Spring Bat Mitzvah

I was so excited to take on the challenge of shooting this event.  This gorgeous family's youngest celebrated her Bat Mitzvah last spring and I'm just now getting around to blogging it.  The location was at a popular restaurant at the bottom of one of our local ski mountains.  The service was super relaxed and meaningful and this lovely young lady did a wonderful job.  You can see how proud her grandparents are in their smiles.  We started early evening outside with some harsh sunlight so I made sure to bring my softbox to help create some more flattering light.  Golden hour is hard to come by when you live in a valley.  Really though, these teen girls had such gorgeous skin--they made my job so easy.  The collection below starts with some formal photos and ends with some fun party shots.

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For the service the family requested no flash.  Lucky for me the room had some large windows and we had a sunny day.

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At the reception I set up a gelled flash at one corner of the dance floor and used a gelled Magmod Bounce modifier for my on-camera flash.  I really loved the result.  Letting in a lot of the ambient light showed off the DJ lights and made for some fun colorful images.  I threw in a prism and some LED lights in front of the lens for a couple of shots to mix it up a bit.  Of course, I dragged my shutter for a few photos too.  I will do a post soon on some fun creative techniques to add an extra layer to your images.  The green screen was another company, I'm so curious to see the resulting photos!

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Fun night!

I hope I get to photograph another event like this soon. Such a blast!

Parlez vous Français?

We had the amazing opportunity to celebrate my parents' 50th anniversary this summer in the South of France.  We spent two weeks in France and Belgium and I wish we could have stayed another week!  We started in Paris with a brief interlude in Brussels visiting my brother-in-law's family, and we ended in Châteauneuf de Grasse with my whole family.  It was such a special trip with lots of fun excursions along the Riviera and a couple of relaxing days by the pool.  I took so many photos it has been great to relive it all while starting an album for print!

We hopped on the train and headed to Brussels to visit family.  Renting the penthouse apartment at the same building that my brother-in-law's family lives was such a great and convenient idea.  And bonus!--we had some great sunsets.

The house my parents rented in Châteauneuf de Grasse was such a great spot up in the hills and 20 minutes from the coast.  It was perfect for all of us to gather at the end of a busy day of touring.

Such a memorable trip.  We are so grateful to my parents for such an amazing opportunity. Joyeux cinquantième anniversaire de mariage!!  Thanks for taking a look!  À bientot!