Time Off at River Mountain

Ethan has had two pandemic birthdays so this year, with the world in better shape, I (Stef) surprised him with a trip to River Mountain in Everett, Pennsylvania! Listen, knowing your strengths and weaknesses is important and while Ethan is an outdoorsy guy, I (again, Stef) am not lol so I knew glamping is definitely how we can split the difference and both enjoy ourselves.

For a while now we have wanted to invest in a smaller camera mainly for travel and leisure. Something compact, high quality, with the same or a similar amount of control as a professional camera, and something easy to use. Whenever we travel we end up bringing one of our cameras (Nikon D800) with high hopes of taking tons and tons of photos and documenting our time so beautifully, but we inevitably neglect to actually use it because who wants to be carrying around a massive, heavy, camera all day? Ethan came across the Fuji X100V and after some back and forth we ended up getting it. I’ll admit that I was skeptical at first; not full frame, Fuji (we’re Nikon shooters!?), fixed lens? It all seemed liked chaos but after a few months of taking it out here and there it has definitely become our go-to for personal snapshots.

River Mountain was a fun little getaway for Ethan’s birthday, from winter, and before our schedules really begin to ramp up with both wedding season and the possibility of finally getting back to shooting outdoors again.

Here are a few little informal snaps from our time there, click the photos to enlarge and browse through.

PS. Creepy post-apocalyptic scenery brought to you by an abandoned turnpike that felt 10x scarier in person

In Office Session with Rebecca Hay Designs

FOR THIS SESSION WITH REBECCA HAY WE DECIDED TO TAKE OVER THEIR OFFICE FOR THE AFTERNOON!

In previous shoots (here and here) we’ve met Rebecca and her team on location and have shot her at the properties she’s worked on, but this time we switched things up did an in-office/at work session! Rebecca wanted these photos to reflect their day-to-day activities (team meeting, running through drafts, answering emails, etc.) and overall their office culture.

Their studio is quite bright but when we were in the boardroom (first group of photos) we weren’t getting enough light as we’d like so we added in a soft flash on the other side of the window. We mixed these clean, crisp, shots with naturally lit photos (pushed in post of course) with a low depth of field so they have the option of both styles to use!

Rebecca is so naturally radiant in front of the camera it always feels so easy that our biggest hurdle with these sessions is trying to pack in as many outfit changes as we can so that they can use the photos for as many posts, programs, blogging, etc. as possible.


Studio Marathon

EARLIER THIS MONTH WE HAD A LITTLE STUDIO MARATHON

It was just 30 minute slots to shoot portraits for whatever people needed- headshots, creative branding, lifestyle promo, etc. Cameron (pictured first) was looking for a few professional headshots and also a few more casual- but still chic- promotional photos for his new side hustle. Drasko (pictured second) was in and out only needing a few photos for his LinkedIn profile, and lastly, Szymon was looking for the same as Drasko but also with a few “workout stretching” photos to kick start his new personal training business.

We obviously couldn’t leave out Rex- who was arguably the best looking of the bunch?- because we are obsessed!

We can’t thank these guys enough for coming out, it was an incredibly fun studio day that kept us on our toes all day long! We’ll hopefully be planning another marathon for sometime in the summer so if you’re interested shoot us a message here.

 

Lifestyle Session with Rebecca Hay Designs

ONE OF OUR FAVOURITE THINGS IS TO WORK WITH REPEATING CLIENTS TO CONTINUE BUILDING OUR RELATIONSHIP TOGETHER

The last time we shot with Rebecca and her team things were different. There were contractors finishing up, plastic wrap everywhere, and it was chaotic. When we started planning this new shoot we said, let’s slow things down. Rebecca Hay Designs were working on putting together a showroom for a new development in Aurora and before going in to shoot we made a game plan that included a moodboard, outfit changes, and even a make up artist!

Our last session together was very documentary focused, shooting as things were happening and being a fly on the wall but for this session we took a more intentional and lifestyle approach to shooting.

Rebecca put herself into her showroom demonstrating how this model home can be used everyday by the on-the-go, always working, woman and even the “where do these toys even come from?!” real life mom.

For most of this shoot we rotated between individually shooting setups, reflecting, giving direction, and even a little bit of prop styling (a la effortless throwing toys everywhere).

See more photos down below…