Me and De Niro ..

Normality is finally returning to the O'Neill household. I'm back from the States, more or less recovered from my jet-lag and hard at work editing the amazing Wedding of Jill and Dan. I was so lucky to be able to go over to Salem, near Boston, to photograph their Big Day. I managed to take over all my gear - give or take the odd tripod and lighting stand - and so was able to work just as I do in the UK. Well, not exactly, as Wedding photographs in America are taken before the ceremony, which worked out really well as that was at 5pm, and already dark ..

It was also rather amusing to know that I've now worked in the same room as Robert De Niro! Just days before I went to America I watched a really good film called 'Joy', starring Jennifer Laurence and our man Bob. An interesting fact in the hotel's info pack was that some of the scenes from the film were shot in the same room as our Wedding, and I couldn't wait to put the film back on and find out which. Well, check out the mirror in The Grand Ballroom. I'd had my eye on that for a shot - two becoming one and all that - and there it is, slap bang in the middle of De Niro's drunken 'Wedding toast' scene! Thank goodness Jill's Wedding went off better than Jen's ...

Done it! ..

It's the morning after the day before. I've finished my first Wedding shoot in America, and what a fantastic day it was. Thank God the Yanks do things the 'wrong way round' because, with the ceremony starting at 5pm, I'd have had no chance of getting any daylight pictures of the bride and groom. Fortunately for me the Americans shoot their photography before the Wedding ceremony so we had plenty of time to get out and about on the common adjacent to the hotel ..

The whole experience has been amazing and now it's time to head home and edit the work. Obviously I'll be sharing pictures as soon as I can but, in the meantime, have a nice day, y'all ..

Cheers! ..

Apparently it's been rather cold at home, but I wouldn't know as I'm finally over in America to shoot my long-awaited Wedding. I've had a few days in New York and a couple in Boston, and today it's a short trip to Salem and the Wedding before heading home at the weekend ..

I'm feeling quite the jet-set snapper, too. Whilst I've been over here I've had an enquiry to photograph a Wedding in France. How exciting! Tres bon, mes amis ..

So, it's all eyes to the weather gods now. It's been hammering down all the time I've been in New England though, as I write this at 7am, there are slivers of blue sky reappearing after two days absence. The only other disappointment? I went to Cheers Bar last night and nobody knew my name .. though apparently that's the Norm. Oh ha ha ha ...

To America ..

Well, I know where I'll be next December. I'll be in Boston, USA ..

I was delighted yesterday to be invited to shoot a Wedding there next Winter. A chap who was the Best Man at a Wedding I photographed here moved over there last year, and has just got engaged to his lovely American girlfriend. He emailed to ask if I'd consider shooting their Big Day and - after 0.2 milliseconds consideration - I said Yes! How exciting!..

It's been a while since I've been to The States, although I used to visit frequently when .. well, when I had more money! I once flew to Detroit on an airline's inaugural flight just because the tickets were so cheap .. but when it dawned on me that that flight would only be about two weeks after returning from New York I had to come up with a reason for going back to America. I came up with the idea of a fund-raising challenge, whereby I'd spend an entire week travelling on Greyhound Buses and see how many cities I could visit. Folks, I got to 27 .. and it took my backside another four weeks to get over the numbness! I think I'll be in for an easier ride next year ...

Boston ..

By a bizarre quirk of fate I had already planned to show you this photograph on my blog today, as it's one of the latest additions to my 'Seen..' project on Flickr. After last night's bombings in Boston I wavered a little over my choice, but I've decided to leave it in as a mark of respect to those poor people whose beautiful lives were so tragically cut short. One of the reasons I was going to show the shot was because I wanted to wax lyrical about the wonders of Spring and how, despite everything, it's so amazing to be in the middle of all this burgeoning new life. It's all we can do to honour those murdered by terrorism - in whatever country - to try to hold in our minds that it is, it really is, a wonderful world we live in!