• babies,  children & families,  christenings,  occassions & parties

    eleana’s christening

    March 14, 2013 /

    After photographing this gorgeous little baby and her equally gorgeous big sister & parents several times, I was so happy and exited to shoot her christening day. The christening was held in the Greek Orthodox Church and I knew it was going to be awesome- and it SO was! I really love learning about different cultures and religions and their customs (I even got a special blessing on me from the priest at the church!) and photographing the rituals involved.

    So total picture overload coming up.

    A beautiful (but chilly) day in NJ.

    The christening begins at the back of the church. The priest explained to me after the ceremony that it was done that way as a throwback to the old days when people were converting from idol worship or other religions so they were assumed to be possessed when they were coming to church for the first time. They had to be blessed/baptized by the doors so that the devil was left outside. (ok, so that’s not word for word, but that’s the general idea).She was very interested in grabbing the prayer book. Godparents. 
    This may be the last time she was happy for a while!

    Getting totally undressed for the baptism. Her expression is priceless. It’s either “what are they doing to me?” or “listen camera lady- are you going to just stand there and not help me?!?”Even the very little guy is enjoying the scene.I was very happy no one dropped the baby, but I can tell you it made me really nervous and I was so glad I wasn’t the one who had to hold her. She was covered in oil and then put in the water. Very slippery!Lots more prayers, other oil applied, cutting of the hair and a change into her white communion gown. Communion (the Greek Orthodox church does all 3 in one shot: Baptism, Communion and Confirmation.) Pretty efficient, no?Proud parents & godparents. And as long as she was being held by Mommy, a happy baby!And off to the reception. This one cracks me up. Never thought a little baby could do such a “cheese” face!

    Not being held by Mommy? No thank you.Lots of familiar faces!Grandparents.“My” Jake. You’ll remember him from his birth session. Since he’s literally been trained since birth (and even before) to take pictures, look how well he does for me!Such pretty ladies. And sooooo nice!Sisters.
    Can’t even tell you what was going on here.No party is complete without face painting.Sisters in law.And again, no mommy? No picture.

    Congrats to all of you and thank you for holding me hostage and feeding me dinner before letting me leave. Much love to you on this day and all days!

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  • occassions & parties,  sweet 16

    hannah’s sweet 16

    December 3, 2012 /

    Meeting Hannah and her family was such a pleasure- everyone was so very nice and the party was a blast! She was definitely sweet and beautiful and seemed to really enjoy her birthday celebration. And on top of everything else- she’s fluent in spanish. I loved the parts of the candle lighting where she spoke only in spanish (not that I understood it, but it was cool!)

    Brother & sisters.

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  • bsquared business,  occassions & parties

    the mayor

    October 21, 2012 /

    I had the unique opportunity to photograph our town’s fantastic Mayor- Francis X. Murray at two events last week. The first was at the Sandel Senior Center serving lunch to the members there. The seniors were so nice and so happy to see the Mayor (and extra happy when he said he called the “brownies” and there would be no parking tickets given during the lunch!). I think he had a great time serving lunch with the village Trustees.

    The owner of All Island Taxi in RVC has started giving free rides to the seniors on Thursdays. How cool, right?He was my favorite. He was teasing the others getting their photos taken and then I told him it was his turn next. What a smile!The second event was the official grand opening of the new Recreation Center playground equipment. The old structure was falling apart and filled with wood bees, and was replaced with this. I have a great shot where Franny looks like he’s climbing up the rope ladder, but I left that one out.The Mayor’s grandson. Who just wanted to get down and climb!Making new friends. Mrs. Mayor was there too. And the official grand opening photo. 

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  • children & families,  occassions & parties

    jack’s 4th birthday party

    October 11, 2012 /

    I had the pleasure of photographing Jack’s Thomas the Tank Engine themed backyard birthday party a few weekends ago. His mom and I went to high school together (and will be hanging out at our 25th(!!!) reunion this weekend) and I had a blast hanging with Jack and his family.

    The birthday boy himself…

    Love his expression- it’s kinda like “all of this is for me??”
    Almost camouflaged right into the banner.With his great grandma.And Uncle Mark (who is also a photographer and has helped me tons when I made the big switch to Mac). The whole family.The kettle corn was a huge hit- everyone was all over it!Catching with his head?A super cool cupcake cake in the shape of a 4 with the whole Thomas theme. Clever!Ya think someone’s a little excited about his cake?Happy birthday Jack!!

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