the bed in their suite. This might just work! So I called Julia and Louis back to the the bridal suite at the venue, and we did a sequence of images using video light. I'm a big fan of video light  Read more inside...

Wedding photography – Creating special moments

May 9, 2013 Neil vN 12 Comments

Wedding photography - Creating those special moments

Anticipation and timing on the photographer's part is essential to getting those key moments on the wedding day. Certain moments will happen, so we have to be ready for them. This relies on your keen observation and you ability to recognize important moments. You have to know your cameras and equipment, and you have to know the fundamentals of photography. You have to be ready. And you can only be ready if you know your equipment well, and know the techniques. No excuses. But there is no need to passively wait for moments  Read more inside...

2012 overview – My best wedding photographs

December 7, 2012 Neil vN 7 Comments

Best wedding images of 2012 – New Jersey wedding photographer

2012 was another busy year! This slideshow features some of my favorite wedding and engagement session images photographed during 2012. I traveled further than NJ and NYC, photographing weddings across the USA. Please contact me if you're searching for a wedding photographer for your own wedding.    Read more inside...

wedding photography: portraits of the bride & bridesmaids

July 15, 2012 Neil vN 17 Comments

wedding photography: portraits of the bride & bridesmaids

Continuing with the theme of photographing great portraits on a wedding day when there aren't beautiful surroundings: when I have the time at the bride's house, I will always try to get individual portraits of the bride with each bridesmaid. I like doing this early in the day already at the bride's house, because everyone's energy levels are still up. Everyone is still excited, and emotions are still high. No one is hungry; with shoes that hurt them. So, with that idea in mind, I like getting as many of these portraits  Read more inside...

wedding photography – those key moments

November 2, 2011 Neil vN 12 Comments

wedding photography - looking for those key moments

Wedding photography has become more modern in style over the past decade or so. Instead of overly posed images, the general trend is now more of a story-telling (or photo-journalistic) style. It's now as important to capture the day's events as it unfolds, as it is to get beautiful portraits of the couple and families.  As photographers we're now much more focused on the moments and the gestures that tell the story. With this intent, I really try and observe the day as closely as I can, capturing what I hope are the key moments.  Read more inside...

2010 overview – my favorite wedding photographs

December 30, 2010 Neil vN 19 Comments

best wedding images of 2010 – New Jersey wedding photographer

There seems to be a pattern here - 2010 was another crazy-busy year for me. Photographing weddings, portrait sessions, maintaining this website and writing another book ... all this added up to a full calendar and not much sleep. It is always a rewarding experience as a wedding photographer to work with wonderful brides and groom and their families. So, as a wrap-up of the year – and also to show off a bit – here is a slide show of some of my favorite wedding and engagement session images of 2010. (Oh, and you had  Read more inside...

mixing up the lighting techniques for wedding photography

December 12, 2010 Neil vN 23 Comments

using a variety of lighting techniques for wedding photography

This recent post on lighting ideas for the romantic wedding portraits, showed that I like to mix it up a bit, and not rely on one specific technique. Not every situation we're going to encounter can be solved with one specific approach only.  Mixing it up in terms of lighting also helps to provide my clients with more variety in the look of the final selection of images. In addition, it also keeps it interesting and fresh for me.  Constantly adapting to challenges is part of the process of growing to be a better  Read more inside...

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