Turkey Day!

A month or so ago I had the great pleasure of shooting Travis Stuart Jr's Christening, and I've known the Foley family for about 20 years or so and while at the reception for little Trav the family asked if I had any plans for Thanksgiving.. I didn't - So they invited me! I said I would come as long as I could bring my camera :o) . Kristen had no problem with that at all!

Deanna's son Jack is just unbelievably photogenic just like his big sister. Here he was just sitting on the stairs relaxing.



Kristen and her lovely recent addition Travis Jr.



Big sis' Tyler, as said just so very photogenic, she was a little under the weather though :(



Not that it made much difference to her, because as I was walking down the stairs she sort of looked up with this face full of cream and gave me a little devilish look!



The lovely Jane along with her mom Debbie, this was the only time where Debbie didn't start waving her hands in front of me saying get outta here, stop!!!



I really like this tree Kristen has growing in her dining room and used it as a prop for several images. Here is Miss Jane once again, this time with a little smile!



Thanks everyone, it was a great holiday!

-Rick O

Boehm Family Session

Happy Turkey Day! I hope everyone has a safe Thanksgiving this year.

I had the awesome opportunity to shoot this lovely family in the studio. Originally we planned on doing some shots outside, but the weather was not cooperating, so I quickly changed gears.

Thank goodness I have a bunch of little rubber duckies sitting around (you may be thinking strange and unusual thoughts right now - but I have them here for when little ones are around - no really - honestly I've never taken a rubber ducky into the tub, not even as a child - I swear!!!)

Okay, back to the rubber duckies - they came in useful while I was setting up backdrops and lighting and such as little Miss Naomi scouted around for something to do, she saw the rubber duckies and it kept her very occupied - she liked them so much, she refused to have her picture taken unless the rubber duckies could be in the picture :o)

Tiara and Brian are always a joy to be around - they continuously poke fun at each other and you can tell they share a very strong bond.

There were some really great shots, but this was definitely a favorite, little Naomi just wouldn't let go of Daddy's leg, so let's capture that moment!



One of the first shots while I was getting things set up.



This next photo is really a nice photograph of the family just having fun!



I know the next shot isn't really a big family type of image, but the way she was positioned and the expression on her face just screamed "click click click" - I really like this shot of Tiara.



Brian wasn't a big huge fan of having his picture taken, but with Mom and Daughter out of the room for a moment, I snapped away!



You guys are always a trip to work with. I hope you and your family has a wonderful holiday season.

-Rick O

Rowan Lukas

Wow! Okay, maybe thats not a grammatically correct way to start off a sentence, but I don't think anyone will hold it against me! I'm not sure how the chain of communication worked here exactly, whether it was Carla -> Rita -> Joyce or some combination thereof, but these lovely ladies all work together and have all recently became grandparents and over the last several months each one has subsequently contacted me to shoot their grandchildren!

I had the pleasure of meeting little Rowan Lukas and his huge family. His parents Marissa and Rob (Joyce's Son) were just so full of joy. The entire family was so close, even the great grandma was there.

Rowan is absolutely beautiful - he was so calm and relaxed - there was a moment when Dad sort of flipped his baseball cap sideways, well Rowan let everyone know he didn't like that at all!!!

I have to start out this group of favorites with my absolute favorite..



When Rowan just sort of stared at me, I bet he felt like a super star - there was a huge audience standing behind me and they all went ohhhhhh all at the same time...



Mom whipped out the bear skin rug and Rowan started picking up his head, amazing seeing he is only 60 days young! Look at those huge eyes - he is so adorable and that little sheepish grin!!



This next photo was really great, although on some monitors the entire right side probably looks like empty black space, its actually Dad in his sweater standing next to mom each holding their babies tiny little hands!



This is definitely another one of my favorites, just catching that connection between mother and son.. You can see so much joy in Marissa's eyes..



Another great moment between the parents and little Rowan



This was another amazing catch, Dad just taking it all in - perhaps its starting to hit Rob that he is a Daddy!!!



Joyce, thank you for contacting me, I had a great time, you have a wonderful family and I look forward to watching Rowan grow...

-Rick O

Little Christmas Session!

It's very rewarding when a client calls you time and time again to photograph their loved ones and the shared moments.

I have to apologize for the delay in posting some of these pictures, but I have been severely under the weather! I went to the doctor today and was put on antibiotics (woo hoo). It's that time of year though, cold & flu season.

I would have to agree with fellow photographer Rob Bixby from Florida, when he says you simply can't take a bad picture of this angel. She is just so photogenic, albeit her parents DO look like super models themselves!!!

Here are a couple of my favorites, starting with Jeff and his lovely wife Claudia.. Look at that blazing fire Jeff stoked up :)



At the end of the session the adorable Miss Julianna decided to crawl around on the floor, and me being the respectable gentleman I am, I jumped right down on the floor there with her to get a few shots, which turned into a game real quick. Every time I got close she backed up, when I crawled back she crawled towards me - a little minor injury occurred with serious sweatshirt burn on my elbow, but didn't need to seek medical attention (whew!).



I have to give Julianna credit for hanging in there - she must have been tired after all of this!



Always a pleasure Jeff & Claud.. Your little girl is just growing up so quickly!

-Rick O

Groove Time @ 313 (West Haven)

Okay, so I decided, sort of last minute to get out of the house last night... For those who know me, I hope you did not just have any sort of myocardial infarction! Hope I didn't miss anything good on the Biography channel :o)

My favorite band GTB was down the street last night in West Haven at 313 and I've known for some time now, that their former drummer retired (dang ole fart!) and they added a new keyboard player as well, so I thought I'd head down there with my camera for a couple hours and check them out!

Here are a few of my fav's - starting out with the wildest bass player I've ever seen - he's got more energy than [insert your own thought here - I don't wanna offend anyone]



The lovely Miss Patti just keeps getting better and better each and every time I hear her!



Well well well here is the one and only "T.W." in the flesh - cheesin it up! Go Tony, Go Tony!



Timing was just so perfect with this next shot - I swear I heard this guy singing as he was walking around the restaurant - think I may have caught a glimpse of him in action or he is serenading one of the Dukester's lady folk - (don't mess with the Duke!)



This gentleman had so much character, he was a pip and definitely a player - the women were just flocking to him - must have been the suit!



Alas the new drummer Duke! See you don't wanna mess with the "D" he looks like a total bad a** - he actually intimidated the heck outta me - until I aimed the camera from up and under his toms - then he gave me a cheesy smile!! Note - this wasn't that shot!!



The retired drummer "Pat" sharing a moment with his lady "Karen"



What a great time guys - see ya soon!

-Rick O

It's all about the Light!

For some time now I've been really wanting to get a better grasp on lighting for product shots. So, since it was raining in CT all day for the most part yesterday, I decided to try some recently learned techniques out while I had a chance.

It's relatively easy to photograph products that a flat, but when you start dealing with reflective surfaces that bounce light all over creation it can be a little frustrating. I started with a wine glass and a crystel wine top - but since I was using a white background, it proved more than useless LOL. Although the reflections were kept to a minimum and the surrounding area was not visible - I think a black background or some other color would have been much better, so I reached for my old trusty timepiece for the test.

Here is the result.



Nice soft shadows, no reflection off of the front of the watch and nice smooth transition on the reflective gold surfaces. It really wasn't 9:15PM, it was 8:15 forgot to change this one! There is only one small specular highlight which probably could have been avoided had I noticed it before now :o)

-Rick O

Photo Restoration

A few months ago I had a client ask if I offer any photo restoration services. I said sure, no problem. I was expecting an older photo, with maybe some tears, scratches, etc. Well that's not what I received! The photo was nearly 90 years old and in terrible condition.

I decided to post the before and after photos - ya never know when someone will be in need of such a service!





Can you believe it? Do you see the little girl in the white dress sitting? This is her today - the blonde with the pearls.



-Rick O

Post Honey Moon - Mrs. Garfield!

So Mrs. Garfield - formerly Miss Paradiso wanted to do a tiny little session when she came back from her honeymoon.. I told her I had no problem following her and her new hubby to Aruba, but she just kind of gave me a strange lil - "you have issues" look! Okay, I'm exaggerating, I never said any such thing, but I did tell her I would be free the weekend following her return. She wanted to get some bridal shots with all of the lovely fall colors, perhaps jump off of a rock into the ocean, maybe set her dress on fire, take a can of spray paint to it, all of these wonderful ideas, but she declined! I said, are you ever going to wear it again? She never answered!!! Okay I'm being a little extreme - it probably wouldn't be cool to set her dress on fire, especially while she was wearing it - but the day was crazy weather wise - wind was blowing a gazillion miles an hour and a hurricane was getting ready to pass thru! The session was so much freakin fun..

I felt all criminal and the like - as she is a FFU Alumni, but it was parents weekend, and the office told her, absolutely no - you can not be on the grounds this weekend. I was so afraid the FFU police were going to come and throw my a** in jail, luckily no one was really around.

Here she is running back to the car before anyone catches us!



Sitting on the steps just soaking up the possibility of being thrown in college prison!



Before we headed to Fairfield University we stopped at a little park near the church she was married at - I just loved this look on her.



Same park - I really liked her look in this shot - almost as if she were just wed - taking a moment to take it all in.



I'm not sure what is in this little barn, perhaps its a cross-gendered facility - not sure - didn't ask - but the texture was awesome. She was just posing it up like a professional super-model!



I'm not sure what was going on here exactly - perhaps she was smoking something funky before the session (sorry Alicia - couldn't resist) - I just loved her happy expression when she threw her hands up in the air and she was just waving them around like she just didn't care - it was so darn cute...



Let's try the arm thing again in front of the barn!



This barn was just so vast and she was just caught up in the moment as if she were reliving her whole wedding day all over again, it was awesome.



I really love this next barn shot, her look, the expression, the window, the red, everything just came so perfectly well together! Bam!



Here is Mrs. Garfield just hanging out at Old Mine Park - people are around us everywhere - looking at us like we're a bunch of nuts - remember the wind is like a gazillion miles per hour and a storm is brewing.



We eventually ended up at Anchor Beach - you can certainly tell that the wind was picking up - I actually had never seen the water so violent...



Her hair was all over creation - she was just laughin hysterically - probably thinking in her own mind - I got my hair all done up for this!



Wind is picking up - I'm surprised she actually stayed on the ground - she can't be more than 110lbs!



I really liked this next shot - it was actually one of the first shots at the beach - and the wind was blowing ever so violently - the water was raging up against the rocks - it was just an awesome scene.



Before the FBI arrives we thought we would take our chances and take a couple more pics at the University - people were snooping around - I was getting very very nervous - didn't want any trouble with the law!



Finally one more - she snuck back behind the wall because people were walking thru!



It was a close one Alicia - thought my heart was gonna jump out of my chest - just as we were leaving - the maintenance men were driving up - whew - close call.

-Rick O