Something is in the Water

        A few months ago I did this photo shoot of a former client (and friend) of mine, Mandi, who is pregnant with twin boys. I was so happy that she was pregnant and even happier for her that she was having twins! I couldn't believe it! She is going to be an amazing mother, and I was thrilled she wanted a maternity shoot to capture such an amazing time in her life! We set up the shoot in November because she didn't want to be too big and uncomfortable for the photos. I think they turned out really nice and showed how beautiful this mama to be is!

      After I was finished with this shoot, my good friend from high school, Heather, contacted me about setting up a maternity shoot for herself. We wanted to do one with her first child but the timing never seemed to work out, so we really wanted to get a shoot in for this pregnancy. Unlike Mandi, we waited until the end of Heather's pregnancy to do the photo shoot because she wants to be able to show these boys just how big they made her.
      That's right Heather is having twin boys also!!! It was so fun that both of my maternity shoots were for sets of twin boys!!! Twin boys that are due within a week of each other!
      Heather and I had a lot of fun at her shoot despite the very cold weather and the ice covering a lot of the ground! It was a little bit of a challenge to find a place to shoot since ice took over much of the town the weekend that we planned to get together, but we eventually found somewhere safe(ish) to stand. It was so great being able to use Heather's daughter in some of the shots! It was a little challenging to shoot with a two year old in the cold but we manged to get a few cute shots out of her before sending her back in the warm car.
       Heather was shocked that she was having twins this time around but I know that she will kick ass at it! She is such a natural mother! And by the way look how amazing she looks at the end of her pregnancy with twins! She totally makes having twins look good!

Heather is laughing because I almost fell on the ice

I can't wait for these two lovely ladies to have their boys! I hope I get to meet them soon! I mean, how much fun would a newborn twins shoot be ;)! 

Snow Day

While other people might have been getting ready to go out on a romantic date with their significant others this Valentines Day, I was running my butt off doing a million things in my hometown in Pennsylvania. I had a lot of errands to run, wedding things to do, and a maternity shoot to fit in before the babies grace the world with their presence (more on the maternity shoot later).

I had just finished up my friend's maternity shoot and I was on my way to a store when it started snowing. First it was just flurries, but then it started coming down nice and slow. When I was pulling out of the store parking lot, the snow flakes had gotten much bigger! It was so beautiful!! I had my camera with me so I called my brother in-law right away and asked if I could borrow my oldest niece for a few minutes for a snowy photo shoot. Of course he said yes and my niece Madelyn was so excited to help me out! 

Once I got to my sister's house, I quickly bundled Madelyn up in her favorite coat, brushed her hair, and ran outside into the snow! We had so much fun! I really enjoy the photos that I got  of my sweet niece, and I was so happy that I jumped on this importunity for a snowy shoot!

I couldn't help sneaking a selfie with this cutie

Dancer Project

       A few months ago I wrote about having personal projects, and today I have an update! This summer I contacted some dancer friends of mine and we set up some photo shoots to add to my dancer project! With the winter not being an optimal time for outdoor shoots, I was able to work on this project and get some editing finished.

        This is Meghann. She was my co-worker and a beautiful dancer. I had been working with Meghann for a few months before I mentioned my project, and she was all in! Meghann had mentioned that she needed some new head shots taken anyway so we knocked both out in one evening. 

        We had a wonderful time shooting on Roosevelt Island with the Queensboro Bridge behind us! I think we got some great shots that showed Meghann's strength and grace! 

          I am really happy how Meghann's shoot turned out! It made me excited to add more shoots to this body of work! More to come soon! 

For the Love of Fall

    When I was younger I always hated Fall. I was always mad when the temperatures started to go down because that meant that winter is just around the corner. In truth I still get mad when the temperatures start to get lower that 65 degrees.

    That being said I have been trying to embrace Fall this year! What has been helping me open my arms up to this time of year is the amazing colors in the photographs that I have been taking! It is a no brainer that the Fall season is beautiful! People travel far and wide to see the colors changing on the trees.  This year I have been lucky enough to get booked by a few of people for shoots in October and November, giving me an array of scenic backgrounds to choose from!

    I have been enjoying the leaves on the ground, the sun coming though the colored trees, and the soft warm light falling on my subjects. My clients have primarily wanted warmer weather photographs thus far, limiting me to may though august, but I am happy for this shift in shooting season.

     Here are some examples of just a few of my fall shoots this year. 

     Now I just need to get some winter shoot in to liven up the even colder months!

Sometimes Things Don't Go As Planned

      I want to take a second and tell you all about my weekend. I was so excited because I had three shoots booked! THREE!!! I could not believe it! I worked the timing down to a tee to fit everyone in! One shoot after a pervious appointment on Saturday in PA before getting on a train to head back to NYC, and then two shoots back to back after church on Sunday.

    Saturday ended up working out even though I was a little late due to traffic (and more traffic and more traffic). But I called the family that I was meeting and they were very understanding. It turned out that we got some amazing light due to me being late! Happy accident! I was a little pressed for time before my train but it all worked out.

    Sunday is another story. I went to church as planned, but when I got out of the service I saw that my first shoot had to reschedule due to a child being sick. I totally understood and we rescheduled right away for next week. So now I had two hours to wait until my shoot at 3:30. I decide to enjoy the beautiful Fall day and roam around the city a bit. A half hour before the shoot I check my email just in case my client tried to contact me. It turns out she did and needed to push the shoot back due to her son not waking up from his nap on time. She said that she would text me when they were 15 minutes away. Not a problem but I had to make sure that my very old phone battery lasts until she tries to get in contact with me. I turn my phone to airplane mode and head to the location where I was meeting my clients. I took out my phone and was really proud when I saw that it was still at 30%! Yes I did it! I kept my old rarely working phone on until I met these new people! So I take out and open a app. As I do that my whole phone just SHUTS OFF!!!! I could not believe it! My stupid phone!!! What was I going to do!? I had no way of contacting my clients! I decided to sit at our meeting location with my camera out in case my client came by instead of texting me first. I waited there for an hour before I threw in the towel and headed home.

    Raced home is more like it! I got to my computer as fast as I possibly could! When I opened up my email I saw that I had three new messages from my second scheduled shoot! I held my breath thinking it was going to be the worst. Telling me how angry she was and how she will never set up another shoot again, but what I got was three emails of concern! No anger, no yelling, she was just worried about me! I could honestly not believe it! Then my phone finally turns back on and my second client contacted my first (they are friends) and so now my first client was worried about me and trying to make sure I was ok too! I felt so bad for making them worry about me, but I sat back and was in awe about what amazing people I got to work with! Most people would have been angry at me, but not these ladies! I assured them that I was ok and that my phone is apparently just done with me. In the end we rescheduled both shoots and I learned a very good lesson. I will make sure that this situation will never happen again!

      Even though my weekend did not go as planned, I did get to do something that I rarely get to do. I wondered around the city with my camera! Having two hours to walk around and shoot was so nice! Here are some of the shots that I got in some of my favorites places in the city!

Bryant Park Ice Skating Rink

New York Public Library

Grand Central Station 

5th ave / Central Park 

Central Park 

Personal Projects

I am constantly thinking of photo projects to work on. I see things on the street and meet people at work that inspire me....but do I actually put those projects into place? NOPE!

When you have a day job and a business that you are trying to start up there is little time to work on personal projects. Usually I 'm working on things for my clients, working on my web site, doing research, or working on photographs for my family (because that's what families do). But lately I have been kicking myself for not taking time to work on my personal photography. The last time I worked on a project for myself was in college. Seven years ago! Way too long!

A few years ago I did a photo shoot with my friend Stevie. Stevie is an amazingly beautiful dancer whom I met while working at a Physical Therapy office specializing in dance medicine. She was moving out of New York City to teach dance at a University and wanted some photos of her dancing at different locations in the city. We had a great time and shot for almost the whole day in January! By the time I got back inside I was a little frozen, but knew that I had more than a few gems on my camera card.  From that shoot we got this image:

I absolutely love this image. I love Stevie's face, her grace, her strength, and the city behind her. I especially love the bridge in the background. This image represents strength to me. The strength in the bridge in the background and the strength in Stevie.

I have decided to work off of this image for my next project. Since working on this shoot I have stayed in the Dance Physical Therapy industry and have met some truly wonderful dancers who are more than willing to perform in front of my camera.

Stay tuned for updates on my series on Dancers and Bridges of NYC. I am very excited to be shooting a project for myself. I hope this is the first of many to come.

Summer Baby Boom!

Maybe it's because I am getting older and people I surround myself with are settling down and starting families, but this summer everywhere I looked I saw pregnant woman! It was incredible! There was a baby boom happening in a big way and it was beautiful!

Because of pregnant bellies popping up everywhere, I was able to practice my maternity photography! I was so happy to be able to work with a couple of wonderful mommies to be to capture a truly magical time in their lives.

It was so interesting to learn the poses that worked and the ones that soooo didn't. Haha! For example, I would think that some sitting poses would be nice but they are really not as flattering as you would think. I was so eager to learn and play with different poses. My goal was to make sure I showed how beautiful these woman are, and to make them feel beautiful! I have never been pregnant, but I don't even feel attractive when I am carrying 5 extra pounds let alone 20+ pounds! I think that I accomplished my goal and I can't wait to do more maternity shoots! Here are the lovely ladies and their amazing husbands that I was able to photograph this summer:

Jessica and Ben  - photo shoot at 34 weeks

Maria and Daniel - photo shoot at 32 weeks

I look forward to more maternity shoots in the future!