Happy Valentine's Day

Dream in Plastic - Analog Exhibit

I was honored to be a part of Dream in Plastic's first gallery exhibit, Analog. The images had to have been shot with a toy camera.

Dream in Plastic is located in Beacon, New York and sells toy cameras (and lots of other gems).

The exhibit ended in September but I forgot to blog about it. Oops.

Things I Love

From the section of my website (www.aprilrocha.com) entitled
"Things I Love"

Bette Davis or Montgomery Clift movies

Anything written or sung by Joni Mitchell

Antique shopping

Photographing deserted towns

Visiting used bookstores

The smell of the beach

Collecting vintage cameras

A beautiful meadow

Dahlia flowers

Vintage postcards of Los Angeles, Santa Monica or
Catalina Island

Diana Images

I have mixed emotions about the purchase I just made.

As many of you know I love toy cameras and I love film. Well I purchased something where I can shoot with a toy camera lens with my digital camera. It's called the
Diana F+ Lens Adaptor and it's sold by Lomography.

I went out the other day and tried it out with my Diana Close-up Lens.

Featured in Victoria Magazine - May/June Issue

One of my favorite magazines for many years was Victoria Magazine. It ceased publication a few years ago and last year it was revived and I was always happy to see it again in my mailbox every couple of months.

A long, long time ago I sent them one of my business cards hoping to one day be featured in their "Calling Cards" feature. Well it finally happened and I got a box of the issue on my doorstep today even though the issue doesn't come out until April 21.

What a great way to start my Easter weekend!!

Through the lens of her camera, April Rocha captures the sincere romance of a wedding day with images that last a lifetime. By focusing on the meaningful details of a couple's special ceremony, she creates the ultimate artistic expression with pictures that evoke true emotion.

Diana F+ with Close-Up Lens

These images were shot with the newly produced Diana F+ camera with Close-Up Lens.

I hope to include these images in my upcoming garden project (one of these days I'm going to have to come up with a better project title.)

Mike and Deborah's Wedding

I met Deborah Obad in 1994. We shared an office together the size of a shoe box at the Shapiro-Lichtman Agency and thank goodness we got along so well. She has since become my best friend and I was honored to shoot her wedding last year to the lovely man in her life, Mike Kampler. My good friend Laurie Bailey also shot that day and we both love how the photos came out. She's been married now just over a year and I never shared the images of her wedding until now. These are my four favorites from the day.

What Makes Me Unique

For the last few months I've wanted to make some sort of presentation explaining what makes my photography unique.

Well I finally put a slideshow together and I just love it.

Pay special attention to the Pentax camera. It's the camera I got in high school and I shoot all of my infrared with that camera.

Juan and Kim at the Villa Bellefontaine

Before I shoot any wedding if I am not familiar with the wedding site I scout it a couple of days before the big day.

Juan and Kim's wedding took place at a friend's 5-acre estate in Duarte (a gated community called Bradbury Estates). The Villa Bellefontaine Estate was a wedding photographer's dream and the minute I drove up I knew I had to rent a Hasselblad X-Pan camera for the big day. This incredible panoramic camera was a great addition to my repertoire as the three panoramic photographs below attest.

I somehow can't get the images any larger on my blog. However, if you click on the images you can a larger view of them. The square image is from my ever reliable vintage Diana camera.

Juan and Kim were a lovely bride and groom and it was a really wonderful wedding. Kim looked like a princess in a castle with Juan as her prince.

How I love my Diana Camera

I've known about Diana cameras for a long time but did not own one until recently. While I have loved other photographers work with this camera I now love my own work with this camera.

This is one is of Jennifer and Cory at the barn at Orcutt Ranch.

Jaclyn & Marchelino's Wedding

This is my favorite photo from Jaclyn and Marchelino's wedding. It was shot with a Diana camera, which is an old toy camera from the 1950's.

The wedding took place at a private estate Le Rose Chateau and will be featured soon on a new WE Network series called Platinum Weddings. I can't wait to see the wedding on television.