One of my assignments this month for Valley Homes and Style magazine was Rocky Ridge Farm. My objective this morning was to drop Diana off at the studio a little early and head over. It’s about 10 minutes from the studio. Well, I was late.
I was late – you’ll like this story – because there was a tree in the road from my house to the studio, which is normally about a ten minute ride. On River Road, part of the route to the studio, a large tree had fallen onto the road. We pass by that tree every single day. The tree is (was) huge. What’s worse is that the tree fell onto some trucks that are owned by the Valley Tree Experts and totalled two of them. Now I feel for the guy who lost his trucks. I’ve actually met him a few times. I’m sure that insurance will replace the trucks. But don’t you find it ironic that a TREE fell onto the trucks of a company that cuts down trees? ;-
Anyway, once I got to Rocky Ridge, all was well. Once the introductions were done, I got to work on shooting the interiors. This is one of my favorite shots of the living room.
After doing the interiors, we wanted to capture some of the elements of the farm life. The owners raise goats, cows and chickens. They also have bees for honey. The children were very cooperative and offered to hold a couple of the baby goats for a photo. Shortly after this, they got into the enclosure with two calves, one of which chased them – much like the family dog might chase you around the yard.
After awhile and introductions to the chickens, the owners talked about their plans to renovate another abandoned farm in Jefferson County. This last shot was to satisfy my obsessive need to take pictures of flowers in really good lighting situations. Enjoy!
Oh, and look for the upcoming issue of Valley Homes and Style. We should have two layouts in there. The magazine is available at our studio and many places around the area. It’s distributed free of charge.
Tony
So I’m editing pictures this afternoon, and came across this one.
Some captions that came up:
“Am I on the right base?”
“Did I hit the ball?”
“How can I be out if I can’t see the base?”
What would you add as a caption?
So we had a lovely session today. After a long day of moving files and sorting dance images, it was very welcome relief. As always, I never know what to expect when someone shows up for their sitting, outside of usually knowing how many people there are.
Today when Charlotte arrived with her two girls, I knew it was going to be pretty wonderful.
Charlotte was putting together a Father’s Day gift for her husband (Bill) and brought along the family dog (Chloe) as part of the extended family. We started in the studio with some fun shots, and then moved to the park for more pictures.
Of course, at these ages they are just precious. Abbi and Sofi were great at posing and were two of the most cooperative and polite little people we’ve had in our studio recently. And with all the little names and things that made Abbi laugh so hard, it was no wonder these were also two of the happiest children we’ve seen in recent memory.
Because we can print small quantities of orders in-house, we agreed to print a small part of her order so that she would have it ready by Father’s Day.
I don’t think I’ve laughed so much at two little girls (and one pretty crazy mom) in a long while. Thank you, Stebbins girls.
Tony
Tuesday night was a lot of fun. I went to Hedgesville High School to take action photos of the Hancock division of the Academy of Dance. When things got started, a number of the Martinsburg division dancers also participated in this dress rehearsal for the Hancock school. It worked out well to give the performance an overall length that is worthwhile for the students.
Here are some of the images. The older girls are from the Martinsburg school.
This is Cassie, and I’m pretty sure this is her last year at Academy of Dance. A graceful dancer with a lot of promise.
These little ones were very cute, as a medley of religious-based songs played as they showed off their ballet skills.
Jenna is the dance studio owner’s (Becky) older daughter. I think she’s also just graduated high school. Becky has all of her children in dance.
These were the cutest kids of the night. They came out to some choo-choo music in a Conga-style line and everyone was just cracking up. They did a few dance steps while out there, then got back into the choo-choo formation and waved as they went off stage. Made the whole night worth it. 🙂
There are some very talented kids with Academy of Dance. Each year we’ve photographed all of their stage action photos in two rehearsal nights. The second one is tonight and about twice as many numbers are included.
Hope you enjoyed the show. 😉
So, today’s my birthday. Unlike many people, I don’t see birthdays as a day off. It was the day I was born some years ago, and a celebration is certainly welcome.
But I also do not dread my birthday. We all get older, right? There’s nothing you can do about aging… so go with the flow. I feel a few signs of the aging joints from time to time, but I’m far from worrying about things like wrinkles and age spots. The biggest concern I have about aging is not being able to eat all the foods I enjoy so well. But if I want to hang around a little while longer, I’ll watch my diet.
This is nothing more than a little tidbit on how birthdays for me have been over the years. As a child, I remember a big party at one of my birthdays. That’s not to say there weren’t more, but I don’t remember them (one of those signs of aging). As I grew older, I found the parties less and less important, but that recognition was always welcome. I’d not had a big party of any kind, even at my 30th birthday – which was marked by coworkers with a chocolate cake and a few people coming and going.
But my 40th birthday was different in a big way. We were just building our new studio in Shepherdstown when Diana said we ought to stop by and see how things were going with the walls and stuff. It was an exploration type of visit if you will. Since we didn’t have a door where it is today yet, we had to go into the building through the front door. The owner had left a key for us and we helped ourselves. I was already anticipating seeing the progress when we walked in, only to be shocked by the cries of 15 or so people shouting “Surprise” and “Happy Birthday!” My darling wife had pulled one over on me. I was none the wiser. It was a nice little party with just the right number of people, food (always a plus), and presents (also a favorite). It was a very nice birthday.
Today I’m 47. And it was marked appropriately with a very special card from my wife, a small cake which I shared with my employees, and frequent hugs and kisses from Diana. I do have to work, though. I’ll be doing one of my favorite things – taking pictures of children. I’ll share some photos with you later.
Next year about this time I’ll be another year older, perhaps wiser, and I will have forgotten at least one more thing. But it will be another day, marked in time. And I’ll smile at the fun. Hopefully, I’ll get to photograph children.
Tony
You ever start a project that you’re very excited about, and you are still excited about it half way through, and then at some point you wonder “why did I get into this?” While I haven’t gotten to that point with my house painting, I am seeing things on my house that I would never have known about if I hadn’t been within two feet of them. For example, did you know that sideboards on a house only overlap and that there is NO seal between one and the other? Does their need to be?
Anyway, we didn’t paint on Sunday. I was so sore and tired from my twelve-hour day on Friday and a long day of sittings on Saturday. We did go to a movie, though. Saw “The DaVinci Code,” which I really enjoyed. There were a couple of slow spots, but they made a lot of sense in the end. We also did our weekly shopping. Nothing spectacular there. Afterward we went to Jerry’s Subs for a Dijon Chicken and an Angus sub. I wasn’t impressed with the value (the size is kind of small for the $$$), but they tasted pretty good. Also, Jerry’s needs to reconsider how they build their sandwiches. They put the veggies on the deepest part of the inside of the roll, then the meat and sauce. It makes things really messy and the meat falls out and onto your lap – not fun at 55mph. The best sandwich builders of national chains is Subway in my opinion, although they sometimes soak the bread too much with the sauce. Quiznos does a pretty good job, but their meats are sometimes more fatty than others.
Today we were lazy getting started and just before we did, Tari Jo called and needed two more pictures for her ads. We went into the studio where Diana printed them out while I went and got gas for the mower and ran another errand.
When we got back to the house, Diana put a second coat on the back door. I finished edging each of the windows on the back of the house (except for our bathroom window which has a considerably large Holly bush underneath which needs to be trimmed). I also edge-trimmed the door on the side porch, but that’s the side of the house that’s going to need two layers of paint – I’m hoping that the power sprayer will be sufficient in one pass for that, though.
We quit early because we’re both sore and tired. I’ll pick up my task on Thursday, since Tuesday and Wednesday nights I’m shooting dance action photos at Academy of Dance. I look forward to the dance action each year. All of the dance studios we shoot have very different approaches and styles. Of course, the similarity is the real reason I do it – the kids. 🙂
See you all later this week!
Since starting the Impressions service, we’ve converted many images into stunning pieces of art… Diana’s department I assure you.
Before you continue with this entry, though, go see the original picture of Jane on her wedding day, getting ready for the ceremony —> PhotoGeek: Jane and Rob
Now, take a peek at the same image with Impressions applied.
See what I mean? The image is the same. The difference is so dramatic it seems like a completely different image.
Diana has made a huge difference in what our studio can do for our clients. And that has inspired me to be even better at my job, so she can be even more creative in hers.
Zach worked for us for about three years as a sports photographer. He was pretty good at it, too. When he left, it was a blow to our sports department, but we couldn’t be too upset because he was making a better life for himself.
I’ve never gotten the whole story on how Danielle came into his life, but for a long time I knew her only as his “Snowflake.” He lit up when he talked about her, so I knew his feelings were more serious than a casual relationship.
They announced their engagement a few months ago and sent us a nice “Save The Date” card, opting to have us as their guests – which honestly is fine with me (I like being the critic of other photographers once in awhile). They did come to us for their engagement photos and we couldn’t have been happier.
Her bright smile and his happy eyes made for a great pairing. Like Monica and Joe earlier in the day, Zach and Danielle were happy to take photos in the studio and down in the park (I LOVE that place!) There were about 50 images, and this is just one that stood out (for them and for me).
Zach and Danielle are getting married September 2, 2006 in Gettysburg. That is the day before mine and Diana’s anniversary, so it will be kind of nice to have a wedding to go to and celebrate someone else’s wedding. 😉
You all have a nice weekend! If you’re good, I’ll take some pictures of the painting (no laughing, please) and post them.
Stephanie Smith has been a very good client of ours for some time. When she knew that her daughter would be in town with her grandchildren, she set up a portrait sitting in her own garden with them. It’s a lovely garden, complete with a sandbox, sunning area, what I might call a “tea spot” and lots of lovely growing things (also called plants). 🙂
Anyway, Tucker is the oldest and he was instrumental in making the session a success. He’s shown here holding his 3-month-old baby sister, Charlotte (who is referred to as Charlie). Cameron is in the blue shirt, is two years old and was barely able to sit long enough for this and a few other shots of him and his siblings.
Stephanie and Tiffany (Stephanie’s daughter) were great throughout and I enjoyed showing their photos in the studio. Diana did some great mods on a couple of the images to make them just perfect for the sizes that Stephanie wanted.
We love the local park, and the spring house at Morgan’s Grove gives us an opportunity to combine two great faces with a little bit of rundown architecture.
Monica and Joe are getting married on August 19, 2006. They are both in the healthcare profession and are just great people. Joe has a lot of stories to tell, and Monica listens a lot – how perfect are they!?
We did quite a few shots of them, but this quickly became a fan favorite for all concerned. We’re looking forward to photographing their wedding later this summer.
