Saturday was such a fun day with Crystal and Chris! As promised here is a teaser or two. I will have a full post and slideshow up sometime next week.
This was a crowd favorite in the slideshow I put together during the reception.
And one that wasn't in the slideshow that caught my eye.
They went back to work on Monday which I am sure was really hard to do but they will be going to Korea for another wedding ceremony and to Thailand for their honeymoon in a couple of weeks.
Our lives have been on hold over the past week as we completed the move out of our house. We go to closing in the morning and right now emotions are very few, we are exhausted. I remember the first time I walked in the door. Don and I were very newly dating, he had the kitchen sealed off in plastic and I wasn't allowed upstairs. I eventually gained access, half the kitchen floor was gone and the kitchen itself was in no way usable. The upstairs was finally finished, he had carpet installed in the hallway and second bedroom before I ever went upstairs. We would spend the majority of our time on the 2nd floor after that. I enjoyed helping him renovate the kitchen, knocking out horrible 70's cabinets, tearing out the floor, sistering joists, installing a new floor, new cabinets, documenting everything along the way. I have learned so much in this process and I have really enjoyed all the detail we put into it. I have a much greater appreciation for all things old. We put vintage subway tiles in for the backsplash, rescued cabinets, new old stock dishwasher, vintage stove with new guts, a 1920's cast iron sink which dates back to the when the house was built. There is so much detail, so much care and character in that kitchen. But we are happy to leave it behind and let the new buyer enjoy it.
Here are a few fun photos of the demolition. For reference the stove position in the old kitchen is in the same place as the new kitchen.
And of course it wouldn't mean half as much if you didn't see the final product. If you would like to see more, check out this post. The kitchen was certainly a labor of love that took years to complete. I plan on gathering all the photos and putting a book together, should have done it a long time ago but hey what can ya say? We are very excited to begin this new chapter in our lives together. In November we will be moving into this 80 year old farmhouse in Skippack. Its about 40 minutes out of the city. We have just shy of an acre and could not be more excited. I can not wait to garden, sit on the back porch with a cup of coffee, and watch Alma frolick in the yard like a puppy. Fury (the cat) will also be super happy, she loves being outside. Until mid November we are living in an apartment right next to Eastern State Penitentiary. Its a nice change of pace from Port Richmond, but I will be happy to be in our new house in two months. We plan on hiring movers for the "final" move. I am done schleping boxes up and down flights of stairs. I know everyone out there feels our pain. We need a day at the spa!
So tomorrow afternoon I return to a more normal schedule and I have a ton to catch up on. Oh my do I have a tone to catch up on.
Melissa and Mike had a gorgeous wedding and fantastic day on Sunday. I will post a full report next week once our big move is over but I know there are plenty of people waiting patiently. I know who you are! ha ha. I gave a good sneak peek with a large slideshow at the wedding so I wanted to post a teaser that nobody has seen yet.
We were able to sneak away a little during the reception for a few "moody" portraits.
And I can't help myself but post Melissa's reaction to the gift I gave her and Mike. I always give a gift to my couples but Melissa and Mike are an exception. Melissa as many of you probably already know is a very dear friend of mine, we go way back to Drexel days. I have been documenting major moments in her life for years now, she has also been very instrumental in my referral base helping my biz grow. I was more involved in this wedding than any wedding, I helped her by designing her invitations, menus and save the dates. I helped her pick out all the paper, cut the paper and put everything together. I have been the ear on the end of the phone when everything was so crazy she didn't think she would keep her sanity. A few days before the wedding she gave a few hints that, hey you know we don't leave until Wednesday... if you want to put anything online... Little did she know I already had something bigger up my sleave. I wanted to send them on their honeymoon with a pocket full of photos. So I got her and Mike an iPod touch, loaded it will countless photos I have done for them and of course music. I knew it would be a big surprise and was so excited to present it to them. Linette captured the moment perfectly don't you think? Love you guys, have a fantastic relaxing honeymoon.
My cat Fury knows something is going on with all the boxes that are around the house. You might think its normal for a cat to wander the house, but not my cat. Our dog Alma keeps Fury from roaming period, Fury's area is the laundry room where she has high places to hide and Alma can't get to. Fury rarely comes upstairs. I have not seen her up here in months and months. The last couple of nights she has been wandering upstairs, the other night being very annoying at 4 a.m by meowing and keeping us awake. When I got home last night she was hanging out in Don's office and had been there with him most of the day. She was hanging out again this morning jumping in and out of windows. This is seriously not a normal thing around this house.
These are a few glimpses of her today. I always find it funny that she finds an empty box and claim's it for her bed.
It will be nice when we get into our new place and she can roam the yard. I don't like letting her outside here. This is officially the big move week! I will most likely be MIA this coming week and I start teaching at Drexel as well! So many new things on the horizon.
Have a great weekend, Melissa and Mike's wedding tomorrow I am so excited.
Don has been singing this song for weeks and woke up again this morning with it in his head. I really enjoy it and I don't remember it at all growing up. Its been in my head all morning too, so I thought I would share.
Last weekend Hurricane Hanna was in town, in full force. While torrential rain is the last thing you want on your wedding day you just can't control the weather. Sura, John and the whole party were so great and took it all in stride. The wedding was held at the Doylestown Country Club and they did such a great job with everything. I have to say thank you to everyone there just because everyone was so friendly and accomidating, it really helped the day go by smoothly.
It worked out nicely that Sura was able to get ready in the locker room since nobody was golfing that day. Golf shoes VS wedding shoes!
Simple getting ready shot, love the lockers.Big shout out to Ryan Estes for joining me on this wedding. We love shooting together when the chance comes along. Ryan did an awesome job with the guys, this is one of his shots of John.
Sura was georgous.
Some simple old school portraits.
Some bling.
I love this long shot of Sura with her Dad just before coming down the isle.
mmmm cake
Another one of Ryan's I love this because it is totally John's personality all the way.
You can tell that John isn't going to be nice about giving Sura the cake and I love the tall guy cheering them on in the back.
Their reception was one of the most fun I have been to in a long time. The entertainment Best of Both Worlds played some awesome stuff and kept the party going. Sura and John fooled everyone by starting off dancing to a slow song but then busted out into Great Balls of Fire. It was a total crowd pleaser and got everybody out on the dance floor. There was a big mix of cultures combing their two families as well. Both sides were dancing with each other and having a ball. I see some fun family gatherings in their future.
You must watch the slideshow, its a fun one! Thank you again Ryan for coming out, it is always a pleasure. Sura and John I hope your honeymoon was amazing. Talk to you soon.
I can not even express what a ball I had last Saturday, despite drenching rains from Hanna! I plan on doing a full report in the next day or so. It has been so fun going through all of these images. I promised a teaser post for Sura and John, so here it is. I will have a full report and kickin slideshow up to wash away your Monday blues, so check back!
Congratulations Sura and John!
Their first dance was one of the most creative I have seen in a long time, of course more on that later.
I guess this crowd had a good time? I don't know maybe just a little?
Last Saturday I had the pleasure of documenting the day for Pete & Julie. Everything about the day was perfect. The wedding and reception was held at the Downtown Club in Old City Philadelphia. Everybody there was so friendly and helpful, it was my first time there but I felt very welcome and at home. Julies flowers were provided by Carl Alan Florist, they smelled delightful and were beautiful and classic. The cake from Ann's cake pan was so elegant and full of subltle detail. They put such a nice vintage touch to all the little details throughout the day. Huge thanks to Linette for coming out with me again. We have become a great team, we work together so well and I couldn't have documented the day without her.
Linette got this awesome shot! Pete and his Harley, which he drove to the ceremony.I love this image of Pete before the ceremony, those last few moments. Something about this one during the ceremony, has that vintage feel that went along with the day. Everybody on the sidelines helped make for some really fun shots of this new family. They knew how to keep Logan happy and entertained. I really like this classic relaxed portrait. Shoe detail. This photo feels to me like it could have been taken 50 years ago. I had to include another one of Julie at my favorite location. Brides sideGrooms side, by Linette. Don't you love this location? Linette and I went out the day before the wedding scouting out locations for her to take the guys. I love this spot and its right around the corner from where Julie and Pete live. Linette nailed this one, totally what I had envisioned for the groomsmen shot.
Last but not least Julie surprised Pete with a photobooth at the reception. It was well received and there are some hilarious images that came out of it! I have seen a lot of photobooths and this one was set up really nice, there was a lot of room so you could fit a lot of people at once. Linette and I had to jump in on that action!Julie and Pete it was a pleasure! I wish you all the best and can't wait to see you again.
When I got home from Sura & Johns wedding last night I was greeted by my night blooming Cereus! This is the most it has ever bloomed at once, 17 blooms! Crazy. A little back ground on the plant for new comers to my blog is that it only blooms at night and the blooms are only open for that night. When you come out the next morning all the blooms are just dangling, warn out from the night before. It is pollinated by moths, hense why it blooms at night. I originally got a clipping of this plant from my dad's green house after he died. This is the original plant from that clipping 5 years ago. I have gifted clippings to many people through the years who now enjoy it and have blooms of their own. It is certainly a monster, we cut this baby back every winter because it has to winter inside. It is more of a tropical plant and there are cactus versions of this. Don's parents neighbors have the cactus that we got to see bloom one year and it was spectacular. I have some better images from a few weeks ago when it bloomed that I just haven't had a chance to post up here yet. I will do that once I get some weddings posted so check back.
Despite yesterdays soggy, rainy, windy weather we had a fabulous time with Sura and John. I will have more on that later but I will say their friends and family sure know how to throw a party.
I will have a post and slideshow up for Pete and Julie tomorrow so check back for that. I hope everyone had a great weekend and if you were on the east coast I hope you stayed dry and drove safe.
I am running out the door and have been working on Pete & Julies slideshow most of the day. But will not have it up before Sunday, I digress. I am so excited to get this post up, but you just can't rush these things. So I leave you with a fun one to tease.
Pete works for Apple, which is how I originally met him,he was my Apple rep at Drexel. So to have them choose me to document their day meant a whole lot! We of course had to incorporate something related to Apple so I had the DJ call everyone who had an iPhone to the dance floor and we set up this shot.
This week a few changes are being implemented. My new website is live and with that means that the url address for this blog has changed. I had to switch hosting services for my website but the blog was not invited to go with it. So this blog now has an address all its own.
I do have a redirect setup for those of you who have the old address bookmarked, the new url is joymoodyblog.com. Please update your bookmarks as the redirect will not always be there. I will do my best to make this transition as smooth as possible.
I am very excited and this has been a long time in the making. I plan on sending out an email blast to everybody to notify them of the change.
Please be patient as things associated with the blog are still being converted to the new address. There will be some broken links and missing photos until all the corrections have been made.
I met up with Beth and John out in West Chester last weekend for their e-session and some sushi. The weather has been so amazing so we just strolled around the neighborhood finding neat little spots for photo opps. They are an adorable couple and we had a lot of laughs as we walked around. They spend a lot of time in West Chester so it was important to document them in the town they love so much. There are a lot of cool little spots, its always fun to shoot somewhere I am unfamiliar with.
Something I liked about this empty parking lot
It was a great time of day for light, and Beth's ring is gorgeous.
Just a simple portrait, but I love it.
This one just takes me back in time a little.
I couldn't decide which one of these to post so I just put them together. I just love the action and reaction.
Beth is gorgeous and the camera loves her, I love the calmness in this image.
I am really looking forward to the wedding this October and getting to spend some more time with you guys.
My passion for photography has brought me from New Mexico to Philadelphia. I fell in love with the change of seasons, the city, and its people.
Photography has always been a part of my life. My family has a rich history of photographers: my grandfather and great grandfather were amazing photo hobbyists. I have some great photographs from my family dating back to the later 1800's and early 1900's. It's amazing to see a photograph of what your mother looked like on her wedding day, when she was pregnant with you and how young she was, because sometimes we forget I was phhotograpghed constantly as a child and having those pictures today is priceless. Photography is history. The images you make today will be passed down for generations. I love bringing that Joy to others.
I approach photography with a documentary mindset. I concentrate on light, perspective, compostion and expression. I make art that will remain with a family for generations.
And one that wasn't in the slideshow that caught my eye.
