Meredith...

A baptism, christening or dedication is an important event in most any religion, so when my friend Sarah asked me to photograph her daughter’s baptism this past weekend (during what she affectionately called the “bling Mass…a reference to the gold vestments worn this time of year) ”, I was quite humbled. I recalled the occasion of my own children’s baptisms and the photos our family members crowded around us to take (full of red-eye and camera shake). I remembered how Eddie slept through the entire event (even while the water was poured over his head) and how Emma was his polar opposite, screaming throughout (she may have emptied out the first couple pews).

I saw a tremendous opportunity in recording Meredith’s special event. “Why not approach it like a wedding”?, I thought to myself. There are plenty of similar details…from the church architechture, to the oils, and the baptismal stole and readings, to the family that has gathered together from points near and far. A baptismal or christening gown has all the elegance of a wedding gown, so why not strive to capture the event in much the same way? Well, that’s what just what I did!

I realize as I write this post that today is actually Meredith's parent's anniversary! Well, I thought about it the other day and then my memory was jogged again today after reading Sarah's blog entry! So a huge Happy Anniversary to both of you! It's been such a joy to know you and we are honored to have you as our friends! You deserve all the best that life has to offer! May you have many, many more years together...

Patricia and John

What a beautiful wedding Patricia and John had! They were married in September at Grace Baptist Church in Westerville and a reception was held at the fabulous Westerville Community Center. Most of us are familiar with the center's Aquatic facility and fitness area, but it's a wonderful location for a wedding reception too! Hardwood floors, arched windows and an outdoor terrace make it a great place for photos! Unfortunately, some thunderstorms rolled in shortly after the reception began, so we weren't able to get the outdoor photos like we had hoped, but there was plenty going on inside!

The wedding was expertly orchestrated by Wedding Planner, Cindi Gremling. Interesting side note: Cindi and I realized we were both working with Patricia when her son and daughter-in-law bought the house next to us this past summer...Talk about a small world! If you'd like to see more about Cindi and her organization, Girls With Attitude, visit her site here: http://www.girlswithattitude.org/

Anyone that knows me and my shooting style knows that I am a huge fan of black and white photography, so I really had to fight the urge to convert more of these. In any event. here are some of my favorites from the day!

The detail on the gown was stunning!

The first dance...I had always wanted to try this shot with the manual focus and slow shutter speed...I think it turned out pretty neat! And check out that cake!

I knew they made a great couple the minute I met them...

Congratulations Patricia and John! Thank you for letting us share in your big day!

Amanda and Michael

Amanda and Michael were married this past spring (before I started blogging), and after visiting with Michael's mom this weekend I felt compelled to go back through their images and post a few of my faves!

It's worth noting that Michael's mother is a friend of mine and a former co-worker...so I felt like I had known Michael forever by the time his wedding day came around!

They were married May 5th, at West Jefferson United Methodist Church and a reception was held at the London Senior Center. They were truly a great couple to work with and so much fun to shoot! The weather cooperated beautifully so we were able to get some great outdoor shots too!

The flowers...

The Church...

The Couple...

My friend and assistant for the day, Teresa shot this one while I was getting some pics of the guys...I love this one!

A Dot Com Christmas

When did it get to be the week before Thanksgiving? Someone once told me that as we get older, the years go by faster. I was about 10 at the time and one revolution of the earth around the sun seemed to take an eternity...I couldn't wait for time to start moving at warp speed (so I could have my next birthday party sooner)! Now, just as with so many other things, I should have been careful what I wished for!

So the Christmas season will soon be upon us whether we're ready or not! And that leads me to conduct a little informal poll...How many of you do your shopping online and how many hit the "brick and mortar" stores? Feel free to give reasons too! Is it the convenience factor, is it getting the energy and excitement of the season and the other shoppers at the mall? Personally, I tried a little early shopping just yesterday and got so frustrated at the narrow aisles I had to announce to my husband it's looking like a "dot com" Christmas again this year!

One gift my family can count on from me this year is photo gifts (yeah, really...) in one form or another. I've heard people refer to computers as the "digital shoebox", meaning that we get our photos off our digital cameras an onto our hard drives and never look at them again. Maybe we make CD's, but the vast majority of our photos never get printed, let alone made into an album or a scrapbook. People often say that in the event of a disaster, their photos are one thing they would want to make sure they could recover. If those photos are all stuck in a computer though, it greatly reduces the likelihood that they could be recovered. And make no mistake...a hard drive crash (especially on a laptop) is a major disaster! This is why I am defending and promoting the use of albums in all forms!

While I create custom-made albums for weddings, there are literally tons of other easy-to-use consumer album design products out there. Everything from snapfish to picaboo to shutterfly and creative memories. Whether you make one album to highlight a year, or an album for every birthday party, vacation or trip to the zoo we need to make sure our memories are well preserved. Stay tuned...I plan on creating an album from each manufacturer and doing side-by-side comparisons! It should be fun...and all for the sake of research!

I should be keeping pretty busy in the coming weeks...I'm hoping to post some photos from a couple recent weddings, I'm shooting a baptism for baby Meredith right after Thanksgiving, and then proceeding into the Photo Christmas Card Season (which I love by the way)! And maybe I'll even get some shopping in too...better hurry though, the time's gonna fly!

Until I get the weddings photos posted, these are a few shots I took during a hike through the Big Darby State Park just as the leaves were first starting to turn...the second shot reminds me of the opening credits of "Little House On the Prairie"!

It's Alive...It's Alive!!!

Ok...what I meant to say was, "My new site has finally gone live"! Check it out over on www.claypoolphoto.com

A big "Thank You" to everyone who helped it all come together! Especially my husband and children for their patience with me while I obesessed over the photos, the music, the colors and the order everything should go in!

I'll have more to write and more pics to post later...Right after I finish editing the images from this weekend's wedding where I was second shooting! I can tell you right now though, this was an amazing wedding and sooo much fun to shoot! Can't wait to share!

Miscellaneous Randomness

Wow! It's funny, I've had these thoughts floating around in my head for days now about what I'm going to blog about and I must admit...I'm suffering from some serious writers' block! I've become a bit of a blogging addict lately, and gotten some great ideas about what to write about and I've been shooting so much that I've got a ton of photos to post. I've even experienced this phenomenon where the mascara on my "shooting eye" wears off faster than on the other one (maybe I just need a better mascara). Any other photographers have that problem??? For some reason though, I can't seem to get it all "on paper" (or is it "on the LCD or CRT screen" now). Maybe it's the lack of sleep...

In any event, we finally had the pleasure of meeting little Miss Meredith this past weekend! What can I say, she is absolutely beautiful! And she's so mellow too (not to jinx her parents or anything, but...). It's so easy to forget that my own kids were ever that tiny, and not so long ago either. It makes you think sometimes about how fast time flies. Like a wise man once said, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you might miss it." (More on that later).

Here are a couple of my favorite photos from Meredith's photo shoot...

On Saturday Emma, my mother and myself met friends of ours for "tea" at Miss Mollie's Tea House in downtown Grove City. If you haven't been there, it's definately worth checking out! It's decorated in the Victorian fashion with velvet sofas, toille curtains and lace doilies. They serve great teas, soups, quiches and baked goods. And, it was a great place for a photo of the two little princesses for the day!

Miss Mollie's has a great party room available for private parties, Bridal Showers and Red Hat Parties too! I wish I could post a link, but I haven't been able to find a site for them!

In other news, my new site should be live in just a couple days now! My friend and an amazing photograher Chantal Stone (http://www.chantalstone.com/) took my picture for the "about me" section.

We met at a Starbuck's and I had to chuckle to myself as I sat there thinking about the last time I had a camera lens aimed at me. Chantal asked me why I was laughing during our shoot and I had to tell her...Not counting my wedding photos, the last time was for my senior portraits. It was so comical to me simply because I could remember exactly what I was wearing (suede skirt and jewel-buttoned blouse), where we did the shoot, (Jeffrey Mansion) what the weather was like that day (overcast).

This morning, I got curious and pulled out those pictures. Yes, like I said I remembered the outfit...but I totally forgot about the big hair! Gotta love big hair! Maybe someday it will make a comeback??? I kinda can't believe I'm doing this, but... (this will be the test of whether or not anyone really reads my blog, huh?) :)

All I can say is, "Thank You, Chantal for making this shoot more pleasant than the last!"

Another great place for big hair (and a good laugh), 80's movies! This is a great clip I found while looking for something else on YouTube the other night. Maybe it's because of the british accent, but I love this stuff! I'll leave you all with his final words 'till next time.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0_KEXHGkN2I

PS...if anyone out there knows how to get these videos to appear on your blog...are you willing to share?

Tea For Two...

So it's been a while since my last post, but there's a good reason. I've been putting the finishing touches on my new website, finally going to see baby Meredith and family (photos to come soon), and shooting a really neat wedding with my friend, Chantal Stone (http://www.chantalstone.com/). I hope to be able to write more later, but I'm already running late to pick little Princess Emma up from her new preschool, so I've got to be quick!

Here's a quick photo of Eddie out on the farm... and one of Emma at the tea party she went to with her BFF, Ashley this weekend.