Sardonyx High School Rock Challenge 2012

So, about a year ago, I photographed Sardonyx Production's first High School Rock Challenge.  (See photos from that here).  I was asked to come shoot again a few weeks ago, which I did with pleasure.  This year elena dee photography was even a sponser!  The winning band gets a free promo shoot.   It's pretty nifty and I'm definitely excited to work with the winner, and hopefully a couple of the other bands - some of them were awesome!  I am disappointed in Diesel's lighting this time around though, as I know that they have a fantastic system and they only used blue gels the entire night.  It was way too boring for a battle of the bands.  But I got some cool black and white conversions, and I love b&w anyway, so it worked out.  On to the exciting stuff: the photos!


The 1st band was Half 'n' Half.  They were a pretty decent rock band.

Next up was Lucky Strikes.  I rather liked them.  If I recall, they were a hard rock/metal sort of band.  At the very least, the drummer had a sweet Sex Pistols shirt and he gets points for that.

Mike (owner of Sardonyx) sitting between two colleagues.

Wendigo, a sort of punk ish band.   I got really excited when they started because the girl said they were going to do a song by The Distillers (one of my favorite bands) but then they honestly didn't do a very good cover so I was rather bummed out.

From the Ashes was a pretty sweet metal band, I really liked them.  They were one of my favorites of the night.

The Options were almost country, but I surprisingly quite liked them, and the judges did too, because they won!  She has an excellent voice.  We're going to set a promo shoot for the band, I'm definitely excited.

Second Empire - winners from last year.  As I may have mentioned last time, I really enjoy them.

Split Resistance I think came in second.  They were an interesting sound, almost jazzy metal.  Their drummer is insanely fast, I could hardly get a picture!

Restricted Highways.  Not sure how I felt about the vocals, but they were pretty decent.  The bassist's Christmas sweater was pretty ridiculous.

KEVLAR was the winner of the Erie High School Rock Challenge and came to play the Pittsburgh show while the judges debated the winners.  They were pretty sweet, definitely deserved to be winners!

Amie + Paul Wedding

As I mentioned in my previous post on David and Katie's wedding, I went straight from theirs to Amie and Paul's.  It worked out because the first wedding didn't want reception pictures and the second one didn't want getting ready pictures.  Amie had to deal with a few anyway though because I got there a little early!

Paul outside the church

Amie's mother helping her with her necklace.
 

 Amie's totally awesome shoes!

Their church was a quaint little one, dimly lit with candles and deep reds.  Beautiful place.  I love how elegant churches are.

Amie told me she always loved this window so is excited about this picture.  I love her proud her mom looks!

 

After the ceremony, we went a couple miles down the street to the cathedral the reception was at.  There had apparently been some issues with a Halloween party of 600 teenagers being booked in the room next to theirs and that just wouldn't do.  Not the best way to have an intimate wedding reception.  BUT!  Instead of the original room, Amie and Paul were given the stage.  It was amazing, a big concert hall and all the tables on the stage.  Why am I talking about it?  My job is to show!

Seriously stunning.

The walls had this piping!  It was so neat!

Wedding spice!  Paul is a chef, so their reception was kitchen themed, it was really cool.

 

 

Paul's dad in the theatre

Catching a glimpse of Amie's blue shoes!

 

Everyone had a great time dancing, it was a really fun reception.

 

This kid.  She was awesome, and completely stole the show!

David + Katie Wedding

My cousin David got married recently and I had the pleasure of photographing their absolutely gorgeous wedding.  All they wanted was ceremony pictures and a few group photos, so I was able to go to Amie and Paul's wedding right after (more on that in another post).  The church Dave and Katie picked is possibly the most beautiful church I've ever seen, definitely the best lit!  About half the walls were windows, so it was just flooded with light.  Seriously stunning, I'm so glad to have gotten the chance to shoot there.  First though, I went to Katie's house to do a few photos of her and her bridesmaids.

Love this one.  The leave in the background and the soft lighting from the cloudy day are fantastic and Katie looks beautiful!

The two dark haired bridesmaids in the middle are my cousins Meghan and Kaitlyn.  They look so pretty and grown-up!  After spending a little time at the house, I followed the groomsmen (mainly Katie's brothers) to the church.  Again, was super excited about it - I spent two years riding the bus past this church and always wanted to photograph inside.

While everyone was finishing getting ready, I did some pictures of the groomsmen, rings, and miscellaneous family members.

I loved these windows!  And the spaces were just big enough to put people in.

My little brother!  He was in the wedding and looks adorable!

Aunt Marilyn fastening David's flower on

Our grandmother.  She's super nice.

My cousin Paul's kids Brian and Mikayla.  I absolutely adore them.

The flower girl's face!

Again, this church had the best lighting.  Stunning.  I just love how they're glowing!  After the ceremony we did more group and family photos, which was fun.  David kept telling everyone "look at Elena!" because there were a dozen or so other family members taking pictures as well.

Awww, they're happy!

Everyone made gross faces when I told David and Katie to kiss.

Rachel + Joe Wedding!

It's been way too long since I updated my blog!  Really need to keep up on it!  So far this month I've photographed 3 weddings.  The first was Rachel and Joe, so this post is all about them.  They're a very sweet couple, and Rachel is the sister of a guy in one the bands I photograph.  Sadly, I was a touch sick and felt bad because I kept running out to my car for throat spray and DayQuil!  Despite that, we still got some great photos and I can't wait to show them off.

I can't help it, I'm a sucker for rose petals and theirs photographed beautifully.  I also love the little favors with the kisses in them!  Super cute.

Rachel didn't want getting ready shots (that seems to be a theme this month!) but I did get a chance to snap a picture of her mom helping her finish up just as the guests arrived.

A very happy groom seeing his bride walk down the aisle

First dance and cake.  I love this dance photo, the love and joy is so obvious.

Joe, Rachel, and their family.  So cute!  We had to shoot group photos quickly because it was getting darker by the minute.  This is by far my favorite.

They wanted to make sure I got photos of their cool shoes, rings and even cooler tattoos - on their ring fingers, of each others' initials.  Very romantic and I fully support this idea.  (Is my boyfriend reading this?  He should take note.)  Somehow this was my first wedding of the year, but not the last!  Stay tuned for more photos from more weddings.