A long distance relationship - a true love story.  Lyn is from the Phillipines and has been residing in Dubai, United Arab Emirates for the past few years.  Eric has made a few trips over, one of them to propose.  Lyn arrived in the states in October and was welcomed with open arms….and cold Cleveland weather.  Their wedding was just held recently in January on probably the coldest day in recent history.  Wind chills were around -15, but it was warm inside with all the family and friends who attended the wedding.  Everything went smoothly during the day despite the weather.  Wonderful church architecture provided a stunning view as Lyn and Eric took their vows.  It was a pleasure to hear your stories on how you met and be there to photograph your special day.  Best of luck to both of you.  Here are a few images from the day.  Enjoy!

Here’s some images from a Valentine’s Wedding.  We all had a blast and everthing went smoothly.  Even the weather cooperated compared to the week before….we were able to shoot outside and have some fun with it.  Christy and Charles are from the Columbus, Ohio area and got married in Mentor.  Charles is in active duty with the National Guard and friends of his came in from Virginia to perform the sword arch at the end of the ceremony.  With the wedding being on Valentine’s Day, there was a lot of red around!  Christy’s flowers were amazing, all red roses.

Here are a few photos from the day. 

We just posted our company page on Facebook!    If you have a FB account, log on and become a fan!  We’ll get some images linked to your FB page too.  Just send a friend link and become a fan.

Paula and Sean’s wedding back in June was another big one for the summer.  Their wedding took place out in Roaming Shores, OH, on the beach along the lake.  It was about 90 degrees that day, but the breeze off the lake was really nice.   Their wedding was also selected by Weddings in Cleveland Magazine to appear in the Real Wedding section.

Here is a link to the online Real Wedding article on the WIC website.

Sarah and Adam’s wedding from last year is featured in Weddings in Cleveland Magazine.  It’s in a special section called “Real Weddings”, which is selected by the publisher.  Each couple can submit info on how they met along with plans for their wedding, and even the list of vendors they used from the magazine.  Sarah and Adam are long time friends and just a great couple.

Here is a screen shot and weblink to the online article.  It’s also published in the magazine which available on all newsstands or at our office.  Another one of our couples is in the Real Wedding section.  Watch for another post with that one shortly.

This is the first of what may be a new category of posts.  The Knowledge Base.  Here you can get consumer educational information on how to invest in professional photography, what to look for, what to stay away from, etc. 

Our first post is on the Wedding Paparazzi.  They’re all over!  You go to any wedding anymore, and romantic candlelit services have a blue-green glow of LCD and cell phone screens, clicks, beeps, etc.  People running all over the church, dropping batteries on church pews, jumping up on the altar to get that close-up, hiding in the flowers, and the list goes on.  This is so rampant, that there’s even TV commercials depicting an actor that thinks he’s a wedding pro.   Still haven’t figured out ‘the why’ in this, because the bride and groom hire a professional to record thier images.

So, here is the consumer knowledge:  Being a professional photographer for over twenty years, it is my job to capture a couples wedding day…without retakes.  There is an enormous amount of pressure to do this weekly.  I make it a point, at every service, to meet with the priest or minister to go over ‘the church’s rules and policies for phototography’.   Most all churches have specific areas to be in, an not to be in.  Use flash at certain times, no flash for the others.  We ALWAYS respect the churches policies.  But, the guests with their pocket kutcher-cams just ‘have at it’ during a service without even knowing that they’re disrupting other guests, the couple, the officiant, and also…..your hired professional photographer (no matter who it is).  

This is the kind of photo that happens:

I bet Uncle Bob is glad he got his shot, because I missed, not mine, but YOURS.  I’m actually about 30 feet behind him shooting with a telephoto lens.  The couple was just presented with a ceremonial plaque from the church by the priest and after a few coughs and an ‘u-um’, he finally turned around and realized I was behind him where I was supposed to be.  For the record….I did get the shot before UB blocked the view, because I saw him coming.  Glad he was about 10 seconds late getting there.

So, we can’t change what people do anymore, but we can encourage them to enjoy themselves and leave the cameras for the reception.  Getting invited to a wedding is an honor…you shouldn’t have to work while you’re there.  That’s why couples hire professionals.  We’ll get it, don’t worry….just have fun and enjoy yourself.

Lauren and Matt are troopers!!  What do we do in a Cleveland winter?….go out and shoot!  Since Lauren and Matt have their wedding booked in August, the hottest month of the year, they decided to do their e-session during the coldest month of the year.  We had a great time and there was new snow falling during the session.  As we trudged through about 10 inches of snow in some spots, we found some awesome spots to shoot.  Can’t wait for your wedding later this year…you guys are going to have some great images.  Here is a web link to the full session that is online.   Enjoy!

Remember Tina and Rob, the haunted house wedding from last year?  Well, I just finished uploading media images to the Style Network, which is part of the E! Network, for their yearly ‘best of’ wedding TV show special.  The show is called Most Outrageous Weddings and will air this Saturday, December 13, at 9:00pm.  It will be repeating throughout the weekend also.  Check your listings for the Style Network…for us DirectTV users, its channel 235.  The media people and producers at the Style Network were great to work with and I think they even worked in a credit in the end of the show.  Set your TiVo’s….this will be a cool show! 

We are so thrilled here at the office…our website won the 2008 Ohio Visual Excellence E-Commerce Award for Best Photographer Website in Ohio!!  This award is given out by the Certified Professional Photographers of Ohio.  I had just attended the Professional Photographers of Ohio Mid-East Regional Conference in Dayton, Ohio this past weekend.  This conference brought in some big speakers like David Jay, Parker Pfister, Gary & Pam Box, Doug Box and Rod Evans.  And of course, I was asked to speak on Saturday on the trade show stage about proper lighting on location.  But the highlight of the weekend was the awards ceremony on Saturday night.   I entered the print competition, album competition and the e-commerce competition.  All three prints scored Honorable Mentions, the album missed the blue ribbon merit by one lousy point :(  , but the website took the prize!

Websites were judged on thier originality, content, photographic quality, and consumer ease-of-use.  The only way this can be achieved is with user friendly website design software.  I take care of the photography and content, the web control panel does the rest.  A big thanks goes out to my friends at FlashPalette Web Design for creating the custom template and control panel software that I use.  Lindsay and Yongtong are awesome and just super to work with.  Plus, their sites look so much more different than most of the mass marketed look-alikes out there now.  Thanks guys….FlashPalette Rocks!!

Thanks to the Professional Photographers of Ohio and the Certified Professional Photographers of Ohio for awarding us with the 2008 Visual Excellence E-Commerce Award.

Here’s a few photos of the program I put on.  It was titled “See the Light in Location Photography”.  Thanks to all who attended.  It was so nice to hear all of your comments and speak with you afterwards.  Thanks to my great friend Craig Weiglein of Mansion Hill Studio and Gallery in Newport, KY for taking the photos of the speaking gig.

White gloves, swords, uniforms and medals mean one thing…a military wedding! Shannon and Brad were in from Connecticut for their wedding before Brad gets deployed with the US Navy. We had a great time together and the wedding was stately.

Shannon was beautiful and all smiles. The ceremony took place at Willoughby United Methodist Church on a crisp afternoon. After the sword arch exit, we shot across the street for some outdoor photos before losing our light. With the fall colors still in view this late in November, we had to take advantage of it. The reception was held at the Patrician Party Center. Guests were treated to a cake cutting with a sword and awesome entertainment by DJ Bob Madda.

And, a Navy wedding would not be complete without a serenade to the bride to “You Lost That Loving Feeling”. Best of luck to both of you and enjoy the show.

The past two weeks have been crazy! Tina and Rob’s wedding at the Seven Floors of Hell Haunted House  got national and international media attention. I spent most of the weekend following the wedding uploading photos to televeision stations all over the country for use in their broadcasts. The most notable was on Sunday when Tina and Rob appeared live on the Fox News Channel during the Fox News Live broadcast.

It’s definitely been an exciting Halloween season. Tina and Rob’s Love Never Dies video below has been viewed over 1400 times in the last week. I also just spent the last two days photographing the houses at Seven Floors for a Haunt World Magazine article in March.

Here is a video clip from the Fox News Live broadcast on Sunday.

What an awesome Haunted House Wedding!!!  As well-wishing zombies and witches looked on, a couple got married at the haunted house where they work.  I had the honor to photograph the wedding of Tina Millhoane and Rob Seifer at the Seven Floors of Hell Haunted House in Berea last night.  A few posts back, you met them in their pre-wedding session photographed in the crypt and cemetery.  Well, they finally tied the knot…with the Grim Reaper!  Tina and Rob were very creative in their planning and invited their best of friends to a costume party wedding.  This wedding included an entrance by Rob in a casket ushered with pallbearers, the Grim Reaper performing the ceremony, and Tina’s Dad (Dracula) giving her away.

The evening was creepy looking.  Dense clouds covered Cleveland and a damp, cold breeze whirled around the cemetery.  Eerie music played on the sound system while the Seven Floors of Hell funeral hearse idled in the moonlight.  Ghouls, zombies, bloody victims and vampires attended the ceremony.  The Grim Reaper performed the service and blessed the couple with spirits from the underground.  The cake was cut with a large butcher knife to the theme from Halloween.

This event was so cool that it generated a ton of interest from the media.  Thanks to our friends at FOX 8, WOIO-TV19-43, WKYC-TV3 and WEWS-TV5 along with the Cleveland Plain Dealer, CNN, FOX News Channel, Tina and Rob felt like celebrities and made their efforts all worthwhile.  The guests had a blast and will have memories and stories to tell for a long, long time.  I was so honored to be a part of this event and would like to wish Tina, Rob and their son Seth, all the best.  Now….on with the show.  Enjoy!

(show is optimized to run at 1280×1024 or better monitor/screen resolution, broadband internet speed, Internet Explorer or Firefox)

Well….not exactly!  Meet Tina and Rob.  They are friends of mine that are getting married in a couple of weeks.  Rob is a theatric and robotic technician and Tina is a makeup artist.  They both operate the Seven Floors of Hell Haunted House in Berea, Ohio.  Their wedding will take place on October 24th….in the cemetery!  Yes, its a haunted house themed wedding that is starting to get a lot of media attention both local and national.  Actually, the theme of the wedding is ‘Love Never Dies’.   Tina and Rob have a son, Seth.  He’s so cool, he loves monsters!!  Here is a slideshow of a small shoot I just did with them in the cemetery and the crypt!  This is going to be such a cool wedding…..Enjoy.

Here’s a wedding that is a bit more traditional in its photography. Caralee and Rob got married in Sylvannia, Ohio, the last city in NW Ohio before you go into Michigan. The couple resides in Chicago and returned to Ohio to get married. They wanted really nice, clean studio portraits done on their wedding day. I had a lot of fun shooting this one because so much of making great portraits is knowing your lighting and posing when its needed. The wedding went so smoothly and everyone had a blast. Enjoy the show.

It was so much fun working with Kelly and Rob.  They live in New York City and came into Cleveland for their wedding.  I first met up with Rob at the Intercontinental Hotel and then over to Kelly’s bridal suite just a few floors up.  Everyone was so excited that day and the weather was beautiful.  The ceremony was at Our Lady of Peace in Shaker Heights.  We then went over to the Art Museum for some fun with the bridal party and some formal photos.  The reception was held at Severence Hall, just across the street.  What an exquisite place to have a reception.  Heather from Heatherlily Custom Floral designed all of Kelly’s flowers and details at the reception.  Kelly and Rob had a blast with the Jerry Bruno Orchestra and the party never stopped.  But, we had to take advantage of a stunning sunset to go out front of Severence for some night images. 

Another beautiful Cleveland weather day!  Brandy and Scott’s wedding was a lot of fun.  We started at Brandy’s house in Broadview Heights.  After the ceremony, we headed over to the gazebo in Independence and then over to the Metropark nearby.  The park was a special spot for the couple and it was a pleasure to be able to photograph there.  The reception was held at St. Michaels Woodside.  It was decorated to the max!  Look for a show in the Vendors section.  Here are a few images from Brandy and Scott’s wedding.

Cleveland’s finest wedding planner, Weddings in Cleveland, can be found at all major news stands.  We’ve been an advertiser with them for over 15 years.  This is by far the best quality magazine/planner out there.  Donna and Stephanie from Weddings in Cleveland are great friends and we go way back.   Their website is awesome and has a lot of features for the bride in planning her wedding.  Look for it on the news stand and be sure to register on thier website.  North Bay Portrait Design is featured in one of their spotlight articles along with a Real Wedding feature in the magazine.  This is our new ad for the 2007-2008 magazine.

We had a great time together.  What an awesome couple and family!  Rebecca and Jonathan had an intimate ceremony with a lot of friends and relatives present.  The weather was great for lots of fun in the park.  Here are a few photos from the wedding….Enjoy!

This was a real touching couple.  Kendall is in a wheelchair from an accident and Kim is a therapist.  These two are so happy together despite all the odds.  Kendall is such a blast to be with and his eyes light up every time he sees Kim.  Its so great, as a photographer, to capture real emotion and happiness in someone.  While this wedding was intimate, it was so touching to be part of Kim and Kendall’s wedding day.  Here are a few images….Enjoy!

New for 2007 for our clients is having your wedding images blogged right after the wedding.  We will take a few images from your wedding and post them along with some exciting facts of the day.  Also, we will get your vendors involved and showcase some of their products and venues.  Here is a wedding image from Stacey & Jeff’s wedding that took place on the shores of Lake Erie.  The event was held at The Lodge at Geneva on the Lake.  The staff at The Lodge is great to work with.  They pay attention to every detail and make sure that everyone is enjoying themselves.  Stacey and Jeff were great to work with.  They reside in Deerfield, Florida and got married here in Cleveland.