Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Jay and Karen's Album

My latest album design is for Karen and Jay. I love it and hope they do too!
Click here to view it.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Las Vegas

I'm in Las Vegas for the annual Wedding and Portrait Photographers International annual convention. I've come early for a 2 day workshop, then a business institute before all the main speakers and trade show start. It's information overload for sure!
While the true "sin city" aspect of Vegas is not so appealing to me, it is a fascinating place and quite surreal with all the lights at night. My favorite thing is the Bellagio Fountain, right across the street. It's a spectacular musical show! Even my wide angle lens doesn't do justice to how wide and how high the water is.
That little speck at the top is the moon.

Fountain outside Paris:


I'm staying at Ballys and this was the view from my first room. As happened to me two years ago (at a different hotel) the first night I ended up in a suite since the hotel was sold out. I didn't mind a bit! Though it is hard to move to a regular room after enjoying the luxury of a suite about the size of my house! The best part of the suite is you're mostly isolated from the typical hotel noise of people in the halls and doors slamming.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Church of the Holy City Wedding Photography - Congratulations Karen and Jay!

I had the honor of capturing memories for Karen and Jay who were married on Saturday. What a day of drastic weather changes! They were brave and we didn't change all our outdoor picture plans and still got some great shots in between being blown away and dodging the sudden downpours.
Karen looked absolutely gorgeous!
This great staircase is in Church of the Holy City where the ceremony was held.
At the "reveal" (we took most of the pictures before the ceremony) they gave each other gifts. They are both huge sports fans, so Jay was quite pleased to receive cuff links made from seats at RFK stadium.


The reception was at Top of the Town - truly the best view of DC to be found. Watch the slideshow for more images of the wonderful day. Karen and Jay - I hope you're having a fabulous time in Italy!

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Michelle and Chris - Engagement Portrait

I had a great time with Michelle and Chris, finding little-known corners of Old Town for their engagement portrait. I think they had a good time too!

Most people are surprised to find that a portrait session is a fun - not painful - process. :) I always recommend an engagement session to my wedding clients (it's included with most of my packages). It gives us a chance to work together without the pressure of the wedding day and contributes to better pictures on the wedding day.

Monday, March 03, 2008

Uruguay wrap up

Somehow two weeks flew by and I did eventually arrive back in VA on Saturday. It was sad to leave the Hamilton's and summer! I didn't have time to post everything while I was there, so here's a few more pictures of people and places in Montevideo.

Mr. Lily is a resident of the Winston Churchill Home at the British Hospital. I love this picture of him at tea with all the ladies. Christ Church supports the nursing home and Gail (another member of the team) comes to visit for tea.
In the evenings people come out to enjoy the sunset and drink their mate. The hot water is in the thermos and the leaves in the gourd. It's drunk with a metal straw with a sieve at the bottom.

This is the Teatro Solis, recently refurbished and beautiful! We went to a jazz concert the second night I was there and also went back for a tour. It is now one of the most modern buildings in terms of accessibility and safety (all things we consider standard for a public building).
Youth For Christ has an effective program in a disadvantaged neighborhood.
On Sunday we went to lunch at a Chinese restaurant for Priscilla's birthday (Natalie and Vanessa's friend) with her family who moved to Montevideo from Miami last year.
This is the team: Toni and Matt, Diana, Gail (bottom row), John and Lisa.
The Hamilton's back yard:
A turtle shares the back yard with the Guinea pigs.
Alexa is starting to show her age and also shares the back yard when she can't find a way to sneak into the house.
The front of the Hamilton House. This house is in the Punta Gorda neighborhood where all the houses share walls.
Mila the noble guard dog:
Dinnertime at the Hamiltons:
One of the best things about Montevideo is that no two houses are alike! Nearly all the houses have fences for security (this is new in the last 10 years as anything left out will be stolen) and shutters on the windows (usually they roll up) for security and it also helps keep the house dark as everyone stays up late and sleeps in. It rained the last several days straight so I didn't get as many house pictures as I wanted to, but here's a sample (taken from the car in the rain):





Hamilton Family Portrait

More great locations for the Hamilton Family portrait, beginning in their backyard and ending at the water. We had so much fun! They made my job easy!

For the individual portraits we went over to an empty house that was for sale, later in the week. The front of this house was the perfect studio! Here's Vanessa:
Josh (who you'll see singing the Star Spangled Banner at the end of the slideshow):
And, Natalie:

Hamilton Family