Everybody Wins! DC Gala 2009

Everybody Wins! DC, my favorite non-profit, held their 14th annual gala in March at the Washington Hilton.  Everybody Wins! DC attracts a dedicated legion of volunteers and supporters, many of whom spend their lunch hours reading to students in DC Public Schools.  Highlights of the evening included a silent auction and dinner, a live auction led by Bob Levey, a welcome by Executive Director of Everybody Wins! DC, Mary Salander, remarks by General Colin Powell, USA (ret.), a speech by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and award presentations by United States Senator Tom Harkin and United States Congressman Jim Moran.  What follow are a few of my favorite photographs of the evening.

Students from Brent Elementary Student Choir provided fabulous entertainment during a portion of the evening.

I want to thank Operations Manager Vinny Hughes for inviting me back to photograph the event and Leigh Chowdhary, Program Manager, for her assistance.  I look forward to the 2010 gala and encourage everyone to consider how they can support EveryBody Wins! DC’s efforts to build literacy within our schools.  Please visit Everybody Wins! DC’s webpage for more about the gala and their programs.

Ben’s Portrait

Ben celebrated his 6th birthday in March, and I did not get around to making his six-year old portrait until this week!  He and I can share the blame.  On several occasions, I wanted to photograph him, but he either was unwilling, had just eaten something messy, needed a haircut or …well you get the idea.  In short, it was two months late, but there will finally be an updated photo on the wall of “my baby.”

Bar Mitzvah Washington Hebrew Congregation

While Valentine’s Day is popularly associated with romantic love, I spent February 14th photographing Connor, his wonderful family and his good friends, who turned out to observe and celebrate his Bar Mitzvah.  The bond of love within Connor’s family is so evident that I could feel it.  I hope these images capture the mutual pride and love that I witnessed all day between Connor and his family.

 

Connor with his grandparents:

Connor and his grandmother:

In the evening Connor, his friends, and family celebrated and danced at the Copley Formal Lounge on the campus of Georgetown University.

Connor and his grandfather delivered the blessing:

I thank Connor and his family for allowing me the privilege of sharing this special day with them.

Happy New Year 2009

Best wishes for a joyous and healthy New Year!

Elkridge Furnace Inn

On August 24th I photographed the wedding of L & S as Allison Britton’s second photographer.  This lovely wedding occurred at the scenic Elkridge Furnace Inn in Elkridge, Maryland.  It is always an honor to assist Allison.  What follow are my favorite of the photographs I made for Allison.

I wish L & S all the best for a life full of peace and happiness.

Katie & Chris

On Saturday, August 08th, I had the pleasure of assisting Allison Britton in photographing Katie and Chris’ beautiful ceremony in Virginia.  

During the ceremony, they displayed a slideshow with photographs of Chris and Katie as children.

Katie’s expression says it all:  

After the ceremony, Allison made some stunning as well as fun formal portraits of Katie and Chris.  The next three were taken more or less over Allison’s shoulder:

Katie is dancing with her father, while Chris dances with his mother.

After the first dance, the father-daughter, and mother-son dances, everyone took to the dance floor:

Working for Allison was a treat as always, and Katie and Chris were practically glowing all day!  There were so many great vibes at this wedding I went home feeling good about the world.   I wish Katie and Chris all the happiness!

Dog Pub

In July the good folks at Dog Pub asked me to make some photographs of their two pubs in Baltimore and Columbia, MD as well as their brewery in Westminster, MD.  They are going to be enhancing their promotional materials and wanted some new photographs.   You can find the original Dog Pub location in Baltimore’s Federal Hill area.  The pub has tremendous charm.  Here a few of my favorites from the day:

  

My favorite location in the Federal Hill Dog Pub is the third floor.  What a great place to hang out with friends.

The Columbia location features the same great menu and beer with the added option of eating outside with your canine friends.  It is Dog Pub after all!

The Dog Pub staff are friendly as are the patrons.

In addition to the menu of delicious pizzas and salads, the highlight of Dog Pub for me is the beer.  They brew several varieties at their brewery in Westminster.

 

The next time you are in Columbia or the Federal Hill area of Baltimore, you should stop in to meet the great folks at Dog Pub and enjoy some delicious food, drink and conversation.  I recommend you try the Hoppy Dog beer along with an appetizer of fresh Mozzarella. 

5,000 miles, 11 states and 3 cars

In light of my previous post, I think some family photos are needed.  My family and I recently returned from a cross-country road trip that took us from our home in the Washington, D.C. area to visit my parents in Tucson, Arizona.  Along the way we visited several national parks, slept in many motels, and drove three different cars in an effort to assist family members in a move. (We are thinking of starting our own auto-transport business as this was a more enjoyable part of the trip than we anticipated.)  While at times we felt like the Griswolds from National Lampoon’s Family Vacation, no serious high jinx occurred! And I am no Chevy Chase.

Will and Ben enjoyed sleeping in the motels and playing.

Will enjoyed the free continental breakfasts, as did my wallet.

In Vandalia, IL we MADE the boys visit the historic state capitol where Lincoln served time as a legislator.  You can tell the boys were thrilled.

Ben demonstrates how he and Will kept amused during the long days in the car:

In Arizona we visited the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert.

Will was not happy about hiking on this trail with a posted rattlesnake warning.  Perhaps children do have better judgement than their parents!

While visiting this National Park, Will and Ben earned their Junior Ranger Badge and certificate. Here they are being sworn in:

Before visiting the North Rim of the Grand Canyon we stayed at Jacobs Lake Inn.  I recommend both the inn and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon highly.

Jenny and I had previously visited the South Rim and found the North Rim as beautiful and more serene.

On the only road to the North Rim, we passed eerie evidence of recent forest fires.

We were all excited to finally arrive in Tucson, so we could swim and spend time with family.

While we were visiting Tucson the monsoon rains began and we were treated to some beautiful sunsets and a few rainbows!  That was our reward for enduring 105 degree temperatures.  (Though it is a dry heat. )

In all it was a wonderful vacation and we are happy to be home!

 

 

 

Genealogy and photography

My 85 year old father is a life-long genealogist and has been working hard to compile all his research on his family history into a book for publication.  Recently I agreed to assist him in organizing and scanning many of the photographs he has collected for eventual inclusion in his book.  Looking at old family photographs as a child first kindled my interest in photography.  It is magical to gaze at a photograph of an ancestor never met.  As a father I document my own family with copious photographs and I wonder at times about who might be viewing my photographs 30 or 80 or 100 years in the future.  As a photographer I wonder who years from now will be looking at photographs I create for clients of weddings and other family events.  In most cases the names of the people behind the camera of family photographs are forgotten, but the images can continue to resonate across generations.  Perhaps I am over sentimental, but that to me is the true gift of photography. 

The following photograph churned up these thoughts for me:

 It is a photograph of my great-grandfather’s family taken around 1885 in Mansfield, Ohio, the city I grew up in.  My grandfather, William, is the boy on the left; he was born in 1878 and died in 1970, with-in a year of my birth.  On the back of the photograph is information about the photographer:

His name was Theodore. H. Campbell.  According to Artists in Ohio, 1787-1900: A Biographical Dictionary

 By Mary Sayre Haverstock, Jeannette Mahoney Vance as found on books.google.com, Mr. Campbell was “active from 1883 to 1889 or later in Mansfield (Richland), where he was the partner of Albert N. Camp.  During the late 1890s he worked in Van Wert”, Ohio.  It would take a lot more work to discover what happened to Mr. Campbell.  I imagine Mr. Campbell was compensated for his work, but nonetheless I am grateful he made the photograph.  I am grateful to my great-grandparents for making the time to sit for a family photograph.  I am also grateful to members of the intervening generations for preserving this photograph.  I will now return it along with a digital copy to safe keeping where it will wait to be enjoyed, I hope, by other descendants of my great-grandfather, perhaps another 120 years in the future.

When was the last time you made photographs of your family and are they well preserved in an album, frame or on a back-up DVD or hard drive?

Florrie and Rick: Intimate and Elegant

When I met with Florrie and Rick to discuss the details of their wedding, they repeatedly emphasized their vision of an intimate and elegant afternoon.  Their wedding brought family and friends from east and west and from north and south to the beautiful and elegant Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington, D.C.  From the intimate Garden rooms of the hotel to Florrie’s elegant dress, the ceremony, reception and dinner created a wedding equally beautiful, joyous, intimate and elegant.

I couldn’t help but feel the love that radiated between Rick and Florie.  They are a fun, thoughtful, joyful, and, yes, elegant, couple.  

Florrie’s daughter Laura served as her mother’s Maid of Honor:

Florrie and her mother presented each other with a strand of pearls:

 

Florrie’s son escorted his mother down the aisle:

 

The courtyard of the Mandarin Oriental was a beautiful backdrop for photographing Florrie and Rick after the ceremony:

 

Florrie and Rick had the Mandarin Oriental divide the Garden Room in a creative fashion to accommodate an intimate reception as well as dinner site:

 

I want to thank Florrie and Rick for allowing me to photograph their wedding and to share the day with them.  I wish them all the happiness in their married life.