Miami Wedding Photographer – Carlos Baez

The day wasn’t much different then today in Miami, hot, muggy and rainy. Our fateful meeting took place at the Miami Beach Botanical Gardens on a Saturday, June 26th, 1999. I was there as the photographer for Alison’s sister’s wedding, Andrea. I arrived early as I always do, getting my camera gear ready for the job, listening the two guitarists warming up and getting in tune. I happen to look up as someone walked into the room where we were, it was the reception hall, and I see this beautiful woman who caught my eye. I joked to myself, “Ah, maybe it won’t be a bad day after all”, not knowing that she was the bride’s sister, or that I would even talk to her later in the day. The rain eventually stopped, people started showing up, and the ceremony started in the garden a little late. It was a small wedding, maybe about 30 or 40 guests. I was there on my own, shooting away, having a fun and easy time of it. As the party progressed, and the music started picking up, I was tapping my foot and swaying to the music like everyone else, but still doing my job. Then, that same beautiful woman who I noticed earlier in the day, Alison, came up to me and asked me to dance. I was flattered and told her I couldn’t dance because I was working. Alison said to me, “You have to dance with me, I’m the bride’s sister and maid of honor.” Being the gentleman that I am, I couldn’t say no again, so we danced.  The weird thing is, the second we  started dancing, I got this feeling that I would marry this woman. Of course Alison always laughs when I say that, but here we are today,  10 years later. We’ve been married for 6 1/2 years, are on our second home, have 2 gorgeous little boys, Carson and Cameron who are 3 1/2 and 2.

So when someone asks you to do them a favor and shoot their wedding, and you are dreading it, due to no money, heat, rain, humidity and sweat; you truly never know what you will get out of it. This picture below was taken that night. That day has changed my life for the better, forever. Thank you Alison for asking me to dance…..I love you.

One of my clients that I have been shooting for 8 years, still likes to shoot film and polaroid. I have no problem with, since I’ve been shooting film for over 20 years. It’s still fun to pull that Polaroid out of the Hasselbald back and wait. This short film was all done on the Canon 5D MarkII, shot and edited  by Jason Jerusalem. Thanks Jason.

Carlos Baez Photography – Still shooting w/ film and polaroid from CARLOS BAEZ on Vimeo.

We have seasons in Florida, wedding season and hurricane season. Many people plan their weddings in Miami in June and it’s always a tough call,  because it’s the start of rainy season too. For Lindsay and Ryan, they found out the night before their wedding when it rained 8 inches  in less then 2 hours on Miami Beach, boy did it flood. There were many reports of cars just floating down the streets. Luckily for Lindsay and Ryan that most of all the rain was the night before, although they got some on Saturday too. Some guests got wet, but all in all, everything else went off without any problems, and tons of fun were  had by all. New Yorkers can handle anything, what’s a little water right? Neither Lindsay nor Ryan were bothered at all about the weather since they were so focused on each other, nothing could be a distraction. The ceremony was at St Patrick’s Church and the reception at the Gansevoort South Hotel both on Miami Beach. The flowers were by Always Flowers. Everything was coordinated perfectly by Andi and Jennifer of Anje Soirees, thanks to all their hard work. Enjoy the slideshow below.

So after much debate, and countless votes and emails from my friends, I decided to go for the “shaved or buzzed” look again. Hey, it’s just hair! It will grow back, at least the parts that are still growing. Since so many asked, here is the video of the event. Don’t laugh too hard, but we did. If you haven’t done this before, try it, it’s liberating.

Carlos Baez – Carlos pulls a “Britney” from CARLOS BAEZ on Vimeo.

My wife Alison buzzing my hair off for the first time, for her that is.
Filmed and edited by Catalina Ayubi

I wanted to share some fun pictures from a fundraiser called PawPurrazzi we were involed with 2 years ago. Several photographers, including myself, were assigned to local celebrities for us to photograph their pets and in turn the photographs would be auctioned off to raise funds for the Humane Society. It was a great event and raised more then $30,000. The images below are the pets of Miami Dolphin Jason Taylor, shoe designer Donald Pliner, and Barry Gibb of  the BeeGees. It was a blast as you can see.

One of the things I remember from my childhood was when I had the chance to mow the lawn with my dad. Well, I wouldn’t actually mow, I would follow him around with my plastic mower that would make sounds that I thought I was mowing. It made me feel big like him.

Fast forward 40 years, Carson and Cameron now look forward to mowing the lawn with their plastic mowers. I feel blessed and honored that my boys are keeping this somewhat tradition going. It’s the coolest thing for them, and me, that we can share what some people think mundane and or hard work, into bonding time as the Baez Boys. Now that rainy season has rolled around in Miami, we have to mow the lawn every week or it gets out of control, but Carson and Cameron don’t mind. As you can see, it becomes a competition for the mowing and the water that mommy brings out to us.