10-21-07 graffiti train

Suzanne and Brian ! It was so much fun photographing you and driving to different locations together ! Here's some of our favorite images for your engagement session. Monika's:





















Mine:

10-13-07 perfect wedding sunset

With Elisabeth Millay on my team I set off to photograph Joanne and Patrick's wedding. All the way throughout 2007 season we were lucky to have the most gorgeous weather for weddings. Today was no different. Some of my favorite images:











Joanne the cool, fun to work with and happy bride:







Elisabeth created this fantastic portrait of the groom waiting for the ceremony:



The competition was of course fierce :)





Another shot from Lis:



Bubbles !!! Bubbles !!!



This locations was picked by the couple:





As mentioned in the subject of this post...







Joanne and Patrick - Thank You ! You were a great couple to work with !

10-13-07 Julia and Drew

In February 2007 I had a pleasure to photograph Julia and Drew's engagement session with Monika. Today, Monika recorded the following set of images at the couple's wedding day:

10-12-07 killer kitties !

I can't start all wedding posts on this blog saying "we just had a fantastic wedding !!!" but I could ! I so could ! Our couples are fun, locations are inspiring and we're always so excited after finishing a shoot that I simply can't wait to start posting ! Ok, here are Monika's customers Jennifer:



...and Daniel:



...and here's a cool hair salon shot from the beginning of the day:



The couple was seeing each other for the first time...





...at a location called Joseph Ambler's Inn, which consists of several houses together creating a very picturesque setting.



Jen and Dan were in fact a very wild couple :)





Groom's party:



The gorgeous bridal party:



In the anticipation of the ceremony the girls were looking out the windows for the coming guests. Sneaking into the room I was able to grab this:



The ceremony:





We are starting to get reactions of shock and surprise from the catering managers and venue "people" more and more often. Just as it was a few weeks ago at the popular wedding venue in New Jersey, when we set up a bridal party shot with the couples standing on the rocks in the middle of a little creek. Some venue crew got outside especially to see what is going on because... nobody ever did that before. In the same way today, at some point after the ceremony when we were shooting the couple's session the catering manager couldn't find us, so she asked the videographer "where are they ?". "Below us" - he replied. "What ? Underneath the terrace ? What would they be doing there ?" continued her investigation the CM...
and we were... shooting the coolest images of the day:



Walking around the venue, scooping out places to shoot Monika thought this could work. As always with her amazing ability to art direct couples' sessions in the most unusual places - it did work ! It worked really well:







Time to show some of the reception details:







Together with the very cool groom's cake ! Oh, I love groom's cakes !



Captured during speeches:



..and during the garter removal attempt :)



Jennifer and Daniel - it was an incredibly fun day and real pleasure to work with you ! Thank You !

10-14-07 Rose Valley is the point

At some point during today's wedding I felt like I was shooting at the set of the tv series LOST. Tropical setting in the middle of Pennsylvania ! Ha ! The groom's party and family session was so cool that it made my entire day ! At the same time however, Monika was shooting the bride walking her dogs - yes, in the wedding dress ! Yaaay !

















Photo opportunities during the ceremony were equally good with beautiful quality light coming through the stained glass windows in the church:















The couple's session took place at the reception venue, The Old Mill in Rose Valley, PA:



For the rest of the day we were photographing beautiful reception details, both crazy cool and romantic dances as well as some stunning night scenes:



















Thank You Melissa and Justin ! We enjoyed working with you, your friends and families so much !

10-11-07 brand new world

Amazing things can usually be found where we don't look. There are mind blowing art galleries in Manhattan but living our daily lives (even though we are so close to it) we don't really have time to go, admire, enjoy... at least I don't ! At least I didn't so far ! Today I was taken and shown and... it was truly a unique experience. Being a visual and creative person a photograper will find themselves in heaven visiting art galleries in Chelsea. That's because there are virtually no limits to what art can be ! Like this incredible gallery:



Imagine a large space under a roof, full of seven feet tall HEADS made of clay. Some of them look funny, some vicious, some smart, some silly and you will probably have more associations if you get to see them yourself... and it's only a very little piece of what is waiting for you in the entire area if you decide to go. It was one of the most memorable mornings of this year for me. I wish I could show more on this blog but most galleries do not allow photography.

10-10-07 Halloween...

...must be close :) some local "doorstep" art:

10-09-07 MAD feedback :)

We truly MADLY LOVE hearing from our clients after their wedding day :)



From: Martha Rogalski
To: David Mielcarek
Sent: Tuesday, October 9, 2007 11:40 AM
Subject: Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!


Dear David,

I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you and Monika for the wonderful job you did on our wedding day. It's also a month since the wedding and we are still getting emails and phone calls from our guests talking about the slide show that you did during the reception. Tim and I were so happy with the slide show and that was only a portion of the pictures taken throughout the day. We are so honored that you were able to take the photos on our wedding day! This is a memory that will last a lifetime and we cannot thank you enough for being a part of it! My bridal party still talks about the pictures taken in the brook and they laugh now thinking about if one of them fell into the water. It was a great day and we all had a blast working with both of you. Thank you again and I can't wait to see the wedding album!

Love always,
Marta & Tim

10-08-07 there's no slowing down !

Another triple weekend is behind us. Exhausted but happy I am coming back to the studio every Monday to start processing all the images captured during the previous three days. It's literally thousands of images. How do you deal with tasks that seem overwhelming ? By making small steps. Devide your work into smaller pieces that are within your reach and manageable within a day. That's the only way. As much as we have freedom to work in our own time and be the bosses to ourselves, we do not get days off when the season is in it's full. I think you're able to live this way only if what you do is your true passion. Most wedding photographers I "hang out with" are like that. That's a good sign.... I guess... :)

10-07-07 The MirrorMan

Working as a team Monika and myself always have fun at weddings. Today was no different - we are really excited about the coverage for Joanna and Steven's wedding ! We actually had problems narrowing down images that we want to show ! Starting from the beginning of the day, here's the opening shot:



...and some important and beautiful details (Mickey Mouse is there for a reason: the bride and groom are Disney fans !)



Three tasteful images from Monika:







Before going to the ceremony Joanna and Steven took us for a shoot all around Philly downtown, our favorites:











The "theme" image of this post:



...and the story behind it - Steven the groom and Mark the best man are twin brothers. The image above was their idea but not the only trick they pulled today (and BTW: we couldn't possibly enjoy working with them more !). To many people the twins were recognizable because they were wearing different ties. Steven's was white and Mark's black. During the reception they decided to switch them. At some point we almost ended up taking Mark for photos with the bride instead of the groom ! Funny ! :)

Rewinding back to the ceremony, here's the bride with her parents moments before walking down the aisle:



Monika's ceremony favorites:





...one more seen through my lens:



Let's not forget the gorgeous reception details. One of the main "ingredients" of Joanna and Steven's fabulous wedding was the reception at the Downtown Club, located in the heart of Philadelphia.







Is it Mark or Steven giving the speech ?



Joanna and Steven gathered a dancing crowd that didn't need much encouragement to fill the time between meals and cake cutting with real wedding fun:



The reception was ending "early", which gave us a unique opportunity to work with the most beautiful light of the day, right before sunset:





Warmest regards and "thank you's" go to Melody K Appel from INNOVE for fantastic and smooth collaboration, also to Chris and Darcy from DVIDEOGRAPHY for making working together a blast ! Most of all - THANK YOU Joanna and Steven for being such a cool, easy going and fun to work with couple !

10-06-07 Neons and chrome

Engagement session photography can be whatever you want it to be. When there is time and a cool couple to work with - there is literally no limits to what can be created. We spent an entire afternoon with Kate and Justin today. With hundreds of really good, fun and creative shots in our bags we were about to wrap it up and say goodbye when we saw motorbikes parked in front of a pub and this cool neon light. The last frame of the evening was my favorite shot of the day:



Monika got hers a bit earlier:





One more from my cameras:



The wedding is coming up ! I can't wait to shoot !!!

10-05-07 Green & black

What a fUntastic wedding today ! I was joined for the shoot by my good friend Elisabeth Millay - a raising star of Tri-State area wedding photography ! Here's some of my favorites:



is it ok to shoot the shoes in a vending machine ? oh yeah, why not ? there is really no rules, you know...



Ryan the groom:



Jennifer the bride:



We live for images like this ! Father and the bride during the receiving line:



The guys:



I absolutely loved the details:



Hot ? Controversial ? Both ? HAHA !



Some of Elisabeth's favorite:







I could not be more excited about the coverage ! Lis - Thank You for a wonderful job ! Jen & Ryan - you were the best !

10-04-07 Oh yeah !

I received an e-mail from my September 22 couple Emilia and Marek today and it made my day and my entire week ! I just have to post it here:

From: marek ringwelski
To: david@catchlightphoto.net
Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2007 1:21 PM
Subject: Greetings from greece


Hello,

We couldn't wait to get back from our honeymoon to email you and let you know how grateful we are for the work you've done on our wedding day. The slide show was AMAZING and out of this world. To see how you've captured our emotions of that very special day was unbelievable. We can't wait to see the proofs, but we know that the pictures are going to be awesome. It isn't easy to find a person that understands the emotions of that day and is able to capture them in a picture. You've done it and we're very thankful for having found you and being able to work with you. You've received many compliments from our guests-and that further proves your greatness. We hope to hear from you soon.

Marek and Emilia

10-03-07 BM state park sunset

Just a cheezy sunset shot today :) I was going through Bear Mountain state park around 6:30pm and saw this:

10-02-07 CATCHLIGHT no more !

As the work on my new website progresses I've been also thinking about changing the name of my business. Why not... CATCHLIGHT was a good name to start but now I feel like it's time to refresh it, so why not do a complete make-over and since it's all about cinematic style, the new name of business will be:



Monika gets credit for coming up with the idea. The moment I heard it - it made total sense to me. It took a few days to sink in but now
I love it and identify with it completely :) The decision has been made. Launching the new website is - I believe - a matter of days now ! Oh, I am excited !

10-01-07 Natural born photogs

Ok, so here we are. It's the first day of October. We live crazy paced lives. Busy with our work as people can be. It takes a lot of stamina and self-discipline, some sacrifice but we are enjoying it to the max. Inspiring each other and having tons of new ideas each day. No time to execute them yet - but I believe the right time comes in life for everything. For now - we are wedding photographers - and we could not possibly love what we do more. That's a fact - we have the best job in the entire world. We get to do what we love and get paid good money to do it. We put our artistic creativity, technical skills and people skills to a test each day and... it is so incredibly rewarding when it works !

Occasionaly, during our work we take photos of each other - just various shots in different places. Like the shot of Monika that I took at a random location during a working day:



Like the shot Monika took of me at a diner in Baltimore, hours before shooting a wedding in the middle of our craziest weekend of the season:



They both have such a cinematic feel to me. I like the mood and captured moment in these photos.

This season we alredy travelled to Vegas, Detroit, Sackets Harbor (a small, picturesque town on Lake Ontario, minutes away from Canadian border), Mexico (Monika shot a wedding at Yucatan Penninsula), Baltimore. We will be in Berkshires soon, at the end of the year shooting a wedding in Michigan and soon after that going to Florida. We get to visit all those places because we are photographers. What would we be without photography in our lives ? I don't know... and I can't even begin to imagine - I am just so happy to get to do it every day !

09-30-07 It'll cost nothing to dream

Together again today, we were shooting Stephanie and John's wedding in Tarrytown, NY. We have never met Stephanie nor John in person. They booked my services on the phone. I have shot three weddings in 2006 season that were booked on the phone, without ever meeting the customers prior to their wedding day. All of them were very successful. Today was just a confirmation that "long distance" bookings work ! :)
A few of Monika's favorites, the groom:



..with "the boys":



a guest, a photographer:



the couple during our "backlit meadow" session:



My faves, the bride:



dancing in the streak of light:



family moment:



during speeches:



groom/mother dance:



in the venue's cafeteria:

09-29-07 Rings and chestnuts

Alone on a mission today ! I photographed Finn and Thomas's wedding that had a great, truly "fall" feel to it. My favorite detail shot:



I liked so many things about today. Cool bride and groom to work with, fun bridal party and flower girl Kathryn that loooved being photographed:

09-28-07 The Nerds

At today's wedding we met many characters that were nothing but fun to shoot, starting with the bride:



Monika's getting ready shot:



...and the best, craziest, coolest ever wedding band. Wait a minute - they are not really a wedding band - I guess that's what makes them so good ! No compromise, rocking attitude and really, really excellent performance on stage. The Nerds !
Monika's shot of the leader:



Coming back to the bride and groom, here's a cinematic shot of the first dance (also captured by Monika):



My shot of the father/bride dance that I like:



Monika also put a fisheye to a great use for detail shots:

09-27-07 LIVESTRONG

This bracelet belongs to me. It is my personal circle of protection. I've been wearing it for the past six years, barely ever taking it off. The two times it has been off my wrist that I can remember were:
1. today - to take this photo :)



2. at a recent wedding where the B&G's families were united in fight against cancer - I photographed their rings inside my bracelet.

If you would like to show your support you can buy a bracelet for yourself (or other LIVESTRONG merchandise) by visiting Lance Armstrong's website.

09-26-07 Insomnia

It's not, really :) but I did take this selfportrait at 4am today... (I am simply a night person - always have been). The lighting was only weird street light coming through the blinds in my balcony door. It does remind me of the movie "INSOMNIA" with Al Pacino, Hilary Swank and Robin Williams - put it on your netflix queue if you haven't seen it !

09-25-07 Mood

What does it mean for you ? Will a room lit by candles instead of a lightbulb create mood for you ? Living with a task of creating at least one photo per day (a photo worth posting on this blog) is really cool. It kinda makes you open your eyes and pay attention to things you might otherwise miss...

09-24-07 Friends

From the left: DavidM, Monika Broz, Thomas Geist, Dina Douglass:

09-23-07 ES in NY

This is the weekend of cool people visiting New York ! On Friday another friend of mine, Dina Douglass came all the way from LA to shoot a wedding in New Rochelle, NY. Today, myself and Thomas joined her for an engagement shoot in Manhattan of a couple that is getting married in India. So we have a Polish person, a German person and a girl from California shooting an Indian couple in the Big Apple :)

09-22-07 Emilia and Marek

I absolutely LOVE working with grooms and their parties ! Especially when I can find a matching background for their outfits and create a shot for my collection of stylized groomsmen portraits:

09-21-07 Rachel and Shane

Shooting Monika's customers today. Here's our couple with a slight MAD twist:

09-20-07 "Zee" German !

My friend Thomas Geist is visiting NY. I met Thomas through DWF a few years ago. This year he has relocated from Germany and now lives in North Carolina. Thomas is not only a good photographer but also an awesome friend !

09-19-07 Dashboard charm

Ok, so it is all red. It belongs to probably the most American of all cars: Corvette. It is classic and vintage but there is some kind of magic about it that just doesn't let you look away ! I am not sure of the year of this car but I spotted it today and just couldn't resist taking this shot !

09-18-07 It's close :)

Can't wait to start shooting the Autumn foliage this year ! Today - a little taste of things to come:

09-17-01 Speed

For the past few years now I've had a feeling that I am living fast life. Days, weeks, months are running away like crazy and... there is no slowing down ! It has of course a lot to do with what I do for living but not only. Don't get me wrong - I absolutely love my job, like being busy and like having lots to do but sometimes I want to stop and... yeah - smell the roses :) In an attempt to catch some of the life that is zipping through right in front of our eyes we have made plans to photograph autumn foliage this year. No matter what we are taking two days off in October and making a trip in the purpose of capturing the best colors of the year. Can't wait !

In the meantime, thinking about how fast and dynamic my life has been lead me to the photo of the day. I shot it today at the parking lot next to my studio:

09-16-07 Triple weekend

With Diana and Bob we have finished the craziest weekend of this wedding season. From central New Jersey through Baltimore to upstate New York. Lots of driving, lots of shooting, little sleep in between - we're exhausted but at the same time so excited about those few thousand images on our hard drives ! Two shots from today, one of my cinematics:



...and Monika's portfolio shot of the bride:

09-15-07 Baltimore bride

More than 600 miles and literally a few thousand images later our MAD weekend continues ! The contest for the best shoes shot in on, too ! Here's Monika's entry from today:



Here's one of mine, the groom !



...and our truly fabulous bride !



more images will be posted on the weddings bog, soon !

09-14-07 MAD LOVE wedding !

Our ML couple got married ! The wedding shoot was just as exciting for us as the famous "dirty" session from a few months ago. Images will be coming to the Weddings blog soon. For now, my shot of the bride's shoes:



...and Monika's capture of the ringe bearer:

09-13-07 J&J

We have photographed the engagement session for Jessica and John today at a picturesque location in Westchester:



Same moment, seen through Monika's viewfinder:



Another four of our favorite images:









The wedding is coming up ! November 3rd this year - it's going to be fun !
On a different note - tomorrow starts another triple wedding weekend and we are going to open it with our MAD LOVE couple Martha and Tim - can't wait !

09-12-07 Bear Mountain car show

It's every Wednesday, at Bear Mountain State Park until I think late November. They have a lot of classics and some really nicely tuned new cars. Today, among other "rod benders", this beautifully restored 1957 Chevy Belair wearing three color paint !

09-11-07 Six years later

All images were captured today in Manhattan by Monika and myself:

09-10-07 Fashion photography show

Following Monika's idea we went to see a gallery at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan today. It was a great exprience - a lot of really great pieces on display. Also, some special characters among the visitors:



The second image of the day was snapped during dinner in Brooklyn:

09-09-07 It's this time of the year...

It's the time when Autumn is upon us and New England will look like paradise. Amazing fall color will be here, all around us sooner than we know. I am so looking forward to making at least one, good trip and capturing some of the fantastic scenic views and Autumn details that are so easy to find - if you only look ! It is also the time of remembering what happened six years ago and what the world is never going to forget. The photo for today in some way merges these two 'moods'. It was shot last year, around the same time of the year at a hiking trial called "Breakneck Ridge". I went there for a one day getaway with a few friends. The Photo was taken by Scott Bush:



People in the picture are: Jose Reyes on the left, Joe Rumore in the center and myself on the right. John Bagdowitz was also with us and he was a lot of fun during the trip but he didn't make it to this iconic image :)

09-08-07 Contrast

I tell my clients that I ALWAYS have fun at weddings... and it's so true ! Every wedding photographer who calls themselves a "photojournalist" looks for moments like the one captured in the photo below:



It takes some guts to turn your attention away from the bride and groom during the entrance to the reception and grab a priceless frame of the flower girl. She's making a face while everybody else in the room is cheering for the newlyweds. When I do that and the image turns out like the one above - that's exactly how I have fun at weddings (of course apart from having tons of it working with my couples throughout the day!). I have just captured something special, something nobody else in the room was even paying attention to at that particular moment... YES !