Photography Bloom

Day of the Dickens!

Last week my home town of Narberth held its annual "Dickens Festival," one of the many events they hold every year. This was my first time attending and I'm so glad I was able to make it! I joked that I was going to charge folks $5 to have their photo taken with a real, live Englishman (my husband).

We plan on joining the business association for the New Year and get more involved with these sorts of events. I love my home town! I love that I live near enough to walk into town again and shop local at wonderful places like Sweet Mabel.

Here are a few shots from around the festival, though there was tons I didn't capture! We had a real Christmastime miracle with an almost balmy day after several days in the 30s, followed by two days of rain and then more freezing cold.

A Halloween to BuildON

I love BuildOn. I volunteered to shoot the Philadelphia chapter's end-of-year picnic this past June and had such a great time. I told the coordinator I'd be happy to capture events anytime they wanted and I was available. My next opportunity came with their Halloween party last week. I thought it was a party for themselves, just for fun, but I should have known better.

The kids from the 11 different schools who have a BuildOn program locally all organized a Halloween fair with tons of activity booths, games, prizes, and more. A haunted house, a moonbounce, a pie-throwing, face painting, pizza, cookie-decorating--almost anything you can think of, they had it--for the community of children surrounding the Rivera Rec Center. The activity director of the rec center arranged it (he's very involved and supportive of BuildOn and their mission), and the BuildOn kids gave it their all. The community came, and they had a blast. Some adults in the neighborhood donated grills and burgers and hotdogs to feed the kids, too. As I roamed around the building both inside and out to take pictures, it was obvious te kids were loving it, and the kids from BuildOn were loving it too.

Here's a few of highlights. The full gallery can be seen at my BuildOn Halloween Zenfolio Gallery.

Dance Party

I had a great time the other night at the Baby Loves Disco CD-release party at Club Fluid in Philadelphia, which was also a fundraiser for the wonderful Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation. DJ Dozia, a Philly treasure, was at the helm with the best dance music.

Here's a few of my favorites. All the shots can be found in my Baby Loves Disco CD Release gallery, so if you were there, go see if I got a photo of you or your kid!

DJ Dozia's family (his beautiful boy slept through almost the whole thing)!

Andy's, one of the founders, youngest boy. So stinkin' cute! :-)

Highlight Reel

Here are my some of my favorite shots from the wedding a week and a half ago. You should be impressed I managed to pare it down to 88 shots from the 408 I've made available to the bride and groom! ;-)

I was thrilled to discover that one of the songs available through the wonderful Zenfolio is by none other than my friend Nancy Falkow McBride! I couldn't resist using it!

First Blush: Jana & Wes Wedding Preview

On Friday I had the honor of shooting my first wedding, professionally. I could not have had a more wonderful couple (and extended family) if I had custom-ordered them all personally. Perfect bride for my first time, though I may very well have been spoiled for future weddings now!

Jana and I hit it off immediately. I had shot her stepfather Andy Lamas for the Penn Gazette, then again for him personally, and so he had recommended me and a couple other photographers and fortunately for me, I was chosen. When I met with Jana I experienced something I don't think I've ever had with anyone else: her personality and very demeanor were a mirror to my own. It was more than "speaking the same language," though I'm not sure how better to describe it. Anyway, we were comfortable. Her family and friends were comfortable. Her parents' home was filled with ecclectic art, and evidence of so much love. In all honesty, I felt lucky to be a part of this celebration.

Thank you to my wonderful friend & brilliant photographer Denise Perri for giving of her time and talent to help me by taking over the preparation of the groom & groomsmen so I could focus on the bride, and second-shooting the ceremony so that when one of my flashes completely died I didn't have to fly into a total panic!
Thank you Jana & Wes for giving me this opportunity and most importantly for taking a chance on me. This experience and the lessons learned will be an invaluable resource to me in the future. You and your family and friends embracing me the way in which they did, making me feel like more than just the photographer, was a gift I will never forget.

Guests of the wedding will be able to see the images from the rehearsal dinner and the wedding in a couple of weeks in my Zenfolio gallery called Jana & Wes Wedding 9-10-10