I was out for dinner one night with fellow photographers Jenny and Melissa, talking business and life. Jenny mentioned that she wanted to have some portraits done with her boyfriend Eric, before the holidays. Of course, Melissa and I jumped on the chance to take them. Instead of having to pick one of us or schedule two separate sessions, we decided to do one portrait session with all of us. We met up on a Sunday afternoon at a few locations in Westerville and New Albany. It always makes me a little nervous to photograph other photographers!

Jenny and Eric are so cute. And of course, Jenny did a great job with clothing choices. We were hoping for a little more fall color for the session, but most of the leaves had fallen off the trees earlier that week. We started at a small farm in Westerville that Jenny had found. It had a variety of great areas for their portraits. After the farm, we headed down the road to an open field with a barn. The light was amazing that day and the slight breeze was the icing on the cake for their photos. I used to drive past the large field every day when I worked in Westerville and always thought about what a great location it would be. I’m so glad that I finally had the opportunity to go there because it was perfect for their photos.

Eric was a sport putting up with not one but three photographers that afternoon! I can’t wait to see the images that Melissa captured. It’s always fun working with another photographer and seeing how the same photograph can look completely different from two different points of view. I had so many favorites from the day it was hard to pick which ones to post!

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I love photographing engagement sessions. This session was better than most. I was able to photograph Jason and Stephanie, who are two wonderful friends. The location was perfect — Downtown Youngstown which has such amazing backdrops. And George made a special guest appearance that afternoon as my assistant/comedic relief for all of us. I’ve been friends with Jason forever. We went to high school and college together and we even worked at the same company a few years ago. George and I always joke that Jason is to blame for us meeting in 2004. With that said, he was a groomsman at our wedding almost 5 years ago. Around the same time, he and Stephanie started dating. Stephanie is such a sweet and kind person and we were all thrilled when Jason proposed to her in December of 2010! This fabulous couple will be tying the knot in December, 2011.

Needless to say, this was a super fun e-session since I’m friends with the couple. But, I was a little nervous leading up to our scheduled session. The never ending rain had been looming over the State of Ohio for weeks. The sun came out and no one had to build an ark for me to photograph in. We had a real summer day for their session! Jason has been working in downtown Youngstown for years and is involved with a lot of the businesses there, so it was an ideal location for their portraits. Jason waved his magic wand and got us into a few buildings that were normally closed on the weekend. There were some amazing exposed brick walls in one of the buildings, along with hardwood floors and north facing windows. It was a photographer’s dream! We also took a stroll down Federal Plaza and I couldn’t wait to get a photo of the couple in front of the large windows at The DeYor Center. Stephanie and Jason decided they also wanted some photographs at Mill Creek Park and picked two of Mahoning County’s historic landmarks, Lanterman’s Mill and  the Covered bridge. I would love to post every photo from their e-session, but here are just a few of my favorite photographs from the day.

The rock formations by the Mill are amazing!

I always use this brick wall when I'm downtown, it's just so unique with the weathering!

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I recently had another quick weekend trip to Youngstown for Kerrie & Pete’s engagement session and also her bridal shower. With our birthdays being two weeks apart, Kerrie and I really are friends for life. My grandparents lived next door to Kerrie and her twin sister, Kristie, while we were growing up and needless to say I spent a lot of time at my grandparents’ house so I could visit with the girls.

I had originally planned on taking Kerrie and Pete’s engagement photos in May while I was in town, but between Pete’s work schedule and the rain, we had to postpone till I was visiting again in June. For their e-session, we stopped by a few locations in downtown Youngstown on Federal Plaza and Market Street then made our way over to Mill Creek Park. I had a feeling that Fellows Riverside Gardens would be a zoo on a Saturday afternoon and I was right! There were two weddings going on and at least 5 sets of bridal parties having their portraits taken. We did a few shots at Fellows, but spent most of our time around the Lake Glacier area of the park.

Being an on-location photographer, I love the variety of locations in Columbus I can shoot at. But to me, nothing is better than heading to my hometown of Boardman for a session down the road at Mill Creek Park. With over 4,400 acres of land, the park is the perfect playground for photographers with amazing backdrops around every corner. And I’m sure I don’t even know all the hidden treasures the park has to offer.

Here are just a few frames from Kerrie and Pete’s engagement session. It’s always so much fun to photograph friends who I’ve known forever. I’m looking forward to their wedding coming up in August at Avion on the Water in Canfield and I’ll get to share in their big day as a bridesmaid and not the photographer!

There are some great areas of downtown Youngstown that you would never guess make a great location, like this one!

I just love her engagement ring!

One of the few spots not being overtaken by the bridal parties at Fellows Riverside Gardens.

We had to be super quiet for this shot, there was a wedding going on over to our left!

One of my favorite photographs from the day!

Another set of the Best of 2009! Today we’re looking at the best of my 2009 Relationship Photography. Within this group I have examples of family, engagement and wedding photography. I had the opportunity over the summer to assist my friend and fellow photographer, Melissa Jones, with her weddings. It was a great learning experience for me and I hope Melissa will have me back to help in 2010! Yet again, I had a hard time picking my favorites from the year. I decided to show one from each category of relationship photos that I offer. My favorites all share one thing in common, I’ve tried to capture the connection and emotion between these folks in each image.

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I had such a great time with Natalie and her family at the park for this session.
This un-posed image of them playing in the colorful fall leaves is a perfect moment.

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Not exactly an “engagement” photograph of Jen and Jeff since they were married prior to this image, we’ll call it my favorite “couple” image of 2009.

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I absolutely love this image!! It doesn’t hurt when you have a stunning bride and groom to work with!
This image is Danielle Neil for Melissa Jones Photography.

View the Relationship Photography Portfolio

I had the chance to photograph Jen & Jeff the Saturday before Christmas at the Conservatory. Jen contacted me a few weeks ago and asked if I could squeeze them in around the holidays since they would be in Columbus for about a week visiting family. Luckily, I had nothing planned that Saturday and it worked perfectly for everyone’s schedule. Jen had told me that they weren’t able to get engagement photos before their wedding and they weren’t in love with the wedding photos they had done. This was a perfect opportunity for them to get some great images without the pressure of when they were planning a wedding. Here’s just a few images from our outing at Franklin Park Conservatory.