Thursday, July 27, 2006

A Perfect July Wedding Day!

It's not often you have cool temps in July, but Lauren and Mike did! The cold front came in bringing almost spring-like weather to last weeks wedding. Their afternoon ceremony at Orchard Hill Church was beautiful and the reception following at Shannopin Country Club was absolutely awesome! Since the wedding I've been busily editing more than 3,300 images Ed and I made throughout the day. There are so many special moments! Thank you guys for allowing us to share your incredible day.





Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Western PA School for Blind Children

The most rewarding assignments I receive are those where I am allowed to just go out and find images packed with emotion. Finding special moments in daily life is what I'm all about. Yesterday I had the opportunity to explore the wonderful work done at the Western PA School for Blind Children. The staff there are simply angles doing incredible things helping God's children. I feel truly blessed their designer, Pam Peters, President of MarketSpace Communications, entrusted me to document this amazing facility for their annual report.

When I sent Pam a few images from the shoot last night she sent me this note:

"FANTASTIC!!!!!!

These are absolutely gorgeous.

You are amazing with the camera!

Pam."

Thank you, Pam, for the beautiful opportunity to witness the love and dedication of everyone at the school.





Saturday, July 08, 2006

A Day in the Life of Kelly & Mike



This week I hung out with an awesome couple for a few hours making pictures and talking about their upcoming wedding.

Kelly, Mike and I met in Pittsburgh's Strip District to wander around and shoot their engagement photos. Most know by now I don't do the "typical" studio engagement session of 'lean-this-way-and-look-off-into-the-future.' BLECH! Naw, we just hang out for a while, explore a section of this great area and make pictures as things unfold. It's fun, the expressions are real and we get a series of beautiful 'Day in the Life' photos that can be made into a little picture book.

We had so much fun that morning, I can't wait for the wedding!


Sunday, July 02, 2006

Pixel mania

Man, what a time it's been lately! Seems like forever since I made a new post here, but there's a good reason -- two weddings, two engagement sessions, a rehearsal dinner and a couple of commercial shoots all in the pipeline for digital processing at the same time. All totaled I've reviewed, edited, tweaked and processed more than 10,000 images in the last couple of weeks!

Adding to the craziness I recently switched picture hosting providers to provide better customer service. Once this is up and running (hopefully this week!) clients will be able to purchase prints and other items online and use a credit card for on the spot payment. When the orders are completed the items will be shipped directly to their door. This will be so much more convenient for friends and family, especially those from out of town.


Springwood

The only appointment I had this week outside the studio was with Kate at Springwood, a very cool ceremony and reception site in Verona. The place is fabulous! It's a big old mansion with lots of outdoor areas, covered areas and incredible rooms for weddings. Check out their website at Springwood.org. For more information write Kate at info@springwood.org. One word of advice -- plan far ahead -- as you might expect they get booked up fast.

Here are some of the pictures from Springwood:

The main entrance as seen from the driveway

The front room with stone fireplace

A view of the back patio with owl carving. When a tree dies they bring in an artist to carve animals in the wood. How cool is that!?

A peaceful pond graces the front lawn. There's a waterfall feeding the pond, too, that's just so sweet!