ring hand :: gelatin relief

gelatin relief :: yellow shoe

One of my wedding gelatin relief prints - I recently made some of these prints from my 2009 weddings and will begin to share them. And soon I will begin my gelatin relief work on my personal artwork projects. The first steps are done, but a lot more needs to be done to them... it is a very time-intensive process.

New Take on an Old Image

This is an image from a wedding I shot back in 2004, but reworked a few weeks ago using the Gelatin Relief process. Just thought I'd share now, since I have a whooooole lot of images to be put through this process,some of which you will be seeing in the new year.

ISPWP Contest Winner!

Yes, it's that time where I announce that I placed one of my recent wedding images in another contest. This time it's the ISPWP (International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers) Fall contest in the "First Dance" category. The image can be seen above and was taken at Jessica + Todd's Thorpewood wedding this past September.

See the contest category HERE!

Another Contest Win!

I am happy to announce my 5th place finish in the "Family Love" category of the ISPWP (International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers) Summer image contests. The winning image was taken at Jennifer + Joe's wedding at The Washingtonian Marriott in Gaithersburg, Maryland last year.

I rarely enter contests (the ISPWP is about the only contest I enter these days, in fact!), so it's always an honor when the judges choose my work among all the other talented photographers out there. I have a wonderful time making these images, and it's always nice to see others reacting well to them too.

Check out the contest images here: Summer 2009 Contest - Family Love
And the ISPWP site here: ISPWP

The ISPWP has a strict code of admittance for wedding photographers, as follows:

Membership Requirements

The application process helps to ensure that ISPWP members are established, experienced and have reached a high level of professionalism. The membership committee will evaluate applicants on the following criteria:

* At least 50 weddings as the principal photographer (not as secondary/backup)
* Sponsorship by an existing ISPWP member OR two email references from recent clients and two email references from fellow professional photographers
* Website review
* Agreement to operate your business in accordance with the Code of Conduct
* No unresolved complaints with the Better Business Bureau or other similar consumer protection organization

The Knot - Real Wedding!

I love my job, and would continue to make beautiful images for my clients even if my work never appeared in any magazines... but it's also awfully nice when my work is recognized. Luckily for me, I can have both!

The Fall issue of The Knot is out on newsstands now, and you can see the cover above. My wonderful bride and groom Crystal and Nick got a fabulous 4 page spread in that issue, where you can see a good many photos that I took at their wedding. Click on the images to see them larger, and look for the magazine wherever they are sold to see it in person. Also, you can see a link to the online version HERE, though there are not as many photos online as there are in the mag.

Thank you again to Crystal and Nick, who had that great combination of style and sense of humor to make the editors at The Knot take notice!

Crystal + Nick - "Real Wedding" Knot feature!

One of the parts of my job I love, aside from making awesome images for my clients, is getting those awesome images published in wedding magazines. And I am happy to report that Crystal and Nick's wedding is currently featured in the 2009 Fall/Winter issue of The Knot DC, Maryland, & VA. Get a sneak peek HERE. It's on magazine stands right now, so go pick up a copy and check it out! We are on pages 46-49... a 4 page spread!

Gelatin Relief - First Dance

I spent the last few days locked in the darkroom, and this is one of the resulting images: another Gelatin Relief image from one of last year's weddings. The original photo was taken during Annie and Matt's first dance last spring. I have quite a few new images to share, but chose this first because the veils were really dramatic in this one.

See more of my Gelatin Relief images at www.erinantognoli.com, and if you're interested in acquiring one of these pieces for yourself, please don't hesitate to contact me!

Gelatin Relief

Some of you may have seen my Facebook or Twitter where I have been talking about this old / new process that I am resurrecting and will begin offering to my wedding and portrait clients (not to mention making some cool personal art!). The process is a gelatin relief, and it consists of taking a traditional darkroom print and tossing it in an acid / corrosive solution that affects the silver gelatin and causes it to separate from the paper. These prints are awesome because you can manipulate them in such a wide variety of ways to make the images look completely different. Each image is one of a kind, and while they can be closely replicated, they cannot be exactly duplicated.

I used this process extensively for my graduate thesis exhibit, and have begun to use it on my wedding and portrait images. The image above is from the most recent darkroom session. I can't wait to start making these for my clients... it's gonna rock!

To see a gallery of these images, go to http://www.erinantognoli.com and click on "gelatin relief". I'll post more on the blog and eventually on Halo's site where they belong since they are made from the documentary images I capture for my clients. I am in the middle of a site redesign for Halo at which point they will be added. Keep your eyes peeled for changes and new additions to the gallery!

ISPWP "Real Weddings"

I've been blogging a lot about the ISPWP (International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers) lately. It's a directory of some of the finest photographers around the world, but it's quickly becoming a whole lot more. There are now helpful articles, as well as a new resource called "Real Weddings" that gives you a glimpse into a wide variety of weddings shot by the very photographers who make up the organization. These are great for perusing ideas, or just to see what others are up to on their wedding days.

I was super excited to find out that a couple of mine from last August was featured on the "Real Weddings" segment recently. Kajal and Ali had a traditional Persian wedding, and you can read more about what happened that day here: Kajal + Ali's "Real Wedding".

These "Real Weddings" are so fun, and I can't wait to see what other types of weddings crop up over on the ISPWP site!

First Place Winner!

I am happy to announce my first place finish in the "Emotional Impact" category of the ISPWP (International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers) Fall image contests. The winning image was taken at Crystal & Nick's wedding at Celebrations on the Bay in Pasadena Maryland.

The judge's comment reads: "Judges comments: Wow, look at her eyes. Serious emotion going on, and really well-framed to emphasize the moment."

I've placed in a lot of contests over the years, but it's always exciting to find out that I got top image in a category, especially when I only entered 2 images in the contest overall!

Check out the contest images here: Fall 2008 Contest
And the ISPWP site here: ISPWP

The ISPWP has a strict code of admittance for wedding photographers, as follows:

Membership Requirements

The application process helps to ensure that ISPWP members are established, experienced and have reached a high level of professionalism. The membership committee will evaluate applicants on the following criteria:

* At least 50 weddings as the principal photographer (not as secondary/backup)
* Sponsorship by an existing ISPWP member OR two email references from recent clients and two email references from fellow professional photographers
* Website review
* Agreement to operate your business in accordance with the Code of Conduct
* No unresolved complaints with the Better Business Bureau or other similar consumer protection organization

More Contest Wins - Lucky #7!

Well, this has been a good month for contests. I just found out that I placed 2 of my images in the latest ISPWP contest (that's International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers). Both images received 7th place (lucky 7!). This contest deadline was just before I left for my Route 66 trip, so I literally just blazed through my 2008 wedding images and grabbed two that I thought would work with the categories at hand. Seeing as how I only entered 2 images, I think I did pretty well there!

First up was Candid Portrait, which I made at Annie and Matt's wedding at Baker Park in Frederick back in April:



And next is Reception (Not Dancing) which is an image I made while second shooting with Allison of A Britton Photography for Jordan and Tim's wedding this past June:



See the rest of the winners by category here: ISPWP Quarter 2, 2008 Contest

About the ISPWP:
To become a member, a photographer needs to have at least 2 years of experience, have shot at least 40 weddings as the primary photographer, have references from a current ISPWP member, have no outstanding issues with the BBB or similar, and conduct business according to the ISPWP code of ethics. So ISPWP photographers are some of the best around, and I am proud to be in their company!

Wedcomp - Winner!

Okay, so I know 3 posts in one day is a bit excessive, but I just found out that I placed 5th in the Reception category of the last Wedcomp contest. The winning image is from Jennifer and Matt's wedding that took place last October at the Peabody Library in Baltimore. Here's what the judges had to say:

Sure it has been done before, but this is one of the best "Cake sharp/everything else blurry panning shots" I have seen...the lights in the background and the color only add too it.

See the page with the rest of the winners here: Wedcomp - Reception Winners

Erin Antognoli - Holga Weddings

Although the site has been live for a while now, I wanted to formally introduce the new brand within Halo Photographic - Erin Antognoli - Fine Art Holga Wedding Photography. It's been linked on the right side of this blog for a little while, and so I figured I'd call attention to it!

You've also seen some of the images from my Holga wedding photography on this blog, so you know that a.) they're not your traditional wedding photography, b.) they're made in the same artistic style as my Holga work that I display in galleries, and c.) they're made using film and a darkroom, rather than digitally.

What you may not know is that I do not in any way intend to replace the regular photographer in this endeavor. I would hope to work along side a regular wedding photographer who would capture the documentary aspects of the day, while I am commissioned to make artwork during a wedding. I have a list of photographers all over the country who would love to work with me who are insanely talented, but couples are welcome to find their own photographer as well... I always like meeting new people. And yes, I will travel just about anywhere if someone is interested in having me make Holga art at their wedding!

I plan to continue offering my documentary wedding photography services as well because I love that type of coverage, but can't do both documentary and Holga coverage at the same wedding. Lots of photographers do shoot a roll or two of Holga at their weddings, but frankly, I've never seen any that are overly impressive. I'd rather not make mediocre images, and feel that the Holga images, in the intricate style the I create them, would need my full attention if they are to be worth printing at all. And I only want to offer the best to my clients - the images I provide would have to be fit to hang in a gallery along side my personal artwork!

So visit the site, look around, and let me know what you think!

Award Winner, AGWPJA!

I just found out that I won second place in the latest AGWPJA contest! That placement was enough to make me the 5th place Artistic Guild wedding photographer from the contest all around. I'm pretty excited about all of that! The screen capture of the winning photo is above, and judge's comments are below:

Judge's Comments: 1. Surreal, dream-like, whether created in camera or not this has a beautiful treatment with a nostalgic look to a situation that each of us photograph week in and week out.

For the record, this wedding image was made completely in camera with my favorite Holga... no Photoshop applied!
:-)

Holga Wedding #3

It's been a while since my last post! Sorry about that. I've been really busy lately and have neglected my blogging duties. Anyway, I just developed the Holga film that I shot at Lisa & Harry's wedding with Allison of A Britton Photography based out of Virginia, and thought I would share.















A big thank you to Lisa & Harry and Allison for allowing me to make these images and share them with all of you!

Holga Wedding #2

The weekend of June 9th I traveled up to the Boston area to photograph a Holga wedding with Zofia of Zofia Photography. The couple, Brianne and Pete, were friends of Zofia's from Nantucket, so it was a very fun event to be a part of. Here are a few of the photos I made throughout the day...



I thought this was funny because it's the Maid of Honor's speech and the daily paper. They were in two different rooms, but the combo was interesting to me.
:-)

















Thank you to Zofia, Brianne and Pete for allowing me to be a part of this and to make these images!

And for all those wondering, I treat these wedding Holga images the same way I treat the Holga images I create to display in galleries and other art shows. I personally print these images in the darkroom and tone them for longevity and color, and everything is custom made as well as archival.

Holga Wedding!

On Thursday I tagged along with friends Jamie and Natalie of Borrowed Blue to do something I've been itching to do for quite a while now: to photograph an entire wedding using a Holga! I've tried to bring a Holga along and shoot a roll or two in between regular coverage, but I have found that it doesn't really work as well as it could, since I'm too worried about missing a moment and can't focus on making a really great Holga image. Anyway, I have all the film (yes, film!) finished, and am in the process of editing it. When I finish going through everything, I'll post more images, but I couldn't wait to show this one.
:-)

Thank you Jamie and Natalie for letting me shoot with you, and also thanks to Vanessa and Jesse, the wonderful couple who allowed me to be there on their big day!
(That's Vanessa being escorted to the ceremony by her dad in the photo above...)

Edited to add more images!

AGWPJA - Award Winner!

I just got an e-mail to let me know that the results of the latest AGWPJA (Artistic Guild of the Wedding Photojournalist Association) contest were in, and guess what! I placed 6th in the details category, which means I am now officially a member of the AGWPJA. (Note: As of now, I am only one of four photographers from the state of Maryland to have placed in these contests since the start of the AGWPJA!).

The only way to get into the AGWPJA is to place in the contests, and the only way to get into the contests is to be a WPJA member. To become a WPJA member, you have to shoot weddings in a primarily documentary style.

The image that placed is of bride Aryn, whose wedding I photographed this past October. The image is very close to how I shot it, except I edited out a few bits of tree branch that were in the lower right and pumped up the color slightly. The AGWPJA lets you manipulate photos, but the regular WPJA contest images must be displayed as shot.

The judge's (Joseph Victor Stefanchik, another reason to get excited over placing in this contest!) comments on my photo: "Beautiful blue sky nicely contrasts the bride and her veil."

Also from the e-mail from WPJA and AGWPJA founder David Roberts: "JVS, who judged the contest, expressed that the task was especially challenging for him, because each category was loaded with so many outstanding creative images. It was difficult, he said, to determine the top ten. Yet, he did; and the results are for your review."

See the contest and AGWPJA web site HERE.

India Wedding

As promised, some more photos... this time from the wedding we attended while in India. These are all of our friend, Shivaani, the bride. We were very honored and grateful to be invited to be a part of the wedding festivities, and everyone there was just wonderful to us.

I photographed two of the four days of ceremonies we attended while wearing a saree (the traditional attire for women), which for someone not used to that manner of dress was quite a challenge for me in itself. But I think I got the hang of moving around AND taking photos while wearing it fairly quickly! We were told we could wear western clothes if we felt more comfortable that way, but my philosophy is to soak up as much of the experience as possible. When in Rome, right?