Jack Hanna show

Highlight from last weekend: Petting a baby kangaroo. (btw...they are supersoft)

Last weekend Jack Hanna visited the State Theatre in Easton and I got to hang out back stage during the show. Hanna is such a nice person and his show is really interesting no matter what age you are.

I didn't get a great shot of the kangaroo... (he was just like a real baby and kept turning his face away from wherever I was)...but I did get some shots of some other awesome animals. Please forgive me if they're not labeled correctly, I was too excited about being so close to actually write down any information.

This is my favorite shot from the day. It kinda cracks me up because I've seen it done so many times with people, and I think it makes you look twice when you realize there's a penguin. I also learned that pretty much any photo of a penguin is hilarious. So it's hard to go wrong.

This guy was a total showoff.

This aardvark and the porcupine after it were two of the coolest animals. And they both made me a bit nostalgic for my little hedgehog Dora, who I had to give away. The aardvark seemed to just be a giant version of her without the spines...both have bad eyesight, constantly twitching noses and general lack of brightness.

Ok. Just craziness to be so close to such an awesome animal. It's like "growing up cheetah" in person. (Great show on Animal Planet...can you tell I'm an animal geek yet?)

Lemur! Less than 1ft. from my lens. Nuff said.

At the end of the show, each of the assistants brought out an animal for kids to see up close.
I love these girls' faces as they check out the vulture.

"Big kid" photo shoot in Bethlehem

Last Sunday I had my first "big kid" photo shoot of the year with two awesome sisters from Bethlehem. It was a great way to spend a beautiful afternoon, and they certainly kept me on my feet!

Only 998 more to go...

Ben and I are folding 1000 paper cranes for our wedding. We finally decided on our wedding colors so now the official folding can begin. His parents sent us a bunch of origami paper for Easter so here are our first cranes in our wedding colors.

To texture or not to texture...

Adding texture to photos seems to be all the rage right now. Since I just figured out how to do it I figured it was worth a try.

I have to give credit to my great subjects here. This shot was totally the big sister's idea, and little sister was all too happy to "run all around all over the stage singing and dancing" while her sister sat on the edge of the stage quiet and serious. More fun photos from this shoot coming on Friday.

Without texture:
With texture:

What do you think of the texture for this photo...love it or hate it?

Happy thoughts

Rainy Mondays are the hardest days...especially when you know they're going to be followed by rainy Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I consoled myself by photographing my blooming clivia and thinking about how soon the outside flowers will be blooming too :)



This plant started as an offspurt from one of my grandmother's plants and this is its first time blooming. It started off all crooked and uneven, but look how well its grown! (I feel like a proud parent, even though I pretty much did nothing but water it once every couple weeks, lol)

Sneak peek for John & Rachael

My Fairmount Photography partner Matt and I did our first engagement shoot together this past weekend. This shoot was rescheduled from a rainy day in February. I felt like we hit the jackpot when I found out that the forecast for the new shoot was a sunny 70 degree day. It was a perfect day for the park, but it seemed like half of Philadelphia felt the same way and we had a lot of trouble finding a spot inside Rittenhouse Square where we didn't feel like we were putting on a show. But John and Rachael were good sports and had some fun exploring the nearby neighborhood where life was a little less crowded. Here are a few of my favorites from the day:

I love that John's shoes match Rachael's dress...plus bonus points for being my favorite color!


Here's one of Matt's pictures:




We actually found a spare bench near the end of the shoot!

Mike & Kara

After getting back home from CT I was anxious to do another photo shoot to solidfy everything I learned from Carla. Luckily I have very obliging friends :) I met up with Mike and Kara at Temple for a photo shoot on Thursday evening. Part of the challenge was seeing a place I was so familiar with in a totally new way in order to make meaningful portraits. Kara and Mike gave me lots of ideas and we had a great time.

I know this photo is pretty familiar, but Kara has such cool eyes, I couldn't resist.

This photo was definitely a collaborative effort and I love how it came out!

This shot had to be done...

Carla Ten Eyck workshop

The best way for me to describe the workshop I attended last Tuesday is "empowering." Carla Ten Eyck is not only an awesome photographer, but a really great teacher as well. We went to a parking garage in Hartford for a photo shoot with Billy and Carol, and even though it was freezing, I feel like all of us got some really great shots. Plus I will definitely never look at a parking garage the same way again!


Billy and Carol are natural models...shooting them was seriously like cheating.





While Billy and Carol did a quick costume change and warmed up, the class checked out our next challenge: the puddle. I took a picture of the rest of the class while they were using me to set up their shots.


Here's what I came up with for the puddle.




Billy brought out his skateboard for our final shots. It's too bad it was so cold, we all would have loved to play in this parking garage some more, but by this time it was getting late and no one could feel their fingers anymore!

Levan & Stephanie

As promised, here are a few of my favorites from my cousin Levan's wedding last month. Despite the rain, snow and hail it was a beautiful day. My aunt and uncle's house is truly breathtaking. They held the ceremony and reception at the house and really kept everything in the family...my uncle wrote the ceremony and performed the wedding, my aunt did all the cooking and I was the photographer. It really gave the whole day a cozy feeling and I'm so happy for Levan and Stephanie. They are so happy together and I wish them all the happiness in the world!






One of their vows was to keep each other laughing, so my cousin pulled this little stunt right before the kiss...






These are the ladies who pulled off all the cooking and setting up. My aunt is in the middle. Don't you love their aprons!