Rodeph Shalom Bar Mitzvah

I recently had the privilege of photographing Seth’s Bar Mitzvah at Rodeph Sholom and Tampa River Center. As is always the case, the family was fantastic and Seth was a joy to work with. You know, writing these blog posts can be redundant after a few years because every one of these events is the same when it comes to my interaction with the family. I’ve never had a bad experience. Not even once. Every family I work with is always a delight and the kids are wonderful. Occasionally I get that rare Bar Mitzvah boy who’s just “over it” but it’s very rare. Seth was a joy to work with and I had a million questions for him because he’s actually a touring stage actor! He’s about to start a new tour in “A Christmas Story.” Being an old actor myself, I wanted to know all about what it’s like on the road!

We did temple portraits the week before the ceremony as is normally the case with most of the temples. Just the clergy and a few immediate family members.

As always, I’m only posting a few images in this blog post. I delivered over 400 images to the family but here I just post a few to tell the story of the day.

That’s Seth with Rabbi Joshua Hearshen
The family with Rabbi Hearshen and Cantor Andres Kornworcel
They were set up for a luncheon at the temple after the ceremony and the kids wanted a “jump shot” in front of the ballons. :)

Tampa River Center Event

The Tampa River Center is a new venue and this was my first time working there. Wow… what a great venue. There’s great views of the city and the water and a huge outdoor wrap-around deck. Good luck trying to reserve this place because it is going to be very popular for years.

Real quick, let me talk a little about photography at the Tampa River Center. If you are planning an event there you will need to be extra vigilant in finding your event photographer for a couple of reasons. First off, half the walls in the main room are glass and this makes it much more difficult to photograph a wedding or Bar Mitzvah as the light in the room is constantly changing as the sun goes down. Second, and this is a little technical, the ceiling is wood and recessed which means that light won’t bounce off it the way it will in most venues. This means your photographer will need to set up some lights around the dance floor if you want good dance floor pictures. I know this is a bit technical but we photographers see a room different than everyone else does and if you don’t have a photographer who can see the problems and overcome them it will affect your images.

Tampa River Center
See those windows and that ceiling? That’s a photography problem waiting to be solved. lol
Tampa River Center
The name of the company that provided these letters is “Really Big Letters.”
Tampa River Center
Tampa River Center
Tampa River Center
Tampa River Center
I love the Hora… I always get such great pictures!
Tampa River Center

I thought I had seen every Bar Mitzvah game on the planet but no. This time there was a new one called “Ring of Fire.” They have the kids sit on chairs and lean back on the knees of the person behind them. If you do it right, you can then remove the chairs and no one falls! very cool!

Tampa River Center
Tampa River Center
Here you can see one of my flashes in the corner of the room. These are mandatory at the Tampa River House.
Tampa River Center
Always time for a group family picture!
Tampa River Center
Tampa River Center
Tampa River Center
Hugs from Mom…
Tampa River Center

One thing is for sure: When you have a theater kid giving a party, there’s gonna be a lot of great pictures because everyone is a performer!

It was another great night! I’ve had 3 upcoming Bar Mitzvahs postpone so far because of the virus but as soon as we get through this I’ll be back on the job. I expect that the back half of this year will be very busy because there will be the normal amount of events PLUS the ones that have moved so if you have an event coming up don’t delay in securing your vendors. :)