CT Wedding Photographer Val Nanovsky

Hey everyone,

Punta Cana is one of those special spots where you find beauty almost anywhere, any time of the day. The place is truly breathtaking – in every sense of the word. Add to that the fact I was photographing Mari & Ben’s destination wedding – such an amazingly beautiful event – and you get the formula for pictures hard to forget.

For the first part of our Afterglow session we went to the beach, where the sunrise colors were nothing short of spectacular. During my initial scouts of the beach a couple of days prior to this shoot I discovered this amazing palm tree, apparently hit by a hurricane and almost leveled with the ground. I also found a couple of coconuts, still intact, and I stashed two of them in the shrubs, hoping that no one would find them. That morning they were still there, and boy, what a wonderful addition they were to the shoot. While we were walking around the weather changed several times, and gave us an opportunity to capture some of its wet facet, with wind and tropical sprinkles in the lens. What a treat!

We finished the session with a quick dip in the pool and a chance to photograph Mari and Ben’s love through the ripples and bubbles of the crystal water. That in itself was an experience of a lifetime. I had my mask and snorkel on, and with each shot things were getting more and more exciting. I truly hope some day I can get the footage Mari’s dad was shooting so that I can show you some of the backstage action, LOL :)

Once again Mari & Ben, thank you so so much for making me a part of your very special day. It was such a pleasure, and a true honor to be with you. Congratulations, and may you celebrate every day of your lives together the way we celebrated your wedding!

BEACH 1:

BEACH 2:

POOL:

Yours truly,

Val

a.k.a. Valdorama CT Wedding Photographers

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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 folks,

After an amazing e-session and a gorgeous wedding at the Water’s Edge in Westbrook CT, round 3 of our photo adventures with Sarah & Scott continues with their Underwater Afterglow session.  Every single Afterglow session is unique, and this one was not an exception. Water was the main idea of the shoot, but because of the cold weather we had to go indoors so we decided to do the shoot at the brand new Indian Valley YMCA in Ellington.

Mamma Mia, what a place! It made us feel right at home.  Sarah was having the time of her life. Scott was assisting with many things around us, and having an absolute blast… …how many times do you see your wife swimming in a pool in a bridal gown!? LOL…

Here’s what came out:

Finally I wanted to extend my sincere thanks to John and Kim from YMCA for so generously providing their beautiful facilities to us and helping us make all this happen. Thank you so so much! You made us feel right at home, and our whole experience was so amazing.

If you are from the Greater Hartford area, East of the River, and are looking for an all-in-one workout facility, Indian Valley YMCA is the place. It is absolutely amazing, and everybody there is totally awesome. Here’s how you can find them:

http://www.ghymca.org/indian/

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

Hey everyone,

I can’t find enough words to tell you how much fun this session was. Dani got wet in this beautiful river in her white dress, her veil up in the air …with the beautiful green forest surrounding this little piece of heaven…  …Danny Kash did an amazing job with the video, and in the mean time had the pleasure of learning some exquisite phrases from the land of Cyril and Methodius. Mike, who had seen what not in the fly fishing world, was in charge of catching a fish and choreographing its moves in front of the camera. Way to go Mike, beautiful job!

This photo session, as crazy as it might look, was a dream come true for me – in so many ways.  I absolutely loved it, …couldn’t get enough of it! Once bitten by the bug, it is now official -  Underwater Afterglow sessions will be definitely a part of my wedding photography collections next year. I am so excited, I can’t wait!

…On to the photos. Have fun :)

FISHY GALLERY:

SUNSET GALLERY:

Ciao,

Your Pal Val
a.k.a CT Wedding Photographer Val Nanovsky

P.S.
*    The video from this photo shoot  is now in production. Spicy backstage footage with all the fun, excitement, and how we did everything is coming up shortly. Stay tuned. If that makes it easier, you might want to subscribe for email notifications in the upper right corner – quick, simple, efficient, no spam, no third parties involved. You’ll be the first to know when this comes online. See you around!

Hey folks,

Every once in a while you need to reinvent yourself, they say. I’ve been thinking about my post-wedding sessions for a while. I really wanted to go outside of the box and do something different, more glamorous, exciting, wilder, sexier.

There were several possible directions to explore, but somehow the water theme was always in my head. …It had to be in or around water, period. That’s is how the idea about this photo session came up. The goal was to explore bridal beauty underwater, in a natural environment.

Salmon River in Colchester is one of the few bodies of water in CT where the water is crystal clear and you can spot fish at the peak of summer and use them as a decor. Add to that the beauty of the rocks around the river, the green forest, the blue sky, and there you go…

The initial plan was kind of ambitious and we had to script everything and divide it it into several parts. We started with a couple of portraits and dry shots, just to warm things up. Here’s what came out from this first part:

*    *    *

Of course,  a project like this couldn’t happen without help. And help deserves its credits. My sincere thanks to:

Dani – for so gracefully accepting to be our model, and for her patience and desire to learn. Thank you thank you thank you, you were awesome!!!
Danny Kash – The Major Goodtimes® Guy,  The One and Only! – for the great job he did videographing the whole shoot, but primarily – for his awesome attitude, friendship and support. Kudos man, you ROCK!
…and last, but definitely not least,
Mike Bryce – for his big heart and volunteering to come down to the river on a hot busy weekend and land that fish for us. What can I say…

Stay tuned, the next part of the shoot will be on the blog real soon. You’ll see how a fish and a bride look like together underwater in front of the camera. And to spice things up, this time we shot video too – with all the details behind the scenes. …Coming up soon.

Love,

Your Pal Val

a.k.a. CT Wedding Photographer Val Nanovsky