Buffalo Wedding Photography by Nickel City Studios

Archive: July 2009 | View all recent posts

July 31, 2009 - Engagements

diane + john

We initially planned on doing Diane + John's eshoot last month, but we were rained out (weirdly prophetic of how the *summer* would shape up) and rescheduled for yesterday evening down at Evangola State Park. We had hit up the park once before, but it was Memorial Day, and there were thousands of people there. When we showed up yesterday (a gorgeous, though overcast day), we pretty much had the place to ourselves, so that totally rocked. Diane and John brought their dog, Kimo, along for the shoot. I love that - because I consider our two dogs our girls, and prior to Murphy, they definitely would've been on any family shoot of ours.

It was a beautiful afternoon. I think I beat the point into the ground every time we do a post in a location like this, but THIS is Western New York. Like, there are beautiful beaches and tons of boats out on the water and it is a stark contrast to the life we lead in the city, but it's only 30 minutes or so down the road. By the way - alternating colors like Diane and John wore for the shoot work great for photographs...particularly if you're into outdoors-ey shots where we'll have a lot of green to pop the couple out of.

This was the first shot of yours I saw after we got back last night - I love it.

Thanks! I can't pass up a crumbly old wall :)

Or tall grass :)

Or brick walls for that matter :)

Hey - if it works, it works. I think it was right about this moment that John said something about Diane "owing him" for agreeing to the shoot. I would like to give a shout out to all our future grooms who may not be super excited about getting their picture taken, but still tackle the shoot like champs. I get it - I don't like getting my photo taken, pretty much ever. But, I, like all men in committed relationships, understand that there is a time and place to do things that our significant other wants to do. Nothing beats some nice photos of you as a couple. So, to all the guys who get dragged by us through the Alyssa tri--fecta of beat-up walls, tall grass and brick, I personally salute you for doing so with a big smile.

I personally salute you?? You make it sound like you're not also taking photos and making people stand near ridiculous things too, pal.

Love it!

They've got these boats lined up off the beach, so we played with them for a few minutes too, because, well, why not? :)

You guys look adorable, and we had a hard time narrowing down shots this morning from the next set...

And then we saw a silhouette opportunity that could not be passed up. Rather than get into a fistfight about whose shot made the blog before we shoot an all-day wedding today, we decided to include them both...

Because we'd never really wandered around Evangola much, John mentioned a pond, so we headed over toward it and saw this great little area.

And then we hit the pond that had a ton of geese pooh around it, but miraculously no geese in the water, so we had a great clear reflection going on.

I asked Diane and John to lay down on this slanty hill, and she was like, "Uh, I'm gonna trust you on this one." Thank you! That's all I ever ask - I think these came out so pretty.

No doubt!

So, we had seen this covered bridge the last time we'd driven through, and when we got back, Alyssa totally wanted to play with it. Can you spot the photographer?

:) Sometimes I gotta do a little climbing to see if my idea might work. I think this might be my favorite from the whole shoot. Thanks, again, guys for coming out last night - you guys are awesome, and I seriously cannot wait until the wedding! It's going to be so gorgeous - I'm so ridiculously excited about it!!

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July 30, 2009 - Engagements

vicki + brian

So, there we were - deep in the heart of the jungle, AKA, behind the back of the old Central Terminal, with Vicki and Brian...and I'm not going to lie, I was a little concerned they would hat e the location. After all, it absolutely looks like the "after" scenes in the "Life After People" show, and while we love new places to shoot, we needed a couple who were willing to let us try something new and be totally cool with it for the location to work.

And they totally rocked it. :) It was kind of a difficult shoot because Brian couldn't take his hat off. Let's just say he's been wearing his hat to work outdoors for a little while without rocking some sunblock, so we were a little limited in our posing of them because we didn't particularly want to take Vicki's eyes out with his brim. :)

I can't believe you called the man out like that. I had the exact same bald-man-who-wears-a-hat-in-the-sun-all-the-time, half-tanned head look when we were stationed in Hawaii. It was all good.

I'm not calling him out! But I am explaining why some of the photos have a different feel to them. We spend a lot of time with our couples with their faces close together. Anyway, I'm totally a nervous nellie when it comes to train tracks, but we played on them for a few shots, and I really loved everything about this one.

There was an open door that we popped inside for about 13 seconds to snag a couple with a cool brick texture, and it was ridiculous. There were seriously stalagmites (stalactites, who knows the difference) forming in there.

Probably my favorite of yours, Rich!

Thanks! Yeah, we recently met one of the guys who is heavily involved in the restoration process - and that place is going to need every ounce of enthusiasm the volunteers show. It kindof looks like a war zone right now, but it's definitely a visually cool place to work with a couple. I dig the juxtaposition. I liked that Brian is a big dude, too - first of all, he could probably toss Vicki about 40 feet in the air and second of all, if you've never been to the Central Terminal - it's kindof full on in the ghetto.

And this is, without doubt, my favorite shot of yours from the evening...

Thank you! I was pretty pleased with that one, too.

The sun was starting to get yummy, so we popped out of the shadows for some awesome sun flare. I'm so into sun flare right now :)

Dude, we're always "into" flare - it's just one of those things...

We played around at the front of the building for a few minutes longer. I really wish I could've seen the building when it was built. It's still kind of breath-taking - I imagine it was stunning then.

Agreed - New York State is kindof crazy not to consider a NYC - Toronto rail line that passes through Buffalo. From the outside, it's one of those no-brained things that will probably never happen because NY State government is one of the most ridiculous things ever implemented by humans...and for the most part they could really give a crap about what happens in Buffalo.

Hey now, you haven't been a resident long enough to have that kind of bitterness! Vicki also wanted to hit up some Elmwood/Delaware Park shots, so we headed over to Elmwood and Bidwell Parkway...

...and I loved this shot. The flare was crazy awesome!!

We've got more flare than a chain restaurant.

By this point, we were having a great time. There's always a point during a shoot where you go from it being just a photoshoot to just hanging out and having fun with cameras. It might be a subtle difference, given our style, but it's a difference you can feel when things really start to flow, and we're just talking about everything under the sun.

Which is cool - I really like getting to know people beyond the hey-we're-the-photogs bit. It makes the wedding day more awesome. And Brian and Vicki's wedding is totally going to be pretty sweet. I think Vicki is just going to stun everyone in her dress. And as for Brian's head, Vicki thought he'd look pretty sweet in a top hat and monocle. :)

We played at the church for a while as Vicki's a fan of the old churches in town, and they're always pretty cool to shoot around. Stopping and photographing around Elmwood always gets people to kind of check you out. I think everyone is kind of hoping they come across TO getting his photos randomly taken in Elmwood Village. :)

You can't even make it through a blog post now without mentioning Eldorado, can you? We are pretty excited about maybe making it to training camp if at all possible - it's going to be a heck of a year. Anyway, here's Vicki being STUNNING.

I love, love, love this one too, babe.

Those all make me smile...

So, we only played on Elmwood for a little while because Vicki also wanted to hit the cool stone bridge in Delaware Park.

I love the light in this shot. It made me a little giddy when I took it.

Our absolutely favorite photo from our own wedding is us walking away from the ceremony, holding hands...so I get a little sentimental every time we shoot that idea. I think it resonates with a lot of couples - kindof heavy-handed imagery, but definitely appropriate given that we're always getting together with our wedding couples at the start of something big.