Pittsburgh Wedding Photographer | Christina Montemurro

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.