It had been on my mind for a while, but with all the work to do I postponed the change of a new template and design. Finally it is done. Thanks to the guys of Creative Motion Design and their team of designers and programers. Thanks.
Garita del Diablo (Devil sentinel point)
Everyone who visited Puerto Rico or know about Puerto Rico, had seen this enigmatic emblem left here by our Spanish ancestors. We have 3 forts that have this points, El Morro, San Cristobal and other one that the name escape my mind that is located very near the Caribe Hilton in San Juan. There is a legend about this points that dates back to the time of the Spaniards and said that at one point on of the sentinels was taken prisoner by the Devil himself and that he disappear during his shift. But there are rumors that maybe he left the Garita and escaped with his girlfriend and got married on one of the town inside the island. We’ll never know.
Jackie & Fidel Wedding
Jackie & Fidel came from Texas to get married in Puerto Rico. They are a great couple and are made for each other. Both are Puertoricans living in the states. The ceremony was held outdoors at Costa Caribe Golf Resort & Ponce Hilton in Ponce, PR. The reception took place on the restaurant located in the Golf Course Club House. We had a great weather on a beautiful evening and all the guests dance all night long. The wedding planner for this event was Aida Rodriguez and the videographer was Jose Silvagnoli, music by DJ Elvin Costas.
Mi Abuela (my grandmother).
I do make a living on the wedding photography industry, but for me photography is a way to express myself, vision, art, joy, passion and other things. I do other kind of photography, that is for myself, the one that fulfill my soul and my life. This is where my grandmother steps in, she is 80 plus years old, and have alzheimer. Most of the time she doesn’t know anybody on her circle beyond my mother who takes care of her. It is very painful to see a loved one lose all her knowledge over time. She talks about her past most of the time, her parents (I didn’t knew them) and call us by other names besides our own. Some times she makes us laugh by things she says and sometimes she starts to cry with no particular reason. I read somewhere that this is very particular because alzheimer patients gets frustrated when they can’t remember things that they should and start to cry about this. This is not the first images that I take of her, had been a lot, but are the first to share beyond my family. I wish I can change things for good, because it hurt to see your loved ones suffer, but that is beyond my power. I pray God everyday for her and gave thanks for all the wonderful memories that I have of her and to let me share with her a thousand more.
Wedding of Marlene & David.
Finally the day of Marlene & David had come. When I meet her for the first time she was very excited of her plans for their wedding. As the day approaches she became worried about the event of rain on her day, since the wedding was going to take place outdoors. We had a whole week of sun until that day. When I was preparing myself at home the rain started to fall and I became worried too. But thanks to GOD the skies cleared and the wedding was a blast. As you can appreciate on the images, we had a beautiful blue sky with a bunch of white clouds. The ceremony took place at Costa Caribe Gulf Resort and the reception at Ponce Hilton and Casino.
Hacienda Siesta Alegre.
Recently I visited Hacienda Siesta Alegre in Rio Grande to do some scouting of the location, before to do a wedding event that is going to take place there in January. Miriam and Israel (bride and groom) were very excited about the place and I saw it by myself all the wonderful features that host this beautiful place. First it is very close to El Yunke National Rain Forrest, second, it is a great horse hacienda that hold different spots of beauty and privacy. It holds a chimney, a library, different rooms for guests, open spaces, bar, kitchen, balconies, a pool, you name it. It is really nice and quiet. I’m really excited to shoot soon in this place, I can’t wait.
Legnanet & Walter Wedding.
Last sunday (June 12, 2011) we had the opportunity to shot the wedding of Legnanet & Walter. They came from Florida to get married on the island. They are a great couple, very easy to work with and very spontaneous. Walter told me a couple days before the wedding that a friend of him had a WV wagon and they wanted to use it as prop for some of the images. The wagon served its purpose, it is beautifully maintained and had the same colors of their wedding. The reception took place in Antiguo Casino de Ponce. I had the honor to work with Aida Rodriguez as the wedding coordinator and also Rafy Vega as the filmmaker for the event. We had a blast. My best wishes to the Newlyweds.
Simple boat..
Sometimes, simple subjects makes interesting images.
My First Photo…
I was reading a blog from a colleague, based in NY, Avi Gerver about his first photo. I commented on the blog about my experience in photography and how I made it here. I remember different moments in my childhood where I took images, but I don’t have a vivid recollection on the image itself. I only have a well vivid memory of this image. Is an image of my younger brother Edgar, he was about 1 1/2 years old, so that make me about 10. This was in 1978. No computer, no internet, no video games, no cable TV, no VHS, no CD’s or DVD’s (my father car had an 8 track radio), just only the good old fashioned “playing outside” stuff. At that moment I was taken B & W film developing classes at a community school on the summer. On the summer, a camera loaded with film, a place to develop the film and make prints? This was HEAVEN. This is the only image that I have, where I took it, developed the film, made the enlargement and developed the enlargement. At that time I made about 12 or 15 different enlargements on different sizes. This is the only one that I believe I have, it’s an 8 x 10 (I think I have another 5 x 7, but I have to look for it). Moments like this made me who I am today. Now I have boxes filled with prints, slides and negatives from my kids, family reunions, vacations and a lot more. Terabytes of images on external hard drives from weddings, portraits, vacations, my kids, friends, birthdays, my lovely wife, ect. Don’t get me wrong, I’m only 42, but I didn’t start on the digital age of photography (like other people), I came form the “Old Testament” of photography FILM.
Rain Drops…
Since we got rain today, I found this pic in my archives, the image was took with a Minolta Dimage A1 Digital Camera. This camera was one of my first digital, since I was a Minolta shooter back in the old days of film. The camera had only 5.0 Mp resolution at 72 ppi and a fixed lens, don’t get me wrong, it was a great camera, like a big “point & shoot” type, but I was used to the SLR type thing, changing lenses and all that stuff. This was back in 2003. After that I waited on Minolta to came with a good DSLR and came with a model that I think it was the D7. No much promise, only 6.0 Mp and didn’t get so many good reviews. So I sold my Minolta gear (by the way, Minolta camera technology and all about that, was bought by Sony) and jumped into the Nikon wagon with a D100 that it was a great camera. After that others cameras came along, D200, D2x, D300s and so forth, and now I won’t change this system for anything in the world.
Bride Models…
Some time when I’m shooting a wedding I came across with the bride that pose as she’s a well respected model. This is the case for Tatiana, in this case I only guide her in the vision I had for each scene in which we where shooting, the rest was up to her and with great results. Well done Tatiana.
Bride…
One of many shots for specialized weddings publications.
