Anthem of Hope

I love shooting weddings, but every once in a while I get a chance to do something on the other side of the photographic spectrum, and I love it!

Anthem of Hope was founded by my friend Darren Leblanc who's wife died a few months ago from brain cancer. If you don't know about Darren Leblanc, click on his name to go to his blog and just read a little about him and his life, it's quite an azaming story.

After his wife's death, Darren began Anthem of Hope as way to "bring hope to a hopeless world" and "to bring comfort to those affected by illness". For this venture, Darren is creating a DVD and Friday was one of the shoots. Luckily, Darren asked me to shoot some behind the scenes footage and we really had a great time creating something that will have such an impact on so many people in the future. I was able to meet cancer and heart disease survivors and hear them talk about some of their stories. It really was very powerful...Take a look!



As always I'm working with many talented people including makeup by Yvonne Moss, Justin LeBlanc (sound), Dan (video), Heather (hair), Colleen and Rachel (production) and Taylor and Kyleigh (wardrobe). Thanks for letting me work with all of you!!

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. =)