The bouquet catch

Watch the bridesmaid in orange. She looks like she's uninterested in catching the bouquet, but then she almost takes out the 9 year old the flowers were headed for LOL!!!

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Robin and Chris

So I haven't blogged in a while, it's not for lack of things to say, I've just been enjoying the summer! Tonight though, I'm pretty eager to share some photos from Chris and Robin's engagement session. They didn't want the "standard" photos and leaned more towards my artistic style. That can be tough when my art photos are more still-lifes, how do you add people to that mix?
Robin sent me some inspiration photos and one was a couple riding bikes in a vineyard. They have retro bikes, I know a great vineyard (Nassau Valley Vineyards in Lewes), so we met there. Unfortunately, they weren't able to bring their bikes, but we got some cool photos of them in the vineyard.

Next it was on to a sunflower field I spotted earlier in the day. Gotta love sunflowers!

From there, we went up the road a little to a super-secret location on the canal. It's not so much a secret as a private estate. I brought a couple there a couple years ago for wedding photos and the woman who lives there is so sweet she let me shoot there again. You can barely make out the towers in the background.

And one in the garden.

Then it was off to downtown Lewes to wrap things up.

I'm really looking forward to their October wedding at the Addy Sea with the Doug Segree Band! I LOVE LIVE BANDS!

C R A Z I E S T wedding EVER!

We had the most insane wedding tonight and had to blog about it right away.

First- we're doing the photos after the ceremony and I think to myself, "I'll get a shot from on top of the lifeguard tower." The sand in front was messy, so I wanted to drag it over a few feet. I handed the camera to Brandon and started to try to tip it over to move it (done this hundreds of times as a kid). The groom comes over to help and gets on the other side and picks his end up. This throws the balance off and the whole tower starts to fall on top of me! I yell out. "RICKY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME???" but it's too late and I end up pinned on the beach by the tower! I could NOT budge the thing and I'm calling out to my assistants to get it off me. Brandon and Ricky (groom) lift it up enough that I can slide out unharmed. I look at Ricky like WTF??? He felt soooo bad, it was funny. I just started cracking up, Brandon wanted to do it again because he didn't get any photos, Jenna was just stunned at what happened! Definitely one of the stangest things to happen to me at a wedding. I ended up getting the shot I wanted though :)

Second thing- The reception venue is on the top floor of a hotel, there's nothing else up there. When you come off the elevator, there's a long hall leading to the dining room and that's where the gifts were stacked up, including the box for the wedding cards.
Some guy comes up and STEALS the box of cards!!! Two cousins of the groom see him headed down the hall and chase him down eight flights of steps to the lobby. They catch him, BEAT HIM, and throw him through a plate glass window in the lobby! The cops come, arrest him, but first have to take him to the hospital for a broken jaw and giant gash in his back!

Third thing (and I only heard the story, but it happened last night)- The bride's grandmother drank too much and got sick in the toilet. After she flushed it, she realized her TEETH just got flushed! Maintenance had to come and take the toilet out, crack it open, and free her teeth! This morning, she shows her son that she has her teeth back and he says, "Now that's a shit-eating grin if I ever saw one."

To top it all off, Brandon (associate photographer), is out on the dance floor dancing with the bridesmaids then slow dancing with a guest! She asked if it was okay for him to dance while working and I told her I was fine with that LOL!

That's not all- strip tease garter placement, amazing toasts (maid of honor was in tears), cake smashing, and "rad" shots out on the balcony LOL! Here's a few shots of the "crime scene" and a preview of the wedding photos is here' http://www.samellis.com/gallery/8467506_n4Fz3

This was one of my favorites from Danielle and Mike's engagement session at Cape Henlopen State Park. Gotta love sunsets at the beach!

This may be my all-time favorite photo from a reception! This was part West Side Story, part Michael Jackson's Bad video- either way it was hilarous! Thanks Alex and Elissa for throwing such a great party! More photos will be in the preview soon!

Ocean City, MD engagment photos

Kristian and Andrew are getting married in June 2010 and were in town for their engagement photos. Here's a sneak peek:

Kristian and Andrew are getting married in June 2010 and were in town for their engagement photos. Here's a sneak peek:

I've been falling off on the blog posts, been meaning to add one recently but just haven't had the time. I did two great weddings the past two weekends- both had terrible weather forecasts but turned out to be beautiful days! The weather doesn't look so cooperative for today's wedding though.





Here's a shot from Laura and Jamar's wedding at Salero in Rehoboth. They were so great to work with and I had a blast at the wedding (of course, I always have a great time at weddings).

Here's what Laura had to say on a wedding planning/review site called Wedding Wire:

I was immediately impressed by Sam when I visited his website. He is an amazing artist. The skills, knowledge, love and passion he has for his art makes every detail of your wedding a lifelong memory. For all the stress and lack of sleep the final days before our wedding day, I knew if anything went according to plan it would be with Sam. Our wedding ceremony was on the beach. For 10 days before (thats when I started hounding the weather channel every hour for updates) it was supposed to be rainy and stormy. Well, let just say it was completely opposite. 90 and sunny, not a cloud in the sky. Yes, perfect and Sam captured every moment of it. Diving in the sand to catch the right moment. Switching from one shot to grab a split second shot just in time. I cannot wait to see the rest of our pictures. Not even 3 hours after our wedding was over, he sent me a message saying the preview was up on his website. I cannot express how grateful and pleased I am with Sam and his work. Please dont look any further, you have found your man, right here, with Sam Ellis! ~ Thanks Sam for the best wedding experience and memories to last a lifetime. I wish you the best of luck!

Thanks, Laura!

Birds of Prey

I first got truly hooked on photography taking nature photos after college. That's what started the whole better camera/better lens/better film obsession commonly referred to as NAS (Nikon Aquisition Syndrome). When I was asked if I could do weddings, I thought, "hmmmm, I could buy more camera gear." Little did I know that I would LOVE weddings and launch a career out of it.

Every now and then, and not as often as I would like, I go out and do some nature photography again. Today I found myself wandering around the area and spotted three osprey hanging around. FIVE HUNDRED frames later, I came away with some amazing shots! Below are some of my favorites, more can be found here. Double click on the images below to see them larger.

Sunset

I love sunsets. It's just cool to see how the light changes the look of everything. Even boring invasive plants like phragmites can look beautiful at sunset. These were taken spur of the moment across the street from my house. It would be nice if the houses weren't there, but I just went for a walk with Ryan and grabbed a few shots. I think next week we'll go on a photo shoot to a state park and do some nature photography together. Stay tuned.

Great timing!

I did a maternity photo shoot on Sunday, we were cutting it close because the due date was Wednesday. I found out today (Monday) that she delivered! Whooo, that was close! Now I can schedule the newborn photos :)

Here's the funny thing- I thought it would be cool to write the baby's top secret name in the sand along with the date. So I wrote the date as 4/ /09 under the name and a few feet over I wrote 1, 2, 3, and 5 figuring I could Photoshop the numbers in. Wouldn't you know it, she was born on 3/30/09!

Congratulations to Anna and Sean, I hear Charlotte (Charlie) is beautiful!

First wedding of 2009

And so begins the 2009 wedding season! Winter is generally a slow time of year for me, why doesn't anyone want to get married at the beach in December, January, or February? OK, I did have one in December, but that's rare.

The wedding took place in this little church in a tiny town outside of OC called Bishopville. After the ceremony, it was off to the boardwalk (via anything but a direct route) to get some shots at a place with some fond memories for them- Ripley's Believe it or Not! We got some shots on the boardwalk, then off to the Golden Sands for the reception. Eileen and the crew did a fantastic job with the food, DJ Rupe (well, his substitute, Rupe's probably in the islands or watching spring training somewhere) did a great job getting the dancefloor hopping, and we experimented with some new lighting techniques (the backlit dance shot for example).

I'm bummed because the next one's not for another month! I had an April wedding booked, but something fell through (I didn't ask questions). I'm looking forward to having a party every weekend again. Weddings are so much fun!

Sunrise at the beach

It's interesting that one of the things the pastor said in church this morning was, "If you live here and haven't seen a sunrise over the ocean, you're missing out." Well, it was something to that effect anyway. The year I worked at a bakery in Bethany, I would ride my bike to work and watch the sunrise from the boardwalk. It's such a beautiful sight and always different.
This weekend, we stayed at the Clarion in Ocean City. It's only twenty mintues away, but we had "won" a two night stay at a charity silent auction. I knew I wanted to see the sunrise so I woke up early and snuck out of the room. I took a series of photos but never captured exactly what I was looking for- the sunrise shining through a wave. Here are some of my favorites from this morning anyway.

Education

As a teacher, I feel strongly in the value of education. Maybe that's why I spent five years in college...yeah, that's it. But it is why I went on to get my Master's degree in education and have sought out opportunities to further my education whenever I could.

My photography career has been no different. I joined the Delaware Professional Photographers Association and the national organization Professional Photographers of America. I have been to many workshops to broaden my knowledge and hone my skills. I am a member of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals and will be attending the Photoshop World conference in a few weeks. I'm fortunate that my teaching career blends nicely with my photography career to allow me to attend (I teach graphic design/desktop publishing, and communication technology). I just wish I could attend more conferences.

The best thing lately has been my association with Photog Shootout. This is an infomal group of photographers who get together to do model shoots in simulated wedding circumstances, experiment with shooting techniques, share ideas, and teach each other about the business and craft of photography.

The latest was the Eastern Shore Photog Shootout conducted at Baywood in Millsboro/Rehoboth was a couple weeks ago. Check out the video put together by Refocus Studios. Many thanks to Rob Nicholson of Humbled Eyes Photography for coordinating what was meant to be a dinner with a few friends into a great learning experience with about 20 photographers! I also appreciate Joel Plotkin, owner of efotolab.com, for sponsoring the event. It was great to experiment with different lighting scenarios and test the limits of my camera equipment in low-light scenes without the pressure of a wedding.

I'm looking forward to more Photog Shootouts and hanging out with other great photographers and great vendors like Bayside Limousine.

Accolades

I love wedding photography- it's fun, exciting, stressful, and so rewarding. I got a card from a recent couple and had to share:

Dear Sam,

Thank you so much for the beautiful memories that you have given to us from our wedding day! You were able to capture so many moments for us- and now we have such wonderful pictures to always remember our special day! You were so easy to work with throughout the whole process, and so accommodating to our needs. We have had so many compliments to you on your creativity- we fell so lucky to have had you as our photographer!

Sincerely,

Meghan and Marc Perry

Snow at the beach!

We don't get a lot of snow in lower Delaware so I used the opportunity to get some photos around my neighborhood. It was a pretty dreary morning with heavy fog, but it was nice to shoot something different.

2009!

2008 was one of my greatest years since I started doing photography professionally. I worked with some truly amazing couples that were fun, beautiful, and so in love with each other. The two most important parts of that are FUN and in love. I have so much fun at weddings and I love wedding parties who joke around and laugh. I also love capturing the emotion of a wedding day, the love of a bride and groom. There is nothing more beautiful than a couple on their wedding day and I always think back to my wedding at every ceremony. I do this because I love what I do.

I also worked in some great locations like Salero, Nassau Valley Vineyards, the Indian River Lifesaving Station Museum, Golden Sands, Rehoboth Beach Country Club, Baywood, The Fountains, and the Cambridge Hyatt. I'm still looking for that destination wedding so I can work in Hawaii, Mexico, the Caribbean, or even the Florida Keys!

2009 is shaping up to be an even better year! I've got some new locations on the book, some really GREAT couples, a new camera and lens (I'm never satisfied, I just bought a new camera last Thanksgiving...two of them actually), and a renewed energy in what I'm doing. Each year things get better and better and as my work improves, the more I enjoy what I'm doing. My style is continually evolving and I love where it's going. It keeps things fresh and intersting rather than stagnant and boring.

If you're looking for a photographer for your wedding in 2009 or even 2010 (a destination wedding would be cool), take a look at my work. Shoot me an email or give me a call. I'd love to discuss your wedding with you.