GO ELF YOURSELF

Sometime I need a good laugh and today this gave it to me. My buddy Dave made this of us and a few of our drinking buddies. Check out Elf Yourself and see if it doesnt make your sides hurt.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

These make me laugh my butt off!!! Thank you Office Max for making me laugh so much

Diana and Greg

WOW, I love my job. But sometimes life hits you fast.

Diana had email me a few months back about photography, but I had never heard back from her. So I'm on my way out to NYC a few weeks ago and I get a phone call from Diana to see if I can shoot her wedding the following Friday.

I wasnt busy that night, so I happily said yes.

They had a beautiful wedding at The Frick Pittsburgh, with a small group of friends and family. Then they headed downtown to Hyde Park for the reception.

You and Greg were so much fun and I am looking forward to shooting with you two again soon. I hope you and your family are doing well, and I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed shooting them.

Enjoy.

Here are some pre ceremony photos





After the Ceremony we grabbed a few beautiful shots before the sun disappeared

The cake of course!
Walking in from the limo.

Music

Things have been crazy since New Years. This weekend I shot 7 bands. On Saturday Diesel held the finals for their Battle of the Bands, and I want to throw a big Shout to my buddy Brad and his band Recession. These guys killed it, and they won the Battle of the Bands. It kind of shocked me, because one of the bands sold like 120 tickets on their own.





Metropolitans were a close second in my book. it's like taking a bit of Ska and swing, and merging it together.





Audios also put a great show on.
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And Echobox put on a GREAT set too.






Friday during the day I was doing a model shoot. Some of those pics may end up on here, but they are on my model mayhem page currently.

Saturday after the concert, I went to saddle for a friends birthday party. Debbies birthday was actually monday, and her Mom's was sunday, so they blew out the candles together.


It was a great time with friends, and tomorrow I actually get to cook her a birthday dinner. That should be fun, and she is putting a lot of faith in my ability to cook, but i doubt that I will disappoint.

Anyways, the Von Bondies played at Diesel on Sunday. It was a pretty cool show, and you may recognize them from the theme song to the FX show "Rescue Me".

I'll get some pics up soon.

Till then, have a great life.

One Republic

This week has been a crazy week for me. It is obviously Christmas time, and that means a ton of parties going on. This week has been exceptionally busy because I am shooting at Diesel every night this week. On Monday we started off the week with a KILLER concert by new group One Republic, and they put on a crazy show. They currently have two songs on the radio, but the one it is best known is "Apologize".
I am also getting my Christmas cards finished up. I owe everything that I have right now to the clients and couples that have become my friends and given me a chance. This year the theme is "Who Needs Mistletoe" I am also offering a discount on all of my photography right now. For a limited time, weddings, events/parties, lifestyle sessions, and portraits/head shots, may take 15% off. But this is a limited time offer and is not good for events that happen after May 1st.



This is the back, and you will have to wait to see the front, but I think that it is one of the best looking cards that I have ever seen.

In keeping with the "Who Needs Mistletoe" theme, I would love to hear some funny mistletoe stories from parties, the office, etc.

Tonight we are shooting a music video at Diesel. Actually it is over the course of the next two nights, and it is more of an intro to the website, and a My Space commercial. It should be pretty cool, and I will try to get something edited before the Steelers game on Sunday to show you the club and what we are trying to do.

Anyways, something that Jasmine Star mentioned on Tuesday was creating a notebook with ideas and thing that you learn about photography. Two years ago i started a folder that I would place pages from magazines in. It was shots that there was something more to than just plane visual stimulation. On those pages are notes about lighting, poses, trends, anything that I can come back to and see something new in. There are times when life is just to busy to get to try everything that you want to, so for me this folder is a way of going back in time, seeing past present, and since we know the cycle, future trends in clothing, posing, and lighting. For me, this is a way to help me through technical problems, and inspire me when I am slacking.

I would love to hear what other folks do for inspiration. How did you get yourself through that period of brain block?

Brides, I believe that this is a great way for you to prepare for your wedding as well. If you see certain poses, or types of locations, things that you want included in your wedding, flowers, linens, dresses, colors, anything, this is a great way to convey what it is that you are looking for, and when you get stuck on a detail, you can look into your folder, and work past your current problem or indecisiveness. Sometimes we all need to be inspired, let others help you do that.

EDIT: Last night was the 102.5 WDVE Christmas party, and it was a blast. Pittsburgh Steeler Big Ben showed up to do a Christmas song for the crowd, and Brett Keisel joined in for the fun.
Here is Ben Roethlisberger and WTAE Tv's Sally Wiggins hanging out during the show.

The USS Sequoia

JFK had his last birthday party there. President Clinton, and Russian President Gorbachev have hosted parties there, and on saturday night, a very close and wonderful family friend had a birthday party there.

Where is there? There is aboard the USS Squoia Presidential Yacht.

It was amazing to be on board vessel that has so much history. Kathy had her birthday party on borad with a close few friends, and i was asked to come along and shoot the photos.

As we sailed up and down the Potomac, we listened to wonderful piano, had an amazing dinner, and enjoyed eachothers friendship.

I've known Cathy 17 years, and actually grew up riding with her niece, who was always at her aunts side. But over the past few years, Cathy has spent more and more time in Washington DC, and so it was a great party because there were old friends and there were new friends.

AS Cathy walked up the gangplank, the piano player started singing Carly Simons #1 hit "You're So Vain" and everyone started to sing until the end of hte first line where it says "You walked into the party like you were walking onto a yacht." at that point everyone began to laugh and talk, and the song never got finished.

It was one of the most fun events that I have had the chance to photograph this far, and that has to be because she is such a good caring friend.

So here are a few from the night...

Cathy walking up to the ship.


Cathy and Alec boarding the USS Sequoia


An unbelievable cake (soon to find out who made it)



An end of the evening group photo on board.


That last photo was taken with one sb800 up and back on camera left, and fired with a nikon d200

In memory of that great night, todays video is Carly Simon "You're So Vain"