Below are a few of my favorite images from the day (Thanks to all the fabulous organizers of the event!) -

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I’ll be posting another wedding soon so stay tuned :)

Philadelphia Area Wedding Photographer

2009 was an amazing year for me and I just have to give thanks to God for all the blessings in my life – My amazing family, my wonderful and supportive friends, my good health – these things alone make me so grateful.

I don’t have any resolutions this year but some of my top priorities are to thoroughly enjoy the process of planning my wedding, spend time with my family, enjoy being a guest at friends’ weddings (this will be a nice change) and continue to grow in my craft.

To all my family, friends, blog visitors and clients – thank you for making 2009 so amazing. I wish you a blessed and prosperous 2010 – It’s going to be great!

And before bidding 2009 a final adieu, below are a few of my personal favorites from the year -

Weddings -

Engagements -

Thanks for stopping by!

I’ll post a couple more later on :)

I didn’t always want to be a wedding photographer. It sorta fell in my lap. I’ve always loved taking pictures of people and of things  but I never in my wildest imagination even considered weddings.  I grew up with photography. My dad had a lot of expensive Nikon film SLR equipment and he was always taking pictures of us. There is a picture of me for every stage of my childhood – I have albums and albums of photos (i think that is one of the best gifts i have from my dad!). It wasn’t until I went to a friend’s wedding in Jamaica, with my little Nikon D40 (that I’d bought since I was a photo enthusiast) that I realized that perhaps weddings were something I could do and love if I learnt how to do it properly. I took a few pictures of my friend getting her hair and make up done before her photographer arrived and a few more at her wedding (from a guests perspective) and I totally loved it!

 Then I stumbled on to shutterchance.com and an amazing community of photographers, made a bunch of friends, learnt a bunch of new things and decided to pursue wedding photography more seriously. I’m pretty much self taught and I continue to learn new things and how to improve myself everyday. I’ve attended two non technical workshops over the last 2 years and I found them invaluable from a networking perspective. I think one thing every photographer should do is network with other photographers and other people in the industry -  I’ve made so many more new  friends and it’s just great to have a support system of people to answer questions, learn with and learn from and just generally talk business with. I’ve also become good friends with several of my brides who were already pursuing businesses in the wedding industry or have just opened their own new and exciting wedding industry ventures.

Unfortunately I never got the chance to assist or second shoot for any of the experienced photographers in my area, which I think would have been very helpful starting out. It wasn’t that I didn’t want too but everyone I contacted in my area was either not interested or not responsive. Despite that I didn’t let it get me down, and I went at it alone and talked with my new photographer friends and now I’m totally over it - LOL.

When I talk to new photographers I sometimes hear complaints about not having better equipment or not being able to afford the best lens but I personally feel that you don’t need to have the fanciest equipment in the world to capture great images, you just need to enjoy taking pictures, motivate yourself and develop a good eye. My advise  would be to  build on your equipment as you develop your skills and expand your client base if the funds are not readily available for you to take the plunge in one go :)

So there’s a summary of my story in a nutshell. And since it would be boring if I didn’t leave you with any photos, here are a few images from the very first wedding I ever photographed (that I’d posted on my very first blog). These photos are from my D40 and 18-55mm kit lens both of which I sold several months ago (I bought my little flash the same day of this wedding!) – I went to this wedding with a prayer and a wish for lots of goodluck. Jen and Anthony were the most amazing couple ever as they trusted little me with no experience whatsoever – talk about risk takers :) – They did have lots of friends taking pictures as well though so I guess they did have a backup plan!

I’ll be back with a new engagement session and a bunch of new weddings soon!

In addition to Ata’s maternity session (see below), I also did a shoot for her business as well – Ata is the owner of InkHearts.com and she creates the most gorgeous  stationery and invitations. I’m a huge fan of female entreprenuers and I love love love showcasing their work whenever I can on my blogs. Below is some more information about her business taken from the website -

“ Inkhearts offers wedding invitations, birthday invitations, baby shower invitations, menus, programs, and much more. We would love to be part of your special event and create that one of a kind design that would set the tone for your event and leave a lasting impression on your guests.

Ata Ashiru of Inkhearts has been creating custom wedding invitations and much more for friends and family over the years but with continued persistence from her loving husband and darling sisters, Inkhearts was formally launched.

Ata has always had a creative edge and deep appreciation for elegance and saw the opportunity to offer understated but elegant designs with a modern flair to clients around the globe that would suit all budgets. All custom creations are personally and carefully designed to reflect the client’s individual style and taste. ”

If you are a 2010 bride to be, you definately check out InkHearts.com

I’ll be back with another blog post soon!

Ashley

Kerri -
(Minus the nude underwear, the next two are my fav headshots of Kerri for Salon M )

Thanks for stopping by … much more to come : )

Maria and her team did an amazing job on the hair and make up too - it definately completed the look on each model and she nailed the look we wanted on each model perfectly.

The models were perfect – all that standing outside int he sun wearing heavy dresses is no easy task – Thanks ladies.

I’ll be posting my favorite images in two posts.  I’m so grateful for this opportunity. It was an amazing experience and was a total blast!

oh and a big thank you to Kathryn Croskey for helping out  too : )

Dresses: Jay West, Haddonfield NJ
Hair and Make-up: Salon M Design, Haddonfield NJ
Models: Erin, Rachel, Ashley and Kerri

First up Rachel and Erin – Enjoy!

One of my favorite pictures (although the sun was practically burning Rachel up – she was an amazing sport!)

Love Erin’s amazing hair done by Maria from Salon M

Stay tuned : )

1. Cropped images
2. Added contrast (more than before)
3. Added some sharpening
4. Adjusted levels in photo shop for highlights and lowlights
5. uploaded images
6. Blogged!!!

Enjoy!