So I was faced with a dilemma about 2011.

How to talk about it.  How to show you my work.  How to make you happy to see it.  (I’m still working on that one!  ::grin:: )

Do I talk about the new studio?

Or how we’ve grown in leaps and bounds?

Or my team?

Or the cool projects I’ve gotten to do this year?

Or the traveling?

Or what I’ve learned?

Or what’s new?

…. I could.  But then the blog entry would be 156 pages long and you’d be here until Sunday morning reading this.  And I’m frankly, not that interesting. 

Then I thought,  well, maybe I can post a lot of photographs and talk about each one…but I want you to watch all the way to the end, right? (Yes Tam, all the way to the end.  Gheesh!)   I don’t want you to get overwhelmed, or bored, and stop mid-story.  Fail.

So my dilemma was (and always is, btw) — how can I present images in a way that pushes a little bit?  …in a way that draws you in, makes you think and engages you from start to end?

This is the result.  It was a huge CHALLENGE to put together because (and you’ll see this if and when you watch) it had to flow — so we had to edit down brutally.  That infuriated me — but sometimes…less is more, eh?  Tell me less is more.  So I have forced myself to stop fretting over how much I COULDN’T show you.  Or this would be 4 hours and 37 minutes instead of just a couple.  I am exercising restraint.  Someone had to!

So I am disproportionately proud of the final result.  It’s EXACTLY what I had in mind when I was scribble-scrabbling for the right way to present 2011.

Be prepared.  It made ME cry — and I TOOK the images.

Also — I just had this headshot done by the RIDICULOUS Carla Ten Eyck — and I LOVE. So I’m debuting it just because I think it’s perfectly ME.

So in order to see the review you have to click on my head.  ::laughing::

Or…if you absolutely don’t WANT to click on my head (we can discuss the implications of this later… )  – then click here.

(And please do not judge the fact that I cannot figure out how to embed a video on this blog to SAVE MY LIFE. )   Now on to 2012.  BRING. IT.

These little clips are not new — there are some AMAZING artists who are creating some absolutely INSANE stop motion clips.

Check this out.

And this.

Cool, eh?

How could I NOT want to make one?

All I needed was some victims…erm…willing and wonderful clients who wanted to try something completely different.

Enter:  Melanie and Mark.

Lesson:  Stop Motion takes A LOT LONGER than you will ever expect it too.  Plus, since we hadn’t tried this before — we faced a lot of “unexpected” challenges…nothing a good roll of duct tape couldn’t fix — but still — we were problem solving ON THE SPOT all day long.  ::laughing and shaking head::

Here’s our final product.  To put it into context — Melanie and Mark watched fireworks on their first date…and our challenge was to incorporate that experience with the theme of their wedding “Van Gogh’s Starry Night”.  Yeah, right?  FUN!!

Hope you LOVE this.  It was AMAZING to put together and thank goodness I have an amazing team working with me!!

I did my best to embed the link here — but being less proficient that I thought and VERY IMPATIENT — you have to click the picture.  But then it will be awesome.  I promise.

Stop Motion Save the Date

Ashley and Gil got married at the end of July at the Genesee Valley Club — an amazing and beautiful venue.  It was a perfect day and I was ready to go with my cracker jack team of support in the form of uber talented Jessica Weiser who came in from Maine a couple of times this summer to help me — and Erich Camping who tagged along to do some video and playful shots.

When all that mixes together – how can you have anything BUT the most amazing wedding?  Ashley worked super hard to pull ALL of the details together, Stacy K Floral put together GORGEOUS yellow center pieces and bouquets.

Because the venue was the location for both the ceremony and the reception, Ashley and Gil opted to have a first look — to see each other ahead of time and do most of the portraits before the wedding.  It was an amazing choice.  When a couple builds in enough time to REALLY get photographs — that’s when we can all play.  And oh my goodness, play we did.  Ashley was a champ — despite a deep fear of bees (farm on a hot day in July = bees) she and Gil ROCKED out the photographs — and that was before the real action of the day began.

A note about the wellies.  Ashley early on mentioned that she grew up on a horse farm — can you imagine me NOT getting excited?  So I SUGGESTED that having pics in a barn with wellies would be an absolute DREAM — and Ashley LISTENED!  She got these for a bridal shower gift — and I about cried when I saw them.  Truly — trusting your photographer and being willing to try things because of that trust = amazing.

Grey Likes Weddings Blog agreed when they published this wedding as an amazing use of grey and yellow — see more about it here.  We couldn’t agree more!!

We were off to the most gorgeous wedding at the aforementioned Genesee Valley Club.  Now I am a complete nerd when it comes to emotion.  If you see me photographing a wedding – -don’t LOOK.  Most likely I will be crying my eyes out.  This one – I really needed some kleenex.  ::grin::  Happiness + Loving Family and Friends + Wedding = Complete Bliss.  An excellent ceremony delivered by Pastor Jack (as usual!)!

The reception was beautiful and I had so much fun with everyone.  Truly an amazing blending of two totally cool families.

And the waiting part?  We knew that this wedding was going to be published — so we couldn’t share on the internets until it showed up — which it did on Friday!  We couldn’t be happier.  Ashley did an amazing job pulling everything together and we all had a TOTAL blast working with everyone!  A special shout out to Jessica and Erich for helping me document this PERFECT day!

Finally — I HAVE to share this.  (Sorry Ash).  Best Cake Moment. EVER.  Watch it and tell me you can’t just hear Ashley tell Gil — “please don’t put cake on my face”…and then the consequences which are hilarious. I was laughing so hard I could barely hold the camera still!

Take an extra 10 seconds.  It’s totally worth it.    Link:  The Cake Boss.

Thanks to everyone who made this an amazing experience:  and remember I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

very rarely do I mix and cross over these groups with each other.  So…since I thought it might be interesting to push everyone into one slideshow (read:  laaazzzyy ::laughing::) — so that there’s a record of 2009 visually all together in one place.  It’s pretty cool.

Some images you’ve seen…some you haven’t.  And no, this isn’t EVERYONE who I worked with this year — that slideshow would be about 4000 hours long (not really — but I wanted to fit it into one song – -so this is my best shot)…so I pulled images that appealed to me TODAY.  If I worked on a slideshow tomorrow — it would be completely different.  So…gather what you want about my mood today — here is 2009 in 4 minutes.  Put your seatbelt on please.

Click on the image.  Ra ra ah ah ah….

Here we are.  The absolute HEART of busy season.  I don’t know if you know this about me — but I follow over 500 blogs daily.  (I know, right?  Srsly.)  I don’t read them every day — but I do know this — that right now is when you find your favorite bloggers — photographers especially — sort of trail off into silence…or a post begging you to understand how busy they are.  ::grin::

So I am blogging to tell you:  I am busy.  I am blogging.  And I am here.  Crazed.  But here.

This week (okay.  last week.  I am a wee bit behind in most things in my life.  ::grin::).

Here’s all the fun stuff I got to do:

Jess and I re-wrote the FAQ section on the blog.  That sounds boring, doesn’t it?  But truly, it was fun to work with Jess on it and fun to see it all come together so awesomely (is that a word?)!

I put together some FUN AND CRAZY WEDDING SLIDESHOWS for Kelly and Dan,  Brooke and Dave, and Bethany and Patrick.  But only check them out if you’re serious.  My slideshows are long and elaborate and I am in love with every single one of them.  Also – let me know what you think — cuz I’m still working on a format…

A 70th birthday party with a PUPPY and BOYS and LAKE and SAND.  Could the day have been more perfect?  I think not.  It was so much fun!

Seniors.  If you are looking at my photographs and thinking – wow.  I love those  – I need Tammy to take MINE ( or my son/daughter or my neighbor who’s a senior or the girl in Ontario) — my answer:  get.on.the.calendar.  My sessions are booking so fast my head is spinning.  But there’s still some.  Grab one.  that’s all I’m saying.

And for the record:  when did seniors get so sophisticated and beautiful?  I know.  a definite fact.  That I NEVER looked so good.  And my senior pictures?  Big ol’ zit right in the middle of my nose.  The Rudolph Series.  Nice.  ::laughing::

An AMAZING WEDDING with two families that were beyond wonderful.  And a couple of silly fun incidents (hello — the priest almost fell on me!) that made taking photographs EXTRA fun!

A guitarist with dreams of making it big and writing his own music.  Rock on!

A family of girls so beautiful that I could NOT take ONE bad picture.  Not one.

Did I mention the PUPPY yet?  OMG.

I love this time of year.  One of my photo buddies said — you know Tam, you use sun flare A LOT — but somehow…I never get tired of it!  Right?!  I NEVER get tired of it!  So stay OUT SUNSHINE!

Here’s my recap in the VIZZUUUAAALLLL:

Stacy’s Reception was at Artisan Works — and if you haven’t taken the time to go there — GO. Just…Go. It’s indescribably beautiful. Louis, Victoria and their team made everything run smoothly and gorgeously.

Many many thanks to Rachel from Merge Weddings for being an awesome 2nd shooter — and for taking care of me while I’m doing my usual “she never stops during a wedding” thang…

Without further ado — I give you the slideshow from one of the most incredible weddings I have ever attended or been a part of. Thanks you guys — you know I love you!

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Click here.

How cute are they?

Love!