Some things come in waves and a recent wave has been my newlywed couples and their parents asking for photos enlarged on canvas, which I love to do, and was even promoted by Southern New England Weddings issue as a "Great Idea" in their 2007 issue (pg. 318).

It's a little tough to tell from this online image (I've got this piece in my office, so please come by for a hands-on look), but below is a framed canvas piece.

My canvas pieces are transfers of the emulsion from actual photographic prints, not an inkjet print onto canvas. Lab inkjet printers (usually professional versions of your home Epson printer) are great for printing on all kinds of papers, but for canvas I like the look and quality of a transfer. A protective laminate is applied to a custom print I make and then the print is bonded to 100% cotton, primed artist's canvas, replicating the look and feel of an oil painting. Canvas prints are wrapped around a wooden stretcher bar so they can be framed like the above example or even hung unframed.

I have also sold some of my landscape and architecture prints as canvases, mainly for the ability to be so elegantly framed without glass. Some of the businesses that have purchased my photographs on canvas have done so because they are hanging the pieces in open spaces with large walls of windows so they don't want sunlight glare on picture glass. It's a nice solution to a common problem as I tend to recommend against non-glare glass if possible because it always seems to dull whatever image is behind it.

It's that time of year where couples who are getting married later in 2007 have their engagement portraits taken. And for almost every couple I work with that know exactly where they want their picture taken—where they had their first date, where they got engaged, maybe even the place their getting married—there are number of couples who ask the popular question, "where should we have our picture taken?"

Of course I can offer a number of great options. The southern New England area offers plenty of beautiful locations and I'm willing to go just about anywhere if it means we'll get a great portrait. Lately I've been showing a couple of shots from a session I did last summer that show how unique we can make your engagement photo:

There's another photo on my engagements page that Danny and his very happy bride Erin decided to use with a signature mat (guest book) at their wedding.

I've heard other people say they get tired of weddings, but every year I still feel the same—I love photographing weddings. They're fun, often exciting, always different and very special. A couple like the one I worked with at the Hyatt Regency Newport on May 12, 2007 are all those things to the tenth degree. Jessie and Jeff came to me with a ton of exuberance and I was looking forward to their wedding from the moment they booked me. These two just screamed love and we had a great time—taking formal photos around Newport for a couple of hours, having a beautiful ceremony at the Hyatt Lighthouse and then just having a big ol' party all night long. Here are a few of my favorite photographs:

"Thanks so much David!! Aside from documenting the red-letter day brilliantly, your spectacular attitude meant so much to me and my wife. The proofs look great. Just want to say that we can't stop looking at all of these, thank you! We love them, they are wonderful and it was a pleasure having you photograph the wedding.
Love,
Ann and Rob"

It was truly my pleasure. Ann and Rob had a wonderful wedding and I had a lot of fun photographing it. We started the day at the Providence Biltmore where I met Ann, her bridesmaids and family getting ready. The bride getting ready in the mirror is a little standard, but it is pretty, so I try to get variations on it. Having the Providence Court House in the background was nice.

What a gorgeous day Jennifer and Ken had for their beautiful wedding at OceanCliff. It's a photographer's dream when the sky is so blue and there are lots of white puffy clouds in the sky (it's also a photographer's dream when it's mostly cloudy, but not so much the bride's dream). Jen had a most spectacular veil and Ken surprised her in wearing his dress uniform. It was just a perfect June wedding day.

As if I didn't love photographing Jessie & Jeff's wedding enough (see their blog entry), to top it all off I received a very nice thank you note this week that I thought I'd share. There were also further thank yous written on the envelope along with a great sketch of a camera. You're so welcome!

Another gorgeous day in Providence, RI for Michelle and Brandon's wedding. We started at the First Unitarian Church on Benevolent and Benefit Streets.

We're heading off to our Ireland honeymoon tomorrow and, while rushing around to wrap up some recent work before we go (clearing my memory cards for the many thousands of photos I'll make in Ireland), I received a wonderful note from a couple who's wedding I photographed last summer. They had a cool August day (always welcome) at the beautiful Mt. Hope Farm. You're welcome and thanks, Theresa and Jason.

I just wanted to thank you again for being such a pleasure to work with. From the beginning, you have been friendly, patient with all of our millions of questions, and so quick to get back to us, no matter how many times I emailed you in a day. I feel like you really listened to us and captured our wedding day in a way that really reflects our style and personality.

During the wedding and reception, you got all of the important pictures, planned and unplanned, without us ever feeling like you were in our face or in our way. The formals were painless and you were really unobtrusive with the candids. I mostly forgot you were there during the reception, but when the proofs came back, it was clear you got everything!

My absolute favorite thing about our pictures is that you caught all of the important things about our wedding day and removed the things I didn't want to remember (like that awful sunburn on my shoulders). Your ability to digitally edit the photos made a big difference.

All of the prints and albums you made for us turned out gorgeous. We couldn't be more pleased that we chose you as our photographer. We will be recommending you to everyone we know, and we look forward to using you again in the future!

Sincerely,
Theresa and Jason Dougherty

This is a year of abundant thank yous, which is very gratifying. The latest comes from Paige and Scott who were married at the Newport Officers' Club in May this year.

I was catching up on my wedding reading just now and came across this very interesting story in The New York Times about marriage proposal photography, Will You Marry Me? Say Cheese!. I know the photos I took immediately after proposing to my wife are some of our favorites and it would have been great to have had some of her reaction when I proposed (as much of a photographer geek as I am, I didn't have a camera in her face when I asked the question). I know couples who've gotten engaged at Castle Hill or on the Cliff Walk and I think it would be great to be a "bystander" who was there to photograph the very special event. In reality, I have a great zoom lens so no one has to be in anyone's face. Anyone interested?

I've been a little lax with the wedding posting lately. Not that it hasn't been busy—September and October have become the months to get married in Southern New England. The weather has been wonderful and soon we'll have more foliage than you can shake a branch at. I'm going to catch up by posting my September 22nd wedding. Firstly because it was a beautiful wedding on a beautiful fall day (and we went to the beach!), and secondly because I feel bad for the bride's mother who called me a few days after the wedding to thank me and then sent me such a nice thank you note this week.

I feel bad because her daughter and son-in-law, Bethany and Bill, went on a three week honeymoon (I don't feel bad for Bethany and Bill!). So while I finished their wedding last week, I only release the proofs to the bride and groom, and Bethany's mother is anxiously waiting to see some photos. So for Bethany's mom, I give you some photos:

I'm falling behind in my blogging as the wedding season wraps into the holiday portrait season and the weather changes everything. Lynda and Mark had a rainy night in Providence at the end of October, but it inspired me to do some really different things at their wedding. I was in more of an "art" mode and Lynda's e-mailed me several times since she received the proofs to thank me, so I thought I'd push things even more with some of these edited photos on the blog (don't worry, I got plenty of pretty close-ups as well).

It's that time of year again. The annual wedding magazines are hitting the stands and I'm happy to be included. So far Southern New England Weddings 2008 and La Bella Bride 2008 are out there with my photographs throughout (including in some ads for friends such as The Bay Voyage and Golden Gate Studios). More to come as they get released.

Here's the ad for Golden Gate Studios that I mentioned is in various wedding magazines this year. I didn't design the ad, but supplied the photos from Jessie & Jeff's beautiful wedding in May of last year.

Another wedding magazine has hit the newsstands (are there any newsstands left in RI?) containing several of my photographs. Newport Life Magazine's Newport Wedding 2008 edition is now available and they also placed some of my work on their site.

What looked like a bad day for a wedding when I woke up that morning (the day after a snowstorm), turned out to be a day with great atmosphere for wedding photos. Jane and Martin planned an intimate wedding at a small chapel in Middletown and then, after taking a few photos there, we moved onto Ocean Drive where the snow and sea created a beautiful and unique backdrop for their pictures. And on top of all that, it was a lot of fun as they were a great couple to work with.

Kara and John are getting married at OceanCliff on 6/7/08 so we went with Newport ocean locales for their engagement session. At the end John pulled out a "She's So Lucky" t-shirt and they both had a great sense of humor. I'm looking forward to a fun June wedding.

Angela and Neil are getting married at OceanCliff on July 10th and after debating a bit about where and when we decided upon early morning at Beavertail State Park in Jamestown for their engagement session. We couldn't have had a more beautiful morning for a very relaxed session with a very natural couple. Angela was perfectly game for rock climbing as well. I've edited some dramatic landscapes for this entry.

Pamela and Justin had the most gorgeous day for a wedding on the docks in the marina. Blue, blue sky, with some slight wispy clouds and pretty boats sailing by. In this small sampler here I've started out with the flower girl, because they're always so cute, and move on to The Kiss, some of the day's great formals and the First Dance.

This season is getting busier and busier every day. Here are a few photos from the last day of May with a wonderfully nice couple having a great day together. It was a great way to bring in June.

Kara and John had a gorgeous summer day for their blast of a wedding. After their great engagement session in April I had a feeling their wedding would be a ton of fun and I certainly wasn't disappointed. Everyone in the wedding party from groomsmen to family were great to photograph and just being around. I think the first photo below, which are the garters Kara chose, show the great sense of fun that was this wedding.

What a gorgeous day for a wedding in Newport. There's not much more I could add to describe the great day Angela and Neil had. It was relaxed, warm and sunny, and a heck of a good party. I was very happy to be there to capture, and enjoy the day.

It was another gorgeous July wedding day—dare I say "picture perfect." Along with Melissa and Henry was their adorable little son who was always well-behaved, and also kept things interesting. I'm glad I caught the below portrait with his mother as he posed so perfectly.

The run of good weather ended here these last few days, but that certainly did not put a damper (sorry for the bad pun!) on Rebecca and Jeff's day. They had a wonderfully intimate gathering of friends and family from around the country. I was with them for only a couple of hours and I'm glad I had a chance to capture their moment.

The day started rainy but it never seemed to even slightly affect Amy's excitement about getting married to Brad and by the time the ceremony was over we had enough clear sky to have some beautiful formals outdoors. Afterward was a great party (with a great meal!) and it was my pleasure to be there. Thank you, Amy & Brad!