Dominique and Xavier

Sunday afternoon I spent some time with Dominique (Q) and Xavier. We were concerned with the timing of things at first because Xavier was down for a nap and we weren't too sure if he would wake up in time or not. But things alwasy have a way of working out and just as we were putting Q down for a little nap Xavier was waking up. So we got to spend some time with each of them alone which was nice.

Q's room was awesome, I love the mural on her wall.

oh boy, isn't she the cutest thing?

She was the sweetest baby, posing very nicely for me.

I love this photo of Q and Tanya.

Tanya and Tim warned me that Xavier is a little cranky when he first wakes up. Luckily I thought ahead and brought him a tasty treat! This is when he first got up, mom and dad asked him to smile for me and I got a grimacing scowl, then we told him I brought him a present and his eyes perked up when he saw the lolly pop. The lolly pop saved the day, he loved it!
Story time!

Xavier loves to hold his little sister. Such a good big brother.

I had a great time and can't believe how well the timing of our session went, it was perfect.
I have been going through so much music this week picking out songs for slideshows, this one just pepped me up today and I couldn't resist, even though it may be old and just a little cheesy.
Enjoy your slideshow

Gifts that keep on giving

Oh my gosh I just saw Linette's post about her photo shoot with Carver and the sweater I gave her at her baby shower. I had to show you this photo, he is the cutest thing! I loved that sweater and am so so happy it is fitting him at just the right time. I got it at small shop in Santa Fe last year during the holidays. Check out her blog for more photos.

I love it Linette! He looks so adorable, and wow that green really makes his eyes pop.

Baby Liam

Sunday morning I had so much fun with Micheal, Keri and Liam. Liam is such an adorable little guy.

He was very aware of his surroundings and kept a tabs on me where ever I went. It was very cute, he was really interested in what I was up to.

We had lots of play time in the living room, I love this shot of his dad holding him up with that long string of drool getting heavier and heavier.

Of course who wouldn't want cute naked baby pictures?

I could not stop cracking up at how excited Liam was playing the piano! Too funny.

One of my favorites from the day.

It was so great meeting you guys I had a lot of fun, thank you for having me.

Enjoy your slideshow

Campbell Family

Sunday I had the pleasure of photographing the Campbell's. I was really worried about how the day was going to turn out because we have had so much rain and on Saturday morning it was still pouring rain. Luckily we had our session scheduled for later in the day and the storm front moved through giving us awesome golden light and a beautiful day. So so lucky.

I decided to group each family together or this post would go on forever with all the photos. First we have Michelle's family. Michelle said she had not had family pictures taken in years so it was about time. They are such a good looking family.

Jim, Michelle, Gianna, Nick and Jake.
(Jim is the middle son of two brothers, whose families you will see below.)

Patti, Jake and baby Ainsley. Too adorable.

Lauren, Jason and baby Colson. Jason does an awesome doo-wop impersonation and was responsible for all the smiling excited pictures of Colson. I wish I could record all the things that went on in the background for this shoot.

I had a lot of fun, it was great meeting everyone. You have an awesome family.

Enjoy your slideshow

Melissa and Mike's slideshow

Did you think I forgot? No, me, never! Going to NYC and getting sick kind of set me back a bit. All is good now and without further ado check out their slideshow.

We had an interesting day to say the least. Figuring out ways to entertain Ellena while getting shots of Melissa and Mike, being in the wrong place at the wrong time on Main Street in Manayunk (upset Eagles fans only puts it lightly) and then ending on a high note at the Art Museum with beautiful light. We had a great time one that surely won't be forgotten.
I am looking forward to their wedding next year, its going to be a blast.

Cream of Wheat

No wonder so many people think they hate Cream of Wheat. Most people get the "instant" Cream of Wheat. I recently tried some out of disparity since we are still living without a stove and instant Cream of Wheat has to be one of the most horrible tasting hot breakfast foods out there. Don't buy it, seriously you will be disappointed and fooled into thinking Cream of Wheat is disgusting.


I make some oh so yummy Cream of Wheat. You can ask close friends of mine, they know. My good friend April used to leave her boyfriends house early on cold mornings when I told her I was making Cream of Wheat, its that good. I learned how to make it from my mom. She would make is for us when we were kids on cold snowy mornings. The trick is to use half milk and half water, let it boil and then stir in the Cream of Wheat. You have to constantly stir it while its cooking or you will get disgusting clumps. Once it's thickness looks good, not too thick, add a pat of butter and brown sugar. Not too much brown sugar, by now I know how much is enough based on the color. Then serve it up and pour in a little half and half so it just circles the bowl, mmmmmm, it helps cool it off and thin it out making it the perfect thickness. It is best served with English Breakfast, Irish Breakfast or Earl Gray tea. You can't beat a breakfast like that on a cold soggy morning.

That is what I was craving this morning for breakfast if you couldn't tell. I can't wait until we have our stove installed. Its Cream of Wheat season.

Shooting with friends

The past two weekends I have had the privilege of shooting with two awesome people.

Two weekends ago I got to shoot with the awesome Heather Fowler. Heather shot with me at the beginning of the season so it was great to shoot with her at the end. I have a great time shooting with Heather and its always great to see how other photographers handle events.

I have a couple of shots of Heather in action.

The wedding party had a ton of little girls in the same dress, adorable.

It was also my first time shooting in the Crystal Tea Room.
Absolutely fantastic venue, amazing.

This past Saturday I shot with Aaron Owens, he is an associate of Sofia Negron's. Aaron's usual second shooter broke her hand, ouch, so I was happy to fill in and help out. The wedding was at Carinwood Mansion, another amazing Venue.

The sky was amazing, simply amazing.

Can you find Aaron? He's the super tall guy with the camera. I love all the different expressions on the guests faces, this was during the speeches.

Really Aaron is super tall. He has to be close to seven feet. It was my first time meeting Aaron, Sofia has always spoken very highly of him. He was fun to work with and I was amazed at his graceful presence.

That pretty much puts an end to wedding season for me for this year. It has been great and I am looking forward to next year.

Photo Plus Expo Wrap-Up

It has been a whirl wind the last couple of days. Wednesday I headed up to NYC for Jason Groupp's pre-expo party. It was a ton of fun and ton's of photographers were there from all over the country.

At first I hung out with my friends Sofia Negron, Laura Eaton and Paul Eaton. I made some attempts to get us all in a self portrait. We were pretty successful for the most part, although Sofia is kind of hidden. Sorry Sofia!

I finally got a chance to chat more with Amber Holritz.
She does amazing children's portraits in Tennessee.

We tried to get Sofia in the shot again.

Hanging out with some fellow PUG leaders.
Me, Amber, Justin, Mary and Carlos.

I caught Rita and Joel Weibner catching some ZZZZ's at the expo.
Aren't they adorable?

Jason had a camera set up with a remote trigger, he put together a slideshow from the night, check it out here. I stole these from the slideshow.
Paul, Laura, Me, Sofia and Jess or Dewdrop as people know her.

Sofia and I did a ton of walking and trekking around NYC, my feet are still a little sore. I got to see a lot at the expo and got a lot of new ideas for this coming year. I also must have caught something while we were there because I am sick as a dog today. I had to reschedule a baby shoot and it was such a bummer because today was beautiful! But I can't risk getting someone's children sick. I hope this doesn't last that long I hate being sick when I have things to do. Off to bed I go, hopefully I can sleep tonight.

Melissa and Mike

Sunday I got to hang out with Melissa and Mike. Melissa has been a good friend of mine for years and it is such a pleasure to see her so happy. This was a bit of an unconventional engagement shoot because they had their daughter Ellena with them. You might remember previous photo shoots of Ellena. Anyway, Mike is always working and has seemed to miss out on all the photos shoots so we figured this was the perfect way to get the whole family together and I don't think Mike and Melissa have any real good photos of the two of them or as a family.

I love Melissa's eyes, aren't they amazing, one is brown one is green.

Mike had a great time playing with Ellena on the swings.

Ellena was very content sifting through the fallen leaves. She was very upset when we picked her up to move on to another location.

A very nice family portait.

Mike is a total goof ball.

I just love the subtlety of this photo.
I couldn't resist.Melissa and Mike are getting hitched September 21 at the Glen Ford Mansion. It is a beautiful venue right along the Delaware River. I am so excited. I have not had a chance to get their slideshow together so hopefully these teaser photos will hold you over. I am headed to NYC tonight and will be there through Friday for Photo Plus Expo. Until then, enjoy the rest of your week.

A New Look

It was about that time again, for a new haircut and new look!

BeforeAfter

As always Joe did an awesome job, and I think he had fun doing it too. I let him know what I was going for and he ran with it. If you need an amazing stylist just ask me and I will point you Joe's way!

Kristin and Phil's Slideshow

I know some of you are anxiously awaiting this slideshow! Kristin and Phil had an amazing day. The weather was beautiful, a little on the warm side for October but beautiful non the less. Kristin's dress was simply amazing, and she was stunning. Phil was such a gentleman all day and looked mighty handsome too.
The reception was at Bolingbroke on the Main Line in Radnor. It was beautiful and classic, just like Kristin and Phil. The staff was so thoughtful, they made sure we were as comfortable as the guests.
They hired Joanna Pascale to play at the reception and she was amazing as was the band that was with her. Really classy and such a beautiful voice. Kristin did a lot of ballroom dancing in college so Joanna was the perfect choice.




Thank you again to Joe and Don for helping me, some of their images are included in this slideshow. It was such a pleasure being part of your day Kristin and Phil, I hope you are enjoying your Greek honeymoon.

I thought this behind the scenes action was funny, Don snapped Joe and I in paparazzi mode.

Back to reality

I think we were spoiled during out four day visit on Block Island. We are a little sad to be home back in the city. Here is where we stayed, I think anyone would be a little sad to leave this house. Thank you so much Rena for your generosity and trusting us with your home, it was fantastic.

Of course today the skies were amazing. This is the neighbor's house from across the road, I just thought it looked like a painting this morning.

Umm yeah, amazing skies!

We had breakfast at the airport diner, we had heard great things. Don's breakfast was great but I should have stuck to the basics, my crab cake benny was not good at all.

We were just waiting for the ferry here, this is the harbor looking out at the breakers.

At sea.

Me and Don with Block Island in the distance. Bye Block Island, we miss you!

Another symmetry shot from inside the boat, the waters were really choppy today.

The ending shot.

So now what? For me its plunging right in again. I am shooting a wedding with Heather Fowler tomorrow, very excited as the reception is at the Crystal Tea Room and just excited to shoot with Heather again. Then Sunday is Melissa and Mikes engagement shoot. Next week is the Photo Plus Expo so I will be heading up to NYC for a couple of days, then back to help out Sofia Negron on Saturday and so on and so on. Block Island was a much needed break, I highly recommend planning a vacation there, or if anyone is getting married there I will happily travel there to shoot for you.

Rocking Chair

We have had a lot of wind during our stay here on Block Island. There are rocking chairs on all the porches and they have been rocking on their own. It kind of freaks me out every once and a while when I see them from the corner of my eye.

Block Island Day 3

Today was much more gray and wet. We headed out to some of the beaches we had not seen yet, and I took another stab at getting some photos. Luckily no card corruption today.

The rocks on the beaches here are just awesome.

This seaweed reminded me of my paper sculpture projects in college.

More rocks.

It was really windy.

A very thick fog just rolled in and the wind has really picked up. This weather has been really good napping weather. Don and I like our naps, so its has been welcome. We head out tomorrow afternoon. It has really been a relaxing couple of days. I have not done any work, I thought I would get to Kristin and Phil's slideshow but I am on an island relaxing, what was I thinking? I will put it together this weekend.

Scallop dinner and lost photos

We had a great day today despite the overcast skies. We went to the southern light house, got some awesome photos and we took the trek down the stairs to Mohegan Bluffs and walked along the beach. Lots of great photos, photos that might never be seen now. I downloaded them and for some reason the card corrupted. UGH. So I just have the memories, and the funny photo of me and Don climbing the stairs will remain in my mind.

Anyway we made a wonderful dinner tonight. I made scallops for the first time, well not the first time but I made them perfectly tonight for the first time. They were super yummy, we also had some butternut squash, red potatoes and skinny asparagus. It was one of the best meals I have had in a long time.

Block Island

Monday was a long day but we luckily made the last ferry to the island. Our reservation had been for 5:00 but we missed that because of traffic through Connecticut. We were making good time until then, we made it to NYC in record time of one hour, we knew it was too good to be true.

This is a shot in the harbor as we were waiting to board the ferry, you can see the sun setting in the distance.

On board the ferry, I like the symmetry.

I just liked this old boat

On board the ferry, it was dark and we couldn't see much but I like the look of the wake and the lights in the distance of this one.

Don raised the flag for us. How about that view? That is the view from the side of the house. There is a great yard and Alma is just loving it, she ran around like a little puppy the first time she went out yesterday. It is so fun to watch her run in grass, she is such a city girl and doesn't see too much of it in our neighborhood.

We went out to the Northern Lighthouse to check things out. The sky was amazing yesterday.

I have no idea what this is called but I liked seeing all the little piles of rocks on the beach.

Don and Alma, I think this was Alma's first time to the beach.

Amazing sky.

We have been relaxing and enjoying the island. We slept a lot. Today is much more overcast and it has been raining a bit, but I think we are still going to try and get out on the bikes and go exploring. It is chilly and a good start to the fall season. The house we are staying in is awesome, I will take some photos of it. It is so open and we are really enjoying the kitchen.

Kristin and Phil's Wedding

We had a fabulous day yesterday with Kristin and Phil. Kristin's dress was simply one of the most beautiful I have seen. They were both smiles all day and it was such a pleasure to be a part of it all.
Don and I are getting ready to head out the door to Block Island for the week, but I just wanted to give you a little taste with two images from Kristin and Phil's day. I will be posting their slideshow later this week.

They met before the wedding and this is one of their first moments seeing each other.

I love this portrait of Kristin, and it was a total hit with the slideshow at the reception so I had to put it up right away. I bet you would never even guess where this photo was taken or under what circumstances. I will just say that it was a genuine moment that I caught very quickly.

Thank you so much to Joe Pulcinella who came out to shoot with me yesterday, he grabbed some awesome portraits of Phil getting ready and of course throughout the day. Don was also there helping out and shooting, he even ran home for me on an emergency errand. Best boyfriend a girl could ever ask for! He got some amazing shots throughout the day as well.

I will be posting more photos later this week, please check back.

Rise of the Machines

Its rally time again. This time our club, Rabble Rousers, is hosting it here in Philly. I have been rather busy and distracted at this rally because I am shooting Kristin and Phil's wedding tomorrow. So I have had little errands to run and things to take care of in preparation. I got to hang out at the POPE (pub on passyunk east) on Friday night and go on the late night "crime ride" through the city ending at the Art Museum steps. Everyone met up for breakfast and ride this morning.
I stepped out of tonights events to relax and get all my gear together and organized for tomorrow. Everyone is hanging out at Johnny Brendas for Punk Rock Kareoke and I just talked to Don and he said it was pretty entertaining.

Here is one photo from last night that I particularly like, the handsome gent is Sean and Geiger is giving the thumbs up behind him. I am uploading the rest of my images to scoot.net now.

Good night!

Official Full Time Photographer

Today was my last day working at Drexel. It feels really strange. I gathered all my little nicknack's and left my keys on my desk. I have been there over six years and while it really has not sunk in yet it is so strange to be gone. Peter gave me my Drexel sweatshirt today, his traditional going away present for all his managers. I had a very nice going away party on Thursday, they made me cry. They also gave me an awesome book that everyone wrote in and a day at the spa. I really need it! So the following photos are from our annual senior sendoff event, which I have always been on the committee for, this year we had a photo booth and it was awesome. The disk of images was also one of my gifts. So enjoy a peek into the photo booth and some of my awesome colleagues.










I will miss everyone a ton, but I will be so happy to see you guys at future events. I am looking forward to reunions and sneaking in for lunch or coffee.

Pups need a good home

A friend of mine just sent out this message to our scooter group. If anyone out there is in need/want of a new puppy let me know and I will put you in touch with the right person.

here is the story: Rescued 6 black lab (mix) puppies out of the middle of the road on Saturday.. PLEASE help me find them homes - otherwise, it's Animal Control - which means they only have 5 days. We've bathed them, sprayed them for fleas and wormed them....but we can't keep them. They are currently in a kennel in my basement since I don't have a fence. I've lost count of the number of rescue groups that I've contacted, only to be turned down due to no room. Please check with every dog person you know to see if they need a puppy.

EDIT:::: Puppies have all found homes! woohooo.