Virtual Martini with Arthur Remanjon

Let's have a Virtual Martini with Photographer Arthur Remanjon

Business Name:  Arthur Remanjon Photographers

Name:  Arthur Remanjon

Phone Number:  410 366 2500

Email Address:  weddings@remanjon.com

Website Address:  www.remanjon.com 

Blog Address:  http://remanjon.wordpress.com 

How did you get started in the business?

Fifteen plus years ago, I borrowed a vintage wedding dress and had my two very attractive friends play bride and groom for my first, albeit staged, 'wedding shoot'. Having none of my own, I borrowed decent camera gear from the art school I had recently gone back to. I then proceeded to shoot the only way I knew how and that I thought I was any good at - which was in  an  edgy 'street-style'. Little did I know way back then that my 'style' would soon be called 'wedding photojournalism'. I had no idea what I was doing, but I did know, intuitively, what I thought looked 'cool'.  I finagled some large prints into a very high end bridal couture shop, where they were seen by some hip and sophisticated brides who had to know who the photographer was. I started getting calls right away.

How would you describe your style?

Highly creative wedding photojournalism coupled with classic portraiture. We can be very 'fashion forward' and edgy and we can also create strikingly serene, evocative and beautiful images. We're all about capturing  moments with a unique and original perspective. We're like heat seeking missiles for emotion and passion.

How many people are part of your company?

Three full time with several second shooters. We are one of the few studios to have an award winning designer, in-house, and who is completely devoted to creating absolutely original and breathtakingly beautiful album designs. Everyone working at or for the studio has a degree from a top rated art school.

What has been the highlight of your career to date?

There have been many, however, Lindsey's and Christopher's New Years Eve wedding extravaganza that we created images last year at The Hippodrome Theater, as well as Betty and Jarret's wedding at The Walters Museum of Art , are two of my absolute faves.

Both were orchestrated by Elizabeth Bailey Weddings and were an amazing realization of the very best in designs by the very best vendors in the biz. That, coupled with the great personalities of the bridal couples, their wedding parties and the families, made for intensely pleasurable, visually rewarding experiences.

Give us your favorite wedding or event planning tip.

Plan intensely, but absolutely let go on your wedding day. Leave plenty of 'wiggle-room' for added time due to traffic and the inevitably unplanned for little glitches. Rely on the years of experience of your wedding planer and vendors.

What is your favorite part of the wedding day?

I love the 'getting ready' part, where our bride, surrounded by those who love her, suddenly sees herself transformed into the vision she has dreamt about. Those are powerful moments.

What is the best compliment you've ever received?

I've been told that when the bride (and oftentimes the groom and families) saw their wedding images for the first time, they were so overcome by the emotional power and beauty of the images, that they wept. You can't get a better compliment than that. Makes my heart sing.

When you travel, what is the one thing you cannot live without?

Well, I do love my electric toothbrush....

If you weren't a photographer, what would you be?

Actor (my first love), dancer, vocalist, painter

Share a fun fact about your home life.

I have two very large dogs, Marcel (mixed breed) and Riley (geriatric Airedale) who have seen me through the high and the low. They are my furry family and we take very long and rambunctuous hikes every morning and every evening. At night, just before I drift off to sleep, Marcel appears and put his muzzle on the bed until I give him a good scratching behind his ears.

What was the last thing your purchased?

A pair of wooden tongs. My girlfriend was appalled when she saw me using a kitchen knife to extract toast from the toaster.

Tell us some of your favorite places to shop both local and out-of-town.

Retroactive, a vintage store on Magazine Street, in New Orleans. I'm sure it's not the cheapest vintage store in town, but the owner, Joe, has amassed a great collection of 1920s -'70s clothes, hats, glasses, shoes and the best bric-a-brac! I do like Brooks Brothers as well. Its a little pricey but the quality is there.

And we must know your favorite local restaurant.

Woodberry Kitchen . Spike and his team do an amazing job and they do it consistantly. I'm 'tight' with the assistant manager there and he hooks me up.

Let's say you have a day off and you are able to do anything at all for 24 hours (money is no object).  What would the day look like and who would you be with?

I guess it would have to be New Orleans, where my folks were from and where I've spent considerable time. My companion would be the beautiful and sexy Margaux, with whom I am smitten. I'd first hit the streets with my camera , looking for eccentric denizens of The Big Easy, to shoot, and send Margaux off to explore the myriad and eclectic shops on Magazine street. We join up for lunch at The Gumbo Shop in the "Quarter", and where the barbeque shrimp are sublime. We'd then visit the Voodoo shop, have our fortunes told, take a carriage ride, go for cafe au lait and beignets at Cafe Du Monde. Then off to that amazing city of the dead, Layfayette Cemetary No. 2, in the heart of the Garden District, with its above ground tombs carved by Italian stone masons - truly a visual feast- followed by dinner at the deservedly famous Commander's Palace. That night we'd stay at The Royal Street Bed and Breakfast.

Share some of your favorite images from 2008.