2015 was definitely a huge change for me (Amanda) in how I went about photographing each wedding. Switching my gear completely from Nikon to Canon brought about new challenges, a few new bells and whistles and a decent learning curve… one being off camera flash.

Lindsey and Danny’s wedding was absolutely beautiful at the Stroudsmoor Inn. I feel that this bridal party photo sums up how stunning all of the girls looked as well as their personality. Taking an idea suggested by the bride and creating it into something a bit less posed.

Also included from Lindsey and Danny’s wedding is this stunning detail of Danny holding a gift for his bride as he waits to see her for the first time. I love this because it’s such a simple detail of a groom and also a different take on my usual groom portraits.

Stepping away from weddings for a minute I had the opportunity to shoot my boss (Steve) and his wife Bridget’s 5 year anniversary photos.  Traveling to their favorite place in the world, Skaneateles, NY. This was definitely a challenge to create and execute. I was hanging off of an adjacent dock parallel to them about an inch above the water.  It was definitely worth the risk of almost getting soaked… plus it made steve super nervous… which is always fun to do.

Michelle and Joe’s wedding was such a great opportunity for me to try shooting a stunning sunset while using off camera flash. I felt that this was such a successful use of OCF as well as a stunning portrait of the couple. In Steve and my true competitive nature, well actually my competitive nature, I feel like I won today and if you ask Michelle and Joe they’d agree.

Groom and groomsmen portraits are my thing. I spend a lot of time with the guys.  For Colleen and Shane’s wedding I felt like “one of the guys” by the end of the night. This night photo was quite challenging to figure out, as it consisted of three flashes… one being steve’s actually… thanks steve!. I feel that it was so successful in making these gents look super dapper.

For Alecia and Jesse’s wedding, we ended up shooting at a well known wedding location in our area; Penn State Wilkes-Barre. A few weeks prior, Steve and i were thinking of ways that we could photograph this staircase differently. I personally had never shot there and I think my fresh eyes were extremely helpful in coming up with this composition.  I feel  that I accomplished such a romantic photo as well as a creative composition.

Kristina and Richard’s “first look” was so cute and filled with emotion, especially since they could only hear each other. They decided they didn’t want to see each other until the church so this was a fun take on a “first look.”

There’s something so stunning about a bride in a classic car. Dana was nothing short of beautiful on her wedding day. I love this snapshot because she posed so nicely for me, without asking, while everyone around her are carrying on.

Miranda and Ricky were so emotional during their ceremony and shared an embrace after their first kiss as husband and wife. What makes this photo one of my top 10 for this year was that this wasn’t posed and took place seconds after their first kiss. You guys!!

Megan and Alexander’s wedding was my last of the year and I chose this photo for a few reasons. I only had about 5 minutes to capture this before it was completely dark out.  I was able to set up my external flash in such a short amount of time and capture a stunning portrait of the couple, the sunset and even the moon. I just had to include it in this year’s top 10.

i can’t even begin tell you all how proud i am of the KJAD crew… both out front and behind their lenses. they always roll up their sleeves and help out in any way they can for our clients, their family and friends. in addition, they take some pretty amazing photos and video. a super huge thank you from bridget and me to… amanda, eric, mj, ashley, greg, lauren, amanda b., and lyssa… we couldn’t have had such a great year without you all!

we had the opportunity to shoot a lot this year… like a lot a lot. like over 300,000 photos a lot… like thank you all for having us be a part of everything, a lot. and with that being said, we pushed ourselves to try new ideas, use new gear, limit our variables, try styles outside of our comfort zone, and like amanda says… take the best photo we can at each wedding and event. (amanda is lovingly competitive… unless of course, i win.)

here are ten shots that i am so proud to call my own, but i’m even more proud to have been able to shoot them along side of my amazing team. #KJADforthewin.

nikki and mike took us out to coney island for their engagement session this past year, so when it came to their wedding day, we needed to continue the excitement at their stunning radisson lackawanna station hotel wedding. the day was sunny and beautiful and i was so excited to capture an idea that we came up the day prior. their cocktail hour began, the lighting was perfect, and they got to sneaking a kiss while no one was looking. thanks you two!

i love that this shot is unlike most of the photos that i shoot. i typically tend to lean towards vibrant color… not softer, subtle hints of color. with nicole and peter’s wedding, i tried to shoot brighter and lighter. giving the photos a fresh and romantic spring feeling… without all of the allergies!

speaking of allergies… when i hopped down from the tree i was perched so beautifully in, i noticed my arms and camera were completely covered in pollen. so much pollen that i developed one of the worst chest/sinus infections / allergy comas i have ever had. buuuut… i got the chance to photograph dave and susan in a sea of flowers and color. maternity sessions are so much more fun when we aren’t making silly heart hands on mommy’s belly <3

maria and jim’s rustic farm wedding gave us the opportunity to shoot their outdoor ceremony from so many angles. i decided that my spot needed to be behind their officiant and bridal party, next to these two beautiful vintage doors in which i could peek through to get a perfect clear shot of maria and jim. to make this an even better opportunity, i decided to use my 24mm tilt shift lens to create a few artsy fartsy photos. my new tilt shift toy has been so great to shoot with, as it enables me to change the direction and angle of my focal plane, which helps me draw even more attention to specific parts of the photo that would normally be blurry. with this shot, i was able to capture the detail of the door, their killer first kiss (atta-boy jim), a few happy guests and a bit of the farmland all in one shot. way too cool. like i said earlier, adding limitations and having new toys to play with this year helped us capture more unique photos for our great clients, grow our style, and make us even more excited to shoot.

props to miranda and ricky for making their very own teepee tent for their engagement session! we drove all over capturing them in all of these woodsy, scenic and beautiful hidden gems in northeastern pennsylvania. but my favorite part of their engagement shoot was when they built their adorable teepee. they crawled in, got super cozy and laughed and smiled and laughed a bunch more. no posing, no planning, just them having a honestly great time with each other… and of course us too. : )

there are definitely times throughout a wedding day where you may hear one of us express some sort of excitement on how awesome we think we just did. silly, but we really do get excited for great shots of you all. one in particular from allyson and matt’s wedding day was when allyson and her dad posed by this slick classic car. i knew i wanted to try for something different than just shooting a photo of them posed by the car. so with that in mind i started off by having him help her into the car… which instantly resulted in the photo i wanted – a super proud papa reflecting all of his happiness along side of his beautiful daughter – in an awesome classic car.

it was so great getting to capture this precious part of jacinta and sean’s wedding day. they each wrote each other a special note that they would read just before they headed to their ceremony. i think sean wrote more, (so jacinta said) but i can only image how excited they were reading their sentimental notes, knowing that they would be married to each other in just a short time. it’s really is exciting to be able to capture these events for such great people.

so yeah… there is this blog i have always loved called dear photograph. it is a collection of people holding older prints up in place where they originally were taken years and years ago. some are lined up so well and are so ridiculously funny that they have stuck with me for a long time now. (p.s. this will be a personal project that i will do some day… when i’m board… which might not be for a while… but at least it’s on my to do list.) so anyway, colleen and jeremy asked if i would be able to capture a photo of them holding shots of their parents on their wedding days. so i did… but in my way. this was the same church and steps where colleen’s parents kissed just after they said their i do’s. photos are super important, and family is even more important… go take a selfie with your parents now… you’ll love it.

i usually get to hang with the ladies during the prep part of the day. and one part of the day that i love getting to be a bit more creative is during hair and makeup. i get it that not many brides like their photos without makeup… shush, you all look great… not just saying that. but being mindful of that allows me to focus on unique compositions and lighting. i love this shot of dana from her wedding day because it looks like it’s a multiple exposure photography, but actually it’s just shot through a bunch of glass doors. i’m tricky like that.

in addition to weddings, engagement sessions, corporate work, and a whole bunch of other photo stuff, we spend a lot of time taking family portraits. even though we have a studio in downtown wilkes-barre, we shoot all of our portrait session out at a location of your choosing. it adds so much to the photos, and gives the kiddos the opportunity to explore and play. we shoot our sessions with that very thing in mind… let the kids be themselves and run around like little crazy people. we set them up in locations and situations that will work to shoot in, and just let them at it. one special time for me this year was during one of our family holiday photo shoots. we just finished up get all of the “card” shots and we decided to do a few quick shots at the dike in wyoming. i’m a sucker for a great silhouette shot, and this ended up being one of my most favorite ones i have ever taken. pretty sure it needs to be a book cover. hint hint.

kk luv you bye!! -steve