Monday, October 30, 2006

Cue the Minute Waltz

It was a busy twenty-four hours for Matt, including a beautiful wedding on Saturday, a consultation for a June '07 wedding, an album consultation for a May '06 wedding, and three portrait shoots on Sunday. And here I am at 1:38 in the morning. I may not be agent Jack Bauer on 24 but here's my last day:


Saturday 9:00 a.m. Met (and laughed) with Catherine Bennett, her mom, and sister Sarah at the studio in Old Town for next June, 2007. Catherine will be getting married at one of the nicest venues around, Evermay in Georgetown. (I just shot Audra Bielke and Tom Spouse's wedding there two weeks ago--see below.) Raced home to get ready for my afternoon wedding.

Saturday 1:30 p.m. Arrived at Woodend, the Audubon Society's beautiful headquarters in Chevy Chase for the wedding of Rachel Brintnall and Seth Harrington. The first thing I see as I'm parking my car is a bunch of deer looking for food. Hop out of the car and make a cool image of two of them kissing, or at least looking enough like they were kissing that it would make a good wedding story.




Saturday 11:00 p.m. Get home, go to sleep.

Sunday 9:00 a.m. Shoot a portrait job for the Morris family, only a couple of blocks from my house. Savored the extra hour of sleep. But with that hour comes the knowledge that from this day on, afternoon light will be at a premium as the days get shorter and shorter. For photographers this is always a sad day.




Sunday 1:00 p.m. Arrive at Great Falls Park for a portrait shoot with Melody Miller and her family, which includes three of the largest great danes you can imagine. I use to think Cooper was a big guy until I got a look at these amazing animals. Things get off to a humorous start as Pearl, the white one, promptly parks her butt in a huge mud puddle.



Sunday 3:00 p.m. Arrive back home to drop in on a meeting between my wife Maya, who designs all the albums here at Matt Mendelsohn Photography (Maya was formerly a designer at the Newseum, the nation's first museum of journalism) and Ryan Miller and Rebecca Brotman (that's them in the limo), who were married this past May. We've been designing some really gorgeous albums lately using a company in Italy and another in New Zealand. Ask us about them!



Sunday 3:30 p.m. Doorbell rings and it's Tim and Helena de Bertodano, with their three adorable children. We hop over to the park, just in time for the early arrival on the fading sun. The light couldn't be more beautiful.

Sunday 7:00 p.m. Spend a couple of hours downloading almost 40 gigabytes of data onto the server. The next time you guys buy a 512 mb memory card think of me. 40 gigs--an that's just from one weekend of shooting.

Anyway, it's now 2:29 a.m. (even though Blogger is telling me it's 1:41) and I'm going to bed. Yikes.



Matt

Thursday, October 26, 2006

These boots were made for walking


You have to be careful when you write a blog. And curiously enough, it's not the bad things that will get you into trouble, it's the good. You can't write too many glowing things about one couple or else other couples will start to feel left out. One has to be very diplomatic, very reserved and all that.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, can I tell you guys how much fun Christi Trew and Chase Cox are? Christi and Chase were married last week in Chevy Chase, starting with a beautiful ceremony at Blessed Sacrament, the same church where I recently photographed Christy Weschler and Chris Scango's wedding (see below), followed by an awesome reception at the Chevy Chase Club.

It's probably becoming somewhat evident from previous posts, but I tend to bond with couples who laugh a lot and who share my sense of irreverence, especially for the ever-growing pomposity that has infiltrated today's weddings.

Christy Trew is not a pompous kind of gal, and I use the word gal purposefully here. Raised in Colorado, she exudes western culture so much that I half expected a horse to ride up at any moment and whisk her away. The grass is always greener, they say, and maybe I'm just attracted to couples who remind me of something other than my Long Island upbringing.

(Don't get me wrong: I'm still a Met fan, and I still love driving out to Montauk Point, but let's be honest--Route 110 in Farmingdale is not exactly the Rockies.)

As is always the case, I knew Christi would be a great bride the moment she walked into the studio. Her heart was set on one thing--having a fun wedding--and not getting bogged down in the formalities. And when I met up with her in her room at the Chevy Chase Club, nothing had changed. She got ready with the help of cousin--no need for a posse, lit up at the mention of a Bloody Mary, and couldn't go enough about how she wanted to ditch her shoes and get into her boots. Needless to say, her 'I do's' to Chase weren't twenty minutes old when she came out sporting a pair of well-worn boots under her wedding dress.

The boots were just the beginning of a great party, complete with a mini-Hora (they're not Jewish), a dancing alligator (maybe someone can post a comment and let me know exactly what that was all about!), and way too much breakdancing.

And on Monday afternoon, when she should have been relaxing and enjoying the start of her new life, Christi still found time to call and thank me for my efforts.


If you're thinking I'm going to end with a certain John Denver song, after last week's ode to Bruce Springsteen's Thunder Road post, think again. Thunder Road I could type from memory. But John Denver?

As we say on Long Island, fugghedaboutit.


Matt

Monday, October 23, 2006

Mother's Day

Have you ever noticed that moms get a bad rap in the wedding world? Seriously, think about it for a second. If someone were to ask you what the first thing to enter your mind when you hear the words "mother" and "wedding" you'd probably be lying if you said anything other than the obvious: crazy. I get asked about it all the time. In fact, it's probably number two on the all-time list, right after "what's the worst thing that's ever happened at a wedding?" No one ever wants to know about the good things.

But the reality is--sorry to burst the bubble--that I get to meet some truly wonderful moms each week, with not a crazy bone in their body. Chris Bible, the mother of Audra Bielke, whose wedding to Tom Spouse I just photographed, is just such a mom. When Audra and Chris came to my Old Town studio a year ago we ended up chatting about so many things other than wedding photography. She was so genuinely interested in all of my photographs from 'The Lost' project that I was quite touched.

(This is not uncommon, by the way. When Dennis Yedwab and Blake Newmark came to meet with me a year before their wedding we ended up discussing the 1969 New York Mets more than we ever talked about timelines or retainers. Other favorite digressions: opera, travel, new Vietnamese restaurants, and dogs. Not to knock weddings, but sometimes its fun to talk about something other than the obvious.)




At Audra's wedding two weeks ago I could tell immediately that her interest had not waned. She was so excited about the reviews for 'The Lost' that I almost started feeling embarrassed. I think she must have mentioned the book to every guest that day. And let me state for the record that I was not hawking books! Chris, not to mention her brother, with whom I spoke at length, was just plain excited for us.

Yesterday, out of the blue, I received the following e-mail:

Dear Matt,

Now that Audra's wedding is over and things have settled down a bit, I want to let you know how much we enjoyed having your presence at the wedding. (Not to mention that we will undoubtedly enjoy the pictures you took as well.)

Last week at my book club I spoke of "The Lost" and one of the ladies there said she is reading it now and cannot put it down. After reading your website, I know that the response to the book continues to be very rewarding and exciting. I also found in reading your website postings that you are a very fine storyteller and writer yourself. Do you ever sleep--most of your postings are in the wee hours of the morning?

We spoke with Audra and Tom last week. They are in Tom's beloved Kenya and have seen some amazing things, including the great wildebeast migration through a river.

I can't wait to read "The Lost". I have already been touched by the Mendelsohn family and I thank you for that.

Looking so forward to the wedding pictures.

Regards,
Chris Bible, Mother of the Bride


What more can I say?

Matt

p.s. I wish I could tell you that the time stamp on my computer is out of whack, but, alas, it's true: the only time I have to do these posts in late at night.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

'The Lost' on NPR

Just a quick update: The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million, a book written by my brother Daniel, with supporting photos by yours truly, was reviewed on Fresh Air on NPR yesterday. To listen to the review by Maureen Corrigan, click here.

This has been an incredible month in the short life of this book: it hit #7 on Amazon, was reviewed for The Washington Post by a Nobel peace prize winner, made the cover of the New York Times Book Review, and, best of all, was the catalyst that brought two families of Holocaust survivors to New York for the rollout--all the way from Denmark and Australia. Incredible.

Stay tuned for more updates. I'm doing my first exhibition associated with 'The Lost' in Houston next month. And Daniel is scheduled to make a return appearance to the Washington area with a reading at Politics and Prose the first week in January, 2007.

Matt

Monday, October 16, 2006

So this is what weekends are like

This past Saturday presented me with quite the dilemma: what to do on my first wedding free weekend in five months.

Most of you guys probably take your Saturdays and Sundays for granted. You mow the lawn, you go for dim sum, you watch the Mets win or watch the Redskins lose. It's not too complicated, and I guess that's the way weekends were meant to be.

But for those of us in the business, weddingless weekends are a rarity. I can count the number of free weekends in 2006 on one hand. And so when one does finally roll around I tend to think of all the things I can catch up on: movies, dinners, cleaning out the garage. (Well, maybe the first two...)

Of course those things never happen. The reality is that I sleep late, read the newspaper out on the grass, and end up watching some football game on TV that I haven't the slightest interest in. By then it's already dinner and the day, with all its promise of activity, has slipped away.

But who cares, right? This weekend we took Alexandra to a pumpkin patch, made a quick trip to Gettysburg, and took the local firehouse up on their offer of an open house. We bought a new leotard for her ballet class, went out for some sushi, and pretty much did nothing of great consequence.

Of course everything, or, in this case, "nothing" is relative. We got to hear her tell the firemen that she would call the mailman in the case of an emergency (the uniforms are pretty similar), watched her deliberate over which tiny pumpkin to choose, and chased her as she picked every dandelion on Little Round Top. All in all, a perfect weekend.

Matt

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Baywatch

We're going to switch gears a bit now, from some of the more serious posts of the last few days, and return to good old weddings--my bread, my butter. And to that end, I'm going to spend a little time on last week's marathon Chesapeake Bay wedding of Matt McGill and Lori Alvino. One of the cool things about a blog is that you can tell where your "hits" are coming from, and I noticed that twice today someone logged onto The Dark Slide from French Polynesia. Since I don't really
have a client base in French Polynesia--at least not that I know of--I'm assuming it's Matt and Lori checking in. So let's not make them wait any longer.

I knew the minute I met Lori and Matt, about a year ago, that their wedding would be anything but typical. While they're both very, very accomplished--Lori just finished a clerking for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Matt clerked for Chief Justice John Roberts, prior to his appointment to the Court--it was their general irreverence, a trait I've been known to exhibit once or twice, that I was drawn to. Though we took some cool engagement pictures among the columns of the Supreme Court last year, the image they ended up choosing for their save-the-date card was one of Matt carrying Lori in a fireman's carry, like something out of a Borat sketch or a B.C. comic strip.

(It wouldn't be until much later that I realized we have even more in common: Matt and I are both crab-aholics, Lori and I both hate to drive over the Bay Bridge, and Matt's favorite song, like mine, is Thunder Road. But here's the weird part: I tend to sing Thunder Road whilst driving over the Bay Bridge, to keep my mind off of it.)

So I knew this would be a great affair and it certainly didn't disappoint. Starting with a Thursday crab feast during a monsoon, and ending with a late night, post-wedding karaoke jam, this wedding changed gears as often as Lori changed outfits. But like The Boss says, "Oh and that's alright with me."

Matt and Lori kicked things off with a crab feast at Cantlers in Annapolis (which, by the way, is one of the truly great crab joints in the area). It took almost three hours to drive from Arlington, a trip that usually takes 40 minutes, with the rain coming down so hard at times I though I was going to float away. It was only after I finally got to Cantlers that I heard on WTOP about the two tornadoes that had touched down near Severna Park. That was drive I hope not to repeat any time soon. But all was soon forgotten as the smell of Old Bay filled the bar and the sound of mallets pulverizing claws filled the air. If I had to list my great loves in life--after photography, of course--cracking crab for a few hours would be right up there on the list. (Not far down that list would be teaching newbies how to crack crab, which I got to do for some of Matt and Lori's out-of-town guests.)

I drove back to Annapolis on Friday for the rehearsal and cocktails F at the Annapolis Yacht Club. Note to self: the next time someone says they're going to fire a ceremonial canon, one floor above you, start walking. That thing was loouuuud. (A corollary of this that would come into play the next day: when a ship's captain tells you that you're heading into some rough wake, pay attention.)

Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day, despite some misty rains early in the day. Lori and Matt got married at Old St. Mary's in Annapolis, a church I've always liked shooting in. It's majestic, it's historic, it's beautiful. I had my assistant Matt with me (he made the beautiful overall, above, of Lori and her dad walking down the aisle), which meant there were three Matt's within five feet of each other. Lori arrived at the church in a vintage Rolls, while Matt walked the several blocks down Duke of Gloucester Street from Reynolds Tavern with his groomsmen, snapping his fingers like he was in a Dean Martin movie.

After the service it was on to the Chesapeake Bay Club, sans Bay Bridge drive. Matt and Lori hired a yacht to take them across the bay. It was really gorgeous out on the water. The only hiccup came when we ran into another boat's wake and almost lost half the bridesmaids. Since most of them had their backs to the water, I'm still not sure if they realize just how close they all came to being completely drenched. Inches, I think.

Anyway, I didn't want this to become a blow by blow account and it feels like it's turning into one. So I'm going to skip to some highlights:

It was a great honor seeing both Justice Ginsburg and Chief Justice Roberts at the wedding. I was at the White House the day Justice Ginsburg was nominated to the Court, and I remember her first day on the job as well. There's always a photo op in front of the Court on a new justice's first day and the handshake that then-Chief Justice Rehnquist gave still makes me smile. It was kind of an over-the-top grasp that, well, defied convention.
Thinking back on it, it was very sweet.

Highlight number two: the incredible sunset over the Chesapeake that night. I've never been a sunset-y kind of wedding photographer--too damn cheesy-- but it was hard to avoid on this night. Even Matt, who gets a tad tense (just teasing, Matt) during posed photos seemed to enjoy himself. Considering the rain on Thursday, and even the rain earlier Saturday morning, this was just a perfect sunset to watch. (Given that they're in French Polynesia right now, I'm sure Lori and Matt are up to their ears in beautiful sunsets.)

Last highlight: karaoke! And not just your average, 'Sweet Caroline' kind of karaoke. This was hardcore. In fact, it might have been the only time I've ever seen a mosh pit break out during a karaoke performance. Elbows were flying, beer was spilling, people were really enjoying themselves. And Matt got to belt out a certain song by a guy from Jersey.














The screen door slams
Mary's dress waves
Like a vision she dances across the porch
As the radio plays
Roy Orbison singing for the lonely
Hey that's me and I want you only
Don't turn me home again
I just can't face myself alone again
Don't run back inside
darling you know just what I'm here for
So you're scared and you're thinking
That maybe we ain't that young anymore
Show a little faith, there's magic in the night
You ain't a beauty, but hey you're alright
Oh and that's alright with me.

Elie Wiesel Reviews "The Lost"

Esteemed humanitarian and Holocaust author Elie Wiesel, winner of the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize, reviewed "The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million" in this past Sunday's Washington Post Book World.

Ten years ago, when I was working at USA Today, I had the great honor of photographing Mr. Wiesel (above). As many of you know, I'm a fairly chatty guy. But this particular time, I kept my mouth shut and made my portraits. I just knew that anything that came out of my mouth would have been dumb.

Anyway, the review, as one would expect, is a work of beauty in its own right.

Matt

Monday, October 09, 2006

Last Year, This Year


Many years ago--six, I think--I photographed the amazing wedding of Kelly Corrigan and Edward Lichty at the Villanova Chapel in Radnor, Pennsylvania. I use the word amazing for several reasons: the Villanova Chapel (chapel, my foot) is a staggeringly beautiful cathedral on the grounds of the university; the Corrigan family, with its ever-present Irish laughter and constant discussions of lacrosse and other sports, left such an indelible impression on me (discussions in the Mendelsohn household, on the other hand, usually revolved around "racing car" math problems--if a racing car left Detroit going 236 mph...); and because a year after their wedding--and completely out of the blue-- Kelly wrote me what is still the nicest thank-you note I've ever received.

You don't forget a person like Kelly. Her go-getter personality is infectious. We touched base a couple of years after her wedding when I photographed her first daughter. After that meeting we fell out of touch for a while. Until, that is, a year ago this week, while watching the Today Show, with one eye shut--I think I lost a contact lens, I heard Katie Couric say that after the commercial break she would be speaking to an amazing woman with an amazing story of survival from breast cancer. And there was Kelly Corrigan, smiling into my television set in Arlington, Virginia.

You can watch Kelly's chat with Katie here. I watched it again this morning and was in tears. Suffice to say that it went on longer than any Today show segment I can remember. You guys judge for yourselves. Katie, whose husband, Jay, died of colon cancer, clearly bonded with Kelly. Kelly talked about her courageous bout with Stage 3 breast cancer--and the chemo treatments she shared with her dad, Big George, who was also fighting his own bout with bladder cancer--with the same laughter that I heard those many years ago in her family home when she was dressing for her wedding.

Well, amazing people do amazing things. That Kelly has beaten her cancer is not surprising to me at all. It's what she's done after that which continues to impress: she has created a cool web site called Circus of Cancer, with lots of great information and lots of great photographs. (Oh, forgot to mention: Kelly became a photographer!!) The neat part about Circus of Cancer is that it's written primarily for those of us who are cancer free. It's goal is to educate friends and loved ones of people with cancer on the things they can do, things they should say (lesson one: don't say "you never responded to my get-well e-mail!"), and how they can help. Please take a look, especially the column she writes for a local newspaper.

And now the reason for this post. Kelly continues to amaze. She has written a beautiful book for children, titled "Last Year, This Year," with illustrations by her friend and collaborator Nan Davenport. The book is a wonderful way for parents and children to discuss their cancer treatments. The images in the book are even drawn by Kelly's daughters and 100% of the profits go breastcancer.org.

We've always prided ourselves at Matt Mendelsohn World Headquarters (okay, Matt's basement) on how great our clients are in times of need. Whether for tsunami victims or the children of a journalist killed in Iraq, we've all rallied for great causes. So go buy Kelly's book!

Matt

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Daniel at Borders on Tuesday, 10/3

Just a reminder that Daniel will be speaking and signing copies of "The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million" this coming Tuesday, 10/3 at Borders in Tysons Corner. The store is located at 8027 Leesburg Pike, Vienna, Virginia, across Route 7 from the mall. The reading begins at 7:30 and I hope to see some of you guys there.

And while I'm on the subject, I want to thank Deb Fluk and Scott Cherkin, whose wedding I shot in July of 2005, and April Kozen, whose wedding I photographed last month, for taking the time to come to the packed reading at Barnes and Noble in Manhattan earlier this week. It took me about 45 seconds to realize that it was April I was face to face with in the book stacks. Having shot her wedding in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, my mind was doing backflips at the incongruity of seeing her in a bookstore--and not in a wedding dress--on the Upper East Side! I feel quite fortunate to consistently find such warm and generous clients.

The reading was a great success, and quite emotional. 81-year-old Jack Green flew in from Sydney, Australia just to be there. He dated my cousin Ruchele when they were both teenagers living in Bolechow, Poland in the 1930's. To hear an interview that Daniel and Jack did with NPR's OnPoint program, click here.

I'll be back in a few days with some pictures from this past weekend's amazing Chesapeake Bay wedding of Lori Alvino and Matt McGill.