Rochester NY Family Photographer
Four humans and four dogs?!
An absolute riot!!!
The Darlings were such an inspiring, close-knit family and a hands-down hilarious group. They along with their four furry friends had me laughing so hard I was almost crying the entire time I was shooting.
4 humans + 4 dogs officially = an incredibly fun family shoot!
And….and a great deal of teamwork to get everyone looking at the camera at once.
Thing is – I’ve learned this from Lulu – when you’re a dog the simplest things are sometimes the most thrilling things in the world…
GRASS!!!! OMG!!!! EVERYONE’S SITTING ON THE GRASS!!!!! OMG!!!!!
It’s so exciting.
But after much running around, calling, cooing, cajoling and otherwise convincing we finally got everyone to look…
Well…
…almost. 
It all began with a photograph. Which is funny because normally sessions END in photographs…
But this one began with a photograph. Not my photograph, and not just any photograph…THIS photograph:
The Stolkas celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this year. FIFTY YEARS!!! HOW COOL IS THAT!?!? And their daughter contacted us for some family portraits of them with her and her sister while everyone was in town for the anniversary. And she knew she wanted to bring this photograph which of them on their wedding day. And I loved this idea!
When I shoot families, I think it is really important to make the shoot more than just images of people in a place. Family is history, it is love, it is the nitty-gritty and the laughter of every day, and I think that every family should incorporate something that is all about THEM into their shoot to really capture WHO they are. So I loved the wedding photo plan. Then we got talking and Helena said that one thing that her parents love to do together is bike…so we brought that into the shoot…
It was incredible to see the closeness between the Stolkas and their daughters…and the laughter!!!! This was more than a celebration of FIFTY (did I mention 50?) years of marriage, it was a celebration of family, of love and of those moments together that we can often take for granted in our busy lives. And we laughed SO much!
Happy Anniversary Stolkas! Here’s to many more years of family and fun!!!
So…yes. Things are CRAZY around here at Tammy Swales Photography. We are right in the thick of the craziest part of summer and (with the help of an unmentionable amount of caffeine) we are LOVING it!!! Myself and the team have been hard at work, but we realized in a rare moment of breathing recently, that we have been surrounded by some fantastic people. Seriously, I have the most fantastic clients!!! I feel so blessed. And a special shout out to Kristi Hedberg who was a FABULOUS second shooter at both Julianne and Jessica’s weddings!
So…back to work, but first, here’s a snippet of some of that fantastic-ness for you, and a taste of what we’ve been up to lately. August, here we come!!!! And frankly, how can it be August already?!
Aww, heck…why not two snippets?!?!
So here’s the thing about engagement sessions. They are SO. MUCH. FUN. I love how laid back they are. There is so much raw emotion at weddings. So much love, so much tears. But at engagement sessions you’ve got two people, completely in love, and it’s just them in their normal clothes and everyday habitats. There’s no crowd, no gowns, no wedding party, no pressure. Just a boy and a girl (and a crazy redhead yelling directions). And it’s all about THEM. About the love they share and what makes them such a unique and incredible couple. I can’t even tell you how much fun this is for me to watch!!!!!! And how much we LAUGH!!! I’ve literally come home from engagement shoots with my face sore from laughing so much. It really is fantastic to see couples open up and be their crazy, playful selves.
All that said, I’ve had a MAD number of engagement shoots lately. What an amazing way to start off the summer!!! I am PSYCHED beyond belief to shoot every one of these weddings. I am overwhelmed by how each of my couples “get” me and how I work..which is the MOST important thing in getting great photographs.
Sometimes crazy fun engagement shoots take a little extra maneuvering, and my couples really step up to the plate. Literally! Valerie had to do some serious pre-planning to get us into Frontier Field so she and Keith could incorporate their love of baseball into their engagement images. But what a great experience that was!!! And Jessica and Clark impressively managed to get their ENORMOUS (and gorgeous!) dog all the way up to my forth floor studio without event! Talk about hard core…
And Stephanie and Micah were right there when I started yelling “AH! There! Light! Underpass! Run! Now! Go!”
And we NAILED it!!!! We make a great team. ::grin::
I love my couples and I am SO excited for this summer.
8.11.2010
T – it’s really cool to see how your style is developing and evolving over the years. You continue to inspire me. Seriously.