CT Wedding Photographer Val Nanovsky

Traveling, they say, enriches you – in a number of ways. You come back home refreshed, invigorated and wiser.  This year I took a long trip to Europe. I had my own 10-year wedding anniversary there, but along with that I wanted to capture some of the amazing beauty of this part of the world, from my own perspective as a wedding photographer.

One of the countries I went to was my own birthplace, Bulgaria. There’s always something new and exciting to learn about each place you visit, sometimes at the most unexpected moment. So here I am, in the plane on the way from Frankfurt to Sofia, sitting next to two Bulgarian women, chatting about their trip to this magical karst area near Lovech. They were showing me these mesmerizing images they took, and I was totally hooked.

With a little bit of research I found out the location, and two weeks later, here we are, along with Deni, our amazing bride/model. Deni was sparkling in every possible way, and I had the time of my life photographing so much of this unique beauty. Check it out.

THE PORTRAITS:

DEVETASHKA CAVE

Southeastern Europe is rich in big and impressive caves. Several A380s can fit in the front opening of Devetashka Cave, that’s how massive this place is. It is relatively dry and mild, which makes it perfect for bridal photography. You can see a huge chunk of the blue sky through the openings on the ceiling, and everything is so surreal you’d easily think it’s a part of a Star Wars episode (that’s right, I am a big SW fan).

KRUSHUNA WATERFALLS

is no less amazing. The area has its own micro climate, flora and fauna that separate it quite distinctively from the rest of the country side. Think Maui, Kauai, the Big Island. Think colors, green, lush… Think drowning the gown and having a ton of fun in the crystal water…. Yeah, this happens once in a lifetime. Enjoy.

Model: Deni Sharankova
Dress: Romantika Fashion, Sofia, Bulgaria

P.S. No harm whatsoever was done to the dress. We never intended to “trash” it, and at this point it is dry cleaned, looking brand new, comfortably resting in the closet. Amen.

See you around,

Your Pal Val

a.k.a. Valdorama CT Wedding Photographers

Hey there everyone,

It is late Tuesday night, and I want to post this as quickly as possible for you, so I’ll be real short and get to the point right away.

OUR FIRST PLACE WINNER IS:

This gorgeous Southwest slot canyon photo is a fine example how amazingly beautiful our planet is.  For the photo bums, here’s some of the technical info: Nikon D90, Adobe RGB, 18mm, f11, 1/6 sec. Congratulations to our winner, Dani Hristova, who just netted a real fun portrait session with Valdorama!

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

We had some really tight competition between the honorable mentions. My sincere congrats to Heidi Lee, Debbie Staley, Jeffrey Walsh, Neli Gocheva & Olga Petkova whose images are displayed above!

And of course, a BIG BIG thank you to all of you who contributed to this idea and submitted your photos! Every single one of them meant so much to me! This year we had a lot of people taking part – many more than last year – and next time we will try to make the contest even bigger and better. As always, I encourage everybody to get out with a camera and enjoy to the fullest what Mother Nature has to offer, leaving nothing but footsteps and camera clicks behind. The results are absolutely beautiful, and I hope to see more and more of these gorgeous photos in the forthcoming contests.

Once again, congratulations to everybody!

Shoot away, have fun, go green, love, respect and protect Mother Nature!

Yours truly,

Val

Valdorama CT Wedding Photographers

Hi everyone,

Just like last year, we are putting together an Earth Day Landscape Photo Contest, and this year it is getting even bigger!

April 22 is the official Earth Day, and all that counts is your participation. You don’t need to be a pro or even an avid enthusiast to participate. Valdorama encourages EVERYONE to take part. It’s FUN and it’s EASY (just email me your photos). It will be a wonderful opportunity to raise more awareness about what is happening to our planet – especially in the light of the nuclear tragedy in Japan. By sharing our images  we’ll generate more appreciation and show everybody how beautiful our planet is.

The winner will be getting a Valdorama GREEN artistic outdoor portrait session – for you, your loved ones, your kids, family or friends! The best part: it’s ON ME!

HERE’S HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR PHOTOS:

* There is no charge to participate. The contest is open and FREE to all residents of Connecticut (CT), Massachusetts (MA),  NYC and Rhode Island (RI);

* Send your images to valdoramaphoto@yahoo.com 
The subject should be “Earth Day Photo Contest”;

* You can submit up to 3 (three) landscape photographs;

* You need to be the author of the photo and be able to prove authorship;

* Images should depict wild places with no traces of human activity. Flora and fauna are acceptable, as long as the subject is wild, and not domesticated;

* There are NO constraints as to which season / which year your images are taken – give me your best shots of all time;

* Physical size – up to 1024 x 768 px, @72 dpi;

* File format: JPEG or PNG;

* It is OK to watermark your images should you feel the need for that;

* Images will be judged based on 4 main factors:

1. Originality,
2. Impact,
3. Composition,
4. Technical execution;

* Results will be announced on this blog on Tuesday, April 26th;

* This year we’ll be having ALL HONORABLE MENTIONS ONLINE displayed in a gallery on this blog, along with the winners
(make sure you are OK with having your images posted online before submitting);

* If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment (below) or send me an email at valdoramaphoto@yahoo.com

GOOD LUCK TO ALL PARTICIPANTS, and I am looking forward to your beautiful landscapes!

- Valdorama CT Wedding Photographers,
a.k.a. Your Pal Val

Hey folks,

I’ve got something really exciting for you this time. It starts with a well-known green wedding business in Boston, MA, called SEAMS and specializing in custom hand made bridal fashion. Through the use of natural fibers and organic materials they can make your dream wedding dress a reality for you. Their owner, Harper Della-Piana has created costumes for Batman Forever, Spin City, Saturday Night Live, and The Late Show with David Letterman, Martha Stewart Living Magazine, Victoria’s Secret, Max Factor, among others …WOW!

I was recently approached by Harper with the idea to photograph some of her latest creations, two British Royal-themed bridal dresses. To the already off-the-beaten-path idea we added some punk-rock flavor, threw in a bit of snowy New England outdoor charm, and boy, what a TOTAL BLAST we had taking the actual photos!

The team was joined by Amanda Wilkes with her make up magic, and man, what an amazing job she did… absolutely breathtaking. Brides, don’t forget to check out the contact info below. Amanda is a HOT HOT HOT ticket!

There are models, and then there is Miss Q. What can I say… I can’t really say much, lol :) From the very beginning to the very end… so many creative directions, and so many reincarnations… she nailed absolutely every single one of them. With a bang. I am so happy to get to know her. And from my perspective now, I really couldn’t think of a better person for something like this. Miss Q ROCKS! Hats off.

…Enough talk. Time to see the goodies. Here we go:

THE PREPARATIONS

THE PORTRAITS

THE ROYAL DRESS

THE BLACK & WHITES

THE BLUES… LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN… HERE WE COME

Here’s some contact info for you. Psssssst! It’s TOP SECRET! Have fun ;)

SEAMS:
1.978.473.3398
http://seamstheshop.com

Amanda Wilkes | Makeup Artist:
1.781.662.5204
http://www.styleseat.com/amandawilkes?referrer=fbshare&image=16767

Amen.

See you around,

- Your Pal Val (a.k.a. CT Wedding Photographer Val Nanovsky)

Hey folks,

Late Sunday morning right now… listening to one of my favorite Pink Floyd albums and enjoying the warmth of the coffee my wife just made for me. Mmmmm…. sweet.

Video has been the main thing I’ve been working on these days, and what you are about to see shows some behind the scenes details from a post wedding Underwater Afterglow photo shoot I did earlier this year. It’s been a while after I did this shoot and I really wanted to take you with me and show you what it’s like at these sessions (check out some of the actual photos here and here).

To be honest, I never thought I’d enjoy doing this the way I did …And I think I am falling in love with this type of bridal photography. The more I do it, the more I am itching, and the more cool ideas start hitting my head… it’s so inspiring. And so fun! Oh boy, we had such a blast, every single one of us.

Enough said. See for yourself.

Again, this project would not have been possible without the help, hard work and dedication of every single one involved. Kudos guys, we made it!

Time to relax in front of the fireplace and finish my coffee.

Stay warm & tuned. More cool stuff is on the way.

Your Pal Val, a.k.a.

CT Wedding Photographer Val Nanovsky

Wow, now that I am looking at the images, I am like… WOW!

We decided to put the spotlight on Val this time, while both Nick and I were having fun behind our cameras. And boy, what a blast all of us had! As far as I remember, I haven’t had any of my grooms grab a camera and start photographing his bride from behind my shoulder during my post-wedding sessions. That added so much energy and vibe to the shoot. And Val was so comfortable interacting with Nick, which helped me capture some of her true beauty from aside. There was almost nothing posed or directed by me… totally love it when things evolve into something like that.

Another thing to rave about… we captured the last tiny bit of this season’s fall foliage in full color, which is totally unique here in Connecticut as many of you probably know. Just a couple of days after our session a storm hit and the leaves were gone…  I am so glad we got them while still on the trees.

Once again Val & Nick, my sincere congratulations! …Just finished the album and sent it to the Italians… came out absolutely gorgeous, can’t wait to show it to you when it’s ready!

- Connecticut Wedding Photographer Val Nanovsky,

a.k.a. Your Pal Val

Hi everyone,

As any photographer, I love going out and taking pictures – just for the heck of it. Breathing the air and feeling the smell of old leaves on the ground. Listening to the sounds of the creek and the birds in the forest…  There is a special type of personal satisfaction one draws from this type of communication with the surrounding area.

Lately, as the wedding season has been winding down and fall foliage here in CT has been reaching its peak, I’ve been scouting the area for new locales for my engagement and after-wedding photo sessions next season. And a really interesting fact keeps popping up each time I go out with my camera.  It is absolutely amazing how close to home these places can be. You only have to look around and open up your eyes a little more.

Below I’ve put together some casual images I took while hiking in Glastonbury and Windham, CT, only about 30-40 minutes away from where I live. The images were shot the last couple of weeks – some earlier than others, hence the change of color from predominantly green to yellow and red. Along with the obvious geographical convenience, these two places are very softly lit almost throughout the day. The lighting is perfect for shoots pretty much any time you go there, which is just so cool for my clients.

And speaking of clients, all photos were taken with you, my CT brides in mind. Look at these wild places and try to imagine yourselves there. There is nothing more beautiful and breathtaking than a bride added to that scene. I can’t tell you how much I am psyched about next year. Can’t wait!

WINDHAM:

GLASTONBURY 1:

GLASTONBURY 2: