Like I said in my last NYC blog, we NEVER thought photography would take us to NYC! We had the honor of traveling to the big Apple to photograph an engagement session for the very sweet & kind couple, Dmitry & Beatriz.
Dmitry & Beatriz met in high school in Palm Coast, Fl and fate brought them back together a few years later, in NYC. How incredible is that?!? I couldn't believe they were able to reconnect in NYC of all places. Guys, New york city has a population of 8.5 million people!!!
We had the privilege of spending the whole day with this amazing couple. We walked/drove around NYC taking pictures and getting to know one another. A few spots our couple really wanted to go to was the brooklyn bridge, coney island & central park. We were excited about all of those iconic places and suggested we go to Top of the Rock as well.
If you saw my latest blog post about our trip to NYC you would have seen video footage of flash flooding throughout new york. We prayed and prayed for good weather because the photoshoot was scheduled for our last full day in New york due to Dmitry's & Beatriz's work schedules (they both work in the medical field and usually have opposite schedules). Anyways, what i'm trying to say is that we wouldn't be able to reschedule this photoshoot. It had to happen today.
the morning of the photoshoot, we woke up and immediately checked the weather. The forecast said cloudy with 60% chance of rain and a high of 56 degrees. I cant say i wasn't worried about the weather, because i was. i didn't know if 60% chance of rain meant all day showers or if it was similar to florida where it just rains for 10 mins and then it's done. i wanted this shoot to be perfect, like i always do. But, unfortunately the weather is not something we can control. We looked at each other and both said "we'll figure it out." We packed up our gear and headed to the brooklyn bridge. On the drive, i was looking up indoor locations for photoshoots, just in case it did decide to rain. I'm the kind of person that always has a plan b.
Let me go back a little, typically we schedule photoshoots for either sunrise or sunset because the lighting is best at those times. After doing some research on the trusty internet, the least amount of people on the Brooklyn bridge is at sunrise. This particular morning sunrise was at 6:00 am. But, because we knew it would be cloudy, there wouldn't be a point waking up that early to get there if would wouldn't be able to get that sunrise lighting. We decided to meet at the bridge at 8:00 am. We were going to risk the crowd (meeting at the bridge at 6:00 am would mean our lovely couple would have to wake up around 4:30 am to get ready and make the 30 minute drive to the bridge. I didn't want to do that to them because we knew we were going to spend the majority of the day together. we didn't want to wear them out and have them feeling tired & exhausted).
We arrived at the bridge and it was pretty chilly, windy and a bit cloudy but no rain for now. Honestly, we were expecting much worse. Turns out, the weather we were dreading, ended up being a blessing in disguise! There were barely any people there because of the weather forecast AND we all got to sleep in. #score.
Take a look at beautiful Beatriz. Doesn't she look simply lovely? You would never guess that she was in fact freezing! it was around 50 degrees and was super windy at the top of the bridge. THANK you Beatriz!! You are a superstar!
After we were done taking pictures near the Brooklyn Bridge, Dmitry said "hey guys, there's this cute little park right over here (walking distance), want to check that area out? It's where we watch the firework show" to which we replied " uhh YEAH!!!"
What a gorgeous view! can you imagine the fireworks reflecting off that glass building. i'm almost positive this would be the best place to watch the macy's firework show!
And how cool do the clouds look?! i just love the fact that we thought cloudy weather would ruin our photoshoot but it in fact made our shoot sooo much better!!!
Driving in NYC is madness but we definitely saved a lot of time by riding in Dmitry's car instead of riding the subway all the way to Coney Island. This boardwalk is the very place that Dmitry proposed to Beatriz. I'm sure you can understand why they wanted to take picture there.
Again, because of the unusual weather, we had the beach and boardwalk basically to ourselves!!! #photographersdream
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It was even windier at the beach. Again, Beatriz, thank you for being so brave & pushing through the photoshoot with a smile on your face! Let me put it into perspective for you guys, i was wearing jeans, ankle booties (with socks), a long sleeve shirt & a bomber jacket! as you can see, she was in a spaghetti strap dress and open toe shoes. brrrrrr.
To get out of the cold weather, we walked to a few russian stores and this is when i went on a russian food/candy frenzie ( click here to see those images).
Dmitry & Beatriz then took us to their favorite Russian restaurant and treated us to some very tasty food! They introduced us to an avocado salad, they swore it was the reason they come to this specific restaurant. At first, we couldn't understand why they were talking about an avocado salad when shishkabobs were on the menu. But then we tried it & we were hooked! ive never tasted a salad quite like this and i cant find a recipe that has everything this salad had. Romaine lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, avocados, green onion, radish, & dill. I've made several attempts at making this salad at home but it doesnt taste quite the same, i cant get the dressing to taste the same.
Anyways, back to the pictures. After lunch we made our way to Central Park. In the car, beatriz showed me a silhouette picture of a couple dancing under arches in central park and said " i really love this picture!" i could tell she wanted to replicate this. without saying a word, I quickly googled "arches in Central Park" and found out that area is called Bethesda Terrace. I then found it on the map and gave Dima directions to get there. (#thankyoutechnology). When we arrived, we realized it was a very popular location. It was crowded with tourists, other photographers and even an acapella group taking advantage of the acoustics.
For literally this ONE picture, it was completely empty!
Here's some more from the same area.
Right after this step picture, it started to rain!! We quickly walked back to the car in hopes not to get drenched by the rain so that Beatriz's hair wouldnt be ruined. We made it without getting soaked. thank goodness!! We thought about waiting out the rain in the car but then decided to go ahead and drive over to Top of the rock (It was still cloudy, so again we wouldn't get that golden hour at sunset).
We arrive at Top of the Rock and again, were blessed with NO CROWDS!!!! We later talked with a few friends that have also been there and they said they had to wait in a line to take a picture and still had people in their shots. HOW AMAZING IS THAT?!? We were in photography heaven up there. Every angle was an amazing shot! I was on the same level as our gorgeous couple and Jerico was up a level, thats how we were able to get the same shot at different angles.
Try not to drool... =)
i dont think i'll ever get tired of looking at all of those top of the rock pictures! Like i said, every angle was breathtaking! Jerico and I were actually a little jealous of these pictures! We want some too! We were so overwhelmed by the view and our couple that we totally forgot to take a picture ourselves. It's okay. Beatriz was kind enough to take a picture of us on my cell phone. Thank you!!
We feel so grateful for such an amazing opportunity! Thank you again Beatriz & Dmitriy for trusting us, for pushing through the cold, the wind & the rain! You two looked stunning and quite frankly, it's not fair that your hair looked amazing after 9 hours!!! how is that even possible?!? hehe =) We cant wait to spend more time with you on your big wedding day! It'll be here before you know it!! guys, guess what?! its officially only 80 days away!!! yay!