A photograph from Carolin and Oliver’s wedding I photographed at Plazzo Publicco, in the heart of Siena’s Campo in Tuscany, Italy won 4th Place in Q3 WPJA contest!

Carolin’s father reaches down to ensure each fold was perfect before she walked down the isle, you can see more from Carolin and Oliver’s wedding here.

I’m always asking myself if I’m good enough, as a person, as a photographer, a business owner, as a husband, a son and many other roles that family, society and I strive to define ourselves by.   The answer is never simple, the more experience in life I accumulate I continue to realize the very morrow of trying to achieve success is a paradox of truth, existing both inside oneself and at the same time outside oneself.   How do you define success, especially as a photographer? How do you know you have done good and your photographs will be accepted?  Is success having a winning image in a contest…getting published in a magazine…getting paid a lot for a certain shoot…recommended by a certain planner…specific feedback from a couple…an image in the likeness of a master…a reaction on Facebook or blog post…is it when you think you’ve captured beauty…

I’ve always subscribed to photojournalistic principles of photography, in that the more control I have over the subject and the more direction I give, the less the photograph is about the subject than it is about what I can conceive, hence I take great effort in learning to capture a moment without having undo influence on it.   It’s impossible to remove yourself entirely as you’re apart of the moment and you’re experiencing it…and the more you experience it, the better you can understand and capture it.  There are no tricks to having a good time and being confident in your relationship with a couple, it either works or it doesn’t and a majority of the time you’ve both (the couple and the photographer) figured that out long before the first photograph is taken.

I often struggle with the concept of an engagement session.   With a wedding there is a clear celebration to observe and capture.  With an engagement session the event is the process of taking photographs…or is it?    Does an engagement session or any photography session for that matter have to be a photo shoot?

With Cara and Jassi, we had a discussion on what was important to them prior to their engagement session.  Before the day it was just like any other, the session was an early morning weekday.  We planned on going to a few locations, Madison Park, where Cara works, a few photographs of their immediate neighborhood in the east 30’s and then Grand Central.    There was a lot to contemplate on my part (how do I break the ice and allow them to feel comfortable, what specific actions or guidance to I give…)  and theirs as well (what do we do, are we going to look great in our pictures…).   With all the planning I had no control over the way the light was streaming through at that angle only available for a few days during the year and I had far less control over the beautiful connection that Cara and Jassi share with each other that is so evidently demonstrated in the photographs.  I did however, have control over the planning of the session as well as the interpersonal interaction on the day.  Ultimately it was planning, preparation, commitment and being in the moment for both myself as well as Cara and Jassi that lead to these photographs.

I’ll let you be the judge…am I good enough?

If this is the first time to my blog and you are scrolling through past posts or you have been following my blog for a while you may be wondering if this blog is about food or wedding photography. I love both! Ultimately what my blog is about are stories, family stories to be specific. Families often start with marriage and the rich traditions celebrated at weddings, but there are continuing stories, parts of a whole that help define who we are as individuals as a family and as a community.

Thanksgiving is one of my wife and I’s favorite holidays, it involves food and family and time to share in each others company without obvious distraction. Maebelle Carden or Nonnie, as she is know by our family, is Chrystal’s paternal grandmother and a proper southern lady. My wife, Chrystal, can not remember a thanksgiving with out Nonnie cooking from scratch, with the use of only her memory, pecan pies in Durham, North Carolina. A particularly southern dish (pecan’s are widely grown in North Carolina and Georgia) for a particularly southern family. In recent years Chrystal and I have been celebrating Thanksgiving in New York and Chrystal has been following the tradition of her grandmother in baking pecan pie.

Several years ago Chrystal’s mom decided to ask Nonnie for the recipe and it was written down for the first time, see below. This year I decided to document the process at Thanksgiving and will have further images when we visit Nonnie around Christmas time.

Nonnie in her Garden, circa 1930′s, Photo by Robert Carden.

Chrystal’s pecan pie this Thanksgiving, it tasted as good as it looks!

Nonnie’s original recipe transcribed by her for Chrystal and Chrystal’s mom a few year back, please feel free to share!

Pecan’s picked just two weeks ago and fedex’d to our home from North Carolina

Brown and Granulated Sugar

Fresh pastured eggs from Union Square Market

Karo Syrup, my niece Julia, visiting from Vermont, assisted in positioning of spoon for this photograph.

Vanilla Extract

Butter

Nonnie last year in her current garden!

Chrystal pours the pies in our kitchen.

Myself, Nonnie and Chrystal, in Durham, around the holidays last year.

Villa Catignano, Tuscany Italy-   Really?  Phil had to demonstrate the qualities of Romance, Humor, Security, Strength and Intelligence before the bridesmaids would allow him inside the villa to take his love to be married.  The tradition stems back to ancient Chinese traditions during times when arranged marriages were common place.  Games, which are still often times played at Chinese weddings, were meant to be ice-breakers to introduce the families and couples who may have been meeting each other for the first time.  Now these traditions are woven into modern celebrations and they certainly added a distinctive flare to Phil and Jennifer’s wedding in the Italian countryside.   Perhaps their inclusion served a similar purpose in providing fun and excitement to the onlooking guests whom traveled from Phil’s native Switzerland and Jennifer’s native New York and Minnesota.  (The full post on Phil and Jennifer’s wedding can be seen here.)

See how Phil fared in his quest to demonstrate his qualities to win over his Love below.

Guests gather around the entrance to the Villa as Phil arrives to be blocked at the entrance by the bridesmaids.  Jennifer, in the suite above looks down from the window to witness and approve/disapprove of Phil’s gestures.

Phil knocks on the door of the Villa to gain access.  The door is market with traditional Chinese characters signifying double happiness.

Phil presents envelopes of cash to the bridesmaid to prove his worth and security.  Here the bridesmaid rejects what she thinks is not enough and more envelopes are passed.

Phil dresses in foolish garb to demonstrate his humor and the groomsmen join in…more unwillingly!

When it came to demonstrate the quality of strength, the bridesmaids asked Phil to do 99 pushups, which were divided among the groomsmen.

The 99 pushups not being enough, Phil is asked to carry all the groomsmen to show his strength.  (This image placed in the most recent WPJA contest!)

Phil expresses his love by writing “I Love You Jen” on pink balloons with the marker in his mouth.

After much bargaining, a lighter wallet, stressed muscles and perhaps a bit of a bruised ego, Phil is allowed to pass to claim his love.