Latest from behind the lens

EngagementsMilestones

Winter Engagement Snowball fight – Emily & Jason

  Winter engagement sessions are my favorite!  Emily and I rode the school bus together in high school and seemed to get scheduled into the same gym class year after year.  I love her dry sense of humor.  We share a joy for sarcasm, laughing, and floor hockey.  When I got to meet her fiance, Jason, I was thrilled that he also laughs easily and has a smile that lights up a room.  They are a seriously fun couple to be around - and then I met Max, their rescue corgi.  As if they could be any more fun?  Max has enough personality for a photo shoot of his very own.  When Emily said they wanted to do winter photos at her family's property, I knew it was going to be a blast!  We bundled up spur of the moment style on a VERY cold january afternoon and took advantage…
Amanda Wilson
February 6, 2018
Engagements

Pumpkin patch engagement session – Cindy + Zack

I've waited two years to post these photos and the time has finally arrived !!  In October of 2015, we shot Cindy and Zack's session at Shenot Farm in Wexford, PA.  Cindy and Zack have visited Shenot every year as a family tradition for the fall festival.  The farm has cornfields, a barn, an orchard, huge fields and holds a lot of sentimental memories for them.  It was the perfect place to capture their pumpkin patch engagement photos!  We had a gorgeous warm fall evening, and history repeated itself last night for their wedding at Lingrow Farm.   (I can't wait to share photos from their big day in the future!)   We try to schedule most of our sessions starting two hours before sunset so we can take advantage of all of that fall golden hour light! This was my favorite part of the whole session!  This was the biggest…
Amanda Wilson
October 22, 2017
Engagements

Fall sunset engagement photos – Kelly & Ben

I can't believe it's finally here!!  Happy wedding week to Kelly and Ben!  They are getting hitched in just four days!  We had the perfect weather when we met up this past November for some fall sunset engagement photos.  I knew just where to go to find the best leaves! Things to know about this awesome power couple, Kelly is a dog mom to an adorable morkie named Harley, she has a great laugh that makes other people want to laugh too, she's a girl boss, and she ain't afraid to hustle to get the job done.  Ben is the perfect partner for her.  He is definitely the strong silent type and can make Kelly smile just by looking at her.  They love to get outside, go wine tasting, spend time with family and hit the gym together.  They are treating their wedding guests to all of their favorite foods…
Amanda Wilson
May 16, 2017
Behind the ScenesMeet the Artistweddings

Pittsburgh Makeup artist, Julie Marckisotto, helping women find their glow.

Good morning!  Today, I want to share another profile from my Meet the Artist blog series!  I've known Julie Marckisotto of Pittsburgh Makeup for many years.  We met behind the scenes on a wedding day, and I knew right away that she was fabulous.  These days, when I walk into the bride's getting ready space on the morning of a wedding and see Julie quietly at work, I know it's going to be a great day.  She brings a calm vibe to every situation and her work is absolutely flawless.  When a bride hires Julie for her wedding day make up, I know she will look just as beautiful at 9:00pm as she did when she got out of Julie's chair first thing that morning. Julie's got an outstanding resume that includes big names like NFL Network, Discovery Channel, American Eagle, Aerie, Rue 21, and UPMC, but those bright lights…
Amanda Wilson
April 20, 2017
Behind the ScenesPersonal

Our 2017 Shoot & Share Contest Results!

In parts of the world where the weather gets brutal, photographers have a lot of downtime in the winter months.  One of the things we do to keep ourselves in the zone and gear up for the following year is to enter some of our favorite images into contests like Shoot & Share.  What is the Shoot & Share Contest?  It's a completely anonymous photo competition hosted online that anyone can enter, and anyone can vote on.  That way no one knows whose photos belong to who when they're voting and the playing field is level from celebrity photographers to local small business owners.  Submissions opened in January and when voting opened it went on for a month with photos receiving the least votes being eliminated and the ones with the most moving on to the next round!  Throughout the duration of the contest, (12 rounds in all!) over 49…
Amanda Wilson
March 23, 2017
Meet the Artistweddings

Making Words Beautiful – An Artist Profile of Victoria Fiaretti of Wood & Grace Handlettering Boutique.

 Greetings!  Today I want to introduce something special, a new blog series called Meet the Artist.  In my line of work, I'm fortunate to get to meet and collaborate with a ton of amazing artists, small business owners and creative professionals.  Victoria Fiaretti, of Wood & Grace Handlettering Boutique is all three.  I first heard of Wood & Grace when my sister, Ashley, was gifted a beautiful hand painted wooden sign at her bridal shower with her wedding date.  It was such a unique and special piece that stood out among the common registry items  in her shower gifts.  (*Disclaimer - brides still definitely need and appreciate their registry items!  I know I needed and am still using the silverware, plates, towels, and sheets that I got at my own shower!) After Ashley's shower, we had the pleasure of photographing a ton of Victoria's work popping up at weddings all…
Amanda Wilson
February 16, 2017
Behind the ScenesPersonal

Imaging USA 2017 – San Antonio!

Every year I run away for a week to a photography convention called Imaging USA. It’s hosted by an organization of which I am a proud (though not loud) member; the Professional Photographer’s of America. It’s hosted in a different city each year that’s easy to get to in the off-season winter months. Recently, we’ve been to Phoenix, Nashville, Atlanta, and this year San Antonio. What happens at a photography convention? Think of it kind of like Comic Con for people who love making images. We all get together nerd out over new camera gear, new ideas, rehash old problems, make new friends, etc. This year was no exception. The count was estimated to be ten thousand photographers in attendance. That’s a lot of selfies. When we show up and take over a city, it seems like there’s a pop up photo shoot on every corner complete with lighting assistants…
Amanda Wilson
January 31, 2017
Milestones

Fall Mini Sessions ! | Northmoreland Park

It's been six years, but this October I'm happy to announce fall mini sessions!   So what's the difference between mini sessions and a regular session? Regular sessions are booked on the date and time and at the location of your choice, while mini sessions are at a single location and you choose from available time slots. Regular sessions are one to two hours in length, mini sessions are just 30 mins!  This means there will be just enough time to get some great shots, but no extra time for things like changing outfits, etc. Contact us to book your spot today!  If you're already worried about how you'll dress your family, check out this post on what to wear for family photos!
Amanda Wilson
October 3, 2016
weddings

Indiana County PA Wedding Photographer | Jimi & Leeona

Today I'm sharing an anniversary post for some dear friends who were married in one of my favorite small towns in Indiana County, my home town of Saltsburg!  Jimi and Leeona are two people with some of the biggest hearts you'll ever meet.  Whether it's taking in fur babies off the street, or volunteering for the YMCA, they bring smiles wherever they are.  Here's a look back at their sunny September wedding.   We started the morning off with the girls getting ready at Jimi's grandma's house.  I loooved her cast iron collection and her kitchen had beautiful light flooding in!  Leeona had a photo of Jimi's proposal on the beach out on the counter.  The light was perfect the day he asked her to marry him too. Alexis, Leeona's maid of honor, embroidered a handkerchief for her to carry down the aisle.  I can't wait till next year when…
Amanda Wilson
September 28, 2016
Behind the ScenesMilestones

What to wear for family photos

Fall is coming.  The end of the year is coming.  The pressure to make your Christmas cards is coming!  This means that time is running out to schedule your annual family photos.  One of the biggest reasons I hear from people for why they don't have their family photographed is that it's too hard to get everyone together and dressed.  Here's some tips for what to wear for family photos that will help everyone look and feel their best and have you loving your images for years to come. Remember department store portraits in the 90s?  Everyone wearing the the same color and matching outfits? A lot of times people worry that if they don't match their outfits that they won't look like they "go together".  That's not true.  Great family photos are when the relationship shows through the posing which is MY job 😀 😀 After all, baseball teams…
Amanda Wilson
September 21, 2016

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