Random

The past couple weeks have been really hectic. Two of my great aunt's have passed away after long illnesses and while their passing was sad, they'd both been suffering for quite some time so at least that is over for them. I feel bad for their families though, especially for my grandmother who has lost a sister-in-law, a sister and a brother all within the past 2 months.

I haven't done too much shooting the past 2 weeks. I've been getting caught up on our backlog, and will thankfully have that erased before Christmas.

About 2 weeks ago I bought a new main camera. I got another Nikon, since all my glass if made for Nikon bodies. I've never understood the Nikon vs Canon drama that so many photographers contribute too. They both are capable of producing great images, it's the person behind the camera and what's in front of the camera that truly matters.

I've been playing with the new cam, and took a few random shots. The moon was almost full the other night and the sporadic clouds made for a really cool scene. I'm still no good at shooting the moon though, it's always blown out. I think they're still neat snapshots though. I also took a new photo of our dog, Eli. He rarely holds still long enough to grab a photo, so this was unique occurrence. And, tonight I was out driving when an amazing sunset caught my eye. The sun itself was down, but the after-effects were still pretty sweet.

100 - 19

A few weeks ago I met Sydney on MySpace and told her about 100. She checked out my blog and liked the portraits I've been shooting for the project, so I told her the next time I was in Johnstown that we'd meet up and do a shoot. Well, today I was in Johnstown (I went to see The Mist, which was pretty good but not quite as good as I'd hoped) and after the movie we met up for the shoot. I had a lot of fun making her portrait and I think she's a terrific addition to the growing collection.

New Project: "On Life" series

On Life is easily the most ambitious project I've decided to tackle thus far. It will be a multi-part series of photos chronicling several different phases and aspects of life. Currently, I have 3 different parts planned - "On Birth", "On Love" and "On Dying". The titles are pretty self explanatory, but I'll go ahead and discuss them further anyway.

"On Birth" - As the title implies, the photos will be chronicling the process of birth, such as the expectant mother, a newborn infant, the family with their new addition, etc. I'm looking for several participants so please contact me if you're interested.

"On Love" - This series will cover everything from grade school crushes and teenage romances to couples tying the knot and throughout their lives as married people. Obviously I won't have any trouble finding married couples, but the other couples in love might be more challenging to find and photograph.

"On Dying" - I know this sounds morbid and perhaps it is, but death is part of life. I anticipate that this will be a hard series to shoot, both emotionally and in terms of finding willing participants. But, as in the book "Tuesdays With Morrie", I feel people who are nearing the end of their lives have a special kind of wisdom and peace that no one else has and that deserves to be documented.

As always, I'll post more about the projects on the blog and on my Art site (which should be fully functioning within few weeks).

New Project: Fading Away

In the past, I've mentioned my grandmother's struggles with Alzheimer's Disease. Over the past several years, we've watched helplessly as she had everything stolen from her - her memory, her personality, her dignity, her freedom. Seeing her fight the losing battle against this disease, and seeing the effect it's had on our family, has been crushing.

I've recently began making portraits of my grandmother, and those photos have inspired me to produce Fading Away. I'm hoping to find several other families whose loved ones have been afflicted with Alzheimer's and who will allow me to meet with them, photograph their loved one, and tell that person's story. Our society looks at Alzheimer's Disease as "forgetfulness". Most people know it causes a person to lose their memory, but don't understand the other effects of the disease. Through Fading Away, I want to help educate people about this disease, which is on the precipice of becoming an epidemic (by age 80, fully one half of all people will have been afflicted with Alzheimer's). I also hope that, by telling the stories of people who have had their lives stolen from them by the illness, that I can put a face on the illness and help further research toward finding a cure.

New Projects for 2008 and beyond

As 2007 nears its end, I find myself filled with ideas for new photography projects to keep my busy in 2008 and the years beyond. While I know my business often keeps me busier than I can handle, I still am constantly looking for new ideas to explore and new people to photograph. I'll be posting separate blogs for each, and if you're interested in any of them please contact me.

April & Sean's Wedding

Saturday Sharon and I were in Pittsburgh for the final time this year to shoot Sean and April's wedding celebration. It was our first Croatian Catholic ceremony and it took place at St. Mary's in Rankin, PA in a church that April's grandfather helped to build. The day was cold and rain began sometime during the ceremony but Sean and April didn't let that put a damper on their day. They were constantly smiling and so in love. The couple was simply a joy to work with, as were their friends and family. I had so much fun working with them and being a part of their day. I also have to say that after 33 weddings this year, April and Sean had the best food we've ever eaten. The reception was catered by Yes, We Cater Inc. and I was beyond impressed with their set up and, of course, the cuisine. It was soooooo good!

What a great way to (almost) end the wedding season. We have one more wedding (New Year's Eve), so the next month will be spent enjoying the holidays and wiping out my backlog! :)

New Art Project: Our Generation

I'm currently in the planning stages for my winter art project, which I'm currently calling "Our Generation". In the project, I'll be shooting portraits of men and women from ages 18-21. Ideally, I'd like to photograph 50 people in this age range and gets a nice variety to celebrate all of the different personalities that the generation has to offer. If this first set is a success, I'd like to photograph different young adults every year, chronically how our society changes through the years. I'm really excited about the project and hope to get started in December.

If you're interested or know someone who is, just send me an email.

Richard Family Photos

Sunday afternoon I had the pleasure of shooting family portraits for the Richard family. They wanted some traditional shots to give as holiday gifts, but we might do some more casual, lifestyle portraits next year when the weather improves. I had a great time working with them and can't wait to do it again!

Heather & Jason's Wedding

Saturday Sharon and I shot Heather & Jason's wedding in Pittsburgh. Aside from being a bit chilly outside, the weather was great and everything went very smoothly. We began the day at Heather's house were we got some prep shots before heading to St. Paul's Cathedral in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh. It's the second time I've shot at St. Paul's this year and I really
like working there. They're very conscious of the photographers and their rules are easy to work within and still get great shot. It's a nice change from some churches we've shot at that imposed rules so restrictive that it made it nearly impossible to shoot.

After the beautiful ceremony, we did some outdoor shots at the Carnegie building, Mount Washington and a park by Heinz Chapel (where I'll be working in a couple weeks). After that we hit the Airport Marriott for the reception. It was such a lovely day and working with Jason and Heather again was a joy!

Christmas info

I'm back from a very relaxing week long working vacation and ready to get back to blogging.

I've been receiving a ton of email regarding scheduling photo shoots which will result in Christmas gifts (mostly family photos). I just wanted to make a quick post to let everyone know that all shoots which require the delivery of items before the holidays must take place before December 1. So, if you're planning on booking a session, please contact me at your earliest convenience to set something up so we can ensure that you'll have any gifts in time for the holidays.

Also, I've had several ladies contact me regarding having boudoir photos taken for their husband/fiance/boyfriend for an awesome holiday gift. What most ladies are doing is ordering a custom designed album and those albums are on sale through the holidays for only $75 so if you want a one of a kind gift that's a great price. Oh, and just FYI, I don't post images from boudoir photo sessions on the blog unless a client specially gives her permission so if you're concerned about privacy/modesty, you have nothing to worry about. :)

I've got a virus!

Tuesday morning I woke up to find my computer had slowed to a crawl. There were pop-up windows open everywhere and tons of insidious programs running in the background. Somehow my computer had become badly infected with several viruses. I spent the entire day trying to get the system working again but it was a losing battle. I eventually gave up and bought a new computer. Now, much of my time has been spent transferring needed files from the old computer to the new one. I guess the "bright side" to this is that the new computer is much faster (3 GB of ram - woo hoo). The downside is that I wasted several days getting all of my software back and, of course, that I had to spend several hundred dollars on a computer that I didn't really want. Oh well.

Just a reminder: I'm away from the studio through Nov 6.

100 - 18

Earlier this week I met with Bryan to make his portrait for 100. I had contacted him on MySpace after being impressed with his look and when I told him about the project, he happily agreed to take part. It was great meeting and working with him.

Luke & Laura's Engagement Photos

Monday I met with Luke and Laura to shoot their engagement photos. We'll be shooting their wedding on New Year's Eve and I'd shot some formals for them earlier in the year. We headed to Laurel Hill State Park to get some shots at the Pumphouse Falls and despite making a brief detour on the hike to the falls, we made it with daylight to spare. I had so much fun chatting with them (I actually went to high school with Laura) and I loved how the shots came out.

Brooke & Eric's Wedding

Saturday Sharon and I went to Mars to shoot a wedding.

Just kidding, only the reception was in Mars. Mars, PA - that is.

Friday night Brooke called me to tell me that Eric's father was in the hospital awaiting surgery and wouldn't be able to attend the wedding. It wasn't anything too serious, but I felt so bad for everyone. Fortunately, everything on Saturday went very well and we had a lot of fun. After the ceremony, Brooke wanted to have "fun photos" taken of the wedding party so we headed to a local playground. At first, the bridesmaids and groomsmen were a little confused, but Brooke simply said "I want everyone to play!" and play they did. The photos came out so neat and it really captured Brooke and Eric's personalities. Afterwards, we stopped by the hospital and everyone went to visit Eric's dad who was overjoyed that they were able to come and see him. We finished up the day at the Four Points By Sheraton Pittsburgh North and the reception was a blast!