|| Fuzz The World ||

our last rehearsal before our show on February 5th @ the Saint in Asbury Park, NJ Streaming @7:30pm ish!

|| tammy + dan || @ the stone house at stirling ridge

Always an amazing day @ the stone house at stirling ridge. It doesn't matter the season the space, Carissa & her staff just rock. Lovina & I were blessed with a gorgeous couple on a perfect winter day. Tammy had everything, awesome shoes stunning gown, dripping with diamonds & of course her handsome groom, Dan. We even had Josh Lynn & the NJ Photobooths keeping the fun going all night!
Great stuff in this slideshow we even made some huge canvases for our studio!

|| Wedding Wire "Bride's Choice Awards 2010" ||

We are excited to announce that John Arcara Photography has been chosen to receive the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2010. This award recognizes the top 5 percent of local wedding professionals from the WeddingWire Network who demonstrate excellence in quality, service and professionalism.

The Bride’s Choice Awards™ are determined exclusively by recent newlyweds (brides and grooms) through extensive surveys and reviews, which means your past clients have spoken on our behalf and selected you to receive this honor.

|| Suzanne + Eric || Deal Country Club

Suzanne + Eric had such a fun & radical day... You couldn't even tell it was winter, save for the beautiful white fur stole she was wearing. I love that! What a great time shooting at our most popular church, St James in beautiful downtown Red Bank! Asbury Park for the sunsetting & more PUNK ROCK COUTURE WEDDING PHOTOJOURNALISM! The Night shots on the boardwalk we intense. We do also dig the Deal Country Club, the renovations look great! Hey guys thank you so much for a great time & beautiful images!
As usual more on our facebook!

"a list" {wedding s t y l e } || D.Js with cameras... err?? ||

What it means to be "the only professional photographer" at an event

I just wanted to bring your attention to a small part of a photographer's contract that sometimes is misunderstood, and when "ignored" it can actually lead to a very uncomfortable situation.

Most photographers' contract state that the person you hired is to be the only professional photographer at the wedding and I wanted to explain exactly what that means.

I had a situation at a wedding - another wedding vendor (a DJ) was using professional photography equipment and taking photos, getting in my way quite a bit and causing me to miss some important shots. Also, he acted in an unprofessional way and some of the guests thought that he was a member of my staff, which reflected badly on me. I have heard of this happening to more and more photographers so I thought it is a good time to "make it public" so to speak.

The wedding day, of course, is not the time or place to enforce my contract or bother the bride and groom or make any kind of an unpleasant situation for anyone. The best way to deal with this would be to adress this with everyone before your weddings, so that it can be prevented altogether.

Of course photographers don't mind if your guests and family members are taking photos!

However, absolutely NO other wedding vendor (DJ, Videographer, Florist, Planner, Caterer, anyone else hired) is permitted to take photos during the wedding.

Please remind your other vendors about this if you have any doubts that they may be inclined to take professional photos at the wedding. If any other vendor wants photos for their site, blog, slideshow, CD cover - etc - I will be more than happy to provide them with photos at no charge as a professional courtesy!

After speaking with a few other photographers some have said:

A florist works wth flowers, the hall is a great place and the caterer makes great food, the photographer takes the photos and DJ/Band plays the music. Why would you want a photog playing music or a DJ taking photos or the officiant making the bouquets? Just does not make sense.

Also, by including photography/video with a DJ or band, you lower your budget for a better trained photographer. Let the DJ do what he does best and get a better photographer with the money that you would have spent with the DJ.

The problem also arises, that guests that we are trying photograph both candidly & with their attention, have sometimes been bombarded by 2 or 3 photographers shooting them & are getting a little agitated with the paparazzi all around. Sometimes I am regrettably the last photographer to get to them & they are just totally smiled out. The whole problem is that by the time the primary photographer gets over to a guest, they may have just gotten their photo taken, and want us to get out of their face!

Good stuff. Very true. Everyone should do what they were hired to do!

|| Ravi Shankar on the Dick Cavett Show ||

Many of you may know that I have an affinity for music as well as photography. My tastes are very eclectic to say the least. On my playlist you will find everything from Jazz to Punk to French Gangsta Rap & Death Metal. I mean I just LOVE all music. My favorite music is probably World Lounge. I just love anything Indian, Arabic, Afghan, Israeli, Lebanese, Irish whatever. This video is from when George Harrison was a guest on the Dick Cavett Show. Ravi Shankar, who is a world renowned sitar player was the musical guest. Listen to the subtlety of the notes in this music. The beats of the Tabla, the hum of the tones is hypnotizing and erotic. I think its awesome & hope you do too.



Here he is at 90 years old with his daughter, Anoushka.

|| dani + adam || @ the molly pitcher, red bank

Another fantastic day @ the MOLLY PITCHER, although, it sure was blustery! Dani + adam had a fun filled wedding day in red bank. Dani looked great, check out her eyes, her eyes have it.










The talented MIKE SIMONS on video!





I LOVE using parts of the Molly that only John Arcara Photography is allowed to use!

|| ashley + eric || tappan hill mansion, tarrytown ny

What a great time of year to be around sleepy hollow ny. I'll tell ya, we almost saw the headless horseman riding in. Ashley made a beautiful bride & with the handsome Eric at her side that day could not be better. Thank you soooo much for having us guys we had a great day!



























More on our facebook page

"a list" {wedding s t y l e } || BirdCage Veils! ||

BirdCage Veils!!! BirdCage Veils!!! BirdCage Veils!!! Blah Blah Blah!!! BirdCage Veils!!! BirdCage Veils!!! BirdCage Veils!!!

|| shawn + nick || @ the Molly Pitcher, red Bank, NJ

Can you say glamourous?!?! Well thats what comes to mind when we think of Shawn + Nick's beautiful wedding @ the always amazing Molly Pitcher in Red Bank. I was blessed with THE most glamourous photographer in the world to be with on this one, my wife Lovina & what a day we had. St Kimisis in Holmdel was great of course, we just LOVE greek weddings! Bring on the Ouzo huh Lovina!? Shawn & Nick looked so damn beautiful, we had to make a giant size bigger than life wall canvas of our favorite image from their wedding... Of course Lovina shot it! Well Lovina you said you wanted to hear No Doubt so I did this slideshow to a song for you... Love you honey & thanks Shawn & Nick for a "S'wonderful" day!

|| jen + jeff || FotoFusion @ the Pleasantdale Chateau

Check out another Pleasantdale Chateau wedding! This time a full length :A: List FotoFusion! Tell us what you think. This is a great little add on to your imaging for the day... Low cost, high WOW factor... Very hip!

|| stephanie + marc || @ the pleasantdale chateau

oh another awesome day, another awesome wedding! I'll tell ya, we get THE :A: list beautiful couples @ John Arcara Photography! Stephanie + Marc are a totally chic couple who's ceremony was right here in beautiful downtown Red Bank @ St James Church, on Broad St. check out the amazing classic thunderbird they drove up to THE PLEASANTDALE CHATEAU. So very... Always a pleasure to work with Laura, Santiago, and just the whole family at The Pleasantdale. Watch for my cameo towards the end of the slideshow & check out the slideshow debut of our now famous 100 year old antique chair. I actually carry it in the back of our car just in case we need to hang out on a railroad track, asphalt plant, or as you will see here, a back country road.

|| kathy + dan || @ the berkley plaza

WOW ! So sorry about how behind we are @ our blog. Well check out kathy + dan @ the berkley plaza! Lots more on our facebook pages!

Lovina gets credit for this shot, she did it last ear & told me to look for pumpkins for this.

See, just awesome colored shoes! with a matching umbrella!

Kathy & Dan are alot smaller than I remember them... P.S. check out Barbie's shoes... Kathy's Mom found this in the attic with these shoes on. She has been planning for a long time!

Nice breeze

I Loved the little red barn in the background

These rings were swinging away as I photographed them.. I can't believe its in focus. then again its a Nikon D3!!

I Love a couple that will hit the tracks & NOT look for a flowery park!

NIIIIICE boots!!! So PUNK ROCK COUTURE!

So we started to carry this awesome 100 year old chair around with us

It was my dad's chair in our studio when I was growing up & we keep it in the car for just such an occasion.

the ONLY way I'll use a gazebo!