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▣ Kickin' it papparazzi style
One of the things I love about this job is that you will never ever ever know everything. Just when you think you've got it figured out - ***Squibblybabblybooo!!*** they invent something new. Every new idea or new piece of equipment is just a doorway to more questions and more discoveries. No one really thought about flying until they started working on the first airplane. No one thought about flying into outer space and walking on the moon until they configured the airplane into a space shuttle. Just imagine where we'll be in the future? Weeks and weeks ago I went to Mt. Lebanon for a Shoot N Learn workshop with David Burke . Workshops are what creative professionals call it when we all want to get together and talk about stuff, play with stuff, and brainstorm about stuff. And by stuff I mean: aperture, white balance, screen resolution, digital noise, lightpainting, saturation, pixelization, the 40D, the 50D, the 5D, the D3, the 1DMark3, ISO, USO, USA, the histogram, and the handycam, f1.4 to 22, pocket wizards, magic wands, white lightening, and the Becker Blog.
So for the sake of discussion, we'll call it stuff.
One question I always get asked when I'm out shooting is "how much does your camera cost?" To give you an idea of the expense involved in participating in this business, look at the photo below. The little black 'thing' marked Transceiver that is attached to the top of the camera is roughly the size of an altoids box and costs $188. However, it only works as one of a pair - so that'll be another $188. The camera in the photo was at least $1200. The lens probably around $1400. If you will shift your eyes up to the photo above you'll see us all out in the alley behind David's sweet new studio. We were checking out the "artsy cement garage" - and by artsy we mean - crumbling, grafitti'd, and sprouting weeds. When you're a photographer you have to learn to see the character in all places and spaces. Resourcefullness is key. :-) Back to the cost of stuff - the umbrella on the stand $25ish, the black thingy in the umbrella on top of the stand $450+ for the flash unit, the stand intself maybe $45 to $75, and the little connecting widget that screws the flash onto the stand: $20+ and that's a pretty modest estimate. That's not even including all the batteries, memory cards, card readers, Gigs of memory, and flocks of RAM it takes to make all that stuff work together.
David is an AWESOME dude - I learned some neat time-saving tricks for getting my flash under control. Check out his website at www.davidburkephoto.com
Workshops are also a great way to network and meet new folks. Originally I was stalking around The Knot for their advertising prices and found Heather and loved her work and started blog stalking her. She shot with David at a wedding and talked about him on her blog and so I found his blog and started blog stalking him. Then I went to the last Shoot N Learn before this one and learned information that literally changed my life (do you know everytime you reach for the mouse and click it takes up 3 seconds of your life?). Shortcuts. *MWAH* At this Shoot N Learn I met Sandy and Peter. Peter thought he was being sly but I felt my photo-spidey-sense kick on. Here's the first shot:
Now lets see it TMZ style:
I see you.
We were experimenting with off-camera flash with diffusers under different lighting conditions. Fun stuff. I like this shot I got! I learned new things, practiced old things, and met some great folks! Thanks David for hosting another great event!
Comments added to this post ▣ Emily '09
I loved this senior session. The weather was perfect, the lighting was fantastic, and Emily wasn't afraid to live on the edge a little. Before we were all said and done I was shooting her as she was standing barefoot in the river in a sundress holding an umbrella - using my assistant as a human tripod! It just doesn't get any better than that for a photographer. I only wish we'd come up with the idea 15 minutes sooner before the sun set. It was a little dim to be handholding things, and I just didn't like the way the flash was changing the reflections in the water - so Ashley literally stepped in (to the river mud where I was standing) to act as my support. I'm still fiddling with the image to get it just the way I want it, so it's not posted here but Emily was a joy to photograph.
I love this shot - almost as much as I loved her shoes.
When Emily is not in school studying for senior year, working, being athletic at sports, or competing in the Miss Teen Pennsylvania contest later this year - she leads guided tours of the Kiski River. Talk about multi-talented. Check out her family's business CLICK HERE
Comments added to this post ▣ Leah & Josh 08.16.08
You probably wouldn't believe it, but once upon a time - a long time ago - I was Leah's camp counselor at Girl Scout camp. I remember that she was very "put together" compared to the other young girls. Her clothes were folded in her overnight bag, her toothbrush was in a case, and she was the only one talking politics around the campfire. You knew from the moment you met her that she was bound for success. She's even been lucky in love :-) I met up with Leah and some of her family and friends at her parent's house before the wedding for some fun 'getting ready' shots. Or as we called them: the Before pictures. Here's a sneak peak preview of her wedding day:
Once the girls were ready I left and headed to Puckety Church to get some shots of Josh and the guys before the ceremony. We all managed to hide in a 4 foot shadow behind a building out of the hot afternoon sun.
Leah carried red roses as her Dad walked her down the aisle and climbed the steps to exchange rings with her new husband. Image by Sean
After some family pictures at the church we sent the bridal party to the reception and headed to Memorial Park for some bride & groom alone-time. The best shots of the day always come from that extra 15 minutes outside away from the group where a new couple can catch their breath and just be themselves. Image by Sean
They cut the cake as soon as they arrived at the reception. I am not exaggerating when I say it was the best cake I've tasted EVER. Each table had it's own smaller version of the wedding cake for guests to cut themselves!
After dinner we snuck outside for some more photo-fantasic alone time.
The DJ got the party started with some "party motivators". He had funny hats, inflatable guitars and banjos, glow sticks, beads and more. I wore a sombrero half the time but it kept bumping into my flash unit!
Josh's Dad was feeling the party vibe!
Riverside Landing was awesome, and you can't beat the view of the Oakmont marina!
We had SO MUCH FUN at this wedding! One of the best this year! You guys ROCK!! :-)
Ceremony: Puckety Presbyterian Church, Lower Burrell Reception: Riverside Landing, Oakmont www.riversidelanding.com Cake: www.oakmontbakery.com
Comments added to this post ▣ Christa
**Deep breath** Our friends the Meighan's introduced us to the Hoscheid's who introduced us to the Moore's and their daughter Christa. (I love it when clients become friends and send their friends to us who become clients and those clients become more friends!) We traveled to Sarver last week to see Christa and to shoot her senior pictures in their fantastic backyard!
Besides their children, the Moore's also have two very feisty weiner dog puppies! Copper and Rusty couldn't decide for the first hour if they liked me or not.
Protecting his territory!!
Comments added to this post ▣ Brandi & Frank 08.01.08
Thank goodness for the beautiful weather the day that Brandi & Frank were married on her parent's farm in Avonmore, PA! They had an outdoor ceremony complete with tiki torches that was relaxed, emotional, and full of traditions from Frank's Kenyan heritage. Brandi and I go way back to the first grade! In fact she lived only 4 miles away from me my whole life until college. Everyone went their seperate ways and we hadn't talked in years until she called me to shoot her wedding a few months ago!
The rings tied onto the pillow as everyone gets ready in the farmhouse.
The cake already set up in the barn.
Their flower girl
Just before the ceremony started Brandi's Dad takes one last look at his little girl before he walks her down the aisle. The girls came out of the woods and into the field where the ceremony was held. Image by Rebeccia.
I love this one too - Image by Rebeccia
As Brandi's parents brought her down the aisle, the women of Frank's family sang a traditional Kenyan song full of joy and placed colorful scarves on the ground for the bride to step on symbolizing her journey to the marriage.
Frank's reaction as he sees his bride for the first time.
The couple stood at an altar made of pine boughs that her father contructed for the big day. They exchanged rings in front of their family friend and pastor who had known Brandi since she was a baby.
The groomsmen "makin it look gooood!"
The reception was held in the barn and under the tent decorated with thousands of tiny white lights.
Congratulations Brandi & Frank! Thank you for welcoming us with big smiles and open arms!
Comments added to this post ▣ better together
A few weeks back we traveled to Sewickley to see our friends Tim & Ashley. Since grown-up working life doesn't allow for much fun time - we hadn't really hung out since this wild camping trip a few years back. (In which we got lost, arrived at the campground well after dark, and went hunting for an open site with a flashlight. Even though there were 400+ sites in the campground there were only 3 left and about 5 other cars circling around with their flashlights trying to see them all, pick one out, and then race back to the main office and get their name stamped on one.) Good times, good times. That was the same trip the park ranger yelled at Sean and I for swimming in the lake beyond the safety buoy, and we got hit with a monsoon rainstorm. Sometimes a little catastrophe is necessary to the spirit of the trip. No one ever remembers the trips that went smoothly. Ashley's family hosted a luau at their home in Sewickley to celebrate their engagement and it was a great chance for both families and the wedding party to hang out and have fun! We snuck away to the edge of the yard for some fun pictures.
Ashley & Tim with Tim's grandma
Congratulations! This is only the beginning of more happiness to come!
Comments added to this post ▣ Updates
Thursday morning when I stepped outside to find this guy perched on the tree a few feet from my porch. He likes to hunt the moles burrowing under the front yard. He's been hanging around all week, I hope I see him again.
THANK YOU to everyone who commented on the previous post for Syd and Jake! I spoke to the folks at Kiddies Korner and they told me that the Walk-a-Thon raised about $15,000 for the family! That's FANTASTIC!! If we all do a little, we can do a lot. Lots of catching up to do on this blog - we've been hanging out with Tim & Ashley, Brandi & Frank, Leah & Josh, Christa, Workshops with David Burke, and all the guys at the Bushy Run Battle Reenactment. Watch for new posts!
Comments added to this post ▣ small miracles
ATTENTION - YOU CAN HELP.
Meet Sydney, Jake, and Kate. Sydney and Jake are brother and sister and Kate is their cousin (best friend too). Last week I met these kids at their grandparents' house for a relaxed photo session in the grass. Please read this entire post and share it with your friends. These are amazing kids who could use your help. Please read on...
Jake is 5 years old, he is currently battling leukemia. Leukemia is a form of cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow. His weekly treatments involve painful spinal taps and many pill-form medications. He's exhausted nearly every day and can't enjoy playing outside the way most kids his age do on a daily basis. He will continue his weekly treatments for a whole year and then maintainence treatments for 2 years after that. The survival rate for his age group is 80%.
Sydney is 3 years old. She was born with primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD). People who suffer from PCD do not have functioning cilia in their lungs. (Anatomy lesson for those who don't remember from high school - your cilia are wavy microscopic hair-like little organs in your lungs that help keep dust, dirt and germs out of your respiratory system.) Most often cilia are damaged or killed by heavy smoking in adults. However, Sydney was born without functioning cilia to begin with. She suffers from frequent infections in her lungs, ears, throat, and sinuses. These constant infections can cause scarring, damage to her ears and sinuses, or even block her airway. Although there is a large spectrum of severity in PCD cases, aggressive treatment and lung transplants in the future will help her live a long and productive life.
This is Jake and Sydney's cousin and best friend, Kate. She is blessed with good health. You might remember her from Renee and Mufutau's wedding. She was one of their flower girls. I can't wait to watch these three kids grow up together :-)
What can you do to help these three amigos?
Sponsored by: Kiddies Korner Nursery School Where? Roaring Run River Trail, Apollo When? Saturday, August 16, 2008 Registration starts at 9:00 AM Walk begins at 10:00 AM Chinese Auction at 12:00 Noon Live Music, Refreshments, Kids’ Activities Event held rain or shine! Why? All tax-deductible donations will ease the financial burden for a family with a 5 year old son battling leukemia and 3 year old daughter diagnosed with a rare lung disease. . Who to Contact? Melissa Whitlinger at 478-4437 or sjwalkathon@yahoo.com For more info (including list of auction items), go to www.roaringrun.org, click their "events" link.
All participants are asked to bring their collected donations in the registration envelope on walk day. These envelopes are available at Kiddies' Korner and all Sprankle's Markets, or one can be mailed to you. Registration starts at 9:00 AM, and the walk begins at 10:00 AM. Participants will enjoy a beautiful walk on the trail, live music, refreshments, and plenty of activities for the kids. The Chinese auction has wonderful prizes, including Steeler tickets, Pirate tickets, and so much more. Auction winners will be announced at 12:00.
For more information, please call Melissa Whitlinger at 478-4437, email sjwalkathon@yahoo.com, or visit www.roaringrun.org and click on their "events" link.
How will donations be spent? Jake & Sydney's family faces a long and difficult road. Your donations will ease some of their burden. Funds will be used to pay for their frequent trips to the hospital, to help recover income lost due to missed days at work. Also to make home improvements such as converting their home to all hard surfaces, and installing special filters on their heating and air systems.
YOU CAN HELP RIGHT NOW! We can't make it to the Walk-a-thon next weekend because we'll be with Leah and Josh shooting their wedding, so we've devised another way to help. For every person who comments on this post between now and midnight August 16th we will make a donation to the family on behalf of each one of you. If you do attend the Walk-a-thon there is a chinese auction where you can bid to win a free photo session and a free 8x10 from us! If you are like us and are unable to attend the walk, you can make a difference right now by commenting on this post and sending it to all of your friends and asking them to comment as well. Just click on the green "comments" link at the bottom left of this post, fill in your email and leave a few words of support for Jake and Sydney and their family. It's that easy.
"One hundred years from now, - Unknown
Comments added to this post ▣ Frank 2.0.0.9
Almost caught up now!! And I even know what day it is - this is Frank. Frank was the one that graciously took a raincheck from us on account of the RAIN. Let me tell you how much I love his hat. We always tell seniors to come to their session with as many outfits as they like and any props they want. Good ideas are things like sunglasses, hats, instruments, sports equipment, or your labrador. These photos aren't meant to be stiff, posed, "perfect" shots. We want to get your personality in there too! If you feel uncomfortable, you'll look uncomfortable - and that's where all those terrible photos of ourselves come from. Bring your favorite things, be brave, be yourself, and we'll do the rest.
Back to the celebrity look-a-like trend. We decided that Frank looks like Paul Walker.
Photo courtesy of a random google search. I have never met or photographed paul walker.
This is just an example of some of the cool effects that you can achieve with digital photography in the post processing. Thanks Frank for being such a good sport as we hiked from wall to wall to the river walk and then back to the church and then back to the river! We had a great time!
Comments added to this post ▣ sweet melissa
Ok ok! So this might give you an idea of the controlled hysteria of owning your own business: remember yesterday when I wrote about this?
" . . . traveled to Saltsburg to meet Justin the second time around. The first time around we had that crazy phantom rain and we got cold feet and cancelled. You know the rain I mean - when the weather man says to bring an umbrella but nothing happens. All the ingredients to make rain are there so the national weather service figures it had better call for rain and issue a storm warning just to cover their butts in case someone is having a picnic. Then they only make it a 30% chance so that if it does rain they predicted it, and if it doesn't well they said only 30%. That's less than fifty. You folks didn't honestly think it would rain, did you? muwhahaha.. So long story short, we resheduled his session in the face of dark scary clouds and high winds. And it huffed and it puffed, and it was just like that moment when you're about to sneeze and then realize you forgot to put the flag up on the mailbox. It huffed and it puffed and then went totally silent, the clouds parted and the sun came out for a beautiful evening. Hmmpff. Thank goodness our back up day also turned out to be a beautiful evening. We did the walking tour of the town!"
Well last night around 10:30 I started thinking...and realized - it wasn't Justin's session that got bunged up because of rain. His went off without a hitch on a thursday - it was Frank's senior session that got moved for rain! And I haven't even blogged about Frank yet! That just gives you an idea of how you can get all confused. I spent 18 hours on the computer yesterday editing, retouching, and uploading/downloading/archiving hundreds of photos. By the time I felt like I had accomplished enough work and could now "start my day" - it was 10:56 p.m. The only time I saw the outside world was to get the mail at noon. And after all that work, I am now offiically caught up in editing to last friday.
Two fridays ago we met Melissa for her senior pictures (tis the season) along the river. She is such a beautiful girl!
I love the community garden out back of the museum - the Herb Society ladies do such a fantasitc job and volunteer countless hours to keep the garden beautiful. Thanks Melissa! Good luck for your senior year!!
Comments added to this post ▣ justin '09
I think if I blog every day this week that I might catch up. Maybe.
More shots from two weeks ago - we traveled to Saltsburg to meet Justin the second time around. The first time around we had that crazy phantom rain and we got cold feet and cancelled. You know the rain I mean - when the weather man says to bring an umbrella but nothing happens. All the ingredients to make rain are there so the national weather service figures it had better call for rain and issue a storm warning just to cover their butts in case someone is having a picnic. Then they only make it a 30% chance so that if it does rain they predicted it, and if it doesn't well they said only 30%. That's less than fifty. You folks didn't honestly think it would rain, did you? muwhahaha.. So long story short, we resheduled his session in the face of dark scary clouds and high winds. And it huffed and it puffed, and it was just like that moment when you're about to sneeze and then realize you forgot to put the flag up on the mailbox. It huffed and it puffed and then went totally silent, the clouds parted and the sun came out for a beautiful evening. Hmmpff. Thank goodness our back up day also turned out to be a beautiful evening. We did the walking tour of the town!
Have you ever wondered if somwhere out there in the world there is someone who looks just like you? Lately I've been getting a lot of very handsome senior guys who could pass for celebrities. I never forget a face, but names are not so easy for me. I knew that Justin looked like someone I had seen on TV before, but couldn't remember who it was. I asked the guru (my sister) what she thought and she hit the nail on the head!
Justin looks an awful lot like Ian Ziering from Beverly Hills 90210 !! Which I thought was a stunning observation since I'm pretty certain my 20 year old sister was only about 9 or 10 years old when 90210 was on TV!
Just to be clear, I did not take this photo. I have never met Ian Ziering and I grabbed this photo off of google.
Justin was a great sport about following us all over town looking for just the right color bricks. I swear I don't know how some of these seniors put up with me! Thank you Justin!
Comments added to this post ▣ brian's senior pictures
I am so excited to find out that people are actually reading this blog!! Very few people comment - but I hear from a lot of folks when I see them out in the community that they do check it out to see what we've been up to lately! And you're right - when there's a lot of time in between posts it's not because we haven't done anything. It's because we are SO BUSY that there's just not time to talk about it. Two weeks ago we traveled down the road to Beaver Run Resovoir for Brian's senior pictures. Currently he is a student at Greater Latrobe Senior High, but grew up in this area and wanted to come back for his session. We found some great spots around the yard for photos and then headed down to the water for the sunset. The weeds were up to my chest and I was a little worried about snakes, but it was worth the walk. (Although I did scrub down with dish soap when I got home to get the poison ivy off and ended up still getting it all over my ankles.)
Brian was a great guy to work with and we called all the shots we did in the deep grass his "Steve Irwin" shots.
Before we left we couldn't resist getting some photos of Mckenzie their 4 month old chocolate lab. What a ham!
Thanks Brian! Hope your senior year is fantastic!
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