Disney World!

We are so excited, we're leaving for Disney tomorrow morning!! After reviewing my summer schedule about a month ago, we realized that if we wanted to take a family vacation, we'd better do so quickly!

Ella packed her suitcase this morning, she's gonna have a blast!






I will have limited access to email, but will return any messages as quickly as possible. Check back next week for pictures!

Album layout

Often, when I'm working on client images, I like to mess around with a few album layouts to get a feel for how I would tell the story of their wedding. So, as I continue to process Daniell and Kirby's wedding images, I put together a few layouts and thought that it would be fun to post them.

The black line in the center represents the gutter in the album.






As always, I'd love to hear opinions!

Haley

My dear sister-in-law Brenda and my niece Haley came to stay with us for a few days last week. Brenda is starting to pick up photography, so we spent our time together learning about the camera, lighting, posing, etc.

And of course, 13 year old Haley was our gracious model. She has a very Abercrombie look, so we took her to a few back street alley-ways to get some shots. Below are a few of my favorites.






She was such a good sport, they're used to the warmer weather of the south and it was freezing when we took these images!

Daniell & Kirby

The bride and groom both got ready in The Royal Suite at the Omni William Penn Hotel downtown. Here's a quick shot of Daniell just before she put her dress on.

We then headed to the Carnegie Mellon University for Daniell and Kirby to see each other for the first time.


Groom by Cory Ann.

Cory Ann made great use of her fisheye lens during the day, and I loved the way she captured the bride and groom between the pillars.



The ceremony and reception were held at the Carnegie Museum of Art.

Daniell and Kirby were married on the Grand Staircase in the museum, what a beautiful location. Image by Cory Ann.

The Hall of Architecture is an AMAZING venue for a reception.


Cory Ann caught this shot of the head table during the toasts.


Cake by Dave.


Congratulations guys, we had a fabulous time!!

Wedding fun!

While attending the FW4 workshop in Dallas, I met Cory Ann Ellis from AC Ellis Photography. And in-between the brow beating, we had the chance to get to know each other, talk shop, etc. Anyway, I love her work, and was really hoping that we'd get the chance to work together at some point. Well, I knew I had the fabulous Viszlay/Walker wedding coming up, and it turned out that I was able to fly her out to shoot with me!!! YES!!!!

Cory Ann is one of the hardest working photographers I've had the privilege to shoot with, although this is what she was doing most of the time.


My new assistant Dave caught this of me during Dancing Queen... and of course Cory Ann is in the background laughing at me... but that's ok, everyone knows that I can't resist Abba!

Cory Ann and I had a little fun with a "ring off" during the reception, we each took the rings and just messed around getting different shots. This one is by Cory Ann.


I took this to mimic the shot that she took of Daniell and Kirby in between the pillars. There are more ring shots, but the bride and groom will just have to wait for their proofs!!


I can't thank Cory Ann enough for spending the weekend with us and shooting with me, we've had a great time working on our photography, marketing... everything!! She's even photographed my family while she was here, I'll be posting about that soon!

4GB!!!

My first 4gb compact flash card just arrived and I am so excited!! Up until now, I used a combination of 1 and 2gb cards, but I found myself changing them too often... and they always seemed to fill up right at an important moment.

Anyway, I always test everything before it makes it into wedding rotation, so here I am taking a picture of myself in the mirror. Some might call me crazy, but I prefer the term fun!!


Ok, off to some real work...

Best wishes Heather!

My fabulous assistant and second shooter Heather is expecting her first child in June, and will be off on maternity leave until later this year. Heather has been with me since the very beginning, and I will really miss the creativity that she brings to our team.

I took this image of her last fall, I'm hoping we get to do some maternity shots, she's a great subject!



I have a couple of different assistants lined up for the next few months, I'll post about them soon!

FW4 - Continued

As I mentioned previously, I worked with the most awesome family while shooting my assignment in Dallas. Jen (the mom) and I bonded instantly... it turns out that she's a photographer as well!! Check out her website, she does awesome work with children.


Anyway, we just had a fabulous time hanging out, and I was sad definitely when it was time to leave. This woman works so hard... taking care of the kids, balancing a career, etc. Check out the smile on her face in the image below, in spite of the fact that both kids were screaming!


Anyway, she sent Huy (my team leader) and I the nicest email yesterday, and I asked her if I could share it on my blog. She made the torture of last week worthwhile. Thank you Jen!!!


Huy, Heather-we are so thankful!

Huy-thank you for allowing us to participate once again. I had assumed that since I had volunteered us as a backup family that we wouldn't get in, and to be honest was pretty sad and wishing I had kept my big mouth shut so we could be guaranteed a spot (friends be damned!). I was SO excited to hear that we were in, and just enjoyed every minute! It was such a different experience this time around-TWO mobile kids, school, breaking into the park, etc. It was a little easier this time knowing what to expect and prepared for the full-on experience. We just loved it.

And you sent us HEATHER!!! Fun, vivacious, dancing queen Heather! How did you know we would bond so well!? We feel that we truly got the best of the best, and we thank you for that!

Heather-seriously, you are too fun! We feel so fortunate to have been "your" family, and only wish the weather had cooperated a bit more (Hello-it's 85 and we flew kites yesterday!). My favorite part was camera talk, Chuck's favorite part was dinner when he had the chance to chat, Sam's favorite part was the jellyfish, and Ben's favorite part was the diaper he let you change (that's also chuck's favorite part). You are truly talented, and the love for what you do just shines through your work. It was a pleasure having you in our family last week.

So long story short...when can we do it again???

Thank you both,

Jen