NYC Wedding Published in Florida Times Union

The Florida Times Union did a write up on Kristin and AJ Simonetta's destination wedding in NYC.  The title of the article was: "City Girl and Country Boy Wed in Big Apple".  This wedding was a photographers dream come true,  thanks Kristin and AJ!!!

 

Here is the photo featured in the article and an excerpt:  

"On Sept. 6, Kristin and A.J. said "I do" on the lawn in front of an old dairy in Central Park. Kristin picked that spot because of the view of Manhattan's skyline.

Two days before the wedding, Jamie Weingarten shot engagement pictures of the couple in Soho, on the Brooklyn Bridge and in Times Square. She also took bridal portraits of Kristin in her wedding dress walking down Fifth Avenue"

You can see more photos from the wedding below!

NYC Wedding!

 
 

A New Grandma!!!

Ginnie Steiger was blessed with two beautiful grandchildren this year and since they were all in town for the holidays, I got the privilege of photographing the whole gang!  I just love their color scheme of greys and blacks with a few punches of color!

Guess Who's Engaged!

I'm thrilled to announce my engagement to Scott Borland!!!  Scott proposed to me during a trip to Asheville, North Carolina in December!  I'm sooo excited to plan our wedding,  I have been so inspired by all the weddings I've shot, so thank you to all the wonderful brides I've gotten to and will get to work with!  Here's a photo from our engagement weekend, I had to set the camera on a rock and run in the shot!

Making the Most of Some Rain!

On my engagement shoot with Lindsay and Shane we had some unexpected showers and decided to work with the rain, and I'm so glad we did!

Harper at 6 Months

It has been so amazing documenting Harper's life, it's hard to believe 8 months ago I was photographing her in her mommy's belly!  Here are some of my favorite shots from our 6 month portrait session.  Check out the cool borders I now offer with the collection prints.

Beverly Hills Engagement Session

James Farhat and Rema Awad set their wedding date for Sept. 27, 2009.  Since James currently lives in Jacksonville, FL and Rema lives in LA, they decided to have their engagement sessions on both coasts!  Here are a couple shots from our Beverly Hills shoot.

Check out the view of downtown LA!

4th of July Hometown Wedding

I had the privilege of photographing Jamie Roach and Bryan Montemarano in my hometown of Dubuque, Iowa over the 4th of July weekend.  Jamie and Bryan's vision for their wedding was truly magical and made for a weekend to remember.  I asked Jamie and Bryan to share their vision for their wedding with me so that others could get inspired as well.

"Our goal was to show all of their friends and family from other cities and abroad how lovely and lively the midwest can be.  We appreciate the history of the area.  We also knew we wanted a full weekend of celebration, so the 4th was perfect.  We started with our location, my aunt and uncle's winery on the Mississippi, built in the late 1800's.  We made the connection to Art Noveau with this period, which influenced our flowers and other things and symbols, such as peacock feathers.  We followed the history of the period letting Art Deco and the 1920's and 30's influence our creative choices, especially the French influence on the Deco- lavender in our flowers, food, of course, Champagne, and even a 1930's car to boot

Our ceremony and luncheon invite list was intimate with close friends and family, and we wanted to perpetuate a feeling of warmth, so we had food served family style and had wine and champagne, homeade iced tea and lemonade on the tables in ice sculptures to keep them cool.

There was a firework show the night after our wedding, and we took our friends on a Mississippi River Cruise the day after our ceremony.

The following night we had our "bon voyage" reception, to which we invited more, had a 1940's-style big band, and brought in some other influences that say something about our personal likes-Mediterranean tapas, gelato served in ice sculptures, cupcakes, Cava, homeade sangria.

We exited at the end of the night to rice, lavender and sparklers....and to many, many guests saying they wanted to come back every year on our anniversary!"

Caught in the Middle!!!

While photographing Josh and Joni Maret's wedding February 9th, I ended up in the middle of the dance floor surrounded by their conga line, it was hilarious!  Mario (my wonderful assistant)  snapped this shot (good one Mario!!)   It was so much fun!  Hey photographers like to conga too!!!

We were Voted the Best!!!

We were voted one of the best photographers for North East Florida and the Pan Handle!!!!  We will be featured in the March 2008 issue of The Knot!!!

A special thank you to all the brides that voted for us!!!!  You guys make it all worth it!!!

One of My Favorite Albums of 2008!

One of my favorite albums of 2008!!!!! Press Play to see the photo album slideshow!!!

New Albums for 2008!!!

I'm so excited to introduce two 

new album product lines!  The first is an upgrade to the already gorgeous Flush Mount Style Fine Art Albums.  You can now have a photo canvas for the cover of your album so your album can really stand out!  Check out this sample. 

The second option is great for guest books,  parent albums, baby books and "A Day in the Life of" books.

 

This album is book bound, just like any gift book you would find at your bookstore, the pages are paper thin but they have a protective seal and the covers include a dusk jacket.  

An Awesome Volunteer Opportunity!

I was recently given the awesome opportunity to visit and photograph the families living at Seamark Ranch, a Christ Centered Children's Home in North Florida.  Seamark gives foster kids a permanent and loving home environment where the children get to experience unconditional love and security.  To learn more about Seamark and how you can contribute to their mission visit www.seamarkranch.com. 

What inspired me to become a photographer!

There have been many things in my life that inspired me to become a photographer including the work of other photographers and personal experiences.  One of the first photographers to inspire me was Sally Mann.  Sally photographed her family for a number of years and mainly focused on her children, she portrays them in such an intimate and realistic manner that you feel like you were looking into their souls.  Below is one of many photos of her daughter Jessie. I knew immediately that I wanted to emulate this type of documentary photography.  

At the age of 18 I took my first trip out of the country to Honduras where I fell in love with the richness of the culture and decided to spend a semister abroad in Ecuador to learn Spanish.  It was in Ecuador that I fell in love with the beauty and tradition of the indigenous populations.  When I returned to the States, I applied for a grant to create a photo documentary on the indigenous populations in Guatemala.  During this period of my life I was inspired by the photography of James Nachetway whose work speaks for itself in the video below.

  

Here are some photos taken while on assignment in Guatemala.

 After graduating from college I returned to Guatemala to volunteer at the non-profit organization, Foto Kids(www.fotokids.org), run by former reuters photo-journalist, Nancy McGirr.  The mission of this organization was to end the cycle of poverty through training in the visual arts.  My role was photography teacher to a group of  kindergarten level children that  lived in the city dump.  Needless to say this was a life-changing experience. 

After this experience, I knew I some how needed to apply all the inspiration and skills I gained from college and my work in Guatemala into a career. 

 I ended up attending a workshop given by world renowned wedding photographer, Joe Photo, and I was totally blown away by the journalistic style of photography he brought to the wedding industry, and it made me think, "hey maybe I can do that too!" 

And from that point forward that's exactly what I've done!  

To witness to the most important moments in a persons life like a wedding day, a birth or a just a day in the life of a someone inspires me every time!  I want to capture the feelings that accompany these experiences and in return give back a timeless work of art.  I feel so lucky to love what I do and for others to benefit from this as well is just the best bonus in the world!