Somerset County Courthouse

I was bored the other day and grabbed some shots of the courthouse in Somerset, PA.

I really need to start photographing people again. I'm tremendously burnt out on shooting buildings.

Monday, Monday

This morning I was interviewed by Katrina Perkosky for a new alternative newspaper that will be launching in the Johnstown area in a few months. She wanted to discuss my "Abandoned" project and a bit about my work in general. Before she left, I also made her portrait for "100".

The photographer for the paper was Jacob Koestler and I also grabbed a photo of him taking a photo of me taking a photo of him taking... (yeah, I could run that joke into the ground forever). I'll post more about the article when it goes to print.

Just another Satuday, with a prom and a bear...

This afternoon I shot "formal" photos for the Shanksville prom. I don't usually enjoy formals because they're boring, but I brought some samples of fun poses with me and most of the students really seemed to enjoy trying something different. I ended up having a great time and saw several of my '08 senior photo clients. It's hard to believe they're graduating in just a few weeks.

After the prom, I was editing the photos when the phone rang. It was my neighbor calling to say that there was a bear in her driveway. I grabbed my camera and rushed over to her house to find a medium-sized black bear sitting in her lawn, eating bird seed. The bear made short work of her bird feeder before heading back to the woods. I was within 20 yards or so and got some shots before it ran off into deeper cover. It's the closest I've ever been to a bear and I have to say, it was pretty darn cool.

Flaky people drive me crazy

This afternoon I was supposed to have a shoot with a local senior to do some awesome Trash Your Prom Dress photos. I blocked off most of the afternoon for her shoot and when the time came, she was nowhere to be seen. I tried to contact her and had no response. Why do people schedule a shoot and then flake like that? It drives me crazy because it means I just wasted a beautiful afternoon of sunlight and clouds waiting for someone who never showed up and I could have shot photos for another client.

Unfortunately, this kind of thing happens relatively often. Today was the "tipping point" and I decided that all sessions are going to need to be paid for in full prior to the day of the shoot. I hate doing that, but it's really the only thing that is fair to me and fair to my reliable clients.

Photo kiosks are the devil

I meant to post this blog a few weeks ago but forgot.

Photo kiosks - the kind where you put your photo CD into the machine, press a few buttons and a few seconds later it start spitting out photos - are pure evil. Seriously.

I used one of these kiosks for the first time the day before my road trip. I was printing a bunch of screenshots to use as reference photos to find film locations. The 1 hour lab was closed and I knew I wouldn't have time to wait somewhere else, so I decided to use a Kodak kiosk. Ugh.

The photo "quality" of the prints is just deplorable. The paper is thin. The colors are all off. The brightness/contrast was automatically adjusted by the computer in the kiosk, etc. etc. Oh, but I could spill grape juice on them and wipe it off and they'd be fine. (picture me rolling my eyes)

I sincerely hope none of my clients who receive their photos on disc are using these kiosks to get their photos developed. If you are - STOP DOING IT. I know the average consumer doesn't have access to a professional lab, but the photos spit out by those kiosks are beyond terrible. Please, use a 1 hour lab if you need them quickly. Better yet, use MPix or Adorama. The quality will be a million times better than that of the kiosks.

Okay, that's the end of that rant. :)

My new(est) toy

A couple weeks ago I made one of my biggest purchased in a while. I took the plunge and bought a Nikon D300 camera and accessories. I'd initially ordered a D300 last fall, but just couldn't justify the cost when I was completely satisfied with my current cameras. But, I recently saw a deal that was too good to pass up so I went ahead and broke out my debit card.

My initial thoughts are that I like the slightly larger size of the camera and I appreciate it's sturdy build. There really isn't any perceivable difference in image quality at lower ISOs and I haven't done any low light shooting with it yet(which is where it will really shine). I'm happy with the camera and look forward to putting it to use this wedding season (which begins in about 2 weeks)!

Quick thanks

I just wanted to thank everyone who messaged me with kind words regarding my father's surgery. Everything went well and he was discharged today. They were able to do the operation laparoscopically so he should have a pretty quick recovery period.

Thanks again!

Sorry for the lack of posts

I have a bunch of new photos from Abandoned that I need to get posted, but this week has been pretty hectic. On Tuesday my father was taken to the emergency room with severe stomach pains. It took several hours of testing before he was diagnosed with a hernia that needs to be surgically repaired. He's having surgery this afternoon, so I'll be at the hospital most of today.

I'll try to get some new photos uploaded over the weekend, but I hope everyone understands why I don't have much time to blog right now.

Eli

Sharon took a nice photo of Eli today. I always try to get photos of him but he refuses to sit still and usually barks at the camera. I'm glad she had more luck than me.

Nice to meet you, Mr. President

This afternoon former President Bill Clinton visited my hometown of Somerset, PA, campaigning for his wife in the PA primary. I've never seen a former or current President in person so I couldn't pass up the chance to see President Clinton.

I got in line around 1pm. The gymnasium at the Somerset Area High School was supposed to open at 1:30, but it didn't open until well after 2:00, so I had the chance to get a nice sunburn for about an hour. Once we did get inside, an area student sang the National Anthem and then Somerset County Commissioners John Vatavuk and Pamela Tokar-Ickes shared their support for Hillary Clinton. It was another 45 minutes or so before President Clinton would arrive, so I took the time to find a nice spot to take some photos.

I did find a great spot, one fairly close to the main podium and one which allowed me to see over much of the crowd gathered before the platform. I'd only been standing there for 5 minutes or so when event security came over and asked if I was with the press. I said I wasn't, and that I was just there to take some photos for my personal use. She then said something along the lines that "Since I wasn't with the press, my camera hadn't been screened so the secret service would be very nervous to have me close to the President". I was already good 20 yards away, so I asked her if I could just back up to around the middle of the gymnasium. She said "further" and directed me pretty much to the back of the gym.

I wanted to tell her that I never knew Nikon made sniper rifles disguised as digital cameras, but I bit my tongue and did as told. I had my 70-200 lens, so I was still able to get fairly close shots, but my new placement meant I couldn't shoot without getting the heads and shoulders of the dozens of people who were allowed to stand closer (and use their consumer cameras) in the shots. Oh well, it was still neat to see President Clinton, but today didn't sway my vote on Tuesday.

Road Trip - Closing Thoughts

Random facts:

• Gas was $3.05 in New Jersey. It was $3.39 in PA and $3.43 in Connecticut. I don't know why it's so much less expensive in NJ.
• Connecticut has rock walls everywhere. It seemed like every other property was lined with a rock wall. It was beautiful. I can only imagine how stunning that area would be when the leaves change in the fall.
• Hotel beds are uncomfortable. Very, very uncomfortable.
• Cell phones are the worst invention ever. Especially in the hands of 13 years olds in a movie theatre.
• GPS systems are the best invention ever. With my TomTom we didn't get lost once and it rerouted us perfectly when needed. I don't think anyone should even consider taking a trip without one.
• There are TONS of BMWs in New York and Connecticut. I think 1 out of every 4 cars was a BMW. It was crazy. Are you obligated to own a "Beamer" if you live in these states?
  

I couldn't pick a favorite spot. I didn't care for the New York metro area, just too much traffic for my taste. I loved Connecticut. I loved the areas of New Jersey we were in. Sharon's favorite place was Hope, New Jersey which indeed was a very charming, quaint town. I think we'd both consider moving to the area if the future allows.

On the trip, I drove exactly 1146 miles. I drove through 4 states and countless towns. Despite our bad weather at Coney Island, I wouldn't change a thing. The trip was just an insane amount of fun and we all loved the adventure. We're already planning a fall trip. Originally I thought about going south but now I'm leaning toward going further north into New England, especially Massachusetts and Maine. I'd like to visit Martha's Vineyard and Bangor, Maine, as well as a handful of other spots in that general area. New England in the fall would be breathtaking.

I hope you enjoyed reading about the road trip and seeing the photos. Feel free to leave comments.

Road Trip - Part 3

With our trip nearing its end, I knew that after the morning excursions we'd have a long drive to Somerset ahead of us and I didn't want to get a late start. By 7am we were on the road, driving toward New Jersey and searching for the town of Blairstown.

Blairstown was one of the towns where the first Friday the 13th was filmed and our first stop of the day was Camp No Be Bo Sco, which in the film was the setting for Camp Crystal Lake. I was afraid that we'd pull up to the entrance to the camp and find another locked gate like we had earlier in Connecticut, and sure enough as we drove up the dirt road toward the camp, a gate loomed in the distance. However, as we closed in it became clear the gate was open so we were able to drive into the camp grounds. A few groups of Boy Scouts were hiking around camp and they all smiled and waved as we explored the site of one of horror movies' most famous locations.

The camp was pretty incredible. Several of the cabins were clearly the ones displayed in the film, but the highlight was definitely the lakeside. Seeing the spot where Mrs. Voorhees battled Alice and the "lake" (which is actually Sand Pond) where Jason jumped out of the water at the films' climax actually gave me goosebumps. Friday the 13th is the first horror movie I remember seeing (I was around 6 years old and it scared the crap out of me, but I loved it!) so this had special meaning to me. We also found the totem pole shown early in the film and the archery range which was in several scenes. As for "the boy" in the lake. I didn't find any boy. So he must still be out there... (obligatory inside joke photo is included below, and only fans of Friday the 13th will get it) :)

After wrapping things up at the camp, we went into Blairstown and took photos of the streets and stores shown in the films' opening scenes (when Annie walks into town). We found the diner where Steve Christy downed some coffee and I even took some photos inside. I'd initially planned on getting breakfast there, but the place was packed and we didn't have time to spare. We then headed over to Hope, NJ where more of the opening was shot and where Annie met "Crazy Ralph" who warned her not to go to Crystal Lake. Our last stop was just outside of Hope, the Moravian Cemetery which could be seen in the background when Enos dropped Annie off as she hitchhiked to the camp.

And with that, our trip ended and the drive home began. We made good time on the way back, it only took about three and a half hours, and we drove straight through. Getting home was bittersweet. It was nice to be back and be done with the driving, but I hated to see our adventure come to an end. I'll have one more post with some closing thoughts on the trip and plans for the future, but until then here are some more photos.

Road Trip - Part 2

It rained and stormed all throughout the night. As if sleeping in a hotel room bed isn't hard enough, having lightning flash and thunder boom every five seconds makes it doubly so. I was tired from driving almost 600 miles the day before, so we didn't hit the road until about an hour later than planned. As the morning progressed, the sky cleared up and the weather became wonderful.

Our first destination was Kent, Connecticut. The main road to Kent was blocked as utility trucks worked to replace lines downed by the previous night's storm. Fortunately my TomTom found another way in, although it was a pretty rough mountain road. Maybe Enterprise giving me the SUV was a good thing after all...

We ventured into the outskirts of town to find the summer home used in the film "I Spit on Your Grave". If you haven't seen the film, it's a nasty little exploitation film from 1978 which was quite infamous in it's day. The house was easy to find and Sharon even spied the tree where one of the main characters was hanged by the Housatonic River. The owners of the house were nowhere to be found, but we met a nice gentleman who lived a few places down and he told us that they only stay there 1 or 2 weeks a year.

We then headed into Kent proper and found the church from the film and a graveyard which could be seen in a few shots. In the center of town, I took a photo from the film's opening credits (all while a local cop watched suspiciously) and then found another house from the movie.

After that was done, we headed east to find a location I couldn't wait to see - the campsite from Friday the 13th Part II. Finding just where this location was took hours upon hours of research as it's private property and is not at all publicized. But, with a little detective work and a lot of reading, I found this horror holy grail. We traversed another rocky mountain road before coming upon the road leading into the campsite. And a gate. A locked gate.

I could see a hundred yards or so beyond the gate before the dirt road disappeared downhill. In my mind, I imagined that the campsite was just over the crest of that hill, and I was going to walk there if I couldn't drive in. So I walked. And walked. And walked. I really have no idea how far it was. It felt like 10 miles but was probably more like 1. But after walking seemingly forever, I could see the cabins and buildings that I've seen dozens of times in Friday the 13th Part 2 before me. If anyone had been around and told me to leave, I'd have been crushed but fortunately the entire area was vacant. I spent quite a while walking around the area, exploring and taking photos. I was surprised that the "beach" area was actually only a couple yards wide. The staircase where "Mark" meets his demise was a prized find and would have been easy to miss as it is very overgrown and required climbing through a mass of weeds and thorn bushes. Seeing all of the spots I'd seen in the movie was amazing.

I think the entire area is just used as a hunting camp, or maybe a summer weekend retreat. I would love to buy the lodge and live there. The waterside location is stunning and and the history is just so cool. I took several photos before heading back outside and beginning the long and almost entirely uphill walk back to the main road. I was exhausted when I got back to the car, but it was so worthwhile. After catching my breath, we headed to New Preston, Connecticut to see the exterior locations from the beginning of Friday the 13th Part 2. I wanted to get lunch at Oliva's in New Preston as that's where the opening scenes from the film were shot, but they're only open for dinner so we had to pass.

After New Preston, we started driving south again. We stopped in Milford for some pizza and then took a break at a riverside park to enjoy the peace and the meal. Afterwards, we continued on and soon ended up in Westport, Connecticut, the one time home of Sean Cunningham (director of Friday the 13th and countless other films). Westport was also the town where Wes Craven directed his hit film Last House on the Left (Cunningham produced). Since most of the film was shot outdoors in the forest, I'd only been able to find a few of the locations through my research. Amongst those was the cemetery where Phyllis tries to escape from her captors and the police station that was home to the bumbling cops. Westport was a beautiful town built right on the river and I really enjoyed visiting it.

After we wrapped up there, we were on our way to New Jersey. Getting back to Jersey involved driving past New York again and dealing with the traffic. It wasn't too bad, but we lost about an hour. We eventually ended up in Cedar Grove, NJ where I found the Essex County Hospital. The hospital, like most mental institutions, was closed in the 90s and has been sitting empty ever since. It's impossible to capture the scope of the facility in photos. It literally stretches out for acres and has dozens of buildings. They're tearing everything down this spring and turning the area into a park. While I'm sure residents will love that, it's sad to know all of those beautiful buildings will soon be gone.

I'd only been photographing the buildings for about half an hour when a Sheriff's Jeep pulled into the lot. I walked over to the officer and asked if it was okay to continue taking photos, but he told me that no one was allowed on the property without permission from the county. He was very nice about it and we headed out. I do wish I'd have had another hour or two to capture a few more of the buildings.

It was near enough to dusk that it didn't make much sense to try to do much more driving, so we stopped by Petsmart to get Eli some toys and treats and then headed to Stroudsburg, PA to get a hotel room. I didn't feel like sitting in a hotel room for hours on end, so I talked Sharon into going to a movie at the local theatre. We decided on Prom Night, which was okay, but the theatre going experience was miserable. The place was packed with 13-16 year olds who talked throughout the film, texted each other on their cell phones and screamed like banshees at every single jump scare (and they really weren't even good jump scares). By the time the flick was over, my ears were ringing from the constant noise.

Regardless of that, this leg of the trip was fantastic and tons of fun. We had glorious weather and had great luck with all of the locations. It couldn't have been much better.

Road Trip - Part 1

4:45 am and the alarm clock started beeping. With that, the road trip had begun.

I don't make a habit of getting up that early. In fact, I could probably count the number of sunrises I've seen in my entire life on two hands. Heck, probably on one. But we had a long day ahead of us and I had the timeline planned out. We needed to be on the road around 5 to ensure getting everything accomplished.

I had rented a "car" the day before because let's face it, my Mustang isn't a vehicle meant for traveling and I wasn't taking my Jeep with it's pathetic 16 mpg on a trip. Note that car is in quotations in that last sentence. I do that because I booked a premium car and when I went to Enterprise Rent A Car they said they didn't have any premium cars. They offered me a van, which I declined. I was just about to drive through 4 states and there was no way I was doing that in a van. We compromised on a Kia Sportage. I wasn't happy with this, as Enterprise has a history of not having the right vehicle class in stock despite booking months in advance, but nothing was going to spoil the trip.

5:15 and we're on the road. Sharon was trapped in the backseat with our dog Eli who was surprisingly full of energy considering the sun wasn't up yet. We caught the turnpike and around 8:30 we approached the outskirts of Centralia, PA, our first stop.

I first read about Centralia around 8 years ago. It was an ordinary small town up north central PA until 1962 when a fire at a dump reached the anthracite coal mines which ran underground. The fire caught on in the mines and has been burning ever since. Most of the residents relocated throughout the years as the fires spread underground but a few die hards remain (population is officially listed as 12). Seeing the empty streets, the roads going to nowhere, was haunting. Add in the pungent smell of sulfur and wisps of smoke steaming from the ground (not holes in the ground either, the smoke actually rises from the ground itself) and you can get a pretty good feel for why the town of Centralia helped inspire the "Silent Hill" video game and film franchise.

We spent around half an hour in Centralia. I photographed some of the sites there, a few empty buildings, and the town fire truck, which is just painfully ironic. In retrospect, I wish I would have spent more time there, but I knew our schedule was going to be tight that day so I felt it best to get back on the road. Shortly afterwards I was driving by a tractor trailer at around 70mph when a tire caught the edge of the rough berm. The Kia started to swerve and with a 15 foot ravine on one side and a speeding tractor trailer on the other, things looked bleak. Everything seemed to be in slow motion and fast forward at the same time but I somehow managed to get the SUV back under control. We all breathed a sigh of relief that the road trip didn't end in death and destruction.

We made a quick detour to McDonald's for bathroom breaks and breakfast and then headed northeast toward New York. It's about a 4 hour drive, and we made one more short stop in Jersey which had a really cool "Scenic Overlook". The sky was gloomy all morning, but the view was still stunning. We were a bit behind schedule so we didn't rest too long.

We made good time to NY and traffic heading toward the city wasn't bad at all. We were heading to Long Island which involved crossing several bridges. I didn't know they charged tolls to cross the bridges but was lucky to have brought cash. I needed it too as 3 bridges ended up costing $18 in tolls. Sharon grabbed the obligatory "through the windshield" photo of the George Washington bridge at 50+ mph and I love everything about it.

We hit Long Island right on schedule. Anyone who knows me knows that I love horror movies with every fiber of my being and that's what brought about this portion of the trip. We first stopped in Farmingdale, NY to find a cemetery. At the cemetery is the grave of the Defeo family. In 1974 their oldest son, Ronald Defeo, killed his parents and siblings with a shotgun. He'd later say that he was possessed by the devil and that's what made him murder his family. Whether that dubious claim has any merit is certainly up for debate, but his story also lead to the house becoming "in"famous 1 year later when it was purchased by George and Kathy Lutz. The Lutz's lived in the house at 112 Ocean Avenue for exactly 28 days before taking flight in the middle of the night, leaving all of their belongings behind. They too would say the house was evil and they told their story to the world. It became the Amityville Horror.

I've always been a fan of the films and books about the case and seeing the real house was surreal. They took out the "eye" windows on the second story and replaced them with less ominous rectangular ones, but it's still clearly the house I've seen and read so much about. Apparently no one was home when we stopped there, so I had ample time to take photos. We even headed to the other side of the river behind the house to get some shots of the rear (I don't know if the ducks in the photo were evil or not). We were actually ahead of schedule so we stopped at a local antique store hoping to find some trinket we could tell everyone we bought in Amityville, but alas came up empty handed.

Finished in Amityville, we headed toward our next stop - Coney Island. About half way there, the rain started. It was a light mist at first, but grew worse as we drove on. By the time we arrived at Coney Island, the weather was miserable. Being right beside the ocean, the wind was whipping and it was freezing cold. The rain was coming down in sheets and as a result, the boardwalk was barren. We walked down to the ocean, but the fog was so thick you could only see a few dozen yards. It was quite disappointing as I'd planned to spend several hours there touring the sites and photographing people for "100" but the weather just wasn't on our side.

We only lasted an house in the weather before retreating to the car. I did make sure we got some hot dogs at Nathan's Famous. I'm not used to paying $2.75 per hot dog, but the experience was worth it and they did taste pretty good. It was only 3pm but the weather wasn't improving so we decided to head north to Connecticut to find a hotel room.

Driving out of Brooklyn proved to be much more challenging than driving in. The drive to our hotel in Torrington was supposed to take 2 hours and in reality it took over 5. Traffic was brutal leaving the city and once we were out, we hit a major traffic jam on the interstate. My TomTom GPS rerouted us, but we lost a lot of time. Fortunately we were finished for the day and didn't miss any planned stops. At the hotel, I noticed a "trap door"(random photo below) in the ceiling and was afraid we'd stepped into the movie Vacancy. All night long I was waiting for men in masks to burst through that door and make us the stars of their own twisted snuff film. Fortunately, that didn't happen.

Aside from the nasty weather in Coney Island and almost dying in early in the morning, the trip was off to a fantastic start. As the day ended, thunderstorms rolled into Torrington, Connecticut and I was afraid the rest of the trip would be a washout.

Back from the Road Trip - More coming soon

After a few days on the road, I'm back at the studio. I had such a wonderful time on the trip. Being able to visit all of the towns and locations I've read about or seen in movies over the years was something of a dream come true.

We traveled exactly 1146 miles through Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. I'm writing several different blogs, each of which will have lots of photos to accompany the stories. It's going to take a couple days to get everything on the computer, edited and posted so keep checking throughout the week to see and read about my latest adventure.

Last reminder - I'll be away from the studio from April 10-15

Just one more reminder that I'll be away from the studio from April 10-15. I won't have access to email or voicemail while I'm away so if you contact me during that time, please understand that I won't be able to respond until the 16th.

Sale! 16x20 enlargements only $75

My lab is currently having a sale on 16x20 enlargements and I'm passing the savings onto my clients. All 16x20 photos are currently on sale for $75. This is a HUGE savings over the regular price.

The sale will end on April 9 (unless the lab ends their special early, which is possible). The sale is open to all of my wedding and portraiture clients (seniors, families, etc) and if you would like to place an order please contact me as soon as possible.

Road Trip in less than 2 weeks

As I mentioned in a previous blog, I'll be away from the studio from April 10-15. I won't have access to email or voicemail while I'm away so if you need anything, please contact me prior to April 10 or after April 15.

The reason I'll be away is because I'm going on a road tip! I'm tremendously excited as it's the first time I've been able to have a "vacation" in several years (aside from a weekend in Cleveland, OH and a weekend in Charlestown, WV but those really can't be considered vacations now, can they?).

I'll be traveling through PA, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut during the adventure. Since I'm not exactly a traditional person, I won't be hitting too many "touristy" spots, instead visiting little towns and places I've read about over the years or seen in movies. I'll be shooting hundreds of photos during the trip and I'll definitely have lots to blog about. I'm also hoping to do some photography for "100" as I think it will be beneficial to get a wider cross section of society than I can find in Somerset County.

Here's a full list of the towns I'll be visiting. If any of my blog readers are in those areas and want to say "hi" just send me an email.

Road Trip - April 2008

Centralia, PA
Amityville, NY
Coney Island (Brooklyn, NY)
Kent, CT
New Preston, CT
Westport, CT
Blairstown, NJ
Hope, NJ
Chadd's Ford, PA

Sale ending soon

Just a reminder that the big sale ends on 3/31. My schedule is mostly full but I have a couple openings throughout the week so let me know if you're interested in a shoot.

2008 Weddings & stuff...

As I mentioned several months ago, I decided that we were only going to take 20 weddings this year. Last year was great and I met so many amazing, incredible people, but the workload was just more than I want to tackle again.

In the past two weeks, I've booked 6 weddings, with one of those being for '09 and the other 5 for '08. As a result, we're up to 18 bookings for the year which means I only have two slots to fill before considering us fully booked for the year. So, if you're thinking of having me shoot your wedding, please check in to see if your date is still available.

In other "news", I will be out of town from April 11-15. I'll have more details on that shortly but I just wanted to put that out there as I won't have access to email or voicemail during those few days.

A little while ago I mentioned that I had began reading Cormac McCarthy's "The Road". I finished it yesterday. I don't get to read often, only when I'm on the treadmill, so it takes me a while to get through a book. I have to admit the book was a bit disappointing. I don't need tons of action in a book to hold my interest, but it would be nice if something of significance happened before the last 5 pages. The "Pulitzer prize winner" thing sold me. Oh well.

On a totally unrelated note, my "spring fever" hasn't gone away. I desperately want to put my Jeep away until next winter (16 mpg sucks!) and bring out my Mustang. I've missed driving it so much.

Abandoned Farmhouse

This afternoon Sharon and I were driving down some of the back roads and enjoying the sunny weather. We've both got a bad case of spring fever and just wanted to spend some time outside. I had taken my cameras and new wide angle lens with me, hoping for the chance to take some photos.

As we drove, I realized that we were close to an abandoned farmhouse that I'd seen a few times over the years. I decided to head in that direction and as we reached it I pulled the Jeep to the side of the road and switched on the four ways.

The old farmhouse loomed ominously on the small hillside. Five leafless trees stood in front of it but in the barren days of winter they did nothing to conceal the houses' presence. At one point in time, someone had wrapped the front porch in plastic. Over the years, the steady whipping of the wind saw the plastic become tattered, almost shredded and the result was a facade that looked almost like giant sharp teeth. The entire house leaned slightly to one side, sinking askew into the soft ground.

The rear of the house wasn't as ominous - or impressive. Layers of siding peeled away in places, almost like rings in a tree stump revealing it's age. Behind the house, a pool of water, filled with muck and mud, hollowed out the ground. The brick chimney could be seen easier from here, crumbling from years of exposure to the weather. The back door was gone, in its place a sheet of plywood in surprisingly good condition. The water made approaching the rear of the building impossible.

I circled around to the front of the house. I didn't bring my flashes with me so I knew going inside would be pointless. I started back to the Jeep, but noticed the very loud sound of running water, seeming to come from inside the house. I somewhat tentatively approached the red basement door and pushed it slightly with my boot. A scared rabbit bounced away, startling me a bit. I pushed the door a bit further with no result. Satisfied that I wasn't two seconds away from becoming the victim of a hockey mask wearing, machete wielding madman (or more realistically a wild animal), I kicked the door open the rest of the way.

Peering into the darkness, it looked like a normal enough basement from what I could see. I didn't step inside, but far in the distance I could see daylight shining through the rear wall of the foundation. Water was gushing inside, the water from the pond in the back. The water was filling the basement floor, at least an inch or two deep. Hopefully I'll make it back in the coming weeks and I'll remember to bring a flashlight and a flash for the camera so I can explore and photograph the interiors of this dwelling that time forgot.

HUGE sale begins on 3/10!

As a photographer in an area that experiences harsh winters, much of my work is seasonal. Around May, things go crazy and I have more work than I can handle. However, right now, not much is happening and I'm going a little stir crazy. So, to help fill my schedule and find some cool, new clients I'm having a HUGE SALE which begins on Monday March 10th.

The sale features discounts as high as 50% off on session prices for all sessions shot between March 10 and March 31st. Below are the sale prices. Call or email to book a session now.

Senior Portrait Session - 1 hour session=$35, 2 hour session=$65
Family Portrait Session = $60
Maternity Photo Session = $50
Boudoir Photo Session = $195
Engagement Session = $125
Modeling Shoot = $175
Actor's Headshot = $65

UPS brought me my newest toy!

This afternoon the UPS delivery driver brought me my newest toy - my very first true wide angle lens. Last week I ordered the Sigma 10-20mm zoom. Before that, my widest lens was a 28-70 zoom and I never really thought I needed anything wider for wedding and portrait work. But, I'm going on a short vacation in April and I thought having a wider lens would come in handy for some of the shooting I planned to do then.

I had done some research before and felt the Sigma was the best wide angle lens for my needs. Sure, the Nikkor 12-24 gets tons of raves but I'm quite fond of my Sigma glass (I also use their 28-70 and 70-200 zooms) so I didn't have any reservations about buying their wide angle.

I really wanted to break it in shooting some landscapes or architecture, but it's been snowing constantly since 2pm and I didn't really feel like going out and shooting in that, so I decided to take some shots inside the house instead. As soon as I peered through the viewfinder, I was amazed. At 10mm the lens was so unbelievably wide that it was astonishing.

I can't wait to put it to proper use, but for now here are some snapshots, starting off with photos of the actual lens.





Just to demonstrate the difference between a wide angle and a more standard lens (in this case my 50mm prime), I took some shots out of two different windows, standing at the same spots each time. The first photo of each "scene" is the 50mm and the second is the wide angle at 10mm.









After that I just took some pics of random objects (and my dog). Shooting close objects at 10mm leads to some neat distortion.

Do you use Yahoo email? If so, I can't email you.

For the past week I haven't been able to send email to people using Yahoo.com as their email provider. Yahoo has blocked a huge number of IP addresses from emailing their servers in an effort to prevent spam. As a result, thousands of people are no longer able to send email to Yahoo.com email users. My domain host is one of the servers that has been blocked and there is no way for me to work around it. I'm having my domain host try to get their IP address removed from Yahoo's "blacklist" but until then, I am unable to do anything about it and my server has apparently been trying to get this issue fixed with little help from Yahoo. I have also directly contacted Yahoo and their response basically amounts to "Be patient and the problem might go away."

So if you use Yahoo.com for email, please know that Yahoo's practices may be preventing you from receiving email, even from people you have written to. If you're a Yahoo.com email user and want to get in touch with me, please provide me with a phone number or a non-Yahoo email address so I am able to respond. I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.

Let's give 'em something to blog about...

I feel like a total slacker. I haven't had a good blog in weeks and still don't have anything new to post. I had a few boudoir shoots recently and they went great. But, the clients have asked that the photos not be posted for privacy reasons. I'm fine with that, but it doesn't make for an interesting blog entry. :)

The weather here has been pathetic. It varies from snow to freezing rain and I don't feel like going outside to shoot in either. I'm getting cabin fever and can't wait for nice weather. I have so many ideas I want to do for art photos but it's impossible to plan on a shoot when you can suddenly have 6+ inches of snow on any given day.

I bought Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" to read when I have a chance. I have a few slideshows I'm almost finished with and then, if the weather doesn't break, I'll probably take the time to read it. I'd rather be working though.

Random

It's about 8 degrees outside. You've gotta love Western PA in the winter.

Last night Sharon and I shot candid photos for Jim Spangler's 80th birthday party. It was a surprise party and I think his family actually pulled it off. I'll try to post a couple shots this week.

The other day, Luke and Laura sent me a photo that Laura's uncle shot at their wedding. It's a photo of me taking a photo of the newlyweds and I think it turned out pretty neat so I thought I'd go ahead and post it. Boy, do I have a lot of gray hair.

Thanks to Jim Coulson for sharing the photo!

New site design

After a fair amount of work, I was able to finally get the new website design "live" last night. The image galleries are a little weird. The program I used to make the flash galleries did some kind of strange compression to the images and created some image distortion, like the images are slightly squished vertically. I'm still trying to figure out how to "undo" that problem, but aside from that the site is pretty much finished. I might have a few tweaks, and tonyurbanart.com isn't finished yet, but the main parts of the site are good to go.

Merry Christmas!

In the long tradition of humiliating pets in the spirit of Christmas, I bought Eli a hat with elf ears yesterday.

I hope everyone has a fantastic holiday!

Ice, ice baby

"All right stop collaborate and listen
Ice is back with my brand new invention--"

Sorry, I had a flashback to the 90's.

In case you haven't looked out the window (or listened to the news, if you're not stuck in Western Pennsylvania), we had an ice storm today. About a quarter inch of ice covered everything and a steady rain fell all day long. Needless to say, it was an "stay indoors" kind of day.

In between editing sessions, I was able to get two new photos of Eli, our dog. I put the camera on ISO 1600 so I wouldn't need to use the flash and I like the effect created by the darkness and grain.

Best photos of 2007 - coming soon!

In the coming weeks, I'm getting ready to hold the "Best of 2007" contest in which my blog readers get to vote on their favorite photos of the year. Right now I have the below categories in mind but I might add more if I have neat ideas. The categories so far are:

Best Posed Wedding Photo
Best Candid Wedding Photo
Best Cake
Best Engagement Photo
Best Senior Photo

The subjects in the "Best of 2007" winners will get a free enlargement and 3 people who vote will win prizes!

Keep checking back to see the photos and to vote!

Bah Humbug

I don't make a habit of whining/complaining on my blog but I can't resist it today. If you don't want to read it, I won't be offended.

When I was younger, I loved Christmas/December/my birthday (which is Dec. 30). It was my favorite time of the year. Over the past several years the holiday has lost its luster. It started when my grandfather began getting sick on my 12th birthday. He would lose his battle with cancer less 2 years later. Things were never the same after he passed away and the holidays were always bittersweet.

Then, a day before my 21st birthday my father was diagnosed with cancer. He would go on to fight and beat the disease but getting that kind of news when we did forever changed my feelings toward the time of year because every year afterwards, December meant 1 year checkups when the doctors would run a battery of medical tests on my dad and we'd wait to hear whether he was still cancer free. The "best" time was when he had his tests on Christmas Eve and we had to wait until after the holiday to learn whether he was healthy or not. But, as I said, things did work out and he remains cancer free.

Just as he reached his "5 year" mark, our health worries turned toward my grandmother who was, at that time, getting into the more advanced stages of Alzheimer's Disease. In 2003, during the last "family Christmas" it was clear that she wouldn't be in her home for another. The past 3 years, we spent Christmas morning in the nursing home visiting her and seeing her fall further and further into the chasms of the disease. On Christmas day 2004 she turned to my mother (her daughter) and said "Who are you?"

This year, as I started seeing the stores put out decorations and hearing Christmas tunes on the radio, I tried to put aside the "Scrooge" inside me. I knew Christmas this year would be hard, as this year our dog Tobe died and the BEST part of Christmas was always watching him tear into his presents and shred the paper. He loved it so much. I know the day will be so different without him to push away the bad memories.

Well, today I learned my father had been laid off from his job and that he has no idea if or when he'll be called back. I'm, to be perfectly frank, pissed off. My parents had to deal with so many hardships that this seems extremely unfair. My dad is less than 2 years away from "retirement age" and I know the last thing he wants to do is start pounding the pavement and looking for a new job. He had a great job at an area business, but they closed down around 2 years ago because they couldn't compete with competition from China. When he landed this new position, we all breathed a sigh of relief thinking it would carry him into retirement, but now that has changed too due to the slumping economy. So, my parents go into the holidays filled with worry and uncertainty.

Yep, I hate this time of year.

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.

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.

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.

Reminder: I'll be away from Oct 30 through Nov 6

Just a quick reminder that I'll be away from the studio from October 30th through November 6th. During that week, my access to email and voicemail will be extremely limited so please understand that if I don't respond to you promptly, that's why. :)

I hope everyone has an incredible Halloween!