Summer is gone already.

September. September! Wow. Between shooting and staying home with my son Luca, summer vanished in an instant. Wedding season kicked in for me in June, and it hasn't let up since. Good for me! Bad for my blogging. The thing that always takes a hit is the blog when I get super busy. I gotta try and get my editing down in as timely a fashion as possible and blogging just takes away from that for the most part. But today, I have some time, and I thought I'd make a post

I had a birthday in July. That was pretty fun. I used the opportunity to shoot some of my pals as they toured through our new(ish) house. We moved in December, but we never had the chance until July to have people over to see the new digs. This was fun and everyone that participated was great. These are my favorite 8.










I also thought I'd put up a couple of engagement sessions shot in August for couples I will photographing next year.

Engagements are fun for me to get a chance to know my couple and try to create photos that show off their personalities. I think these latest sessions did a good job of that so here's some of my favorites from each session. First up is Erin & Chris and then we have Darlene & Owen.

2009 WPJA PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR! ... almost...

The WPJA (Wedding Photojournalist Association) just announced the 2009 Photographer of the Year. From the WPJA email that went out this evening:

"The WPJA proudly announces that the 2009 winner of the Photographer of the Year (POY) is Carlo Carletti of Italy. First runner-up in the 2009 WPJA POY competition is Ken Blaze of Ohio. Ian Bursill of England has been named second runner-up in the WPJA POY contest. If this feels like deja vu that's because Carletti won the title in 2006. Taking this year's top honor makes him the first to win it twice. A WPJA member since 2005, Carletti has gained international prominence for his award-winning black-and-white photography. The WPJA congratulates all the honorees for their outstanding achievements, which help make the Wedding Photojournalist Association the most respected wedding photography organization in the world."

I would love to say that it was me. But alas, it was not. 1st runner-up ain't too bad! You could say I was this close - *thumb and index finger millimeters apart.* I had the title in my grasp but a photo that placed 2nd in the last quarter contest was disqualified. (It was my own fault. I should have entered the photo in a different category.) Without that that 2nd place finish it looks like I was pushed back to 1st runner-up.

I am honored to be selected as the #2 wedding photojournalist in the world by the WPJA. I sincerely and humbly appreciate the award and am thankful for the all the couples who have trusted me to shoot their weddings in 2009.

Many congratulations to Carlo Carletti and Ian Bursill.

Full story about this year's winner HERE

Two 1st Place awards from the WPJA

The WPJA (Wedding Photojournalist Association) just announced the winners of its quarterly clip contest for Q3, 2009. (From their website: The WPJA, an International, membership-based organization, represents professional photographers skilled in the documentation of weddings and events in a candid, unobtrusive style. The WPJA was founded to uphold excellence in the area of wedding photojournalism.)

I am happy to say I was awarded 1st place in two different categories for Q3, 2009. The first photo was from the wedding of Beth and Jimmy and placed in the "Getting Ready" category.



The second image was awarded in the "Dancing" category and was from the wedding of Paul and Lisa.




Full text and contest winners here.

Courtney and Mark

Some recent engagement portraits with Courtney and Mark.

Carla and Eric engagements

Some of Carla and Eric's engagement photos from October 5th. We had a beautiful day at Squire's Castle in Willoughby Hills.

Busy weekend

I had a productive weekend. It was the busiest for me in a while. Shot Tara and Steve's wedding on Saturday, Meghan and Drew's enagagement photos on Sunday and Nick and Nate Bonvissuto's kid portraits on Monday morning. Tara and Steve will have a gallery up on my website in the next couple weeks. But here's some of my favorite stuff from the other two sessions.