Andrea and Erik

Andrea was really excited about marrying Erik -- but in case you couldn't tell by looking at her radiant face, she had a shirt made, too!

The most photogenic flower girl ever! Seriously, how cute is she??

And before too long, we were off to the church...

Rich was over with Erik while he was putting on his finishing touches.

So, Andrea was pretty stoked about having a winter wedding -- she had a snowflake theme going from her invitations and programs to her reception decorations and favors. Needless to say, when it was 59 yesterday, and all the snow she was hoping for in her formals had melted, she was a little disappointed. But we got some great outdoor (really, who would've seen that coming?) portraits, and we tried to give some of her shots a winter feel, like this cute ring shot of Rich's.

Then Erik headed off to the church as well, and it was time to get married!

Andrea was pretty happy as her dad started their walk down the aisle...

but things got a little emotional for her when she laid eyes on Erik.

Here's a few of our favorite ceremony shots...

Then, since it was as gorgeous as you can get in late December, we headed down to the waterfront and did some portraits at the marina.

There is nothing I love more than a groom who carries his brides dress. Seriously -- I get giddy every time I see it!

So, it rained the whole morning of the wedding, and everyone in the bridal party kept looking outside and saying the helpful, "It's good luck if it rains on your wedding day," and the "I think it's stopping. Really, I think it might be stopping!" I don't know if any of that made Andrea feel better, but the truly great thing about it raining hard the morning of your wedding is that you can have a phenomenal sunset with those stormy clouds.

Why is that a giant red Christmas ornament? Yes, it is. Can I explain it? No, but it's fantastic for photos! I went for a vintage post-processing feel on this one because otherwise the giant ball of red was a bit overwhelming.

And then we headed over to the Pearl Street Grill & Brewery. It is a really fantastic location for a reception -- but before they headed into the reception, we shot a few more photos on the balcony, overlooking the city.

Their cake was gorgeous -- with sweet snowflakes all over it to go with the winter theme.

And we'll end this post with some adorable first dance photos -- thanks for having us with you, guys. You were perfect and had a spectacular wedding. (And we're totally jealous that you're honeymooning at our favorite place on Earth!) Thanks, again!

This is so random...

Merry day-after-Christmas, everybody! I'm going to amend this post later with some Murphy pics from yesterday's awesome present-palooza, but I got a really strange email today that I had to share.

So, an artist I recently met saw a detail from a photo I took in Afghanistan on the cover book...written by Tom Clancy...in Finland. He scanned the book and emailed me - craziness. So much of my work from when I was in the Marines is un-licensed and freely released I occasionally see it turn up in odd places...like this:

This is the original photo the detail is taken from. It's some of the boys from Kilo Company 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines patrolling with Afghan National Army soldiers through what we were told was a graveyard (notice the upright stone slabs) located near a hostile village along the Afghan-Paskistan border:

That photo was taken 12.20.2004 - Alyssa and I spent our first Christmas apart while I was overseas, and it was pretty tough. I feel very, very lucky to have had my beautiful wife and son with me all day yesterday as we celebrated. 

We have a gorgeous winter wedding this weekend, so check back on Sunday for a new post! Happy Holidays, and if you're with your family - enjoy them.

Kale

We headed into the wilds of North Tonawanda today, right before the storm picked back up, to shoot some photos of Kale. He's two weeks old, which is absolutely the perfect age for newborn photos, and he's absolutely gorgeous -- he even has a dimple! Seriously, I can't think of anything quite as adorable as a newborn with dimples.

Normally, I can talk a bit about Rich's photos, but I'm not too sure what to say here -- maybe that I'm not sure why newborns always feel the need to turn the exact opposite direction I'd planned on shooting them from?

And the shot I was taking!

I love baby feet -- there's nothing as cute as tiny footwear. For the longest time, we'd see other people's children and remark about how giant their kids' feet were. Seriously, it seemed like every kid on Earth had noticeably large feet, until we realize Murph's were just super tiny. Murphy (at 2) is just growing out of the 9-18 month socks, and Kale's newborn socks wouldn't stay on at all! But that leads well into shooting some cute baby feet shots!

Kale with his daddy...

And a couple "staged studio" shots of Kale.

Slightly different perspectives from Rich (above) and I (below).

Kale was so awake the whole time we were there -- and really into eye contact which really surprised me -- he seemed more like a three month old than a two week old!

The we brought in his awesome brother Kai (who might be the best big brother ever -- seriously, he sings Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star to him when he's upset!) for a couple quick shots.

Kai is also gorgeous!

And then some portraits with just Mom and Dad...

And we'll head out on this photo -- it's me showing Kelly the first shot on this blog post, where you can see Kale's dimples. It was around this time it started blizzarding, again, so we headed out -- I hope everyone had a safe and uneventful day today. Thanks for having us over, guys. You really do have two of the best boys I know, and I wish I could've stayed all day and held Kale! This taking pictures of babies thing never gets old! Keep warm!

Baby Siena

I believe the things that inspire us creatively are often passing things, little snipets of our lives that don't necessarily settle in the front rooms of our memory. I took photos of Siena, a beautiful three-month-old yesterday and it brought back a wonderful memory of the drawings of hands and feet that hung in my parents' hallway when I was growing up. You see, my grandparents' neighbor ("Mr. Bob," we always called him) made drawings of the most amazing details of hands and feet and he'd given one of his works to my mother. When mister Bob was growing up in pre-war Germany, his father forbid him from pursuing a career in art, so he became a machinist. He had amazingly precise hands and was very successful - but his passion for art never died. His drawings could look like photographs - but the only ones I ever saw were of hands and feet, studies in the anatomy of appendages. For whatever reason, those images stowed away in my gray matter for a very long time.

I got to thinking some more about it after those childhood memories were evoked, and I honestly think that's why I'm so drawn to taking photographs of hands and feet - those intricate sketches I stared at as a child. A photo editor I worked for at one newspaper once told me that you were never done with a personality feature shoot until you'd photographed a detail of someone's body, as close as you could get, to reveal something about that person the reader could not otherwise ascertain. After all, you can tell a lot about a person by looking at their hands and feet, the things they use to navigate the world...even if those feet have never seen shoes or found an unwanted stone in their path.

When I arrived, little Siena was in a good mood, and pretty interested in the camera. It's really amazing to see a little one so aware of their surroundings! Here she is grabbing the lens hood on one of my cameras.

That is one beautiful, happy baby. This next shot is my favorite, because it takes me back to when Murphy was that small - there's nothing better than holding a giggling baby up in the air...nothing!

Now that wedding season has pretty much wound down for us (two more in December, then we're on to 2009!), we're doing lots of family and "baby" work. We love being able to visit our clients and work with them to capture the moments they see every day with their loved ones. Seriously, we really do think we have the best job in the world. I think Mr. Bob would be proud.

On a side note: Blogging our weddings and portrait photography sessions has been AWESOME for us this year. When we started doing it, we weren't so sure about it - but it rocks, it's been a lot of fun for us and our clients and we're addicted to blogging. So much so, in fact, that we'll soon by doing away with our website entirely to have a custom-built blog that reflects our personality and style......stay tuned, because hopefully we'll have some sneek peaks as our killer web designers work their talented butts off over the next couple of months.

Thanks for reading, and check back in couple days for our shoot with baby Kale!

Kevin and Kristine

Alyssa and I shot Kevin and Kristine's Vegas-inspired wedding at Marygold Manor last night, and we couldn't wait to get some of the photos up on the blog today.

We met up with Kristine as she was putting on her finishing touches -- a homemade veil that perfectly completed her 40's look.

Here's an Alyssa shot of her looking absolutely flawless:

The whole look...

Kristine incorporates a lot bead work in her art, and we were blown away by her bouquet - totally hand made! She also did her bridesmaid's bouquets and the groom and his party's boutonniere's. 

While Alyssa was with Kristine and her girls getting ready, I met up with Kevin and his crew at the manor to shoot some details before the ceremony. I couldn't resist getting some fun ring shots incorporating their theme. Wait until you see the cake!

This is one of my favorites Alyssa took during the day - if Kevin was stressed out, he sure didn't show it on camera. He was totally cool, calm and collected with a Joker card stuck in his fedora.

Kristine has an absolutely beautiful smile...Kevin is one lucky dude.

And our two favorite shots of "the moment."

We "borrowed" the happy couple for a few moments after the group formals, and Alyssa made some phenomenal relaxed portraits with them. I'm always amazed when I watch her work and then see her photos...of course, having a happy couple, totally in love and smiling helps a lot :).

Sailor Jerry Chucks get our seal of photographic approval every time!

And here's the cake I was talking about - complete with the mongrammed chip and little sugar dice:

And then it was time to dance...Thank you Kristine and Kevin! We had a wonderful time working with you on your wedding day, and we can't wait to show you guys the rest.

Dear Murphy: Building a delicious house

Dear Murphy,

Believe it or not, this is your third crack at Christmas in your just-over-two-years on the planet. For the first yule, you weren't doing a whole heck of a lot except adorably staring at lights and making gurgling noises - mostly because you were three months old, but probably also partly because you share my DNA. Let's take a look at that shall we? This is your life, Murphy.

Last year was a little more exciting for you (and us) because you seemed to understand that the mountain of colorfully-wrapped boxes under the tree was full of toys for you. And I think you vaguely understood the concept of Santa.

This year we KNOW you know who Santa is, and you expect him to show up any day now. We're using an advent calendar to try and teach you about the concept of days, while counting down till Christmas...but mostly it's just about the candy.

Your mom, being a Christmas lunatic (I use the word lovingly), has made about six dozen different cookie recipes already this month and if you know anything, it's that your mom+food+fire=delicious. So, in addition to the annual cookie-a-thon, we decided we'd take a crack at having you make a gingerbread house with us...but you saw bags of candy and things went south for a few minutes until we could restore order.

I love these looks you give us - like, "No, for real, somebody better open these damned sprinkles."

Your mom did the heavy lifting for the build, but you made sure you let us know that the house needed a doorbell....immediately.

The best thing about having a kid is seeing them get excited about the little things in life. "Childlike wonder" is a special thing, even for little stuff. Seriously, Murph, you applaud when candy gets opened. That's awesome. If I could get back to a place in my life where I felt sugar-coated gum drops deserved oratorical acclaim, I'd probably be the happiest, wisest man alive.

Doorbell: check.

Of course you tried out some of your building materials...I love the next two shots together.

We probably decorated for a good hour until the directions caught up with us. Apparently, the royal icing needs to set overnight for the house to be structurally sound...but the gingerbread house was more about the fun of the activity than having one of the dogs eat it while we weren't looking anyway.

I'll write again soon little buddy...

Helena

We've been super busy this week with the holidays and our mini-portrait shoots, but I really wanted to share a few shots from a newborn shoot we also did this week. This is Helena, and she's gorgeous!

She's a month old now, and though her mom would probably argue otherwise, she's so tiny! (She came out nearly nine pounds!)

She's totally a rocker! She's got her punk hair -- too cute!!

A family portrait...

And just being gorgeous... (sorry I'm not all that chatty today... it's a little after 1 a.m.!)

I don't know if you can read this shirt, but it's adorable -- "best gift ever." Spot on! Thanks again, guys, for having us over. She's absolutely perfect!

New Guest Books!

We just got a new sample guest book in, and I'm totally excited about it. It's GORGEOUS! We used some photos from Lisa and Jim's engagement shoot. The cover shot was a really cool texture post-processing job Rich did to make it look old and funky. So, the covers of these albums are a serious photo cover. Not a dust jacket, but a fully-custom photo cover. Super sweet.

Here are a couple sample layouts inside... tons of space for guests to sign!

And the pages lay nice and flat, which is super handy for your guests.

These 20-page, fully customizable guest books are 10"X10" and run $250. Order yours today!