Old Guard Flag detail in front of McClellan Gate at Arlington National Cemetery

Old Guard flag ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, love the tat's.

Reflection of flag on casket at Arlington National Cemetery

Rifle salute by Old Guard at Arlington National Cemetery

The snow missed Arlington so far this year, but not last winter! The Caparisoned Horse

Rain doesn't stop the honor guard band at Arlington National Cemetery

Caisson Team at Arlington exiting through the McClellan Memorial Gate

Navy memorial service at Arlington National Cemetery last month

Air Force Bugler at Arlington National Cemetery following Taps

Christmas Wreaths at Arlington National Cemetery

Old Guard Caisson with Christmas wreaths in background

Arlington National Cemetery Christmas wreaths before the snow.

Marine honor guard in early morning light at Arlington National Cemetery

DC Fashion Week and Juried Exhibition

FashionWeek hit DC last week.

DC Fashion Week is growing with shows last week at 8 different embassies, hotels and other locations. As many will note, we're not New York, but DC Fashion Week is really growing and known for showing a lot of new designers creations from around the world.

In conjunction with DC fashion week a number of our photographs were exhibited at the Carriage House Studio last Friday night and extending through the weekend. The juried exhibit consists of work from The Edge Photography Studio and 13 other local photographers.

The Carriage House Studio is a Co-op of artists and is located just a couple of blocks from the DC convention Center.

Carriage House Studio is in the Logan Circle neighborhood.

1327 Naylor Court NW (entrance behind 918 O St. N.W.)

Washington DC

Thanks to those of you who joined  Ines and I for opening night from 7PM to 10PM on Friday September 24th 2010.

... and remember we can create amazing images for designers that want the Edge.

Blair Underwood and The Event last night.

The Event with Blair Underwood

We already experienced the Event with Blair Underwood earlier this summer.

Blair is the close friend of one of our brides.

He was a guest during her wedding at White Hall Manor in Bluemont Va.

So, if you get lost in the storyline, just drop us a note and we will tell you how our event turned out!

This wedding was lots of fun with a great couple and exciting location, plus Blair whose acting I really appreciate.

Of course Ines and I watched  The Event last night on NBC. We'll  see if it will keep us on the Edge of our seats.

Rest In Peace Boring Wedding Formals that run too long.

 

These are some fun pictures from a recent wedding at Fauquier Springs Country Club with a great bridal party that put up with my insanity.

When Ines and I meet with couples we've discovered a frequent refrain is that the bride and groom have been in lots of bridal parties and hate the length of time that may be spent on formal pictures. Time that could be spent at the cocktail hour with friends, family, and a drink or two. The couple wants to know that we're not going to torture their bridal party, but still get great images. We promise to deliver, in fact even weddings that are running late are frequently back on track as we move quickly through formals that will still impress not just the bride and groom, but their parents as well.

Anyway, this is sort of my vision of what happens when the bridal party lapse into a coma from boring long slooow... formal sessions.

Let's have fun, remember that the wedding day is about your family and friends celebrating the day and still get those pictures unlike any you've ever seen.

Don & Ines Harper

The Edge Photography Studio

South Asian Weddings

We have developed a reputation amongst Indian brides for great photography with reasonable pricing that blends the needs of a modern American bride and also the expectations of their parents for traditional posed pictures. We know not to miss any of the dozens of significant moments in the Hindu ceremonies and celebrations. Keep in mind that most of these events span three or more days.

This image is from a wedding last week at Rosehill Manor here in Leesburg for a New York couple.

We also had the opportunity to photograph their engagement session in Manhattan earlier this summer.

Maybe I should be known as Raj Don

Tennis anyone? match point fifteen love and tennis Regency Dominion Country Club

This is an album collage from one of our spring weddings. Great couple and as you might guess really into tennis.

This was one of those torrential rain Saturday's with waves of rain and than short respites. We raced out during a lull in the rain to capture these quick images before rejoining the reception.

I'm never put off by rain on a wedding day as we always find some great elements that create distinctive images. We find episodes of wonderful light, reflections, saturated colors, colorful skies. In short, the same things that excite landscape photographers work with weddings. The most essential element are bridal couples that are flexible, fun-loving and trust us to deliver something different.

Let's go play in the rain!

Don & Ines Harper

Hemlocks, Windmills and the Purple Fiddle

Yesterday was time for a trip to the West Virginia Highlands including Cathedral State Park on Highway 50 that features super trails through a virgin hemlock forest with an understory of mountain laurel, ferns and mossy downed trees and a small stream.Very easy and level trails make for a short interesting walk.


Ines and I than traveled south along the Cheat River and crossed over to Thomas passing these Windmills The windmills are now in fair numbers around the highlands both west and east of Thomas and the Mt. Storm Power Plant. In Thomas we stopped at the Purple Fiddle cafe for home made ice cream. The Purple Fiddle is eclectic with a splash of blue grass and hippie. They feature a diverse lot of live music groups, One of those places you need to visit and decide for yourself if it's a fit for you.
I think I could have a ball photographing the performers at the cafe with wonderful backgrounds and energy.

Don Harper
at The Edge Photography

Blueberries, Butterflies galore, wildfowers, and great vistas at Dolly Sods WV

It's been a super busy month with Ines designing wedding albums for all of our June brides, creating slide shows and also dealing with our July Arlington Memorial Service albums, videos and slide shows. We finally reached the point where we could attend a concert at Wolf Trap last night (Steve Miller Band) and than turn off the computers today and jump in the Pathfinder for a totally extemporaneous trip.


It's something I've always done. Just get out and go and explore new roads. Today we ended up at Dolly Sods Wilderness area in West Virginia. When we left the house my only goal was altitude with cooler temps. I was thinking Skyline Drive but I was pulled to the west. Our route required navigating some gravel and rutted roads but we ended up at a bit over 4000 feet away from the DC heat with a nice breeze and wonderful vistas that would remind you of the western US.

Actually the area is compared to the ecology of Canada above tree line with rugged rock cairns and paths meandering through blueberry patches. I think Ines could have parked and just spent hours plucking and eating sweet blueberries free of chemicals and whatever.

The streams were quite dry climbing up and down from the high country but what amazed us on top were the huge numbers of butterflies of all types crowded next to each other on the thistle plants. I've been to butterfly habitats at places like Brookside Garden in Montgomery County and Meadowlark Garden in Reston and although they are a great place to photograph butterflies what we found at Dolly Sods was a huge step up in quality and quantity of these lovely creatures.

I would of course want to use a nice short telephoto with macro capability but what I had handy was the Nikon 70-200 f2.8 lens with VR function. This is an image from a quick series I did in just a couple of minutes.

We were home by 6:30PM after a wonderful day of decompressing and now back to processing our July weddings and corporate work. We now have a goal to visit what for us is a new discovery Dolly Sods in the evening and different seasons plus stuffing more blueberries down our gullets. Dolly Sods is very different from lower Canaan Valley and the ski slopes although they do adjoin each other.

One note you may want to avoid this wilderness area if you don't have an SUV or car with good tires.
Don Harper

The Edge Photography Studio