Tyler & Maria
This past weekend will be one of those “Do you remember when?” stories for Nicola and I. The day started off like any other, rummaging around and gathering all my equipment and double checking it before the wedding. I gathered my things by the door and awaited for her to pick me up to head off to shoot Tyler & Maria’s wedding. Time was getting close and I hadn’t heard from her yet so I was getting a little anxious. She finally showed up and I rushed out to the car, only to find the poor thing sick as a dog. She was balled up in her driver’s seat, and the color was drained from her face. I felt AWFUL for her and started to panic trying to figure out how to help, and what to do about the wedding. Luckily my guy is super awesome and agreed to help me get to the wedding. I sent Nic back home to rest up, and agreed that if she felt better later she’d meet us at Balboa Park to shoot formals for the couple. I made it to the ceremony on time and the day went flawlessly from there on!
The ceremony was unbelievably cute and luckily Nic was able to make it to Balboa after all. But what I can be most grateful for this day was how AWESOME Tyler & Maria were!! These two were just so happy the whole day it was infectious. Not to mention how easy going and unabashedly smitten they were!
Look at how gorgeous their rings AND her bouquet are!!! If I remember right I believe Maria’s sister made her bouquet for her. Didn’t she do an amazing job?!
Josh & Lacey
Talk about a sweet couple! Josh and Lacey were super awesome during the engagement shoot with Nicola and I. Even though Balboa Park was super packed this particular day we had fun finding little nooks and crannies of the park that weren’t so populated. End results were a fun day of adventuring and some really great shots!
Super excited about their wedding in August!!
My first engagement shoot!
A few weeks ago I got the chance to accompany Nicola on my first engagement shoot with her. While being the one in charge of holding the lightbox (which let me tell you it was a feat in itself! HOLY COW is it windy by the ocean!) but I was also able to snap off a few shots of the lovely couple while there. We ventured down to Sunset Cliffs and the pier in Ocean Beach and had some fun. These two were just a blast and made work really easy. Here are just a few of the shots I got.
I know the sun flare is kind of distracting but I just think this shot represents their personalities the best. Such a fun happy couple. Can’t wait to shoot their wedding next year!
Tim and Julia
I had the profound honor of attending my boyfriend’s brother’s wedding a few weeks ago. Although I was not the actual photographer for the wedding I took the liberty to snap off a few rounds while there. It was a beautiful day and fun was had the whole weekend. I can’t thank them and my guy enough to including me in this wonderful event! Here are a few shots I snapped off throughout the day.
Thank you so much for letting me be a part of your special day and I hope you like these. More can be found on my Flickr page 🙂
New things on the horizon
I’m getting really excited about the possibilities that are opening up for me. Not too long ago I met up with a local wedding photographer who was looking for an assistant/2nd shooter. Luckily Nicola and I hit it off well!! About a week or 2 ago we got together to work on a shoot. There is a series she’s working on that the concept is REALLY cool. I don’t know if she’s keeping the project a secret or not so I won’t divulge that infomation, but I’ll definitely keep you posted! While working on this shoot she was nice enough to let me snap off a few rounds with my camera and start practicing with lighting (which is something I’ve never really had the chance to work with before). So with the help of Nicola and her equipment here are a few of my shots.
THIS ONE IS MY ABSOLUTE FAV!!!! What do you think?
Now off to do some more editing! Next up? A wedding I attended this past weekend!!
Instant Bonds
A few years ago I attended the most interesting wedding I can recall to date. I didn’t know the couple or their family, and hardly anyone attending. I was invited in from out of town by the maid of honor who had been friends with the bride for as long as either of them could remember. The bride, Jenny, maid of honor, Janitza, the maid’s cousin, Danitza, and myself spent the week leading up to the wedding in a crash course bonding experience, lol. I had been friends with Janitza and Danitza for a few years, but just met Jen for the first time. It was a whirlwind of a week from having to replace Janitza’s dress, the bachelorette party, a close call to standing in as one of the bridesmaid… (since one of them didn’t show up), and giving posing advice to the photographer as well as snapping off a few pics of my own. Now I was not impressed at all with the shots that I had taken of that day, since I wasn’t actually working the wedding, but I did grab this one…
I thought it was really neat and whimsical with all the bubbles floating about as they exited the church. But upon months later a visit with Jen she had asked for any and all photos I have from that day. Apparently the photographer they had hired was more into the party aspect and not so much into the actual working part. My heart sank when she told me that and I kicked myself for not trying harder with the photos I did take, but I gladly showed her what I had and handed them over to her. With any hope she found comfort in them.
So what do you guys think of the shot? Cute? Distracting? Best thing ever? lol I kid.
Shoot ya later
-V.
San Diego Adventure Time!
So those of you who know me I’ve moved across the country in the past few months. As a result my photography has kind of suffered due to the lack of knowledge I have for around here. But over the past 3 months I’ve slowly been working at trying to make a groove for myself out here. So to start things out I’m trying to catch up on posts I’ve neglected. First up is a few shots I took at the San Diego Safari Park. My boyfriend, his family, and I went there to celebrate his birthday! I had only been in town for 2 days to this completely blew my mind. I’d never seen anything like it. Animals just meandering around while you walk around the paths or take guided tours on trams. It was rad! Here are a few shots from the day.
So there you have it, my first post after the big move and hopefully the first of many!!
P.S. I cannot get use to the sight of palm trees for the life of me!!!!!!
I’M NOT DEAD!!!!
Yes I know I’ve abandoned my site, but I mean to remedy that! These past few months have been quite a whirlwind of things that unfortunately I’ve let my photography suffer from it. Between returning to my old job, traveling, and family events it’s been pretty nonstop. But thankfully do to the traveling I was able to grab some shots to share! I had the luxury of traveling to Sedona, Arizona on a 3 day road trip. I cannot even begin to describe the kind of beauty that exists out there. Here are some of my favorites from my adventure…
Now I know I’ve over processed some of these during editing but I was testing out a new photoshop technique and realized my graphics card is crapping out I think. So until I can properly re-edit them, these will have to do 🙂
Liquid Sundays
So there is this pretty awesome event that my friends Will and John volunteer for called Liquid Sundays. This rad set up of art, bands, food, and beer for a night of enjoyment. This was my second time shooting the event and I had just as much this time as I did the last. Here are a few of my favorite shots of the night.
The Wreckids
Wise Blood
You can check out my Flickr stream for more photos, and also keep an eye out for the next Liquid Sundays because there is a good possibility I’ll be showcasing some of my work!
Free this Saturday?
Hey folks, I know that I’ve been pretty quiet here the past month or so, but with good reason. I’m happy to announce my solo show at New Amsterdam in Lawrenceville, PA! Please feel free to stop by on Saturday and hangout for a bit. Grab some food, some tasty beers, socialize and well… look at my work! Haha! Hope to see you there.
Pittsburgh Zombies @ ScareHouse
Pittsburgh’s own ScareHouse is gearing up for their upcoming haunt season and unveiled a new attraction. If you know anything about me you know that I LOVE ZOMBIES!!! And I can’t wait to experience Pittsburgh Zombies , although the steampunk part of me is sad that Rampage won’t be there this year (I wanted to turn it into my house). But I digress… I had the honor of working on the teaser trailer for the new attraction and wanted to share!
A little over a month ago creative director/co-owner of ScareHouse, Scott Simmons, contacted me and asked if I’d be willing to take on a short notice project. Of course I jumped at the opportunity. The mission was to go around the city and take “vacant lot” type photos of the city. I thought it would be super easy because I was heading out early as hell on Superbowl Sunday and assumed that the streets would be bare! I had never been so wrong. I started out in Southside which was probably the worst crowd-wise. At 8 AM there were lines of people staking out whatever bar it was that they’d wanted to saddle up to for the game. This honestly shocked me. But i put my nose to the grindstone and tried my best to get the right kind of photos for this project. After Southside, I made my way through the city going to Station Square, Downtown, Northside, and the Strip District. So after several hours of walking, numerous numb body parts, and several cups of coffee to keep warm, it was finally time to call it a wrap.
These are the (original unedited) shots that were chosen for the project:
Now I will be the first to admit there is nothing special about these photos, BUT with the talent of graphic designer Steven Benton and video editing skills of Glenn Syska it turned into this wonderful piece!
I can’t wait!!!
When left to my own devices…
I DO RAD STUFF!!!! Seriously though, I’ve been pent-up in the house for way to long and going a bit bat crazy. 7 out of 10 times this happens I’ll grab my camera and do some sort of project. That’s how I came up with the bokeh post, and the one about stuff around the basement. So TAAAADAAAAAA here’s another one. Lately I have been DYING to get a strobist kit, but I just can’t bring myself to splurge on it just yet. But I’ve been watching tons of videos youtube and think I have a pretty good grasp on it, so to speak. And spliced in with strobist videos I also really enjoy watching special effects make up tutorials. So today I decided I wanted to do BOTH! I spent about an hour or two doing my hair and make up, and then another couple of hours playing with lighting. Now I don’t actually own a flash so what I did was took a couple lamps, took the shades off, and held them by hand in the positioning I wanted them. Oh, and I suppose I’ll also mention that I don’t have a shutter release either. So it was fun pressing the trigger, grabbing the lights, holding them in place, pose, rinse lather, and repeat. LOL But in all seriousness I really enjoy doing every part of this, who knows maybe this is a start of a series of self portraits or something. Hope you likey!
Suppose I should go wash my face off now 😉
First time for everything
This past weekend I had the privilege of having a photo shoot with my friend Nessa for a costume designer I met through Model Mayhem. Dana is the creator of Dark Desire Designs and is in the process of starting up her own cosplay/costume design business. When I heard the words cosplay/costumes I got excited and jumped at the chance to work with her. For me this was the first time meeting up with someone from MM and it was also Nessa’s first time modeling. After an hour or so of me fussing with Nessa’s hair/makeup and an hour of shooting outside freezing our butts off, I think we did a pretty good job. And with hopes Dana does too and I’ll get more chances to work with her, but for now here are some shots of Dana’s geisha costume. More photos in my Flickr, of course.
Let me know what you guys think!
Many many thanks go out to Dana for the costume, Nessa for being patient and freezing her bum off for me, and James for being my lackey for the day.
My First Show!
So I’ve finally decided to bite the bullet and start really trying to push myself with my photography. If I’m ever going to make a life of this I should probably make people know who I am, if I’m every going to get anywhere with this. So viola! My first gallery showing. For the first time in a long time (if not ever) I’m confident in the pieces that I’m submitting. And I think they will go over well. So if you’re in the Pittsburgh/Butler area on Friday January 21st you should stop buy and take a gander for yourself!
OH EMM GEEE
I can’t express how excited I am to share this set. I was lucky enough to attend Phipps Conservatory’s “Candlelight Evenings”, where they have their Winter Flower Show going on, but you get to walk through at night with the walkways lit by candles. I don’t know what it was about going through there at night, but there was just something extremely enchanting about it. I have been to Phipps once before and I loved it the first time but now…. now it’s a very special place to me. I can honestly say the photos I took there are probably my best to date. It’s going to be very hard to decide which ones to post here. I almost wish I could post them all on here, but then again that’s what Flickr is for! So with further ado here are some of my favorites
MANY MANY MANY MANY Hugs and Thanks go to: Firstly to @hellohahanarf for letting me know that this even was even going on! If it wasn’t for her I would have completely missed it! (Tonight is the last night for it!!) And secondly to @djlunchbox for being a great friend and joining me for this even. I knew he was my best friend for a reason 😉
Christmas time is here
The magical time of year has rolled around once again. All the hope and wishes of everyone focused into one special season. Lights twinkling on the tree, presents being wrapped, children brimming with anticipation all have a certain magic about them. Here are a few shots I snapped while my nieces and nephew decorate the tree…
HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!
MAY IT BE FILLED WITH JOY AND SURROUNDED BY LOVE
What’s laying around…
I’m not sure what inspired me to do this today. I think it may have been just how the light was coming in through my basement window, but regardless I’m happy I did. Some of my favorite things to photograph are discarded items. Be it buildings or just trinkets someone no longer cares for. The light coming through the window made me notice the cobwebs around the corners and little trinkets I had put up there when I first moved in. It was then that the lightning bolt struck… I LIVE IN A FREAKING BASEMENT!!!! The entire place is full of discarded stuff! Not to mention my BIL also has a workshop area set up as well. So grabbing my camera it was time to play. Here’s some of what I got:
I Made It! Market Adventure!!
So yesterday I ventured down to the Southside to check out this market I’ve heard everyone talking about. Turned out to be an AWESOME day and I’m so happy I went. The market was full of beautiful handmade items ranging from candy to pottery, this place had a plethora of stuff. If you couldn’t find something there that you liked… there is something wrong with you. Without planning on buying a single thing I ended up spending every last cent I had on me. And I’m very happy I did. Here are some shots I snapped throughout the day.
BrewFest
I was lucky enough to attend this years BrewFest sponsered by Pittsburgh rugby league. With tons of beer and good friends it was a much needed night out. Also a special thanks to @pghrugbyangel for allowing me to shoot a bit while there. Here are a few of my favorite shots.
And as usual if you’d like to see more you can just check out my flickr page.
So it begins…
So here is my attempt to kick myself in the arse and get my photography really going. I’ll make the assumption of this being a trial period since I’ve never done blogging, but we’ll see how this goes.
This photo embodies alot of hope I have for numerous things. Never let it die.
Veronica Marie Photography 