You've heard me say it before...I'm fortunate and blessed; I know it. I count my blessings every day...I can't say that enough.

It seems that with each wedding I photograph I'm given the gift of working with some of the most wonderful people; each being authentic individuals that are sweet, sincere, kind, grounded, unpretentious and some of the BEST people you'd ever want to meet and spend the day with. I truly have such a special place in my heart for all my clients, past and current. Laura, Luke and their families were another beautiful example of the kind of client I love and am fortunate to have in my life!

Laura + Luke's wedding was the last of my season and a perfect way to end a great 2009 year of beautiful weddings with wonderful couples!  Please enjoy the images, then read on below for more of my thoughts and information on the vendors that made their day special.  And, for the first person who spots the "mystery guest" in one of the photos below and posts it first HERE ON THE BLOG, you'll receive a gift card from me!  This mystery guest just HAD to be with Laura + Luke on their big day!

I LOVE love!  So for me, photographing weddings is the ultimate gift where I get to immerse myself in happiness and the boundless love of couples and their families while doing what I love to do!  Then, I get to give that gift of love right back to my couples and their families through the beautiful imagery I create for them.

So, to the Gerraro, Wiehagen and Rooney families on my second wedding photographing all of you, thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for trusting me with your very important memories.  It was an honor and a pleasure to be with you all once again. 

Church: St. Peter Parish, Arch Street in the Historic North Side - reverently beautiful!
Reception: LeMont Restaurant, Grandview Boulevard, Mount Washington - stunning views, efficient service, always the best!
Event Planning and Design: Simone Hudson of 5Senses Events Design - joyous planning + worry-free execution for all your events!
Floral Artistry: Bill Chisnell of Design Space - dramatic floral artistry intended to convey your unique statement!
Photographer: yours truly!

NOTE: Keep checking back to this post for an update in the near future as The New York Times will be publishing both an article on the tradition of the cookie tables at weddings here in Pittsburgh and a video interview of Laura and Luke's Aunts who so lovingly created all the cookies for the occasion!

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

Dunno how I get so fortunate nearly all of the time to work with such great couples/families...
Carola + Shawn and their families were no exception to that rule - lucky me!  What a wonderful group of down-to-earth, fun-loving, caring and delightful people. I love you all...BIG!

We had plenty of time to take photos, as Carola and Shawn elected to make their photographs a priority and met prior to the ceremony.  This is such a smart thing to do and I promise to elaborate on why in another blog post. So, we enjoyed photographing family initially at the Omni William Penn Hotel in downtown Pittsburgh, then moved on to Oakland for photos of the wedding party and Carola + Shawn at Mellon Institute, otherwise affectionately known as "the columns."  There are so many images from the day that I actually didn't know where to begin to choose, so below is una pequeña muestra sampling so everyone can quell their excitement a bit longer - ENJOY!

This was one well planned and organized wedding, all thanks to the wonderful event designer Simone Hudson of 5Senses Events!  I have had the good fortune of working with Simone on numerous occasions, and can testify first hand to Simone's stellar ability to stylishly dress an event and her delightfully passionate personality towards her work!  Simone took the room with a view on the 31st Floor of the Regional Enterprise Tower in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh, and turned it into a chic boutique event! Beautifully executed, Simone!

T H E   I M A G E   W I T H I N  : :  A   C R E A T I V E   L E S S O N   F O R   P H O T O G R A P H E R S  : :   I N S P I R A T I O N   B Y   J O A N N E   B A R T O N E

This is the first of many ideas I have in mind that are meant to present this concept. It is a joy for me to finally be actualizing this Art Photography project after having conceptualized it for at least four years now!  I was INSPIRED to embark on this journey in composition and creativity as a means to broaden my ability to view an original image differently, and in many different ways.  My hopes are that the photographers that visit my blog will consider integrating this idea for themselves. I would suspect this creative concept is not new, but I've not seen it or previously done it myself, so here is my version...

THE IMAGE WITHIN:
A visual enigma of many photographic compositions extracted from the whole.

The Original Image:

T H E   1 0 0 0   W O R D S   P R O J E C T   v1 ::

I'm transferring this Art Project from FaceBook to my blogsite with hopes it will be accessed and contributed to more here. PLEASE CONTRIBUTE and encourage others to contribute too!

There is a saying: "A picture is worth a thousand words."

Let's see if it's true!

I refer to pictures as images, because the word "image" seems to suggest a deeper meaning to the subject captured.  Images are, or can become, stories.  Stories often evoke emotions and that is what I'd like to try to get at with all of you who choose to participate in the inaugural Joanne Bartone Photography Collaborative Art Projects with me.


Art Project #1: The 1000 Words Project v1:
I'd like to collect 1000 words to describe your thoughts and feelings when you look at the image in this note.  Feel free to contribute your thoughts and feelings under Comments beneath this note as words, either in sentence form, or as one word, or as a number of single words, or even as a poem if you so choose.  The most important thing is that you describe your thoughts and feelings that the image evokes in you when you look at it.

Please encourage everyone, young, old and in-between to participate in this project.  If you are a teacher, share it with your class.  If you are a student, share it with your teacher.

I have some great ideas for where the collection of the Art Projects I have planned will end up - and this is just one of many Art Projects I do have planned.  Perhaps the end result will be a book with all of the projects in it, or perhaps they'll just stay here, virtually.  But either way, it'll be OUR collaborative effort and I am very interested to see how we all relate to the same image as individuals and collectively!

Fun, yes?  Enjoy!  Be INSPIRED and try to inspire others with your goodness every day!

THIS PROJECT WILL REMAIN OPEN until we reach 1000 words!

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

Contributions so far via FaceBook:

A   V I S U A L   R E S P I T E :

I so rarely get to indulge myself in my Art Photography and it's something that I so badly want to do.  It calls to me daily, constantly even, so I've been paying more and more attention to those callings and have begun to nurture the art side of my photography more.

I was fortunate to have a couple of long weekends away from Pittsburgh a few weeks ago.  Combining a little business with pleasure, we traveled to both Washington, D.C. and Boston, MA.  I was grateful for blue skies and the opportunity to be outside, walking and walking, on what were two gloriously sunny and warm weekends.  I always take a camera with me when I go away so I can photograph the local flavors, no matter what they may be.

I left my Social Work career of seventeen years when I was the Director of an Inpatient Treatment Facility.  Returning to school for photography and embarking on my new career as an adult, I was drawn to Abstract and Exterior Architectural Photography, and I still am.  I love the disconnect from people in Architectural imagery. I so enjoy the angles, colors, lines and the organic visuals of how earth and building meet, or how building meets sky, sometimes making sense and many times making no sense.  I love how huge buildings that seem invasive, constricting and suffocating to us on the ground appear so free in the sky.  Reflections, abstractions; so different from documenting people.  So beautiful in its own right.

One of my Architectural Photography images won an International Photography Award in 2005 in the Beauty: Camera Eye of the Beholder: Architecture category of a WIPI competition.  I was thrilled - I still am! 

Needless to say, I'll be presenting a lot more of my Art Photography here on the blog.  I must remind myself more often that my Art is a visual respite that refuels my spirit and helps my soul soar!

Here are a few of the  images from my adventures a few weeks ago. ENJOY!  And don't forget to comment about the images here on the blog; I'd love to know your thoughts!

Moral of the story: look up!



PS: very little Photoshop-ing was done on these images. Blame it on the sun...and a good photographer!  :-)

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