About Left of Center Photography:

Left of Center is contemporary lifestyle photography for weddings and portraits. It's about making you feel comfortable while creating fantastic images. Weddings, families, children - all at the locations you want to be at - not in some cramped studio. Let's go make pictures together today!

  • Got a bite
  • Archive: ‘portraits’



    Family Portraits

    Thursday, August 19th, 2010

    Way back in July, or maybe early August, I met up with Diana to take family photos of her family. I might not exactly remember the date, but I do remember that it was her father’s 80th birthday and that when I arrived on that hot summer night I was a offer a cold Labatt Blue and a steak just for showing up!

    Her are the ladies of the family – sisters, sister-in-law and a niece/daughter (depends on who you are now, doesn’t it?)
    The Ladies

    The grand-daughter and the great grand-daughter….and some black-eyed Susans.
    Flower Child

    Cute baby is cute!
    That's Right...I'm Cute

    Gabbie – Senior Class of 2011

    Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

    Gabbie called me up earlier this summer to take her Senior Pictures.   She was referred to me by my September Bride Carli!  I love referrals!  Thanks Carli!

    We decided to meet up at a local park for our first location and then head into Downtown Willoughby.  We also talked about what sort of things Gabbie likes to do – sports, tennis….and then the bomb…snowboarding!  It’s August!  How am I supposed to shoot snowboarding?  I came up with some cool, commercial shoot type ideas, but nothing we couldn’t pull off without a crew.  I told her not to worry about it because we had some time before the shoot and I’d get it figured out.

    Well, the night of the shoot arrived and I still hadn’t figured it out.  Since it was hot and humid, we decided to shoot snowboarding last since she was going to put on some of her gear and I didn’t want to start the shoot off with her getting too hot.   By the time we got to snowboard, the sky was cooperating and a little rain had left the parking lot nice and shiny.  It was dark enough that anything but her the sky would be lit up with flash or the setting sun – a perfect way to hide the green of summer.  I think we pulled off August snowboarding pretty well!

    Me and my Shadow

    On White

    Smile

    Tennis

    Wood Fence

    On the Bridge

    Snowboard Sunset

    Bryan & Cassi + Roman & Lincoln

    Friday, July 30th, 2010

    Cassi sent me an email about a month ago and called me as “Picture Paul”.  Right away I knew she was sent my way by Austin and Oliva’s parents!  O always calls me “Picture Paul!”

    She said she wanted some shots of her young twin sons and a few of the whole family.  We picked Mentor Headlands and planned to meet up last Wednesday – which turned out to be one awfully hot and rainy day.   That meant I had to wait one more day, until Thursday, to get to meet two of the cutest little kids I have ever seen.   Together with their parents, the family looked like it stepped right out of a magazine shoot!

    Roman & Lincoln

    One Faux Hawk

    Twin Paths

    Family I

    Mother + Son

    Family Stroll

    Bouncy Bouncy Bounce!

    Lincoln & Roman II

    Lincoln & Roman III

    Extended Family Portraits

    Sunday, July 18th, 2010

    Michelle and Lynda sent me an email a few weeks back saying how much they liked my photos and that they would love to get together for me to shoot there extended family – they and their families have been close friends for years.

    Then they gave me the whopper – do anything you want.  I was talking with my friend Andrea about this just the other day.  That kind of freedom immediately makes the mind go blank!

    I managed to pull it together and we had a great, and hot, night shooting in Willoughby near the Chagrin River.   They were up for anything I threw at them and the shots came out great because of that.

    Rolling!

    Flower Girl

    Picking Flowers

    Looking Forward

    A Boy's Best Friend

    After walking the trials for an hour we finally ended up down by the river. It was a much appreciated too since we were all hot and tired by that point. Just splashing around for a few minutes gave us all some energy.

    Family

    River Sitting

    River Walk
    Splash!

    Childhood

    We made it back to the parking lot with just enough time to for the boys to flip a few tricks on their skateboards before we had to call it night.

    Tricked

    Flip

    It really was a great session. We’re already talking about getting back together this fall to do it all again!

    Thanks Michelle and Lynda!

    Family Style with Olivia and Austin

    Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

    I’m starting to run out of fingers to count how many times I’ve taken Austin and Olivia’s pictures.  I bring them chocolate milk and Smarties and they call me “Picture Paul”.  I may have to put that on a business card!

    Except for one big family photo I did a year or so ago with the Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins, I usually only shoot Austin and Olivia.  This time around they wanted some nice and simple family shots in their yard – and it’s a great big yard that’s perfect for pictures.

    Olivia and Austin

    Family

    And at the end of every shoot we have a little fun – mostly to burn off some of the sugar from all the Smarties they eat while we’re taking pictures! ;)

    Tree House