Locations - Hidden Gems in and around Cincinnati

Over the years, we've shot in lots of different churches, and halls, and neat locations. Above is a picture taken in the Packard Museum located in Dayton, Ohio. It's a very neat location for the car lovers amongst us.

We've shot at the Phoenix, The Madison, and a lot of the Standard places, and some of the not so "Standard" places. I put that in quotes because even though you might not think of a location for a wedding it doesn't mean that it would not make a neat location. There are a lot of hidden gems around our fine city for locations. You can also travel to a scenic spot for your pictures if you leave time either before your wedding ceremony or between it and your reception. Devou Park and other locations along the river are wonderful for that. Sharon Woods, Ault park, Mt Airy, and a lot of other parks make a great spot for pictures and/or your wedding. The Lodge at Sharon Woods is a wonderful place for an wedding/reception.

Other locations we have shot at and were surprisingly beautiful are, The Benchmark in Covington, The Carnigie Center in Newport, Mill Race Banquet center in Winton woods (pictured below). Todays blog is not a listing of locations we have shot, or even the only ones that we think are hidden gems. If you have others you like let me know and I'll add another blog post.

We also like simple... Like the small church pictured below. There are lots of other locations around for weddings, Take you time and find the one that is perfect for you. Remember to book early for all your wedding vendors and locations. Photographers book quickly, but the location you want might book up even quicker.

We've even shot in a church so small that we didn't have room to sit up any additional lighting equipment. But the picture turned out great anyway!! We carry with us a lot of optional equipment that helps us with difficult jobs. We have loaned out our backdrops to one bride to give her privacy while changing in a room with big windows and no curtains. Rest assured that no matter what your locations is we will get you good pictures.

One of the most challenging weddings we have had was an outdoor wedding in the rain, It's hard to protect cameras, stay dry, and get good pictures at the same time, but we managed.

Congratulations are in order!

To All of the newly ENGAGED couples. We've got great news that a lot of you have got engaged, and we are very happy for you. Finding that special person you desire to spend the rest of your life with is something very special.

We've got the news by your requests for our services, and dates are booking up fast, so be sure to book you wedding as soon as you can. I hate turning people down that have been refferred to us, but it happens every year.

I've added a build you own package to or price list, Starting at $695.00 you can add onto it just what you need. Do you need more proofs, more time, a High-Res Cd set with a release so you can print your own picture, or perhaps you want an album and don't need all the extras that are in our packages. Our packages are still the best deal, but in these times we know people also want a lower price and still get quality service.

We are still booking sessions for Mothers-to-Be show off their bulge aka: Maternity Photographs. Also we are extending our Boudoir Session Special for a limited time, Free Sitting fee and a free 8x10 to all Militay, Police or Fire service personal or their spouses.

Out Shooting while the weather held out

I was out doing an engagement shoot this week on thursday, and wondered across some duck playing on the lake up at sharon woods. I wanted to just post something besides people so here are a couple pictures of a duck that I got a couple quicksnap shotd of. The color you see in the water was from the reflection of the leaves.


I was using my Canon 100-400 IS "L" lens which is a great lens for weddings and wildlife. It's a little long for most weddings, but does great on those ringshots for the pews..


We have our first Pure Romance - Mary Kay and photo shoot coming up on the 5th of November, should be a blast, I'm told it will be a full house. Hopefully there will be more of these to come. I do ask if you are coming for pictures that you also consider the fine products offered by Mary Kay and Pure Romance. Our host is being kind enough to provide a private room for individual sessions so there is complete privacy. Glamour to Boudoir setting, Albums and Print packages available.


If you are interested in setting up a Party of you own let us know. I don't control the other vendors but I'm sure they will work with you too.

Size and Effects

It was a little wet Sunday, but Saturday was a great day for a wedding. Over the weekend I heard an interesting collection of wedding songs. The one that I heard that I had to laugh at was “The Big Bopper’s Wedding” You have to be a little older to really know who I’m talking about, and remember “Chantilly Lace” but if you get the chance check out the song. Before you ask, it was not played at a wedding, but I could see it being played at one with a real sense of humor. I’ll have to blog sometime on a few other funny songs, and serious ones that we’ve heard. Being in the wedding party (sort in it at least) we hear things, and one of the father/daughter dances we heard this season the father composed the song for, which we thought was really neat.

We just took a large order for prints and got asked the old age question. How Big is an 8x10, now before you laugh, you would be surprised how may times I get asked that question. To set the record straight, one side of the print is eight (8) inches long and the other is ten (10) inches long. Another thing I get asked is about cropping, All the images we take are in format you are used to seeing that dates from the 35 mm film days, you can call it 2:3 ratio or a 4x6 size for this example. An 8x10 no matter how you will not perfectly fit into this ratio, the math would mean you would have to go to a 8x12 size print to have a full frame print. This is where cropping comes into play. You have to lose 2 inches to fit onto an 8x10 sheet. If you look at a lot of our proofs you will notice that there is extra room at the top and bottom, this is why. Same goes for 11x14’s and 5x7’s, the math just does not equal up. Every now and then a picture will just not crop to a different ratio and fit the way someone would like onto the page.

Okay now for another fun thing which we like to do is meet with you to show you your pictures before you order, now we can’t always do this, and the web is a good thing for that. But what we can do in person is actually show you how the pictures will crop, and some of the effect we can offer. If you look through our galleries you can get an idea of this. If you can’t meet up again that is fine, we will do the best we can to select the best cropping for your images. One thing people ask, do we charge extra for effects, the answer is no, however we ask that you do accept the fact that we only do those effect on 5x7 or larger images only because they don’t show up as well. Collages are only available on 8x10’s or larger and limited to 3 images on one sheet for this same reason.

I love it that people are reading my blog, I would like to take this chance to ask you to make a comment or two about what you read so I can get a little input about what you like.

The above images is an album page taken from a wedding where the young daughter or the bride was given a ring along with a set of vows pledging to be a good father and to cherish her like she was his own. A very touching scene to witness, she was so excited!!

Busy but Very fun Weekend

Two weddings over this holiday weekend, Both were very fun, and we got a lot of good pictures. Plus my don had his graduation from preschool last Friday. I've been busy working on the pictures from the weddings, trying to get both done before this coming weekend when we have another wedding. Got some great pictures from a country club, even more from a church wedding! Above is one taken from the Beckett Ridge Country club. The weather both days were just fantastic for weddings. We were pretty uneventful this weekend compared to last weekend, no flat tires or any other events to hold things up.

One note: We were asked about something that I really don't get asked much, Another photographer did a wedding for one of our brides sisters, and they didn't get their album and the pictures were so-so, I was asked if we could help with the pictures and to create an album. The answere is Of course we can.. We don't market to that field, but when it is needed by one of our clients we are glad to help out.

Pre-School graduation was cute.. My son did wonderful, with their performances.. Some of the kids you just wanted to go hug.. one little boy sit in the front row in his cap and gown with the cap pulled down over his eyes.. I guess it was "If I can't see you then you can't see me". Now on to kindergarten in the fall.

Of course we had some rain on Monday, that cause a party to have to be moved, but the rain quit and the grilling and games worked out great.

We've added a few options for prints, We've added Canvas Gallery Wraps, and Press Printed books. More info to come.