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Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Happy Halloween!

Ever since I was a little kid, I have looooooooooooooved Halloween. It was my favorite time of the year (well, between it and Christmas), and I loved getting dressed up and traveling throughout the neighborhood, stopping at the homes of friends and relatives, and watching them try to figure out who I was beneath the mask or make-up. My choice of costume was usually some sort of monster. Need proof?

While I haven’t gone trick or treating in years (and I miss it!), this Halloween I managed to find a bit of free time and watched some great horror movies. Among the films on the list: Halloween (of course), Hostel, Sleepaway Camp 2, Just Before Dawn and Pumpkinhead. What are some of your favorite scary movies?

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Monday, October 23, 2006

A wedding-free weekend

As much as I love shooting weddings, it’s nice having a break occasionally and this weekend brought some much needed “R&R”. Saturday I caught up on recent work (or tried to) and Sunday I had an engagement shoot. Mindy and Sean recently booked me to shoot their November ‘07 wedding and while that’s a ways off, they wanted Autumn engagement portraits so I was able to fit them in for the last weekend of pretty leaves. It was so much fun working with them and they even brought their adorable puppies - Bettis and Porter - in for the shoot. Photographing pets can be troublesome but those little guys were amazingly well behaved. Check out some of my favorite shots of Mindy and Sean (and Bettis & Porter) below!



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Thursday, October 19, 2006

Last new senior of 2006?

My senior portrait shoots have slowed down considerably the past few weeks. This is always the slow time of year as the seniors who wanted summer/fall pics already had them done and everyone else usually waits until spring.

Yesterday I had the chance to work with Kayla. We didn’t get to start shooting until about 5pm and this time of year that only left us with about an hour of sunlight, but we still managed to hit a few locations. Despite being rushed, I had a blast working with Kayla and wanted to share some of my favorite pics!

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Monday, October 16, 2006

One Crazy Weekend!

Saturday was a nice, relatively easy day. Around noon we left for Uniontown to shoot Shelby and John’s wedding video. The church the wedding took place in was so nice and spacious and the minister’s sermon was beautiful. Their reception was at the Summit Inn, a very luxurious venue in Farmington. Shelby was such a sweetheart and really made us feel at home. I also have to comment on the cake. That was the biggest and most beautiful wedding cake I have ever seen. It must have stood 4 feet tall - it was just unreal! Here’s a pic of just the top three layers.

As relaxing as Saturday was, Sunday was pure craziness! Yesterday was easily my most hectic day as a photographer. The past few weeks, I’ve had so many people contacting me about having portraits shot in the fall to take advantage of the gorgeous Western Pennsylvania foliage. The bad thing is - we only have about 2 weeks where the leaves are “peaking” and look great in photos and I ended up scheduling 4 shoots in one day to work around the time issue. Clearly, I’ve lost my mind.The day kicked off at 11am when I met Kia and Ian at Lake Somerset to shoot their engagement portraits. Kia had emailed me a few months ago to see if I was available to shoot her wedding. I was open for that day, but their wedding will take place near Lancaster, PA which is a few hours from my home in Friedens. While I do travel occasionally, go that far is very difficult, especially when I’m unfamiliar with the location so I unfortunately had to decline. The good thing was she still wanted me to shoot their engagement photos and they were willing to come to Somerset County to have them done. They’re such a cool couple and here are two of my favorite pics from their session!

After Kia and Ian headed home, I was scheduled to meet Michelle and Chuck at 1pm. Michelle booked me a few weeks ago and I’ll be shooting their wedding next October. It’s always great to do a shoot with couples before their wedding day and I had a blast working with these two! We stopped by a few of my favorite locations and got some killer photos. Chuck even had me take some shots beside his car - and let me tell you it’s one sweet ride! Check out the pics and I bet you’ll agree.


As soon as their shoot ended, it was time for us to head to Berlin to shoot a family portrait at 3pm. A few weeks ago I had shot senior portraits for cousins Erik and Kristen. During that time, I learned that they have 12 other cousins and their mothers said how nice it would be to get all the grandchildren together to take some group photos. I was fairly intimidated as I’ve never shot a group that large, but I wanted to help the family out and agreed to give it a shot. While it’s hard to do a lot of creative shots with 14 people, I think we still got some really cool family portraits. Here are my two favorite photos!


As soon as we finished up that shoot, we sped back to Somerset (thank goodness there weren’t any cops around!) to meet Christy and Chris for their engagement session. Christy had contacted me about a month ago in regards to her upcoming wedding. As fate would have it, the same day she contacted me, I had booked her date with another couple. I can’t tell you how many times that happens to me and it’s always frustrating. Christy was disappointed, as was I since their reception is here in Somerset, but she still wanted me to take her engagement portraits and I was happy to oblige. I had a lot of fun working with them both and here are a few of my favorite shots.



We wrapped up that shoot at around 7pm and I can’t tell you how relieved I was that the day was over. It was so stressful and I was constantly worried about being late/missing an appointment. Fortunately everything went off without a hitch and it turned out to be one of my most productive days yet. But I still don’t think I’ll be scheduling 4 shoots in one day again any time soon. =)

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Friday, October 13, 2006

Olivia's Second Senior Portrait Session

A few months ago I shot some summer senior portraits for Olivia. We had a great time together and I knew she also wanted fall pics so this morning we had her second session. It was FREEZING cold outside but she always had a smile ready for the photos. She’s such a sweet girl and is extremely intelligent (I think she’s at the top of her class). And looking at her pics, I wouldn’t be surprised if she could be a model. Take a look and see what you think!

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Monday, October 9, 2006

A Beautiful Weekend for Photography

This weekend was incredibly beautiful as the fall leaves are at their absolute peak. Fortunately I had lots of outdoor work this weekend to take advantage of the great foliage.


Saturday I shot Kristina and Aaron’s Wedding. They were married at The Hayloft in Rockwood, PA and I’d never had the pleasure of working there before. Well, as I traveled up the long driveway, I knew I was in for a treat. An endless row of multi-colored trees provided the perfect backdrop for the wedding and when you add a couple as good-looking as Aaron and Kristina, it isn’t hard to take great photos. Here are a couple of my favorite shots from the day.





We were able to head home relatively early Saturday night and that was a good thing as Sunday was scheduled full. To kick off the day, I shot Aimee and Steve’s engagement portraits. I’ll be shooting their wedding in May so I was looking forward to having the chance to work with them and we had a great time. Below are a few of my favorite shots from their session.




After we wrapped up that shoot, I was due to meet Trina and Chris for their e-pics. I had met them both about a month ago when they met with me to discuss their May ‘07 wedding. They were one of those couples that, as soon as I met them, we “clicked” and I knew we’d have a tremendous amount of fun working together. They’re both very laid back and relaxed in front of the camera and it didn’t take long for the laughs to start. Be sure to check out my favorite fun pics!





The final shoot of the day was with Nicole and Thad. Like my first two couples, they’re also getting married in May of 07 and also like the first two couples, they were a lot of fun to work with! I think it’s safe to say that I’m going to have a GREAT May because I get to work with these wonderful couples. Don’t miss a couple of my favorite shots of Nicole & Thad. =)



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