Hi everyone-

Hope everyone had a great week. Mine was ok, and pretty long. Just got back from Las Vegas last night and you would think that after spending a week there at the WPPI photography conference I would be all amped up.

While I did learn a lot and am thankful for the experience I was really sick the whole time and didn't have any of the fun you might expect out of a Vegas trip. I never even got to play a single hand of black jack. Most days were spent in class trying stay awake, learn something and not hack up a lung. Evenings were spent trying to eat something and then heading to bed.

So today I went to the doctors again and then for x-rays to rule out pneumonia. Super. Waiting to hear back on that. And I'm starting another round of medications.

But one good thing has happened this week. One of my images shot at a fire in West Manchester Township was selected for this months cover for FireRescue Magazine.

The issue covers rural fire tactics. So the image is a good fit. FireRescue tries to create covers that give the reader a glimpse of what's inside. This image fits well because of the barns and windmill in it.

When I shoot fires I try to shoot a variety of scenes and angles. I want to tell the story of the incident. But one thing I always try to shoot are images that will fit well on the cover of the magazine. Obviously they need to be vertical bet I also like to arrange areas for the mast head (magazine title) as well as areas of dead space where text can be laid over.

This image worked pretty good in that way.

Have a great day!

Hi everyone-

Here is a little video created from Carolyn and Floyd's Engagement session a few months back. We had a blast shooting these image. We shot in and around Harrisburg, Pennsylvania using the train station and State Capital as back drops. As well we shot at some local parks and Carolyn and Floyd's home.

Hope you enjoy, have a great day!

Hi everyone-

Here area few more images from the march on the PA Capital we did yesterday to help defeat HB-1828 and save our pension plans.

The pressure that is being put on the Representatives is working. They cancelled yesterdays session, likely to avoid being at the Capital at the same time as us. Also our leaders are actively meeting with Representatives and staff many of who they were never previously able to get meetings with.

I was in contact with Rep. Eugene DePasquale from the 95th district (where I live) and he assured me that he is voting NO and will do what it takes to defeat the bill. He said "Please know that I will vote against House Bill 1828 in its current form. Trying to help Philadelphia should not be an excuse to attack the pensions of our police and fire fighters."

The vote was delayed due to the canceling of the session yesterday so please continue to contact your Representatives and urge them to VOTE NO on HB-1828.

You can find your representative by looking here:----> Pennsylvania General Assembly

Have a great day!



Pennsylvania Professional Firefighters Association President Art Martynuska speaking on the steps of the Capital.




Pittsburgh Firefighters Local 1 president Joseph King speaking to firefighters on the Capital steps.






And oh ya, Pennsylvania STILL doesn't have a budget passed. The only State in the country to still not have a budget.

Hi everyone-

Just got back from the PA Capital and the Rally to defeat House Bill 1828. The rally was very well attended and seems to be making a difference.

Our efforts are not going unnoticed. Today's House session was mysteriously cancelled!! Representatives with all of those effected are meeting as I type this with Representatives and their staffs to defeat this bill.

PLEASE contact your representative and urge them to vote NO on HB 1828.

I will post more later as well as additional images from the rally. Here are a few to start.

Have a great day!

Hi everyone-

I hope you all had a great weekend. Mine was busy but a lot of fun. I had a booth at the Yorkfest Arts Festival in York, PA this weekend.

The weekend didn't start off to great as there were torrential downpours on Friday night (set up day) and a misty, gray and humid start to Saturday.

But Sunday was absolutely beautiful. THe weather was perfect and the crowd was much larger than in past years.

So I wanted to share a few shots from my booth. You can't really see it to well but you get the idea. At the end is a short video of the booth as well.

I also would like to take a moment to thank everyone who came out to the show to say or purchase something from me. I met a lot of great people as well as reconnected to a few people I have met in previous years. That is one of the most fun parts of doing this show!

Have a great day!

Hi everyone-

Here is a great sunset that happened after a line of storms moved through our area last week.

I was at home with Cree and Tonya had just gotten back from a meeting. We were having dinner when I noticed that the house across the street was glowing a brilliant orange color.

I quickly realized one of two things was happening, either our house was on fire, which I knew it wasn't or there was a spectacular sunset brewing. I went to the deck out back and found that the whole sky was glowing orange. So as I passed through the house I said I've got to go shoot this and off I went.

I wasn't sure where I would go as we are in a pretty built up area. But one spot came to mind that I might be able to get up high enough to shoot over the city.

The light was continually changing so I shot this first image while I was on my way just to show what it looked like in case it changed before I could get to my destination.



I got out to this new development not far from us and was able to get just high enough to shoot above the city. The sky was spectacular in any direction you looked. I was really excited because this is not the type of sunset we get around here very often. So I began shooting and continued as the light continued to change. The next two images are stitched panoramas that were either 5 vertical shots or three horizontal depending on the image.





The last image was shot at a pond with a large fountain in it. I was on my way out and thought it might make a nice shot only to realize that in my rush I had forgotten my tripod so this is about as good as it could get.

I hope you enjoyed them! I haven't been this excited to go out and shoot nature in this area in a long time.

Please don't forget to check out all of the other Skywatch posts today by following the link here:----> SKYWATCH BLOG

Have a great day!

Hi everyone-

As we walked around the fire training school grounds I got an idea...

Since Scott is a firefighter and we were shooting some images of him and Carolyn around the drill tower, why not set up a little rescue scenario. There was definitely more laughing that rescuing going on but it was a lot of fun.



While we did that Pebbles the Wonder Dog found a friend...



After we wrapped it up at the fire training center we moved on to John Rudy County Park where Scotty and Carolyn shared some nice quiet moments walking around the park.





Have a great day!

Hi everyone-

I hope your having a great day so far. The weather is just perfect here as it has been for the last few days. It has been so nice to be out and about and not have to worry about rain. This is how spring is supposed to be!!

So today is day two of images from Carolyn and Scotty's engagement shoot this past weekend. In these images Pebbles ( I call her The Wonder Dog) joined us.

She is very well trained, very well behaved and can even spell !!! If you need to get her attention, albeit briefly, just spell S-Q-U-I-R-R-E-L. You have to act quickly though because after the q or maybe u she is off to find them.

She was a lot of fun to have a long on the shoot and helped us create some cool images.

Have a great day!!!

Hi everyone-

I hope everyone had a great weekend and a happy Mother's Day. We sure did. I was nice to take the weekend at out own pace. We haven't been able to do that for a while. We also got to see family, but we didn't get to see Mom because she is already in Montana!!! Lucky her. We did talk though and I will see her next week!!!!

This weekend I had the pleasure of shooting an engagement session with an awesome couple, Carolyn and Scotty. We had a great time and shot a ton of images in several locations. We did as much laughing and joking as we did shooting. In the process we created some fantastic images.

Not only did I get to shoot with Carolyn and Scotty but also with Pebbles (the wonder dog). They call her Pebbles and I call her the wonder dog because she is just amazing and does pretty much anything you want her to do on command.

The wedding day is fast approaching and I am very excited to have the opportunity to be their photographer.

Have a great day!