Alumni Weekend at Mercersburg Academy

Last weekend was a riot -- bittersweet and hilarious. I spent about 24 hours at my high school/boarding school in PA, The Mercersburg Academy, for an alumni weekend gathering. Technically speaking, this was my 21st reunion so yes, I happily crashed '87s reunion...well, I DID pay so I didn't really crash it other than inviting myself and my best friend from '86 as well....right Paige? While the weekend didn't provide the technicolor of a normal glorious mid-October weekend in PA, thanks to the drought here in the Mid-Atlantic, the weather was crisp, sunny and festive and frankly, who cares when you're spending hours with some of your best friends from high school and laughing harder than you can remember. The environment there was unique, I know we all agree there's just something about boarding school friends that just never happens again for us in college or later.
It was just too short.

(click on an image to see a larger version - and i think this takes the cake for the largest number of images posted!)

Cheers!

Cool Boating Pix

So about a week ago, Jack, Harry and I went boating on the Chesapeake for the afternoon. Trying to get in ONE more afternoon on the water before the weather gets cool -- will it ever? Master Jackson decided to forgo a lovely afternoon on CHOPPY water so he's not part of this particular blog moment.

In any event, I wanted to post a few photos that I thought would be fun to share. First, and I think quite funny, we had two different photographer-services take photos of us that afternoon (a first for us) -- one guy was standing on his own boat on the Severn River by the Annapolis Harbour taking random photos of boats passing by with a huge advertising sign and website enscribed -- his service then posts the photos online that evening and you can purchase the hi-res image for $9.95. We did and it's the photo you see of Jack, Harry and me on the boat. About 20 minutes after that, we saw this helicopter flying WAY too low on the Bay almost doing some aerobatic moves. Couldn't figure it out...as we got closer, it TOO got close to us and sure enough, another photographer was leaning out a door with a huge lens taking many photos of us....they circled once and came back nearly attacking us (like in a James Bond film) and I acted like a total idiot showing him my rock-star pose. The photos are purchased thru boatpix.com and are only $250 (yeah, right) for a 16x20 with no mention of copyright of the image. We have to decide if we'll go for that but what stinks is we can't preview the photos. But to have an aerial would be amazing. Anyway, lastly, the few other photos are taken from my new iphone. Not bad for a camera phone!

Enjoy!

Caixia & Ben

Caixia and Ben tied the knot on Sept 8. Ben is the brother of Cathy (of Cathy & Mike ) who's wedding I shot last June in Middleburg. It's been such a treat to get to know the Zeigler family. They are all so fun and outgoing. Caixia and Ben's ceremony was at St. James Catholic Church in Falls Church followed by their reception at Dominion Valley in Haymarket, VA. Caixia is Chinese and had a Lion Dance performed at her reception which is a traditional dance to summon good luck and fortune! It was so cool to see!

Fall portrait shoots

I just thought I'd post something quickly here for those of you who are browsing my site and blog to see my work and/or thinking about making an appointment for a fall shoot. Right now, I only have one available slot for October which is Monday, October 29th -- unless I have a cancellation, that's it for this month.

November is booking quickly too. Many of you know that I'm a part-time photographer as I'm a full time mom so my schedule is very limited and consequently, my calendar books fast. And for November, right now, I have these dates free:

Thursday, Nov 8
Sunday, Nov 11 (2 slots)
Sunday, Nov 18 (2 slots)
Monday, Nov 19

If you are thinking about a shoot and are serious about booking me, email me asap. thanks!

The Kennedy Family

One of my silent auction winners from last year was the Kennedy Family. They were a family at Harry's preschool and have moved on to a new school as their girls are now in elementary school. Their girls were always smiling when I saw them walking in or out of school last year. I seriously don't know many children their age who are as happy and as smiley as these two stunning girls and it was so easy to take their photos!

The Trumbo Family

A few weeks ago I met up with the Trumbo family for their photo shoot which was a gift from their sister-in-law last Christmas. It was a humid day but everyone held up well and seemed to have a great time. Mom and dad were so cute with the boys allowing for many great candid shots. And that's almost all we are able to do with a toddler b/c posing is nearly out of the question! These boys are gorgeous!

(be sure to click on any image to see it larger)

Low Key Lighting - Charlotte and Robbie

So this is something I don't do very often but it turned out okay considering. The mom of these perfectly behaved gorgeous children had low-key (another word for black backdrop in simple terms) portraits done of her son when he was 6 months old when they lived in Chicago. She wanted to replicate that with her 6 month old daughter this time. I was hesistant to accept the job, lacking confidence to do this right for her, but she convinced me and was very flexible with what I did. I told her I would do some of the low-key portraits but wanted to add in some high-key (white) as well. So here are the results. And her children were two of the easiest and most obedient I have ever worked with! That always helps with the final result!