hot...hot...hot

The heat was oppressive my friends...but we made it through with a totally knock out session for this awesome ten week old gem. I had the best time today. Ok, I admit that having two assistants, my girlfriend who gifted the shoot to our "little" as well as the mom, made my life easier. Having always been the assistant over the years I never knew how much fun it is to be the boss. I love it! It was so much fun being able to have help and say things like "that green stuff in the background needs to go" and "that chair is ruining my life" and "we need new "talent", this baby keeps crying and ruining my chi!" Just kidding. I did keep calling her "the talent" though because in between set ups she would get her binky, and a hug, and told she is beautiful. (just like hollywood only their "binky" might be a vodka tonic or something) Seriously this was one of my favorite shoots ever. The mom was open to letting me do whatever I wanted and I certainly took advantage and let my creativity flow.
Thanks Mrs. H! And to the other Mrs. H...that's for comin along and helpin out.

special delivery


don't babies ALWAYS sleep with a flower in their face?


the girls

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hotshoe....and other "awesomeness"

I appreciate that you come here to see my work and it is my pleasure to introduce you to a few of my personal favorite children's photographers who are totally rocking this industry. These three women are fantastic and I hope you take a few mins to check out their work. (click on their names to link to their sites) Each of them is a full time mother and wife, yet manages to also give 100% to the other "littles" in their lives..their adorable clients. I was already inspired simply by their work, but to have coffee and go on photo field trips has been such a thrill for me. I hope when I am in their position and someone comes to me as a newcomer that I will be as gracious and generous as they have all been to me.

Bonnie Burman Pittsburgh, Pa
( in the black.and no I didn't chop off my hair, that's not me)

Tisha McCuiston Richmond, VA.
She has NO free time. We originally scheduled to hang outside during the 2 hours her daughter was at cheerleading! How cool that she would do that, right? As it ended up she totally gave up a saturday morning and we just chilled in her studio...chatted...hung with her kids....it was great!

Stacey Qureshi Richmond, VA.

Book soon if you want her! She may be in San Francisco before too long. She's awesome and a superhero mother of two adorable girls.

My favorite shot of the day was of Stacey's daughter's chubby little legs. So cute...plus, I'm a sucker for feet!

Oh...and the "hot shoe" thing is a little shout out to Conrad Erb. I'm not sure how much money he saved me, but a ton in psychological therapy I'm sure. I thought I was going crazy because my camera stopped recognizing my flash in certain positions and I consulted with numerous photographers and none could help me. A call to Canon Customer Service resulted in the "hot shoe" revelation and a few mins on the web brought me to Conrad. His site told me step by step how to fix it and I DID!!!! All on my own!!!! YAY! I was thrilled and am so grateful that the information was out there.

Isn't life great when we all just help each other out? I love it!

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All in the family

This incredibly beautiful family, both inside and out, were hard to say goodbye to. This session was a few weeks ago, but as they had ordered an album I wanted them to be completely surprised when they received it. Posting images here would only lead to temptation for them and it's just so much more fun when you can be totally surprised. Over the last few months their faith and trust in both myself and my work was a blessing. It afforded me the luxury of trying new things and taking risks when in other circumstances I may hold back. While my time in Pittsburgh is done I take with me some incredible lessons for both life and my photography. Many thanks to all of the old families/old friends/new families/new friends I had the pleasure to meet. I am inspired by your lives and it is my personal goal to tell the stories of your children in images that reveal to you the beauty of the lives you have chosen to bring into this world.

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in the arms of a woman

My first newborn...ish. He's about 6 weeks old, but I am going to say that it still counts. He's only experienced one season so far and I've decided that's my barometer! I had such fun with him. I can't wait until he starts talking. His mother is British, but his father is from the states so I am incredibly curious whether he'll say "where's the water closet" with classic "Pittsburgh twang" mixed into upper crust English sophistication. He's no doubt going to be a heartbreaker. During this session I was very drawn to the emotion of his mother's hand on his back. I even added his father's hand to it for a few. I dedicated quite a few frames to this, but there was something so honest and nurturing in its simplicity. The beauty of his contentment was amazing. I had a good feeling about the shots, but not until I got home did I realize what a gift he had given my lens. All he understands is that he can just exist in the arms of his mother and his world is perfect. Part of me wants to keep him there forever.









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I figured it out...sort of

so it's clear that I have learned SOMETHING..."vertically" that is. Awww well....I'll figure out the sizing of horizontals another time. ok....in actuality it's still cropping too much and I'm not happy with it, but I couldn't put off posting any longer and what with traveling to 3 states over the next 7 days I will just have to put off my learning until another day... Of course once I started tinkering with my layout I couldn't stop. I changed everything, then changed it back, then changed the heading. It's addicting! One day the images will be just how I want them. Until then I'll just keep workin on it.







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kids say the darndest things...

In case you have not recently been around kids who are potty training allow me to bring you up to speed. Kids like to talk about poop. Ok, even as adults it's fun to talk about it sometimes, but a kid who is just figuing it all out is incredibly funny and candid about their fascination with "all things rectum" if you will. Additionally, because parents are so incredibly exasperated during this process they usually have no other recourse than to resort to bribing their children to "use the potty." At which point the child is rewarded with stickers or transformers or t.v. time or in the case of the conversation being written about here...GUM.
For the sake of anonymity I will just call this boy "the little" He made it very clear to me that GUM was his reward and he loved it. Bright Yellow gum is the best.
THIS ENTIRE EXCHANGE IS 100% TRUE and happened to me on Friday

the little: "do you poop on the potty?"

me: "Yes, indeed I do"

the little: "that's awesome"

me: "Yep"

the little: "do you have GUM at your house?"

me: (begin laughing hysterically)
2nd grade is so hard!!!
These two photos do not relate to the above story, but I just had to share it.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Go rent THE MATCHMAKER. It will make you smile.

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flat on my back for 5 days straight

I only wish it were for some glamorous reason like a sailing accident or skiing injury. Heck even a sprained ankle due to a fall while attempting the tango in Jimmy Choos would be better than the truth. The truth being that both bronchitis and the flu kicked my butt this week. In 30 years I don't ever remember being this sick.
As opposed to many other experiences I've had THIS one I do not in fact recommend to others. Well...I'll spare you the details and you can be thankful. I know I know what do I expect working with kids, right?

I was desperate to work on a few recent pics and share a couple. Aren't these two little guys adorable?


stay healthy!

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plastic pants

This is my college roommate, Kim. Isn't she awesome? She is one of the funniest women I have ever met in my life. College was a blast with her around. We hadn't seen each other since graduation, but had no trouble picking up right where we left off and literally talking for 7 hours straight. Don't you love friends like that? I didn't interrupt our time together with too many pics, but I grabbed a few quickly to remember the day. She literally smiles like that all the time!

As we were walking around campus and taking in everything that has changed we noticed a bulletin board with important information regarding safe sex. In light of Valentine's day tomorrow I pass this useful nugget on to my devoted readers :

"NO MEANS NO AND PASSED OUT DOES NOT MEAN YES!"

In other words...."mom, leave dad alone"



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the great "AW" and a night of flashing people

With everything that's been going on recently I completely ran out of time to acknowledge the incredible Audrey Woulard whose photograph graced the cover of PPA last month. She is in my opinion the greatest contemporary children's photographer around. Based in Chicago, Audrey is in high demand and she could tell me to "get her a latte " anytime she wanted if I could watch her work. This entry is a combination of due praise to her as well as a practice evening with my new kick a** flash. (Santa was good to me and also placed a pretty sweet graphics tablet under the tree as well) No complaints. I now understand even more how incredibly gracious it was that my friend used to let me use his equipment when I didn't have my own yet. I won't let anyone come near mine! When a two year old grabbed my Canon last night I almost had a heart attack and put both of us in an immediate "time out! " (him to learn a lesson and me to calm my heart rate) hahahah

My naive attempt to recreate Ms. Woulard's November "Hangin Out" blog entry

Love the [Red] Campaign at GAP

For futher clarification of what I am talking about click on the green links and they will take you to some cool sights.

Happy New Year.

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liquid sunshine

This weekend I had the great pleasure of being asked to shoot the "Step out to Fight Diabetes" Walk in Richmond, VA. It was a blast and I was so honored to be a part of a cause that I care so much about. Funny enough it hasn't rained in Richmond for about 3 months, but upon my arrival it was pouring. As of 430 am Sat morning, yes I had to be up that early, it was still going and we were afraid that people might not show. But by 9 am throngs of Virginians, "ya'll" and all pummeled upon Monroe Park to take the 3 mile walk along historic Monument Ave (Or as us Yankees would say "the street with monuments to the losing team"). Everyone was pumped to raise money for such an awesome cause and I met so many wonderful people. Adding to the day was a great "Zoomba" workout to warm us all up and the fantastic Sabrina Squire from Channel 12 News helped keep everyone on their toes. Thanks for the fun ADA! "Ya'll are great"



It's never too late to give so check out their website for more info diabetes.org/stepout

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bridge over troubled water

I don't have a lot of people to photograph at the moment so I have spent my time trying to get into shooting landscapes and objects and other non-mammals. Gotta tell ya...not my thing. Yes, there are beautiful "things" to photograph and I absolutely love shooting details, but in my opinion there is nothing like capturing a person. This image is a good example. I don't know this person, nor do I know what their face looks like, but doesn't it actually make you feel something because you can imagine what they are thinking? The Golden Gate is spectacular, but we've all seen pictures of it. I've never seen it through this person's eyes though. Or through what my imagination allows me to believe about him. Maybe he knows someone who died there. (I was told it's the number 1 suicide location) Maybe he just loves bridges. Or maybe he's had a really long day and needs a break before going home.

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sarah pretty and medium height

I'm blessed with wonderful women in my life and Ms. Sarah is one of them. So during my brief stint in NYC I had to make time to see her. We met years ago at auditions in the city and have been fast friends ever since. We've both since moved on from the open calls, but still manage to keep each other in the loop. She practically single handedly ran the education dept of the NY Tolerance Center for the last several years while simultaneously studying for her masters degree in Ruling the World. (she's a smartie) She didn't know I'd have my camera, but I'm glad I did. Astoria park was a lovely place to shoot. It took a little coaxing, but when she finally realized I wasn't going to stop she sucked it up and stopped complaining. She's one of the sweetest and most compassionate women I know. Plus, she dates a fireman! Isn't she just the coolest?!





Her reward...Mike's Diner. Fun cheap eats on Ditmars Ave

And it all ended on the N train...memories, memories.



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here on martha's vineyard

These are just a few of my favorites from my summer on "the vineyard." Thanks for taking this journey with me. My photography has grown in the last few months and I look forward to developing even more.
Stay tuned...

Chappy lighthouse tour with the Trustees of Reservations. Take a tour if you visit.
Fourth of July!

Squibnocket Beach with little Peter and his "girlfriend" Georgia

He knows everything about baseball and will play professionally someday.


Little Michael from earlier this summer.


Alley. I finally saw the cup stacking. She tried to teach me and it's way harder than you think.


Chase not arguing with me...this is rare.


IMP camp final circle

And on that note. I bid you all good night

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one feather not two

So the teen I asked to be my model this week is the lovely and talented Ashley. Isn't she a knockout? She is the coolest and sweetest 13 year old I've met. Yes, I said 13. Ashley was my co-teacher this week and we had several days of utter hysterics with the 5 and 6 year olds. Our rendition of Gertrude McFuzz goes down in my book as the funniest story theater piece to date...although maybe more fun for us than the kids. She played most of the parts while I narrated and tried to speak in "Seuss Speak." Lola-Lee Lew is easy to rhyme, "had not one feather but two," but try McFuzz! I kept wanting to say that she'd ruined my "Buzz," but thought it was inappropriate. However, I did get in "Uncle Drake gave her a prescription for tail-feather enhancement pills." Read the story and you'll see why that's funny.


I can't tell yet if my photos pop the way I envision them. I'm glad I have these sessions to help me work on that skill.

off to join the circus

I have been looking forward to Circus Smirkus coming to town all summer and it was here this weekend. (thank you to the lady who let me in even though I didn't have enough cash) It's a one ring circus performed completely by kids/teens. You might think you'd clap simply because it's "kids" and you want to encourage them, but that's not the case at all. They are terrific! It had everything a self respecting circus should have...trapeze, high wire, pie in the face, clowns, trampolines, crying children, humidity so high it stunk to high heaven...it was GREAT!!!! It sounds like a fantastic organization and gives great opportunities to kids. They do 71 shows all throughout New England in a matter of just a few months. What an incredible experience. Check out their website and definitely go see it if they are near you.


gotta have the popcorn..but I didn't since afore mentioned, I had no cash.



nor any cotton candy....bummer


The above 3 black and whites are combined in this image. Can you see them all?

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