This photo was a quick grab at the end of a photo session where I was on the “wrong” side of the camera. Fellow photographer and friend John Wattenbarger offered to do a beach scene family photo of my family and so we met him at Cape Henlopen State Park in Delaware for our evening shoot. John did an awesome job and captured a terrific image of my family…he even made me look normal.

At the end of the evening, as we were rapidly losing light, I snapped a few quick frames of John and his beautiful wife Natasha. I love the lines of this image in addition to the wonderfully relaxed and fun capture of the two of them.

Check out some of John’s work at his website -jwattenbarger.com

These were taken a few weeks ago in the studio. Beth was great to photograph and I’m very happy she contacted me to take these for her.

This one was a mistake in a way. We were photographing this shot when my studio lights decided to fire at full blast instead their dialed down settings which caused this dramatically overexposed high-key photo. But I liked it…it’s has a unique, ethereal quality:

Saturday, I had the privilege of hanging out with the guys from Defrayal. We were fortunate to have been granted access to an old, empty mansion in Centreville complete with chipped and peeling paint and plaster, rusty cabinets, and a few hornets nests. Despite the hornets, the location gave us exactly what we needed to create the grungy look the band wanted. With the aid of some “grungy” HDR technique, we created some great promo images for the band:

Normally, a beautiful sunny day without a cloud in the sky on July 4th weekend means muggy, hot temperatures. Jessica and Richie were kind enough to order in some wonderful weather for their beautiful wedding held in the gardens of the William Paca House in Annapolis, Maryland. It was a great day all around. We had a ton of fun, as I knew we would. Jessica & Richie were a blast during their engagement session and I knew we’d have just as much fun at the wedding. Thanks guys…I really enjoyed it!!!

Richie and his mom as Richie gets ready at the Sheraton hotel:

More at the Sheraton Annapolis:

Jessica visiting my good friends at Whit’s End Salon & Spa:

Just before showtime:

Here comes the bride:

The big kiss:

I think there’s room for one more:

A horse drawn carriage ride through charming Annapolis:

Some random but very friendly Annapolitans provided some champagne along the carriage ride:

And Richie being true to himself:

Yesterday, I had the privilege of working with Rachel in our Kent Island studio to develop some modeling portfolio shots. Being both tall and beautiful, she is certain to have an excellent career in modeling and I believe she is off to a great start with some excellent images.

For our first shot, I wanted to create a lifestyle shot that could also show her commercial potential:
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From there I pulled out some fabric that I had yet to use as a background. I particularly liked the fabric because it has tons of little reflective circles that bounce light wonderfully. Lighting the background to get the right effect was a bit of an experiment but produced a lovely result:

I just love this close up. It really shows Rachel’s beauty wonderfully:

Though the idea for this final shot was simple, the result is quite beautiful. Rachel swirled the sheer white cloth around playfully producing this artful image:

I just love Chestertown in the spring. Anytime really but spring is particularly nice with all of the flowers in bloom. Chris and Christina are from Annapolis, but now live on Kent Island. I talked them into driving up to Chestertown for their engagement session and they graciously obliged. We walked through town, down by the water, and afterward went to Downey’s for a milkshake. Great fun!

It was difficult to take a bad photograph of Victoria. I probably have 300 great shots of her. Here is a sampling:

Last Sunday was a beautiful, warm day and the town of Annapolis was full of life. I love photo sessions in Annapolis because there is no shortage of great backdrops. We took to a couple of side streets to get away from the crowds, and found some wonderful settings to grab these images of the wonderfully fun and beautiful Samantha:

Here are a few more images from my week in Cincinnati:

Last week I traveled to the Cincinnati area to study under world renowned photographer David Ziser. The opportunity to learn from such a highly regarded individual was truly a wonderful experience. Mr. Ziser is known for his beautiful wedding photography and for being an excellent instructor and educator. He is one of only 98 individuals worldwide that holds the distinguished honor of Fellow bestowed by the American Society of Photographers. His recently released book “Captured by the Light” is widely respected is on Amazon.com’s bestseller list in the photography category and is being tauted as “the” book on wedding photography.

My week with Mr. Ziser included a combination of classroom style learning, live photographic sessions, and image review…oh…and a couple of extremely delicious dinners at Mr. Ziser’s home. As a long time fan or Mr. Ziser and his work, it was extremely interesting and beneficial to meet his staff, see his operation, and just be able to ask him direct questions.

Here are a few images from the week:

I’ll post a few more on Monday.