Over a year ago, my siblings and I (Jon, Dennis and Debra) started talking about throwing my parents a party to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. Off and on throughout the year, we talked about things, but didn’t really get going until October.
Jon provided the party supplies, including balloons and Rolos (gold foil covered) to weight them down. Dennis provided the sparkling cider for the toast and much of the muscle to move things around during setup (his son, Aaron and daughters, Ashely and Audrey), and Debra provided the cake and food.
Along with Diana’s help, I produced a DVD slideshow that featured photos from their very very early years, along with sound that we played during the dinner.
Our gift to them was a large print of us four siblings. Interesting story, that. Diana took the original picture of me, Jon (who lives in Baltimore) and Debra (who lives in Sterling VA). Since Dennis lives in Michigan, we asked a photographer there to take some photos of him and send us the files. He did so and Diana worked her magic and stripped the photo into the picture of the three of us to create a four-sibling picture. It was a beautiful photo.
When we got to the church where we were throwing the party, everyone almost immediately pitched in and started setting up tables, chairs and everything else. After about two hours of setting up and testing the audio/video equipment, everyone parted ways to get ready (Dennis was staying in a hotel and Debra had to take Andy, her son, to a doctor’s appointment).
When we got back, we finished the setups and the kitchen staff was preparing the meal. Everything was in place.
To pull this off as a surprise, we had to keep our presence a secret. So all of us and our families (except for Debra) had to hide in a back room. I found a chair that was about a third of the size of any other chair… sitting in it for two minutes was about 90 seconds too much.
When we all appeared at the opening, mom and dad were visibly moved. We each gave a little toast which was followed by dinner, music and some fellowship. Each of us spent a little time talking with mom and dad. It was very nice.
After dinner, we started the DVD, which chronicled their growing up years, their early marriage and many of the memories of the kids and growing up. At the end of the DVD, the last image is the one of us four kids that Diana had taken. When the full-size version of the picture was presented, mom and dad both were very moved. I was pretty emotional myself, just seeing how happy they were.
You see, it was the first time in their wedding history that they’ve had a formal picture of all four of their kids.
We spent the rest of the evening taking a family picture, which I’ll share at another time, then going to their home and exchanging a few gifts and talking about more growing up memories. It was one of the most enjoyable visits I’ve had with all my siblings, their spouses and children.
I will never forget it.
Christmas is one of my three favorite times of year. The other two are my birthday and my anniversary. Interestingly, these are also three times of year I get presents. 🙂
We left for Robesonia, PA right after the studio closed on Saturday. Diana’s mother and sister live there and we were headed up for the holidays. I love visiting my mother-in-law, so no jokes about that.
We exchanged gifts and had the big Christmas dinner on the 24th. I got some really nice gifts, including a really nice black hat, some new shoes (the AT version of Crocs), and a few other things.
On Christmas Day we all mostly just relaxed. It was good to have a day to just chill out.
We left for home on the 26th, making a few stops along the way.
Just before we left on our holiday week off, I did a little more work for the latest issue of Valley Homes and Style.
Our first destination was the Yellow Brick Bank and head chef Karl. One of their creations is a collapsed chocolate souffle. This one was adorned with fresh whipped cream, raspberries (which are out of season) and some mints to dress up the vision. Karl spent some time with us to explain why seasonal foods are so important to a good menu in his restaurant. As someone who both enjoys cooking and enjoys eating, I was fascinated.
Here’s his creation.
Then we visited a house in Martinsburg. The owners there have spent a lot of time renovating this old treasure, and showed us around for quite awhile. He wanted to show us everything, but we ran short on time. I took this gem in their beautiful front room. Email me if you’d like to see some more images from this house, or just check the latest issue of Valley Homes and Style.
Yes… I said horses.
A gentleman from a horse-racing partnership contacted me earlier in the year about photographing some of his company’s horses. I said sure, and he gave me some details of what he was looking for.
When he called back to set things up, he told me there were two horses. In short, I was going to be doing action photography of horses, with a few headshots if that was possible. Since I really don’t see horse racing as much different than sports action, the shots were pretty easy. Fortunately the weather cooperated.
This is one of about 20 shots of the two horses in full stride.
Each of the last two years, we have taken portraits at the ESSROC Holiday Party at the Holiday Inn in Martinsburg. It’s always been quick and fun-filled, and the people at the party have been just wonderful.
This is a very unique couple… the things they have in common have nothing to do with who they are, which makes them fun-loving and great to be with.
Katie’s wedding is in May of 2007 and we are privileged to be able to photograph that as well.
Ray had suggested taking pictures at the Rumsey Monument, which I was happy to do.
As part of my continuing work for the Valley Homes and Style magazine, I went to the Yellow Brick Bank to get a couple of photos of executive chef Karl Brown. He was also gracious enough to provide menu and recipe information.
Just forget whatever you’ve ever known about two year olds and portrait sittings. You’ve heard horror stories I’m sure. I could even tell you a few, although most children’s portrait sittings go quite well here.
The reason you should think differently is based solely on a little girl named Emma. She was the winner of a cover contest for Child Guide Magazine, in which we advertise. As part of our work with the magazine, we agreed to photograph Emma for the upcoming cover of the January/February issue of the magazine. To do that, we held a portrait sitting at our studio. Her mother came as well, and was instrumental in keeping Emma in new outfits as we went along.
I’ve been photographing children for a lot of years, and many have given me some great expressions and faces that make for wonderful photos. But Emma gave me constantly changing expressions that made for consistently wonderful photos. She’s a treasure of a child and will likely end up as an actress somewhere… she’s so smart and bold, has a lot of character, and gave me different moods, expressions and personalities in the span of just a few minutes.
Look for her on the upcoming issue of Child Guide Magazine, and another photo of her inside as part of our ad. Here are two unpublished photos of Emma.
Children’s portrait sittings like this are the usual at TLC. We take plenty of time with each child, realizing they are an individual.
I never know where I’m going from issue to issue with Valley Homes and Style magazine… that is to say, I never know where my destination will be for the front cover. It’s always interesting, and often challenging, but never boring.
This particular shoot was interesting before I even got there. Cindy told me that the home was on the terrace. She even gave me the address. I was baffled at first, but set to putting it into my GPS and determining how to get there. Even my little GPS knew where The Terrace was in Hagerstown. The name of the street is The. The name of the type of street it is is Terrace. So, it’s The Terrace.
Oh never mind… I didn’t get it at first, either.
But we did shoot a nice cover pic.
This photo was used on the cover of the Holiday issue of Valley Homes and Style. There are several other photos in there I did for Cindy’s article on holiday decorating. And our photos were used in three ads for various companies. Busy busy busy!
So I’m not a big fan of the car inspection thing. Don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of making sure that cars are inspected and safe to be on the road. What I’m opposed to is that vehicle repair centers are just about the only spot to get your car inspected. What do this vehicle repair centers make the most money on? That’s right, repairing safety items.
Last time we took the car in to be inspected, the inspector told me that all four tires needed to be replaced. Needless to say I thought this was a bit overstated, so I had them reinspected by another place, who said that there was one tire that needed replaced and it was due to a nail. I did that, and it passed inspection.
Needless to say this time I was not only pensive but waiting for the “you need a brake overhaul” or “your ball joint bearing thingies are worn out” or something that was going to cost me too much.
Instead… nothing. There was nothing wrong. I quickly paid the bill and left, thanking them for being thorough. I just didn’t want them to have a chance to remember that they’d forgotten to check under the car or something.
Same time next year I guess.
