A Pittsburgh Reception

Mr. & Mrs. had already married the week before at the Civil Court, and had a separate reception in Pittsburgh, which I was fortunate to be able to photograph. A truly beautiful couple.

Hungarian Gardens Wedding

I’ve been incredibly busy this month, and haven’t had the opportunity to post recently. This was a small wedding ceremony that I had the good fortune to photograph at the Hungarian Gardens in Cleveland. A beautiful bride and groom, and family too! It was a fun challenge with the lighting situations. Photographed with my trusty Nikon Z6-MkII, 24-70 f/2.8 and 70-200 f/2.8 Nikon Z lenses. Crowd control was a minor issue!

A small Presbyterian Church Wedding

Witness the wedding of Erin and Frederick, both young doctors in Pittsburgh. The Groom’s parent watched the ceremony from India, and joined in the celebration later at the Bride’s parent’s home via Zoom. A Zoom wedding!

All brides are beautiful

A well-known wedding photographer that I respect, Cliff Mautner, summed it up best: “we don’t get to choose our brides and grooms…”

I consider myself not just a photographer, but I consider myself an artist. And it is a privilege for me to photograph weddings, and beautiful brides… all of which are beautiful. It is not a matter of treating our brides as beautiful, we must believe in it, and I do. To me, all brides are beautiful. Period. It doesn't matter, fat or thin, economically wealthy or poor, PhD or no... Everyone is entitled to their moment, and a client is a client regardless... I am proud of my work and nobody can denigrate it based on my subjects... They are all beautiful.

A friend recently told me of his nephew, who’s getting married, and he and his bride recently had an engagement party photographed by another photographer. The couple was not too pleased with some of the photographs, and voiced their concern to the photographer. The photographer supposedly told them, “look what I had to work with,” meaning them as subjects. This is a terrible thing.

One item about me you can take to the bank… I love my brides, and my grooms. I love my weddings, be they in a pavilion at a public park or at an upscale winery in a fashionable neighborhood, it doesn’t matter. I’ve been hired to do a job, to create as an artist, and I give it my all. And I love it all. I love making them shine in their wedding day vulnerability… that’s art, that’s my high fashion. That’s why I do it.

From one artist (I think) to another...

I was out shopping at Barnes and Noble in Boardman the other day, and I happened upon this tres kewl van, apparently painted by the artist who calls himself “the Imagination of Robert Walker.” It was pretty cool looking, I had my trusty Z-6ii with me, so a squeezed off a few shots, shown below. You may see The Imagination of Robert Walker here. Great stuff Robert!

Alliance Carnation Days

Every year, my city of Alliance holds what are called Carnations Days, which consist of the Rib & Food Fest and Days in the Park. There are normally several bands that play at different venues in the city, and numerous food vendors, many of which are running their big fundraiser for the year, like the Kiwanis, YWCA or various religious organizations. Much of Days in the Park was rained out this year, including the Balloon Launch. I popped down yesterday afternoon following a wedding and took a few photos, of which my favorite is below.

Elopement Wedding

I had the privilege to photograph a beautiful little “elopement’ wedding this past weekend. As I was busy prepping my photo gear for tomorrow - charging batteries, taking out PocketWizards, and packing gear into my BIllingham bag - I thought back to last Saturday’s photoshoot, and thought I would share some images here. This simple, yet very tasteful, ceremony took place in Painesville, Ohio, and featured a wonderful bride and groom. I love the emotive moments, the smiles, the pranks… this was a fun day! Please keep in mind that the images below are cropped to fit the gallery grid… all images taken with Nikon.

Scouting...

So, one thing that I do before every job is to scout locales. Today, I scouted two venues for upcoming photography gigs, one a big gazebo for an elopement this coming Saturday, and the other, a pretty impressive winery in Aurora. The gazebo is in Painesville, the winery - Thorncreek - is in Aurora. I went to both locations and snapped a few pics, looked around for good shooting spots, and here we are. Service is of utmost importance to me, my clients’ satisfaction, and part of that is all in the preparation.

What cost photography?

Yeah, how about those crazy fees, right? Well, the simple answer is expenses! A professional photographer is immediately hit with some pretty hefty expenses for equipment, something which never really ceases and new gear is introduced each and every year. I personally have well over several thousand dollars invested in photographic gear at the moment, and there are still many pieces that I could use… it’s never enough! Below is a pic of just some of my gear at this point…

This doesn’t begin to show all of my gear at this point, which includes tripods, light stands, diffusers, strobes, all assorted gadgets, and bags… oh, I have three bags I work out of! And believe me, they all have their purpose!

Then there are memberships, like to the Professional Photographers of America which covers my insurance, to other organizations like KelbyOne, where I keep up my proficiency training in the latest techniques and business affairs. There’s the mundane like business cards, and a computer to edit and editing software. And then there’s advertising… I presently advertise through only one site, Thumbtack, and it costs me upwards of $400 a month alone. It is my main lead generator, and is just now beginning to pay off.

My point is not to complain about business costs, because I knew what they were when I started this little enterprise, but to share with others some of the realities of taking photos professionally; it’s more than an iPhone for sure!

The Cannoli Capers

Last evening, I had the joy to photograph “The Cannoli Capers,” a production of the Louisville Community Theater, and directed by Mr. Nathan Meadows of Minerva. As my friend Kerry was in it, it was all the more engaging. On a sad note, it was the last production and last performance by the Louisville Community Theater at the Skyland Pines Country Club; the Club was recently sold to Amazon, Inc., who will be demolishing the Banquet Hall for yet another distribution center.

It was a great assignment in that I got to utilize virtually all of my photo gear; the primary lens that I used was my new Nikon Z 70-200mm f/2.8 zoom lens, which is the most amazing lens I have ever shot with, plain and simple. I also got to play with my new SB-5000 flash, and look forward to doing more with it in the future. It was a slight challenge in that I felt flash lighting was not possible due to the audience and the players, so I shot in ambient light and pushed the iso accordingly. Shooting RAW and using LightRoom for the win!

Here below are some of my photos!