One of the more wonderful things that begins to unfold with photographing elopements and weddings long enough, is when you get to photograph the celebration of someone who was involved in or attended a wedding you photographed in the past.
When I first met L (the stunning individual below who you could easily mistaken for a young Priscilla Presley), we were both drinking, dancing, and celebrating our way through the heart of New Orleans as we partook in one of the most beautiful elopements any of us have witnessed until now. By the end of our time in the bayou, we left there knowing that our paths would have to cross again at some point. Somewhere. Someday.
Enter center stage: New York City
It's only taken me 35 years to finally say I have stepped foot into the alluring sheer chaos that is New York City. The constant motion of energy transferring from one body to another. Lights and sounds of all different shapes, sizes and colors. 3 a.m. bodega eats. Shitty east coast weed, torched up from a statue of liberty lighter. Renting electric bikes and weaving in and out of endless traffic through time square. And that's not even a dent into all that I lived through while there. But beyond being a tourist in the city, was an even more inviting experience that I want to share. A step back into time, that will live rent-free in my memory for the rest of my days.
If you've ever flown into JFK Int'l, you might be somewhat familiar with the TWA Hotel located just across a sky bridge from the airport. The hotel is a reconstruct and preservation of a massive chapter in aviation history. It's prized possession Connie, which at the time broke the transcontinental land speed record on a flight from Burbank California, to New York and at one point served as Air Force One under President Eisenhower, sits restored and fully accessible in the courtyard of the hotel as a cocktail bar. It just so happens that you can also reserve Connie for your elopement.
What will probably be one of the most unforgettable experiences of my career as not only an elopement photographer, but a photographer in general, will be forever intertwined with the series of digital and film photos you are about to take a stroll through below.
L + A if you ever read this, thank you from the very bottom of my fucking heart.
