A Country Wedding

Ok, this past Sunday (6/27/10)I was asked to shoot a small wedding for an old friend. His mother was getting remarried and they planned a small gathering up at the Walpack Inn, in Walpack Center, NJ. I had recognized the name of the town right away from an article in Weird NJ that I read a several years back. Apparently back in the 60's the government had an idea to build a damn and create a massive man made lake.To accomplish this they had to bulldoze whole communities, and that meant buying residents out of their homes at a fraction of what there property was worth. When residents resisted they started seizing land on both the NJ and PA sides of the Delaware River. In the end the project never went through, and Wallpack Center is one of the few towns that were mostly abandoned but some structures were never bulldozed.
To get to the Walpack Inn, my trusty GPS took me deep into the woods of Wallpack past an ancient cemetery, over a rickety looking one lane bridge and finally into the center of the old town itself where the old Post Office (now a museum)and all the other buildings are all the same eery shade of white. It was a beautiful ride, but I'm glad it was during the day. :)The Walpack Inn was amazing. Very rustic and peaceful. The view from the dining area was breath taking. It was THE perfect spot to have a wedding.It was rather hot but every now and then a nice mountain breeze would ease the pain of the heat.
The ceremony was short and sweet and afterwards the family gathered for dinner in the dining room.
I swear I spent less than an hour of shooting, but it was long enough for me to know that I have to go back.

Engagement Party

Me and the family drove up to Stanhope today for my friend Veronica's engagement Party.This is a picture of the happy couple enjoying some delicious cake. My daughter (a budding photographer herself)took some shots of the centerpieces, and the different flowers that were in them.

Long Branch Portraits With a Purpose Photo Shoot

I love being a photographer and I'm so glad that I decided to turn my life long hobby into a business. Because of this, I have been finding myself going to places that I've never been. I'm quickly learning that you don't have to fly off to some far off exotic location to find beauty. Sometimes, it's right in your own backyard. This past Sunday I had my first Portraits with a Purpose photo shoot. What is Portraits with a Purpose? Well, you may or may not know that I'm walking in the Avon 2-Day Walk for Breast Cancer in October. In order to help raise money for the walk, I started offering a photo package at a discounted price so that people could get some quality photos and donate to a worthy cause at the same time. I have to say this has got to be one of the best ideas I ever had. I get to combine my two passions;taking pictures and raising awareness about Breast Cancer.

I got up bright and early to head down to Exit 105 off of the Parkway (Garden State that is...)to the lovely Long Branch. It was only about 10am when we arrived, so it wasn't too hot, and there weren't that many people on the beach. We found a spot on the beach that had a cluster of black rocks right at the edge of the water.It was perfection. I did manage to get some pictures of the rocks and the beach. These are a couple of the shots that I took yesterday. This lovely lady is going to be walking with me in October, and she was so excited to jump at the opportunity to get some nice photos taken for a good cause.Within an hour I had taken all the shots I needed, and then we headed down the boardwalk for some lunch at Stewart's. All in all it was a great day, and I plan on heading down to Long Branch again soon, maybe with my kids next time.

Road Trip to VA

Ok, so I wish I was so exciting that I can say 'Road Trip' and then follow it up with crazy interesting pictures from my journey.........Umm, I have three kids, so exciting means nobody crying about having to go to the bathroom therefore making the trip 10 minutes shorter.

I did however manage to get a few shots of some interesting stuff around my Aunts house. She happens to be very talented at interior design, and when I walked into her house I was just itching to pull out my camera. .
In her sitting room she had a collection of crosses on the wall, and the afternoon sun was hitting the wall just right. Like I said, she is very talented, so it wouldn't surprise me at all if she hung those crosses in that exact spot, knowing how the sun comes through in that spot. On the back porch she had an assortment of old glass bottles just hanging out on a shelf. I just thought they looked so cool. I messed with it to give it that really old fashioned feel. I have a few more pictures to share, but that's for another day. :).

Welcome To My New Blog!

Hey there! Ok, so this is new for me, but I've been told on several occasions that I should have my own blog, and talk about my pictures. Hhhhmmm, maybe people are sick of listening to me talk about my pictures?? lol

Oh well, whatever the case I've decided to give it a go.Like I said, I'm not really sure how this is supposed to work, so we'll just play it by ear.