Jessica and Grant - The Wedding

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! We had a blast with the kids. We are still enjoying everything :-)

Saturday, the 27th, I was honored to document the wedding of Jessica and Grant. It was a glorious December day in Pittsburgh. To the tune of 68 degrees and Sunny.... Unbelievable. It was a wonderful day. They were married at St. Winifred's Church in Mt. Lebanon and had the reception at Hilton Garden Inn @ Southpointe. I love the Hilton Garden Inn, because it is 5 minutes away from home!

I met with Jessica and Grant over a year ago, so it was nice to see the day finally arrive. It was a bonus Christmas present to be shooting this past weekend. My good friend and photographer, Dan Speicher came along to assist and shoot. Thanks for your help Dan!

Instead of posting a bunch of pictures I put together a slideshow. This is something that I have gotten away from, but am eager to get these rolling again. They are so much fun to make and more importantly for you to enjoy.

Thank you Jessica and Grant! Enjoy the honeymoon!!!

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

I want to take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas from the Burke Family! We are so thankful for so many things and grateful to all of you that have supported us through the years. Our Families, Friends and Clients are the heartbeat of what we do. We look forward to 2009 being another incredible year and ultimately welcoming our newest addition to the family! Bridget is due in June, so we have a few more months of anticipation. We are doing our best to keep the sex of the baby a suprise. Who knows if we will be able to refrain from finding out.

Enjoy this Christmas and Holiday season. Love and Hug often!

See you in the new year!

Love,
The Burke Family

Rebecca and Jason

It has been too long since I posted some images, so I wanted to share a few of Rebecca and Jason. These two will be tying the knot next June! I finally got to meet them in person a few weeks ago and am very glad that I did! I was fortunate enough to meet Rebecca's mother this past summer, after just speaking with Rebecca on the phone. It was nice to put a face with the name :-) Also meeting Jason was my pleasure! He is hilarious!!! I am really looking forward to the wedding.

Enjoy these few!

Christmas with Weezer.

There really is a Santa Claus
I just came across this Gem on Amazon.com (under $5). Merry Christmas.

(I love Weezer)

Christmas With Weezer
*Update* Includes 'O Holy Night' - my all time favorite Christmas song.

A few new books for Inspiration

I love photography books! Recently I added a few to my collection, for inspiration. 2 are filled with images and one is more of an explanation of the process by shoot.

1. Annie Leibovitz at Work

Annie is a living legend, :-) She is one of my all time favorite photographers. Both her portrait setups and photojournalism are fantastic. This book explains how she thinks when shooting and takes you through the process of creating the image. So far, I love it.

2. Mario Testino: Let Me In!

Another highly sought after photographer is Mario Testino. Mario has such a raw style of shooting that I can't help but be drawn to it. His imagery is powerful, simple, fun. I think a lot of the impact (even with Leibovitz) has to do with who is in the photograph. (I would love to hear comments about this.) I sometimes think that if I were to take shots like this of the average Joe, they would not be as powerful, simple and fun. At any rate, I still love the images in this book.

3. Vanity Fair: The Portraits

I have always been drawn to the imagery in Vanity Fair. I guess it is no suprise since Leibovitz and Testino both have had many images throughout the magazine. Actually Annie has a long term contract with Vanity Fair, so her imagery is always in there. This book has portraits from the past 100 years. The book is huge and heavy. This equals Huge, Beautiful Portraits to view. I love this as well.

Please leave some comments to what Photography books inspire you. I like to get 1 or 2 every few months. I have also started cutting images from my favorite magazines and putting them on my office wall, so that I can always see them and be inspired before I go out and shoot. It is a great way to keep pushing your abilities.

Have a great weekend!

Chatting with Bryleigh

We have really been working with Bryleigh's words. Here are a few: (My favorite is "Happy". She scoots around and says Happy all day long.)

One Image

Every once in a while I make an image and just love it. This is one of those images.I won't ramble on here with words, I hope you like it too!

Shoot N Learn - December - POSTPONED!

I hate to postpone the Shoot N Learn at the last minute, however due to my workload and priorities, I have no choice. I will reschedule and post soon for after the New Year. We can start Fresh and catch up! I have been thinking a lot about future SNL's and have a lot of ideas to share. I hope you all have a wonderful Holiday Season!

In the meantime, here is an objective for you. Commit to shooting with a different camera a few times over the Holidays. A point n shoot digital, Film camera, Polaroid, Holga, etc... Try it. It is so much fun and can reignite creativity and ideas. I have been using my little Nikon Coolpix L18 that I picked up for $100 at Target (over the summer). I am also going to pick up some polaroid film before it is all gone and take some with my polaroid as well. I have been shooting with my iPhone camera too. It really pushes you to get a good exposure!

Here is one of my recent favs with my point n shoot.


And one from the iPhone


I want to see pics too. Upload them to my Facebook group David Burke Photographers and share.

MediaStorm

While browsing, recent tweets, I came across this incredible website. Mediastorm. I have watched a few of the stories that are a mix of video, stills and voice overs. A. These are extremely inspiring from an artist standpoint, but more so the stories themselves are so interesting. These videos are put together so well. The photojournalism is exquisite. You become a part of each story just by viewing and listening.

Thanks to Jeremy Cowart for sharing this gem.

Off to bed now ;-)

Catching up...

...is hard to do!

The past few months have been a whirlwind due to travel, weddings, shoots, business planning and lots of family stuff!. All of the excitement has taken a toll on my blogging abilities. I am so far behind blogging the many wonderful shoots I have had over the past few months. I am taking some heat from some folks, because they have not appeared on the blog yet (I will not name you... you know who you are! LOL!!!) Stay tuned, as I promise to get you all on here!

In all seriousness this year has been unbelievable for us. We have met so many wonderful people and have made so many friends. The work continues to come and we feel nothing short of blessed and honored to be a part in all of your lives. Thank you all! We have been smiling and groaning as we feel growing pains throughout our systems. We are working "on" these systems as much as we are "in" them, so going into next year we will continue to polish and improve. Thank you for being patient with us as we continue to work and improve everyday.

In the meantime look at this lovely image. I want to feel like this every day, don't you???

Courtney and Danny - The Wedding

First off, Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! It is hard to imagine that 2008 is almost finished!!! I hope you all had great day and a great night sleep after your Turkey induced Coma.

Onto the wedding of Courtney and Danny in Los Cabos, Mexico. I got connected to Danny and Courtney through my sister-in-law and her husband, Brooke and Michael (Thanks guys!). Kenny Kim (Kenny you are awesome! Thank you for all of your help and wonderful images. Goodtimes as usuals!) and I had a such a wonderful adventure to Mexico last week. We photographed for 3 days straight and can tell you that there was never a dull moment. The people, the surroundings, the music (man the music! I have to score some of those playlists!!), the details.... It was so much fun. Immediately we felt loved and part of the bunch. Everyone was so gracious and welcoming to us. There was a Welcome Party, Pre-Rehearsal Afternoon Party, Rehearsal Dinner Party and the Wedding Day. I don't think anyone stopped smiling the whole time.

So thank you Courtney, Danny, Family and Friends for creating such wonderful experience for us to document. We can't wait to share the images with you. In the meantime, here are a few from the wedding day. I also want to give thanks to Sergio and his team at Cabo Azul. If you want to have a destination wedding in Cabo, do not hesitate to contact Sergio.

Enjoy!
While the girls were getting ready, the guys played Volleyball.


A shot of the resort from the other side of the infinity pool.


The dress and shoes


Courtney getting her hair ready


Danny and Daylen chillaxing.


The veil


Finishing touches with the suit.


First Kiss


Little stroll on the beach, post ceremony


The Horse... (I have behind the scene footage of Kenny here! LOL)


Little off camera lighting look


The sky was gorgeous for this silhouette


David Burke Photographer - Wedding Los Cabos - Cabo San Lucas Wedding

Cabo San Lucas - Day 1

Kenny and I are in Cabo San Lucas enjoying the wedding festivities of Courtney and Danny. First I have to say what a wonderful couple they are! This is the first time we have met and they have made us feel as though we were friends forever. We shot for 2 days before the wedding and shot the wedding yesterday... I will blog more on this once I return home. One word = Awesome.

The wireless connection in our hotel is hit or miss, so I have been unable to blog as of yet. Kenny was able to, so you can check out his blog.

So now that I can finally post a few, Here are some from the first day/night. It was a "Welcome to Cabo" party that Courtney and Danny planned for early arriving guests. It was so gracious.

Enjoy!

Meet the couple (wait until you see the wedding images!)

Bryleigh - 1 Year

Well Bryleigh will officially be one year old on November 21, 2008, so I am a bit premature with this post... Since I will be out of town for her actual birthday I wanted to post now.

To say it was a great year would be an understatement. We have been blessed with the sweetest little girl. She is so calm and happy. There may have been 1 or 2 days throughout the whole year where she wasn't her typical smiling self. Even when she had a 105 degree fever (due to a UTI), she was smiling. We all love her sooooo much :-)!

Having a daughter has definitely changed me, for the better of course... Having boys has been a wonderful experience, but having a daughter has been extra special. Firstly, we found the name Brylee, but decided to change 'lee' to 'leigh' to honor the memory of my first daughter, Jourdan Leigh. Secondly, having a daughter has made me want to be a better man. It want to be an example of the man I would like her to be with someday. It is so easy to sit back and be worried/concerned for her future, but I am choosing to be a better example instead. Easier said than done somedays!! I know I am not perfect and have my shortcomings but I sure am making the best of it.

With that being said, I just want to wish Bryleigh Teresa Burke a Happy 1st Birthday!! Thank you for bringing so much joy to our lives. Thank you to Bridget (Mommy) and her 3 big brothers, Damon, Christian and Brayden. We all love you so much! Just think, next year at this time YOU will be a big sister too!! We love you baby girl!!!

Bryleigh at birth...


Bryleigh at 1 year....


**About the 1 year picture - I made this portrait yesterday 11/16/08 and decided to mess with Photoshop a bit. This image is way out of my comfort zone, but I am liking it. It is very rare that I extensively edit an image, but I think it is important to try new things and grow. Not sure if I will do any more like this soon, but it sure was fun! Hope you like it!**

Brittany and Josiah

Brittany and Josiah are getting married this January! We met at Peters Lake (which is where Josiah proposed to Brittany) for an engagement session. These two smiled and laughed the whole time! They are so comfortable with each other. I always enjoy watching couples interact on an engagement shoot. It is a great indication of how they will be on their wedding day. I am really looking forward to this January wedding! I am positive that it will be a beautiful day and we will have a lot of fun. Stay tuned for some wedding images...

In the meantime here are a few from the engagement shoot:

Shoot N Learn - December & Miscellaneous

Hey all! So we are mid November and I realize that I am not going to be able to have a SNL this month :( The good news is that we have been extremely busy/productive here and things are going great. I have also scheduled the next Shoot N Learn for Tuesday December 9, 2008, 6PM @ my studio. We will be SHOOTING this time! We will work in the studio, shoot, learn & have fun. Sound good? I hope to see you all there!!

In other news we have been shooting like crazy, editing, doing albums etc... Please bear with us if you are on our list.. We are getting to you soon ;-) We have experienced some growth lately and have been granted some incredible opportunities. Life is Good! I am headed to Cabo next week to shoot a wedding and am bringing along my good friend/photographer, Kenny Kim. Good Times for sure!

Home has been fun! Bryleigh will be 1 next week! I cannot believe it. She is so stinking cute! She smiles, 24/7. She is so smart and tries so hard to have a conversation. She will sit with me and just hang out for hours. She really loves her 3 older brothers too (and of course Mommy!). Each time one of us walk in a room, she lights up like a Christmas tree with Joy. She reminds me of how WE need to be. Much like the behavior of a dog that is unconditionally happy to see his owner, always! Please keep Bridget in your thoughts and prayers as she has not been feeling very well this first trimester. Hopefully she will be out of the sick days soon and be her happy self again. We love her no matter what! She is my hero for being able to maintain a household, keep the kids in line, keep ME in line all the while being sick constantly. I am the luckiest man around!

The more I think about having 5 children, the more excited I get. Each day I learn what is "Really" important and things that "Really aren't" important. Lots of fun.

OK, sorry for the tangent there. I need to blog more. I need about 24 extra hours a day. Thanks for letting me chat for a minute!

Can't post without a picture. Here is one from a recent family session.

LaMarr Woodley #56 Pittsburgh Steelers

I recently had the distinct pleasure to work with LaMarr Woodley of the Pittsburgh Steelers and his publicist Carmella Rackham of 5000 public relations in New York City.

When LaMarr walked in, he said, "What's up David?" I said, "Hi LaMarr. I figured we would be about the same size..." Insert Laughs here! He smiled and said, "Same size, huh?".. It was a good ice breaker. LaMarr is every bit of 6'2" and 265 lbs. Pounds of Muscle that is. Giant.

LaMarr Woodley is one of the hottest Linebackers in the NFL and was named NFL Defensive Player of the week for Week 7 this year. He also had an incredible college career with The University of Michigan. He is such a personable man and photographs extremely well. Working with LaMarr and Carmella was a joy and I look forward to working with them again in the future.

Here is one of my favorite images we created. This image is used with LaMarr's permission.




Keep your eyes out for LaMarr, he is doing great things!

David Burke Photographer Pittsburgh Steelers LaMarr Woodley

Shooting Lots

I have been shooting a lot lately and enjoying it tremendously. I have been working with such wonderful people. I am sooo far behind on blogging these shoots, but I wanted to drop a few recent images (that are a little different than what I normally shoot) and say Hello... So... 'Hello World!' Please tell me what you think!

Pics:

My Favorite Girls

My two favorite girls!

Hmm.. could be three I guess ;-). In case you haven't heard we are expecting again! We are so excited and will gladly accept boy or girl.

We spent the past two days in West Virginia and it was beautiful. Peaceful. I grabbed this shot as we we went to the creek to catch some crawfish. Bryleigh is such a cuddly girl. She loves to be close to Mom and me. Bridget says that she is a Daddy's girl. I think I agree, but nobody ever takes pictures of it. LOL.

The White Sessions

I love the clean simple portraits and I love Black and White. I have decided to do a few signature sessions for a limited time in the studio. The first of these sessions is The White Session. We are doing the White Sessions November 13-15 here in our studio. We have set times right now, but may expand the timeframes if needed.

The goal is to create clean, simple portraits of individuals, couples & families (1-4 max) while wearing white. We are working in 20 minute mini sessions on a grey or white background. Bring along your personality :-) Happy, Mad, Sad, Goofy. The choice is yours. We will have fun!

These portraits make great gifts for those that love you!

Please follow this link to the PDF and contact us if you would like to set up a session. I look forward to seeing you here at the studio!

Amanda and Lou - The Wedding

Wrapping up October 2008 with the wedding of Amanda and Lou. What a fantastic day they had! We started at the Omni William Penn Hotel for preparation shots and the rest of the day was spent at the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh. Originally the ceremony was to be held outside, however the weather was being a bit fickle so a decision needed to be made early in the day to move it inside. This did not damper anything. It was beautifully done! We did get a bonus after the ceremony when the Sun came out for a bit and we were able to use the light for formals and some portraits. It was a win win all around!

The Metropolitans provided the entertainment and they rocked it! This wedding was a perfect fit for my style of shooting. We were literally in the shadows just documenting the day. It was great because no one paid attention to us :-) We captured so many fantastic moments!! Week in and week out this year we have been blessed. Thank you to all!

Amanda and Lou thank you for having us along on your day. It was perfect. Enjoy Cabo and please let me know when you return, so you can give me some tips! My next wedding stop is in Cabo!

Enjoy some images from the day.
Emotions after getting into the dress.


Capturing the mood entering the elevator


Amanda's gown is gorgeous


Amanda and her father. Priceless.


Lou looking GQ


I love this image of Amanda's father :-)


Taking advantage of the few sun rays we had available


David Burke Wedding Photographer - Children's Museum of Pittsburgh Wedding - Omni William Penn Wedding