3 photoshoots blogged as one….

We have 2 generations of BFF’s….here’s the scoop:

Marie and Jay have two gorgeous children, Mikaela and Matthew. Laura and Mike also have two gorgeous children, Lexi and Kelsie. Marie and Laura are great friends, Mikaela and Lexi…great friends and Matthew and Kelsie…yep, great friends.

Both families met at my studio at the same time to get family pictures done, but also pictures of all the children together. This is the second year in a row for them to combine their shoots and I was thrilled to be photographing these families again. We had a great time in the studio, out back, down in the stream and up on the hill. Then Laura’s mom and step dad met up with us for some doggie pictures and we had more fun.

I had an awesome time with everyone. Here’s some of the fun memories of the day…
All of the kids sledding down the hill 😉

Mikaela and Matthew…

Is he a doll or what…

Jay, we missed you but here’s your beautiful family…

I am never one to turn down some silly faces…

Now here’s Kelsie and Lexi, cute, huh??

The whole fam…

Okay, I just love this one, so many different stories in one shot…

Yes, the doggies arrived…

…aren’t they beautiful? Here’s Roscoe and Fiona…

Mike…thanks for being a great lighting assistant!!! You are always the first to jump in and give a hand no matter the situation….you were on it and it came through in the pictures, thank you! 🙂

Thanks for a fun afternoon, I had a blast with you all.

*a note to anybody in the PA or MD area…Mike and Laura own Backyard Builders.  They specialize in custom built decks, patios and screen porches, they also do landscaping.  They do fantastic work, click here to check out their website.

PBS Kids visits Capitol Hill…

Our girls were so excited to go to daddy’s work to meet some of our favorite tv characters.  PBS Kids held an event in the Cannon building last week for the House employees.

Hayley and Lexi couldn’t wait to get down there and meet these colorful critters.   Once we got there, we realized it was much more than the tv characters showing up.  Surrounding the walls of the room were learning stations….FUN learning stations.  The children could build things, toss bean bags at letters while spelling, play interactive games on computers, and many other fun activities.  It was BLAST!

Each character had it’s own ‘handler’, someone who guided them around the room to assure nobody got trampled on and they also had a camera person.  They gave polaraid pictures inside promotional sleeves each time you had your picture taken with the animated guys….Hayley came home with several polaroids.  Hayley was all into high 5-ing or hugging and/or posing with every PBS star she could find.  Lexi, well, let’s just say…not so much.  The event was 2 hours long and as the room started clearing out, she did manage to snuggle up to Clifford and Curious George.

Here’s Hayley and Elmo…

…and with Curious George…

This is Snook from ‘It’s a Big Big World’…

a great chair for a child’s room, huh??

There’s my little Lexi accepting a hug from Clifford…

Here are some of the staff members that helped make this such a fun, exciting and successful evening…

thanks CyberSpace guy 🙂

While walking through the buildings to get back to the car, the girls decided they’d like their shoes shined…

…and what’s extra cool is their Uncle Anthony built those shoe shine stands. Very cool Anthony! Ya done good…real good!! Your talent, skill and attention to detail amazes me!

Well done PBSKids. Our girls had a great time and it was evident to us that everyone that atteded had a great time too!

Thank you.

Family pictures for the Blunks….

Christin is one of my favorite people from one of my favorite families on earth…… & heaven 😉 . She and her sister asked me a few years back to take family pictures….they figured that since I was a scenic photographer that I could take good portraits too!  Well, after purchasing lights and “how to take ‘people’ pictures” books, I photographed my first family…of eleven!  This was pre-digital for me, so I had to wait until the lab developed my pictures to see if I succeeded. Fortunately, I was happy when I got the pictures back and so were they. I come from the fake it ’til you make it mentality….I studied, practiced, asked, listened, listened some more, practiced, asked and listened, researched the net and practiced more!  Since then I’ve read a gzillion books, attended many seminars and have a great time photographing moving objects!  

I’ve since photographed their family many times and love the whole process each time.  First of all I get to see them, we’re soooo busy these days…secondly, they all seem to get more beautiful every time I see them, which seems impossible cause they’re gorgeous!

Here’s Christin and Rod with their beautiful girls….

7 mos old, adorable and happy….

Christin and Rod, thanks for giving me this honor again and again.  You know I love you all.

Yamon Figurs of the Baltimore Ravens visits my daughter’s school…

Yamon visited A Small World in Owings Mills last week. He was so great with the children; they loved him.

After answering all of the very interesting 😉 questions, Yamon graciously posed with all of the excited children. Here’s Matthew, a football player in the making…

…and sweet little Dallas….

Ms. Tammy is one of Hayley’s teachers, she’s great.   Here she is with her daughter and Yamon…

Yamon is not only a football player but also a photographer’s assistant….here he’s telling my Lexi where the camera is while Hayley beams with excitement…

I just love this picture of Ny’jae with Yamon…

Through the children’s insightful questions, we gained great insight about Yamon…..he doesn’t eat McDonalds…but likes ChickFilet, he LOVES fruits and vegetables, no junk food (except licorice), he started playing football at age 5, he attended and played football at Kansas State.

Yamon, you were a trooper…very patient, nice, encouraging, polite and gracious. Everybody really enjoyed meeting and talking with you. Thank you for visiting.  Hope you had a great trip to Florida to visit your family 😉

A special thank you to Marie, Andrea and Laura for taking the time to schedule fun activities and special visitors like Yamon.  We appreciate everything you do to make our children’s time at your center a great all around learning experience.  Thank you. 

Brian and Emily….again….

Hey you guys, I wanted to give you a couple more pictures from my fun day with Brian and Emily.

They both went to West Virginia University and their color theme for their wedding will be yellow and blue.  So here’s my tribute to WVU and to their love…

Brian, a special picture just for you 🙂 , she will be your bride the rest of your life…

ya done good kiddo!!!

Eddie Tapp presents to MDPPA

It’s been a week of seminars…. 

Wednesday I had the honor of attending Eddie Tapp’s Photoshop Seminar.  He’s a great speaker with a wealth of knowledge in post production workflow.  Many times during the class you’d think fireworks were going off with all of the “oouuuuuu’s” and “aahhhhhh’s”.  He had the honor of touring 23 cities with Monte Zucker last year and held back tears while telling us about it. 

Can’t wait to try some of the new actions and procedures that he demonstrated.  Fantastic!

Here’s Eddie with my friend and fellow photographer Anne Looney…

Thank you Eddie for the passion you have in your work and for sharing it with us.

Rock Star Photographer Mike Larson comes to Maryland…

With his slideshow in the background ready to go, Mike began his presentation…

Mike flew out from Southern California yesterday to share his knowledge and experiences with photographers from the DC and Baltimore PUGs (Pictage User Groups) . 

Mike’s life experiences have taught him to be a terrific photographer and a smart businessman.  He travels domestically and internationally as a wedding and lifestyle photographer as well as a speaker.  He has a beautiful wife whom he loves and adores; together they set a fantastic example of what marriage is all about. The love they share for one another is evident in all that they do.  Be sure to check out Love Is A Choice.org .  Rachel, thank you so much for sharing him with us last night.

Here’s a shot of Mike (thanks for taking it Geoff  ) sharing a slideshow during his presentation…

The awesome Michael Clark with Mike…

My friend and fellow photog Heather with Mike…

and yes, me…

Here’s a group shot of some of the fantastic photographers associated with Pictage…

Mike, thanks again for your time; I know and understand how valuable it is. I appreciated you sharing your knowledge and wisdom with all of us. You have great insight and fantastic suggestions. I’m stoked about your mentoring sessions , thanks for offering them. 😀

 A quick shout out to the staff of Levante’s in Bethesda.  Several of us met Mike for dinner at your place…..the staff was great and food was FANTASTIC!  I had the feta pide and ate the entire portion.  yummmm.  Thanks Jessica and Sarah for setting it up.   If anybody is in Bethesda and wants eastern mediterranean style food, check them out for sure!

Emily and Brian’s engagement shoot…

was a blast! These two are so cute together, fun, laid back and ready for anything. We started in the studio and then headed outside to enjoy the beautiful day.  I knew we’d get some great shots, but we got much more than even I aniticipated….and we stumbled across my new favorite location!  😀

Some of my favorites of this fantastic couple…

Brian and Emily, I truly enjoyed our time together today and am really looking forward to your wedding next August.  I am humbled to be your photographer.  Thanks for your willingness to roll with it and explore with me….you did a fabulous job having fun with each other! 😉

Mary, thanks for the heads up to look beyond the bridge!!

Alexa turns two…

and she had a ball.  Fun and loving family members along with fantastic friends came to party with Alexa for the celebration of her second birthday.

Her awesome mommy, Victoria, had every detail worked out.  I arrived before the party began to document some of the details…..very colorful….here are a few….

Alexa is sooooo loved, she had everyone hugging and kissing on her, loving her, it was awesome to see. Here’s mommy and daddy smooching on her…

She’s a doll….

A great game of catch… 🙂

Here she is inspecting her birthday cake…

Patty cake patty cake….

Full Moon Ranch brought a petting zoo and a pony that the children were able to ride. Everyone did such a great job sharing and taking turns. Here’s Alexa, with mommy and daddy, loving every minute of it…

Victoria and Mike, thanks so much for having me out to document Alexa’s birthday. I had a blast. You have fantastic friends and families. You are both so awesome with Alexa, she is very blessed to have you as her parents and to have such a loving group of people care about her.

I’m really looking forward to creating your album! 

I have the best job in the world!! 😉

Heather, thanks so much for the referral.