Last year, toward the end of the summer, James, the kiddos and I flew over the Atlantic to enjoy a much needed vacation. We were accompanied by our dear friends Seth and Britta who wanted to experience Europe for the first time and take advantage of my familiarity with the language and culture. We also spent some time with my immediate family who lives in France but took a few trips to surrounding areas. I wanted to share with you here some different parts of trip and aspects that stood out to me.

Part I: Switzerland

The trip started in Zurich right after Seth and Britta landed. Little did they know how much was already going to get crammed into the first day. If you’ve never been to Switzerland, it is an impressively clean country and the water is the blueist I’ve ever seen.

Our kids are always this jovial

Our trip later took us to Luzern, at the foot of the Alps.

Enjoying a tasty and $$$ fondue dinner.

Finally making our way into the Alps after a short visit in Interlaken. Bellow Seth and Britta:

This village was shot from the train as we were headed up the mountains. Talk about idyllic!

The view made this the best picnic ever!

Yep Ezra, I’m sure the binoculars are being really useful right now.

A variation of this image made it on our Christmas card.

Goat at the train station.

Finally the last day in Switzerland with some time in the capital Bern.

Rochelle discovered a love for posing on this trip and Ezra just enjoyed being his goofy self.

One of my favorites from the trip.

More to come…

Emma and Adam had just left a home Browns game (which I’m sure they won) right before their session started, so we decided to met up at one of their favorite watering holes in the Valley for a few post-game brews. After a few pints of Irish Gold, we headed over to Virginia Kendall to enjoy some of the fall color and hopefully catch a nice sunset to finish off the session. Any session that involves Guinness, Flight of the Concords, or smashing pumpkins (the deed, not the band) is fine by me. When you include all three…..

Time to schedule another basic photo class! This class will take place on Sunday April 29th at our studio in Green from 10am until about 5pm (depending on how rapidly we go through the material). Lunch will be provided.

Topics of discussion will include camera controls, the basics of exposure, composition, using your flash, using available light, lens and focal length selection, and basic post-processing. There will also be some time to practice what you’ve just learned.

The goal of the class will be to help you to get the most out of your DSLR by helping you understand your camera and how to use it.

This class is not intended for professionals, advanced amateurs, or those looking to start a photography business. If you are interested in more advanced and personalized teaching, we do offer mentoring classes geared toward photographers. See details here: mentoring classes.

The fee for the class is $250 and will be limited to the first 10 people who register using the link below.

When: April 29th, 2012

Where: Our Studio in Green, Ohio

REGISTER

Ever wonder how you wake up one morning and it seems you’ve just skipped ahead 6 months? How somehow while time is consistent, it also seems to accelerate at certain periods on your life? I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling this way. My guess is Jimmy and Becci can relate especially with their son Kael growing up so fast. It’s been so fun witnessing his personality, his vibrant and exuberant one, develop over the course of 2011. While I’ve already photographed his one year old session, I refuse to go out of order so here you can enjoy images from his 9 month session taken before the holidays.

To me, this image conveys a feeling about “the wonder of Christmas”

I originally met Merle about eight or nine years ago when he was roommates with a good friend of ours named Jeremy. We used to ride motorcycles around Atwood Lake and Holmes County and I specifically remember sitting with him on Jeremy’s porch after a ride one day talking about this whole photography thing that Genevieve and I were starting to get into at the time. He listened with great interest and seemed genuinely excited for us, which would come as no surprise to anyone who knows Merle. As fate would have it, here we are seven years later photographing him and his lovely wife Heidi on their wedding day!

The ceremony and reception took place at the Carlisle Inn in Sugarcreek, Ohio, right in the heart of Amish Country. As anyone in Ohio knows, the weather can be a little dicey in March but Merle and Heidi were total troopers and followed us around downtown Sugarcreek and into a Farmer’s field so that we could make the images we had in mind for them. We think it was totally worth the effort, and we’re pretty confident they’ll feel the same.

Congratulations, Merle and Heidi, we are so happy you guys found each other and we wish you the very best. Enjoy that cruise!

Here are some of Genevieve’s favorite images:

And here are some of my favorite images: