Published!

We're published!!! (again) HOORAY!
We had the honor to be interviewed and photographed for the April/May issue of the Oswego Business Magazine. Meredith Thomas wrote this lovely piece about husband and wife run businesses. Isaac and I love working with each other and we love sharing our business with everyone. Go out and buy a copy of the magazine today, there are some great articles!





Few of you may know that I shoot for commercial jobs as well. Even though I couldn't imagine doing only commercial jobs, I really enjoy the change of pace that commercial shoots give me. In addition to the amazing article wrote about us in this month's issue of the Oswego Business Magazine, I had the pleasant surprise of having two of my photos published. The first photo I noticed is on the cover. This was a photo I took back in 2006. I was hired to shoot a minor surgery. It was so cool. The best part about the whole day was learning everything that goes on in surgery. So for anyone that needs to know I have actual proof that the surgeons at Oswego Hospital are top notch! I was so excited to see it on the cover when I picked up my issue of the magazine. I have posted the original photo to show you what the original looked like.





Second I noticed an Ad that uses a photo I took in 2007 during a shoot at Oswego Hospital. When trying to find the original I had to dig deep because they cropped out a third person on the left. Take a look at the original, I think it is quite interesting to see the two together.

Alan & Tess: 5 years.

As Promised I have posted a lot more photos from Alan & Tess's portrait session and their renewal of vows ceremony. I went a little overboard picking out photos because there were so many that I liked! I also really really like B&W and Sepia tinted photos so I decided to change a lot over. Of course I left the originals in color so Alan & Tess could decide for themselves, but the blog is for my favorites and I LOVE how they look this way. I will post photos from Jenny & Josh's wedding tomorrow!

After you look below click here to view all of Alan & Tess's photos online:

Story about photos:
Alan is Isaac's brother and Tess is his wife. They got married on April 19th of 2003 while Alan and Isaac were on leave from being activated with the ARMY. They wanted to renew their vows since so much has changed in their lives in the past 5 years. The two of them inspire Isaac and I to love each other everyday. They have an amazing 3 1/2 year old son Michael. He is the life of the party! Last year Alan and Tess bought 2 acres of land next door to the house Isaac's family grew up in. They are planning on clearing out the land and eventually building a house on the property. The land means so much to the entire family because that is where Alan, Isaac, and their sister Erin would go play when they were kids.
I wanted to do something special for their 5 year anniversary so together we came up with the idea to go take photos on their land in Volney. They bought a new tractor last week so I thought it would be fun to bring that along. These photos are just a few of the many great photos that I took during our session. It was during the quiet times of the session, with just the 2 of them and the 2 of us, that we really got to witness the love Alan & Tess have for each other. I hope these photos, in addition to the ones I posted yesterday, help tell the story of their love... and their sense of humor.

Rings on a tire of their tractor




Michael joined in on the fun half way through.












This was Alan's idea! Tess loved it.


Michael was showing me everything about the trailer and the truck


The decorations on the back of Isaac's parents house.


This was the original cake topper they used 5 years ago.


Tess was showing off her NEW rings to her grandmother.


Isaac loves his grandma!




Isaac's dad, Kevin is ordained. He married us as well!


Fin watching from the bay window inside.
















The gang. From left to right: Isaac's parents Kevin & Peggy. Tess, Michael, Alan. Isaac's sister Erin, then me and Isaac. It was such a gorgeous day!










Sorry Isaac I HAD to put this one up here. Your such a goof!

Portrait, renewal of vows, and a wedding!

What a weekend. We shot a portrait session with Isaac's brother and wife on Friday on their new land. They were great to work with. On Saturday morning they renewed their vows. I will post more photos tomorrow. Here are a few from their portrait session!



Saturday evening we had the privilege to photograph Jenny & Josh's wedding. Jenny was a bridesmaid at a wedding we shot back in April of 2006. It was great to work with familiar faces. Here are a few quick shots from Dewitt Community Church and Justin's Grill. Congrats guys! Have fun at reception #2 back in Indiana. (I will post more photos tomorrow also)

Spring break-Graphi video

Sorry I haven't been updating my blog lately. Isaac has this week off because of spring break. We have been very busy around the house trying to get it looking good for all of you! We want our home to be a welcoming place so when customers and friends come over they feel at home. We are in the process of digging up our side yard that is fenced in. We are going to till it and then put lime, fertilizer, and grass either this weekend or next week. We have also raked almost all of our property. There was 1 1/2 years of debris on the grass because before we bought the house no one lived here for over a year. One of our main goals this spring/early summer is to chop down a large yellow pine tree that is in our backyard. It is right in the middle of our yard which prevents us from driving into our garage.
I am so excited because my sister and brother in law are coming in today to visit and my best friend Jessmyn and her husband (all of whom are teachers) are also coming to visit tomorrow. I will have a busy house so I will not be around the office much. Isaac's bother and wife are renewing their vows Saturday morning as well as we have Jenny & Josh's wedding at Justin's Grill Saturday evening. I hope you have all been out enjoying the weather as much as we have. If you drive by and we are out working make sure you honk to say hi!

Here is a video I made that shows you the design layout of one of our newest studio albums. All of our current studio albums are full weddings, but for this one we decided to compile a bunch of weddings into one great giant album. The video does not give justice to the beauty of this album so you need to come in to see it for yourself! (disclaimer: this is the first video I have ever made so there may be some cropping/transitional issues)

Albums: Graphi Studio

I always feel that if you have exquisite wedding photographs you should not be compromising with the presentation by putting them in a box. Both Isaac and I feel that our beautiful photographs look best in one of GraphiStudio's handcrafted flush-mount albums. These albums will be cherished for the rest of your lives. It will become something that you will take out time and time again. Most of our brides keep their album on their coffee table or side tables in their living room so whenever guests are visiting the album is easy to show off.
I am so proud to be able to offer GraphiStudio as one of our premier album companies. It is not only important that your photographer take great photographs, but you want to know that the photographs will have an end result you will be proud of. We take pride it offering many different album covers such as silk, metal, genuine leather, and more. Every album is custom made for each and every bride. We know that you want to pick out your photos so we let our brides and grooms be as involved with the design process as they want. Take a look at this short video by GraphiStudio. It will give you a good idea of what the albums look like and will show you what goes in to making a flush-mount album.

Honoring ones life

I just found out earlier this week that the grandfather of my Jan 25th bride of this year Johnna, passed away this Sunday. I remember Johnna telling me how much her grandfather meant to her while we chatting in our meetings. I was saddened to hear of his passing. This week has been a confirmation of what I do. I feel so honored to have been chosen to take photographs at Johnna's wedding. I got the meet her whole family and got to take a few photos of her grandfather, John Sugar. I am so blessed to document lives. The photos from Johnna and Chuck's wedding will be cherished for the rest of their life. The photos will remain as a memory of their grandfather. To be sensitive to the family I do not want to post a photo. I just wanted to proclaim how blessed, honored, and humbled I am to be such an important part of your lives. I am quite an emotional person so it takes my breath away! This makes me realize how important it is to document the lives of my family. I do not want to miss an opportunity while I have the chance.

Hello all. I hope you have been enjoying the nice weather if you live up here in upstate NY. We have been busy meeting with prospective brides for the 2009 wedding season. We already have a few lined up so give us a call. We have been outdoors working on our yard since the ground is no longer frozen. We bought our house in October and by the time we moved in in Dec. we couldnt do much to the outside. Isaac has next week off because of Spring Break at APW High School, so we are planning on spending most of the week working on our backyard. I cannot wait to have BBQ's and croquet matches. That is what summer is about. Here are some random photos I took this week:

This was the view from our upstairs windows last night as the sun was setting. If I wasn't in the middle of cooking dinner I would've raced down to the lake to take photos. I love Oswego's sunsets. How beautiful.


This is a VERY random photo that I took of Isaac while we were in Saratoga Springs at a used book store. Isaac loves books obviously because he is an English teacher. He found this bust in the back room and he wanted to buy it. I told him I will keep it on the list of possibilities for his birthday present. But I don't want that in my house so the likelihood of me getting it is slim to none. Sorry hun.


This is the view of our meeting space looking towards the front of the house. We have these awesome couches. We just painted the walls last weekend. They were a drab offwhite, now they fit the style of the house better!

Just another view of the room after we painted it. I love all the glass doors in our house!


This is the first BBQ of the year. Isaac LOVES grilling and he was so pumped to grill at our new house. I bought this as a B-day present for him when we were first married. His goal while he is on break is to hook it up to our natural gas line. How cool! No more propane!


Isaac had so much fun grilling the other night that he decided to grill again. I have been making all our meals for the week on the weekend and then freezing them. This one was marinated beef tips that I put on a skewer with peppers, onions, and tomatoes. MMMMM.


The previous owners of the house did not do a very good job at landscaping. They tried really hard, possibly to hard. We have so many random rocks and patio pavers in our backyard. We also had a mini picket fence that ran through the middle of our side yard. This is Isaac trying to dig the post out. Next week our goal is to get the side yard totally demo'd. We are going to start from scratch. Starting with a rototiller. I am thinking that our meetings this summer will have to include the grill and this backyard. How relaxing.

Thats all of the little sneak peak into our life. If you are having a hard time getting in touch with me next week don't worry. I will be around town and around the house. I will try to return phone calls and emails atleast once a day.

WPPI Video

Here is a video from WPPI. This is a slow video but has some great information about what I was up to. It talks about the wedding photography industry also! I found out that I am on the left side of the screen at 1min 18sec of the video. I am in the bright blue fleece! Check it out

Amy, Tyler, and Eli's portrait

On Monday Isaac and I had the privilege to get Amy and Eli back into our studio along with husband/daddy Tyler. Eli got really tired in the middle of the shoot and feel asleep, it was adorable. It made me think to remind every parent that when we do photos that include their baby we have to plan on when it is best for the baby's schedule. I cannot wait till it gets warmer outside so we can go to the beach to do our portraits! I couldn't narrow the photos down any more than I already did so here is a bigger than normal sneak peak:

To view all the photos from both Eli's 6month session and the family session click here!