Wedding On The Steps Of City Hall #occupyLA (040)

Narcisa Pricope and Jason Pennell share a moment during a ring ceremony on the steps of City Hall in the midst of the "Occupy Los Angeles" camp on Saturday, October 29, 2011.

Call It "Barking Mad"

In these difficult economic times, newspapers like to give their readers a glimpse at alternative, wacky careers. You know, like photography.

How hard is it to photograph a wedding?

"The memorable shots from Marc and Sylvia Day's wedding are unusual, to say the least. Decapitated guests, a ceremony hardly visible through the gloom, and random close-ups of... not the bouquet, or a snatched kiss, but of carriage wheels."

The noisy art of pooch photography

"When the gadgets don’t work, Schwartz mimicks animals, woofing, mooing, clucking, sometimes resorting to bogus sneezing and the occasional raspberry; whatever it takes to garner cooperation from his subjects, who tend to be preoccupied by their surroundings."

I like the idea of a situation comedy about a pet photographer forced in hard times to shoot weddings -- keeping the tactic of making animal noises, of course -- or maybe something on the world's worst wedding photographer. More likely: a reality show where pet photographers and wedding photographers switch jobs for the day.

Hello Dad ... I'm In Jail

Ah, wedding photography. You never know when those skills may come in handy. You know, like in jail.

Couple threatens to sue over wedding night DUI arrest

"The couple filed a complaint with the Harris County Precinct 8 Constable's Office and plans to file another with the federal government over the way [the bride] was allegedly treated while in jail. The couple said a photographer was allowed to take a picture of her in her wedding dress. The photograph appeared on the Internet and on television."

On the Beach (500th Post)

On Halloween, Mrs. New York Portraits and I went to Florida for a beach wedding. We left New York -- with daily high temperatures in the 40s -- for a room a few yards from the beach.

My task for the weekend was to photograph the wedding. (I'm hesitant to say that, because I'm not a wedding photographer, and I know a lot of wedding photographers, and they're not particularly happy when they hear you've taken a gig away from a full-time wedding photographer. It was a family thing, though, and besides -- taking pictures gives me something to do other than stand close to the open bar.)

So I did. The technical specs: just under 1300 shots (about 12 gigabytes of files), using cameras mounted with a Sigma 24mm f/1.8 and a Tamron 90mm f/2.8. Balanced beachy daylight with fill from my Metz 58 during the service, then at sunset the trick was to get seascape skies mixed with the flash -- without the flash looking like flash. Went fine.

The wedding rehearsal was scheduled on Halloween, and everyone -- bride, groom, guests and all -- came in costume. Maybe I'll be able to post a few of those soon. Until then: a casual snap of Mrs. New York Portraits in a kimono, waiting for the rehearsal.