Once again the LoC studio turned into a haunted house on Halloween day!

That’s yours truly as the disgruntled gargoyle/Vikings fan.

Autumn could be my favorite time of year.  The colors of fall, the cooler temperatures, the fun activities like hayrides, apple picking and, of course, Halloween.

This year we brough home around 175 lbs of pumpkins to carve. All told, it’s 11 pumpkins. Four were used for this bonfire creation. The kids and I each have two more to carve. I guess our house takes pride in having the coolest pumpkins on the street.

I also like this time of year because Halloween is about the only time I can get the boy to pose for a picture without bribing him. Just getting to be “scary” is enough. He doesn’t stand still for many, but he wants to make sure he’s included!

He just thought it was so cool that his teeth matched his shirt.

And the little witch? She’s always ready to have her picture taken. I’m surprised this didn’t involved costume changes. There is still time, though, since Halloween is a day away!

Yesterday I had the privilege to take my friend Janice out to Mentor Headlands Beach and take some maternity photos of her.  This is fourth pregnancy and you wouldn’t even know she’s eight months along.  Big sister Johanna is hoping for a little sister to even out the teams since she and Mom out numbered by brothers Tyler, Cameron and Dad.

Thanks Janice! I can’t wait to take pictures of the little one when he or she gets here!

Turned the camera on me and my family last night to get us a new family portrait for the wall.  You’d think a photographer would have lots of pictures of their own family, but that isn’t the case.  I have lots of pictures of the kids because I can still boss them around and take away their candy if they don’t stand still, but when it comes to the adults – especially together – a picture is a rare thing.

While I was out taking Connor’s Senior Portraits (see one post below) we decided to kill two birds with one stone and take the family shot as well.

I like how these turned out, but about 30 minutes later the sun started to redden up the sky and become a great backdrop. Unfortunately, I was back in Cleveland by that time.

Another Senior Portrait session last week.  I think I’m getting the hang of this.

This time around I headed up to Vermilion and Huron to take picture of my nephew who is graduating from Benedictine.

We spent the first part of the session on the street of Vermilion. I like to just walk the streets of a small town like this and take advantage of the different locations that we come across. You never know what to expect but the results are always great.

There were on the front porch of some older property house that was for sale.

Then we headed to Huron and hit the beach for a few shots.

I know the newest Pocket Wizards didn’t get the best reviews, but I’ve been using the Mini TT1 and Flex TT5 with my 5dmkII and 580EXII with great results. Usually just hand holding it with an smaller umbrella, or as the case is here, bare and letting the TTL do it’s thing.

Apparently, shooting Senior Portraits in Hudson can attract a lot of attention.

About two shutter clicks into my session with Marissa last weekend this guy and his buddy started pounding on the glass. One of them even came outside and said something like “I love you!” before running back in. Crazy!

Almost as crazy as Marissa telling me she wasn’t photogenic. Right….

We started off just walking around the square in Hudson. Plenty of good places (except for next to the bar) to shoot right there on the street and in the park.

Check out the heels!

We moved onto a second location. This one also had lots of windows, but, fortunately nobody was pounding on them.

And one more shot with some killer shoes in it.

Enjoy those shoes. She’ll be trading them in for, get this, Marine issue boots next summer!

Good luck Marrisa! Have a great Senior year!

Last night was the third annual Exposure Cleveland Group Gallery Show opening. If you weren’t able to make it down then you should be ashamed of yourself! But never fear, it’s up for three more weeks at Mastroianni Arts Gallery.

It was a great time and hung out with folks that have become good friends over the past few years. I give Jim props for keeping it going. Looking back, three years ago at the first anniversary show was the first time I had publicly displayed any of my photography. Since then I’ve gone on to show at three other galleries all on my own and start up this little place here – Left of Center Photography.

A lot of my growth behind the lens can be traced right back to the great group of photographers that make up Exposure Cleveland.

Thanks Guys and Gals!

Here’s just a few of the great faces from the group…

The Fourth of July means only one thing for Left of Center studios – it’s time for the annual shooting of the grandchildren…with a camera.

It’s a tradition that pre-dates the studio. It’s founding is owned to JCPenney. A most fabulous group of photographers that has ever been. :/ When LoC emerged, the annual portrait moved inhouse – it may not be better than JCP but it’s definitely cheaper.

Only the two belong to me – fireworks didn’t happen that many times.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been nervous about picking up a camera and going out to shoot anything, but when a peer in the photography industry asks you to shoot her and her family – well -  got nervous.

Andrea is a fantastic photographer and I wouldn’t hesitate at all to recommend her to anybody for portrait work – unless of course, I’m not booked and then there is no reason to call her at all.

The original plan was to go the Mentor Headlands, but Mother Nature had other plans and at the last minute things were moved to Squire’s Castle because it has a roof.  Ironically, as soon as we arrived the rain stopped and the sky got nice and blue.  Still I think Squire’s turned out to be a better location.

The only thing that matters in the end is the pictures.  We all seemed to have a good time and the shots turned out great.