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Béla Fleck, Marcus Roberts, Jason Marsalis, and Rodney Jordan Live

May 11

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Marcus Roberts has been a musical hero of mine for many years now. I had the distinct pleasure of seeing him perform last night with the great Béla Fleck, Jason Marsalis, and Rodney Jordan at the Historic Garde Arts Center go check out some of the wonderful events they have at their incredible theater in New London CT. Below are some of the photos I made at last nights performance. They were touring together to promote the album “Across the Imaginary Divide”

Here is a video about their project together

Marcus Roberts, Béla Fleck, Jason Marsalis, and Rodney Jordan perform at the historic Garde Arts Center in New London CT

Marcus Roberts, Béla Fleck, Jason Marsalis, and Rodney Jordan perform at the historic Garde Arts Center in New London CT

Posted in behind the curtain, Event photography, portrait photography, things are looking up

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Taste of The Towers In Narragansett: Wedding Photographer Seth Jacobson

May 4

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The Towers in Narragansett in Hosted their annual event “Taste of the Towers” featuring the regions best catering companies preparing food and drinks for all to enjoy. This has been a favorite of mine for a long time now. I make sure to arrive hungry and they didn’t let me down! I was wowed by some incredible food, thank you for all the great tasting, finger licking delectables!

Here is a list of some of the great companies represented  with links to their websites

West Bay Gourmet

Coastal Gourmet 

Blackstone Catering

Decadent Catering

Cozy Catering

The Shelter Harbor Inn

The Meadowbrook Inn

Simply Devine

Wildwood Catering

Parnzi Catering

The Matunuck Oyster Bar

Ripe Hospitality

Tom’s market

Glorious Affairs

The West Valley Inn

McGrath Clambakes

Posted in Event photography, The Towers Narragansett, Wedding photography

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Gay Marriage makes it to Rhode Island! Seth Jacobson Gay Wedding Photographer

May 3

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Gay Marriage was made legal yesterday by the state of Rhode Island! I am so proud to have witnessed this historic event! I want to tell you a short story of the changes I have seen in my lifetime in public opinion regarding gay folks.

In 1991 when I was 17 years old and a senior in High school, I was given an assignment to give a persuasive speech to my fellow students. The topic I chose: Gay Rights. As a young person living  in conservative Wisconsin, this seemed like a worthy topic, and something that seemed SO basic and easy to explain, but as it turned out, I didn’t persuade very many people. In fact I really angered quite a few folks. I should say that I am not gay, but just for suggesting that gay people ARE  people, and deserved a basic level of respect, I received a huge amount of grief from the community. A fellow classmate of mine punched me in the face, I got death threats written to me, and people left terrible mean messages on my family’s home phone machine, saying they were going to beat me up and cut off my hair (which was quite long at the time) etc… Being the stubborn person that I am and supported by a wonderful group of friends and family, I pushed back against that bad behavior and thumbed my nose at those people. Somehow I got my hands on a button that said “bend over, I”ll drive” I wore this to school and my friend Karl and I walked down the hallway holding hands. I was a rebellious young man and it felt at the time that I was making a difference, or at least I was speaking the truth in the face of bigots and that felt right. Looking back, I don’t think it changed anyones mind, or helped make any bit of a difference but I could hold my head high and know that I stood up for what was right.

Here I am now 22 years later living in RI and yesterday Governor Chaffee signed into law the Marriage Equality bill. I was on hand to see this historic gathering with a TON of Media, and about 1,000 other folks. It was a joyous and happy event. It is amazing to me that so much has changed in my lifetime. I can only hope things continue to move in the same direction for all people. Look at this couple  if you can’t read the notes they are wearing it says “waiting since 1976″ WOW

Gay Marriage finally reaches Rhode Island

Gay Marriage finally reaches Rhode Island

Posted in educational, Event photography, portrait photography, things are looking up

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Ignite Talk about Photography and Truth

Apr 10

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I had the pleasure of being the very 1st presenter in front of a sold out crowd at the very 1st Ignite Southern RI put on by The Southern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce 

This was an exciting and inspirational evening of speakers that was an honor to be a part of! Thank you to everyone that worked so hard to make it come together!

Posted in educational, Event photography, landscape photography, Rhode Island Portrait Project

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The Berklee World Strings Perform at The Towers in Narragansett RI

Feb 28

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I just had the incredible pleasure of seeing one of the worlds best string ensembles live and in person. What a moving and inspirational performance. The Berklee World Strings  on Facebook check them out!

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Posted in Event photography, The Towers Narragansett

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“Light The Way” Photographic Workshop at Manic Training Wakefield Rhode Island

Feb 27

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"Light The Way" Photographic Workshops

“Light The Way” Photographic Workshops

I co-hosted yet another “Light The Way” photographic workshop with my friend and fellow photographer Brad Smith this past weekend. This one took place at Manic Training Which by the way is an EXCELLENT place to workout!

We had a blast with lots of photos created and lots of learning happening I LOVE to teach what I love… I believe we had about 15 photographers in the room with 5 models and 2 hair and make up professionals. Thanks also to Trevor Holden and Matt Jacobsen for some behind the scenes photography and assistance in setting up and breaking down the piles of gear we brought with us, as well as taking some participants under their wing as needed.

Check out this really fun video we made of the event!

http://vimeo.com/60647894

Thank you very much to Lynda Williams of Formal Hair Design her hair styles keep getting better and better! Check out these ladies!

And Thank you to Jennifer Hodge of Spectrum Make up Artistry Always does just the right amount of makeup so the ladies look their best!

Here are some photos that I created

A big THANK YOU to our Models who really stepped up to the plate!

"Light The Way" Photographic Workshops

“Light The Way” Photographic Workshops

"Light The Way" Photographic Workshops

“Light The Way” Photographic Workshops

"Light The Way" Photographic Workshops

“Light The Way” Photographic Workshops

"Light The Way" Photographic Workshops

“Light The Way” Photographic Workshops

"Light The Way" Photographic Workshops

“Light The Way” Photographic Workshops

"Light The Way" Photographic Workshops

“Light The Way” Photographic Workshops

"Light The Way" Photographic Workshops

“Light The Way” Photographic Workshops

Posted in Fashion photography, Light The Way, portrait photography

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Behind the Curtain/ Roller Derby Portrait for Grace Magazine

Feb 22

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Here is a portrait I created for Grace Magazine of some of the shoreline Roller Derby girls for an article  about their organization.

The Shoreline Roller Derby by Seth Jacobson

The Shoreline Roller Derby by Seth Jacobson

This is a very complicated photo I pieced together from 3 separate images. I took all of the photos in the same session with all the participants on hand the whole time. But I simply didn’t have enough lights to adequately cover everyone in my composition. So what I did was place my camera on a tripod and move the lights around to where I needed them for each grouping and then blended it all together in Photoshop later on.

The Roller-rink was closed and quite dark (if you look in the back you can see the concession stand is closed and dark looking something I wish I had seen when I was shooting)

Here are 2 set up shots

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Once I got my Composition figured out, what I needed to do was light each group but make it look like they were all lit the same way even thought they all had completely different lighting. I placed one of my lights right in the photo (top left hand corner) on purpose this gave the illusion of a unified lighting scheme. Your eye automatically wants to believe photos and this helps inform the lighting so you can believe what you are seeing.

behind the curtain with the shoreline roller derby by Seth Jacobson

behind the curtain with the shoreline roller derby by Seth Jacobson

You can see here I had 3 lights on this 1st photo. A 7′ reflective umbrella, a bare bulb light and on the right hand side in the back a gridded light just on the Ref. who was showing up too dark in test shots.

Behind the curtain with the Shoreline Roller Derby by Seth Jacobson

Behind the curtain with the Shoreline Roller Derby by Seth Jacobson

The Next photo was taken with a very similar lighting set up just moved closer toward these ladies the 7′ umbrella is off camera here but still in use and the gridded light was set behind them exactly to give a little back light in addition to the back light you can see on the top left.

Behind the curtain with The Shoreline Roller derby by Seth Jacobson

Behind the curtain with The Shoreline Roller derby by Seth Jacobson

The last photo was shot using 2 lights a smaller shoot through umbrella up and over the subjects the spot gridded light creating the shadow on the wall. With all the photos taken all I had to do was stitch them together in Photoshop Here is how it appeared in the magazine.

The Shoreline Roller Derby By Seth Jacobson for Grace Magazine

The Shoreline Roller Derby By Seth Jacobson for Grace Magazine

 

 

 

Posted in behind the curtain, Grace Magazine, photo tips, portrait photography

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Rhode Island Portrait Project: Behind the curtain/ Bethany Geaber

Dec 30

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This portrait was created as a part of a series of photos I am calling the Rhode Island Portrait Project. You can see some of the other photos in this project here

Bethany Geaber for The Rhode Island Portrait Project

Bethany Geaber for The Rhode Island Portrait Project

I created this portrait with the intention of showing Bethany’s ability to transform herself as an actress. We chose 3 vastly different women from different time periods as our characters for this portrait rather than Bethany herself.. Going as far as to give them names, back stories and motivations for what was happening for them in these moments. I shot 3 photos with my camera on  a Tripod to keep the same position and then photoshopped them all together later. We shot the Gibson Girl 1st (her name is Edith) here are some set up shots. The costumes, hair and make up were pretty extensive Than you Becky!  We put a lot of time into making the details just right! Thank you to The beautiful Stadium Theater for letting us use their space to work in. Visit their website here and you can visit Bethany’s website here

set up for Bethany Geaber for The Rhode Island Portrait Project

set up for Bethany Geaber for The Rhode Island Portrait Project

Set up for Bethany Geaber for The Rhode Island Portrait Project

Set up for Bethany Geaber for The Rhode Island Portrait Project

Here is the photo we did of Bethany as the Gibson girl pre photoshop. You can see my Octabox in the photo which was later taken out in addition to this light I also had a light up the stairs camera left shining down. You can see that light on her face and arm. And one big 7′ umbrella camera left out of the frame feathered across her front to just fill in gently. You can see the 7′ umbrella in another frame below.

Bethany Geaber for The Rhode Island Portrait Project

Bethany Geaber for The Rhode Island Portrait Project

The next shot was our 50′s lady named Audrey here is a set up shot.

Set up for Bethany Geaber for The Rhode Island Portrait Project

Set up for Bethany Geaber for The Rhode Island Portrait Project

I used a very similar lighting set up for this lady as for the 1st shot. We had Becky stand in to give Bethany someone to interact with where our Edith character would have been standing. You can just barely see a light camera left if you look close. Also of note thank you to Faye for holding the christmas stuff out of my frame :) we shot this just after Christmas so the place was decorated for the Holiday and we had to take it apart and put it all back together for our shot…

Bethany Geaber for The Rhode Island Portrait Project

Bethany Geaber for The Rhode Island Portrait Project

last we made the Courtney character shot. For this one I just used 2 lights on her right and left you can see both here if you look close on camera right you can just see my octabox our of frame.

Bethany Geaber for The Rhode Island Portrait Project

Bethany Geaber for The Rhode Island Portrait Project

Posted in educational, Model's, photo tips, portrait photography, Rhode Island Portrait Project

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The Rhode Island Portrait Project: Bethany Geaber actress

Dec 30

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I have another installment of my very exciting portrait project. I love my community and there are some amazing people making Rhode Island a wonderful place to live. I have decided to photograph the people who are really making “IT” happen here in my community in a (hopefully) creative and fun way that tells a story about who those people are and what they are doing for their little section of the world.

This is Bethany Geaber she is an actress. You can visit her website here We wanted to create a really unique portrait for Bethany. As an actress she has to transform herself into many different people to tell stories, and I really wanted to tell a short story with three characters. What do you think the story is? What just happened? What happens next? I am fascinated by these three ladies and by Bethany’s ability to change into different people.

Bethany Geaber for The Rhode Island Portrait Project

Bethany Geaber for The Rhode Island Portrait Project

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=m77YrTvEyT4

Posted in landscape photography, nature, night photography, Ocean photography, portrait photography, Rhode Island Portrait Project

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Rhode Island Portrait Project: Behind the curtain/ John Ford

Dec 17

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This portrait was created as a part of a series of photo I am calling the Rhode Island Portrait Project. You can see some of the other photo in this project here

I created this portrait with the intention of showing off John Ford’s incredible physical presence mixed with the feeling of aspiration, determination, and hope. I wanted the focus to be entirely on John for this so I went with a studio background instead of working in the “real world” the setting for my camera were:

ISO 141 Shutter 1/160th aperture F 4.5 with 3 light sources shown here

lighting set up for portrait of John Ford

lighting set up for portrait of John Ford

I used a bare bulb flash no modifications set camera right about 1/32nd power results shown here

Lighting set up for portrait of John Ford

Lighting set up for portrait of John Ford

Then I added another bare bulb flash about 1/8th power pointed at John from the back and very much toward my camera this added some wonderful back light and beautiful lens flare shown here

lighting set up for portrait of John Ford

lighting set up for portrait of John Ford

I used an Octabox up and camera left about 1/8th power. After a little photoshopping (I cleaned up the background and made the portrait a little more punchy but that is it)

here is the final photo

John Ford from Manic Training for the Rhode Island Portrait Project

John Ford from Manic Training for the Rhode Island Portrait Project

Some other tricks we did:

Baby oil smeared all over John to give him a nice sheen, and I sprayed him down with water to make it look like he was sweating. Open the photo to see it at a proper size

Posted in educational, Model's, photo tips, portrait photography, Rhode Island Portrait Project

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The Rhode Island Portrait Project: John Ford

Dec 15

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I have another installment of my very exciting portrait project. I love my community and there are some amazing people making Rhode Island a wonderful place to live. I have decided to photograph the people who are really making “IT” happen here in my community in a (hopefully) creative and fun way that tells a story about who those people are and what they are doing for their little section of the world.

This is John Ford he owns Manic Training John is a man who has helped me to change my body; I can now say with confidence that I am strong. I am turning 39 in a month, and all my life I have been very happy with the way that I looked and felt. I’m not one of those low self-esteem kind of people, but I have also known that I’m not a particularly physically strong person, either. So to reach middle age (oh my god really!!! middle age wow) and to have such a different view of myself is really a wonderful experience. This has come out of some really hard work. I owe that to John Ford and Manic Training. John is a patient teacher, the kind of trainer that will push you to the next level without being a jerk about it. Always attentive but never pushy. You can see by this photo that he takes his own health and well-being seriously. I am extremely proud of this portrait we created. If you have ever worked hard to achieve a goal, you know that there is struggle, determination and hope all mixed together. I feel that we got that across in this portrait.

Click on the photo to see it at its proper size and watch the video below to find out more about the project.

 

John Ford from Manic Training for the Rhode Island Portrait Project

John Ford from Manic Training for the Rhode Island Portrait Project

 

 

Posted in landscape photography, nature, night photography, Ocean photography, portrait photography, Rhode Island Portrait Project

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Rhode Island Portrait Photographer: Janek Gwizdala sessions

Nov 26

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Janek Gwizdala is one of the best bass players in the world. If you aren’t familiar with his music take a few moments and watch this video or this one

and go check out his website

I had the pleasure of photographing Janek this week. during the session I learned that he is obsessed with magic and card tricks. So we changed gears from my original thought which was to photograph him with his beloved instrument and made a portrait with his cards. I felt like this was the stand out shot from all the photos we took because it not only looks visually amazing with the cards flying through the air but also speaks to how I feel about improvisation and art in general. There is an element of Magic to beautiful art. When you watch Janek play his bass or any amazing artist create improvisational art there is an element of “wow that can’t be true?” that happens for me. I feel like we captured that element in this portrait. Also I have always said that photography is lying with images which lines up nicely with the idea of the card playing charlatan image we made here.

Janek Gwizdala portrait by Seth Jacobson

Here are the rest of the portraits we made. Janek’s beautiful wife Bethany jumped in at the end for a few photos too. Thanks Bethany and Janek :)

Posted in Model's, portrait photography

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Wedding photos at The Waterman Grill Providence RI

Oct 29

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wedding photo at The Waterman Grill Providence RI 

 

Posted in night photography, portrait photography, Wedding photography

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The Rhode Island Portrait Project Erich Manser Blind Triathlete

Oct 14

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I have another installment of my very exciting portrait project. I love my community and there are some amazing people making Rhode Island a wonderful place to live. I have decided to photograph the people who are really making “IT” happen here in my community in a (hopefully) creative and fun way that tells a story about who those people are and what they are doing for their little section of the world.

This most recent portrait is of Erich Manser. Erich is an extra-ordinary individual. Not only is he a world-class athlete, but he is legally blind. When I 1st saw Erich in the “Firm Man” triathlon I was mystified 1st at how incredibly fast he was moving but also my mind spun thinking about the difficulty of what he was doing (swimming 1.2 miles in open ocean, running 13.1 miles and biking 56 miles) with out the sight that you and I enjoy and use to navigate the world. He has a limited vision and describes what he can see as looking through a pair of toilet paper rolls with wax paper covering the ends, and he is loosing his eyesight more with every passing day.He is guided through these races by another racer of equal or better athletic ability, they tie a rope to each other for the swim and he runs with his hand on the guides shoulder, and then they ride a tandem bike.

 I really wanted to honor Erich with this portrait. We met to talk about the concept and he explained that before he has starting loosing his eyesight he had been a swimmer and now swimming is his strongest section of the race for him. So we decided to create this portrait in the water. We got up in the dark and went down to the Ocean and waited for the sun light to emerge. So the portrait was actually created before the sunrise in the pre-dawn light.

Here is a link to Erich’s Blog and some more info on his inspirational story.

Dig his tag line, “You don’t need eyesight to have vision” I can only hope my vision does justice to this great man.

Click on the photo to see it at its proper size and watch the video below to find out more about the project.

Erich Manser for the Rhode Island Portrait Project

Posted in landscape photography, nature, night photography, Ocean photography, portrait photography, Rhode Island Portrait Project

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Michaelmas Photos from the Meadowbrook Waldorf School RI

Oct 9

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_SAJ7373

This gallery contains 69 photos.

Gallery |

Posted in educational, Event photography, my beautiful daughter.

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My Beautiful Daughter Lucia’s 1st day of school!

Sep 5

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It is always a big day to see your child start her 1st day of school. I can now add myself to the many who have come before me in sending their kids off… I do love my beautiful daughter.

Here is what it looked like

Posted in my beautiful daughter, portrait photography

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Behind the Curtain/ Grace Magazine Cover photo/ Portrait Photography

Aug 18

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I photographed Daphne Martin for the cover of Grace Magazine. Daphne is a wonderful musician and song writer, and I met her in her home to photograph this portrait. The photo came together sort of organically after looking at the space and seeing the clothes she had picked out for the shoot. Being a big fan of thematic colors, when I saw the red hat, red dress and red walls, I immediately saw the photo in my head.

Here is our finished portrait

Daphne Martin, cover photo for Grace Magazine by Seth Jacobson

I created this portrait using 2 lights one up and camera left with a spot grid on the flash, creating a very harsh light that shone down mostly on her head and shoulders, and a Ring flash to fill in the shadows a little so the dark parts of the portrait weren’t SUPER dark. I positioned her just off the wall and the ring flash made a wonderful shadow all around her body which looks super cool too!

The technical info on the photo for those of you that are interested was

Nikon D700 ISO 100 F5.6 shutter 1/200th

Here are some set up shots to show you the scene I changed my lens to a wide lens which allows you to see the ring flash on the camera itself and the other photo you can see that there is an umbrella which I tried but ended up not using in the final shot.

Posted in behind the curtain, Grace Magazine, photo tips, portrait photography

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Behind the Curtain Ed Tarbox for The Rhode Island Portrait Project

Jul 18

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I am proud of this portrait of Ed Tarbox taken for The Rhode Island Portrait Project. I sat down with Ed to talk about creating this portrait and was struck right off the bat 1st by his genuine energy and friendliness and second by his true LOVE of cars. It became clear that I needed to photograph him with one of his personal cars. My 1st idea was to photograph him like a racer from the 30′s you know with the goggles and a scarf but after he showed me his vintage 1963 Corvette I knew we had a winner. The concept shifted and we started talking about James Dean and Marlon Brando from the late 50′s early 60′s and Wammo I could see it in my mind! I love it when that happens!

Here is the technical info on our portrait

Taken on a Nikon D700 ISO 800 as it was getting close to dark. 5 light sources if you include the ambient light from the sky (all shown below) the shutter was 1/60th at F4

Ed Tarbox set up for the Rhode Island Portrait Project

Posted in educational, photo tips, portrait photography, Rhode Island Portrait Project

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Light The Way, Lighting workshop Narragansett Rhode Island, Portrait Photography

Jul 6

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I am very proud to announce the 2nd lighting workshop I am putting on with the talented Brad Smith! Here is the info on how to sign up if you want to take your photography to the next level. We will have models that will be done up professionally by the lovely and talented Lynda Williams of Formal Hair Design and make up by the beautiful Jennifer Hodge of Spectrum Make up Artistry

Lighting workshop info

Posted in educational, Fashion photography, landscape photography, photo tips, portrait photography

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Wedding and Event Photography- Bridal Tasting at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet

Jul 2

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Rhodes on the Pawtuxet is one of the last of the great dance halls left in America. A venue that used to house the likes of Duke Ellington and Count Basie. While Rhodes still houses many wonderful concerts it also serves as a fantastic place to have your wedding! Russell Morin Fine Cateringis the exclusive catering company working there and last week they hosted a tasting for bride, grooms and their families to come in and see what a wedding could look and feel like!

This great event was sponsored by a bunch of great wedding and event folks that I was proud to work with!

Mike from Artistic Wedding Video did the Video. I got a sneak peek and it looked amazing!

Golden Gate studios  made the stunning flowers!

Felicia’s perfect setting provided the beautiful decor

Russell Morin Fine Catering did the food and WOW did it taste great!

Groove Entertainment provided the wonderful music to set the mood just right!

Rhodes on the Pawtuxet by Seth Jacobson

Posted in Event photography, food, Wedding photography

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