Ahem. May I have your attention please... I have an announcement to make. Karen and Zach are engaged! Oh yeah, that's right. I get to make the official announcement here on the blog. Woohoo!

So, here's the scoop for all you wondering eyes. You might remember that I announced the winners to my Shoot Me For FREE!! contest last month. I had two winners who got their photos and stories up and another winner who was nameless, faceless and story-less. Well, turns out that Zach has been preparing to propose to Karen for a while (got the ring in September), so I had the pleasure of helping him plan a small part of it. I usually don't type much so you can just see photos, but here's a bit of narration for all you inquiring minds...

Once Zach won, we started to plan. Zach knew he wanted to do it soon, that ring had been burning a hole through him for long enough. He decided to do it at Valley Forge, somewhere that Karen spends lots of time running and where he could get her without too much lying. We scouted and found a pretty cool spot near the train station. Amy and I arrived early in our best camoflouge....

Ok, so Amy didn't get any pictures of me, but that one's close enough.

We were sneaky, tip-toeing around the building as Zach got Karen into place. Zach, looking much like a ninja, checked to make sure the photographers were in place and waited for some folks to clear out (If you look closely, behind the guy in the red jacket, you'll see Amy's little green hood popping out. We were both convinced Karen saw us)...

Then once the time was right (and a few Boy Scouts and Park Rangers were looking on nearby), Zach popped the question...

She said yes of course. Who wouldn't? It's Zach after all. Karen even acted surprised, even though she was really hoping it would happen that day. Later I decided that it was good Zach asked when he did, otherwise Karen would have started to wonder why he was waiting so long...

Amy's angle...

Zach eventually told Karen that we were there, and off we headed for our first official immediate-engagment session. Here's some photos...





Amy's shot...


Amy's shot...





Right one is Amy's...

What engagement would be complete without some quick phone calls?...

Amy's shot...

Heyooo! It's Friday, and the start of a wonderfully exciting weekend for us. Hopefully all ya'll had a great week! Yesterday I got a chance to head out and shoot with Andrea, who I photographed last year with her then boyfriend (now fiance) Bill. I've been so thankful for this great weather (at least 'great' for January) lately, so I was so happy to be able to get back while we had the chance. Despite the fact that it wasn't freezing, it still wasn't easy for Andrea to be out there in a dress, so a big internet high-five to her for braving the cold!

Much like shooting Kate the other week, it's remarkable that Andrea has never done this before. You rock girl.

Yo, yo, yo blog stalkers. It's been a whopping 5 days since I've blogged, which is the longest I've gone without posting in quite a while. Winter time brings some long breaks, especially when it gets freezing cold out. Luckily, winter also brings some pretty unique stuff too, like the chance to combine engagement sessions with snowboards. You're going to find out pretty quickly how fun Jenn & Rob are. If the name sounds familiar, it's because they were one of the winners of my Shoot Me for FREE!! contest last month. This isn't that shoot (that's coming in a few months), but since they're getting married soon we needed to take care of some engagement photos first. They brought their A game. End of story.

Before I go, I need to give a big shout out to Bear Creek Resort (which happens to be awesome) and a HUGE FAIL to Camelback (who is now on our naughty list). Oh, and big thanks to my friend (and former client) Rachel for helping me out for the day. Here's an official congrats to you and Kyle on the marriage, only 3 months late... Enjoy the pics!

When you're a small business owner, sometimes it's the little things that get you excited. I have 2 fun little things today. A couple of weeks ago, Amy and I were strolling through the grocery store with our reusable grocery bags, talking about how we needed to buy more gift bags for delivering albums and things like that. That's when the lightbulb flickered and I realized that it was probably a good idea (and much more environmentally friendly) to look into getting some reusable bags myself. So, I researched and found this great California company called 1 Bag at a Time. They were awesome in working with me to get these bags made and are very affordable. Like less than the cost of a large gift bag. If you have a business or just want a bunch of bags for something, check them out!

The other thing I wanted to share is my Formspring page. If you haven't heard of Formspring, it lets you ask anonymous questions to people. I set one up since I often get the same emails from people and photographers. So, feel free to go to Formspring and ask me something (fun questions are better). Before you do, be sure to browse the other answers so you're not repeating. Have a good weekend everybody!

Here's the bags...

There's nothing more exhilerating and tiring than a busy wedding season. On the flip side, there's nothing more boring than sitting in my office catching up during the cold winter. However, winter does allow for a few things I haven't done in months. Namely, checking out some other photographers' work, getting inspired by new ideas, buying (and lusting over) new gear, and having some time to shoot for fun. You'll probably notice a combination of all those things here. I bought some new equipment and needed a test subject. Considering that my other option was my friend Nate in a Speedo, I'd say that I made the right choice.

Thanks to Kate for volunteering to model for me and letting me use their property. It was lots of fun! You wouldn't know it from these photos, but Kate is an amateur. Just volunteered and knocked it out of the park. So, here's something a bit different. Just one camera + one Lens. Hope you like em!...

Oh, and if you get a chance, let me know what you think about this slideshow/gallery as a way to display images. I wanted to throw it out there to you faithful blog stalkers to see which way you'd prefer to stalk. Would you rather scroll through, or have a slideshow/gallery? Let me know in the comments. Thanks!

Hey ya'll... Just a quick note that I had a little writeup featured on the JetSetPilot blog. They're a travel planning company based out of the Philly area. I think you should go to their website and book a vacation there. Since their prices are so good, you'll be able to hire me to go along with you. Everybody wins! Sound good? Thought so...

On another note, here's a quick shout out to 2 wedding blogs who have been hooking me up with some features lately. To you clients of mine, I know how good blogs can be for wasting time, so hop on and find some good ideas. Good details make for good weddings :)

Check out Brenda's Wedding Blog HERE and Landlocked Bride #1, #2 and #3.

More photos coming tomorrow... Hope you're having a good (and warm) week.

This post is mostly so I can link it later, but I wanted to show some images and info about the Flush Mount albums we're offering. This is an album from Christine + Joey's wedding in October. It's pretty sweet :)...

The outer packaging...

There are tons of leather choices for covers...

Our albums have at least 30 (thick) pages and are library bound on the spine...



Interior spreads lay flat and photos bleed off the edges. Makes them look pretty killer...


Page thickness...