RAYMEDphotography Blog

Time is running out… You better ACT NOW!

This is a bit of a confession post. I am one of those photographers that FEARS photographing strangers on the streets. I’m working on that, but for some odd reason, when I’m on vacation, that fear goes away.

Take this shot for example… We were in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic for vacation and attended the resort’s bi-weekly beach party. Everybody is having fun and I had my camera with me, of course. I didn’t care who was surrounding me or watching me. I saw this woman on the stage in front of me having a blast and I just couldn’t resist photographing her. Now, I must say that I took approximately 20 images of her and this is the ONE image I keep coming back to.

30mm, f/5 @ .5 sec, ISO 250

I wanted to capture her as she was… having fun… in the moment.  I didn’t want her to be frozen in time, as most of these images could be. You see the movement in her hands, dress, but especially in her hair.

Could this photograph be better? Of course it can, but that is NOT the point. The point is that when on vacation I overcame my FEAR of photographing strangers. And BTW, I’m extremely happy with the outcome of this photograph.  It is one of my favorites.

Hope you enjoy!

ISO: 125
Exposure: f/7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/125
Location: Matheson Hammocks, Miami, FL

ISO: 125
Exposure: f/7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/100
Location: Matheson Hammocks, Miami, FL

Why is it a prohibited portrait? There was a NO seating/standing sign on this location. It is how we roll!

ISO: 320
Exposure: f/4.5
Shutter Speed: 1/160
Location: Washington DC,VA

If you follow me on twitter, you probably already know, but if not… I’ll tell you the story anyway.

My daughter Daniella was invited to her first Mitzvahs (2 of them – 2 weeks apart). We were excited about the events and of course about going out shopping for the dresses.

Anyway, we found these two gorgeous dresses and the first thing we thought of (ok, maybe I thought of!) was to do a shoot with each dress before each event.

These are the selected images for each shoot. Hope you enjoy them!

Purchase Image

Purchase Image

My wife and I pretty much did the same for her side of the family. We spent Christmas Day over and as you can see from some of the photographs here, we had some fun…

Enjoy!

Wife (Maria)

Dalie (sister in-law), Andy (father in-law), Maria (Mother in-law) & Maria (wife)

Dalie (sister in-law), Carlos (wife’s cousin), Maria, Daniella (Daughter), Gabriela (niece), Maria (mother in-law), Carolina (Daughter), Eddie (nephew).

This picture and the next one have a story behind it and if I don’t tell it, you might think we are crazy… well, actually, you might think that anyway.

The two little ones (Eddie & Carolina) didn’t want to be in the picture and they were cranky. We got tired of jumping to try to make them laugh, so Carlo’s (Wife’s cousin) just started CRYING with them and as you can see everyone joined the crying club.

Ed (Brother in-law) and Dalie (Sister in-law)

Ed, Eddie, Dalie and Gabriela

Daniella, Gabriela, Maria, Carolina, and Eddie

Carlos and Alexandra (his wife)

Alexandra, Carlos, Daniella, Gabriela

All of us together… Finally, tripod and timer. Lady sitting in the middle of the group is my wife’s grandmother (Idalie), 89 years old.

Dalie and my wife

Maria, Andy, Dalie, Maria (mother in-law)

This year, we went to my sister’s house for Christmas Eve dinner, my little sister from Detroit is in town for Christmas and we had a blast. As a Christmas present from my wife and I to my sisters, we wanted something different, so we decided to do a family portrait as we really didn’t have any pictures of us together.

So the actual gift was 2 (8×10) frame portraits, 4×6 photo album with all prints and a CD of low-res…. I think they liked it, don’t you?

I hope you enjoy them.