Tina Jay Photography

Gone with the old....

2009-05-20T17:24:00.000-04:00

The time has come to make my big announcement! I am FINALLY done with this old blog, and have upgraded to a much better (and prettier) blog-site. I’ve been working hard on my branding over the past few months, so it feels amazing to finally be able to launch my new blog-site after all my hard work. Make sure to update your favorites and RSS feeds with the new link, because I will only be posting on the new blog, and there will be no more posts on this old thing!

CLICK HERE for the new blogsite!

Libby & Heath: Wedding

2009-05-19T16:58:00.005-04:00

This past weekend I headed out to Pittsburgh to attend a wedding that I was actually a part of, instead of shooting it:) Libby and Heath tied the knot this past Saturday, and the wedding was such a blast. The day went by so fast, and I can't believe it's already over. It was so much fun being a bridesmaid in a wedding where I'm not only close friends with the bride, but the groom as well. I met Heath and his best man Adam as a freshman during my very first weekend at Penn State. They lived one floor above me in my dorm, and randomly knocked on my door one day to hang out.....and the rest is history - we've been great friends ever since. I became friends with Libby once she started dating Heath, and I ended up living with her for 3 years in college, and 1 year after college when she was still in Philly......and she has grown to be one of my closest friends. It was an honor to be able to stand up with them at the alter as they recited their vows:)

Since I was a bridesmaid in the wedding, I wasn't able to take as many pictures as I would have liked, because I was fulfilling my bridesmaidly duties:) I was able to document the girls getting ready at the salon, and a few other images:

Loved the dress:

And the shoes:

Their reception was held at the Heinz History Center, which is an AWESOME reception venue....I had never been there before, but I loved it. I'm also shooting a wedding there this weekend!

One of the groomsmen, Joe, wanted to take a picture with my camera, so here is the shot he got of all the girls - not too shabby! (I want to give a little blog shout-out to Nikki (second from the right) - she follows my blog religiously and I love her for it :)

Hope you guys are having a great time in St. Lucia!

Also, stay tuned to my blog later this week.....a VERY big announcement will be made! I can't wait!

MJ 2 Day - Part 1

2009-05-14T17:40:00.003-04:00

Whew - I'm back in PA after the MJ 2 Day photography workshop earlier in this week, and I'm exhausted! At the beginning of the workshop Melissa promised us that by the end of the 2nd day we would know everything that is in her brain photography-wise, and she did not disappoint. We had 2 days packed with learning about shooting technique and lighting, as well as the business side of photography.

Here is Melissa doing her thing:

At the end of the first day, we had a mock engagement shoot with Megan and Jeff - aka one of the most gorgeous couples I've ever seen. We all kept commenting that apparently they just breed gorgeous people in AZ! They got married one year ago, and were nice enough to be our practice couple for this shoot. Jeff was quite the trooper - he said he had no idea there would be that many photographers (and one videographer) there for the shoot, and I can't even imagine what it's like to be in front of 14 cameras hearing all the shutters going off at once! Here are a few more from the shoot:

Melissa instructing our couple:

I loved the way Megan was looking at Jeff in this picture

The second night we each had head shots done by Melissa (more on that in a future post), and while she was working individually with each photographer, the rest of us would go off and shoot each other.....here is a few of us at the end of our shoot on the 2nd day - love these girls!

Modeling our Shootsacs:

We're all going to be a part of Melissa's new workshop video too:)

Editing late night:)

I miss everyone already! More to come at a later date:) Tomorrow morning I'm heading off to Pittsburgh for Libby & Heath's wedding....this time I'm actually IN a wedding instead of shooting it!

MJ 2 Day - Sneak Peak

2009-05-12T01:28:00.002-04:00

I'm out in Phoenix, AZ right now, attending Melissa Jill's MJ 2 Day workshop, and I am absolutely loving it. Besides learning a TON of great information today, I am loving getting to know all the other photographers that are attending the workshop - it's a great group of girls:) This is going to be a quick post because I am so exhausted from absorbing all of Melissa's knowledge, and we have another jam-packed day planned tomorrow. I just wanted to share ones of my images that I captured from our photo-shoot at the end of the day (I didn't know couples this gorgeous existed in real life!):

There is MUCH more to come from the workshop in a later post, I just wanted to share what I have for now!

Lindsay & Bill: Engagement

2009-05-07T21:08:00.002-04:00

Lindsay & Bill met and started dating while they were both working for a local politician in Pittsburgh, but they had to keep their relationship under wraps for a while. When their local politician ended up losing the election they were working towards, Lindsay said it was the best thing that could have happened to them, because they could finally announce to the world that they were a couple:) Fast forward a few years, and Bill proposed to Lindsay on July 25th.....that's right, he gave her a "Christmas in July". I thought that was such a creative and thoughtful idea!

I met up with Lindsay & Bill for their engagement shoot last weekend when I was out in Pittsburgh - I had a great time hanging out with them for the morning! Here are some of my favorites from the session:

This is one is definitely my absolute favorite from the shoot:)

Lindsay, you look absolutely stunning in this picture!

I had a great time with you guys, can't wait to hang out again for the wedding at the end of May!

Traci & Jon

2009-05-05T20:35:00.006-04:00

Happy Wedding Season! The wedding season officially kicked off for me this past Saturday, and I couldn't be more excited! I have a crazy busy summer ahead of me, packed full of weddings and engagement sessions:) This past weekend I had the pleasure of assisting Heather out in Pittsburgh for Traci & Jon's wedding. I just love working with Heather! She is an amazing photographer and is a great teacher....I wish I lived closer to Pittsburgh so I could work with her more often:)

Anyway, back to Traci and Jon - their wedding was held in a huge log cabin type venue in the middle of the woods.....I just loved the setting. It made for some amazing pictures! Here are a few that I captured from their day:

First, all the details:

I loved all the bright colors that Traci chose for the wedding:

A few shots getting ready before the cermony:

Traci made a stunning bride:

She was also such an expressive bride! I caught this reaction from her a few moments before she headed down the aisle:)

Then she had to peak outside before she headed down the aisle with her dad:

They were so excited right after the ceremony:

Congratulations Traci & Jon!

I also had an engagement shoot with Lindsay & Bill the next morning, so stay tuned for their post later this week!

The Colsons

2009-04-30T20:23:00.003-04:00

Right after I got back from vacation this past weekend I had the pleasure of driving out to South Jersey to take some more pictures for the Colson sisters. At this point they're all married and don't have the last name of Colson anymore, but they'll always be the Colson family to me:) Both Sarah and Mary are pregnant right now, so along with the pictures of the kids, they wanted some pictures of the two of them.....since you never know if they'll both be pregnant at the same time again! I thought that was such a fun idea, and it's a great period of their lives to document. Here are all the Colson sisters: Mary (left), Dawn (middle) and Sara (right)

Mary and Dawn are the fabulous sisters behind A Garden Party - they do amazing work with flowers, and bring a fun, fresh feel to the floral industry....I highly recommend them for any of your events!

This is Sara's daughter Annabelle - we tried to have her play with this pretty yellow tulip for our photoshoot:

But she was much more interested in picking up rocks in the dirt:

And carrying around as many as she could hold in her tiny little hands:)

And here are a few of Sara and her family:

Doesn't Sara's dress look amazing against the yellow flowers and green grass? I loved it! Great location choice Mary!

And of course I had to snag some pictures of Dawn's two girls too - they are SO cute, and so easy to photograph.....I'm spoiled when it comes to taking pictures of them!

I just love Grace, and I can already predict what she will be when she grows up. If she isn't a part of A Garden Party, she will be a model - as soon as I start taking pictures of her she moves into all kinds of fun poses and works the camera all on her own:

I think we have another budding florist on our hands:)

I LOVED this picture when I first saw it - she has such a sweet look on her face while she is holding her little flower, and it looks like she is imitating Mary and Sara by holding her little belly:

Look at how sweet Annabelle looks sitting in the middle of the flower field - she really loved it!

And here are the two pregnant sisters!

I loved this shot:

And lastly, there isn't anything special or amazing about this picture, but I just loved it, because it's all the Colsons just strolling along together.....they're just such a great family and I love them all! The only one that was missing was Mary's husband John - but don't worry, you'll see some pictures of John and Mary in the near future:)

Back to the Real World

2009-04-26T20:41:00.003-04:00

Well, I'm now back in PA after an awesome week long vacation in Florida. My grandparents head down south every winter, so I love being able to visit them at their beach-front condo for vacation:) It's so hard getting back into every day life after you've been on vacation.....especially since I had beautiful weather every day I was there.....and because this is where I got to lay out in the sun all day every day:

I've always loved palm trees....I wish I could have palm trees in my yard in PA!

It seems like every single house down there has perfectly manicured lawns with gorgeous flowers - I loved these:)

And here are my grandparents hanging out poolside:) I'm so lucky to have all four of my grandparents still with me today, and I'm even luckier that each one is an amazing person who has taught me so much, set a great example of what good marriages entail, and have always been there for me. Love you guys!

Unfortunately, now it's back to the daily grind.....while wishing I was still in Florida!

Photo Shoot with Alison

2009-04-20T21:04:00.007-04:00

Two weeks ago I met up with Alison to have some shots of me taken for my new website - the new website is coming soon....so stay tuned! It was a lot of fun walking around with Alison chatting about photography, but wow, was it WEIRD being on the other end of the camera. I love how her images turned out, here are a few I grabbed from her blog:

When Alison got the shot of me above holding my camera up taking a picture, I snagged a picture of her below:)

It was making me laugh because people were wondering WHAT we were doing when we both had our cameras up and were basically taking pictures of each other.....but it was fun. And hey, I'm sure everyone has seen MUCH odder things walking around the streets of Philly:) Thanks again Alison! I had a blast!

Roanna & Reed: Engagement

2009-04-15T16:35:00.003-04:00

Last weekend I met up with Roanna & Reed in Philly for their engagement shoot.....it was cold and rainy all day, but the sun finally broke out right at the end of our session:) When Ro and Reed first met each other through work, they were both dating other people.....but before long, then wound up together in a relationship of their own. Now Roanna lives in Kansas City and flies to Michigan every week for work, and Reed lives in Chicago and flies to California every week for work. But the distance definitely didn't come between them - Roanna & Reed have a love you can feel, just from being around them. From the way Reed interacts with Roanna, to the way Roanna looks at Reed, they just have one of those relationships that you know is true and real. Here are some of my favorites from the session:

I just loved the feel of this picture....

Steamy! I love it!

Such a happy couple:)

When Roanna e-mailed me and said they wanted to bring their school jerseys to the shoot and have a little fun, I was all about it - Roanna is a PSU grad (the best school EVER), and Reed went to Illinios.....here is Roanna showing Reed who is boss:)

Ro and Reed, thanks for having me document your engagement session - you guys are too much fun and I can't wait to hang out again!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T21:14:00.004-04:00

Hope everyone had a great Easter! My Easter Sunday started off a little rough, but turned out to be a great day. I started off my morning by taking a spill down our stairs.....our hardwood floors were recently refinished, aka they are SUPER slippery right now. You'd think I'd learn after many close calls down the stairs, but I finally learned after my tumble today. Of course I had my camera bag in hand (thank GOD for padded camera bags), and a full glass of water, which subsequently flew in the air and all over my face/hair/outfit. So my pants were soaked, my makeup was running down my face, and water was all over our walls.....as I was trying to run out the door. Oh and I may or may not have broken one of my little toes.....still determining that one:) Once I dried my pants and wall/floor, touched up my makeup and dried my hair a little bit, I was good to go!

J and I went to visit my grandparents for the day, and my Grandma's cooking can ALWAYS make me feel better:) I just love the view they have from their porch:

My Grandma also makes homemade chocolate peanut butter eggs - they are HEAVENLY.....I told her they made my toe feel all better:)

I also realized recently that I don't have any picture of my grandparents.....so I had to make sure to get some nice shots of them today. They're both such amazing people, and I feel blessed to have them in my life. They still have a strong, amazing marriage after 50 plus years, and they've always set a great example for me growing up - I can only hope to one day become the great people they both are today:

Also, yesterday I had an AWESOME engagement shoot with Roanna and Reed - so I had to post a sneak peak:)

Check back later in the week for MANY more pictures from their engagement session - they turned out so well it's going to be hard to pick which ones to blog about! Happy Easter.....I'm off to nurse my toe:)

Perfect Pair Bridal Shower

2009-04-05T21:53:00.003-04:00

One of the things I love most about weddings is all the amazing details that the brides put together - I love the details:) This weekend I went to Cait's (who is pretty much like my own little sister) bridal shower, which was thrown by my best friend Sam.....and she of course had put together awesome details for the bridal shower. Since all the bridesmaids in Cait's wedding are wearing red shoes, Sam's theme was "the perfect pair", with red high heels every where....so creative! I loved the idea, and of course had to take some pictures:

I loved the favors - little red high heel sugar cookies!

She even had the balloons anchored in red high heels:

Although I can't say I'm surprised Sam picked this theme - if there is one thing she loves more than anything, it's shoes....I love how I was taking this picture of the balloons, and caught her cute yellow heels in the background:)

And of course, even the cake had the red heels:

I really loved all the details of the bridal shower, but I expected no less out of Sam:)

Big Summer Ahead!

2009-03-26T20:33:00.002-04:00

I'm ecstatic that spring is finally here! Did everyone get their free Rita's water ice to celebrate the first day of spring? I never miss that event:) This year they had a "mystery" flavor, which was thoroughly enjoyable. I may have had to stand in line with a winter jacket and gloves while ordering my water ice, but at least it's a sign that warmer weather is on it's way....soon hopefully. For some reason it has felt like this winter is just dragging on and onnnnn. I'm ready for a warm up!

Jeremy and I are still incredibly busy trying to get our house together - I can't stand when things aren't in their place.....and right now there are boxes and piles of clothes everywhere. I can NOT wait until we are done with all our painting so I can put everything away in its spot. I'm so excited for what's coming this summer though - I have a packed summer of weddings and engagement sessions, which will be starting soon:) I am also working on re-vamping the website, which is my project for April - so stay tuned! And here is a little sneak peak for what's to come:

Baby Henry

2009-03-12T21:24:00.021-04:00

Here is baby Henry. He is 3 weeks old.

Don't you just want to squeeze him?? He was such a good baby for our photo shoot - he didn't cry at all even when we were changing his little outfits multiple times. He is just such a content little baby - Erik and Ash are lucky parents! Here are the proud parents:

And this series was too cute that I couldn't pick a favorite:

From this picture you would think Henry just saw something REALLY exciting. He was staring at a wall though:) Too cute.

I love his tiny little feet:

And little hands:

Look at how tiny Henry's fingers looked wrapped around Erik's finger! (Can you tell he was helping us paint our new house this weekend?)

I know you can't tell from this picture, but Ash looks AMAZING for just having a baby - she was so cute when she was pregnant, and she already looks great post-baby! I can only hope to look as good as her when I have kids on day:)

I love how it looks like Henry is laughing from Erik tickling him:)

By the end of our shoot, Henry was exhausted. So exhausted he could not hold his head up any longer.

Streets of Philly

2009-03-05T20:33:00.011-05:00

Recently Jeremy just moved into a new office, so I told him he has to let me help decorate this office this time. I'll give you an idea of what his office looked like last time - the walls....bare. Books on his bookshelf? None. Pictures of his wonderful girlfriend on his desk.....zero. Our first step is to get some pictures on his walls, so the other day we walked around the city to get some shots for his office. We have to pick three for his office - which three are your favorite? Leave me a comment and help us pick the final 3!

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

Let the voting begin!

New Beginnings

2009-03-01T20:14:00.008-05:00

Oh, what a bad blogger I've been....as my friend Lauren said - "Tina, I know you've been busy, but come on....it's been too long!" So I wanted to post an update of why I've been so busy:) This Friday was a day packed full of new beginnings. First, Jeremy and I just settled on our first house! While it's really exciting and awesome to know I'm FINALLY not just throwing my money away on rent, it's also really intimidating being a new home owner. It just seems like there is SO much to do and not nearly enough time to do everything before we move all of our furniture in. Either way, I'm excited to see what is to come with our new home:) So of course we had to toast to our new purchase - just a little hint to anyone who wants to have a champagne toast in their new house - don't forget glasses....or chairs. Two things we neglected to bring to our house on Day 1. We totally classed it up with our champagne toast - drinking straight out of the bottle while sitting on our kitchen floor:

Overall the house is in great shape, but there are just small things we want to change to fit our taste. For example - when you looked at the picture above you were probably thinking to yourself....do the tiles on their backsplash have tea cups on them? Why yes, yes they do. I told Jeremy they need to leave our house. Fast.

After our classy champagne toast, we headed over to Jeremy's cousin's house to meet their new baby! Baby Henry is so adorable and one of the most easy going babies I've been around. I am so excited for Erik and Ashley and their new family. I snapped a few quick pictures of Henry, but he will be having a more formal photo shoot very shortly:)

So as you can see, we've been busy! Still, I promise to not neglect the blog that long again:)

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-15T13:49:00.006-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I love Valentine's Day - and while it might be a completely useless holiday, any holiday that involves flowers and loads of candy is ok in my book:) Jeremy and I had a low-key, uneventful Valentine's Day this year. Last year's Valentine's Day we had a HORRIBLE experience at the restaurant where we ate dinner, and the year before that I may have had a little mishap with my car. And by a little mishap, I mean I drove my car into a pole. Yup, Jeremy and I had only been dating for a few weeks, and I was so excited to come into the city to go out to dinner with him, that apparently my excitement blinded me from seeing a large pole in his parking garage, because I smashed right into it. So instead of going out to a nice dinner, I ate take-out Chinese while he pounded on my car with a shoe tree (since he has no tools) to get it to a driveable position (I really am a good driver.....I swear I don't usually do things like that!).

So compared to the last two years, this Valentine's Day was very relaxing.....Jeremy had these waiting for me when I got home from work:

He also surprised me with a gift card to a spa that is out near our new house!

After our dinner on Broad Street we just came back to our apartment and reminisced about our times in the city. We're settling on our house in less than two weeks, so I only have about one more month of living in center city. I'm going to miss the city a lot, but I'm excited to have a house of our very own. So it was a great way to end the night, hanging out in my favorite spot of the apartment, looking out over this amazing city:

And just because I don't want to ever forget the views from our apartment, here are a few more I took this morning:

I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day!

MJ 2 Day

2009-02-08T09:41:00.003-05:00

I just signed up for the MJ 2 Day workshop this past week and I can NOT wait. I've been looking for a good photography workshop to attend for a while, so I was so excited when I saw that Melissa Jill announced her 2 day workshop in May. I have followed her blog for a while and I love her work, so I can't wait for the workshop in Phoenix this coming May!

The Big 2-5

2009-01-26T20:20:00.014-05:00

This past Sunday was my birthday, and I celebrated the big 2-5! Even though it was sad officially being half way through my 20's, I had an amazing birthday. About 14 of my friends and I went to Atlantic City on Saturday night for a little fun:) As usual, I lost all the money I brought to gamble, but I didn't mind because I was so happy that so many of my friends made the trip out to celebrate my birthday with me. My sister and her husband even made the trip all the way from North Carolina! She is the best sister:)

Here is a shot of the whole group (sorry for the poor point and shoot quality!):

And one of just the girls getting ready in the Tropicana (check out Mary's cute 4 month baby bump - I can't wait to meet the baby in July!):

I was also surprised with some beautiful birthday flowers from my mom - thanks again Mom!

And lastly, Jeremy made me some DELICIOUS cupcakes for my birthday, with one curly candle:) If only you all could have heard his rendition of "Happy Birthday" he was singing in the background......in a deep baritone, opera type voice - it was quite the treat hah:

All-in-all turning 25 wasn't that bad - when you spend it with awesome friends, a birthday can't get any better. Thanks again to all of you who made the trip!

Sarah & Joe

2009-01-21T21:05:00.010-05:00

Jeremy and I took another trip down to South Jersey this past weekend to meet up with Sarah and Joe for their engagement pictures.....it was a pretty chilly session, but at least it wasn't 10 degrees out like it was the day before! Sarah is one of my good friends (and roommates) from college, and I couldn't be happier for her - I'm so glad she found Joe, he is a great guy and treats her like she deserves:) They make such a great couple, and I can't wait for the wedding next year. I also can't wait to hang out with them again this weekend.....this time in Atlantic City to celebrate the birth of meeeeee! Hah more to blog about that later:)

Here are some from our session:

Isn't she gorgeous?? Sarah you look AMAZING in this picture!

I just thought this picture was too cute!

I'll say it again Joe - awesome job on picking the ring....it's gorgeous!

Can't wait to see you guys in AC this weekend!

Ash & Erik

2009-01-14T21:00:00.007-05:00

This past weekend Jeremy and I went to visit his cousin, Erik, and his wife Ashley to take some pictures of them before the baby comes! It worked out perfectly - Erik gave some house negotiating advice to Jeremy while Ash and I had quite the photo-shoot around the house. Yes, Jeremy and I am 90% sure that we are buying a house - we're in the process of negotiating right now, so it was nice getting some advice from a couple who just went through it. Who knew buying a house is so stressful!

Anyway, Ash and Erik are our first friends to have a baby, so it's a really exciting time. I keep telling Ashley I will be SO happy if I look like her when I get pregnant one day! She looks like she hasn't gained any weight at all, and has the cutest pregnant belly - see for yourself:

Can't wait to do pictures of the new baby in March guys! Congrats!

Heath & Lib.

2008-12-30T21:25:00.017-05:00

Since Jeremy and I were out in Pittsburgh for Christmas visiting his family this year, I had the chance to meet up with Heath and Lib to do their engagement pictures. We lucked out because it was a pretty warm day, and it happened to be sunny for the time we were outside. This was also the first time using my new 5D, which I am now in LOVE with....it's an amazing camera:)

Lib and Heath got engaged at Penn State back in October. I lived with Lib for four years, and I've been friends with Heath pretty much since the first day of college at PSU, so it's going to be a lot of fun to see two of my closest friends get married:) They're getting married this May in downtown Pittsburgh, and I can't wait to be a part of the wedding - Here are some of the pictures from the day:

This is a very typical Lib picture:

Can't wait for the wedding in May!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-23T19:02:00.007-05:00

Tomorrow morning J and I will be heading west to Pittsburgh for a few days to celebrate Christmas with his family. I had to post a little early, since his parents have dial-up at their house.....I'm not about to try to upload pictures with a dial-up connection! We went up to Allentown this past weekend to celebrate Christmas with my family, so I just wanted to share a few pictures from the weekend. My Mom is always saying that I'm the creative one out of the family - but after you take a look at the next few pictures, I must say, I think I disagree:) We were celebrating Christmas at my Dad's house, and his tree is covered with home-made ornaments that my sister and have made for him over the years. As I was looking around the tree, I saw a vast difference between my sister's ornaments and mine - you be the judge:

My sister's cute reindeer, on a shiny red ornament:

And here is my ornament. It's the lid of a tin can, with a piece of felt on top, and I puffy-painted my initials and the year. Isn't it beautiful? HAH:

And here is another one of my gems. I believe it's a pouch of potpourri that was made using a random piece of red cloth, and tied with a green piece of string. And yes, you can see my sister's nice shiny ornament in the background.

Hah I just had to laugh at the difference in our ornaments - as a credit to myself, there was probably (hopefully) a big difference in our ages at the time the ornaments were made, and I do think my creativity has advanced over the years - here is what my tree looks like now:)

When we're out in Pittsburgh I'm going to be taking engagement pictures of Heath and Lib, so check back next week to see their images!

Happy Holidays!

An Early Christmas.

2008-12-18T18:26:00.004-05:00

So I did it. I took the plunge and decided to buy myself some nice quality camera gear. A nice little Christmas present.....to myself:) This way, I'll have the whole winter to practice, and learn how to use my Macbook Pro - all I've ever used is a PC, so it's a huge transition for me. I also want to get a lot of shooting in with my new camera, so I'll be all ready to go for this coming wedding season. I'm so excited to start using my new gear, so I just wanted to share some of my early gifts (to myself hah):

I hope everyone is having a great holiday season!

The Ryans.

2008-12-09T21:12:00.008-05:00

This weekend I met up with the Ryans to take some pictures of their family....and yet again, it was probably the windiest weekend EVER. What is with me and picking the windiest day of the month to schedule shoots? I was so happy that it was sunny outside with blue skies, but then I stepped foot outside and realize how absolutely freezing it was in the wind. In the end it all worked out well :)

Here is a picture of the immediate family. No, your eyes are not deceiving you - Mr. and Mrs. Ryan have eight boys and one girl. NINE children. I can't even imagine! It takes a special kind of woman to handle that many boys :)

And I couldn't end the post without talking about Pat - Pat is the 4th oldest boy in the family, and I work with him at my public accounting firm. Pat is probably the nicest guy you'll ever meet - I always have so much fun when we hang out, and he is just a good guy all around. For instance....I moved out of my apartment this weekend, and not only did he let me use his truck to move all of my furniture, but he also helped me pack it up and let me store it all in an extra bedroom in his condo - I still can't get over how nice that was of him! Anyway, I just had to post this picture because I started laughing hysterically as soon as I saw it - you'll be able to tell which one Pat is, because he is the ONLY one posed and looking at the camera hah:

Haha I just loved how everyone is trying to get organized and is looking all over the place, but Pat has struck a pose and is looking directly at the camera (he is the one in the top right hand corner) - hah sorry Pat, I couldn't resist posting that one....you know I love ya!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T19:09:00.005-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! I LOVE Thanksgiving for two reasons: it's the best meal of the year, and it marks the kick-off of the holiday season. This year we went to my Dad's house for the day today, where we ate, watched footbal, ate again, then watched more football.....such a good day:) So of course being the wonderful daughter I am, I ask if there is anything I should bring for the big meal, praying they so no - because if there is one thing I can NOT do, it's cook. Or bake. Or anything involving the kitchen. Just to give you an idea of my cooking/baking skill level, this is usually how my meals work out every day: I have cereal for breakfast, go out to lunch with people at work, then come home and have another bowl of cereal for dinner. I am definitely not good with the kitchen. About a month ago I decided to bake brownies (the kind right out of the box), and I thought to myself, "hmm....I believe this is the first time I'm using my oven"....and yes, I've lived in my apartment for about a year and a half now. I swear I smelled dust burning off of the oven as it was pre-heating.

One year for Thanksgiving, I decided to make a pumpkin roll from scratch. I have no clue why I thought this would be a good idea. My Grandma, who is an amazing cook, makes such a great pumpkin roll - so I figured I'd get her recipe, and I couldn't go wrong. Well I was wrong. As I rolled the pumpkin roll, the bread just fell apart, the cream was completely uneven, and it did not look nearly as pretty as Grandma's. Since it's one of my favorite desserts, I was SO happy when I saw her walking in the door with this today:

Perfection. Pure perfection.

Happy Thanksgiving!

SoJo.

2008-11-17T21:47:00.017-05:00

This weekend J and I drove down to South Jersey - or SoJo as he likes to call it:) We met up with Dawn and Chip, along with their two absolutely ADORABLE girls, Grace and Leah. I really don't think I've ever seen two cuter girls in my whole life:) Leah and Grace were both such good sports and just smiled throughout the whole shoot, even though it was pretty cold and SO windy that day. We almost had to re-schedule since Dawn wasn't feeling well, but I'm glad we didn't because we got some great shots of the four of them, and their family was just so much fun to be around. Here are some of the images from the day:

This is Grace:

And this is Leah:

I told you they were the two cutest girls! I could have just eaten them up:)

Here are the girls with their Dad:

I loved this shot of Chip and the two girls - they had these happy expressions on their face the whole time we were hanging out. And look at Leah's pigtails - I told you it was windy!

And here is Dawn with her girls:)

They make such a perfect family:

I love the expressions in this picture:

I kept getting this face from Leah throughout the shoot - I swear she likes me! Hah she is too cute:

Thanks for having me down to SoJo for the day - I had so much fun, can't wait to visit again!

McKean Reunion.

2008-11-14T18:11:00.007-05:00

I make a New Year's resolution every single year. My resolution usually involves working out more, or switching to an ultra-healthy diet. Two resolutions that usually don't pan out too well for me:) I now always think of my good friend Mary when making a New Year's resolution, because she always tells me that I'm the only New Year's resolution she ever kept:) My freshman year roommate Katie and I lived next door to Mary and Sarah in our dorm at Penn State. We pretty much didn't say more than 10 words to each other during the entire first semester of college since we had two different groups of friends, but then Mary made a New Year's resolution over our Christmas break to come knock on our door to hang out. I'm glad she did, because now Mary and Sarah are two of my closest friends - hence me being the only New Year's resolution she ever kept:)

This past weekend we had a McKean (our freshman dorm) reunion in Philly, and it was SUCH a good time - we hadn't seen Katie since Mary's wedding back in May of 2007, so it was definitely good to get together with her again. On Saturday we went to South Street for cheesesteaks, went to a bar to watch the PSU game, then went out in old city at night.....it was a nice little Saturday:)

Here are some pictures from Mary's camera - I was going to bring my camera out that day, but it was raining and I figured bringing it to a bar at night is not the smartest idea:)

Here we are at Jim's, which has the BEST cheesesteaks in Philly in my opinion. I've never once been there when the line wasn't out the door and around the block. Completely worth the wait. Jim's is part of the reason why my "start a new healthy diet" New Year's resolution never works:) From left to right is Jaime, Jess (my sister), me, Sarah, and Katie:

Then here are the five of us at the bar watching the PSU game - and yes, we got comments all night for everyone in our group wearing PSU gear:) This time Mary got in the picture! (all the way on the right):

It was so good to get together with everyone again....can't wait until next time!

Jess & Phil.

2008-11-06T18:36:00.025-05:00

I met up with Jess and Phil back in September to get some pictures of them in their wedding attire. Was it their wedding day? No, it was actually their three month anniversary. They wanted some candid moments of the two of them in addition to the more traiditional type pictures their wedding photographer took, so they asked me to take some fun images of them in their wedding garb. Jess and Phil live in North Carolina, so when I took a trip down there to visit my sister, we met up for our session. All of these image were taken in the Duke gardens, which is GORGEOUS. It was the first time I went to the Duke gardens, and it was so beautiful that it made me want to move there so I could shoot there all the time!

I had a blast hanging out with Jess and Phil - and we lucked out because it was cloudy and dreary all day, but the sun broke out of the clouds during our shoot. Jess and Phil make a great couple, and you can really see how much Phil loves Jess - I mean what other guy would put on a tux 3 months after the wedding to take pictures for 2 hours??? I love it!

Here are some of the images from the day:

I loved the feel of this picture - the gorgeous shoes, the dress, the veil....

I saw these trees with HUGE awesome green leaves, so we had to get some shots there:

The texture of the wall on this bridge was awesome:

Jess's veil was amazing:

I got this shot right as the sun was setting....I loved the lighting in this picture:

I LOVED that Jess agreed to lay in the grass for me....And no, her dress did not get a single mark on it for the record:)

Ahhhh I am in love with that veil!

This picture was for Phil....he said the favorite part of Jess's dress was the back:

How gorgeous is Jess?? You're a lucky man Phil:)

Thanks again guys for asking me to take these pictures....I can't wait to visit NC again!

Phinally.

2008-11-02T12:44:00.019-05:00

Last week was such an exciting week for Philadelphia. I've been living in center city Philly for about a year and a half now, and when the Phillies made it to the World Series, the city went crazy.....then last week when they actually WON the World Series on Wednesday night, it was absolutely insane. The Phillies hadn't won the World Series in 28 years, and the city of Philadelphia hadn't won a championship game in any sport in 25 years. It was SUCH a fun time to be living in center city! My roommate and I and a couple of friends watched the game at a bar in center city, then when they won we ran down to Broad Street (the main road in center city), to see all the mayhem. Here are a couple of pictures I took when we ran down to Broad Street - it was absolutely insane, but so much fun to be a part of!

You have to ignore the camera shake in these pictures - I was at 1600 ISO, no flash, and was getting bumped around constantly, so they're not the sharpest pictures I've ever taken:)

The streets were packed with people as far as you could see - here is a shot of City Hall, and Broad Street just packed with people:

And here is Broad Street looking the other direction:

There were people climbing on top of everything possible - on top of the subway entrance:

On top of street signs and in the trees:

On top of every pole you could see:

This one cracked me up. Look at the guy on the top of the pole. I feel like he climbed all the way up there then thought, crap I don't know how to get down....better call one of my friends hah:

Every single person in the city was yelling and cheering and anyone who was driving was honking pretty much all night long. It was such a fun vibe in the city that night. So obviously Karen and I had to continue the cheering from our apartment window:

Then to end the night I had to take a picture of the city on the night the Phillies won - this is the view from my bedroom (again, ignore the camera shake:) )

Then on Friday afternoon there was a parade for the Phillies on Broad Street, so I may or may not have left work very early to go to the parade:) Here are some shots from the parade:

I couldn't get over how many people there were in the city for the parade. They pretty much had to shut down all the streets of center city because there were so many people. Here is a shot of another one of the main roads of center city (Walnut Street) that they had to shut down because there were so many people:

Way to go Phillies!

Pittsburgh.

2008-10-24T19:08:00.015-04:00

I love photography (I guess that's no surprise). So back in August I took a trip out to Pittsburgh to meet with Heather, who is an amazing photographer based in that area. She was my sister's wedding photographer, and my sister was nice enough to get me a personal session with Heather as a Maid of Honor gift. I had SUCH a good time out there - Heather has a great business, and let me tell you she sure knows her stuff. She has mastered an amazing workflow, and had great tips and techniques that she was nice enough to share with me. She even invited me along to a wedding with her the next day! Here are some of my images from Stephanie & Tom's wedding:

I don't think I've ever seen a bigger engagement ring!

I loved the lighting in this picture - Stephanie looks gorgeous in this shot:

Heather found this awesome brick wall right in Stephanie's backyard:

I thought this cake was gorgeous - classy and simple:

There is that awesome ring again:

I had an amazing time at the wedding, and at my session with Heather. It was really inspiring, and it totally reinforced the fact that this is what I want to do with my life, and, with some hard work, I can make it happen. I really hope I have the opportunity to shoot with Heather and her husband, Craig, again soon! Here is a shot Heather took of the three of us at the wedding:

Thanks again guys - can't wait to visit again!

Finally.

2008-10-20T12:27:00.008-04:00

Well, it finally happened this weekend....Heath and Libby got engaged. They've been dating for almost seven years now, so we all knew it was bound to happen sooner or later, I just had no idea it would happen this past weekend! A bunch of my college friends and I were up at Penn State this weekend for the PSU/Michigan homecoming game, and Heath got down on one knee at their tailgate when no one was around. It couldn't have been more fitting for them, since they started dating our freshman year at PSU. Heath & Lib are two of my best friends from Penn State, and I couldn't be happier for them (and just for the record, yes Heath, I was friends with you first:) ). Here are some shots I took of the two of them afterwards:

Check out this ring...good work Heath, good work.

I can't end this post without including some football images - I love this picture of the sea of RV's, with the best stadium in the world in the background:

And of course the Nittany Lion....love the white out:

Congratulations again Heath and Lib!

(And for the record, Penn State dominated Michigan this weekend, 46-17, ending the 9 year streak. Take THAT Michigan.)

Vegas.

2008-10-17T16:25:00.007-04:00

I just got back from Vegas late Wednesday morning, and it was SUCH a good time. My sister and I took my Mom on a "mystery trip" for her 50th birthday this year - we told her we were going away, but we didn't tell her where we were going until we got to the airport and couldn't keep it a secret any longer. We decided to pick Vegas since she was never there before, and had always wanted to go. We had such a good time - this is the second time we were able to take a vacation just the three of us - the first time we went to the Bahamas right after I graduated from college (it was my sister's graduation present to me....best present EVER).

Here are shots of my favorite 4 hotels:

#1) New York, New York - one of my favs because it's where we stayed:) P.S do NOT ride the roller coaster here. It may look like a smooth ride, but trust me it is not:)

#2) The Venetian - I just love the inside of the Venetian, so here is a shot from there:

#3) Paris - I also love the inside of Paris....I think most of the reason I love it there is because you can get a HUGE strawberry daquiri in an Eiffel Tower container....

#4) Mirage - I don't necessarily love the Mirage itself, but we had such a good time there because we also surprised my mom with tickets to see Love, the Beatles show. The Beatles are her favorite band, and the show was absolutely phenomenal - I recommend it to everyone!

I also found this chair made of license plates which I thought was awesome...

Happy 50th Mom! (Ah yes, there are those wonderful drinks I was talking about!)

Can't wait until our next trip!

Keeks & Rob.

2008-10-04T15:04:00.012-04:00

What can I say about Keeks....well, she is a great girl and I'm lucky to have her as my friend. That's why I was so excited to shoot engagement pictures for her and her fiance, Rob. Keeks' name is actually Kylene, but I call her Keeks. Trust me, she loves it, and I give you permission to call her Keeks too:) My junior year of college I lived with seven girls in an apartment....you got it right....seven girls, one apartment. And Keeks was one of those seven girls. Everyone told us we were crazy to shove that many girls into one apartment, but I'm so glad we did, because it was such a good time and I have SO many great college memories from that year.

So fast forward a couple of years, and now Keeks and Rob are engaged - they came down to Philly one weekend so we could walk around and get some engagement pictures. We didn't get a chance to take a ton of pictures, because man it was HOT out. We didn't last too long outside, so they promised to come back in the fall so we could get some more shots. Even though it was SO hot out, we had a blast because they're such a fun couple, and compliment each other perfectly. Here are some of their images:

I love hand pictures:

How awesome is this blue door? I found it one day when J and I were walking around the city, so I had taken pictures of him in front of it....but let's be honest, Keeks is just a little bit prettier of a subject for the awesome blue door:)

The one thing I absolutely love about shooting in the city is that no matter where you walk, you can find something awesome to shoot....we were walking around and stumbled across this awesome little street of houses sort of down a back alley:

I'd say this perfectly depicts their personalities together:

Here is a nicer one:)

Can't wait for the wedding in July!

Luke.

2008-09-30T15:58:00.012-04:00

I met up with Gina and Tim a few weeks ago, who are good friends of mine. Gina is actually the one who introduced Jeremy and I for the first time (on her wedding day no less). They just had their first baby back in June, so I couldn't wait to get together with them to meet Luke, and I obviously had to take some pictures:) Luke is one of the best babies I've ever seen - he hardly cried at all, considering we changed his little outfits about 15 times outside in the heat of August. Not to mention he also has one of the cutest faces I've ever seen....see for yourself:

I started cracking up when I saw this:

This was my favorite shot of the day:

As you already know, I love everything about Penn State. So when Gina showed me Luke's sweatshirt, I vowed to get one for my first baby....when that day comes a LONG way down the road from now:) It also made me feel old though - that "2030" on his sweatshirt is the year he will graduate from college!

I loved this picture of the three of them - and how awesome does Gina look for just having a baby??? Man I hope I look that good post-baby:)

I can't blame Luke for the face below. He had a hard day. I think he was trying to tell me "I'm SO done with pictures":

5 Kids.

2008-09-27T10:19:00.009-04:00

When J and I flew out to Pittsburgh for Heather & Cole's wedding, we stayed with J's parents who live in Greensburg, and we visited his brother & sister-in-law, and their 5 kids. Yes, I said 5 kids. At the point that I took the picture below, 4 of their kids were age 2 and under. Yikes. It is definitely a busy household:) Hannah was 2, Quinn was 1, and the twins were only a few weeks old. Unfortunately Courtney (12) wasn't there that day for the pictures. Here are some of the images I captured that day:

Look at this face! He was very intrigued by my camera...

Here is J's Mom with little Quinn:

And here are the twins, Abigail and Avery - I'll be honest, I'm not sure which is which:)

Heather & Cole.

2008-09-26T21:34:00.005-04:00

Jeremy and I had a TON of weddings to go to this summer.....we're at the age where it feels like everyone is getting married. Jeremy and I flew out to Pittsburgh in July for Heather and Cole's wedding. It was such a beautiful location, and they had a great day...a hot day, but it was a lot of fun. What made this wedding unique for me is the fact that J officiated the wedding - he did an awesome job, and it was fun for me to watch him up there in action:) I didn't have much time to take pictures, but I did manage to capture a few:

Heather's colors were amazing...I loved the fall colors mixed with the perfect-shade-of-purple dresses. Another reason I loved the dresses? They were the exact same ones we wore in my sister's wedding:

J and I snuck off for a few minutes so he could get some practice in before the wedding....doesn't he make a handsome officiant? HAH I love it:

Miss Mess.

2008-09-26T20:02:00.012-04:00

So I've had a busy summer photography-wise.....so I have a lot to post about! I'm going to start with Miss Mess. Well, I guess technically it's Mrs. Mess now since she got married in May, but she'll always be Miss Mess to me:) She is actually my older sister, and we call her Mess because, well, she can be quite a mess. She got the nickname when she was little because she always spilled things on herself when she was eating....and I'll be honest, not much has changed today. Anyway, she got married on 5/31/08 at PSU (practically our whole family are alumni), which was a blast. So, being the awesome sister she is, she agreed to put her dress back on for me over the 4th of July so I could get some photography practice in. I love how my family is so supportive of my photography, they're all always willing to pose and help me out....so I just wanted to share a few of my sister's 4th of July shoot:

I just love her expression in this picture:

I told you we love Penn State - and look what we found! I loved it:

I believe it was after this picture, when I showed her the picture on my camera's LCD screen, that she exclaimed "Wow, Mike is a lucky guy!" Mike is her husband, and, well, I agree:)

Don't I just have the most photogenic sister ever? She is the absolute best sister for putting up with me when I ask her repeatedly to model for me - love you Mess!

The Start.

2008-09-26T19:34:00.000-04:00

Here it goes – finally starting a blog to document my journey into photography. I wanted to start blogging from the beginning, so I can remember all the ups and downs, triumphs and defeats along my way. I’ve learned so much and met some amazing people in the few months that I’ve really been focusing on photography - I can’t wait to see what is in store the longer I pursue this dream. At this point, I have a camera, lens, flash, and questions like “Will I make it?” and “Do I have what it takes?” Only time will tell, but I know I have the drive to make it happen and can’t wait to see what unfolds in the next few years. So for now, I’ll just keep on bloggin’ :)