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Anniversary Photos
— 09/14/2015 by Monika Wertman —With the arrival of the digital camera and the addition of the camera to cell phones, the need for a professional photographer seems to be less pressing. After all, we all carry a camera with us everywhere we go and can snap away to our hearts delight whenever we feel like it. We can ask strangers if they could snap a quick shot in front of a tourist spot to commemorate the moment and we don’t miss a thing when our children and grand children take that first step or utter that first word.
There are, however still moments and milestones that need to be documented professionally; newborn pictures, that first birthday, Sweet Sixteens, Quinceaneras, Bar Mitzvahs, senior photos, engagement and wedding photos, special anniversaries and maternity shots to bring it full circle. Of course there are other offerings I will not mention in this blog, as they do not really fit here.
It is one of those special moments that I was asked to commemorate the other week. A husband came to me who wanted to do something special for his wife of almost ten years. He mentioned that they did not have a photographer when they got married and he wanted to surprise her with an anniversary session that would celebrate their love for each other in a similar fashion. After some discussion, I suggested that we could also include their three sons in the pictures toward the end of the session and he got excited.
We set a date and he stopped by to purchase the session as a gift certificate to give to his wife on their anniversary, and told me that she would probably call me to discuss details.
Sure enough, a few days later, the very excited other half called me and we discussed wardrobe, location and how the session would run. At the appointed date we met and while her mom watched the boys, we took off to get the couple shots they were both looking for.
Elvin and Tania are a very sweet and funny couple. I had a lot of fun capturing their personalities and their love for each other. They were up to exploring different spots within our location, resulting in some wonderful images.
Halfway through our session, we returned to the cars, my couple changed their clothes and the boys were unloaded. We now took off to the other side of our location and created some family photos of all five of them, some of just the boys who were somewhat reluctant to cooperate, but were persuaded with the promise of ice-cream, and a few shots that included grandma as well.
All in all it was a great session and I am happy to share it with you. Back to the point I was making at the beginning of this blog, even with the constant access to a camera, the need for a professional session still arises and when you book with us, we will guide you from the first moment we pick up the phone to the last minute of the session. This care continues into our sales session, when you return to the studio about 2 weeks after your session to choose your images. We make it easy for you to select your favorites and discard the ones you can do without and guide you in choosing the right materials for your wall art that we have created for you.
So browse our offerings on our site, call us with questions and to book a session. Whatever you want us to cover, we will take care to do it well and make it fun for you.
First Birthday Fun
— 09/03/2015 by Monika Wertman —Working with little ones is both fun and challenging. This is never more true than when I am asked to capture a little one year old at her first birthday party. Little Brielle was no exception. The party was set up outdoors, older children and family members were all around and everything was new to her. One of the saving graces with a one year old is that they generally do not move as fast as on older child yet, as they have just learned how to walk, and Brielle was just finding her speed the day of her birthday.
Minnie Mouse was the theme, so pink, black and white and zebra stripes were prominent in the decorations, which made for a colorful backdrop.
A little play area was set up for the birthday girl, which kept her mostly in one area. She liked the colors, so getting shots in that spot was easy.
One of the funniest things was getting her to try her birthday cupcake. She just did not know what to make of it.
She carefully touched the little Oreos that adorned the top of each cupcake, acting as Minnie’s ears. She pulled one off and licked the icing, made a face and looked away.
The texture of the icing drew her back though and it was played with. After much coaxing, she took a bite of the cake and again made a face and finally proceeded to take the cup cake and flung it off her high chair tray.
This cuteness extracted much laughter with exclamations of: “she takes after her daddy!”
Little children are among our favorite clients, especially between the ages of 6 months to 2 years, as they are natural in front of the camera and even if they do not smile much, are cute as buttons. They have not learned that they have to smile yet, so when they do, it is a natural, heart felt smile that comes from within, showing their personality in a way that is briefly hidden around the ages of 3-5. At that age they start smiling in a more forced way, making our job a bit more challenging in trying to get them back to forgetting that a camera is present.
Sometimes getting a family picture with a little one and her own agenda can create the sweetest moments like in the picture above, a favorite of the family.
Please explore our galleries and stay tuned to find out about our fall mini sessions coming soon. We would love to hear from you and receive feedback on images we post. Let us know what makes your favorites list and by doing so, you will be entered to win a 1 hour session for up to 5 people, a $150 value. Please mention any image from the children ‘s gallery including this blog.
Fun with Flour
— 08/28/2015 by Monika Wertman —
Seniors are so much fun, I love working with them and love to discover what each of them loves to do.
Creating images to share their passion is very special and great fun.
Two weeks ago I worked with a senior girl who is not only beautiful on the outside but has a great spirit and was looking to do something different with her senior pictures. She is enrolled in the culinary program at one of the local high schools, loves her dog and baking. She is looking to go forward with her culinary passion and decided that that passion needed to be captured in her pictures.
I roll with what my clients want, and the prospect of having fun with baking items, tools of the trade and some flour, invited some great ideas. Haylee was open to playing and trying something that was a bit outside of the box.
We started the day with images of her and her puppy, moved on to the yearbook pose and finally arrived at the culinary aspect. We started with some poses and then decided to get messy. Throwing flour into the air in front of a black backdrop with high speed lighting was fun, took a bit of tweaking and produced some great images.
The first time I asked her to throw up flour, Haylee grabbed a handful and I thought, after looking at the back of the camera, that we had overdone it, quite sure that I would toss that first try. We proceeded to tone it down and arrived where I thought we should be.
While editing, I discovered that the first try created one or two that were very fun and would stay as one of her choices. She loves it! It is shown below.
One of the images with less flour tossed into the air also remained as a favorite and both really show her love of baking. She is happy, is having fun and in her element.
After cleaning up we headed out to get some more formal images in her prom dress, which also rendered some great photos as you can tell in the sample below.
Here at Wertman Photography we capture what our client wants, we go all out if needed and have a wonderful time doing so. I invite you to vote for your favorite of the two flour pictures, and for doing so you will be entered in a drawing for a free one hour session for up to 5 people, a $150 value.
Please browse our galleries and if you are not a client yet, give us a call today to schedule your session.
Capturing your Wedding Day
— 08/17/2015 by Monika Wertman —This summer was pretty busy with weddings and I have decided to share a fun one that happened just a few weeks ago. The day started around 12:15 pm with my second meeting the groom and his men at their “getting dressed” location and me meeting my bride and her gals at Greengrove Gardens where they were getting dressed.
We had a lot of fun with everyone, including some sweet moments between my bride and her flower girls, my bride and her mom and the bridesmaids getting all of the underskirts of the wedding gown into the right position. We had some good laughs and I captured it all.
Within a couple of hours we proceeded to the church in Smithburg for the ceremony, a beautiful little church with gorgeous stained glass windows. My second was already there with the men and was setting up in the balcony to capture the vows on video, while also catching some stills of the church, the details and the wedding party as they entered from above.
One of my favorite moments is always that first glance between my bride and groom and his reaction to seeing her in her gown, gorgeously arraigned for their special day. It was very touching as some tears were shed upon that first look.
After the ceremony we got some great shots of everyone in front of the church and the typical photos of the bridal party and all of the family inside. Two of my favorites are shown here. That special moment I was able to capture when my bride and groom forgot I was there while we went looking for a groomsman gone AWOL.
Another great shot is of my couple in front of their church after I sent everyone else back in to gather their things so we could depart for the reception at Greengrove Gardens.
My second had preceded us there to catch the detail shots of décor and cake and guests milling about. After we arrived back at the venue, I caught a few more shots of the bridal party before the big entrance.
Another favorite of mine is the first dance of husband and wife and the daddy daughter dance. My bride had chosen “butterfly kisses” for her song, which always has me on the brink of tears, as I have daughters who have those little rituals with their daddy as well.
After dinner we took our couple back out onto the grounds for what I call the specials. It’s that time when the guests are happily settled and I can sneak my couples off to get wedding day portraits without being rushed. The sun was setting and with the help of a bit of portable lighting, we got some great shots. Please look below to see some samples.
To finish the day, we came back inside to catch the tossing of the bouquet and garter, and after checking with our couple to make sure they did not want us to do anything else, we called it a night around 9:30pm.
Yes, weddings are long, they are tiring, but they are one of the most rewarding and fun events we love to record for our clients. We make sure that not a moment is missed, we are on our feet the entire time with just a few minutes to eat while everyone else does the same, and at the end of it all, we return to the studio to create a sneak peek for our couples that is posted to Facebook the same night. Within two weeks each wedding is edited and ready to be relived in our studio during the viewing session, when we help our couples decide which photos go into the album that comes as part of their wedding collection.
Please browse our website for recent events, weddings and senior pictures and call us to book your next life event or family/senior session with us. We are ready to create memories for you that will last a lifetime.
A Pretty Senior and Strong Athlete
— 08/09/2015 by Monika Wertman —Fun with a cute senior who is also a swimmer
A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of working with a cute senior who loves to dress up and is also a serious athlete. Katy swims which occupies a good chunk of her life, a passion we portrayed in studio as we had fun shooting at the pool last year and did not want to repeat the same scenario for her senior pictures.
Before we headed to the studio though, we met at the C&O Canal in Williamsport, MD to capture some fun sides of Katy’s personality only her family and non-swim friends see. The location I chose offers many different opportunities to not only utilize nature, but also fake an urban setting.
We started with Katy in her prom dress from this past year and I thought that contrasting the softness of the skirt against a rough looking wall would be fun. A slight breeze kicked up at just the perfect time to sway the skirt and hair just enough to lend interest.
We also used the bridge crossing the Potomac River as a backdrop to lend interest. It was a bright and sunny day with the humidity in the upper digits, so water breaks were a must.
Katy changed into a cute shorts outfit for some more casual pictures by the river and the canal as shown below.
Next came a very grown up dress. The blue played nicely against the greenery growing on the other side of the canal that we explored next.
In the outdoors, I portrayed Katy as the pretty young lady she is, fun loving and ready for anything. Once we headed to the studio, I asked her to show me the strong athlete side of her, which I captured with strong and dramatic lighting.
Here at Wertman Photography we love working with seniors who love to show their personality, special interests, and are up to try something different. Call us today to schedule your session, you still have time to capture who you are in a unique and fun way.
A fun couple’s session at the C&O Canal at Williamsport
— 07/09/2015 by Monika Wertman —Lately we have had several couples come through the studio and while most of them have been engagement pictures, I had a session with one couple who do not fall into that category. In this case, the session was a Valentines present from him to her and it just took us a while to find the perfect date to execute the session.
Gabe and Melissa are a lovely couple who were up for an adventure. We set out to our local stretch at the C&O Canal in Williamsport, MD and because they were both open to ideas that pushed the typical location a little, we found a few spots to create pictures at that I had not previously been able to utilize.
One such spot was on top of a taller base of a bridge. Gabe gave Melissa a leg up, then jumped up behind her and Voila, we had a background that looked urban enough to rival any inner city location.
We also found a wall covered in lots of ivy, lending a romantic feel to the image that was also different than what I had utilized before with other clients in the same general location.
After a quick clothing change I asked if they minded crossing the water basin for me and upon an enthusiastic “we don’t mind at all” I gave them instructions as to what I wanted them to do, as the distance was too far to give the instructions once they were in place. This situation led to some wonderful impromptu images that look fun, relaxed and non-posed.
Now it was time to head in the opposite direction and explore what we may find as we were heading down the path leading into the wooded area of the canal. We found little hidden clearings, spots where the sun peeked through the trees just enough to light Melissa’s dress in a romantic way and gnarly tree trunks that made wonderful props.
The samples within this post illustrate some of the locations described above. Here at Wertman Photography we love to discover new spots, even if we have been to the general location before and each time we take a client to that area, something new happens, as each client is inclined to a different adventure.
Please check out our galleries, in particular the wedding gallery, as we are busy with weddings and are updating that gallery as our couples come in to choose their images.
Please vote on your favorite image in this post by leaving a comment below, leaving your contact information and sharing your comment on facebook. You may win a 1 hour family session for up to 5 people, a $150 value, by doing so. The winner will be announced July 20 on our facebook page.
A Bridal Session in the Park
— 06/18/2015 by Monika Wertman —Last Saturday I helped preserve memories for a special couple on their wedding day. While the wedding is still in post production, I also captured the bride in question three weeks before the wedding in some wonderful moments during her bridal session, a service included in our middle wedding collection. For that session, Kristen was pampered by my make-up artist and stylist, got to try out her wedding look and play dress-up in her gown for the afternoon. It had rained for days and the morning of our session, so, being conscious of the vulnerability of her gown, I carefully placed a plastic table cloth under my bride and arranged her gown on top of it, to keep it pristine for the wedding day. With the help of two assistants and Kristen’s maid of honor we utilized the sunlight we received just in time for our session and bounced light onto our bride using only natural light for this session.
I wanted a few studio portraits as well, and two versions are shown here. Please leave us a comment on which one of the studio portraits you like better. They are the same capture, but are processed slightly differently. Both my bride and I can not decide which one we like better. Your vote will enter you in a drawing, please continue reading to find out more.
Originally we were going to shoot in fields of grass and tree groves, but with the rain making the earth soft and the grass still holding moisture on the blades, we re-grouped and decided to go to one of the local parks and use the sidewalks in said parks in order to not harm the dress and shoes. As is often the case, the change in plans led to wonderful opportunities for images we would not have had at the original location and great results. The only thing we battled the day of Kristen’s bridal session were little tiny flying bugs that found netting on a skirt to be a wonderful place to fly under. This strange occurrence took also place on Kristen and Brooks’ wedding day when we went outside for our early evening photos.
Please feel free to explore our other galleries, especially portraits and weddings as we just added new imagery to both. If a wedding is in your near future, you just got engaged or want to renew your vows, we can help and will be happy to discuss options with you. Please share this post on Facebook and comment on it when share it by voting on your favorite of the two versions of the studio portrait by commenting either with “black and white” or “sepia”, leaving your email address and name and be entered into a drawing for a 60 minute family session for up to 5 people, a $150 value. The drawing will be held on June 30, 2015.
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