Kristin and Phil's Guest Book

We just finished Kristin and Phil's guest book and it is off to the printer/binder! I think it looks fantastic and am really excited to see it in person. Click here to see the book.
Don is responsible for the design and illustrations, he did an amazing job as usual. I offer guest books as an add on item, if you want to add one to your wedding package let me know.

Have you Voted?

Voting for the Fox Philly hot list continues through September 14th, and believe it or not I am in 3rd place right now. So if you never got around to voting, forgot, or had trouble the first few days with the page loading then go and try again.
Check out all the awesome and by awesome I mean amazing comments you all have left for me. Thank you all for your support, it really shows.

So if you have not voted yet, what are you waiting for? Go here and cast your vote.

Blog Tag, I was tagged.

I was tagged by Shawn Reeder a fantastic landscape photographer who is in this vast expanse of my photography network. I figure I will play along, why not I am sure you would like to know a little more about me anyway. I am supposed to list 8 little known things about myself. Here goes.

1. I was born at home in Santa Fe New Mexico in this house. The same woman who bought the house from my parents lives there today and it has been pretty much unchanged in 30 years. (My dad installed the little sky light bubbles)

2. My favorite place ever is Yellowstone National Park. I went there every summer for eight years when I was a kid. My dad worked there when he was in high school, as did my uncle and my grandmother worked there every summer until she turned 83. Good Ole Yellowstone.I also have another little known fact regarding my relationship with Yellowstone, but that is a better story in person. Next time you see me ask me about it.
3. I am the proud owner of a 1963 VW Samba Bus. This was my fathers bus. Here you see it when Don and I rescued it from my Dad's back yard. It had been sitting for over 2 years after my dad died and we had to give it a better home.

This has been its home since 2005. My hope is to one of these days get it up and running again, that is not too much of a dream I just need to find my Dad's mechanic in Roswell, yes Roswell New Mexico. I also need to set aside the cash to fund its mini restoration.

4. I have been love with Photography since I can remember. I cracked this lens of my Dads when sliding down a natural water slide in Santa Fe, this is me inspecting the awesome crack down the middle of the lens.5. I hitchhiked with my dad on multiple occasions when I was young. This is me with my pack in Yellowstone. Aren't I cute? I am still hoping that pack with surface one day.

Little bit of extra credit regarding the photo above, I still have that shirt. My dad saved everything.

6. I am a bicentennial baby and third generation New Mexican. I have some Indian in me as well, my Indian name is Running Deer.

7. I drove out to the east coast in the summer of 96 in my 1982 Mazda GLC Deluxe. That was a Good Little Car. It was also the first car my mom ever bought brand new. It got both me and my brother through college.

8. I can't stand water chestnuts. It is the only food that I have any textures problems with.

So I am tagging the following 8 people.

Linette Kielinski
Laura Eaton
Liana Lehman
Paige Elizabeth
Joe Pulcinella
Ryan Estes
Misty Dawn
Heather Fowler

Three beautiful bellies

Last weekend I had the pleasure of photographing three different women at an amazing point in their lives. I got the film back and am very excited to share some of the images with you.

First is Jean, I can not even describe how beautiful her photos came out. The window light and the curtains in her bedroom made such an amazing back drop. I can't post my favorite photos of her here, but you can believe me when I tell you they are amazing.

Next is Robin. Again beautiful. All of these women were just amazing. Robin really liked my abstract approach so I did some of that for her.


Last but not least is Amber. We took a totally different approach with Amber and I just love these images.



Such amazing women, each totally unique. It was such a pleasure working with each of them.

Thank you for putting your trust in me, you are all beautiful and amazing.

Wedding with Photo Joe

Last night I second shot for my good friend Photo Joe. He already has photos posted on his blog, and one of me on a ladder so you should go and check it out. Its always nice second shooting because you get to shoot with someone you admire and you don't have so much pressure on your shoulders when shooting. Here are a couple of my favorites from the day.

Meet Melissa

She is drop dead gorgeous, and her eyes are mesmerizing.

Meet Richie, not so bad looking himself.

Working with Joe is cool because he likes to set up portraits with more of a high fashion flare. Once we got Melissa up on this bench the wind worked really well with us.

Joe brought along his video light, which made for some awesome "moody" night portraits by the fountain. I may have to pick up some of these lights.

The reception and details were amazing. I cant even begin to describe how many flowers were at this wedding. Everything was so beautiful. Everything was held at the Four Seasons here in Philadelphia, their staff did an amazing job bringing everything together.

Here is Joe about to attempt entering the dance floor.

The dance floor was packed all night, I have never seen anything like it before. 200 guests and everyone of them getting down on the dance floor all night, it was actually difficult to get the usual fun dancing photos because the floor was so packed. I don't even think this photo does it justice but hopefully you can get the idea.Joe is going to kill me for posting this shot, isn't he such a little lamb chop?

Bad food humor I know but I couldn't help myself.
It was great working with you again Joe, awesome shots on your blog.

Linette and Carver

Totally special treat today at our monthly Pictage meeting! Linette recently signed on with Pictage and I am excited about it because I get to see her at least one more time a month than I normally do. Today we all brought along our cameras in hopes of getting some good photos of each other. You think this would be easy, but photographers are extremely shy in front of the camera, who would have guessed. Linette started us off and having Carver with her made it a little easier for her. This little guy is cute beyond words, I love him.

I was lured in by his expressions today. He was just hanging out in the stroller here.

Such expression!

So I admit I avoided the spot light at this meeting, which is totally fine by me, maybe next time.

1-2-3 Belly!

I was a busy woman this weekend with three belly shoots! Whew. They all went very well and I am super excited to get the film back!

Sunday was full of coincidences. I visited Robin and her family first, we did a short baby session with little Oliver until he went down for a nap and then we continued on to the belly session. They also totally spoiled me with an awesome brunch, thank you again for feeding me it helped me make it through the rest of the day.

Look at that belly!After I left Robin's I headed over to see Amber and her husband Taylor. They are expecting their first child and were so cute together, not to mention really excited about the photo shoot.

So the coincidence? Well not only did I photograph Robin and Amber on the same day, but they are due on the same day, September 6th! Crazy coincidence. And I rarely bring along my digital camera but I did on Sunday so I took a couple of shots with it.

It was also coincidental that at each session I was asked why I photograph my bellies with film and not digital. I get this question a lot. For me bellies are an art form, I like to take my time creating my composition, paying attention to what the light is doing and how it reacts to the form of my subjects body. I shoot with a Hasselblad, which is a medium format camera that yields a square image. I find composing in a square is very flattering to a round belly. The "look" film gives does not even compare to digital. Too often you can get lazy when shooting digital, it can be very easy to just shoot away and forget what you are really looking at. I also like keeping my "skills" sharp, meaning going back to basics with the camera. The Hasselblad is an all manual camera, no metering system, no auto focus just plain and simple no frills. It helps me remember the real meaning of photography, why I love it so much and use it as a tool to create art.

Once I get the film back, I will post some images from their sessions. Oh the agony of waiting to get film back, I love it!

Baby Kate

Last Sunday I had the pleasure of meeting baby Kate. She is such a cute little thing and reminds me of what I looked like when I was a baby, round head with peach fuzz. She surprised her parents with all sorts of giggles and laughing faces. They figured out all they had to do was tickle her mouth and she would crack up. Way too cute. As usual by the end of the photo session Kate was tuckered out, and I was able to get some sweet sleeping baby shots.

Enjoy the slideshow

Crazy Tuesday

Well my day yesterday started out normal, until I walked outside to find my car had been vandalized. boo hoo. I predicted that my car was going to have a bad year after it was hit over Christmas and the front grill was smashed in and cracked. Then again in February when it was hit by a Plow, busting off my side view mirror which I still have not fixed. I have lived with those annoyances and what can you do when you live in a city and park your car on the street?
Yesterday was just sad. Both driver side windows were completely shattered, it looks as though they were hit with a BB or some sort of spring punch. So I had to take the day off of work at my day job, and wait around for the glass man. He had to replace my front windshield and both driver side windows. So sad. I am still finding glass all over my car, and now the rear driver side passenger door will not open from the inside and the locking mechanism is messed up for some reason on the front passenger door. So they have to come out again to fix it.


Who ever did this did it for the pure fun of smashing my windows, they did not take anything from the car and did not even try to open the doors.
Luckily I had plenty of editing to do and I edited and uploaded three portrait sessions! That would have taken me an entire week otherwise. I think that is the only good thing to come of this.
So one work day lost, 3 new windows and 500.00 later my car is pretty much normal again. ho hum. For this reason I will not be buying a new car anytime soon, at least while I am living in the city.

Formal Belly

I just finished editing this Belly session and am excited to just share a few images. Most of my belly sessions are nude portraits and close detail but not everybody is into that. I want my clients to be totally comfortable with me, I will make suggestions but I will not push anyone to do something they are not ready to do. Erenia's shoot was a nice change of pace, I have never had anyone choose to be photographed in formal wear for a maternity session. We had a few wardrobe changes and we used some wraps but I really like how these came out. These two are a totally classy couple and I think these two shots suit their personalities very well.


Stay tuned tomorrow to hear about the crazy day I had today.....

Katie and Declan say "Heck Yes!"

Katie and Declan are two of the sweetest couples I know. They have been together since they were 15 and Declan proposed to Katie last year in front of an entire summer camp full of kids that Katie was teaching. They have a lot of fun stories and they can now add their wedding day to the list.
The day was super hot but luckily looking at the photos you would never know it, besides Katie of course as she was one hot bride! The wedding Party was fun and full of energy, they were also into doing a lot of jumping and making funny faces.

I crack up at this photo every time I look at it!

Simple Detail

I know you all must be excited to see this slideshow, I can tell because the sheer number of hits my blog got today!

(Click here if you want a direct link to the slideshow)

click the play button you see on the photo, otherwise it will stay there throughout the show.

I had a great time at your wedding, it was a pleasure. Thank you again to Misty for coming out to shoot with me!

Schembri Family

On Sunday I had the pleasure of visiting this ever so sweet family, despite the major thunderstorms we encountered that morning. Alexis is the newest addition and they were excited to document her at this tiny state. Pete was a little hard to convince that having a baby sister is cool, but I know he will come around. He did enjoy performing a number or Mr. Wiggles songs for me though, that was a total treat.

So without further adoo, I know you must be anxious to see the slideshow.

It was a pleasure.