I've been published!! I often work as a second shooter with other photographers on the weekends that I'm not already booked with my own event. Last summer I had the privilege of working with Monika Bros at a great wedding at the Cherry Valley Country Club in Princeton, NJ that is now featured in New Jersey Bride magazine! Can you guess which image in the spread is mine?

I found these quotes today on photoquotes.com. I think they both describe me pretty well.



It's no good saying "hold it" to a moment in real life.-Lord Snowdon

(btw who the heck is Lord Snowdon???)

I dislike landscapes. I only like people, and plastic flowers. -Elliott Erwitt

Last November my friend and favorite videographer Tim Sudall from Video One Productions called me up at the last minute (as he always does, love ya Tim!) and said he needed a photographer to help him out in NYC with a shoot for brides.com (otherwise known as Modern Bride, brides, and elegant bride). Brides.com along with Rockefeller center is doing an “engagements on ice” promotion (btw guys, this is practically foolproof!) and Tim asked me to take stills of the process for his video association, WEVA. You can see the first engagement that Tim shot here. The footage is also available on philadelphiaweddings.com. It’s so cute! If you feel like it you can watch all of the engagements and vote for your favorite. I think the winner gets a honeymoon in St. Lucia or something fantastic like that. By the way, if you’re looking for a videographer Tim is second to none. His work is the most artistic and emotional that I have ever seen. Plus we’ve worked together about a million (ok not that many) times and he’s fantastic. He’s very unobtrusive and so nice! I’ve worked with a lot of videographers and I can honestly say Tim and his crew are the best. (End of shameless plug for Tim).

Theresa Dimasi, Editor in Chief of brides.com

Theresa making sure everything looks a-ok!

Theresa on the zamboni

Tim!

Theresa again

Tim hard at work!

Zamboni!

I was at the Cescaphe ballroom in Northern Liberties the other day and I had to go outside to look for something in the car when I realized we were right next door to the new bowling alley, North Bowl. I decided to go back on Sunday and check it out. I love this place! I haven’t been bowling in years so I was happily surprised at how far the scoring technology has come. The screen above tells you what direction you should roll your ball in (not that I have any control over it anyway!) and how fast it was going. I ended up bowling around a 150, but that was only because we had the bumpers up for the kids. (yeah right, for the kids) They have nice shoes too. They also have pretty good mini burgers and tater tots. Their tots rock. There were a lot of attractive people in that place. Definitely not your typical bowling alley crowd! Seriously, you should go.

Death Cab for Cutie. I know this band has been around for a while. Even so I still feel the need to mention them here, because I think they're brilliant and everyone needs to hear this stuff. Go here and you can listen to a song called "I will follow you into the dark". I love this song! If you click on "media" you can hear some other great songs too. I also am digging "title and registration".

Please feel free to leave a comment or send an email about who you think I really need to hear. I like Indie rock but I'm pretty much open to anything. PLEASE! I need some new music!

One of the things I love about waking up early is watching the sun rise. A few weeks ago I was greeted every morning for about a week by what you see above. I just stood there shooting constantly for about 10 minutes each day because the sky would change every time I blinked my eye! It grew more beautiful by the second. In case anyone is wondering, these images are not altered in Photoshop except for a tiny bump in contrast. I did not play with the saturation or enhance the colors in any way.

Eyes. We got a little point and shoot recently and it has a macro option. I think it works nicely for a cheap little p & s! Plus it fits right in your pocket. These photos were taken by the very talented Ariel Serbin of Serbin Development Corp.

Emily and David were married on October 21, 2006 at the Hyatt, Penn's landing. I posted their photo a few days ago, but I wanted to officially congratulate them and post their slideshow. They are such a great couple and you can see in their eyes how much they adore each other. I felt extremely honored to be a part of their day.

slideshow

Jen and Brent were the first couple that I had the pleasure of photographing when I moved to this area. They were married on the beach in Cape May on October 1, 2005. Since then we have kept in touch and even though there will sometimes be a long lapse between emails or phone calls, we always find a way to reconnect. Today was one of those "reconnect" days and I'm so happy to announce that they are expecting their first child in May!! CONGRATS GUYS! It's hard to believe how fast time flies. Stay tuned in the coming months for Jen's maternity session and hopefully soon after the newborn session.

I want my files!!

For those of you who don't know what "high resolution files" are, allow me to take a paragraph to explain. When a photographer shoots digitally the images are saved on a memory card and eventually end up on the hard drive of their computer. These files (or digital negatives) range in size but are usually quite large. When printing from the files copies can be made in various sizes, but the larger the file the bigger you can blow them up. Some photographers only include low resolution files (small files) which can only be printed up to 4x6. Others include the high res. version and you can make prints up to 40x60 inches or bigger!

Something that has been coming up lately on the forums, both photographic and bridal is the question about high resolution files. Some photographers give them away and some don't, but these days it seems that every couple wants them! So why is it so hard for the photographer to just include the files? Most people think it's only about the money. If we give away the files then we won't get any reorders therefore we will lose profit. This is sometimes true, but I can honestly tell you that that's not the main reason photographers have a hard time handing them over. Most photographers have their own "style" or artistic vision. We want complete control over how our images look because our name and reputation is connected with each and every image we create. If the files are given away and printed at a low quality lab (or home printer) they might not look the way we intend. It's difficult for a photographer to think of a couple showing low quality prints to their friends who will then associate the print quality with that photographer. If we keep the files it allows us to have control over what each and every print looks like.

If getting the files is important to you, talk to your photographer. Sometimes you can buy them and sometimes they are included in a package. If they are not for sale or are not included, you will most likely be able to order prints for many years from the photographer.

Image of the Day-Emily and David!!

I love this image. Em and Dave were completely oblivious to me when they saw each other for the first time and that's the way I like it! They were (and are!) so into each other which makes my job so easy! Thanks guys. You rock! The ceremony and reception were at the Hyatt Penn's Landing located on the water in downtown Philadelphia. I almost cried about 3 times that day. Even though I photograph weddings almost every weekend I still get choked up. I wonder what I'll be like when my daughters get married! Oh boy.

The best man during cocktail hour going over his speech.

Wedding of Shawn Riordan and Lauren Taibi at the Wapiti Wildlife Retreat in North East, Maryland.