Wedding photography for unique, free-thinking, laid back Pittsburgh brides and grooms.
On August 15, I attended Nikki & Josh’s wedding ceremony to assist Jess Slavic of JESPhotography. Nikki and Josh were both very, very emotional – and so was everyone else! Here are a few quick moments I captured.
Nikki’s Maid of Honor slips her a tissue.
Yes, she is eating the flowers…
… and now realizes she is BUSTED!
Congratulations from Josh’s father
Back in April, I spent an evening photographing some of the talented musicians who improvise at Ava Lounge every Monday night. One of those musicians was young singer Änna Ciaccio, who dazzled the audience with “My Funny Valentine.” (Today’s social media world is just too much, I’ve just found that you can listen to Änna and the Interval trio performing “My Funny Valentine” at youtube.) Änna has also composed and recorded some of her own songs, also available online. Check them out – her voice is all at once soothing and soulful and I’ve been walking around singing her songs in my head for days now! Here’s that link to her songs again – go ahead, open a new tab so you can listen while you scroll through here.
Änna is also considering pursuing modeling, so we set out to get some portraits for her portfolio. I am sure she will be getting work in no time – she’s gorgeous, and has a powerful attitude and presence. In “Birds-Eye View” she sings “I am here to stay… ain’t nothing gonna get in my way” and you’d better bet I believe it.
Many thanks to Randi Voss for accompanying me on this shoot, offering wardrobe and location input, and tirelessly holding a reflector and umbrella. And then buying me a fine hoppy ale!
Are you ready for Änna?
Randi captured this next image.
I love the intensity of this next image captured by Randi.
One more image from Randi. Änna is 5’10″, Randi is six feet even, and I’m… well, short. As I felt a bit like the little sister tagging along, I couldn’t resist slipping into this small space to remind myself that every now and then, being small is an advantage.
You can view more of Änna’s images in her gallery.
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Last week, our family headed east for a week’s vacation in Holgate, the southernmost town on Long Beach Island, New Jersey. We hadn’t spent a week at the beach since 2005, when Leo was six months old, and I hadn’t been to Long Beach Island since my family stopped vacationing there sometime in the late 1980s.
This vacation was bound to not be quite a quiet, relaxing beach experience, as we were joining a house full of people. In addition to our family of four, our housemates were: my parents, my sister and her husband Madison (the newlyweds), Madison’s parents, Madison’s sister and her three kids (7, 5, 3), and for the last few days, my niece and nephew (7 and 4).
It was a little crazy with all those kids… but so much fun. I could spend weeks just watching the kids play in the sand and in the water.
Madison’s father, also named Madison, spoiled us all week with meals like clam chowder, crab cakes, fried tomatoes, the most amazing chicken stew, and these beautiful tomatoes.
The kids were buried in sand several times. Matt and I had just arrived at the beach when we found all the kids like this: (photo by Matt’s iPhone, also known as his new Third Hand)
Frankie, still very sandy.
Jonas loved playing in the sand. As long as he had a bucket or some shells or a shovel, he was happy. But it took all week before he worked up the nerve to set foot in the ocean.
We had beautiful sunsets almost every night. Of course I saw this as a perfect opportunity to do what everyone does. Go to the playground with my voice-operated light stand (Matt) and a shoot-through umbrella.
Vanessa
Juliana
Our balcony provided a beautiful sunset view and view of the bay.
Another iPhone capture… all the girls were crazy about Jonas. They loved to get him to repeat what they were saying.
Thanks to my sister Beth for taking this one of our family, and to Madison for doing light stand duty.
On our final morning, I headed over to the beach for a couple final photos. I’d envisioned a classic beach scene, with the ocean smashing against the rocks, only to find that the night before, vandals had thrown the lifeguard stand onto the jetty.
Finally, a “put the camera on the table” self-timer group shot, taken with my sister’s camera.
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