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7.30.2012

[mack]

This weekend I was able to spend some time with two awesome families and their little cuties (not to mention that we had some more amazing weather- seriously, if you ever thought of moving to Buffalo, now is a good time!)  I am posting a bit out of order, but I promise to get the other shoot up later today!

Bridget and Andrew's wedding from a couple of years ago is probably one of my most talked about shoots, (you can see their multicolored wedding party on my actual website home page), and since then I have seen them quite often on their friends' weddings....some of the nicest people around! Last year they have added a little guy to their awesome family- Mack.  My family and I met up with them at the Buffalo Canoe Club in Canada to spend the day at the beach and do a little family shoot...


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We had an amazing day and Mack was the perfect model....thanks so much for having us!

7.24.2012

[chloe]

Beginning in my college photo courses, I had been introduced to Sally Mann, who, to this day remains my absolute photography hero.  Along with Keith Carter,  (who I had the honor of meeting during his talk at Fredonia with my very good friend Kristen, both of us gripping our favorite Carter volumes and nervously requesting an autograph), Mann's work has enchanted me, and so often, when I can put vivid color aside for a moment, I try to find ways to shoot like her.  Her photos of her children in particular are heartstopping, especially the pictures of her youngest, Virginia.  Looking at my photos of Chloe from our most recent shoot, I was really feeling the Sally Mann vibe.  Chloe has an old soul for sure....an inner intelligence that can be seen in her eyes, despite her small stature....similar to what I feel looking at Mann's work.  I highly recommend you check out the documentary film by PBS, which you can find on Youtube- Sally Mann: What Remains.


By the way, this is the same Chloe from last year...so much changes in a short time!



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7.20.2012

[please stand by]

Always measure twice and cut once. Great advice that I wish these blogs would come with once in awhile....I had no idea that changing the permissions on my images in Flickr would result in all of my recent posts going caput right on the spot. So please don't stop visiting, I am working on restoring all of the images and regular programming will resume soon!

7.10.2012

[a pinterest inspired redesign]

When I am not making images, I am usually drooling over them. But rather than wedding or children, I am usually pouring over design blogs, Pinterest and the like at furniture, rooms and things of the DIY nature. I think it all began with Trading Spaces, when I lived in my old third floor apartment downtown and dreamed of the possibilities. Now, ten years into making our house into home, I am still scheming and hatching new plans on how to renovate, rearrange and redesign the elements in our home. I am proud to say that many of the furniture pieces in our home are thrifted in one way or another, and then in many cases refinished by me. It is my number one creative outlet for certain.


My most recent conquest was putting together a big boy bed for E. He has been sharing space with us in our third floor master suite for some time now and had been using the crib-turned-daybed until his feet are crammed in to the corner. I wanted something modern and fun, but was definitely not interested in spending some outrageous amount of money for pressboard. I had been inspired by some DIY bed ideas, particularly this Jeep bed I found on Pinterest; a simple Ikea Bed hack.


So in my weekly jaunts to Restore, I came across a neat headboard that had some nice mid century lines and was most definitely solid wood. One problem- it was split into two pieces. Cleanly, mind you, but split. I dug around the random bed frames and found the footboard and then went to find out what I could get them for. Since there were no rails or slats, I got the pieces for 3 bucks! And into the garage they went (in my thrifted furniture hospital.) A few weeks later, I found solid maple rails from Amvets, and I was set.

Here is a view of the headboard from the back....I think it must have been pretty awesome to see in its mid century glory!

Here is a shot of the jerry rigging it took to get the pieces back together.  Not proud of this, but having been apart for some time had warped the wood a bit.  Besides it is against the wall!






Of course my idea process always takes a bit and definitely evolves over time, but I knew that by the lines of the bed I wanted to put together some sort of vintage race car theme (with out being too literal), similar to the art and toys I had been adding to the space.  I had noticed too, that many of the pieces of made-over furniture I had been drawn to were painted, so I decided to go that route.


 I sanded and reattached the pieces and then painted them glossy white. I then made a stencil out of clear contact paper to create a sort of Herbie the Love Bug type of racing number. I absolutely am smitten with typography and used my number one go to Dafont.com to find a nice san serif font befitting a vintage race car number (22 for E's birthday.) Once the stencil was cut, I painted the shapes using a paler blue and deeper red. 




I am really happy with how the bed turned out...it is an oddly shortbed overall, but E's bedroom is unique in that it is in the turret of our house, so it is a circular space with lots of doors on the flat side.  (The room may have been originally the master suite's dressing room, thus it has massive closets.)  It fits perfectly within the space and goes with both the dresser and nightstand that I also thrifted and restored.  I think overall, I spent less than $100 on all three pieces- $40 for the dresser which I repainted and stained, $5 for the night stand and $13 plus the price of paint for the bed.  Not bad for a solid wood bedroom set!  Oh, and thanks to Young House Love for giving that extra incentive and a place for everyone to share their own Pinterest inspired projects!







7.09.2012

[jennifer and jonathan]

There are so many interesting places to get married in the city of Buffalo.  I am a northtowns transplant to the city proper, and every day it seems I find something beautifully designed, whether old or new.  So many people don't realize what we have here, but happily, many are taking the time to discover it for themselves, and incorporate it into their life one way or another.  Jennifer and Jonathan don't live in the area anymore, but decided to bring their families together in our fair city and get married at the Fontana Boathouse, (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and recently built along the Niagara River.)

Before going to the Boathouse, I met Jennifer with her sister and Mom at the Mansion on Delaware (where, by the way, I can't get enough of some of my favorite artists- Russell Ram and Gary Kite, to name a few...)


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Jennifer knows how to rock the dress....

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At the Boathouse, the wind was incredibly strong yet energizing as it kept the sun's heat at bay.

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Both Jennifer and Jonathan work for Quizno's in Colorado, so it only made sense to get them a cake that looked like a giant submarine...

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And Jennifer's dad threw in a few surprises throughout the day as well.

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Thanks, Jennifer and Jonathan for inviting me along for the day!