Two Sticks Studios – Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Poconos Wedding Photographers » Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Poconos Wedding Photography, Senior Photography and Portrait Photography

I had to do it. Just one more post from Lourdes and Francesco’s wedding in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It has been a little over a month since returning, and I miss the nice weather, the beach, the pool…it all seems so long ago. So I had to go through and pick some of my favorite moments from the reception.

It was a beautiful, unique and challenging setting – poolside at the Costa Caribe Golf and Country Club. Beautiful as the sun was setting – challenging after the sun set and the only light came from a few light posts scattered around the pool. It is difficult to bounce flash off of walls to light the guests when you don’t have any walls. A little off camera flash jammed in between a pole and a palm tree did the trick.  Below are the results:

Filed in: Wedding
comment

So, for those of you who don’t know, my wife Stephanie and I are expecting our second (and final) baby in May. We were thrilled when we found out we are having a baby boy because we will get to experience the joys of having both a boy and a girl. Plus, between Steph, Eliza and Mucha (the dog), there would have been a ridiculous imbalance in the estrogen to testosterone ratio in the house if we had another girl.

Anyway, since the new baby is on the way, I started Eliza’s move from the big bedroom, where we need the room for the changing table, rocker, etc., to the small bedroom a couple months ago. The nursery will now have to change from pink to blue, and I will need to paint over the mural I created for Eliza before she was born:

 

Since life is so busy and none of us ever have enough time, I planned on keeping Eliza’s new room simple. Maybe just paint one wall a different color than the others or a simple stripe – something fast. Then we found her bedding set. It was an owl theme and it was awesome.

There was no way I could call myself an artist and not give my little girl anything short of an awesome bedroom. So I thought it would be cool if her room actually became the forest full of owls and birds and squirrels. After about a month of painting a little here and a little there, this is the result:

She was pretty happy!

 

I just started painting the nursery last weekend. I’m not sure what I’ll come up with, but I know it needs to be awesome…

 

 

Filed in: Personal
comment

It’s been a tough winter for brides and brides-to-be. One of the bonuses of braving the winter weather is the photos. If you’re lucky you get an untrampled landscape, that’s just awesome in photos. The other reward is your photos will be very different from just about every other bride’s.

But, there’s a downside too. First, this winter has sucked. It’s been pathetic. Forget sweeping landscapes of newly fallen snow. Say hello to gray skies and brown and barren terrain. Not exactly the recipe for great photos.

So we scrambled a few weeks ago when we actually got an inch of snow to shoot some engagement photos for Bob’s sister-in-law Victoria. She really had her heart set on some winter engagement photos. While it required a little bit of a wait and taking the first chance we got, the photos turned out really nice. It helps that Victoria could look good in a tsunami. It’s a good thing because it was just frigid – the kind of cold that makes your fingers ache and your nose red, but Victoria and her fiancé, Ryan, were great about toughing it out. We think it was worth the pain.

Besides, Ryan’s family invited us inside after we were done for fresh cookies and hot chocolate. It was like being 8 years old again. Loved it!

Plus, Victoria and Ryan will get another bite of the winter photo apple. Their wedding is New Year’s Eve.

Filed in: Engagement
comment

What is it about photo sequences? There is something just mesmerizing about them. Maybe it’s the building of anticipation as you look from one photo to the next and watch as the story unfolds in front of you. That’s not usually how it happens in still photography. In fact, that’s one of the things I love about stills is each photo is up for the interpretation of the person who is looking at it. But sequences – especially good ones – are kind of rare.

That’s why I was so excited when Bob told me he had one that he really liked from LeeAnna and Ben’s wedding. I’m not going to give it away here. I’ll put a caption below each photo walking you through the sequence. I don’t want to ruin it for you. I will say it was an emotional moment and I am so glad Bob was able to capture it this way. I think it’s just spectacular! Boy, I really hope Bob doesn’t read this.

There’s clearly something outside that’s a surprise.

Definitely worth a tear or two.

Turns out it was a limo that was totally unexpected. What a great wedding day gift!

Just a beautiful moment before the wedding day really got started.

Filed in: Wedding
comment

I can tell you I probably spend more time in churches now than I ever did – at least after about the age of 13 or so.  Back then – when I was a regular  – I know I didn’t spend a whole lot of time thinking about the quality of the light or what it would be like to shoot a wedding there. Now, I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about light. And churches can be the greatest places in the world for  photos and they can be the absolute worst. First, they’re usually dark. Now keep in mind you can almost never use flash during a wedding ceremony. So you really need a camera that allows you to shoot with a high ISO.  That’s the hard part because during ceremonies you usually have to shoot with a high ISO, a wide open aperture and a slow shutter. Those are not always the best combinations when people are moving and when you want a little more depth of field. So that’s the bad part.

The good part is churches are so cool inside. There’s stained glass. Sometimes you can get great window light. Silhouettes are usually pretty easy to execute in stained glass. Plus, there are tons of great and interesting detail to help you frame your shots. Plus, you will occasionally get a church inside that is just spectacular. Enter St. Ann’s in West Side. It’s just a giant place with plenty of room to move around and shoot. There’s all kinds of little details that you can use in your shots. Throw in a wedding around a holiday and there are lights and Nativity scenes to help get the creative juices going. With that being said, here are a few ceremony shots from St. Ann’s of Amy and Sean’s wedding. There’s even a shot from outside when they were met with sparklers. Love when that happens!

Filed in: Wedding
comment

A few weeks ago I included a peek at some of the photos from the time in between the ceremony and reception of Lourdes and Francesco’s wedding. Today I wanted to share some of the first half of the day. Thanks to Lourdes’ family for welcoming me into their home where she was getting ready.  A special thanks to Lourdes’ father, who had to entertain me while the girls were running late at the salon.

For this wedding, I got to ride along in the limo because of the confusion that is Puerto Rico’s roadways. It was actually a nice change from following the limo and allowed me to get some great shots of moments that aren’t usually shared with the photographer.

I’ll post some moments from the reception soon.

 

Filed in: Wedding
comment

« Previous Next »