It's the lunar module!!!!  No just kidding - it's actually a lookout tower.  Over the weekend Anna and I had the huge privilege to document Scot and Aimee's wedding at the Penn Scenic View near Somerset, PA.  I won't give away the details, but there was a scenic view, an ice cream sundae bar, bluegrass musicians, a first look !, salmon on the grill, a lake with an island, and goldfish the size of poodles.  In short, we got there early and stayed late :-)

After the last song, Anna and I went up on top of the hill to check out the sky.  I had an idea - I remember back when I met Scot and Aimee for the first time we talked about how cool it would be to get fireflies in their wedding photos.  And wouldn't you know, after a week of 90 degree temperatures, we had a refreshing rain on friday and then saturday was comfortably cool - this also meant no fireflies to be found anywhere.  So what was the next best thing?  The stars :-)  I didn't want to disappoint - so we spent about an hour on top of the hill at the lookout tower after the wedding doing some long exposures of the glittering night sky.  Since we were far away from the lights of the city, the the stars were extra bright.  For this shot with the lookout tower, we used a technique called 'painting with light'. 

Then it was a 2 hour drive home - but it was nice - we rolled along the turnpike going over the day and our favorite shots. 

Aimee & Scot - if you're reading this - I hope your breakfast on the beach was perfect :-D  Have a great honeymoon!

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Sunday after a long sleep in, Sean and I hung out for the afternoon and went to Jerry's Custard for 'dinner' ;-) 

The flavor of the week is BANANA :-)   !!!

Starting to tomorrow I'm going to try to blog five weddings in five days to try to start catching up on blogging - stay tuned and cheer me on with comments!

I'm so excited to share this session with everyone!  On this blog we talk a lot about Anna, my photo partner in crime, but you never get SEE her !  Lucky for me she is getting married this September and I got to do an engagement session for her and James.  It's always interesting to take someone who spends all their time behind the camera and thrust them in front of it.  (I know I don't particularly care for it when it happens to me ;-)  But I do think it's a good experience and it really helps you work better with people in front of the camera when you've been out there yourself and understand how they feel. 

Who knows?  After I get married and wear the big white dress, I might be able to relate to brides on a whole new level !

(Ok, that could be scary....   ;-)

Also - as photographers we suffer from not taking enough personal pictures and not doing enough to document our own lives and love.  Kind of a "the cobblers children have no shoes" kind of syndrome.  I am on a mission to change that.

Having worked on so many photo sessions and being a wedding blog stalker (I'm also guilty there) - Anna knew exactly what she and James were going for and put a ton of thought into their session with great outfits and lots of cool props.  I love it when couples bring props!  We started the evening with sort of a vintage picnic scene.

They brought along some antique books, an old picnic basket, a quilt I borrowed from Sean's mom, and James' pipe.

If you knew Anna and James personally, you would get the extra humor in the bottom left photo here :-)

When we were done with our picnic, we switched outfits and headed to the nearest willow tree. 

But this is what I was really waiting for.  I love this field, I took Shaylyn and Sam here for their engagement photos last summer.  A whole bunch of ideas kind of clashed together in my head, the fact that Anna used to live in Oklahoma, the gold waving grasses, the red dress she brought along that was James' favorite, and of course - Oklahoma!  the musical which was my favorite in high school.  There was some bad singing during this section of the session ;-)

They also get major bravery points for trekking so far out into this field with grass that was almost taller than Anna in some places.  It was the golden equation at work again:  time for photos + trust in your photographer = amazing images.  I wore shorts because it was hot out and it was definitely worth the poison ivy I got to get these images.

Anna brought along some of her vintage camera collection, which I loved.  The sky was just perfect for a summer sunset.

One of my favorites.

This might be my favorite out of the whole session.

They make such a great couple always laughing - I spied on Anna from a distance and caught her happy and relaxed.

As the light was fading, we were waiting around for just the right level of darkness so that I could try out a new idea I wanted to experiment with.  Prepare yourselves - this will be just as cool or even cooler than The Water/Flower shot.

TA DA  !!   I give you:   Secret Flame !

This is like blue steel and magnum... and believe it or not we didn't get burned or set anything on fire which surprised me.  I was like, "guys - I have this idea but I don't know if you'll burn your hands.  If it starts to hurt just drop everything on the ground and run."  I love the way it turned out. 

Mmmmmm......Secret Flame !

Thanks guys for a great session ! 

Sharing with you some senior pictures tonight.  This was Julia's senior session in May along the river in Kittanning.  Tonight was a beautiful evening.  I had a really fun session with some of my favorite kids (the three amigos) plus their baby brother/cousin.  Finished early and had an hour before dark - took a long drive home.  It was a beautiful evening.  I am always awed by the way the sun sets in the summer like everything has melted butter on it.  I love my little town and the way the light falls on the cornfields and lines of oats and the backs of black and white cows moseying through their pastures.  There were so many deer out tonight with velvet still on their antlers.  I came home and popped the Ken Burns - Lewis and Clark documentary in the dvd player.   Here's the introduction to the film - make sure you have your sound on.  It's a breathtaking look at a pivotal moment in American history when everything was young and new and anything was possible.

 Julia along the docks on the river. 

 I couldn't resist venturing into town for some shots with some 'tude .

 Julia is such a beautiful girl, her smile makes people want to smile too.

 I loved this little series in the grass - (I should point out that Julia had her older sister along with her whose senior pictures I did a few years back to help out, and I had my sister Ashley with me to hold my reflector and always provide comic relief.)  These three shots in the grass kind of represent all sides of Julia.

 Very Lewis and Clark along the Allegheny River on a late spring evening.  Julia climbed out on the rocks in her bare feet and my sister stood on the dock downstream measuring and adjusting the light with the reflector.  I stood in the shallows contemplating how much I am blessed to have the opportunity to combine great people with beautiful scenery and freeze little scenes in time. 

Congratulations Julia on your graduation - your future is as bright as your smile !

I'm thinking of starting a new feature on this blog - regularly occuring posts such as weekend update, embarassing personal facts & mishaps, camera tips or photo advice, wedding planning strategies, etc.  What do you think?  Good idea?

THE WEEKEND UPDATE

It was HOT.  H.O.T. - HOT.  The humidity was killer over the weekend!  For saturday's outdoor wedding we were lucky enough to be on top of a hill where there was a breeze but we still had our portable bridal party fans out and running on fresh batteries.  The humidity was the worst part.  The guests used the hand fan programs the bride crafted herself to waft the warm air away.  Eventhough it was roasting out, we stuck to the shade and everyone was in great spirits!

I had a major klutz moment.  At the reception I was moving to the other side of the room to get a family picture for one of the guests and when I rounded the corner near the buffet table I felt both feet slide out from under me!  It looked like a cartoon.  There was italian dressing spilled on the floor and I found it with my sandals.  Like Wiley Coyote pedalling off a cliff, I struggled to catch myself and then headed heels in the air for the floor.  At the last minute I pulled the camera in close to my chest and sacrificed my right arm landing full force on my elbow and then slid across the tile floor from the momentum taking a big piece of skin off of my bare arm.  The camera was safe, the lens hood just tapped off the floor but nothing was damaged.  It really hurt and I was so embarassed.  At least no one got a picture!!  :-)

Sunday morning I was so tired I slept in a little later and then did some shopping with Sean.  Also I discovered Skype !

Monday afternoon - back to editing.

Catching up!  Last week Anna and I went to meet Emily and Brian at the park.  When I asked Emily how they had met, she said they met at the park playing frisbee and then talked for the rest of the night at a bonfire making smores.

So we decided for engagement pictures - that all sounded like fun.  And we should just do that.

So we did :-)

I loved their fun bright orange outfits!  They brought along a brightly colored beach blanket from Brian's mom and we hung out on the grass.  They love to laugh and crack each other up constantly.

Taking a break from giggles we tried for a romantic moment - I thought they did well :-D  Then promptly cracked up all over again.  Anna and I were in stitches, thank goodness the park was mostly empty.

Emily and I decided the cute little sundress was beautiful, but cramping her style.  I understood - I'm a jeans girl myself ;-)  And then we hiked through the park and found a field of daisies.  Definitely not skirt territory anyways.

Love the sunsets in June..

They brought along a frisbee that had their wedding logo painted on it, a heart made from two hands.  I told them we could not possibly pose frisbee pictures and therefore we would have to have action shots!  We also discovered that Anna's athletic talents are not frisbee oriented.  (She did gymnastics as a kid ;-) 

Emily even let Brian almost catch the frisbee once in a while!

Two hands, one heart.

Then it was a short drive to Brian's parents' house for SMORES. 

HOW COOL IS THAT FOR A PHOTO SESSION.  LIKE WHOA.  Fire?  check.  Food?  check.  Fun activity?  double check.

But we had to wait till it got dark.

I love this one - Anna was standing by with the stick "making sparks".  Emily said they looked like a little LL Bean catalog. 

I agree.

I can't believe we have to wait all the way till NEXT JUNE for the wedding !

Thanks for a great time :-D

Continuing the week long engagement session extravaganza - are Derek and Kaley whose engagement photos we shot last month at Twin Lakes Park.  They got major bonus points for bringing props!!  They had a whole bag with them including 3 outfits, bubbles, sparklers, and wooden letters that we used to spell out their names on the boardwalk.  And of course - some fabulous bling worthy of being shown off :-)

We started off in their most dressy outfit because that's usually the most challenging (I have a habit of asking folks to "sit on the ground, stand in the lake, ok now climb this tree!").  All things which can be challenging in a skirt and heels.  In the shot on the right, Anna is completely hidden behind the big tree providing a little extra fill light :-)

Possibly my favorite of the day if I didn't have so many other favorites.  They are such a beautiful couple - I wish their wedding was sooner!

After a quick outfit and location change, we busted out the bubbles and they got silly.  I love it when couples loosen up, relax, and hang out - after all photos are fun!  (Seriously.  I know there are a lot of you out there reading this thinking "my guy does not like photos.  I do not like how I look in photos.  I will not enjoy this experience."  Not true!  Just trust me - we will have a good time and at the end of it you'll leave with a smile and possibly a craving for ice cream.)

Derek and Kaley were psyched from the get go and we had so much fun!

If you haven't figured it out by now from the photos, these guys laugh a lot - and it's one of my favorites things about them.

And now!  The bling -  ** WARNING you made need protective eyewear to view the following photo **

*gasp!*  I know.    8-O

And now for some FIRE !  They brought some small sparklers along and we needed a dark place to light them for some shots.  Since it was still daylight out, we went into a thick grove of pine trees where it was very dim and fired up the sparks!  We got 8 shots in before they burned out and then did the mexican hat dance all over the forest floor which was covered in dry dead leaves!  ** disclaimer - no park was injured in the making of these photos.

And now that you see how much fun they are - you have to wait all the way till October of NEXT YEAR to see them again!  They will be married in Holiday Park and party at Alcoma Country Club.  Have a great year of planning!