Treasure the Moments Photography

Camilla & Norman Wedding 2/15/09

2009-02-18T23:00:00.006-05:00

Wedding is a Fantasy, my job is to amplify that fantasy!

2009-02-18T21:56:00.004-05:00

Wedding is one big fantasy, how often is it that we spend $5,6,7000 on a dress that we are planning to wear only once? invite 150-200 people for dinner and take care of the bill? How often do we blow $100,000 in a single day? FANTASY!!!

As a photographer, I recognize that fact, thus my job is to amplify that fantasy! My job is to make my bride look her absolute best. Brides tell me that I am silly, goofy, funny up until they see their photographs. They love them, they cry, they laugh and they remember all the emotions that they were feeling at the moment the photograph was taken.

I don't have a problem making a fool out of myself to make my bride and groom show off the emotions and feelings without a single reservation, hold back or embarrassment.

I just came back from a meeting with a bride that wants to book Treasure the Moments Photography to document her wedding day. The first thing she told me is that she wants the photographer to be a "fly on the wall".

I am sorry, a fly on the wall? You are booking a photographer, you are spending $5-$10,000 don't you want to know that the photographer is actually there and you are getting your money's worth? Bottom line is that now a days anybody can TAKE a picture, the camera's are great and if you give a 3 year old a point a shoot and ask them to take a photo, well one out of 20 shots might be usable. How many times do I see guests at a wedding photographing themselves? They don't even need us anymore :-).

On the other hand, how many can CREATE a photograph, evoke the emotion, create the moment? I love playing games with my couples, I want them to have fun. Some purists claim that I am imposing my own ideas onto my clients.... Well I am not, I am merely offering a suggestion that I know will cause a reaction. I have no idea what reaction but I will be there in the right place in the right time and capture it, making it look like the most photojournalistic moment has just occurred and I have captured it.

There are moments that you can not physically wait to occur. Or that magic will never happen.
Many photographers I talk with often tell me that I am lucky. Lucky??? I absolutely do not believe in luck. I work my behind off to get the photographs that my clients get.

I photograph each wedding with an incredible sense of urgency, honestly, photographing weddings for over 13 years I still feel that if I don't do my absolute best on the wedding day, i will be killed. This helps me be creative. So when photographers tell me I am lucky, that brides that they get are not "working it", I always tell them that absolutely not YOU ARE NOT WORKING IT!

Bottom line, I love photographing weddings, I think I will be doing what I love until the day that I crossover to another world. In the meantime, if you are a photographer do it for the love and the passion that have originally got you into photography.

Greg Khitrov 2009

Underwater World in Riviera Maya Mexico

2009-02-03T16:06:00.004-05:00

As you may already know, we have come back from Mexico. In addition to photography my passion has always been an underwater world. Here are just a few of my favorite photographs from our snorkeling trip off the coast of Riviera Maya, Mexico.

Family Vacation

2009-01-29T07:42:00.010-05:00

We at Treasure the Moments spent the whole winter revamping, reviewing and redesigning from our services to our website. As you might have noticed our website has changed, please feel free to comment on the feel and quality of the website.

Finally after the hard work, time was to take the family to a winter vacation. This year we decided to go to Mexico, Riviera Maya to be exact.

(you can click on the image to make it larger)

Here I am posting some of my favorite images from the trip.

(You can click on the image to make it larger)

Wedding of Jessica and Wellington 11/09/08

2008-11-09T22:04:00.008-05:00

Can you tell what she is telling him?

Groom with his best men, who is also his younger brother

Mother of the bride during the ceremony

Now how can the pro compete with this?

Inspired

2008-11-09T00:10:00.015-05:00

About a week ago I have afforded an opportunity to listen to one of my favorite wedding photographers, Jerry Ghionis. He is an Australian photographer with an amazing ability to see light. He has opened up a completely different world for me with his ideas about light utilization.

So this past Friday I had a beautiful wedding of Shanna and Kevin and I could not wait to try some of the new things that I have learned on this lucky couple.

For example this is a photograph of a bride (Shanna) who is by the way 6 months pregnant. Congratulations! I have never looked at reflection before, I have never paid attention to them up until this recent seminar. So this is what I get when I sit the bride in front of a grand piano and bring a kind of a stained glass very close to her left side.

One bride is great, four however is better :-). I could have easily created this photograph in Photoshop, but being able to capture it "live" and convert your vision into reality is priceless. For my light I have used the light that happened to be in the room. I shut off all the lights in the room, closed all the blinds and asked the bride to look at the light and reflect on her childhood growing up in this house. Isn't this an incredible portrait?

Here is another one of my favorites:

The bride just got into her limo to go to church. Mom and dad have escorted her and helped her into the car. For a split second, the bride happened to open the window and I saw this increadible image in my head with bride looking at her parent for the last time as a single girl and the parents reflection and emotion seen in the reflection of the limo's window.

This to me is a priceless image that this bride will cherish for the rest of her life.

Here is another image inspired by Jerry. This is a photograph of a groom right before ceremony in the back room behind the alter. The light was terrible as always, but I saw this little window from the side. I have asked the alter boy to turn off all the light, I set the groom on the chair and asked to fix his coller. How coold does this look? Than I asked him to look up at me while he is fixing his collar, take a look at the second shot.

The best man was also in the room with the groom so I really wanted to capture the emotion, the fun and the joy of Kevin's special day. Using the same light from that window I have asked the two brothers to be themselves and just chat and "hang".

Here are few more shots from that day.

Claudia and Greg Love Story

2006-06-29T08:06:00.000-04:00

NYC is absolutely beautiful this time of the year, at the same time it is warm and especially yesterday muggy. However, at around 6pm the temperature in NYC specifically in Central Park has raised tremendously. As later learned this sudden increase in temperature was due to true love of two people Greg and Claudia as they have reenacted their engagement day at the Conservatory Garden. To see their pictures please click here, also if you wish to see their collage of their special day please click here.

Lisa and Manny: True Love, comes in small packages

2006-06-25T15:06:00.000-04:00

On Saturday June 24, 2006 once again I had an honor and a privilege to photograph a very special wedding of Lisa and Manny, special, because Saturday was truly their day. The wedding was comprised of only their true loved ones. Unlike many weddings that I photograph, brides and grooms know approximately 15% of their guests. For Lisa and Manny that was not a problem. Thus it is my pleasure to show you a quick collage of their day, and completely designed album will follow shortly. In the meantime, the photographs are available on line. Please use "love1" as the password to access the wedding.
Enjoy.

Artistically yours,
Greg

Alicia & Paul check out your album

2006-05-02T21:10:00.000-04:00

Wow!!! What a wedding, I personally loved the red, i think it makes your album look even better due to such bright colors. At any rate, I am sorry that it took me so long to put your album together, but I trully want you to absorb the emotions as much as I have during the making. Feel free to click here to see your album.

Christopher and Christine's Romantic Photoshoot!

2006-05-01T00:16:00.001-04:00

One of the most beautiful days in NYC I have shared with a loving couple, Christine and Christopher. They could not have picked a better day to document and reenact that romantic day when Christopher proposed to Christine for the first time! The garden looked exceptional today, one of my favorite times of the year to photograph "love birds", because love is not the only thing that blossoms in the park this time of the year. As we were going through the park Christine and Christopher had a chance to look into the not so distant future, Sept. 24 2006... Their Wedding Day. Brides generally love Conservatory garden for picture opportunities, and today was this magical day that drew 2 completely separate brides to this exuberant location. Christine and Christopher I wish to congratulate you on your engagement and wish you stress free wedding preparations. You should check with me more frequently to see new addition s to this blog. This includes addition of actual photographs.

Feel free to comment and share your experience with myself and brides to be.

See you on your wedding day!

L8er,

Greg

Click on photo to see the rest

Congratulations to Alicia & Paul!

2006-04-30T12:42:00.000-04:00

Dear Alicia and Paul,

Please allow me once again congratulate you with your absolutely wonderful and joyous wedding yesterday. The day went by and now you are husband and wife! How does that feel? I consider myself lucky to be part of your very creative celebration. The images will speak for themselves, however, I have to stress on the fact that your photographs would not be the way they are not without your enthusiasm, creativity and spirit.

Therefore, as promised I have put together a quick collage of your photos which can be seen here. By tonight I will have all the photographs uploaded onto my website which you, your friends and your family are free to visit, as well as order if they please. Please don't forget to tell your loved ones the password. If you forgot email or call me.

Best wishes yet again and I will be in touch by tomorrow.

L8er,
Greg

Alicia & Paul in love and ready to get married

2006-04-25T10:23:00.000-04:00

I am so excited, this is my first time blogging and I would like to share an exciting story of two people who I have met to photograph their wedding. Alicia and Paul. A beautiful couple has booked me to document their special day last year. With most of my packages I offer a romantic photo shoot at the location of their choice. Well their choice was central park in NYC. To be specific Conservatory garden located on 105 and 5th Ave in NYC. Alicia and Paul were so into the photo shoot and they were so romantic I could not stop photographing them. I think our mutual enthusiasm has paid off in the end.

To make their photoshoot complete I have put together a slide show of their special time which can be viewed here.

Well their special day is coming on Sat April 29th and I will make sure to post a collage of images as well as their album as soon as Monday of next week.
L8er for now.
Greg