They said it would and it did … the winter storm that put Pittsburgh to a stand still with the 4th largest snowstorm in our history with an average of 21 inches. This weekend over a 100,000 lost power. We were one of the lucky ones, we only lost ours for roughly 2 hours.
On Saturday we awoke to the most beautiful and over whelming of views.
Heading out for the start of our 7 1/2 hour dig-out with an additional 2 1/2 hours on Sunday to unbury our cars.
This is what awaited us when we opened our garage door – 300 foot of driveway with 21′ of snow on it, no snow blower, our cars buried and 3 shovels for the 4 of us. (do you feel our aches and pains)
I had to actually reschedule a high school seniors winter snow shoot – there was no way I was going anywhere until we finished digging out – are you now feeling our aches!
This turned out to be one of my favorites photos of the day, it’s a view from the other end of our driveway … As I stood there in snow past my knees and looked around, one could not help but feel the surreal quiet that came after the storm, the trees straining from the weight of the snow, and the vast view of white with the start of blue skies opening up. ~Francine
Over the years I’ve been a huge fan of photographers who post ‘pick-of-the-day’ photos. I’ve always loved seeing their choices, their artist abilities, and their creativity. Secretly I’ve always wanted to post my own POTD, but just couldn’t imagine with our schedules of actually being able to keep up with it, then it came to me… a new category, a new topic for our blog ~ Today’s Pick… There it was ~ a topic that could be anything, on any day, and any number of photos, of ANYTHING.
Our 1st “Today’s Pick” starts out with almost 7 week old Weezy in his first professional headshot. Soooo adorably cute!!
As I watched the snow fall today, waiting for what the news is calling the biggest snowfall of the past 7 years, I thought I’d step outside and take a quick photo from my front door ~ nothing like the peaceful silence of a snowfall.
AND just one more… this is Madison showing me what she had learned at dance class. Any photographer can tell you, photographing children is a huge challenge. They don’t sit still for more than a few moments (if your lucky). But by taking multiple photos and putting them in a collage ~ you know have a story… much more compelling than individual photos. ~Francine
With every meeting, with every competition we continue to grow. This weekend we attended our second Triangle Photographers Association Winter Meeting and Folio Competition. We came home with two 2nd Place ribbons and three 3rd place. Not too shabby as this is only our 2nd time competing.
Our weekend was totally packed with attending classes with incredibly talented photographers and speakers that were there to help each of us grow in our dreams.
The line up at TPA was amazing with Dave Savarino, who shared his 38 years of experience, he is one that you could just learn so much from his experiences. Sunshine Sommers-Treon, who through her abundance of energy shared her insight and talent into the Senior world through her absolutely amazing photography. Janice Wendt taught us techniques in image enhancements, which I can’t wait to start incorporating into our everyday post production. Bob Hancock, who taught us how doing our own framing isn’t as scary as we thought it was. He is absolutely one of by favorite landscape photographers. Then came Art Suwansang, from Southern California. This artist is so diverse in his skills as a speaker/educator and an award-winning wedding photographer, we so look forward in adding this new insight into our weddings. Our last class today ended with the afternoon with Ken Sklute, whose work I have admired throughout my years as a photographer. This explorer of light has taught us to open our minds eyes and see the light around us and how it affects the photos we take.
I am a true believer that in order to grow you need to dream. Through all these classes and seminars gets us closer to our dreams. Closer to our tomorrow. –Francine
Trying to put our experience in words is almost impossible. The thrill of actually attending classes with some of the best photographers in the WORLD would be an understatement. You have no idea how in awe I was when sitting there listing to those I have followed… some would even consider it a little bit of stalking. The inspiration felt when sitting in Jerry Ghionis classes was unbelievable, not only did he teach, he entertained. He is a genius in this work. A true inspiration. Another highlight was sitting in on Jeff & Allison Rodgers this husband and wife team, or as Jeff introduced himself… he is Mr. Allison Rodgers of Allison Rodgers Photography. They taught us about creative marketing and offering creative products that I can’t wait to start on. Another big highlight of this experience and one that brought tears to my eyes was Joe Buissink of Beverly Hills, who spoke about his life, his experiences, and his involvement with Autistic Organizations. He totally blew us away with his work, which consisted a great deal of celebrities. It was an honor sitting there just absorbing this work. One more that we can’t forget is the Bebb’s, Steven & Jen of Vancouver brought some exciting new ideas into our world…. some that we will soon be implementing.
I am so glad that we had this opportunity to attend IMAGING USA, which was put on by the Professional Photographers of America (PPA), which of course we are members of… We feel very blessed to be doing something that we totally love. Our challenge now is to make it all happen and that is something we look forward too. Enjoy ~Francine
How cool is this … we just received word that we are mentioned in a recent post by Jerry of JR Customization.
Jerry is a blog and website designer with Smugmug and someone we have never actually had the opportunity to meet until our recent trip to Nashville. When we first started our website with Smugmug we were basically lost in how to customize our look. I had the good fortune to find Jerry, and over-the-phone and via emails he was able to get us up and running. Just a few months ago he worked with us again to get an updated look for our site. His work is amazing and I would highly recommend him if you are in need of a smug customization. ~Francine
Here is our (Dawn & I) 2009 Video of our Seniors from the West side of town. This was a great year. We shot young ladies & men from Moon, Hopewell, Ambridge, Fort Cherry, West Allegheny, Chartires Valley, Quacker Valley and Weirton WV. We hope the best for each and everyone of them! ~ Bob
Wow, how cool is this… if you are a follower of TimeSmart Images, you can now subscribe to our blog and receive notice when new posts are up. I wish we were an everyday blogger, but in-reality, it just not going to happen with our schedules. We are making a 2010 resolution – one of many – that we will do everything in our power to post at least 2 – 3 times a week.
So instead of constantly check to see if we posted anything new … take a moment, subscribe today and save time.
While I’m thinking of it, we would love to hear from you, so if you are one of our fabulous clients and have not yet signed our guest book on our website, please take a moment and do so. Everything we do is by word-of-mouth and testimonials are the best way for others to see what past and current clients say about our work. Hope to hear from you soon ~Francine
I sit here and am totally amazed that we are in the year 2010… and that we’re in Nashville. As I look back and think about 2009; what a whirl wind of a year we had and am totally amazed how fast it went, another year… REALLY. It’s almost as if we blinked and time has sped by and here we are reflecting on where we’ve been and where we hope to be as we move into the new year. Not only are we taking 4 classes a day, we are attending mini classes during the expo at Imaging USA as we scout the millions ~ yes, millions… maybe more — vendors showing off their latest and greatest. Don’t you ever wonder sometimes how much information our brains can absorb?
Thought I’d share a sampling of our South Hills Area Seniors that I had the opportunity to photograph. As I was going through their galleries I couldn’t help smiling as I remember how much fun we had. I hope you enjoy watching this fabulous bunch of seniors, I wish everyone of them much success in their new adventures after graduation. ~Francine
Hard to believe that we’ve been up since 5:00 a.m and its now midnight. We have been going all day and have taken some amazing classes – starting with JB & DeEtte Sallee, followed by Jerry Ghionis… both were totally amazing with personalities that just kept you laughing. We learned that if you always do what you always done – you always get what you always got!!! To think outside the box and change it up.
One seminar I was really looking forward to was with Parker Pfister, a wedding photographer whose work I have admired since the start of our profession. Sadly for us he had to leave for home prior to his portion of the seminar - his wife was having their baby. We wish the Pfister’s the best.
The Imaging Expo was something I’ve never seen before – I don’t even know how we’ll see it all by Tuesday. To finish off the day we attended the “Rockin Nashville Party” sponsored by Canon. One thing I love about Nashville, is the music and there is a lot of here…. one is better than the last.
So with that here are some pics of our day – enjoy!! -Francine
