• personal

    the halloween that wasn’t

    With everything that happened with Sandy, Halloween was really a huge bust this year. Since school was cancelled  so was the annual Halloween parade. And since life was pretty much cancelled too, trick or treating wasn’t technically allowed. Being that we really never lost power other than 2.5 hours during the storm, we had a house full of guests (some staying over, some staying long enough to eat or charge up their stuff) including Joe & Gail and their boys. Timmy was dying to get out to trick or treat a little, so we took James along (sans costume but with his firetruck sweatshirt and real fireman’s hat from Uncle John, it worked out just fine) for a once around the block trick or treating to maintain some semblance of Halloween. It was a little scary out there with lots of wires down all over, trees toppled over into the streets so we were really super careful and made sure to go out before it got dark.

    Timmy decided on his own that he wanted to be a Canadian Mountie this year. Do you have any idea how impossible it is to find a kids Canadian Mountie costume?? They don’t make them. So we found the hat, and I found a kids Queens Guard uniform, and then found a site for the leather baldric (didn’t even know what that was called before I started looking for that) in kids sizes. So a lot of work (research, not sewing. Do you know me at all?!) went into this costume for a year without a real Halloween. At least I got some pictures.

  • confirmations,  personal

    jack & patrick’s confirmation

    Just a few shots from the day. We went to dinner afterwards with the whole family at Hempstead. It was a really nice day! (no pictures from inside the church- the rule was no photography and I’m a rule follower).

    Jack’s sponsor was his Grandpa Jack, Patrick’s was his grandma Inez. Our friend Father Bill. (who I went to graduate school with and who baptized all three boys)The fabulous Sullivan family!The boys with their buddy Robert and Father Bill. My three boys. Love them!

  • baseball,  personal,  travel

    the rvc royals at cooperstown dreams park- the end

    Ok, so being this was like almost 2 months ago, it’s time to finish posting the last of the pictures. This was their first playoff game of two. I forgot to mention on the last blog post that Anthony STOLE HOME! And of course I have NO pictures of that amazing event because we were playing that team from New Hampshire that was so horrendously behaved and the worst sports ever and I was in a terrible mood so I put the camera away. And then he stole home. It was freaking awesome!! (the NH Cats were the team that was winning 20-4 and still talking sh*t in the field and dugout, and put in a new pitcher- who was in no way 12 years old, not even in an alternate universe and was throwing at like 90 mph- when they were already up 20-4. Asshats.) So onto a better game against a nice team!

    Johnny C.
    Jamie.Getting some tips from Coach John H. The whole game was back and forth for the full two hours. It was so nerve wracking!!Bobby and his home run! I think he was a little happy!!

    Jack.
    Kevin.Jamie and HIS home run!He was pretty happy too!Anthony & Jack.Jack.Patrick.
    Kevin.Nail biting game. Seriously!And the final score with the first Royals win for the week!I was so exhausted after the first game roller coaster that I kept the camera in the bag for the second game. The boys didn’t even have time to eat between the first and second playoff game, had to change their shirts and socks and get right back to playing. It was a total endurance marathon. They lost the second game to a great California team- and the one shot I took is below.And that was that. So we headed up to the main signs to take some team photos. From left: James, Glenn, Johnny C, Anthony, Kevin, Bobby, Jamie, Johnny H, Mike, Zach, Patrick, Jack C, Jack B, and Michael.Yay! Baseball is over!!The Kliers. And a little wrestling (with Timmy too of course). Thursday night was the closing ceremonies. The dog at the place I stayed (Gateway Inn and Suites). Timmy getting in his last licks on pin trading.The team banner displayed by Thomas and Timmy. The ring ceremony. (Which I honestly could’ve skipped. It wasn’t much of anything.) Oh, and John does not run.Jamie and Timmy.
    I left Cooperstown immediately after this- and made it home in a record 3hours, 31 minutes door to door. Ya think I was ready to get the hell out of Cooperstown? Honestly, it was a great trip for the boys and I’m so glad they did it (and I’m glad I got to see them all play). I had a fantastic time with all the parents- they were all a super fun bunch to spend a week with!

  • baseball,  personal,  travel

    cooperstown dreams park- games 5&6

    More from Cooperstown. Finally a whole entire Royals team picture.

    If you missed the story on this one when I posted it from Cooperstown there was apparently a nuclear explosion level of fart in the barracks and there was one culprit. Can you guess who? (reenactment here)Mike.Michael with a pickoff to first. Glenn.Jack.Jamie.Johnny.Anthony.Zach.Patrick and his sliding/diving catch. Which is so ridiculously blurry (yeah, I’m a photographer) but I couldn’t get rid of the picture cause it was a great play. Immediately after. Of course this one’s in focus.Chase down. Anthony, Jack C, Glenn, and Jack.Jamie.Jack. And Patrick at first.James making a great catch in the field.Patrick and John.Jack.A little Royals cheer.Afternoon game. Bobby.Kevin.James after getting hit in the ankle with Coaches John & John. (he was okay by the next day)Jack. With Patrick at first again.Brothers meeting on the mound.Timmy and his buddy Mr. Allen. And his pins, of course. You can see the collection growing each day.Timmy and his other best buddy Mr. McNiff. Who never ever smiles (for pictures or in real life) but Timmy can always make him smile. Always. Its awesome!!He’s like the team mascot. 

  • children & families,  personal,  travel

    zoe’s workshop- part 1

    A few weeks ago I attended a pretty amazing workshop by the totally amazing Zoe Berkovic in Warwick NY. I had a great time, learned lots of new things and  met some fantastic new photografriends. Oh, and took some pictures. Here are just a few shots from the first day/part of shooting. We got to shoot in someone’s beautiful home with some great child models, all styled by Zoe.

    I debated posting these (and the rest to come) as it’s really Zoe’s creation. Her models, her location, her styling, her directing- I just shot and post processed. So I feel like it’s not really MY work (and it would be pretty hard to take a bad shot of these gorgeous kids in gorgeous clothing in the gorgeous house) and it’s almost like cheating. But the images were pretty cool so I figured I’d share while I edit some of my client sessions. My angles aren’t the best as there were 7-8 other photographers shooting at the same time in some small spaces and I’m definitely not a highly competitive shooter- I kinda waited my turn and grabbed a few quickly and moved out of the way for someone else to go.

    More from Zoe’s workshop to come soon.