Christian Joel

Well, it has been a 2 week celebration for Christian's 4th Birthday! We had his actual party yesterday with family. I didn't have a proper post for his birthday, so I wanted to revisit with some images of yesterday. He had so much fun. He got some nice clothes, shoes, DVDs and a bow & arrow set (with suction cups of course). He was a riot with this thing. Check out the pics. We love you Christian! Happy Birthday little buddy :-) Christian continues to brighten our days with all of his personality...

On a mission


Gonna Fire:


Oh Yeah:


Happy Birthday to Me:


Make a wish:

Weekly Fav

I have started to (slowly but surely) go back through all of our 'Family' pictures from this year in order to create some prints and make an album or two. Being a photographer you would think that we would have tons of pictures of the family. The truth is, we do! They are, however, all on the computers, hard drives and backup DVDs. :( That is one downfall of digital... You snap away and capture all of your family memories, but the images tend to stay in the 'digital' world. It is SOOOOO important to take the time and create finished prints and albums. When I create an image from a wedding or a family shoot, I cannot wait to see the finished prints. There is just something about touching the physical prints that make a photograph so special. So, while the season quiets down a bit, I am going to go through our thousands of pictures from this year and pic a bunch for printing.

I am going to start posting a weekly favorite when I come across them. This one is of Bray Bray! We were at a Pumpkin Carving Party a few weeks ago and I saw Bray peeking over the back of a bench. Isn't he a cutie???

halloween fun

The two little guys got dressed up as Pirates for Halloween! My Mother and Bridget made the costumes for them. They are so cute!! Christian initally did not want the beard and mustache put on, until he saw Brayden with it. Then he wanted it. It definately added a touch of character to the costume. In spite of the rain, they still had fun and got a bunch of candy too! Click either pic to see a special slideshow!

been a while

I haven't posted in quite a while. Lots of good things going on, that is for sure. Had a very busy weekend. I took a quick trip to Atlanta, went to a few weekend Halloween Parties and celebrated some birthdays. My Grandfather (Pops), Father (Stonepa), Sister (Laurie) and Christian all had birthdays! Pops is on the 27th and the other 3 are on the 29th!! Happy Birthday to all, again :-) . I have to go through some pics and post pics of all of them.

Here are a few pics from my Atlanta trip:
The weather... I have never seen it rain so hard in Atlanta.


Captain Fred took me to Al's Diner. Here is a patron reading the morning paper.


This diner has all kinds of funny things littered around the place. Al is behind the counter.


This is Wild Man in his Civil War shop. I didn't care for the shop too much, but thought he made and interesting portrait :-) Those are 2 .45 caliber pistols on his belt!

WPJA Member!

Today is an exciting day for me! I was just accepted as a member to the WPJA, which stands for Wedding Photojournalist Association. What is it you ask? "A highly screened, critical organization. Less than 5% of wedding photographers out there qualify for membership. Leading the way in Wedding Photojournalism, WPJA represents the most discriminating talent around the world technically, creatively and visually. Qualified members hold industry-leading standards, skills and business integrity."

That's a mouthful! I am honored to be accepted and am very proud. There are so many amazing photographers in this Association! Check it out http://www.wpja.com .

Another Family Shoot

Sunday, after I was at Maura's home I went to Schenley Park to meet Susan and her family. Maura introduced Susan to us, so that is how we made the connection. We are always so grateful when our clients refer us to other people. That is what helps us grow. Thank you Maura!

We decided to meet at Schenley because of the variety of landscapes available to us. We ended up in a corner of the park where there were awesome trees, water fountain, lots of colors and of course, my favorite... open shade! We had a great time and I was able to capture a variety of shots. There were a total of 7 people to photograph. We got some group, some solo, some candid and some posed. I think we covered all bases! Again, this is another beautiful family, that I am honored to have the pleasure of meeting and working with.

Here are a few that I picked for this post:

The Boys


The Family


Playing Chase


The Girls

Family Favorites

One of our favorite clients, Maura, had me over to photograph her family for the fall. We had a shoot earlier this year (in the spring) with their extended family which was a lot of fun. This time though, it was more focused on the children, Riley and Mack. Brian and Maura welcomed me and we got the kids geared up to go outside. We were having so much fun in the leaves and on the swingset! We eventually moved inside to capture some more fun in the house. I was having so much fun, that I hated to leave. I had to get to another shoot (those double shoot days are a doozy :-) ).

You all know that kids are my favorite subjects. The picture opportunities are endless. When you just play and hang out with them they do the cutest things, naturally. That is when you click the shutter. I look forward to working with Maura, Brian, Riley and Mack in the many years to come! Thank you all for inviting me into your beautiful home to help create some lasting memories.

PS - I will post my other shoot tomorrow.

Here are a few:

Riley hiding in the tall grass:


Mack was telling me his prayer:


Climbin the Wall:


Family Shot (this was Riley's idea. She set it all up! I am going to hire her for posing expertise. Thanks Riley!)

Susan and Michael get married!

We had an awesome weekend! Saturday was the perfect autumn day. The sky was blue and the colors were poppin! Susan and Michael could not have asked for a better day for their wedding. Last month, we met down at Station Square for an engagement session (Click here to see). We had fun there, which was a great precursor for the wedding. Engagement sessions are key in our relationships with our clients. They really help us to connect, so when we show up on the wedding day, we are like old friends! Saturday was no exception, we showed up to Susan's parents home, fit right in and started shooting. We captured so many amazing images, that it is very hard to edit out files :-). Not that it is a bad thing!!

As the day moved on, we went to the church to meet Michael and his men. We hung out with them for a while and then headed inside while the guest were arriving, just grabbing a lot of candid shots. After the ceremony we headed to Valleybrook Country Club, in Peters Township for the reception. Once there we had an evening packed with lots of love and dancing!

All of their family and friends were so warming and loving. They made us feel like part of the family. We are so thankful that we have gotten to know Susan and Michael. They are off to North Carolina to begin their marriage together. We are hoping in the near future to connect again and hang out for an evening! Thank you all for trusting us with your precious day. Best wishes on a life of love and happiness. God Bless you all!!

Here are some things that we saw throughout the day. PS - below all of the images, there is a link to a slideshow that we showed during the reception. Little Bonus this Post! Enjoy!!!

Susan (backlight is my favorite!!)


This little girl kept looking back at me, isn't she adorable?


Picture of a Picture (Michael hugging his mother during the ceremony)


I love the look in Michael's eyes


B with her big Nikon!


The Sword Ceremony (Susan just got tapped on her behind by a sword, which is a part of the tradition)


Little Detail (Do you recognize the image? I love it!!)


Candid of Michael getting into the golf cart


These 3 little girls were patiently waiting to get back on the dance floor, during the first dance.


The Men


This couple was so cute and dancing like crazy all night!


Michael's mother got me to dance too :)


Here is the Slideshow we created at the reception.

ricci and greg slideshow

Click the picture to see a slideshow from last weekend.

Another Dylan

We had the chance to visit and capture another baby Dylan, last night! He is such a cutie. His hair reminds me of Brayden's when he was born. Hopefully Dylan keeps some of his :) . Dylan was born to Katie and Dan on October 10, so he is just a over a week old. This is such a great time to photograph newborns. Usually babies will sleep the whole time, but not this one! Dylan was ready to go, for the camera, the entire time. God Bless Him!

Anyways have to make this post quick, so I can get out the door. Have a great weekend!

Dylan

Our nephew, Dylan, turned 1 month this week! Happy 1 Month Dylan! So we wanted to post a few pics so everyone could see how much he has grown in a month. You can see him when he was 1 day old here. It is amazing to watch how quickly they change and grow. What an awesome experience!

We have another shoot this evening with another baby Dylan who is 1 week old! We are so lucky!! Stay tuned for pics of him as well.

Here are some of Darren and Erin's Dylan:

B and Dylan
















I snuck a few of Bray in here too. He seems like a Giant now!

Slideshow

I posted last week about Lynette and Cameron here. I just wanted to revisit this shoot with a slideshow to share. Again, there is nothing better than seeing the love between a mother and child. This is one of those shoots that really touched me and wanted to share with all of you. When I watch this, it reminds me how important it is to keep life simple. Moments like these are priceless so it is very important to cherish them while we can. Enjoy!

Click here for the slideshow

Portfolio Shoot

Sunday I had the pleasure of meeting Kami and her mother Tanya, down in Oakland for a portfolio shoot. We shot all around the Cathedral of Learning. The day was absolutely gorgeous. We had sunshine for backlighting and tons of open shade to work with. We spent about 2.5 hours together and had a wonderful time. I have a very small sample of images to show. I shot so many and it is going to be very hard to narrow down, because Kami does not take a bad shot! She is such a beautiful girl and I see her career going very far. Also I would like to note that the only Photoshop work I did on these was B&W Conversion and a little sharpening. That is it! Thank you Tanya and Kami for trusting in me to help with your portfolio! I had a great time working with you.

Take a look: