people watching

Watch the teaser trailer for my upcoming documentary

2010-12-21T02:10:00.000-05:00

This is a film I shot this past September. I hope to have it completed in the next few weeks and enter it into many film festivals throughout the country (possibly the world!) next year. If all goes well, maybe it'll pop up on TV some day.

Shots from a family portait session in Hoboken

2010-10-14T00:11:00.006-04:00

Some shots from yesterday's wedding

2010-10-09T16:57:00.002-04:00

They Did It! - Matty and Bobby break the world record for longest continuous kiss

2010-09-20T21:01:00.010-04:00

Photo credit: Dena Lake

Last night Matty Daley and Bobby Canciello achieved their goal of breaking the Guinness World Record for Longest Continuous Kiss. The record was last set last year by a couple in Germany at 32 hours, 7 minutes and 14 seconds. Matty and Bobby, the first homosexual pair to ever attempt the record, kissed continuously without separating lips or even sitting down (the rules wouldn't allow it) for a total of 32 and a half hours exactly.

Most amazingly of all, the entire event was broadcast live via webcam on uStream.tv, where thousands upon thousands of supporters from all across the globe showed their love and support in the stream's chat room. Some told us they cancelled their plans for the day or skipped work just to continue watching Matty and Bobby make history at The College of New Jersey campus. The two were surrounded by friends and family who tended to their every need -- feeding them juice and water through a straw at regular intervals, holding up a fan to cool them down, talking to fans on the uStream channel and collecting donations from spectators for the Trevor Project, a suicide hotline for gay and lesbian youth.

Through the miracles of technology, Bobby and Matty were able to communicate with their fans on Twitter and Facebook via texting while they held their kiss. Meanwhile the story spread like wildfire throughout the online gay community and was picked up by The Advocate and Out in New Jersey Magazine, making the front page of their websites. Celebrities such as Hal Sparks and gay House Representative Jared Polis tweeted about the event to their fans, dubbing it "The Kiss Heard Around the World." Today the story was mentioned on CNN, and perezhilton.com. Though we tried our hardest to get the attention of major gay activist celebrities such as Lady Gaga and Ellen Degeneres, our tweets and emails went unacknowledged. Matty did receive an email from someone claiming to be Gaga's stylist, mentioning that she's been told about the story but she has yet to say anything about it. We are sure she will acknowledge the event, but she is currently busy rallying to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell. News 12 New Jersey said they would show up but never did, however reporters from Out In New Jersey Magazine were present and asked Matty and Bobby some questions after the event for their October issue cover story. We are hoping that more media attention will follow this, and expect to see the record-breakers appear on Ellen or Oprah soon, though this is just speculation and wishful thinking from us.

The story made perezhilton.com today, and so did my face there on the bottom!

I say "us" because I was there live to film the event for an upcoming documentary. The process for breaking a record is a bit more complicated than most realize, and actually flying a Guinness representative in costs about $4000 from what Matty told me, so the alternative is to have designated witnesses to watch the entire event and then fill out paperwork confirming that they followed all the rules. Because I was planning to stay the entire time to film the event, they had me be one of the official witnesses. In between filming, I got to know Matty and Bobby's friends and family who were there to help, and had a wonderful time with all of them. Our only source of entertainment was the uStream chat, where dedicated viewers quickly learned all of our names and rejoiced when their favorite "host" came back on camera to chat with them. The original stream hit over 100,000 unique viewers, but other streams were set up by fans to get around uStream's server limitations, so the amount of viewers who actually saw the event is incalculable. Several have since posted clips on youtube taken from the stream, and Perez Hilton linked the entire last recording segment (we recorded the webcam while broadcasting, but in chunks). Watch it here, and skip to the 41 minute mark to catch the emotional finale.

Lastly, I want to thank everyone that participated in the event and supported us online and in person. It meant so much to Matty and Bobby, and the helpers like me were flattered and amused by the love you guys showed for us in the chat room. We are truly in your debt for making this event an international moment and not just a local passing news story. I will update you on the progress of the upcoming documentary I am making of the event, entitled Our Lips Are Sealed (after Matty and Bobby's campaign name) on my Shoot The Freak blog. In the meantime if you have questions about the logistics of the event itself, many of them are answered on the campaign's official website.

"Advocate love baby! Advocate love!"

- John (a.k.a. Red Shoes Guy)

Away this weekend to shoot a new project

2010-09-17T20:24:00.003-04:00

Tomorrow, September 18th, 2010 two gay students from TCNJ are going to try and break the world record for longest continuous kiss. The current record is set at 32 hours and 7 minutes by a hetero couple in Germany. The record has never been attempted by two men or two women before, nor has it been held in the US since 2001. Matty and Bobby hope to change that tomorrow morning at 10AM at The College of New Jersey campus in Ewing, NJ. The rules state they must remain standing, never break lip contact, nor be supported or held up by anyone or anything for the entire time. The two have come up with a clever sign language to communicate to each other when problems arise, and have been preparing physically for the event for several weeks.

I’ll be there filming the event for a new Shoot the Freak short documentary film entitled Our Lips Are Sealed, named after their campaign. Shoot the Freak is the name of a new organization I have just started with other talented and creative friends. Our goal is simply to work together to make great films and other works.

I’ll be bringing a friend, Katie Sutton, with me to help with the filming and we plan to stay there as long as the kiss goes on, which will likely mean camping out overnight on the grass of TCNJ.

You can show your support for the event and the project by telling anyone you know who may be interested. Also, you can watch the whole event live via a UStream channel the guys set up at http://mattyandbobbykiss.tripod.com/the-kiss-live.html

Hey I'm a Juggler!

2010-08-26T23:28:00.001-04:00

The next few months will be some rough ones. I will be simultaneously starting my last year of college, trying to turn 30 hours of my amazing trip into a watchable film, and running the regular photography business. It'll be a challenge, but I've never been one to say no to a challenge.

Before the year is up, I hope to establish my new side project, Shoot The Freak Films. StF is sort of a dream project of mine. I can't make my films alone, but I have many talented friends who can make great music, or draw or animate or edit or all sorts of things. StF will not be a tangible entity, but a coalition of young and talented people with one goal: to make great films.
However, films don't pay the bills, so of course I'll still be shooting events the entire time.

But no, I will not film your wedding or party. Not yet anyway. My equipment is not professional enough for me to be okay with charging people for that. For now filmmaking is just a hobby and a passion, but I will gladly be your photographer =P

Photography moves to the backburner as I try to make my first documentary

2010-07-05T19:40:00.000-04:00

My bags are packed. I hope five pairs of underwear is enough. In just eight days I'll be embarking on a month-long journey with about twenty other people I barely know. Many people have studied abroad, but few like this.

From July 13th to August 14th, I'll be travelling by van through six states in the American Northwest. Led by an experienced natural science professor who's been taking students on this trip for over twenty years, we'll be touring through the greatest natural landmarks the area has to offer including Mt. Rainier, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Crater Lake, Mt. St Helens, and the Grand Tetons just to name a few. It'll be the longest time I've ever been away from home, and I'm sure it'll be a life-altering experience.

So why not film it? For the last several weeks I've been preparing in all kinds of ways to make a documentary of this trip, and particularly the people involved. I've never made a documentary. In fact, ironically I'll be taking an intro to documentary film making course this fall semester immediately after returning from the trip. But I've been teaching myself on my own time, studying films and reading books about documentary structure and storytelling and I think I can do it.

With barely any real knowledge of the experience that lies ahead, I don't really know what kind of movie I'll come back with, or even if there will be a story worth telling at all. I'm mostly interested in documenting how a trip like this affects the people involved, myself excluded. This isn't gonna be a Michael Moore or Supersize Me type film and I'm not interested in being in front of the camera for this one. Instead I want to be an observer as friendships, cliques and other interactions develop among the trip-goers. Will there be arguments? Fights? Danger? Jealousy? Relationships? I sure hope so. If not, there may still be some Kodak moments in the stories told around the campfires, or in the phone calls to friends and family back home. Heck, this may even turn into an environmental film.

As you can tell, I know very little about what lies ahead, but I'm going to try my best to make a movie worth watching. Never know. It could be my big break.

If you'd like to keep tabs on my experience, you can bet I'll be tweeting about it at twitter.com/johngallino
I've also spent some time mapping a rough itinerary of the trip to Google Maps which you can view here:

View American West Road Trip 2010 in a larger map

Sequel to Morning Coffee

2010-06-02T02:15:00.000-04:00

Okay, it's not really a sequel. I mean, it's a choppy video of me preparing something else in my kitchen (eggs this time), but there's no real story or anything. It's really just something I shot for fun to try out my brand new Sony HDR CX550V which I am head-over-heels in love with!

Also, there's lots of shots of my crotch. Sorry about that.

Morning Coffee 2: Eggs @ Noon from John Gallino on Vimeo.

How To Stop Shooting in 'Auto' Mode

2010-06-02T01:02:00.004-04:00

If you own a digital camera, especially a point and shoot, chances are you rarely take it out of the Automatic mode. What you may not realize is that you can take much better pictures if you control your camera's settings manually. And it's really not that hard, with a little practice! So I'm going to try to explain the very least you need to know about your camera and how exposure works so you can stop taking your pictures in 'auto' mode. In the end, you are smarter than the chip inside your camera, and if you know how to adjust the settings for a given situation, you will usually be able to take a nicer picture than your camera's 'auto' mode will give you. Understanding how the picture-taking process works will make you a better amateur photographer, and allow you to get the look you want from your pictures.

All you need is a camera that allows you to manually adjust the shutter speed and f-stop. A lot of point-and-shoot pocket sized cameras do not have this feature, but many do, so check your manual. All digital SLR's allow for manual control. If your camera has a removable lens, it is 99% likely that it is an SLR. If your camera is a relatively recent model (2 or 3 years old at most) and yet is too big to fit in your pocket, it likely allows for manual control. Again, check your manual if you're not sure.

Now, on to the good stuff...

*Now remember, I'm just skimming through this stuff so you understand the basics of shooting manually. This is the very LEAST you need to know to just get by.*

When you take a picture, there are three variables that come into play. Like planets aligning, these three variables have to combine in the right way for the picture to be properly exposed (meaning, not too dark or too light). However, there is no one perfect combination, as you'll soon discover. If you adjust one variable in one direction, you can compensate by adjusting one of the other two in the opposite direction and the result will be an equally properly exposed photograph.

The three variables are:

- ISO - How sensitive the chip in your camera is to light
- Shutter Speed - The speed at which the shutter opens and closes again to allow light to briefly pass through and hit the sensor.
- F-Stop - The size of the aperture (hole) that the light goes through when passing through the lens.

We'll start with ISO...

Don't worry about what it stands for, it doesn't matter. ISO can be adjusted on most digital cameras, even ones without manual controls. It is simply a measurement of how sensitive the sensor is to light, and it is something that is not fixed and can be adjusted in any digital camera. ISO is measured in hundreds, with the most popular minimum being ISO 100, used mostly for bright sunlight or other very bright areas. The most popular maximum is probably ISO 1600. This is much more sensitive to light, and is most suitable for dimly lit indoor shoots. You can have any range of numbers inbetween, but the most common settings in most cameras are ISO 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600 and sometimes 3200. As you may have guessed, each one is twice as sensitive (or half, if you're going the other way) as the number before it. Thus if you set your camera for ISO 200, it is twice as sensitive to light than if you set it at ISO 100. In photography, whenever something is twice/half as much as the one before it, it is called a stop. Thus, ISO 200 is one stop higher than ISO 100. ISO 800 is three stops (400, 200, 100) higher than ISO 100.

So why does this matter? Well ideally you want to use the lowest ISO possible, because it simply looks better. As you up the ISO on your camera, it is just like turning up the Gain on a guitar amplifier. As you artificially amplify the sound, you start to hear static. Well in a camera, as you artificially amplify the light levels, random specks of nastiness show up in your picture. This is called noise, and is generally something to be avoided. High ISO also tampers with sharpness, saturation, color fidelity, and the general overall quality of the image. So why not shoot in ISO 100 all the time? Because usually we don't have the luxury of being in environments that are sufficiently well-lit to allow us to do that. Sure, you CAN set the ISO to 100 while taking pictures in your living room of your christmas party, but the shutter will have to be open for much longer, leaving you with very blurry pictures as all your party guests move around in the second or two the shutter is open. Instead, you'll have to bump up the ISO to 800 or 1600 (or use a flash). The result will be a bit noisier, but at least you'll be able to distinguish faces instead of getting blurry streaks of light.

A general guidelines for ISO useage is as follows:

* ISO 100/200 - Bright, sunny outdoors
* ISO 400 - Not so sunny outdoors
* ISO 800 - Twilight or well-lit interiors
* ISO 1600/3200 - Dimly lit interiors

One minor exception worth noting. A lot of night time landscapes and city skyline shots are shot in ISO 100 or 200. Why? Because landscapes and buildings don't move, so you can put the camera on a tripod, leave the shutter open for 30 seconds or whatever it takes and you get a nicely exposed night time image with none of the noise caused by high ISO's.

Shutter Speed

Shutter speed is pretty simple. It determines the amount of time that light is allowed to hit the sensor. When you take a picture, the shutter in your camera opens for a fraction of a second to let the light through, and immediately shuts again. The length of time the shutter is open determines whether you "freeze" the action in an image or "show motion" by allowing some blur. Your camera may have shutter speed options like 60, 125, or 500, but what this really mean is 1/60th of a second, 1/125th of a second, and 1/500th of a second. They just nix the fraction notation to save space and simplify things. If you see something like 1" or 2", that means one full second or two full seconds. Remember there's a big difference between setting your shutter speed to 10 and setting it to 10".

Unless you have something specific in mind, you should try not to shoot at anything slower than 1/60th of a second. Anything slower than that, and you'll likely get camera shake which is sort of self explanatory. Your picture will be blurry not because your subject moved, but because you couldn't hold the camera steady in the time the shutter was open. Holding the camera steady at speeds like 1/30 or 1/15 is possible, but not easy. Don't risk it if you don't have to.

A good rule of thumb is to keep your shutter speed at 1/x, where x is the focal length of your lens. If you're shooting with an SLR camera, you'll notice the lens has numbers on top that can range anywhere from 18 to 70 millimeters (and much more, but this is most common). This is called the focal length and is a much better way of determining the magnificiation of a lens than the arbitrary 3X or 10X measurement that the beginner cameras flaunt. So for example, if you're shooting at a magnification of 100mm, you shouldn't shoot at a shutter speed slower than 1/100th of a second. Any slower could cause camera shake in your picture. If you don't have an SLR, and you don't understand any of this paragraph, ignore it. It's not vital.

Any sport action shots you see where an athlete or a ball is suspended in mid air was shot with a high shutter speed of probably 1/500 or faster.
Any shots you see where the headlights of cars seem to form a path down a road were likely shot with a slow shutter speed of one full second or more.

Aperture

The word aperture just means 'hole'. In the photography universe, it refers to the hole in the lens that allows light to pass through. However, the size of the hole is measured in something called f-stops. This is where it gets a little confusing, because the smaller the f-stop, the larger the hole. Like ISO, f-stops are generally used in increments of one stop, but the pattern is something you have to memorize.

f/1.4
f/2
f/2.8
f/4
f/5.6
f/8
f/11
f/16
f/22
f/32

Unless my memory has failed me, each of those allows twice as much light as the number that follows. Thus f/2.8 allows twice as much light through than f/4. And f/11 allows half the light that f/8 would. Like I said, the smaller the number, the larger the hole. So f/1.8 is a very wide open aperture and allows a ton of light through the lens (thus allowing you to shoot at a faster shutter speed, a lower ISO, or both). f/32 is slightly larger than a pinhole.

But for every benefit, there is a consequence. In the case of adjusting aperture, we are adjusting depth of field. Depth of field refers to the range of distance within the picture that is in focus. Imagine you are taking a picture of a boy standing by the Hudson River, with the New York skyline behind him in the distance. You focus on the boys eyes (as you always should in portraits).

If you shoot this picture at f/4, the boys entire face will likely be in focus, New York will be a vague but distinguishable blur.
If you shoot this picture at f/16, not only will the boy be in focus, but so will the skyline several hundred feet behind him. This is called deep or sharp depth of field.
If you shoot this picture at f/1.8, his eyes may be in focus, but his nose and ears, because they are slightly behind and slightly in front of his eyes, won't be. The background will probably be a grey and blue blob of building and sky. This would be called shallow depth of field.

As the size of your aperture gets smaller, you allow greater distance to be in focus, which may or may not be what you're looking for. Sports photographs and portraits often use very shallow depth of field to isolate the subject from a distracting background. On the other hand, many landscape photographers use high f-stop numbers like f/16 or f/22 to ensure that every aspect of their landscape, near and far, is in sharp focus. It all depends on what look you are trying to achieve.

Putting it all together

Like I said, these three variables have to be in perfect balance to achieve a picture that isn't too dark or too light. So if you are shooting a portrait of your dog on a bright sunny day with the aperture "wide open" at f/2, you'll have to lower the ISO probably down as low as your camera can go, and ramp up the shutter speed to avoid getting a picture that is too bright. Conversely if you're shooting a dimly lit wedding ceremony, you'll have to have your ISO at least at 800, and your aperture as wide as it goes to allow your shutter speed to be at a reasonable setting where you can still freeze action.

However, remember that there is more than one way to expose every picture. Shooting at 1/60th of a second, you may get a perfect exposure at ISO 400 at f/5.6. But if you wanted a little less depth of field, you could lower the f-stop to f/2 (which would be two stops) and raise the ISO by two stops to ISO 1600. As long as you keep the three variables in balance, you will get a properly exposed image.

*I later realized after reading this over, that there's a mistake in that last paragraph. However, I won't tell you what it is. See if you can figure it out yourself, and you'll know you have a pretty good understanding of the dynamics of photo exposure.

The best way to get the hang of this is to practice. And if you don't feel like practicing with your camera at home, I can reccomend a great site that will allow you to see exactly how everything I just talked about affects a picture. Check out the SimCam to test out the effects of aperture and shutter speed for yourself.

http://www.photonhead.com/simcam/

Thanks for reading, and I hope this will help you to better understand how to handle your camera. Don't let the 'auto' mode do the thinking for you!

Watch my non-award winning film too!

2010-05-02T10:38:00.003-04:00

This one got into the film festival, but didn't win anything. Many people seem to like it though, and it's only 2 or 3 minutes.

View my award-winning short film!

2010-05-01T13:17:00.001-04:00

As you may not know, photography is my passion, but film making is my dream. I am a film major in school and aspire to move out to Los Angeles in the near future to try and break into the business. I recently finished my first major short film, which I wrote, cast, directed and edited. My film made it into the very selective Media Collision film festival at Ramapo College, after being judged by an impartial jury of New York City film makers with no association to the college. To top it off, after the event I was presented with the Achievement In Writing award for the script to the following film, Minor Transaction. The jury included the following comment...

"F***ing hysterical. This film truly commited to its outrageous premise and brought a sense of realness to a ridiculous situation, without going overboard. The revelations came at just the right moments, and the jokes felt organic rather than forced on the story. Not for everyone, but a difficult and complex tone handled nicely in the writing."

I have the film available for anyone to watch on vimeo.com, or right here below. Like the review said, it is not for everyone and may offend some audiences. I don't think it's a great film, but I'm amazed simply by the fact that a funny idea I had a year ago is now a real-life viewable film. I hope you enjoy it.

I'm still around, you know

2010-03-28T13:18:00.000-04:00

Despite not posting anything on here for a few months, I'm still very much alive and walking the earth. It just so happens that lately very little I've been doing has to do with wedding photography. I'm finishing up my Junior year at college, whilst planning and organizing a short film that I'm shooting in a week. If you haven't been following my tweets and such, or are just seeing this blog for the first time, I've also been interning at CNBC this semester, which has taken up a good bulk of time as well. Winter in general is a slow season for this business, and mostly used as a chance to rev your engines in preparation for the coming spring. However, if for some reason you're interested in my day to day life, as always I invite you to follow my twitter feed or check out my personal tumblr blog, where I post a ton of neat things I find on the internet. It's a great place to kill some time while you're at work. The links are over on the left there. Mahalo!

A 2008 Backyard wedding

2010-01-14T14:28:00.003-05:00

Shot these at a quaint and pleasant backyard wedding in Fall of 2008, and just came across them again while looking at some old files. Thought I’d share…

Backyard wedding on my tumblr.com blog

Let's talk this month

2010-01-02T23:04:00.000-05:00

Any time between now and January 19th is a great time to meet with me to discuss your wedding or any other event you might be planning. It's also a convenient time to book for last minute events. If you have something going on in a few days and need a last-minute photographer, be sure to give me a call. Contact information can be found on johngallino.com. Happy new year!

A month to progress and tumble

2009-12-19T23:54:00.002-05:00

The semester is over, which means I have one wintery month ahead of me to dedicate to expanding my business, creating and seeking new opportunities, and improving my life in general. This will include, as usual, refining the website, possibly doing extra advertising, networking with colleagues, and coming up with new products and exciting ways to present them to customers. I worked a good amount this past year, but next year is looking slim so I'd like to book some more jobs ASAP. Especially because I'll be interning at CNBC starting late January, and won't be able to hold a paying day job during the week for five or six months. Weekends will be my most available time of the week, which is perfect for shooting jobs or meeting clients.

I always debate with myself whether it's better to expose myself transparently to my client base, or put on a professional front. I do twitter, but I admittedly self-censor a bit and try to keep it free of foul language or risque content in general. However, I've found that many photographers and artists find success in exposing the public to their full personality and being, not just their work. Perhaps it's part of these new post-modernist times. Well anyways, for those interested, I invite you to subscribe to my personal Tumblr blog. Tumblr is a relative new-comer in a world of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and the like. It's a blog site basically, but allows one to easily post text, links, quotes, pictures, video, and audio through a very simple intuitive interface. It all comes together on the blog itself as a sort of multimedia regurgitation of an individual's online habits. You can even combine it with facebook and your twitter posts. If you ask me, it still has a way to go design-wise, but it's a wonderful concept and well-suited to people like myself who not only constantly look for new and interesting videos, links, pictures, stories, etc on the internet but are compelled to share them with others.
This blog will continue to be used for official news and updates regarding my business and website, while the Tumblr blog is where I will post whatever I like, wedding-related or not. Hope you enjoy. =]

Real men tweet. (and a plug for Swoon) (and I bought a lensbaby)

2009-11-24T11:40:00.003-05:00

I rarely have the time or energy lately to write long blog posts, but I tweet at least once day. If you follow me, not only will you get the latest updates to my life in photography, but I also often post links to all sorts of things because I happen to be a bit of a web geek. Check out my twitter feed at twitter.com/johngallino

Speaking of, I recently was contacted by Giovanna Fabiano, journalist for the Bergen Record and creator of a great new wedding blog called Swoon Online, where you can find all sorts of interesting wedding related features, including many of my photographic competitors (yeah just skip all those posts) and lots of other off-beat weird stuff. I intend to submit some of my work to her soon for her to post, but I'm waiting until I have a more unusual, nontraditional event to show off. You can check out Swoon at swoononline.blogspot.com and you can follow Swoon on twitter as well at twitter.com/swoononline.

Lastly, I finally gave in and bought a Lensbaby. For the uninitiated, Lensbaby makes a series of unusual creative lenses with a 'sweet spot' of selective focus that you can move around by bending and twisting the lens like an accordion. It's a bit of a toy and a gimmick, but many professionals, especially in the wedding business, have taken a liking to the creative breath of fresh air something like this offers. I'm hoping it will expand my creative horizons a bit and lend a refreshing modern style to my work. After all, I have to impress Giovanna...

If at first you don't succeed...

2009-10-28T00:12:00.012-04:00

As you may or may not know, I've been experimenting with changing some things with my business for the past two months. I tried taking the site towards a sort of gritty, urban look, but to my naive dismay I realized that it was a bit of a turn off to engaged ladies looking for a wedding photographer! Despite getting more hits than ever, emails have all but come to a stop.
So I'm tweaking some things, and with the help of Google Analytics, trying to get a feel for what people like and don't like, with the chance of booking more jobs for next year. Not just weddings, but anything. Previous customers of mine know I'm very reasonable with prices, especially if I have little experience in the genre.
Some new equipment and a second look at some old habits is allowing me to get better color fidelity in my photographs than ever before, so I am anxious to put this new potential to use.
Apparently I am getting a bit of buzz from The Knot from some of my recent happy customers! Keep it coming Knotties! and email me if you have any questions!
The question of albums is a difficult one. Obviously there is high demand for a photographer that offers albums, and I am getting the impression that even brides who aren't looking for an album are still put off by a photographer who doesn't offer them. I am still seeing if I can get away without offering albums up front, but as it says on my newly-updated FAQ page, if you really really want an album, let's talk in person and we'll negotiate. To me, the benefit of not offering them is that every wedding job I do is the same amount of work, and thus lets me budget my time more easily because there are fewer variables. But of course there comes a point where making money is more important than saving myself some time for a vacation!
The website will surely continue to change in the next few weeks as I try anything I can to get those emails and phone calls up to where they were this time last year. Maybe its the economy or other factors I'm unaware of, but I have a tendency to blame myself when things like this happen.

In lighter news, here's a couple quick snapshots I took of a beautiful Thank You note (featuring my photos!) I received from Jennifer and Shawn this week. They're a great looking couple and are currently the featured wedding on the front page of my portfolio! Thanks guys!

You kids these days with your Twitter

2009-08-17T14:46:00.004-04:00

Twitter! Everybody's doing it! Don't ask me why, but hell I made one too. Well I made a new twitter account today because somebody convinced me it was a good form of advertising.My last twitter account went almost completely unused, but this time I'M SERIOUS.
So yeah, I invite you to follow my inane posts, and I'll try to keep it somewhat relevant to the interests of engaged folk now and then. No promises.

A Brief Review of Seasons Catering in Washington Township

2009-08-15T01:15:00.004-04:00

Seasons is located in Washington Township, right off of exit 168 on the Garden State Parkway. I just shot a reception there with about 180 guests and there was more than enough space for everybody. Like all places, Seasons has its strengths and its weaknesses. Its interiors are lovely, well designed with adequate lighting, space, and modern furnishings. Nothing about it was aesthetically displeasing.
However (and this may be a big however), its exteriors are seriously lacking. To their credit, they did the best with what they had, while most of their property is taken up by the parking for the 400 guests (more on that later) they decorated the few spots they had left with lovely gardens and waterfalls. Lovely, but small.
Every bride wants a sunny day on her wedding, but if you're taking posed shots at Seasons, you better hope a big cloud comes rolling by. Unfortunately the little gardens set up for posed shots at Seasons offer no shade at all until well into the evening, leaving your posed shots full of squinting faces and ugly, harsh shadows if the sun is overhead. Those beautiful outdoor shots on the Seasons website? All shot on cloudy days, or at night, because direct sunlight immediately ruins their outdoor shots.
Seasons is known for its catering. At the wedding I attended today, the cocktail hour was extravagant, featuring nearly anything I've ever seen offered at a cocktail hour, and the dinner was delicious. Simply put, they have a reputation for their emphasis on their food, and that's a big plus.
Now here's what they don't want you to know...Seasons will likely double book your wedding day. They have two banquet rooms, on two floors, and they book them both. What I didn't like, however, is that they almost try to keep this a secret from the two brides.
Allow me to rant for a minute. Seasons is known among vendors for running a VERY tight ship. You'll see several guys in black suits walking around the place with earpieces, walkie talkies, and occasionally talking into a microphone on their wrist (seriously). I mean, they're professional, they keep things on time and under control. Great. But I get the feeling they take their job a little too seriously, and today I was heavily reprimanded for not sticking to their rules. You see, their biggest concern is that the two brides cross paths. When I arrived, the Maître d' requested that I tell him if I was to take the bride and groom outside during the reception, and admittedly I forgot completely. I went ahead and did a few more shots in their gardens while the guests were dancing, and when I was finished up I was told the Maître d' wanted to have a word with me. "I thought I made it very clear that you were not to take the bride and groom outside without alerting me." I confessed that I forgot and apologized, but that didn't stop him from trying to intimidate me with a few stern looks and subtle threats. Simply put, the Seasons staff doesn't fuck around. Whether that's a plus or a turn-off is up to you.
Anyways. Aside from that incident, the staff was pretty helpful. They kept everybody on time, positioned people for pictures, fanned out the brides dress, told everybody where to stand during the introductions, etc. As far as competence is concerned, I gotta give it to them.
So, to recap: the interiors are great, the outdoors kinda suck, the food is terrific, the staff is very competent and almost militant in their organization and have a bit of a reputation for treating vendors like crap, and they WILL double book your wedding day if they can. But yeah, generally I would recommend it.

Today's wedding entertainment was provided by Paul Knox and his assistant, Chris, from DTM productions and they were damn good, and that's why I'm mentioning them. Paul is one of the better MC's I've ever heard.

If you found this review helpful, or you have a personal story to tell about this place, please leave a comment!

This month's issue of Baking Buyer - I shot the boss!

2009-08-04T11:55:00.011-04:00

No, it's not Bruce. A few days before leaving for my trip, I received a phone call from John Unrein, editor of Baking Buyer magazine. Baking Buyer is a trade magazine for bakers, bakery owners and pastry chefs. Flying in from Kansas, John needed someone available last minute to photograph in Hoboken, where he was doing a piece on TLC's newest celebrity baker and star of the hit show Cake Boss, Buddy Valastro. I spent a few hours at Carlo's Bake Shop, Buddy's bakery where Cake Boss is filmed and got to witness and document Buddy working with staff and interacting with customers, all the while TLC filmed for the second season of the show. It's the cover story in the August issue, and you can read the article below by clicking the thumbnails or check out the entire issue at www.bakingbuyer.com

Best wedding entrance ever!

2009-07-25T00:15:00.002-04:00

Caught this on facebook. In all the weddings I've been to, I've never seen anything that comes close to this. See if you can watch this without smiling!

Here we go again!

2009-07-08T17:09:00.002-04:00

On July 16th I will be leaving for my second trip to Uruguay and won't be returning until August 2nd. During that time I'm expected to have little to no internet access, and my phone will be turned off as well. Meaning if you need to contact me, do it beforehand or leave me an email and I will quickly get back to you as soon as I return. I will be in Hoboken meeting with clients on Sunday the 12th, shoot me an email if you'd like to meet with me then. If not, I'll see you in August!

Add me on facebook!

2009-06-13T15:11:00.003-04:00

I guess I'm getting with the times. Let's ignore the fact that I've had a personal facebook account for years and instead celebrate that John Gallino Event Photography now has it's own facebook page! There you can post or read reviews of my services (of which there are none yet =[ ), or post on the wall or send me a message...you know, the usual facebook stuff.

In addition, I've changed the look of the site a little bit. I get bored of a design after a few months. I think (of course) it looks better this way. But best of all, I've replaced that old introduction slideshow with a new and better one that focusses more on weddings and has less boring pictures and more OMG HOW BEAUTIFUL pictures. At least I hope that's your reaction.

The portfolio section also has a new default song. I won't give you the title here to avoid Mr. Morrison's lawyers successfully googling my copyright infringement. You'll have to go and listen yourself to find out what it is, though the old favorite plays immediately after the new song is done. I hope you like them, but I suspect you're all just muting your computers as soon as you hit my page. That's fine. I see how it is.

The Start of the Summer

2009-06-02T20:31:00.003-04:00

I'm back from my trip and ready for what lies ahead as summer comes near and I have more free time to focus on my business and career! I've started off the new season with some new recent weddings added to the portfolio section of my site, and there will be more to come in the next few weeks as I take the website to another visual level allowing for a more professional look and seamless navigation.

If you're having a wedding soon, please contact me to arrange a meeting at my office in Hoboken!

Time for a Vacation

2009-05-05T10:59:00.002-04:00

On May 12th, the day after my last final exam of the semester, I'll be boarding a plane and going on a two week trip to Uruguay to the city of Montevideo to visit family and, of course, take pictures. I'll be back on the 26th and will not be able to answer phone calls while I'm gone, so please contact me via email.

In late July, I'm actually going back to Uruguay, this time with my father to the city he grew up in, Salto. I'm especially interested in this trip because I've never been to this part of the country, though I'm not thrilled that we'll be going in the dead of the Uruguayan winter. Nevertheless, it should be an interesting experience.

I've visited Montevideo before, and took many pictures the last time I was there. Check out the Uruguay section in my portfolio.

A Brief Review of The Manor in West Orange, NJ

2009-04-26T10:39:00.004-04:00

I gotta say I was very impressed with The Manor last night. The place is big, inside and out, but the banquet room I was in was best suited for around 120 guests at most. I know there are other rooms, but I'm not sure which is the biggest. Outside, The Manor's grounds feature beautiful gardens, tulip-lined brick pathways, a gazebo, a fountain, a very nice area for outdoor ceremonies, patio areas for your guests to relax, the works, but beware that the place often has more than one event going on at a time, so you may need to share the space with another bride. Once inside, the guests had to walk downstairs to the basement level for the wedding I attended, but both the cocktail room and main room are designed well enough that you forget you have no real windows. The place is a restaurant that boasts "Fine Dining" right under its logo, so I was happy that the food did not disappoint. The room is quite narrow and long, with the band and dance floor at one end and the sweetheart table at the opposite end on a slightly higher level, overlooking the guests below. It's not a very traditional layout, but it seemed to work well. Entertainment was provided by the very talented Good Times Band, who kept the dance floor full despite their distance from the guests. Boy, can that Cathy sing! I would not hesitate to reccomend The Manor to anyone looking to have a traditional, elegant spring wedding in north Jersey.

If you found this review helpful, or you have a personal story to tell about this place, please leave a comment!

Top 5 Things to Look Out for in Choosing a Photographer

2009-03-27T23:24:00.011-04:00

There are literally thousands of aspiring photographers out there who call themselves "professional" only because they found a few shmucks willing to pay them to take pictures. Only a small percentage of these, however, truly have the skills needed to competently shoot an event or portrait session. The following 5 reasons will let you know what to avoid when choosing a photographer.

(Disclaimer: I stole the following images from other photographers, which is admittedly quite rude and wrong of me. But for what it's worth, most are from Nebraska, so it's not like we're in direct competition)

1. No Post Production

Some old-schoolers may not agree with this, but what you do in the digital darkroom after you take the picture counts just as much as what you do when the camera is in your hands. Capturing the image is only half the battle, and until you've done some work in post to get the best possible quality out of the image, your work is only halfway done. Now, that's not to say that you can compensate for a poor picture with hours of photoshop work (though God knows I've tried!) but even the best picture can be made better with some basic adjustments of color, contrast, sharpening, noise reduction, etc. The truth is many low-budget photographers are self-taught and never really learned how to color-correct their images. Look out for things like "Great photography at a great price!" That may be code for "I don't really know what I'm doing!"

2. Dated Vision
Art moves fast and changing trends are hard to keep up with, especially when you've been shooting the same way for 20 or 30 years. Many older photographers suffer from being behind the times, and oftentimes their portfolio work will reflect that. Stiff poses, forced smiles, cheesy effects, a family of four all gazing at something very interesting off to the right of the frame. A photographer who is experienced is great, but you also want to make sure you hire someone who has a modern vision and doesn't resort to cheesy or dated ideas.

3. Being smart, but blind
A lot of photographers out there sometimes forget that photography is first and foremost a visual art. Perhaps they get too caught up with the mathematics of watt-seconds and f/stops and start to forget the first rule (or at least my first rule) of photography: If it looks good, it is good. A bad picture is still bad no matter how perfectly exposed the faces are, or how much time you spent taking a white balance reading, or lining up your subjects according to the Rule of Thirds. Yes, this all somewhat important, but the result is much more important than the rules. Sometimes you have to forget the rules and just take a picture that looks good.

4. Poor People skills
Many profesional photographers are very technically competent, but event photography is not just about photography. It's about the event, and the people involved. The photographer will usually come into contact with the guests at a wedding far more than the band, DJ, video guy, pastor, or anyone else not on the guest list. People skills are paramount, and an event photographer has to be able to talk to people, keep the mood light, and make those annoying posed pictures slightly more bearable. Before you hire someone make sure you get a general feeling of their personality, whether by meeting them personally, talking to them on the phone, or reading their blog (ahem.) You don't want someone who is demanding, easily frustrated, or rude to your guests.

5. No Consideration

This one ties into number 4. The last thing you want on your wedding day is to have a photographer pulling you away from your wedding so he can enhance his portfolio at your expense. Of course, some time has to be sacrficed if you want a lot of posed pictures with friends and family or several romantic pictures with you and your new spouse. However, a courteous photographer should understand that it's your wedding, hopefully the only one you ever have, and it would be nice if you could be there for it! Many people believe the cocktail hour is the heart of the wedding. Cooincidentally, it's also a favorite time for photographers to take posed shots. If the cocktail hour is something you don't want to miss, be sure to speak with your photographer beforehand about keeping posed shots brief so you can get back to enjoying your day.

Pics from the Lou Cimaglia Benefit Concert

2009-03-08T21:41:00.005-04:00

In November of last year, Lou Cimaglia was involved in a nearly fatal car wreck that put him in a coma all the way up till last week or so. He's still in very serious but seemingly stable condition. I didn't know Lou personally, but a mutual friend of ours and experienced dancer, Brielle Crowe organized a benefit concert in his hometown high school in Vernon, NJ. I was happy to shoot the event for her so she could add the pictures to a scrapbook that will be given to Lou as soon as he's healthy enough to enjoy it. The benefit featured a few dozen dancers that Brielle knows well from her experience in the Dance Expression Company, and a medley of different styles ranging from hip hop to ballet. Featuring music by Coldplay, Regina Spektor, Metallica, Celine Dion, Jewel, and other songs borrowed from Broadway musicals, Brielle and co. managed to put on an amazing show that managed to raise $4000 for the Lou Cimaglia Healing Fund.

Take a look at my pictures from the event here

Find out more about Lou here

Graphi Package is now available

2009-03-02T17:57:00.004-05:00

The Graphi wedding book is a truly beautiful album, and really has to be seen in person. Nevertheless, I whipped up a sloppy website for it in a spare afternoon today, and have set a price. You can view the details on my Services page. I am also looking into Leather Craftsmen albums, which may be available by the end of this month.

Inauguration day photos are up!

2009-02-06T02:04:00.005-05:00

You can view the photos from the trip in my portfolio, under Travels.

It's a pretty good story actually. My old boss, Steve convinced me to skip the first day of classes at school and drive down to DC for this once-in-a-lifetime event. Saturday night, January 17th I call up my buddy Erik and tell him the plan. "Fuck school?" he says "...I never thought of that. Yeah fuck school. Let's go."
A few short hours later and the hotel room was booked. Some chain called ExtendedStay in Chantilly, Virginia. The closest room we could get, at the cheapest price. Erik calls up our friend Sean, and he's in too. Monday night we head out.
Traffic was remarkably fine. Just like any other day. We marveled at how Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia all look just like New Jersey. The whole east coast is boring and monotonous. Five hours later and we were in Chantilly.

We arrive at the ExtendedStay hotel. Looks like a nice place, but they don't have my name on the list.
"Did you book at ExtendedStay Deluxe or ExtendedStay American?"
"um, American I think"
"This is Deluxe. American is a few blocks away"

Don't ask me why the same small town has two ExtendedStay hotels. Stupid Virginia.
We pull up to the other hotel and walk through the doors. To the right is the lobby desk. A man stands behind bullet proof glass. He's dark haired, moustached with an eye patch and an angry look on his face. I shit you not.
Not only that, he booked my room wrong. We asked for a two bed room and he only has a one bed room. Great.
I brought in the sleeping bag I keep in my trunk and volunteered to sleep on the floor. I slept maybe two or three hours at most.
We wake up at 6 AM. I turn on the TV and the news stations say the National Mall has been filling up since 5AM and several train stations have no more space for parking. We rush to get out and drive a half hour to the Vienna station, the end of the Orange line that takes you right into the heart of Washington DC.
Things are still going so smoothly. We get to the station quick, find a parking spot without much trouble. It's free today. We're on a train headed to DC in no time. It's a bit past 7:00.
You might think trains have no traffic. They just ride the rails. Well, you'd be wrong. The train stopped completely several times and the conductor announced on the loudspeaker that the rails were blocked up. There's enormous crowds and trains are waiting in line to stop at the stations.
In only two or three stops, our train was filled to capacity. The conductor had to tell people on the following stops that the train was full, and they'd have to wait for another one. We were on the train for two hours.
Around 9 AM we finally hop out at one of the stops far from the National Mall, figuring we'll make more progress by walking. We get out to street level and start following the sea of crowds headed south. I've never seen so many people in my life, and I probably never will again. Both in front and behind me there are people as far as the eye can see, all walking in one direction. It's absolutely incredible. All ages and races. Some have signs, and many come in large groups of friends and family, waving banners and flags and wearing Obama hats and scarves. It's extremely cold.
We didn't have a prayer of getting within sight of the Capitol, where Obama was being Inaugurated. Instead we wound up by the Washington Monument, nearly a mile and half west of Obama's location, watching the ceremony on one of several large jumbotrons set up for the occasion. There we were, a million people, staring silent at the screens while the new president gave his speech. Applauds came in waves, as the further you were from the Capitol, the more delayed the broadcast on the Jumbotrons was. Our crowd booed when Bush came on screen. A few seconds later, distant boos were heard behind us.
As much as I'm a supporter, as soon as Obama was sworn-in, our thus-far smooth trip stopped going so smoothly. At the end of the ceremony, a mass exodus began. Imagine nearly 1.5 million people trying to get the hell out of Washington DC. The parade wasn't starting for another two hours, but I later learned that only around 100,000 people stayed to see it. It was just too damn cold.
The military funneled us northwards, blocking off any east-west streets. We had no choice but to slowly walk among a river of people. We had full intention of staying for the parade, but decided it was too cold, we were too tired. We wanted to go home.
Tough luck. When we got to a train station that wasn't shut down by the military, it was absolutely swarmed with people. Easily over two hundred people stood outside the station above ground, wrapping around the block, waiting to get on a train. My car was parked at Vienna station, a train was my only option. Busses weren't doing shit. Taxi cabs were impossible to hail.

We were trapped in Washington DC.

I walked up to a cop standing outside the station.
"Excuse me um....how do I get out of this city?"
He laughed. "I dont know man. I'm sure all the stations are like this. You could try walking over the Key bridge into Virginia. There's a station in Rosslyn."

Holy shit. That was a three mile walk, and it was still around 19 degrees out. But what choice did we have? We decided to hoof it and walk northwest through DC, over the Francis Scott Key bridge, through Georgetown (which is a beautiful town by the way), and into Rosslyn, Virginia where we found the train station, took the longest, steepest, most disorienting escalator I've ever been on, and hopped on a train. Unfortunately it was the wrong one, and it took us deeper into DC. No use getting angry. We sighed, took another one and got back to Vienna station a while later. It was around 5:30, nearly 24 hours exactly from when we started the trip.
The drive home was equally smooth. A little more traffic than coming in, but still not too bad. We got home around midnight, certain that the trip was completely worth it.

Tyson Trish and Mike Kelly follow the NJ Nat. Guard in Iraq

2008-12-08T17:42:00.004-05:00

A few weeks ago I did an interview with The Record photojournalist Tyson Trish. At the time, in addition to his regular daily photo assignments, Tyson was working on a project with reporter Mike Kelly documenting the lives of New Jersey National Guard soldiers from the beginning of their training in Pennsylvania and Texas all the way to present day, where they are serving their tours of duty in Iraq. Trish and Kelly left on December 1st and are staying for two weeks. You can read Kelly's interesting articles coupled with Trish's photography in their blog, Dispatches From Iraq.

Watch Kelly and Trish explain their objective with this project:

Holiday Shopping for Cameras

2008-11-29T03:19:00.004-05:00

There are few photography websites that have taught me as much as that of Ken Rockwell's. His articles make everything easy to understand, and they're educational yet fun to read.

Luckily for you, he also puts together a holiday shopping guide every year, with his top picks for the best cameras to buy in whatever price range you're looking for. So if you need some help picking out a camera for your brother or mom or nephew, I highly recommend you look through his Recommended Cameras article.

PS. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to read about the iPod Touch. Ken argues that this is a great gift for practically anyone, and having owned one for the past month, I'd have to whole-heartedly agree. If you're within range of a few wi-fi hotspots (and who isnt?) it's the next best thing to a laptop. A steal starting at only $220.

A Photographer's Review of the Avenue in Long Branch, NJ

2008-11-29T02:40:00.005-05:00

Avenue in Long Branch, NJ is a great place to have a wedding if you're looking for something less than traditional. As you may tell from the site, there's Le Club, Avenue, and Avenue Nuit. I just spent a whole day at the place, but don't ask me what the hell the difference is between the three. Avenue's main floor is a restaurant by day, while it's upper floor is a "private beach club" featuring locker rooms, showers, a deck with a small outdoor pool and day beds for sunbathing. By night, this same upper floor becomes a night club with a large bar and great lighting typical of classy clubs. Apparently this place doesn't do too many weddings, and when they do, they are usually constrained to this upper floor. However, at the wedding I just attended, the couple rented out the entire building for the evening, including both their ceremony and reception.
Unfortunately, it's November, so the place was not outfitted for an indoor/outdoor party, and the lovely deck outside and boardwalk overlooking the ocean were not covered with cocktailing guests, as I imagine they would be if this were a summer affair. This particular affair had 200 guests, which was a good amount for the reception downstairs--where the restaurant-by-day was transformed into a banquet hall--but a bit too much for the ceremony on the top floor. The people at Avenue really know how to do the best with what they have, and no one seemed to mind that the couple was wed in the corner of the room, with rows of seats at 90 degree angles (see crappy diagram). I know it look awkward, but it really wasn't too bad, though they ran out of seats and several people had to stand. Fortunately it was brief, and the whole party moved downstairs to the restaurant to the enjoy the rest of the evening.
I loved the decor of the place. It's modern, classy, club-like, and yet metallic and industrial. 200 people was a bit much, but manageable in this room. I'd say 175 or 150 would be premium for this locale.
There's nothing I didn't like. The food was delicious (a rare thing, believe me), the service was exceptional, the hostesses were hot, the decor was lovely, the lighting created a great night-life environment, and the location of the place itself can't be beat. With the Jersey Shore as a backyard, and an almost movie-set row of stores and boutiques in the front, there's plenty of scenery for your photographer to take advantage of. Music this evening was provided by Daddy Pop which I wouldn't hesitate to recommend. But keep in mind that this wedding went off the beaten path on a number of occasions. There was no bridal party, no toasts, no speeches, no special dances with parents, no bouquet throwing. This couple really just wanted a brief ceremony and a great room to dance and hang out in with friend and family, without all the traditions and formalities that bore guests and sometimes bog down the whole day. If you're looking for an alternative to the traditional reception, you may want to give this place a look. And if you don't like it, at least enjoy Long Branch. It's a day trip in and of itself.

If you found this review helpful, or you have a personal story to tell about this place, please leave a comment!

Interview with a working Photojournalist

2008-11-01T16:19:00.005-04:00

One of my classes at Ramapo College is a Photojournalism class (taught by Thomas Franklin). One of the major assignments of the course is to find and interview a working photojournalist, then write a paper about the experience. I got in contact with Tyson Trish, a staff photographer for The Record in Bergen County, NJ, one of the major local papers of the state. I interviewed him for nearly an hour, and he was very helpful in answering all of my questions about the photojournalism industry. ~~I've transcribed the interview and put it up online for any who are interested to read. It's in PDF format.~~

Fake Album Covers

2008-10-27T16:27:00.002-04:00

brielle004, originally uploaded by Kanephan.

My friend Brielle from school helped me out for an assignment I had in which I had to take pictures for an album cover utilizing flash. She modeled as my folksy guitarist and we took some shots in an elevator on campus and outdoors, all using flash (though it's not always obvious).

Check out the rest by going to http://flickr.com/photos/kanephan/

Taking Most of November Off

2008-10-25T12:31:00.004-04:00

October's been a pretty busy month, and juggling school, work and a personal life has been no easy task. Considering this, I've decided to take most of November off to focus on school and getting my stuff straightened out. I have a few minor things on a couple of weekends, but overall I'll be devoting most of the month to catching up where I've fallen behind. This means I won't advertise for a while, or take any short notice jobs.

However, if you have an event in December or next year, let me know! ;)

PS I'll be going to the Halloween parade in NYC this year for the first time ever. I may snap some shots with my pocket cam (Rocky Balboa never carried an SLR). If anything good comes out of it, I'll put them up here.

Happy Halloween!

Some Autumnal shots from last year

2008-10-06T20:43:00.007-04:00

The days are getting colder and Fall is coming fast. So in celebration of the new season, I thought I'd post some autumn images I shot last year in Van Saun Park in Paramus, NJ.

(Don't mind the weird title - I truly hate flickr and have to find the most roundabout ways of doing things because of the terrible way it's designed.)

An Amazing Photo Story

2008-10-06T16:45:00.005-04:00

Link to another blog:

http://ramapophotoj.blogspot.com/2008/10/bound-to-el-norte-by-don-bartletti-la.html

Truly incredible photography, and dedication to a photojournalism assignment. So impressive I felt the need to post it here, where I never post things that aren't related to my business.

A Month of Firsts

2008-09-29T13:09:00.007-04:00

Over the past three or four weeks I've had three unusual, interesting jobs. First was the wedding of David and Penny, my first backyard wedding! David and Penny had a small quaint affair with family and friends in the backyard of a cousin's house in Hillsdale, NJ. There was no dancing, no walking down the aisle, just a quiet brunch and a brief ceremony in a casual atmosphere. It put a different spin on the weddings I'm used to, and I have to admit it was very pleasant to attend and shoot.

The following week I went over to the La Quinta Inn in Secaucus, NJ to shoot a fashion show for the Women's Conference at the Continuous Flow Christian Center in Jersey City. It was an exciting change of pace and my first fashion show. Models of all shapes and sizes displayed the latest fashions designed by their fellow church members. Despite being a fundraiser, the presentation of the event seemed very professional and I was impressed by what Jennifer Watterman, the woman behind the idea, was able to organize.

A week after that I was in Hoboken at Pier A to document my first charity event. Light the Night is an annual event hosted by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). They host several fundraising events around the country to celebrate survivors of cancer and those families affected by the disease. The event consisted of a brief ceremony followed by a 2-3 mile casual walk down the coast of the Hudson River on Sinatra Drive in Hoboken. Every walker had carried a red balloon with a light inside, while cancer survivors had white balloons. Despite the nasty weather, I'd say almost two or three hundred walkers showed up to support those affected by cancer. It was truly something I was glad to partake in and document.

New Galleries added

2008-09-17T00:46:00.005-04:00

The portfolio section of my site now features two HTML galleries. The Jersey City one I posted to this blog a few months ago, and a large collection of formal and group portraits from past events I've done. I had a client who asked to view some of my group shots to study how I arrange people and things like that so I whipped up a gallery for him and I think it'd be beneficial for other people who are considering hiring me.

A Brief Review of the Stony Hill Inn in Hackensack, NJ

2008-09-01T12:01:00.004-04:00

The Stony Hill Inn is a nice place in the south end of Hackensack right off of Route 80. Being in a somewhat urban area, this is not the place to go if you like a lot of outdoor grounds and gardens. The outside area is small, but features several nice shaded patio areas for your guests to relax in. In particular there is an easily-missed white tent covering an outdoor bar. Make sure you drag your photographer under this tent, as the white covering diffuses light beautifully and makes for very flattering pictures! Inside it features a decent room for ceremonies to be held. In the late evening the sun shines through the curtains in a way that makes the room very ethereal and interesting, but it is otherwise nothing very glamorous.
The Stony Hill is a good place for a fairly large wedding. The cocktail hour room is very big and features several seats and tables for your guests to relax. The wedding I attended housed 180 guests without issue, and it never felt too cramped.
While you and your guests are enjoying the cocktail hour, the ceremony room is being transformed. A wall is taken down and two rooms become one to comfortably accommodate a large number of guests for your reception.
Overall I have few bad things to say about the place. I particularly hate low ceilings, and though the ceilings are high in most of the reception room, it's fairly low right above the dance floor, which is where many of your guests will spend most of the reception. From the outside, the place isn't too pretty and you can see and hear the highway from the patio, which may not be the relaxing atmosphere you want for your wedding. But these are small points, and may not bother you at all, so I urge you to see this place for yourself if you're looking to have over 150 guests in the Hackensack area.

If you found this review helpful, or you have a personal story to tell about this place, please leave a comment!

A Photographer's Review of the Ramsey Golf and Country Club in Ramsey, NJ

2008-08-17T02:55:00.005-04:00

I am very familiar with the Ramsey Country Club and highly recommend it. No, I'm not being paid to say that (yet). But really, it's a nice place. Built like a small castle, it's a good fit for a medium sized wedding. The exterior of the building is gorgeous, and it has a golf course quite literally in its backyard. You can take wonderful pictures on the course, and the light here is just perfect in the late evening.
One of the best things about the Ramsey Country Club is the outdoor ceremony. Unlike some places that set up some chairs any place they fit, the RCC has a designated area for outdoor ceremonies with stone tiling and tons of shade. Even on the hottest of days, the ceremony area is usually quite cool and comfortable for your guests. Shade, if you didn't know, is also great lighting for pictures--probably the most flattering you can get outdoors. The surrounding area is very lush and green, but walking down the aisle does involve walking down two flights of stone steps.
The cocktail hour is one of the weaker points. The room gets pretty crowded, and the food is average at best. It takes place upstairs in the building.
However, when your guests come down, they'll be treated to a nice-sized room with great lighting during the day (due to that row of windows you can barely see on the bottom right side of the picture above). Jackie, the coordinator of the club, really makes the place looks great and is the best problem-solver you could wish for on a hectic wedding day.
Things I don't like: the ballroom has a low ceiling, probably about the same height as the ceiling in your house. It makes lighting the room a bit difficult for the photographers. There is a small stage inside the wall for a DJ, but it's too small for a band which usually ends up spilling onto the floor. The bride and groom have to make their great entrance by walking down stairs, rather than walking through big doors like most places. These will be small shortcomings for some brides, but a big deal to others, so this is really the kind of place you want to see for yourself. And if you're not going to take advantage of the outdoor ceremony location, it's barely worth it. That's like going to Paris with no intention of seeing the Eiffel Tower....or something like that. You get what I mean.

If you found this review helpful, or you have a personal story to tell about this place, please leave a comment!

A Photographer's Review of Castle On The Hudson in Tarrytown, NY

2008-08-17T02:08:00.004-04:00

Castle on the Hudson is located at the top of a hill in Tarrytown, NY overlooking the Hudson River (duh).
Looks nice, eh? Well I'm sorry to say I thought this place sucked. It's primarily a hotel, not a reception hall, so it didn't seem like weddings were their first priority while I was there.
First of all, please realize that this place is best for under 100 guests. I just did a wedding today with 170 guests in that place, and let me tell you it was just WAY too packed.
The ceremony was outside, and I was really shocked that they set up the chairs and even a platform for the alter on slanted ground. Who the hell does that? If you're going to have a beautiful castle with nice grounds, you should definitely designate an area of flat ground for outdoor ceremonies. And if it's not flat, hire some landscapers and make it flat! It just looks careless otherwise.
The unique thing about this place--and mind you 'unique' does not mean smart--is that the reception takes place in two rooms. The main floor features a nice, but small room which is used for dinner and probably indoor ceremonies. Then there's another room of about the same size downstairs which is used for the cocktail hour and the party after dinner. So your guests go downstairs for the cocktail hour, then come upstairs for a quiet dinner with no music and then go back downstairs to party the rest of the night.
However when I first saw the dining room, I made the I Love Lucy "eughhh!" face. You see, with 170 guests, the dining room was filled with as many tables as it could take and maneuvering around them was hell for the photographers, videographers, and wait staff alike. But with the stone walls, painted glass windows and theatrical lighting, it's a nice room if you don't pack it like a can of sardines.
The downstairs party room is reminiscent of a dance club, with colored lights and booth style seats. But the dance floor is disappointingly small, and the 8 piece band that was playing was crammed in a corner.
The food here was awful. Cocktail hour was the always-disappointing fruit, cheese and crackers, and I was served fish for dinner which could best be described as "crispy and gross."
It was the little things about this place that annoyed me. Trying to have an elegant day with formally dressed guests interrupted now and then by some regular folks in tshirts that were staying at the hotel. The way the paint on the window sill was horribly sloppy and got all over the windowpane. The tiny dance floor, poor air conditioning...and who the hell thought it was a good idea to have the guests sitting on a slant during the ceremony? Again and again I got the impression that everything was half-assed at this place, and that they would do so much better if they tore down a wall, built a respectable ballroom, a designated outdoor ceremony area, and left the upstairs room for the cocktail hour. This place is booked every single day for the next 11 or 12 months, but I have to believe they don't deserve the hype. You'd think with all the money they're raking in, they could afford to be a little more accommodating to the average 150-200 guest wedding.
The outside of the building is, of course, beautiful. But inside it's very Victorian, which personally isn't my thing. Expect lots of floral patterns and dark wood furniture, along with some ridiculous medieval-style tapestries adorning the walls.
I know, I understand. It's a castle! Who doesn't want to have a wedding at a castle? But trust me, you'll enjoy your day and everything will go a lot smoother if you have a wedding at a place that was designed to host weddings. And if you really want to get married at a castle, skip this place and splurge on Oheka Castle. That place is fucking gorgeous.

Take a look at Joe and Enza's wedding at Oheka Castle in my portfolio. And if you found this review helpful, or you have a personal story to tell about this place, please leave a comment!

A Photographer's Review of the Liberty House in Jersey City, NJ

2008-08-17T01:28:00.005-04:00

The Liberty House Restaurant is located in Liberty State Park in Jersey City, NJ. It's located right on the water and offers a beautiful view of the New York skyline, and even a distant view of the Statue of Liberty. I've done two or three weddings there and I find it to be one of the more pleasant places to shoot. It's a two story building, with a restaurant and full bar occupying the first floor and a medium sized ballroom upstairs. The grounds are well maintained, but nothing out of this world because there are no gardens. However, there are endless photo opportunities if you use the skyline to your advantage. A long path from the restaurant takes you right to the water's edge, where the only thing between you and the Hudson river is a railing and some mossy stones. You can get some wonderful sunset shots along this path if you plan your cocktail hour to be in the late afternoon. If you're the romantic-urban type, the scenery is truly outstanding. However if you prefer a more natural setting with lots of flowers and trees, this isn't the place to go.
While you, your new spouse and your photographer take pictures, your guests can mingle inside the building, on the very nice outside patio, or on the upper terrace that wraps 360 degrees around the second story of the building. There are cushioned couches and lounge chairs outside so your guests can eat and enjoy the view. Food is usually served in the "Liberty Room" which is an addition to the building with glass walls and a tarp roof. It's a good shelter for rain but not the most decorative place. They also host bridal ceremonies in the Liberty Room, in which case they go all out to make it look very nice, but I still couldn't say I was very impressed. Still there's nothing wrong with the place, and it is probably worth it to have a less glamorous ceremony in exchange for the convenience of having your ceremony and reception in the same building.
The only times I've been to the Liberty House, the cocktail hour food was slim pickings--not much more than fruit, cheese, crackers and hors d'oeuvres, which was disappointing, but I'm sure they offer bigger packages with more filling food.
The ballroom is quite nice. It's perfect for 125-150 people, but could handle more without much trouble. With floor-to-ceiling windows on every wall, the lighting is very nice in the daytime and offers a nice view of New York when the sun goes down. The dance floor is large enough for all your guests, and the bridal suite is actually a little room with a balcony overlooking the ballroom (emphasis on 'little').
Last time I was there, dinner was buffet style, which is of course a pain in the ass for everyone but a good way to save some money. The food was actually quite delicious, better than many other places I've been to. The penne vodka and pulled beef was especially memorable, as was the desert afterwards (no, not the wedding cake). However I have no clue if this was the work of outside caterers.
All in all, I have few bad things to say about this place. It's not the most glamorous or fancy place. You might be put off by the plastic gold chairs or bare-bones backyard, but I believe the view it offers and the design of the room itself more than makes up for these shortcomings.
*Also note that there's a very old historic train station very close to this place, and it's a wonderful place to shoot some romantic pictures against the red bricks of the building. Try to get inside and take as many pictures as you can before they kick you out too! I'd say it's one of the best features of this area, and probably its best kept secret!

If you found this review helpful, or you have a personal story to tell about this place, please leave a comment!

Links Added

2008-08-10T13:44:00.001-04:00

Added some links that may help with your wedding or event planning

check it out

Albums Are Here!

2008-08-07T19:57:00.003-04:00

Yet another facelift to the website! A new snazzy layout for the services page make things a little more pleasant to view. I've added a new gallery to the portfolio, a wedding this time that I shot last year. It came out very nice!

And finally, something I've been wanting to offer for a long time, package upgrades which include packs of prints and for the first time ever, an album!

You can view all the upgrades by going to the Services page and clicking "Album Upgrades and Extras"

johngallino.com v3.0

2008-07-17T14:02:00.003-04:00

Hope you like the new look. I didn't think the previous style looked professional enough. I'm still not completely pleased with this, but I think it's a step in the right direction.

I've also added a new gallery to the Portfolio - Kristina's 18th Birthday which I shot last month at the Excelsior on rt. 46.

Prom Pics

2008-06-15T14:01:00.002-04:00

I was hired by some friends to take some portraits on the day of their Prom.

Check out the results here.

Jersey City Pics

2008-06-11T23:31:00.002-04:00

I found the time to develop the pics from a recent trip to Jersey City with my friend Sean.

Enjoy.

Too Legit To Quit

2008-06-06T13:10:00.004-04:00

It's been a very productive week for me. I've registered my business with the state, bought a fancy new printer, $60 of office supplies, designed a beautiful brochure about my wedding packages (want one?), perused and studied several websites to learn about tax laws for sole proprietorships, and put up ads on craigslist and flyers in my home town. All the while being sick with a bad case of tonsilitus. A couple of days ago my voice was practically unrecognizable. My apologies to anyone who had to decipher what I was saying on the phone.

That's good, I like productive weeks. Now that I'm a registered self employed businessman, its a little daunting but I aint scared! I can handle it.

Oh, also, I'm not a filmmaker but I made a little video.

Hope you like =]

The Snowball Has Started Rolling

2008-06-02T20:05:00.002-04:00

Work seems to coming from all directions. In addition to the four weddings I'm assisting in shooting this month, I'm also shooting another birthday party on my own, plus maybe some more work with GraphicPlanet regarding their new web show, The Dog Files.
I also put an ad on Craigslist and have received two inquires from brides-to-be.
Looking through Craigslist, I checked to see if anyone was in need of a photographer or photo editor. I found two interesting ads, and contacted the people involved. One was a photo studio 10 minutes from my home who requires a photo editor three days a week, and another was an unusual assignment which required I take pictures of 20 landmarks in Brooklyn. I love shooting in the city so I hope to hear more about that. I'll be talking with the photo studio and two girls getting married as soon as possible and hopefully land those jobs.
Kenn Bell and his assistant may soon make a trip to upstate New York to shoot more footage for their Dog Files show on a wolf conservation center. I may go with them and meet some wolves face to face!

Shooting in Hackensack

2008-05-28T21:04:00.004-04:00

No, not the usual kind of shooting in Hackensack. I went down there last week with my camera and took some shots. Urban still lifes I suppose. I love shooting cities and may soon take a trip with my friend Sean to shoot Jersey City, which I hear is a nice place for street photography.

New Addition - Tools!

2008-05-12T01:23:00.003-04:00

As you can see, I've added a new section to the site called Tools. For the timebeing, this only includes my famous LensBlurby effect which emulates the look of a LensBaby lens. However, in a few days time, the tools section will include several Photoshop actions, Lightroom presets, and other such photographer's tools available for purchase!

Check it out!

New Wedding Photos

2008-05-11T02:18:00.000-04:00

I finally got around to adding the Dave and Hope wedding that I shot last year. Some of the shots were already featured in the portfolio on the homepage.
I also intend to add some of my favorite shots from my trip to Boston as soon as I can. In the coming months I have two 18th birthdays lined up, so I'll be sure to have some nice pictures from those events!
I am out of school and available for jobs. Please contact me if you're interested!

Here Comes the Summer

2008-04-19T00:10:00.000-04:00

Summer is fast approaching and I will soon be done with the semester, meaning I will have four months of free time to really get this site revamped and get some business moving. I've taken a course this semester which has helped me greatly with seeing photography differently, and I'm very excited to get back in the game in the coming weeks and go back to shooting weddings and other events.
I just recently did a job for Kenn Bell at www.graphicplanet.com taking portraits of forty five little league teams. It was a long, exhausting but fun shoot. Unfortunately, those pictures won't be going up on this site as they are no longer my property! I was just a photographer for hire, but nonetheless every bit of experience is beneficial.
In the coming months I will be redesigning the index page to make it more attractive to search engine crawlers so it'll be easier to find my site on Google or your search engine of choice. I also plan to promote more in my area with flyers and cards and such.
As always, if you have any inquiries about my work or availability, feel free to email me or call at 201 647 9161.

Just an Update

2008-01-20T16:37:00.000-05:00

I've redesigned the site once again, trying to get a more professional look. Sure to be some tweaking in the coming days. The shots of Turns to Fall are up, and if I have time today I'd like to go through all the photos on the site and improve them in every way I know how. Also want to make a new intro slideshow.

It's coming along nicely =]

Just an Update

2008-01-10T15:19:00.001-05:00

I'm currently on semester break, though I go back to school in about two weeks. Over the break I took a ride over to the Bronx to take shots of another band, Turns To Fall. The pictures from that job will be up in a matter of days.

I've also made a myspace page for my business at myspace.com/johngallino.

Book me!

Fame (and fortune?)

2007-11-16T11:07:00.000-05:00

I'm extremely excited that my work has been featured in the December 2007 issue of Shutterbug Magazine. If you saw my work in that magazine, leave me a message and let me know what you think! :)

Here is a scan of the article (click to see larger):

EDIT: The article has been uploaded to the Shutterbug website. Check it out here.

Back to my old self

2007-09-16T00:38:00.000-04:00

I just got back from assisting with the shooting of a wedding, something I haven't done in about a month. It feels great to be back doing that. Photographing weddings is truly rewarding work because it's such a happy atmosphere. Everybody is smiling and laughing, and even when the bride is crying or the groom is nervous, it's all in good fun and it still turns out to be the best day of their lives. That's something I really enjoy being a part of. And capturing the most important moments of the day, the hugs, the kisses, the little ringbearers getting ready, the mother of the bride putting the boutonniere on the groom, the bride and groom as they exist the church officially married under the eyes of God - these are the moments that the families will never want to forget, and so I'm happy to photograph them to the best of my ability.
I always come back from weddings in excellent spirits, without a doubt in my mind that photography is something I want to pursue the rest of my life. It is a great way to recenter myself and remind myself of what I truly enjoy doing. Because after many weeks of not taking pictures, or being distracted by other, more stressful things, doubts arise in my mind. Is a photographer really all I'm going to amount to? Is that what I want to contribute to the world?
Yep, yes it is. Sure, it may not always be as important as an engineer or a doctor, but the world needs artists. Though I hate to identify myself as an "artist" (I usually can't stand most artists), I have no choice but to realize that photography is my calling. It's the only thing in my life that I honestly have a passion for doing, and I'm good at it to boot. It brings me great joy and makes me feel alive, for some reason. There's nothing like seeing a wonderful moment in front of your eyes, and lifting your camera and clicking the shutter, knowing that you have actually captured that moment in time to be looked at again and again. It's a wonderful feeling and it is almost like cheating time itself.
Oftentimes when people look at my images, they say something like "you take beautiful pictures," but that's missing the point. It's not the pictures that are beautiful. It's life. Life is filled with beauty and wonderful moments and scenes, and it is just my hobby to collect as many of those scenes as I can so people can enjoy them as much as I have. That's why I want to be a photographer, and nothing else will fill that spot in my heart.

First week of school proves stressful

2007-09-10T23:46:00.000-04:00

It's only been about five days of attending Ramapo College and I'm already feeling some stress and anxiety. I thought everything was pretty much laid out for me already, but I find myself feeling lost and like I don't know what I'm doing with my life. I hope these feelings pass soon. I do have some doubts that this school is right for me, or worse, that any school is right for me.
Like any major decision, I'll have to give it some time and thought.

AtHoV concert in Bogota, NJ

2007-08-31T23:57:00.001-04:00

I just got back from a great show in Bogota organized by my good friends, Fox River Productions. I was there because I was hired by At The Hands of Vengeance, a local metal band recently signed to Shipwreck Records. You may recognize the singer, Jay Brophy, from the show Schooled, on which he was recently featured. The band just put out a new album in which on of my photos from their recent photoshoot with me is featured and credited. Be sure to check it out if you like metal music, the album is only $10.
At the end of the night, I was a bit bummed out because I wasn't sure I did a good job shooting AtHoV on stage. But as I was just going through the pictures, I was pleasantly surprised with the results. I got several great shots of the band and the crowd. Though I have much work ahead of me this weekend in post-production of the photos (along with packing all my things to move to my dorm on monday morning!), the end results are sure to be spectacular. The best shots will end up in my online portfolio anywhere between this weekend and a month from now.
That being said, I realized that shooting bands is something I really enjoy. Not only shooting them on stage but also having sessions for promotional pictures. I handed out some business cards to other bands there (Avenue and Sherazada) and with some luck, they'll be interested in hiring me for their next show.

Shutterbug magazine - and incredible Dell delays

2007-08-28T23:42:00.001-04:00

A couple of months ago, I emailed the editors at Shutterbug magazine trying to a do a little self-promotion. I saw in a recent issue that they had an article featuring a student photographer who was a senior in high school at the time. It seemed to be a common column in the magazine, so I emailed them to see if my work interested them. Sure enough a few weeks ago I got an email from the writer of the Student Union column saying he'd like to write about me.
I'm still in talks with the editor, but with some luck I'll be in the magazine soon. This is a major deal for me as it is my first publication and on a nationwide magazine, no less.

In other news, my Dell Inspiron notebook that I ordered this past July 17th has been delayed for the second time and I definitely won't receive it in time for school. The first time it was delayed, I got no notification of it at all by phone or email, and my shipping date was pushed back a full month to today's date, August 28th. Today I check my email hoping to find notice that the damned thing shipped, and its been pushed back yet again to September 5th.
Dell runs a blog of their own at direct2dell.com. On this site they posted some typical corporate-line BS to ease the frustration of their customers, but from reading the comments it's evident that they've done the same thing to hundreds of other customers who ordered their new models of laptops. Most everybody got the magical date of August 28th at first, and most everybody got the new date of September 5th today. What does that mean? It means I probably don't have a snowball's chance of getting that machine in the next couple of weeks.
Supposedly the holdback is the paint jobs. These particular new models come in a variety of colors (I picked Espresso Brown) and they claim that having several different colors has "introduced complexity into the production line". There's also some kind of problem with the supply of displays for the laptops. Despite all this, Dell continues to sell these things with only a subtle warning that choosing so-and-so color "may delay your notebook's production".
Absurd, really. Hundreds if not thousands of people have chosen to cancel their order and switch to the much more consumer-friendly Sony, HP, or Apple. They're losing customers by the day and still refuse to stop selling the models to allow themselves to catch up, or hire extra factories to produce them.
I, however, have chosen to wait a little longer. If I get another delay notice on September 15th, it's going to be hard to not cancel the order, but the $200 discount I guess is worth the wait. It really sucks to have to go through the first few weeks of school without a computer though.