March PUG meeting at c 10 ike's new digs

That's right Anthony! NIKON. I almost made it through a post without mentioning my D3! my bad

Candace Jeffrey & Tina

Justin & Mary Marantz of Justin & Mary Marantz fame!

Jackie getting the bird's eye view of the meeting

Justin Marantz, looking super cute

There are never enough pictures of me and my girl Krystal because she and I are always the ones shooting!

smaller bites!

If you make a funny face Mike will shoot it and I will post it, so check yourselves!

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Me, Paul, Pam and Mike

Mike & Steve getting all GQ on themselves

me and my boy .com- I love his Bizarro shirt and his new six pack! ;)
The lovely Jane of Iris Photography hung until late night since we live right around the corner from each other!

Last night marked a year ago that I hosted my first PUG meeting, so what better way to commemorate that then to host it again? We had almost FORTY photographers in attendance, which is killer- not to mention a whole gaggle of newbies!

carlateneyck.com is LIVE, baby

So OK. New and fabulous camera. New and fabulous studio. Well.... I figured I would pull the trifecta and just redo my entire web site to complete the trinity of change!

I embrace change and really felt like my work has been morphing and evolving so much lately that I wanted to have my site really reflect that.

Check it out HERE and let me know what you think!

cupcakes + carla

Check out my super awesome hand made coasters for my new digs! Hand made by the uber talented Chris Mead and Paul McNerney. Taking branding to a whole new level!

This is what heaven looks like to Mike

DePino and Paul mackin' at the bar. This is why we had to do a bar run, these two were heavy handed bar tenders!!

Love this shot of these two, they are SO much fun to photograph

Paul & Krystal working it! I love shooting in my bathroom, can you tell yet

Don't ask. Just because we CAN. My new tub is GINORMOUS!!!

OK so I got Mike in the kitchen in the face with a cupcake first, but he got me back. We're even, right? And so I beg...

This is Mike ignoring my pleas for mercy

Some much needed clean up after the cupcake festivities- (stop jocking this shot DePino!)

Renee was helping out at the bar.... :)
Amanda Harris' most favorite party food!


There are SO many people who pulled together to not only help make this studio opening possible but the studio in general a reality that it would take me forever to thank everyone the way they should be thanked...
Saturday was amazing- it was straight out of an episode of Trading Spaces- I had a team of amazing people literally all week (and way before but the mad scramble started the last few days) leading right up to the very minute the first person showed up painting, hanging prints, arranging furniture, cleaning, preparing food, setting up the bar, all in the crazy Saturday rain, and all with big smiles and really great positive energy. The heart and soul of the project was my boy Paul.
Paul McNerney is the most amazing guy, like EVER. Not only is he a killer photographer but he is a craftsman in so many senses. He is the Snapple Cap Guy as Mike likes to call him as he is a bottomless pit of random information; he knows so much about everything- when I don't know something, anything really I call Paul. It's hard to believe that I have only know him a year, I feel like we have been friends forever. I know we will be as over this past year he has grown into being one of my very best friends.
Paul totally understood my vision. I would babble and blather on about tying things together, doing this doing that and he just made it work.
This studio is now an extension of not only my work but of me as an artist and person- it encompasses so much of what is important to me in life- working close to my family, being in the house I grew up in, looking out at the beautiful river flowing right in my back yard, incorporating nature into my interior surroundings and giving my friends, family and clients a comfortable, relaxing and safe place to be.

Now the opening itself was WAY more than what I had envisioned. I knew it would be kind of like my wedding- I wouldn't eat much and would feel like I saw everyone and no one at the same time- and it was totally that. It was also mostly surreal to see so many different people there to support me and my studio and my family... so thank you to everyone that made it, I really really appreciated it!

I am working on a slide show, it's super long so I figured that I would post some images in the mean time. And yes, there will be a separate one for the photo booth. And yes I edited out the incriminating ones... :)

My boy RE posted a video ALREADY on his blog from the opening, check it out href="http://www.rephotodesign.info/">HERE

Thanks also to the amazing A Victorian Garden & A Special Place for providing the beautiful flowers!!!

lori + dan wedding at the goodwin hotel

Mike grabbed a shot of me shooting the shoe shot below

I ran my three favorite action peeps on this- a Kubota Fashion Passion + a Steve DePino PRO Action Acwesome Curves + Newsprint Paper topped with a Jesh DeRox Mojave texture. I'd say those three boys play well with others, no?

While I was shooting the girls Mike took the guys and had some fun. I love this super serious military style set up he rocked.
You know I love my parent dances- so much emotion! For me AND for them!
Video lights are your friends, play around with their light while trying not to get in their shot... tricky but worth it!


This guy is PUMPED. I think he just saved a bunch of money on his car insurance by switching to Geico.
I had to SPRINT across the room to grab this shot- I heard the DJ announcing it, saw her swinging the bouquet about to throw it and snagged it, heart racing and camera firing like crazy!
I have shot at Hartford City Hall a bunch of times so I am always trying to see it in new ways- I really like this new take on city hall AND a feet shot combo.

While shooting I ran into Lunnell Troy of Troy Photography!

The railings and lights are some of the best parts of City Hall. Oh and the light itself. And the floor. And the atrium. And the stairs. I could go on!

Working that video light and the super high speed D3

Those two had me in tears, they were so emotional.

I know Jean is my reflection machine but I was feelin that loooong limo

Seriously? Where do I start? The light? The shoes? The length? The colors?

Oh and then it got better! The ladies were such naturals and really worked it!

This is one of my favorite places in City Hall- I never see enough people utilizing this spot, which is fine with me! :) Maybe because it is a very low light but romantic spot where using flash would ruin it, I think. I love it!!

My second favorite place in city hall- the elevator! I am liking the bridesmaid & bride combo as a new way to change it up

A little foreground background action- those colors were just calling my name all day long

Mike getting in my shot. Scoot over dude

a sort of silhouette of Lori that really grabbed me- it totally highlighted her veil, which was her mother's- it also kind of reminds me of the ipod commercials where they are kind of silhouettes but not really but sort of. But not really. But a little.

The back button continuous focusing really played a hand in the success of this image- that and the fact that they are wearing their hearts on their sleeves!!

Right after their first kiss these two just erupted in laughter, it was awesome!


As so it begins! My 2008 wedding season is now officially ON!! I can't be more excited if I tried, to be honest. There have been so many new things going on, all lining me up for quite the season.
OK, so I am going to go OFF in this post, prepare yourself.
Now, yesterday Mike and I tag teamed Lori & Dan's wedding, both armed with our spanking new D3's and 84 1.4's (which we both decided is never coming off our cameras it is like shooting with butter and salt baby- my 2 favorite condiments) Can you feel me on that? But being a realist, I know that you can't get blood from a stone, no matter what you are shooting with. I can't impress this on my current and potential clients enough- our relationship is a partnership- I work for your trust, hopefully get it, you in turn open yourself to me, show me what you're all about and BAM! We just make some magic stuff happen... ideally, of course. But the whole thing hinges on both of us giving. Lori & Dan? Well they just opened up immediately to me and Mike back at our engagement session in December- as we did to them, saw what we produced and trusted us even more. So their wedding at the Goodwin in Hartford was almost like picking up right where we left off.

They are two of the most expressive people I have photographed- so into each other and just so happy to be near each other. Their energy is contagious and their bridal party was the same way- full of positive energy and laughs all day- it made shooting all day a dream.


On a more technical note- I shot all JPEG large fine and the quality is NUTS. Not even once did I feel the pressure to shoot RAW. I admit I was a little daunted by the potentially huge file sizes and just invested in THREE 16 gig cards (thanks Jer for the sale tip!) But I honestly feel like I am pretty rock solid on my exposures and just trusted myself and my new baby to come through. This thing is so solid I only drained HALF of a battery on a 14 hour shooting day (with over 5K images collectively shot, btw) Not too shabby! Of course I was a paranoid freak and switched out my battery 8 hours into the day, just in case.

This camera enabled me to shoot far past my previous natural light norm and I feel as if I am going to be a far better photographer for it. It is just how I see things and to be able to say- 'see? THIS is how it was' with my images is just fabulous.

yes, I'm 3

I cannot STOP taking pictures of my kids! Today is all about Georgie. She is the most visually crazy little girl I think I have ever photographed. I can't get enough of her! She had gymnastics today and they let me shoot her, which is SO awesome because normally parents are supposed to be up in the 'observation room' where I am normally texting away and catching up with photography magazines. But since getting the D3 (yes, it is ALL about the D3!!) I can't stop shooting. I feel like FINALLY things are as I see them!

So enjoy more of my girl!