I first met Julia when I photographed military families of soldiers serving in Iraq/Afghanistan a short time ago.  She was engaged to Daniel, who was serving in Iraq at the time.  Little did I know that she/they would choose me as their wedding photographer!  ...lucky me!

Fast-forward to their wedding day; a beautiful celebration of Julia + Daniel's love and happiness, and Daniel's safe return home it was only fitting that they were married at St. Paul Cathedral in Oakland.

With stunning details such as Monolo Blahnik heels and a detailed grooms cake imported from the famed Charm City Cakes in Baltimore, Julia's vision for their wedding included a lot of color brimming with details that transformed Jay Verno Studio into a magical reception site!  I always tell couples using this studio as their reception venue to light it well in order to produce beautiful images - after all, you need light to make photographs. I can say with confidence that my/our photography is a testament to stellar planning and the good lighting used, resulting in stunning images from the event!  Event planner and delightfully lovely Katherine Shaw of Trends to Tradition helped make Julia's vision a reality through design and planning that was incomparable!  Surrounded by their warm, funny and loving family and friends, Julia + Danie's wedding day was simply a memorable delight.

Enjoy the highlight images from Julia + Daniel's day, and feel free to have a look and share them from the Joanne Bartone Photography FaceBook page too!

RING SHOWN IS NOT THE ACTUAL PRIZE

I am proud to announce that Joanne Bartone Photography is one of the sponsors of + will be the exclusive photographer for the Henne Jewelers Diamond Dash coming up this weekend, Saturday May 22, 2010!

If you haven't heard about this exciting event, Henne Jewelers has arranged a high-tech city-wide treasure hunt to find a flawless $15,000 Mark Patterson diamond ring!  There is still time to register, so please click HERE if you'd like to participate.

I couldn't be more excited and honored to be partnering with the Henne Jewelers family who has brought beautiful jewelry, stellar customer service and has been a cornerstone of the Pittsburgh, PA business community since 1887!  Henne Jewelers has been the jeweler of choice for countless couples getting married, or those simply providing special gifts of jewelry to their family for GENERATIONS!  A trusted name and company, Henne Jewelers was where my ring was born!

Look for the winners to be announced following the event on Saturday!  I'll be posting a few images here on the blog by Sunday, since I have a wedding following the event!  :-)  ...busy, busy!

BIG love, Joanne Bartone Photographer  |  www.joannebartone.com  |  tele: 412.418.8075





They came, two-by-two, not onto the Ark, - although the way it rained on Saturday, an ark might have been a great prop for one of the couples to have - but onto the North Shore near Heinz Field to partake in the thrill of the first (of what we hope will be many) Henne Jewelers Diamond Dash to find a flawless $15,000 Mark Patterson diamond ring by way of a high-tech treasure hunt throughout downtown Pittsburgh! 

Hopes were high and despite the torrents of rain, there were no signs of anyone's spirit being dampened!  It was an exciting treasure hunt and many of the participants came for the fun of the adventure, thinking that the win would be nice icing on the cake.  Some were dressed in team attire, and some were dressed in their actual wedding attire!  They ran, biked, bladed and scooted throughout Pittsburgh, from location-to-location and clue-to-clue, reading, icing, dancing and texting as they traveled, and in the end they were fed by Bar Louie.  Then, one couple, married for five years - Leeanne + Bill Stickman - won the grand-prize based on accumulating the highest points.  It was a super fun adventure and simply a GREAT day, and it was powered by the folks at SCVNGR - great work everyone!  A big thank you goes out to John Henne, Meg Henne Gibson and the Henne Family for hosting such a great idea and event, and to Kiss 96.1's Mikey + Big Bob for the entertainment!

Enjoy the show - I thoroughly enjoyed capturing all the FUN of this event!

It has always been important to me to stretch my creative and technical abilities. This is why, even after having had a formal education in photography and working as a professional photographer for fifteen years I attend worthwhile workshops, but only if they are held by reputable instructors who have been actively involved in the field of photography themselves for over 8 years and have real photographic knowledge and expertise to share.  Even though I've been formally educated as a photographer, I feel it is important to continue to hone and refine my craft!

I've got great experience in studio lighting using 1200ws power-packs and with both on- and off-camera Speedlights, but I wanted to investigate what current tools were available using the wonderful portable Canon Speedlights. Viola!  I found and attended a great workshop recently, held by two of the best in the industry, that gave me EXACTLY what I was looking for; I loved it!  Here are some of the results - ENJOY!

 

I have my first gallery showing this evening, and it's my intention to have many more!

I am participating in the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust's Gallery Crawl and will be the featured artist at Salon Christine, 954 Penn Avenue.  Stop by to see some of my wedding art - I'll be there from 5 to 9 PM!

Christine decided to have artists who were all active in the wedding community, and they are:
Wedding Photographer: Joanne Bartone
Wedding DJ:                     Kelli Burns DJ Entertainment
Wedding Officiant:           Barbara Schwarck
Wedding Florist:              Fragile Paradise
Wedding Invitations:       Elizabeth Ryder

Here are a couple of the images I'll have on display:

Here's the really cool scoop (and somewhat sad) on how Holly + Chris found me...

Holly had a friend Amy, who wanted me to be her photographer a year or two ago, but unfortunately, I was booked so I couldn't photograph her wedding.  Even more unfortunate was the fact that Amy was supremely disappointed with the photography by the photographer that she and her husband did hire - I really dislike these types of stories; they make me so sad.  But they are not uncommon, because there are a lot of so called photographers out there who really don't know what they are doing...I digress...  Because of Amy's bad experience, she wanted her good friend Holly to have a photographer who would make her dreams come true on her wedding day; enter me...lucky, lucky me and them too!  Amy referred Holly + Chris to me and they reserved my services sight-unseen.

Although I'm so sad for Amy and her husband that they had such a terrible experience with their wedding photographer, I feel so blessed and grateful when people trust me enough and love my work so much so that they are willing to refer me without even having me as their wedding photographer.  A HUGE "thank you" goes out to Amy, and I'll be photographing her family and baby as a thank you!  I'm so grateful that I'll have the chance to do this for them AND be Holly + Chris' wedding photographer!

Back to Holly + Chris...who are so darned PERFECT for one another...!

They will be getting married at Heinz Chapel, here in Pittsburgh in September of this year, so I thought it would be a nice jumping-off point for me/us to do the engagement photography.  We had a wonderful time together during our shoot, and they are going to make one-heck-of-a beautiful couple on their wedding day!  I can't wait to photograph them again!

Thank you Amy, for referring such a wonderful couple my way, and thank you Holly + Chris, for selecting me as your photographer!  ENJOY THE PHOTOS!