Jenn and Dennis

It's obviously become a huge trend among modern wedding and portrait photographers to blog about their weddings and other photo shoots. I think the general idea is that it lets you reach out to your most recent clients while you're editing their event and show them a few sneak peaks so they get excited about your work. Maybe more important to some shutterbugs, though, is that it also shows everybody your most recent work. I think most photographers are like us and have galleries on their site that are at least a year old or more...I love our blog, but we're awful at updating the site!

For me, the most important part about blogging is quickly becoming the opposite of the first point above. When I blog a few photographs from a wedding of a couple like Jen and Dennis, I totally get excited about wrapping up the editing and getting the images ready for delivery. It really energizes me.

When Alyssa and I are watching a wedding day unfold in front of our cameras, we're working our butts off to capture moments and get exposures just right, etc. When we get back to the studio and start going through our selection and post-processing of an event - that's when we can really step back and appreciate the magic of a couple and their passion for one another.

Sorry for rambling, but Jenn and Dennis put it all in perspective for me this morning. What a fantastic couple:

Alyssa captured this "moment between" while she was setting the girls up for a more posed portrait of the bridesmaids...I love it. Alyssa told me Jenn's maid of honor is just off-camera and may or may not have been the source of hilarity.

Meanwhile I was hanging with the man himself, looking debonair despite what I imagined was a decent case of the butterflies. I could never tell because Dennis was just very relaxed and happy to be marrying Jenn. Some couples overly stress about the details of their day, and I'm sure they did in the days prior at least a little - but on the big day the important part was being together.

Alyssa took up position above while I shot below. Did I mention she is completely addicted to capturing other peoples' flashes?

She's also into reflections - like the mirror on the organ!

I was into Jenn's mega-watt smile, which she was saving for Dennis when they knelt at the altar.

This was a shot I really dug from the reception at Kloc's Blossom Grove in West Seneca, just outside of Buffalo.

And then I started playing with some guerrilla off-camera flash. Basically, I'll sync a radio-control unit to one of my small flash units and set it off from some oddball location - usually to create a cross-lighting or back-lighting effect for something different. This is Dennis helping Jenn out with the family tradition of the wedding wine skin while his dad looks on.

In this shot, Alyssa is doing her best ninja impression, holding the flash behind them while I snap away - good thing we wear all black suits!

And one last one for the road...Congratulations, Jenn and Dennis!

Little Adelaide

Back when we shot Maureen and Mike's "belly shots," we weren't sure if the baby was going to be boy or girl. Two weeks ago, we got a call that little Adelaide had arrived! We couldn't wait to take photos of her for the first time.

Shooting a two-week-old is absolutely amazing. We've been super busy the past few weeks with weddings and various portrait shoots, but photographing Adelaide was one of those, "everything slows down," moments. Our son will be two in September, but it seems like it was just yesterday we were coming home from the hospital and adjusting to everything. Mojo and X and going to be awesome parents. They gave us kind of a crazy look when we explained the next shot, but I'm really happy with how it turned out (Mo is slightly off-camera to the right, ready to pounce - Adelaide is remarkably strong, but that's no surprise given that her parents are some of the most ridiculously in-shape people we've ever known).

Justin

I just finished editing the photos from my shoot with Justin last week. One of the greatest things about shooting kids on a regular basis is how much fun I get to have. Justin was like, "Hey you have a camera! Let's play!" and off we went. Here are some shots I enjoyed the most...

Father Francis Mary

Recently, Alyssa and I got a call to shoot something a little bit different. Actually, a lot of what we were booked to do was the same, i.e. document an important event in someone's life, inside a church. This time, however, we were shooting Father Francis Mary's first Mass instead of a wedding ceremony.

The Mass was held at St. Luke's Mission of Mercy in Buffalo, where a lot of intensive restoration work has allowed the old church to thrive again.

I think the photos speak for themselves - the friars were there en masse (no pun intended!) to celebrate with Father Francis Mary, and it was a beautiful occasion to be a part of.

Arvind and Cathy

We scheduled Cathy and Arvind's engagement portrait session quite a while ago, so with the past few weeks of dreary weather, it seemed we were destined for an indoor shoot. But we woke up Sunday, stuck our heads out the door, and realized it was a beautiful day to be outside. We headed over to Delaware Park and spent a few hours trying playing around, so here are a few shots from the shoot.

The Spencer Twins' first birthday...

On Saturday, I shot the Spencer Twins' first birthday bash. We first met the twins last summer after they were born, and they are a blast to shoot. Very, very cute kids who are now incredibly mobile. Mobile kids are fun to photograph, but you have to move fast to keep up.

I love the "mirror shot" as she adjusts her crown. She was definitely rocking the princess look, complete with sash.

Not that her brother was ready to be outdone in the adorable category...

The twins and their cousin sat for a quick portrait...very good kids - I can't believe how easy it was to get a group photo of the three of them! (Not that there weren't 4 or 5 of us trying to get them all to look in the same general direction at the same time).

After some quality family time, the twins were let loose on their pile of presents. As is usually the case, the ribbons and paper were as cool for them as anything the was inside the boxes. The door being next to them was great, so I was able to use a few different apertures and have some natural side-lighting.

Tyler took a break from unwrapping to play the "bang on the door with dad" game. We know it well in our house, too.

Many thanks to the Spencers for having me be a part of their family celebration.


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Melisa and Christopher

Last night we shot Melisa and Christopher's reception. They got married in Vegas last week, but came home to celebrate with their family and friends. Here are some shots from the reception.