Fast forward to…now, time for their engagement photos.  I really love when couples choose a place that is significant to them for their photos.  Since Jason proposed to Jess in Niagara Falls, Canada, we knew that a waterfall was the perfect place for them.

We all drove to Ohiopyle on a Monday night for this unique photo shoot.  It was just after 6pm when we arrived and it was very dark in the Cucumber Falls area.  Thankfully, I brought my own lighting since the sun wasn’t very helpful.  Look at how cute they are.

I don’t think I prepared then enough for the climbing/hiking that we were doing during this shoot.  Jess and Jason were so willing to do whatever I wanted (wow!), and they definitely have some very unique photos as a result.

One of my favorites of them playing near the waterfall.

Look at that hair!  Photo by Ryan, who was nice enough to join me for the car ride and photo shoot.

Did I mention that the waterfall was the FIRST stop on our photo-making journey?

Thankfully, Ryan came on this shoot with me and was so helpful carrying equipment and doing some shooting too.  Here I am looking like a German Backpacker, complete with waterproof hiking boots.  Jess and Jason, I promise not to wear this to your wedding.

We were able to catch a bit of sunlight, even though we were in a valley.

They said that they got engaged on a platform overlooking a waterfall–just like this one.    Awwww.

Photo by Ryan.

During the shoot, Jason mentioned that I looked familiar, and that he played in the 2009 Turkey Bowl.  You’ll see him with blue socks and shorts and a hat.  I’ll miss the Bowl this year since I’ll be in Minnesota visiting Ryan’s family.  Enough about me.  Jess and Jason, you look fantastic!!

Congratulations, Jess and Jason on your June 2011 wedding!

Last weekend, I met with them at a the Darby Downs Equestrian Center in Irwin, Pennsylvania where Chrissy works a few days a week with horses.  I was so excited that we got the change to make these photos at a place so beautiful that was so important to Chrissy.

Such a beautiful day!

I hardly had to coach these two on being cute.  They are naturally adorable.

They high-five, and low-five often.  Being watched by a cat.

Such beautiful lighting for two very happy people.

I like this smashed-face-laughing smooch.

And finally, fun on the swings!

Chrissy and Sean, I’m so excited for your wedding in July of 2011.  Congratulations and Happy Planning!

We took some photos in Phipps, just for fun.  The butterflies in the forest wouldn’t cooperate in posing for a photo.  Plus it was really really hot in that room.

I love these two.  They are so cute together.

My favorite off-camera light….the sun!

Jenna = gorgeous.  Jordan = handsome.  Jenna+Jordan = love.

Seriously, I never had to ask for smiles.  Smiles explode out of both of them.

Since we had more room to move around outdoors, the perennial garden in front of Phipps made for some awesome telephoto shots.  I love Jenna’s blue shirt.

Congratulations, Jenna and Jordan!  I can’t wait to celebrate with you (and ShotBox) this October.

I really wanted to attend this workshop for two reasons.  First, I’d like to improve my storytelling ability.  I LOVE making wedding albums and telling the story of how people felt on their wedding day.  Second, I wanted to explore my camera’s High Definition Video function.  Such an amazing feature to have on my camera that I rarely used.

During the first day, stillmotion presented very helpful materials about lens selection.  With that statement, I’m over-simplifying what exactly we talked about, but it was extremely helpful.  Kind of made my head spin and one week later– I’m still thinking about it.  Next we talked more about shooting video with a dSLR body and some advantages and challenges with it.  I got to use the hand-held Merllin Steadicam to capture this video below. A little wobbly, but I think I did pretty well after only holding the rig for just a few minutes.

About the video: Tt was the end of the day and I was ready to finally press record and make a run for it…literally.  Amina and Justin (both from stillmotion) are yelling to get our attention and let us know that day one was over.  Steadicam is a rig that you wear or hold to make video while the camera is in motion.

Tech specs: Canon 5D MarkII body with 14mm f2.8 rectilinear lens. Merlin hand-held Steadicam rig.

More images from day one on the tour’s blog.  They also had a “smilebooth” setup in the studio.  This image from here. He loves me……

On day two, we discussed workflow, storytelling, and lighting.  We also formed small groups to create commercials and put our newly learned skills to use.  See anyone you recognize?  That’s me on the left (duh) working with two of the other attendees and our model, Lindsey.  I was in charge of lighting this scene.

If you want to follow along for the rest of this month, here’s the link to stillmotion’s blog they’re running about the tour.   I thought that this workshop was amazing, and definitely worth the time and money.  The lecturers were excellent artists who explained both the creative process and the basic procedure of  how to create and edit cinema.  SO much of the content was new for me which I found to be both stimulating and exciting.

Now it’s time to tell a better story……

Nicki was kind enough to join me for the day, first capturing this photo at the church.

JC was super nervous.  This was the first time I’d met him.  He was definitely having an out of body experience.

Jenn told me that one of the most important photos for her was to see JC’s expression as she came down the aisle.  Photo by Nicki.

What a gorgeous building!  The Immaculate Conception Church in Irwin, Pennsylvania.  Photo by Nicki.

Jenn and JC were both VERY emotional during the ceremony.  It was lovely to see.

Smiles during one of their few private moments of the day.

The cake fight was epic.  Cake in the eye for the groom?

The dance floor was packed all night. 

After the money dance (It was a polka–yay!), the guests surrounded Jenn and waived their white handkerchiefs.  Or red shoes…..

JC eventually got in and took her away.  You can see more photos of this whole process in their slide show.

Congratulation Jenn and JC!  Have a great time on your honeymoon…..

Here is the featured photo from their wedding at the Great Hall of the Heinz History Center last fall.

And here is the final cover.

So a little different from what I shot, and some distracting elements were removed to make room for the text too. All of the changes were made with my permission, of course.

I’m very excited for Alison and Paul too!  When I asked for Alison’s permission to use the image she said “Should we get and agent?”  To which I replied “What? You don’t already have one?”

You can start a free subscription to the magazine by completing this form.

We started at the Mellon Institute. It was a regular work day, but there weren’t too many people around. I think we even scared away a smoker or two.
Michelle and Francis are awesome!

And super funny too.

They are both engineers, and the three of us get along well together.

Michelle and Francis met through a mutual friend  while they were attending college at Penn State.  They both LOVE to dance and work out.  Francis is a gym regular, and Michelle participates in CrossFit.

This was their playtime together.  Francis picked Michelle right up. Looks fun!

Michelle tried to return the favor, and she is STRONG, but I don’t think she can really make it happen.

We really had a great time together and it was nice to see their personalities come out during playtime.

See you in a few months, Michelle and Francis!

Yesterday Ryan and I had the enormous pleasure of photographing Sarah and Sam’s wedding on the Gateway Clipper.  Ryan began his day with Sam and the groomsmen.  Below, Sam and Ruby taking it easy.

And I with Sarah after her morning at Lewis’ Hair Salon in Shadyside.  Here is Sarah in her absolutely gorgeous SILVER wedding dress.  It was amazing and perfect!

Sarah was super excited to make her way to the ship for the wedding.

To avoid their guests seeing Sarah from the top deck of the boat, maid-of-honor Nikki carries an umbrella.  Maybe a few Dave Matthews Band concert-goers got a view, but it was quick!

Their wedding officiant was a good friend of Sarah and Sam.

These two were SOOO happy ALL DAY LONG!

Photo by Ryan.

Sam steals a kiss while we wait to go back to the top deck for some family portraits.

No “posing” here,  just smiles.  Flowers by Blumengarten.

Excellent toasts by Nikki, Scott, Father of the bride (Fred), and Sam.

Just after dinner, while the Empress staff was clearing the dance floor of the dinner stations, we took a few more photos in the evening light.

While I was setting up my camera, Ryan grabbed this next shot.

Ceremony, Cocktail Hour, Dinner, and First Dance music by the amazing Terrance Vaughn, One Man Band.  I highly recommend him if you’d like to have an excellent guitarist and vocalist perform at your wedding.

As always, a great shot of the first dance by Ryan.

Sarah and Sam were together all night.  Believe it or not, it is quite rare to see a couple together during their reception.  Dance music by DJ Jim Tolley.

I don’t know what this song was, but it made these guys go CRAZY!

They spent all night with their friends on the dance floor.

People were freaking out when the DJ played “I’m on a Boat (Featuring T-Pain).”

After cutting their wedding cake from Lincoln Bakery (left), they moved on to the groom’s cake.

I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a more amazing groom’s cake.  Sam spent a lot of time in college as a buggy mechanic, while Sarah was/is a buggy pusher for their organization, Fringe.  Sarah surprised Sam with this buggy-shaped cake made by one of Sarah’s best friends.

Sam said just what I was thinking….”there’s no driver inside of this one.”

Photo by Ryan.

They both kept saying how happy they were that everything was so much fun/perfect/awesome for their wedding.

While coming into dock, everyone moved upstairs to watch the city roll in.

This was their real exit from the boat.

Ringshot!

Congratulations, Sarah and Sam!   Have a great time on your honeymoon to Belize.

If you’d like to see more from this wedding, you can watch a three minute flash slide show by visiting this link.

First the “inflation.”  We were all careful not to call it a “blow up.”

My guy, Ryan.

“Gregory the Great”

Our balloon, “Victory.”

I was obsessed with these cannons and the fire.  315,000 cubic feet of air.

The balloon (empty) weighs 700lbs, the basket and tanks add 1300lbs, and the 20 passengers about 3,000lbs to total 2.5 tons.

After takeoff, the balloon flies up and away.  The pilot can ONLY direct the balloon UP or DOWN, so the “steering” is at the mercy of the wind.  The crew drives around on the ground following the balloon and picks it up when it lands.  They are definitely working hard.

Planes are buzzing around, showing off for us.

I don’t know why the white haze surrounds the shadow of the balloon.

On the ground, the crew releases a small, black helium balloon so the incoming balloon can determine which way the wind currents are blowing.

We had a great time!