25
Jun

The Story of Jillian and Rocky

Just got back from photographing the engagement session of Jillian and Rocky at Headhouse Square in Old City Philadelphia. I know their marriage will last forever because Rocky can make Jillian laugh any second of the day!

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Their reception is going to be held at the Crystal Tearoom at the awesome and historic Wanamaker Building in September. Can’t wait for that one!

23
Jun

Sarah & Teddy at The Bellevue

I think the thing I love the most about Philly (besides the people!) are the historic buildings. Sarah and Teddy came all the way up from South Carolina to get married here and they couldn’t have picked a more historic and romantic building than the Bellevue. Sarah knew I was all about the light so she picked a suite with windows on two sides!

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You can’t get married in Center City without the obligatory shot looking down Broad Street. It’s still a lot of fun, though!

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The Grand Ballroom is one of the most ornate and beautiful anywhere!

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I gotta give a special shout out to Chris Kendig who worked overtime to pull down the important shots when I needed them most!

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Even though this was the second of back-to-back weddings, I came away feeling like I was on a cloud! Sarah and Teddy and their families are so warm and made me feel like I was a part of them. I really do have the best job in the world!

21
Jun

Deborah & Pat at the Hotel DuPont

Deb and Pat have been friends all their lives. They grew up around the corner from each other and when their friendship grew into love, they had a huge celebration to tell the world! Their Hotel DuPont wedding was awesome (including the weather which has been dumping rain on us for almost two months straight).

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I don’t think there has ever been a marriage so set in stone as this one. I wish them all the luck in the world! And thanks to Ryan Estes for helping out on this one!

16
Jun

The Roadside Families Project

Being a photographer, I get to meet some very special people. While at the DWF convention in Arizona earlier this year, I was fortunate enough to meet both David A Williams and John Michael Cooper. Both are super-creative and wonderfully inspirational. David’s keynote speech about photographers being woefully absent in their own families’ photos brought tears to the eyes of everyone in the room. We all left with a mission in mind and that was to not only to make sure we leave our children with plenty of photos of us with them but to provide other photographers with beautiful and creative portraits of them and their families, too.

Just the other day, I had to honor of photographing the family of a fellow photographer, Julian Kornacki. We met up at Oakbourne Mansion in West Chester PA. Julian gave me full creative control and we had a blast!

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Meanwhile, back to the hyper-edgy John Michael Cooper. John started a web project called Roadside Families. He seeded the project by taking photos of photographers that he knew and their families in his own style and then sent them off to "pay it forward" and do the same for other photographers. I paid mine forward before I actually got my own family photographed but I hope to remedy that soon and join the project.

11
Jun

Tina’s Graduation

Today was Tina’s graduation (from kindergarten) and I couldn’t be any more proud! First they sang Crocodile Rock (with visuals!) and then commencement. Tina is back row, far right.

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Good luck to the Media Children’s House class of 2009!

01
Jun

New Toy!

Yay! My new Throw Dough came today! Me and the kids had a blast practicing to be competitive pizzaioli

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15
May

Beautiful Baby Boy

I was honored that I got to take some of the first photos of baby Nicholas for my good friends Chanell and Rocky. The little guy was just thirteen days old and he did great in his first in-studio session!

I’m looking forward to running these out on my new Canon Pixma 9500 and hanging them in my studio!

09
May

Ooh, Ooh, Ooh, Looking Out My Back Door

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03
May

Photoshop Tutorial: Faux Light Painting

Use Smart Objects and Layer Masks to produce a light painting effect in Photoshop.


03
May

Correct a Hot Spot Using Smart Objects

Shooting RAW has gotten me out of trouble on many occasions. This is one of those times. I love this photo but the bright lamp on the right draws my eye away from Carrie. Here’s how I fixed it quickly and easily using Smart Objects and a layer mask in Photoshop.