Little Henry

Category: family
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This is Henry.  

He is absolutely adorable, with the best hair of any baby I've seen.  I have been friends with his mom for about 4 years.  She has babysat my kids, rocked my newborn babies as well as my other friends that were having babies.  Since I have known her, her children were grown up.  She has a 14 year old and a 10 year old.  They thought they were done having babies, then a few years ago, she knew that God had different plans for her.  They started trying and right away she became pregnant.  It unfortunatly ended in a miscarriage.  But 2 years later, she became pregnant with little Henry.  When she found out she was pregnant with a boy, she right away knew what his name would be.  She had a neighbor that was a dear old, warm spirited soul that would help you at the drop of a hat and he also loved his wife passionately.... His name was Henry.  

And this is also Henry:

Like I said before, he has the best hair!  He also fits pretty good in this basket, which was a last minute find :)

This one Jesse edited for me(with one of his awesome new actions), which I love.  

Congratulations Shane and Dana! What a precious baby boy~

New Lens Funtime

Category: family
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So at WPPI a few weeks back I saw that B&H was having a really good sale on gear.  I had pretty much resolved to stick with my equipment this year, but I couldn't resist some of the items I've been craving.  Not only did I surprise Nelli with her very own 5D Mark II, I also finally splurged on the tilt-shift.  When the package arrived the other evening, I looked outside at a slowly fading sun.  I then looked back inside at a houseful of kids and Nelli trying to finish a custom wedding dress creation(That's her other really cool creative outlet.  Check out her creations at  agapethreads.com).  I couldn't help but want to use these tools immediately, so we all packed up and headed to the park.  It was already pretty dark by the time we got there and the kids were past happy-picture mood, but I managed to squeeze off a few practice shots with the tilt shift.  Here are the first few test self-portraits:

We then hopped in together to get a few before rushing the kids to bedtime.

Finally, one last shot of my little guy Josiah getting his "bobba" back at home and crashing.

It's definitely going to need some practice to get used to this lens.  I'm going to make sure I'm locked in with it for my next wedding, because I love the effect you can get with it.

Nelli just did a newborn shoot, where we used it a bit again.  Those pics are coming soon.  Thanks for stopping by!

Anna and Ryan - An Intimate Wedding

Category: weddings
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The day after Jesse and I returned from our photography trade show and conference in Las Vegas, Kristin and were able to be a part of Anna and Ryan's intimate wedding.  Before I went to the conference I was a little nervous that I might be worn out when I returned from our trip.  Little did I know that the conference would be the most energizing experience I can remember in quite a long time.  When the day came for the wedding, March 14 [which is Pi - as in the symbol for the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter - day by no coincidence (Ryan in particular is a fan of all things scientific)], I was super excited to be a part of this couples day.  And given that this was the smallest wedding I have photographed, it was extra special to be included.  Because of Ryan and Anna's beautiful local (an historic home that is a part of the Holden Arboretum) and very personal day, I am now a huge fan of small weddings.  The personal nature of the wedding gave it an extra special meaning, and the stress factor was super low because there was not a crowd worry about.  Whether 10 or 300 guests, the depth and meaning of a wedding is determined by the love of the bride and groom, and it was this love between Anna and Ryan that truly made Pi day a great one. 

I have always been a fan of layering a unique photo (like a shot of distressed old metal, etc.) over another shot to create what is know in photographer tech speak as a texture.  This allows the photograph to take on a unique look, like that of a photo that has been aged.  This wedding is the first wedding that I have spent a while creating works with textures, and I am pretty into it.  The photo below is the first one, but you might be able to see a few more below.

The two shots below are by favorite of the day, but I like too many to limit it to these.  It was a tough call.  Kristin thought of the shot on the left, and I must give her credit.  The shot on the right is in a study.  The doorway was actually a hidden one that led to the basement, like off of an old movie.  That was probably the best thing about this terrific house.

I didn't catch a lot of silly faces on this wedding, but the one below is nice.

Grand Canyon and coming home...

Category: landscapes
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As I mentioned earlier, we attended WPPI in Vegas last week for the first time.  It was awesome.  The trade show alone was worth the trip.  I went a little overboard on equipment however.  I don't know how I justified another 5D mark2, a Lowel ID Light, the 1.2 50mm Lseries and a tilt-shift lens (along with a bunch of small stuff).  Once I dropped the coin, Mat and i decided it was time to get away from the glitz and gnawing noise of vegas for some tranquility.  We rented a convertible and headed to the Hoover Dam and then to the Grand Canyon.  Here is an image from the excursion. 

This was such a nice getaway after 5 days in Vegas.  The next day we flew home.  Fortunately when I got home, Nelli was super supportive of my maniacal equipment splurge.  She also managed to whip up an image to display on my big monitor.  She thought of it just before I touched down and managed to whip it up fast.  Pretty impressive.  Good to be home and can't wait for an awesome 2010 behind the camera. 

Elizabeth and Cameron...Married! and more

Category: weddings
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Wow, it has been quite some time since I posted a wedding.  Actually, I was a little burnt out on blogging and shooting until a couple really cool things happened.

One: I got to work with Elizabeth and Cameron.  David and I met Elizabeth at a wedding we shot last fall for Kevin and Jennifer Freeman (two of my all-time favorite clients).  Elizabeth was the maid of honor in their wedding.  She really got both David and myself's attention with her speech (along with the whole room).  Now I've seen a LOT of wedding speeches, so I'm not impressed easily, but when the whole crowd is rolling in laughter you have to give some credit.  David and I told her we loved the speech and what do know... a few months later she calls to book her own wedding with us.  I knew it would be a fun one, but I didn't know that I would be introduced to her Australian husband and his whole Australian entourage.  I'm a big fan of brides with a sense of humor along with an abundance of Australian accents.  So their wedding was great.  I had never shot a Quaker Square in downtown Akron before, but it is a really cool place with great photo opportunities.  It was awesome to spend a day with such a fun couple and always great to see a past client (Jennifer and Kevin) in love and going strong.  So to recap; the first thing to get me motivated to enter this year with a new sense of passion was Elizabeth and Cameron's wedding.

The number Two influence was the last week I spent with Mat and Jim at WPPI in Vegas.  It was my first time attending and it was amazing.  It was funny that on the plane I asked Mat if he really thought we were going to learn anything - with a somewhat presumptuous tone.  I mean I already know all about Aperture and Shutter right?:)  Besides really getting an assault on the right brain with new ideas and info for business, I also unexpectedly got something much more valuable.  I was inspired by people with awesome hearts and a love for people.  You would think we went to some sort of revival conference.  Silvana Frammartino (the best wedding pro in the world:), Jasmine Star, David Jay, Jesh De Rox and many others spoke to my heart and made me realize that what I do is my purpose in life and it can be used to not only document love, but inspire it.  I'll gush more about it later, but for now meet Elizabeth and Cameron...

Elizabeth and Cameron had the wonderful idea of riding the train with all their guests from Cleveland to downtown Akron.  The day was beautiful and bright and began at the train.  Many couples are worried to see each other before the ceremony, and I respect that; but from my observations it seems the bride and groom get to spend so much more of the day together enjoying themselves when it is done the way of Cameron and Elizabeth.  

Along with my new-found inspiration, I've decided to develop a set of new photoshop actions to package this year for photographers.  I've been doing this type of thing for a while, but I really am dedicating some serious time to it now, in order to nail the style I'm going for.  Let me know what you think of these two recently developed actions:  

First "Classic But A Little Crazy"

Next: "Vintage Romance"

Just so you get the idea, here are those 2 shots before I loved them up.

And a few more of my faves from the day

Another application of my new action: "Vintage Romance" inspired by Cameron and Elizabeth's awesome style

This one on the left is my favorite of the day.  Feel free to argue with me one that:)

These next 3 photos also have been processed with a new action I've created.  It' called "Better Together" and is basically and contrast/sharpen/saturation bump

The whole group with a fisheye from a ladder!

Finally, some wonderful first dance moments in my new black and white actions "Bentley BW" and "Cooper BW"

Congrats Cameron and Elizabeth.  Best wishes in Australia!