Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Jenna + Alex

A recipe for success is when you have a beautiful location and beautiful light at the same time. It's hard to go wrong when you get both of those.

The place is Wild Pickins Winery, which I hadn't heard of before and I guess it's because they haven't been around for all that long. It was gorgeous. A small building surrounded by big trees, a pond and a few vines out front.

It was a bright yet overcast type of day, where everything seems to almost glow. Were it just a little warmer it could have been perfect.

Vineyard kitty and table decorations


Bubble girls and the feather girl







One man band Gordo




So maybe the feather girl threw up early on and the groom had a headache later on, but over all I'd say the day was a success! Congratulations!!!

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Pumpkin Picking!

Say hello to Evie and Rory again! This time I followed the family around for a lifestyle shoot at the orchard. First things first, we hit up the playground. It's all much too enticing to just pass that by.


Lounging for a moment in the bounce house.

They also have a bunch of animals to pet and feed. We spent most of our time with the goats.



Then it was time to take the wagon ride out to the pumpkin patch. We wandered around out there and had a lot of fun exploring.


The whole fam.


 
It was a beautiful day and I always enjoy hanging out with these guys. They scored a couple of eat'n pumpkins to experiment with. I hope all went well & they turned out yummy.  

Thursday, August 7, 2014

Danny & Rachel Get Married

We start this story on a farm. This particular farm has been in the bride's family for many years. Her dad didn't know the actual year the original house had been built but knew it was pre civil war. The house could have it's own story. It's an incredibly interesting place and it's no surprise that Rachel wanted to be sure to have some photos made there. When someone living in the house had died the door to their room was closed and left untouched. There are different generations of wallpaper styles in each room and portraits hanging on the walls of people no longer remembered. Now the building is mainly used for storage and it was too cluttered to make photos inside but I was sure to do their first look on the front porch.


Her father, who lives on the farm property, is a car collector. So many cars. This one in particular has a history. Both Rachel's parents and brother had photos made in it on their own wedding days. So the tradition continues.



Because the wedding was small and they didn't have anyone else in their wedding party each of their families joined us at the farm before the ceremony for all of the group pictures.


I've been tempted to make a collage of all the silly faces these two made at each other but I got the impression that wouldn't be appreciated. I genuinely love it though. They're very playful and goofy together.


After a few more photos at the farm it was time to meet the rest of the crew at the ceremony site, a park just a little ways down the road.



Each of them arrived in one of these old cars (more from dad's collection) on either side of the park.


The ceremony itself was short & sweet. Just enough time to say what needed to be said, get a little emotional & then the birdseed flew. Any guest who wanted a ride to the reception climbed on the trolley and we were off to the river.


The Mississippi was actually high enough to flood right by the reception venue but thankfully it held off just enough and we were able to get through. The reception itself was unlike any I had been to before. They rented space at a winery / brewery and had no DJ or music of any kind. The only traditional reception event they did was the cake cutting. I wasn't sure just how that was going to turn out but it was great. Everyone was able to hang out and chat. They did a perfect job at figuring out what was right for them and their crowd without letting tradition influence too much.



And a zombie cake. Awesome.

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Pennsylvania Wedding

This June I got to go to the middle of nowhere PA (aka Meyersdale) for a wedding. It's a very beautiful area. I wish we had the whole day to just run around and make pictures.





This isn't Dave and Shelley's first rodeo, so the wedding party is made up of their children and grandchildren. They also made it a point to have a ceremony very personal to them and celebrating those who have passed they wished could be there with them.


 


 
 
Check out these flowers. They're made of wood! This may be old news to you, but I'd never seen wooden bouquets before and I think it's awesome.


 
Shelley made it a point to have the VFW leave the bingo lights on because her mom used to play bingo there a lot.

 
Congratulations you guys!
 

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Playing at the Park


While setting up the portrait session with these guys we discussed locations that would be meaningful to them, like I usually like to recommend. Your pictures will mean a lot more when it looks like something you'd be doing anyway. This park is right next to their house and they're fortunate enough to have other family member living right by within walking distance as well so we all did a bit of that walking around.

Haskell Park is a lovely space already. Wide spread areas with grass and trees, gorgeous homes all around, and playground equipment shaped like dinosaurs! They also have a local landmark. The Haskell Playhouse. This beautiful playhouse was built for Lucy Haskell on her 5th birthday back in 1885, who lived on this property back then. Usually when you visit the park the playhouse is locked and you can just enjoy the outside but I came to discover that the girl's great grandma is involved in the preservation of the playhouse and she would be able to open it up for us. They asked if I would like to take some of the girl's pictures there? I grew up in the area and therefore have at one point looked at the playhouse with my own set of little girl eyes and knew how great it would be.


 Mom said they loved to play with the tea set in there and sure enough that's what they went to first. Vera, the oldest, wasn't especially interested in having her picture made. She did not want to look at the camera. But she did want to play and we get along pretty well so I think it all worked out. I got some great shots of the girls being themselves.


The pictures were also for Sophie's 1st birthday. She was a bit less camera shy than her sister.

 

After playing at the park for a little bit we walked up to grandma's house to jump on her trampoline.



The only problem with getting to jump on the trampoline is that you have to get off eventually. After adventuring around the neighborhood the girls were getting tired and it was time for the wagon ride back home. After a cookie or two from grandma of course.

If you want any more info about the Haskell Playhouse you can find it at haskellplayhouse.org