Ashley and Wesley

Ashley and Wesley I met at a Bridal Fair. Probably the last Bridal Fair I will ever do. Bridal Fairs are one of those types of events that I really hate as a small wedding vendor. I should like them but I'm not a super savvy sales person and just go as myself and feel abused by the end of the day. So, I met Ashley and Wesley there and they truly made it worth it. Working with them was great. They really were easy going and let me play with the camera. Of course, I had just got my 5D and was drooling looking through the lens all day with this new love (you have to me a photo geek to appreciate it) This was one occasion that I learned using the BEST equipment really does have an effect on the quality of the photos. I used to shoot with an S3 and it was and is a really good camera but getting the full frame from the 5D makes me feel like I can stretch my wings out like back in the film days!

Marshall and Maria

So, Marshall and Maria worried me because we had very little time for photos. I think in all we may have had 45 minutes for everything and then I stole them away from the reception for photos of the two of them for just a couple minutes. In the end I did get some fun photos of them in those few stolen moments. I really don't recommend not having time for photos but at least I know I can cram it in and get the job done even when time is tight!

Colleen and Steve

Colleen and Steve had a beautiful wedding ceremony and reception at St Monica St George Catholic Church and Maketewah Country Club in Cincinnati in August. A friend of the family made the dress and I thought Colleen was stunning. Here are some of my favorites from their wedding.

Laurel and Josh in Santa Cruz, CA

Well, I'm going to start putting some photos up from my summer weddings. I am done editing and getting all my album drafts done so now I feel like I can do some other web activities. I know blogs are supposed to be a journal of sorts and more of a daily routine. Photographers use it as a marketing tool and that is good but I would like to use it more as recognition of people and life, it's passings and my life.

So, here are some photos of Laurel and Josh. I have known Laurel since I was 5. We met at her mother's restaurant in Cazadero, CA, where we grew up. It's a small area 80 miles north of San Francisco and our school had about 80 people in it (K-8) We've been friends for a long time. We spent our entire childhood together until puberty hit and then there were bumpy roads for our friendship for a few years. Now, we aren't as close as we were when we were little but we are still good friends. I feel like she is someone I will never loose touch with. We've made it through those rough years and now we're stuck with each other forever even though we may not see each other often. So as you can imagine it was a trip photographing her wedding and I made it through without crying until her aunt was talking to me. Then I lost it and sobbed in my mother's lap from a deep place of awe, nostalgia and loss that comes with life and growing up. It's bittersweet.

The photo that you see of all the people are her side of the family that I used to spend every summer with and little by little I started to recognize the young kids in the adults that are in the photo. We've all grown up! It was amazing seeing everyone after close to 20 years.

Her parents are like an aunt and uncle and at her wedding I spent a lot of my time with them, which made me feel like I was 13 again hanging out in the back of their car yakking my head off like young girls do. Her dad woke me up in the morning with his loud voice and making noise like he does and I felt like I was 8 having a sleep over. It was great! I wish I could hang out like I used to but I'm married now and in Belgium so life has taken me away from my home town. I'm babbling...