how I work:
I work alone covering small wedding parties. As a single person you blend in easier into the wedding party. Larger wedding parties may require an assistant.

language/ communication:
I am fluent in English, Spanish and German, so communication with the bride or groom and the hotel staff or any other person will be easy.

images in my web galleries:
The images you see in my web galleries are all shot/ produced by myself.

traditional wedding photography or photojournalism style:
I tend to cover a wedding from a relaxed Caribbean outlook on life, combining traditional and classical photography elements with a salt and pepper dose of photojournalism.

digital, color or B&W:
I started to switch to digital photography in 2001. By late 2005 I was shooting exclusively in the digital media and sold my last film camera. It made sense to me because I live in the Dominican Republic and reputable processing labs were few in the country.
I shoot almost exclusively in RAW, not a in camera compressed JPG file format. RAW images captured can be processed in a number of high end RAW converter/ programs and allow you more flexibility in post-processing. Think of a RAW file as a digital negative or a slide. Subsequent copies offer the highest quality attainable in the digital medium.
I find that at this stage (in the digital darkroom), images often beg to be seen in B&W or a Sepia tone conversion. The shooting location, background, time of day and the subject play a big role in what looks better at the end, color or B&W.

time of day/ lighting:
I prefer to shoot any wedding in daylight using at least to some degree natural lighting. Late afternoons are great. Well illuminated locations produce better night time results even with the use of flash. Despite a contrary misconception; images taken on slightly overcast days turn out great, favoring great skin tones and the light has a softer quality overall. Yes, we do get overcast days, but more so during the winter months...

seasons/ weather:
The Caribbean weather is generally humid, hot and sunny, especially in the summer months. It also varies quite a bit depending on the location relative to the Caribbean basin. In the winter the northern islands like Hispañiola do feel bad weather traveling across the US, specially if the jet stream is pushed far south. For detailed local weather there are numerous sites to consult, Surfline is one of them. Or click on one of the Weather Underground links at the bottom right of this page!

wedding packages/ expenses:
I offer two packages (include one photographer) that differ mostly in the duration of the allocated shooting time, not the coverage overall. I live on the north coast of the DR (Dominican Republic), in Cabarete. When I travel as a wedding photographer to Punta Cana, or anywhere else outside of Puerto Plata province I allocate an expense budget to cover additional costs, transportation, lodging etc.

equipment/ gear:
I use high end Canon digital SLR cameras and accessories and backup units for all items. Files get saved and backed up on external hard drives.

delivery of final product:
The selected and edited images from the shoot are burned to data DVD in a lossless TIFF format. (CD's are getting too small most days now).
I addition I add a small JPG image downsized to send via email and a html-gallery file to browse through all images on the disc quickly.

A selection of 8.5 x 11" (letter size) prints and a online gallery/ slideshow is also part of any package.

The DVD and the prints are handed to the newlyweds wile they are still on the island!

Back to my Wedding Photo Galleries!