The two tied the knot with a quiet ceremony overlooking a stunning Pennsylvanian lake. The weather was perfect and the sky just lit up as the two said their vows. Russ’s daughter spoke a few words before the couple gave each other roses—the first gift to each other has husband and wife. Every member of the family made a wish on the rings before the bands were placed on each hand and friends and everyone in attendance swooned as both said “I do.”

Back at the reception hall, the party got started with dance off after dance off and the fun went on until midnight. I was shocked to see people in the crowd that knew the actual moves to popular songs. I didn’t even know modern songs had dance moves. I was wrong. The party didn’t end until all shots were downed and everyone went home happy. I need to start hanging out in PA more often. These guys are awesome.

He fell in love with her ravishing beauty and followed her back to the Garden State where he started his life over again. All for her. She called him her Wookie, he didn’t object, and a few months later a huge ring was placed on her finger. Nicole is the world to him and he means everything to her. Basically, it’s a match made in Jersey. Ironically, Jared did a very punk rock move by wearing Chuck Taylors during the ceremony, and looked totally cool in a Joey Ramone sort of way.

The wedding started at the First Reform Church in Pompton Plains—a stunning location that has light billowing in from all sides. Truly a photographer’s dream church. After the ceremony we headed off to the Van Vlek Gardens in Montclair for some lovely portraits in what I call the Secret Garden. An hour later, the party was kicking in full gear at the Women’s Club in Glen Ridge. Sure, the name sounds hoity toity, but the room was huge and screamed Hollywood. Nicole and Jared pulled a rock star move and made their entrance through the giant stage. Nicole spared no expense with stunning details ranging from a candy bar to a groom’s cake made out of devil dogs. But the highlight of the night, was a dance off run by Garret Lauer—DJ to the stars—which featured the wedding party pulling off some of the most hilarious moves I’ve ever seen. This was a party for the ages.

The wedding kicked off with a stunning ceremony at the lovely Second Baptist Church and the party continued all night long at Mt. Carmel Hall. James is a member of Member of Iota Phi Theta, and his brothers were on hand to light up the festivities with some great speeches and introductions. Marie was breathtaking, working the room and tearing up the dance floor as her brother cut it up in the DJ booth. Old school hip hop and smooth R&B was the flavor of the evening with nary a bad tune all night.

As the sun dipped low, the couple obliged me a few minutes to make some dreamy portraits amidst the open field that flanks the hall. James is a former football player and both are coaches, so the two walking through grassy meadow just seemed so apropos. Here are a few of my favorite shots from the evening.

Rather than try to figure out how to logistically traipse through the boroughs of Manhattan in a very short amount of time, the couple were willing to stay closer to their adopted home in Jersey City and let me capture them in a maze of graffiti murals and old factories. I was in heaven.

The only challenge was chasing the light. My photo geek friends know exactly what I mean. We scheduled the shoot late in the day to capture the lovely orange hues that only appear at dawn and dusk (and I am not a morning person). After running around trying to guestimate the moment the sun would peak out, we realized that we were going to have to work with the crazy clouds and try to make photos that aren’t exactly traditional engagement photos.

“Allison, could you grab my flash and hold it over your head?,” I asked my bewildered wife. “No, seriously,” I replied. “Hold it over your head, just to Lucy’s right.” After a few test shots, and some strange looks from the gorgeous couple, I nailed some my first strobist-style photos on an engagement shoot. The shot below and the few at the bottom of the post are the result, and I’m think they look pretty fabulous. Okay, maybe not as awesome as Wally and Lucy, but you know what I mean.

A big thanks to Wally, Lucy, Allison, and Wally’s mom for putting up with my inane prattling and banter. I can’t help it if I’m a touch insane when I take photographs. It’s worth it to see you guys laugh.

A sweet little moment in front of their stoop

Allison calls this Baroo Face. I think it’s from Cute Overload. I have no idea what she’s talking about.

Wally takes dipping to the extreme.

Only in Jersey City will you find a clean stuffed bunny just lying on the ground. Shea’s new best friend.

There’s that awesome glow…for a hot Jersey minute.

Wally thinks this looks it could be a poster from LOST. I’m thinking Carnivale.

Saturday comes, and I get a call in the early morning from Tristan. Russ is feeling better and is going to go outside come hell or high water. We packed our bags, loaded the trunk and headed off for an afternoon in lovely Allentown, Pennsylvania. Russ was a trooper, standing in the still cold just barely out of Winter weather while I made the two of them run all over this lovely park just off the main drag. We hopped in the car a few times to warm up, but the chilly weather was more than worth it. Here are a few of my favorite shots from the session.

I have no idea if anyone lives in this house, but it sure is cool looking.

The shot on the right is my favorite. I just love a good black and white photograph. It just looks timeless.

I promise, after this shoot, no more tall grass for a year. I swear.

I tend to fall into water, which is why I don’t do too may reflection shots. This one turned out quite nicely.

The horse wasn’t planned, and I couldn’t stop reciting that Old Spice commercial. “I’m on a horse.”

This is Allison’s favorite shot. The way Tristan is staring at Russ with those adoring eyes is just lovely.

Our all around favorite shot from the session. A gorgeous couple, stunning light, and a really cool looking wall. I need to get out of the city more.

There I sat, in awe of the guy who invented The Terminator and pretty much inspired my love for science fiction and post-apocalyptic stories and movies.

Cameron eschewed the typical pharmaceutical keynote (pretend you know something about drugs) and focused on managing risk and pushing boundaries.When I think of James Cameron and I think of a master of motion pictures. What I never realized was he really only has a handful of movies under his belt, but everyone of those films took the film industry to the next level.

With Terminator he made a cyborg actually move without looking like a stop-motion creature, with The Abyss he pretty much created computer-generated graphics, and who can forget the molten-lava T-1000 in Terminator 2.

“If we failed on Abyss, we lost a scene. If we failed on Terminator 2, we lost a movie,” I’m paraphrasing, but that’s pretty close to what he said.

With every movie he’s made he pushed state-of-the-art technology and then blew the door right open. He takes major risks, and everyone of them have paid of with dividends.

After Terminator 2, he created the concept of Avatar, but realized that the technology wasn’t where he needed it to be to actually pull off the movie. So he put the concept on the shelf and made a small film called Titanic (not a favorite).

A decade or so later, Avatar is a reality. Rather than wait for 3D technology to get to where it needed to be, he actually made it himself (just like with T2 and Abyss). He gambled big time that it wouldn’t look silly on the big screen, and once again succeeded.

What’s this have to do with photography? I don’t know. I think this is more of a personal rant about my own fears and risks I’m taking with GLK Creative.

The speech was refreshing and made me realize just how important it is to take risks in everything we do. If you don’t try to step up to a challenge or choose to stay steady with the safe and the familiar, you’ll never advance or move to the next level.

For the past few months, I’ve been babbling to Allison about the fear I have of just jumping feet first into photography with no parachute. I have faith in my skills as a photographer and a business man, but there’s still that unnerving fear that I might fail. Rather than tell me to play it safe, she’s pushed me as hard as she can to embrace the risk, shrug off the fear, look at what others do, and improve on it.

Ten years ago, she told me to stop working at Sam Goody and take a gamble on a short-term maternity leave position at the local newspaper. I took advice and spent the next decade working my way up the food chain to a dream job as a news editor in New York. Today, I’m on that cliff again, looking at a new career that I am just as passionate about, and about jump. Whether the gamble will pay off is still up in the air, but if I don’t try, I’ll never know. Luckily, I tend to land on my feet.

As an addendum, one of my favorite photographers Chase Jarvis just posted the first of a series of videos about Risk that are just as inspiring to me as Cameron’s speech. Definitely worth a peak if you have a few minutes.

After spending a half hour scouting out Diener’s office for a good portrait spot, we settled on taking his photo in front of a guitar against a very colorful blue wall. The shot would be “safe” and it included a musical element, which works well with what the subject does. Only one problem—the guitar was a three-quarter scale axe, which while sentimental to Deiner wasn’t exactly cover material.

So we headed off to his home to select another guitar from his massive collection. “Wow, nice butterscotch Telecaster you have there Mr. Diener,” I prattled trying not to let him notice the drool coming down my chin. “Why that’s a Fender Broadcaster—it came before the Tele and only a handful exist,” he corrected me and hopefully didn’t see me faint.

We went back to the office with a slick Les Paul that was probably worth more than me (stunning flame-top) and proceeded to knock out the shot I had tested earlier with my fabulous art director Tony Gamino. I actually like Tony’s portrait a tiny bit more, but it might be a tad bit too edgy.

During the shoot, James mentioned that he was a magician. I asked, in passing, if we could do a shot for the inside spread at his house while he’s doing some sort of card trick. To my shock, he canceled an appointment and told me to pack up my lights and head back to his place.

A few minutes later I’m in his condo taking the portrait below with only one flash firing through an umbrella (camera left). He made some calls, I photographed him doing a slight of hand card trick, and away we went. Sadly, the photo was held from the magazine because his magic hobby wasn’t included in the piece. That said, I still had a really fun time capturing the head of a major record label in his personal environment and got to prattle endlessly about my love for Iron Maiden and D-Generation with someone who actually knows what I’m talking about.