david's inner monologue

Melissa & Rich

nobody@vox.com(David Zaveloff) — Tue, 22 May 2007 18:26:05 -0400

Talk about a fun couple! There aren't many people that, when prompted to think of a cool place for their wedding photos, would come up with a mini golf course. Melissa and Rich did.

There is only one time during the day that I don't act like a fly on the wall and that is during formal portraits. It's necessary to be outgoing and strong willed because your job is often half photographer and half human wrangler. You need to make sure that everyone is aware of what's going on and where they need to be. Rich, Melissa, the entire bridal party and family made this so easy. They were absolute naturals. It allowed all of us to focus more on the photos and less on where Uncle Joe was.

Here are a few of my favorites from the day.

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My web host screwed up my email!

nobody@vox.com(David Zaveloff) — Wed, 16 May 2007 16:00:01 -0400

If you have emailed me since April 30th I most likely didnt get it.

My web host moved servers and seriously screwed up some important info relating to my email, so even though I could check and send mail, I havent been able to receive any.

Saying I am furious and disappointed is an understatement.

To those that never heard back from me - I sincerely apologize.

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Mr. George Beaglehound

nobody@vox.com(David Zaveloff) — Wed, 02 May 2007 17:42:10 -0400

Megan and I proudly present Mr. George Beaglehound (of the Hampton's Beaglehounds and no, we didn't make that name up). George came into our lives last weekend after Megan found him at a rescue near Pittsburgh. He is about 7-8 months old and is a Beagle/German Shepherd mix.

His previous owners decided to move and left him to fend for himself in the backyard. Neighbors took him in for a few days then found a rescue for him. Needless to say his life has been stressful so far, but that hasn't taken away any of his love. He is so sweet, loving, well behaved and smart that it seems impossible that anyone would ever want to cause him harm.

His greatest joy in life is a belly rub and a walk in the park. He loves birds and butterflies and hates bridges. He recently discovered his tail and has been on a quest to catch it with no success.

He totally has us wrapped around his little paw.

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Stefanie & Lowell, as a guest

nobody@vox.com(David Zaveloff) — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 01:22:53 -0400

It's a rare joy when someone who devotes their life to documenting weddings goes to one as a guest. Last weekend Megan and I had a great time at Stefanie and Lowell's wedding in Melbourne Beach, FL. It was great to get away for a few days and unwind.

I can't just switch off my photographic eye so I couldn't just leave my camera in the room. I wound up getting a few photos from the day.

When I'm photographing a wedding I'm 'on' for the whole day, watching like a hawk. It's a lot of fun to see things from the other side :)

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Our balcony view. I know!

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The view from our front door

Clearly it was a fun night :)

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Louise & Dan

nobody@vox.com(David Zaveloff) — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 21:54:26 -0400

This past weekend I had the pleasure of shooting Louise & Dan's wedding with Bart Breslow. It was a blast! We had a pretty open schedule and had the rare pleasure of taking some pre-ceremony shots in 4 different places.

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Getting Ready

getting ready to walk down the aisle

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Zack's 1st Birthday

nobody@vox.com(David Zaveloff) — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 17:15:04 -0500

This post is long overdue...

A couple weeks ago it was my buddy Zack's 1st birthday. I drove down to NC for this momentous event. After all, how many times in your life do you get to see someone eat cake for the first time

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This is his big brother Jake:

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some more random pics from the day:

The rest of the pics can be seen here

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Freezing Morocco

nobody@vox.com(David Zaveloff) — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 14:11:29 -0500

Last night Megan and I had a fantastic dinner with Rulie and her new Beau (who shall remain nameless for now). Rulie made this amazing spread of Moroccon dishes. The winner of the show was the lemon olive chicken. She hunted down these special preserved lemons. Mmmmm preserved lemons. Sound good right? Nope. I was expecting them to be sweet like those candy lemon slices, but nooooo, they were actually pickled. Needless to say when you are expecting sweet and get pickled, you are bound to make a very interesting face. Fortunately they transform when you cook them, so they were fantastic in the final dish.

Rulie lives in center city next to suburban station. After dinner we went up to the roof of her building and admired the view before our faces froze. I had my 4x5 Speedgraphic with me and fired off a couple shots. I don't think I've ever been that cold. Ever. I shot 4 frames in about 5 minutes and couldnt feel my face or hands by the end. I was afraid I was going to drop the camera 20 stories off the building! That would not have been good.

Here is one of the images I got. I think they came out pretty well considering that I was estimating the exposure. One one-thousand...two one-thousand, etc. This one was about 65 seconds @ f/32 on HP5 pushed to 800 for those of you that care.

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Film is Still Fantastic

nobody@vox.com(David Zaveloff) — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 20:12:51 -0500

Ahhhh film vs. digital. Few debates can raise photographer's blood pressure as much (except maybe mac v. windows and canon v. nikon). Which is better? Why?

The fact is that they are both great. I shoot digital for 98% of my work. It has more advantages than I can list. I own the latest and greatest super digital SLR's. I process the images on computers that make HAL seem lame. But I also love film. I get such a kick out of running some madium or large format film through one of my ancient cameras.

So which is better? Both.

To me asking which is better is like asking a painter which brush is best. They all do different things and they do them equally well. Digital excels at flexibility and speed. Film excels at the sheer amount of information captured, dynamic range, and that certain intangible quality.

Wait, did I just say film captures more info than digital? Can this be right? Well, yes and no. I'm comparing apples and oranges. I won't bore you with the details.

Anyway, this image was shot on a 50 year old junker camera and sat around undeveloped for a year.

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My rambling has a point. It's this - why do you have to choose one or the other? Both film and digital have their strengths and weaknesses. Use them like paintbrushes - choose what's best for the job!

p.s if you are interested here are more of my film shots:

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Worth the Trip

nobody@vox.com(David Zaveloff) — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 11:55:43 -0500

After battling torrential rain and traffic during the 9 hour trek to NC, it was all worth it in the end...

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Full set can be seen here

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WARNING: addictive

nobody@vox.com(David Zaveloff) — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 23:28:27 -0400

This is the most addictive thing I've seen on the web in a long time - ever since Copter:

Line Rider

If you have more time on your hands than you know what to do with, you can try to beat this dude's track...

Line Rider - Jagged Peak Adventure

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