It seems that you read blog after blog post where wedding photographers wax lyrical about fantastic couples and amazing weddings. Well it would seem that, if our summer is any indicator, that Canada is full of GREAT people busily getting married this summer. Although to be fair to last years brides and grooms it may have something to do with having a proper summer this year!
Our last three weeks have seen us shoot in Collingwood, at The Blue Mountain; in Toronto - St Paul's Basilica with photographs Knox College; at Cobble Beach in Owen Sound and then on the shores of Lake Rosseau in Muskoka. It's been an incredible time, not only because of the people involved and the variety of weddings, from intimate to large but also because Christa has done it seven and half months pregnant. So I want to take this opportunity to recognize how amazing Christa is - she's now officially off shooting detail and I will miss her for sure. (It's been over three years since I shot a wedding without her) Fortunately for me and our couples we've some really talented photographers stepping up to help us which will be exciting for everyone. Christa will remain active behind the scenes editing and album designing so her talents will still be utilized until jr. makes an appearance which is meant to be at the end of August. Then she gets a couple of days off to recover before back to work. :)
Have you ever attended a workshop, seminar or photography related get away and left thinking ‘I wish they had offered _____’ or I loved this, but they could have done ____ better…. come on, you know you all have! I know I sure have!
One of the parts of my job that I love the most is the part where I can teach, whether it’s thru my own workshops at my studio or to be asked to be a part of someone else’s workshops or seminars. Last year I was honored to be a part of Inspire Boston- a several day long photography retreat in MA. It was awesome! Very intimate, and it had a great variety of topics offered for every level of photographer.
Many of us from CT went to WPPI- and while there were some great speakers- the list of these was way too short!!
So help me out- I am curious to see what everyone wants to learn about when they attend a several day seminar- especially those that have been doing this for say, 3-5 years. You’ve got your systems in place for the most part, you love your gear but can always add to it- and have a good client base… what are you hoping to learn more about?
Is it the tangibles? Things like lighting, posing, organizational habits, album design?
Or the more inspirational- one of the hardest things to teach, I have to say! But there are some great speakers out there for this!- how to stay excited about photography, stay creative, and be inspired?
Please feel free to leave your answer in the comments section!
Westchester Magazine has done it again! Hosting their annual Best of Westchester Party at the beautiful Glen Island Harbour Club in New Rochelle, NY, all VIP and invited guests were given real red carpet treatment into this extravaganza. This premiere event is always the perfect opportunity for a variety of vendors to show off the very best that Westchester County has to offer in the most delicious dining destinations, sensational stores, amazing after-hours entertainment, uncontested culture, superlative shops and services, and stunning spas. If you want to sample all that Westchester has to offer by way of restaurants, shops, drinks, cultural institutions, service providers, kid wranglers, and more, then this is absolutely THE party you need to attend to discover everything that makes Westchester County the exciting, vibrant place that it is. It’s always a pleasure to be the magazine’s Go-To photographers for events like this. Seeing faces of celebrities (got to talk brieefly with Alan Kalter, the announcer for Late Show with David Letterman) , reacquainting with friends both old and new, and rubbing shoulders with familiar colleagues is one of the things we most look forward to doing each summer. It’s an New York event like no other!
I am soooo excited to have been featured this week on Style Me Pretty! If you haven’t visited this wedding inspiration blog before, I would highly recommend it.
We had been keeping this shoot secret until the feature came out, and I’m happy to now be able to share some of my favorite images with you! Big thanks to our models, my dear friends, Allison and Seth!
It’s that time of year again. That glorious, much-celebrated time called… my birthday!
I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but community giving is VERY important to me, and volunteering/charitable giving ranks up there in my list of priorities. With that in mind, I know that our food pantries struggle with keeping their shelves stocked. To go a step further, I have a huge soft spot for kids and it occurs to me that kids of families that frequent food pantries may not always have a birthday cake or fresh fruit (my personal favorite!) When the typical donations are canned or boxed foods, there seems to be a lack of both birthday cake mixes and fresh food given out at a typical food pantry.
So, I’d like to announce Cake For Comments!
Please leave a comment on THIS blog post, telling me something you appreciate about my business, a memory you have of me, or even a favorite picture. Basically, make me smile!
For every comment I receive, I’ll donate a cake mix, frosting, OR $1 towards the Crawford County Markets Care program. (This program allows local food pantry customers to obtain fresh goods from the local farmers market. For more information on how YOU can contribute to this extremely important non-profit endeavor covering many counties in southern Wisconsin, please click HERE or contact me.)
So… please help me help the local food pantry… leave comments!
Jamie Honce was on board as videographer for the shoot, and I just saw his preview for it!!! You HAVE TO WATCH THIS- it gave me butterflies! Jamie blows me away every time I see his work, and I’m so thrilled when I’m able to shoot with him.
We are so honored to be published in the current issue of KC Weddings Magazine. Thank you Stephanie & Kole for sharing your story and for giving us so many beautiful things to capture on your day!
Ok, it’s true. I went a little crazy with the website. It was another heated battle with me and my creative brain: a fight for the gold in the boxing ring of insanity. Rocky theme song: press play. Sure thing, I moved the blog posts to their own site within Bella Pop. Did I like it? no. Did I move it back? yes. Can’t you see me fighting in a boxing ring? Maybe not. Well let’s pretend. In the end I’m trying to say I won the battle and finally found a layout I loved more than anything. Everything is here in one place, just like before. Except now we have this super cool “splash page” at the top. Well, I think it’s cool. ;) Once we start adding all the new content, our amazing readers will have the option to 1) go straight to their favorite stuff by clicking one of the links at the top or 2) scroll down and enjoy the posts old school style. Which brings me to the new content…
OH MY GOSH!! So excited! Bella Pop is about photography – it’s what we do and what we love. But we love sooooo many other things too and we really wanted to offer more to our readers who love Bella Pop style. We wanted a place for fun ideas, art, photography, wedding planning. We wanted our newlywed couples to have something to still enjoy as well. So we started thinking… and this idea grew and has developed into what Bella Pop.com is about to become. A photography/lifestyle/music/fashion/cooking place of goodness. Yes, jump up and down and get excited. It’s pretty sweet.
So we had this idea and we kinda knew where we wanted to go with it but we had to dream up how. And that’s what we’ve been up to the past couple of weeks and we are so excited to announce our new topics for Bella Pop.com:
PHOTOGRAPHY – our professional portfolio. this is where we’ll show off new posts of weddings, portraits and other fun stuff we love to shoot.
OH SO DOMESTIC! – cooking, recipes, sewing, crafting… all that fun domestic stuff (squeal!!)
ROCK IT! WITH BP – love photography? want to learn more? this will be the place for FAQ sections, tips, activities and where we announce classes and shootouts.
GETTING MARRIEEED – with these posts you’ll find our favorite vendors, ideas, venues, honeymoon ideas. three words: wedding planning bonanza.
HE SAID, SHE SAID – our favorite lifestyle posts… travel, date nights, stuff we love, books to read, music, fashion, style, movies. and yes, Brandon is about to be a post contributor!
BRANDY AND BRANDON – our personal posts. this is the place to get to know us!
As you can see, things are about to start hopping around here. Our goal is to start posting daily… sometimes twice a day. So you’ll want to subscribe and/or check back often. In fact we’re gonna jump right in with a contest with OH SO DOMESTIC later today followed by the premiere of Christine and Andy’s engagement. Tomorrow, we’ll feature the big premiere of Sara and Chris’ wedding! So stay tuned! xoxo – Brandy and Brandon
Every year I go down to the New Orleans area to see friends I have in the area and take some pictures of their adorable girls. I typically fly into Gulfport as the airport is a breeze to fly in/out of and it’s near outlets (WOO!) and the beach. We always stop at the beach to do a portrait session when I’m there so it makes sense to fly in/out of there. Two and a half years ago, it was still a sad place to see – the coastline was still literally in shambles from Katrina and while there was signs of promise on the horizon, it mostly was a graveyard of buried hopes. Over the past two years the area has rebuilt and came back better than before with newer casinos (no more barges this time around!) and homes being rebuilt and restored.
Now a new disaster has struck, the oil spill. It’s horribly sad that an area that has already had its fair share of destruction and hard times has to face yet another crisis. When flying in you could see patches of the oil from the air and on the beach you don’t have to go far to find evidence of it. While the oil isn’t as predominant on the beach in Gulfport like it is in Destin, it still is there and a visible reminder of what may come and what it has already destroyed. This isn’t something that is going to be fixed this year, next year or maybe even in our lifetimes. In Ohio it’s a passing topic that is usually only talked about when all speculation of where LeBron James is going fizzles out. In the Gulf Coast, it’s all anyone can think or talk of because this oil spill could mean the end as life as they know it.
An oil boom that broke off and washed up along the shore. From the air you can see long strands of these guarding the coves from oil. As you can see, they soak up the oil on the surface and are very similar in looks to pantyhose with cotton stuffed inside.
A tar ball that washed ashore. Further down there were many more like this but the beach was closed for cleanup. I had never seen one of these before and was surprised how much it looked like an ordinary rock.
