Kay Unger Promo Video

A little while back I had a blast shooting in Kay Unger's design studio in NYC (check out the blog here if you haven't seen it yet). Well after some production, the video that this whole thing is for is finished! Thanks to yet again another amazing team build by Grace Hanlon with video by Jeff Buccellato and makeup by Yvonne Moss, you will LOVE the outcome featured on Kay Unger's site! I've also posted them here for you to take a look at.

Short Version:


Long Version:

Promo Videos

Well I've just discovered that I can post these on my blog...so why not!?


Vanessa Joy Promotional Video (Long Version)


The shorter version that's on my website


Behind the Scenes!!

How To Shop For a Husband

Well now that's a title that should interest most of my brides! Shop? We're supposed to shop for one of those?!

Well at first the title might seem like a dig against men, but after getting the chance to spend a few hours with the author, Janice Lieberman from The Today Show
and taking a look at her upcoming book How To Shop For a Husband (TBR May 19, 2009), I started to understand exactly what she was talking about. The, funny but true, advice that I got from the book was great to read and helps us woman see some tell-tale bad signs from the beginning as well as find the good ones! Definitely take the time to check out Janice's website (also featuring some of my photos); she's quite an accomplished woman!

During my move, I stumbled over a paper I wrote when I was at Monmouth University titled Women in America. The basic gist of it was the irony that women fought for their rights for such a long time but because of that they are now faced with more work then most men have to deal with. In some families, woman are bread-winners and care-takers of the family as well, making their 9-5 seem easy in comparison to the second shift that they cover when they get home. This made me think of Janice because during the photo shoot I saw many of the faces that she wears: The Today Show's Consumer Correspondent, loving wife, caring mom and most importantly just being Janice Lieberman. It really is fun to see the many sides of women today, isn't it? I think it shows the strength, endurance and the overall passion to experience all the things that life has to offer that a lot of women possess. If you're one of those women, then I think you'll truly enjoy seeing a glimpse of everyday life for Janice and her amazing family!

Kudos to Yvonne Moss for the amazing makeup job, Kay Unger for the fabulous wardrobe, and Grace Hanlon for putting it all together! Love working with all of you!!

Vj

First Wedding of the Year!

So I started off my wedding season with a really fun wedding. This couple got married in Grand Cayman and had a reception at The Tides Estate. I was also able to bring along the up-and-coming photographer/makeup artist Yvonne Moss, who did some great work too! Check out some of my images below.

One side note... metadata is cool. Metadata is basically something that I look at on the computer that gives me the specs on all of the pictures I take. For this job, I used my metadata to see exactly how long of a "photo session" I had with the bride and groom...are you ready for this? 1 minute and 40 seconds!! So needless to say with that time limit, I'm pretty darn proud to have the two great shots of them that I posted below!! It's so much fun to work quickly and still get great results! I love challenges and fast-paced environments. =)

Darren and Livi LeBlanc

Darren is a BFF of mine despite that we didn't like each other when we first met. =) If you don't know about Darren and his amazing life story, definitely check out his blog, www.leblanclife.com, it's well worth the read (besides my pictures are on his banner so at least check that out to get you started). He's MUCH better at updating his blog than I am that's for sure!!

Darren and I set up a date to take pictures of him and his little girl Olivia at my new place since I have some sweet colored walls and Livi is just the most beautiful little girl that I know so how could I resist!?! Check out some of my favs below. I got a little carried away with the "chocolate syrup" and "x-processed" looks!! Livi has such an amazing personalily that really shines in these photos!

Using my photos as art!

So its definitely tricky decorating my new place, especially since I have an eye for Kelvins and all so I have to find the perfect colors or I'll go crazy looking at them (hence the 15 or so little sample cans of paint I have no idea what to do with now). :-)

But, it is fun to decorate my place using my own photos. For example, I made a Metal Mural out of my favorite infrared picture that I took this year. These metal murals are very cool and I can wait for some brides to want something so edgy! Its a bunch of small square plates of metal that hook together to make a larger image. So my mural looks something like this hanging on my blue living room wall:




Another really fun thing to do is get a canvas...I do these for brides all the time and everyone loves them. Simply Canvas will actually take my photo and digitally manipulate it to look like a painting...which is exactly what I wanted for this reception detail shot I took this year that is now hanging in my laundry room. Take a look at the before and after. The blue lines on the after show what part of my picture will be wrapped around the wood so it's showing on the side of my canvas. Pretty sweet, huh? Also check out the close up detail shot of it as well so you can really see what it entails.

Before digital painting:





After digital painting:

I've also convinced

Darren LeBlanc to let me make a canvas out of one of his pictures that I absolutely love. This Angel is actually the one for courage, or so Darren told me. This one is going right over my bed. :-)




~Vj

Liz and Rob

This wedding I shot with Andres Valenzuela is the first wedding that I got to use my infrared camera on this year. I only took a few shots, still getting the hang of things, and came out with one that I really like that i put at the end of this slide show. It was definitely tricky getting the light to balance correctly the first few times!

Christine and Bryan

This wedding that I shot with Kenny Kim was really one of my favorites of this year. This couple was meant to be from day one and it was so evident how much they loved each other at every moment.

Now, I've never actually admitted this before, but Christine, when you read your vows to Bryan, I totally had to hide behind my camera to mask the tearing up I was doing because they were just so beautiful! I believe the part "Blessed be His name" is what got me the most.

What's really special now is that Christine and Bryan are expecting their first baby!!! Congrats you guys!!! And like I told you on Facebook, Christine, I'd better see some baby pictures up!