Top 50 ceremony shots of 2008

It's time for another favorite's post! This time it's our favorite 50 ceremony shots from the season. Enjoy!

Dear Murphy: Mackenzie's Visit

Hey there, little buddy. Well, our winter adventures are going strong, and your cousin Mackenzie came up north for a quick visit to enjoy some snowy fun with us. She was visiting for "Christmas 2," and while she was here, we couldn't help but snap some pictures of the two of you.

We started with a little portrait session of Mackenzie, who was clearly bribed with candy to participate. She's four now, so she really doesn't sit still for much, but chasing her around the house was worth it because she's gorgeous and photographs so well.

You both had a great time riding this pony -- she looks like she was being still and cooperating, but I assure you, she would look at your mom for one second, then jump off and run to another room and hide from me. I love her, but she had me tired at the end of the shoot!

Since she's no dummy, and the minute the candy bribery stopped, so did her interest in getting her photo taken, we resorted to the old hang-your-kid-upside-down-and-tickle-them approach. She was still for a minute, before she was off again.

So, the candy bribery started again... I think she had more sugar in that hour than she did all week!

Then she decided to do some stickering with her dad...

Then, she decided the portrait shoot was over.

So, she's a Florida baby. When you were born, she was in town waiting to meet you, and there's this classic video of her then 2 1/2 self saying, "Mommy, I want to go home. I miss the sun!" She has more pigment in her sking than your mother and father combined, but she really took to the snow. If she wasn't building a snowman or throwing snowballs or making snow angles, she was asking when she'd get the opportunity to again. So, her dad took her out for a snowball fight. She absolutely loved throwing her snowballs, and she had quite the aim. Her first ball hit your mom right in the face! She was having a blast...

then your uncle's aim went all to hell...

and ruined all the fun...

but she came right back with her killer aim.

Meanwhile, your non-appreciative-of-the-snow behind was inside.

When your cousin came back in, the two of you got down to some serious playing. I think you like each other.

And then you decided blinding me would be a good time. Not so much for Mommy, but you two were adorable, so no grudge.

It was great to see your cousin -- I wish we could see her all the time, but we'll see her again soon enough. And we'll write you again soon, little man. We've got some more great favorites posts from our weddings this year, and another great kid's shoot coming up. Talk to you soon!

Top 50 preparation photos of 2008

It's time for another post of our favorites from 2008! This one is our favorite preparation shots. Actually, I should state that not all of them fell on both of our favorite lists -- who knew picking out some favorite photos would lead to marital dispute?!

Seriously, it was really rough trying to pick out favorites, and there were some that one or the other of us felt strongly about that got culled. Trying to get it down to our favorite 50 was pretty rough, but here they are 50 to 1:

Clare and Hailey

I got a really nice email from a local mom who wanted us to capture a snapshot in time of little Clare and Hailey, which is one of my favorite things to do as a photographer. Being able to go to someone's home and capture their little kids running around is incredibly challenging and rewarding. As a dad, I know how life can get away from you fast if you don't stop to appreciate how amazing kids are and how much joy they bring into the world. I always hope that I can capture some of that with my camera.

So, what do you get when you have a 3-month-old and an 18-month old in the same house? Well, debilitatingly cute kids, for starters, but also a handful as you'll see.


One of the things I miss the most about our son getting older is little things you just can't do with a 30-pound toddler...like the sink bath!

Meet Clare:

and meet Hailey:

Cuteness achieved...

Hailey is really into playing the piano...so we did that in two outfits :)

Clare's bow-slip was too cute not to include:

And just like our wedding posts - how could I not include, "The Kiss?" :)

Thanks for having me out!!

Top 50 engagement photos of 2008

We just sat down and went through all of our engagement shoots from 2008. It brought back some awesome memories and it get us really excited to shoot a bunch of weddings this year!

Over the next few days, as we catch up with our posts, we'll be mixing in some favorites from our weddings, too. With the nearly 50 completely amazing weddings we shot last year, that may take a little longer :).  We nearly strangled each other over which ones we'd inclue here...

After some serious thought, these were our favorite shots of '08, many of which we've never blogged before (from 50 to 1):

Thank you for letting us share these photos with you, and another huge THANK YOU to all of our couples who made these great shots with us. 

Sneak Peek Post

So, you know what's lamer than posting a post about how you are sorry that you haven't posted a new post (that's a lot of posts)? Posting a "sneak peek" post because you've been running ragged on shoots for a week and are behind and the LOST premiere is on tonight!

The past week we've had several kids/baby/family shoots, and here's a preview of the adorableness, in no particular adorable order:

The full posts will be up over the next couple of days.

Seriously, we'll be back on top of things shortly because it's nearly the end of January and we still haven't hit your eyeballs with our giant "BEST OF WEDDINGS 2008" post!!! We can't wait...

Dear Murphy: Snowman!

Hello little buddy, and hello 2009 - now with more promises of "Dear Murphy" posts. You mom and I have been getting an earful that we've been done with wedding season for, like, a whole week and there has been no sign of you on the blog. Well, we promised each other that we'd fix that today after our meetings were over.

We've had some beautiful snow the past couple of days, so we bundled up and hit the backyard for serious business: snowman building.

Please note that in the next two shots you are being adorable and catching snowflakes on your tongue...and our idiot dog, Ansel, is barking...at what you ask? The frickin' snow. That's what happens when you move a dog born on Oahu to Buffalo, NY. 

You mom, being a little more used to the principles of snow-engineering, took the lead on project snowman.

You helped a ton, actually...

...and your dad couldn't make a snowball for crap. This is what happens when you grow up in Tennessee and get like two snow days a year, and one of those is just because it's icy outside and people can't drive.

You've just discovered this week how delicious snowflakes are - just try and keep a two-year-old from eating fresh snow...not gonna happen.

And the snowman's nose wasn't going to last either...any way you eat vegetables is cool with us.

Snow angels!!!

And then, after the two of us basically watched your mom finish building the murphy-sized snowman, we added the final touches...

After a few more minutes we headed back inside for some hot cocoa. I made about a gallon by using too much cocoa and sugar and needing to dilute...which is comical because of the tiny, tiny mug you insist we use for your cocoa.

I'm so excited you're old enough now to play outside in the snow - and love it. I think we'll do it all over again tomorrow :). 

Ash

Ash's mom called us because she was interested in getting some shots done of him in our natural "nickel city" style. As a parent, it feels especially cool to be able to make some photographs that I know are going to always represent a moment in a family's life together. Hey - from weddings to maternity to infants to kids and seniors, etc - we're all about family. It's why we love doing what we do.

So anyway, my rambling aside, I got the chance to meet Ash and his parents on Wednesday and we had a great little shoot. Basically, if you're going to take photographs of kids in our style - you have to get on their turf and their level. Luckily, I spent a great deal of my youth fixating on galaxies far, far away if you catch my drift...so I think Ash thought I was cool - but I'm probably kidding myself ;).

I started out shooting without him knowing - I love the giant Klimt on the wall, by the way, guys!

With kids, once they hit a certain age, you can't just trick them into looking at the camera or smiling if they're not into it - I did find out later that Ash totally got bribed for his participation, but the best way to go about getting these kind of shots is to have no expectations or preconceived notions about what's going to happen visually - you just react and work with what you're given, and if you're relaxed and trust your skills, then you'll get a relaxed kid. The first thing we did was play some SpongeBob Operation.

Next we had some hang-out time with Ash's best buddy...what a gorgeous cat. I was never a cat kind of dude until I met Alyssa who already owned a sweet old cat named Wilma (you may have met her if you've been by our studio). Here's some shots I really liked for the couple of minutes we got the cat to play ball, photographically-speaking.

And then we played with some Star Wars stuff - I can't wait until Murphy is old enough for me to indoctrinate him. First was the Star Wars memory game, and then Ash showed me his nearly life-size R2D2. It responds to voice commands and has a drink holder built in...Alyssa, honey - my birthday is in July...I'm just sayin...

After some more playing we went outside to use Ash's rad, new snowball makers.

And then we took a requested shot with Ash's aviators...he wasn't really feeling the sun-glasses, but I like the shot - total thug mug. I couldn't decide on color or black and white, so here's both...

Ash, thanks for letting the dorky guy with the cameras hang out for a little while. I really enjoyed it and you are one rad little dude.

Introducing the Little Black Book Session

I'm really excited to announce that we have a new portrait session to offer that's perfect for those of you not quite certain what to get your man for this Valentine's Day! It's our Little Black Book session -- a boudoir portrait shoot and 5X7, 20-side, black leather album. It would even make a spectacular wedding present for your new spouse! It's $175, and please give me (Alyssa) a holler for more info or to schedule your session!

Kaitlin and Mark

Alyssa and I met up with Mark and Kaitlin down at the Arena yesterday afternoon for a cold, cold, cold engagement shoot. Luckily, we had a really cool couple ( hey, a horrible pun, my bad!) to work with and as soon as the shutters started flying we were good to go :).

The only request they had for their shoot was that we somehow incorporate the love of their sports lives, the Buffalo Sabres. Not a problem - the little area right next to the HSBC Arena is suprisingly rad for photography. 

Besides - it is ALWAYS easy to take awesome photos of couples in love with smiles like Mark and Kaitlin's.

This is definitely one of my favorite shots we took when we headed out front for a few minutes. We were bummed we couldn't get inside, but the Arena is locked down tight on non-game Sundays.

Since we were so close, we decided to explore the Naval Park and some of the surrounding urban stuff. We're always looking for rock, brick or anykind of cool wall texture to use in our photos...

Alyssa and I sometimes just drive around looking for cool places we'd like to shoot - and we saw this random little place a while back...so we filed it away in our "visual notebook". I still have NO idea what this structure is for, but a cool, round opening in a brick wall is just about right for some fun pics.

Aaahh - and Alyssa apparently caught me wearing my ridiculous neon-green biking gloves. Thankfully you can't see them all that well here, but they're the only thing I have that's thin enough to use on my camera's controls AND keep my hands functioning. You see, one night in Afghanistan we got stuck in this village during a snowstorm and a bunch of us got minor cases of frostbite (we had a thermometer that stopped working at -20, so it was frickin cold). Ever since my hands stop working in the cold....hence my ridiculous gloves. Maybe I could play receiver for the Seahawks...

I think Kaitlin is a straight up classic beauty with an easy smile - you're a lucky dude, Mark!

Really cute couple - they held hands the entire shoot whenever they could.

So - to wrap up our frigid shoot, we were so close to the light rail that we had to go shoot a little at the station...I'm a sucker for a good piggy-back ride shot.

And then we wanted to do the "blur the train car in the background" shot, which we've never done with a couple here in Buffalo...so we waited, and waited, and waited...and we thought the stupid thing was NEVER going to come...and then it came out of nowhere! Apparently the gap between trains is a little long on Sundays...

Great couple, fun shoot! Thanks Mark and Kaitlin. Alyssa and I hope everybody has a great week if you're heading back to work after the holiday. If anybody is going to be at the Sabres game tomorrow night (Tuesday), stop down and see me - I'll be crouching down by the ice somewhere with a lens stuck through the glass for at least some of the action :). 

Genevieve and Jonathan - Happy New Year!

Over the course of eight years, Genevieve and Jonathan had never done anything particular for New Year's Eve. So, this year, they decided to ring in the new year with a new marriage. We met up with Gen over at her house and were looking for a cool spot to take some dress shots when we peered in her bathroom and spotted the sweetest shower curtain ever (old CBGB's handbills). It's the first time I've shot a dress hanging from the shower, but it worked pretty well.

Even though it was a bit of a snowstorm yesterday morning, everyone was really relaxed and excited at Gen's house.

Sooo...if you're in Buffalo on your wedding day and there's some serious snow on the ground, you're definitely not going to hike to the church in your good shoes...a bride in boots is our kind of bride. :)

Here's Gen's gorgeous bouquet as she waited in the narthex at St. Joe's.

Rich was waiting outside for the ceremony to start and got this cute "peeking" shot of Gen and her bridesmaids just a few minutes before the ceremony began.

Look at St Joe's!! The church is beautifully decorated every year for Christmas, and they left the decorations up. The church just looked stunning.

Sometimes rings are a little snug, which is really important so that years later you don't put it on your watchband, hand the watch to a toddler in the supermarket and then proceed to lose an irreplacable band that your wife's father made for you. (Rich: I have no comment about what may or may not have happened to my wedding band when Murphy got a hold of it.) Luckily, Jon has nothing to worry about with his!

The kiss.

Right after the ceremony -- Rich and I have mentioned before that this is often our favorite moment of the day, and Gen and Jon didn't disappoint.

Gen and Jon really wanted to get a shot outside of St. Joe's right after the ceremony - so we worked VERY quickly seeing as how it felt like 2 degrees (though I think it was actually 12).

Right after the ceremony we all drove down to Babeville for the reception - one of our favorite places!

The next few shots are from the first dances. Once of the reasons we love the Church is the balcony that wraps around the former worship space. We can do a bunch of funky things with our lighting thanks to the layout.

This one is Rich's favorite shot from the evening...

And he also rocked this one of Gen and her dad!

So, we've been dying to have a couple rent a photo booth for their wedding - and on our last wedding of the year, we got our wish! The photo booth is a lot of fun for guests AND photographers.

Then it was on to some more dancing as the guests celebrated the coming new year.

"It's Raining Men" -- of course!

Usually, we try to take our couple right after the family formals to do some casual portraits -- most of the time, it just makes the most sense to do them at that break right before the evening begins (and that's often about when our favorite outdoor lighting is occuring too!), but since Gen and Jon were just enjoying their night without any formal traditions, we were able to sneak off for a few minutes and wander Babeville for a few photos.

Gen and Jon were both film majors and were really excited about doing more modern portraits. We played around with some film grain and textures, and I was pretty stoked about this shot I took in a hall full of concert posters.

Then Gen, Jon and their guests danced for the rest of the year (sorry -- I had to throw it in there at least once!). It was an amazing night, and we were really so happy to ring it in with their amazing friends and family. Congratulations you guys (and just so you know, we proofread this darn post about five times because we know you'll see our grammatical errors immediately!).

We want to send a big, giant, extra-appreciative THANK YOU to all of our brides, grooms and families who made 2008 such an amazingly successful year for us. So much changed in our worlds, from Rich leaving active duty in the Marines, to getting our studio running as a full-time business, to Murphy growing up WAY too fast, that our heads are still spinning...but we can't wait to jump into 2009 with both feet! We'll have a brand new blog-site (it'll make sense - you'll see) within the next month and we just can't wait to keep on shooting for the people who work with us to make the great photographs we love.

Happy New Year!!!