The Wedding of Rachel and Bill 8-31-07

Today Lori and I shot the wedding of Rachel and Bill. So much fun! Rachel has impeccable taste. From her gorgeous Sam Edelman pumps (which she wore the whole evening!) to the way that every detail such as the celadon colored flower girls pomander to the berry colored wrap of the bridesmaids bouquets just went so well with each other. For her bouquet she selected the most amazing White Phalaenopsis Orchids, white Cymbidium Orchids and antique roses to compliment the look and color of her dress. We could have photographed her and the girls and the guys and Bill and the details all day but hey - there's a wedding ceremony that needed to start. Small details right! I can't say enough about how the guys snapped to action with every suggestion we had while we shot Bill getting ready. I kinda think that Bill enjoyed being a model! The guys gave him a hard time but they did us a favor because they were able to elicit the most natural of smiles and laughter from him. What they said to him you may ask, well, I never shoot and tell.

This was the last shot we took before we headed off to the ceremony. I asked Rachel if she trusted me and it seemed that before I could even get the question out she as well as a few bridesmaids said Yes, Yes, Yes! (no hairstyles were harmed in the taking of this picture) I had her lay on her veil and her hair and the result well fierce of course!

He was smiling as she walked down the aisle and as they spoke their vows. =) Love was definitely in the air!

This is Coco. I remember when Rachel and Bill got her because it was really close to when I got Lilli. We may have actually chatted more about the puppies during that consult than anything else. Well, Coco looked beautiful from head to toe. She even kept her bow on for a quick portrait. Before we left her she told me how excited she was for mommy and daddy.

I remember leaving that night and heading out to the parking lot, a little spring in my step, smiling to myself and catching Lori smiling at herself because we knew that we captured all and more than we set out to... That feeling, well it's intoxicating and it's what keeps us going even if we look like a couple of crazy people smiling to ourselves while strutting to the car!

Janell and Patrick 8-26-07 Post Bridal Session

The long awaited blog has arrived ! Woo hoo, Janell and Pat had a great idea for a post bridal session. Pat's parents lived in a beautiful wooded area that had a barn, chicken, ducks, a rooster, turkey, a nearby Christmas tree farm, pond and much much more. As if that wasn't enough let's add to the list Pat's amazing disposition and Janell's zest and ready to jump into any scenario attitude. From chasing chicken and ducks to doing back flips and scooping up a ginormous trout she was a bundle of energy and I have to say... These conditions just amplified our mojo. Lori, Val and I made the 3 hour trek eager to tackle and devour these photo opportunities. We came in search of images that would not only please ourselves but more importantly exceed all of Janell's and Pat's expectations. As the sun went down and we enjoyed the hospitality of Pat's family I prepared a same day slide show of a sampling for them to view. I'll never stop loving the reactions! After much laboring over the hundreds of shots that day I just couldn't narrow down the amount for a blog so I've included a few faves and have added a slide show of close to a hundred that made the cut. Thanks to Val and Lori for an exceptional job as usual and a special thanks to Janell and Pat for allowing us to run through the trees at dusk with you =) Enjoy!

The Wedding of Charlene and Erik 8-11-07

I loved her first. I held her first
And a place in my heart will always be hers
From the first breath she breathed
When she first smiled at me
I knew the love of a father runs deep
And I prayed that she'd find you someday
But it's still hard to give her away
I loved her first
Just a Sampling from the song by Heartland called "I loved her First." Charlene's dad danced with her to this song and it was endearing to see and hear him sing this to her as well as to Erik as they danced. There are always a few poignant moments that are etched into my memories from every wedding that I shoot. This was definitely one of them. It seemed like just yesterday I shot their E-session and now we are going to the Poconos and we are gonna get Mare-Air-Air-Reed!!! Despite it being hot, hot, hot, these two and their wonderful bridal party were so very cool. Because of this we were able to get some really amazing images and I could post a bazillion but it would eat up my alotment of web space so here are a few of my faves.

Kristin "The Senior Session"

After much prodding Kristin finally let me shoot her senior session. I've found it to be increasingly more and more difficult to photograph her as time ticks on. You think it would be easy, after all I've been taking her pictures for 17 years now give or take a month or so. It seems like as she gets older it's become harder to direct her in a shoot. She has her own ideas and inspirations on how to project an image. So as her mother it's a daunting task to try and capture the essence of who I think she is. Maybe that was my problem. Do we really ever know our kids? I asked myself this question and I came to the realization that at her age I don't think I knew what I really wanted to do therefore I can't imagine my parents knowing "me" at that stage. The only thing I know for certain is that at I love her more than life itself as cliche' as that statement may be. It's true and I'm sure those that have experienced parenthood will concur and for those of you yet to, well it's a safe bet that you will as well.

We agreed that for this shoot she would be a willing participant and I would be a photographer. I think we both did well in sticking to our plan! I had such a great time that day and it reassures me that all things are cyclical. How ironic it is that we teach and guide our children from birth to learn and grow and become independent so that they don't need us only to end up wanting them to need us....

Here are a few of my favorite shots.