THROW BACK THURSDAY ENGAGEMENT SESSION IN CENTRAL PARK

We are taking you way back to Leyla and Michael's engagement session in New York City. We spent a few days with this lovely couple and photographed them all over the City.

This was Central Park day! We originally had a few different locations on mind for the Park, but did not realize at the time, how far away each place was. We only had a few hours to shoot, as Neal and I were flying home that day. So, we decided to just "go with it". Then we stumbled on this area of the Park. This was actually right near the giant fountain that is in almost every movie that has Central Park in it. 

There were amazing archways. When we walked to them, we had no idea there were mosaic tiled murals covering the walls and ceiling. Placing Leyla and Michael right in the middle was a must. I love the stairs in the back ground with all that natural light pouring in.

I am so happy Neal went into the archives and found this image!

-Danielle

Destination Engagement Photography: Neal Urban Studio

Destination Engagement Photo Location:: New York City, Central Park, Tiffany & Co., Flat Iron District, Waldorf Astoria

Red Shoes, Red Doors

This is Lindsay and Adam. We recently did their engagement photos in Brockport NY.

The village of Brockport that we shot in is very close to SUNY Brockport College. So, it definitely had that college feel. But the store fronts and buildings were so cool to shoot in front of. We were nearing the end of the shoot when we spotted the red doors on a church. They really stood out. The doors would go perfect with their outfits. Because Lindsay had red shoes on, we wanted them to stand out in the image and tie in with the doors. That is why they are not standing on the top stair! That's the only direction Neal game them because Neal was shooting from across the street, so it was hard to yell directions over the passing cars. Lindsay and Adam became pro's at posing throughout the shoot and we lucked out that they were doing everything naturally.

I think they ended the shoot on a great note with their pose for this image!

-Danielle

Destination Engagement Photography: Neal Urban Studio

Destination Engagement Photo Locations: Brockport NY

NYC, CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN, ENGAGEMENT SHOOT!!!!!

Oh I was in heaven for this engagement shoot! We traveled to New York City to do Leyla and Mike's engagement shoot. There were not set plans for shooting the first night. Mostly around Time Square and toward Central Park.

On the way, the store fronts all looked amazing! Then we come across a Christian Louboutin shoe Ferris wheel! How amazing is that window display? And the shoes were really moving around the wheel! Leyla and Mike both loved the idea! We wanted a simple pose because of the background. I was so mesmerized that I couldn't concentrate on lighting. It was pretty funny! Either way, the image is gorgeous!

I hope you enjoy this image as much as I do!

-Danielle

NYC Engagement Photography: Neal Urban Studio

NYC Engagement Photo Location: New York City

FLAT IRON ENGAGEMENT

After talking about yesterdays photo about how clients stories take us to different places... Let's go back a few years! This is from Leyla and Mike's engagement shoot in New York City! NYC was personal to them but they didn't like the "touristy" side of NYC aka Times Square. They wanted the side streets, the shops and of course the hidden secrets of Central Park where they got engaged.

Today's image was done in front of the Flat Iron Building! We did a lot of prep work to get this shot. We arrived in NYC the day before Leyla and Mike got there to scope out locations. Flat Iron district was a must and Neal wanted them in the center of the street in front of the building. I was the test subject! We had to time out the traffic lights and the flow of people crossing the street to know exactly when to take the shot of Leyla and Mike. It took about 2 hours to time everything out. We even had the NYC cops walk by a few times asking what we were doing.

When Leyla and Mike arrived, we started the shoot at night walking around 5th Avenue taking shots of them in front of the fancy store fronts, City Music Hall, Rockefeller Center and headed toward Central Park. Amazing at night!! The next day, we had a private photo shoot at Tiffany's on Fifth Ave! I was in heaven! Leyla was too as she picked out a couple beautiful pieces of jewelry for her wedding. We were literally taking photos behind the scenes in the upstairs offices and private showrooms and on the main showroom floor as they shopped. They even got served champagne while they shopped. Amazing!!!! We then traveled back to Central Park  where they got engaged and then to the Flat Iron.

We told Leyla and Mike exactly what we wanted at the Flat Iron. We mentioned we had it all timed out for them as well. We actually needed to catch a flight right after this location, so we needed it to be perfect in a short amount of time. Mike was so funny. He kept yelling out the timing of everything. We were laughing so hard, we couldn't concentrate. It took about 20 minutes to get the final product. It was everything we could hope for and more.

Now it was time to catch our flight. We stashed our bags in Leyla and Mike's room at the Waldorf Astoria. Little did we know, there was a presidential campaign going on at their hotel and Barrack Obama and Mit Romney were present. Secret Service agents were everywhere and had the place on lockdown. We were freaking out that we would miss our flight. And we needed to get back home for a wedding. Then out of nowhere, a Secret Service Agent saw us struggling with all our gear and escorted us out of the hotel and got us a cab! We made it just in time for flight. We felt so important that a guy who protects the President gave us an escort!

This was a great story with amazing images for Leyla and Mike. They were so down to earth and treated us to late night dinners, breakfasts' at the Waldorf and lunches in the city. They seriously treated us as friends and we couldn't be more grateful for their kindness. We were so excited for them that they made the cover of our recent book "The Art of Engagements".

Leyla & Mike recently welcomed their first child a couple weeks ago. We could not be happier for them. They're going to be the best parents ever. We have one more shoot with them and can't wait to document more memories for them.

-Danielle

NYC Wedding Engagement Photography: Neal Urban Studio

NYC Engagement Photo Location: NYC, Flat Iron building

ENGAGEMENT IN CENTRAL PARK

Did you know there is a castle in Central Park, in New York City? It's called Belvedere Castle. It is actually featured in a lot of movies. I never knew it was there until we did the shoot.

What an adventure. You never really know how big Central Park is, until you are looking for somewhere specific. We started out by trying to find a giant rock formation where the Groom proposed! We found it! Then of course we went to the fountain area featured in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. We couldn't skip that. (We really liked the staircase leading to the fountain better!) But then we needed to find Belveder Castle. On the map, it seemed pretty close.

The best part was, we still had another stop outside of the park before we had to catch our flight home. We were running around Central Park on a mission. Finally, the castle was in sight. Little did we know, to get onto the grounds, it was at the opposite end of where we were. The couple was amazing and didn't mind at all if it was just in the background. We had already been to the main places they wanted to stop at. This was a bonus stop. We already did a lot of standing poses, so it was time to change it up. And after the long journey to the castle, it was time for a break.

We had the couple sit down and just relax. Neal had them enjoy the scenery and every now and then look at eachother. We wanted the image to feel like they were enjoying a picnic (minus the basket, food, and wine haha). And it does. It's as though they are stealing a few hours to themselves, without the hustle and bustle of the city.  A beautful and simple image. 

-Danielle

Photography by Neal Urban Studio 

Hotel accomodations - Waldorf Astoria