Seriously, LOVE my job.

A few weeks ago I got to meet the two of them, for the first time, at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia.  It’s a wonderful landmark and a favorite spot of mine to shoot.  Every time I’m there, it’s completely different experience than any other time. I just love that!

As most of my wedding clients know I believe that Engagement Sessions are important for so many reasons, but really it gives us a chance to get to know one another, learn to work with each other and to get fun images that tell a little bit about who they are.  But this time I can say that I learned something.

We went from the train station to a favorite pub, Plough and the Stars.  You know… tell a little bit of their story…. This is where I learned what a Dirty Hoe is.   It’s a Hoegaarden Wheat beer with Framboise.  Thank you, Meghan!  I feel it’s important to point out, that, although we had work to do, and places to go still, there was no beer wasted in the making of these photos.

I left them late that day, really happy to have made new friends and well, laugh… a lot.

I simply adore this couple for who they are, what they mean to each other and well, because they are every bit as beautiful on the inside as they are in photographs.

Meghan and John, thank you for making my job so easy and for the reminder that love is always really beautiful.

I cannot wait until your wedding day!!!

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Meghan & John also have a slideshow available from this session! You can view it here.

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Quite a few, actually.

But that’s not want I want to tell you.

I first met Jaime on December 2nd, the day my husband entered Jefferson Neuroscience’s ICU in Philadelphia.  Jaime was his nurse.  She was also my rock for those first 3 very difficult days.  To say she has a special place in my heart might be an understatement. I only vaguely remember the conversation about me being a photographer if I were to tell the truth.

After a few weeks passed, my husband was home,  rehabilitating, and one night we were talking about our overwhelming gratitude for the many people who saved his life and for the amazing medical care he got..  We tossed ideas around about what we could do as a thank you.  Maybe a gift basket?  ”OK, a gift basket….”  How does one thank someone for giving you second chances in life, right?

About an hour later, while working on my laptop, an email came in.  It started with “You may not remember me…”  Ha, right!  It was Jaime and she just got engaged.  I literally cried.  The idea of being able to shoot her wedding seemed like the most amazing thing in the world to me.

You want to hear another crazy thing?  After spending an afternoon in snow up to my knees, making snow angels and just being with them, I cannot imagine a more perfect fit for Jaime.  Tom and Jaime fit.  Perfectly.

To Jaime and Tom, I honestly cannot wait until your wedding.   I am deeply honored to be there and cannot wait to see you two start your new life together!

L’Chaim. To Life

I’m going to start off with a beautiful couple from an engagement session in Philadelphia. I already did a sneak peek of them before my leave. This is larger selection of images from that session.

When Benjie first contacted me she told me about their love story and that they’d known each other since they were small children. I spoke about that in the sneak peek post, so I’ll get onto the session. When we first met, at the Kimmel Center, in Philadelphia it was soon after Benjie had returned from her home in Thailand. She brought me back a beautiful scarf that has quickly become a favorite of mine. I was so touched by her thoughtfulness and that was just the start of a really fun day.

We shot the entire session in a 1 block radius with City Hall and Broad Street as our backdrop for several as well as the Kimmel Center (a place I love and use often for the way light plays in there and the architectural features). Both Ken and Benjie are avid photo enthusiasts and well I won’t lie… That makes things even more fun for me. Lots of ideas and spontaneity… A lot of laughter and wow, they’re just gorgeous.

My only regret of the day was not having more time with them. Seriously– I could shoot this couple all day long, easily.

So, OK, once again, Benjie and Ken…..

They have a slideshow with more images here.

I got a note from Benjie during my leave that they will be needing to change their wedding date in Bangkok due to a family emergency. It was originally scheduled for March of this year. I Know how important family can be, so….

Benjie and Ken, whenever you two kids are ready to have that wedding day, I’m there for you (as long as I’m not already booked). I mean that. It would be my great honor. In fact, any old time you want to go out and play again, I’m there!

Phenomenal Woman

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I’m telling lies.
I say,
It’s in the reach of my arms,
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It’s the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can’t touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them,
They say they still can’t see.
I say,
It’s in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

Now you understand
Just why my head’s not bowed.
I don’t shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing,
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It’s in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need for my care.’Cause I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

BY MAYA ANGELOU

Bre… Perfectly comfortable with who she is!   That’s beautiful.  Phenomenally beautiful.  And she has one lucky sailor who will have a little something to remind him  just how lucky he is!

The tattoo on her foot says “More than all the stars in the sky.”

It started thirty years ago. THIRTY YEARS AGO. That’s when they met as children in Thailand. They grew up with parents doing what good parents do: Keeping their children on track and telling them not to rush things.  School comes first.   And so it was that Benjie went to the US to study and Ken, to Sydney, Australia.

Ten years later, Ken moved to the US to be with his beloved.

I don’t want to give too much away though… This is just a teaser post, after all.

Isn’t love absolutely beautiful?

My story is actually not my story at all. It’s Noah’s.

I met Noah as everyone was coming together to celebrate his Bar Mitzvah. It’s the coming of age, in the Jewish faith. I have been to quite a few but this one had a few notable twists. For one, Noah is Chinese and was adopted by two Jewish  men.  Secondly because this was a Secular Jewish service and I’d never been to one before.

Noah’s Bar Mitzvah presentation began and as he spoke I took in the faces that surrounded him.  There was so much love in that room.  Everyone listened and laughed and looked on with pride.  I want to share an excerpt from Noah’s presentation.  These are his words.

“Let me tell you a bit of my life story:

In case you didn’t notice, I have two dads, so my personal adoption story is a little unusual.  First my father Glen (who I call Dad) completed my legal adoption from China.  Because of the laws there and in the U.S. he had to do it as a single parent. But like my sister, Eve, I was given my Abba’s (that is, my other father, Youval’s name) to show that he was also going to be my father.  About 7 years ago, when the laws in Pennsylvania changed to allow it, they did a second parent adoption, and so now they are both Eve’s and my legal parents.

I was born in the city of Chungsha, in the province of Hunan, China, in the year 1997.  I have no memory of my biological parents because I was only a day or two old when I was taken to an orphanage. The day that I was born must have been very sad because my biological mom couldn’t take care of me, probably because of the one-child rule.  She took me in the middle of the night to a hospital and left me on the front steps, knowing I would be found quickly and taken care of.  From the hospital, I was taken to a local orphanage.  I personally have no memory whatsoever of my life in the orphanage, where I lived until the age of 2 and a half.

The one-child rule in China dates back to 1978 and states that a family is not allowed to have more than onechild.  The Chinese government made that law because of overpopulation, and they wanted to slow down the population growth rate.”

My assistant and I made eye contact and I was relieved to see I was not the only one fighting back tears.  He was honoring his mother and acknowledging a law that many of us in the US have a hard time understanding. Noah understood this as her sacrifice and I could not help but think that if she could see him today she would be relieved and really proud. Not only was Noah an intelligent  and handsome young man, but one of  good heart and compassion. I think she would be happy to know he was not only well taken care of, but respected and loved.

I mean really loved.  By everyone I met.

I could go on and on about how special I think this family is or how fortunate I feel for being able to get to know a little about them.  This is Noah’s story, but  when he spoke at his Mitzvah, he became a man, a Jewish Man who was now a part of my life as well as everyone else who came to celebrate that day with him.  This may not be the day his story began, but it did mark a very special beginning.

ברכות נח

Mazel Tov, Noah. I can’t wait to see where you take your life!

Glen and Youval did a beautiful job organizing some fabulous talent and I think they deserve some mention here.  I would highly recommend any of these people if you are considering an event in the Philadelphia Area.

The private party was held at a wonderful restaurant in Villanova, PA (the food and service was phenomenal) Azie on Main

The cake was amazing. Truly.  It tasted even better than it looked.  Aux Petit Delices

The magician delighted adults and children with his wonderful magic and humor.   Kevin Bethea

The face painting was out of this world.  ”Gemstone” of Peanutbutter is pictured above and her painting took on a surreal three dimensional look. It was pretty fabulous.

If you would like more information about Secular Judaism, Glen was kind enough to share this link with me: www.shj.org

So what to do?

They didn’t want a photo album.  No photo guest book.  Jay wants to look at them on his big flat screen TV.  Hmmm.

Then I had an idea.

It took me about 3 weeks to work up the nerve to ask Pam and Jay what they thought.  I thought they were the perfect couple for this kind of thing.

“It’ll be a stop-motion movie that tells the story about how you met, what occurred since and in a way that tells us a little bit about who you are to one another and individually.”   I said it with as much enthusiasm as I could. It was like pitching a movie without knowing what the script would look like.

There was dead silence followed by questions.

The truth is I’d never done anything like this and this was an ambitious project.   I had no idea if I could pull it off.  If they would be willing to take the risk, and indulge my whimsy here, it could be kind of neat.  Or it could totally suck.  I was not sure.  I only knew that it had potential and that it would be quite a lesson, either way.

Here’s how you know you have two really cool people.  Not only did they agree to being stuck in the studio all day with me, but they were really great to work with.  Pam and I worked on the story board together before hand and my husband and I got to our chalk art the day before.  I mean… What else would you use as a background for two teachers?   It was truly a collaborative effort and I got to know more about them because of it.  That makes my job as their wedding photographer a much more satisfying experience.

So, without further adieu… Please put your feet up and spend the next 12 minutes getting to know two very funny, witty and amazing people.

Untitled from Shari DeAngelo on Vimeo.

I learned so much from this first try that I’m  dying to try it again with those lessons in mind.  So… who wants to indulge me in more crazy ideas for engagement sessions?

An excerpt from a recent private boudoir session in Philadelphia, PA. The session had a hint of an earlier time period which included  vintage accessories and jewelry from a  collection of pieces I’ve acquired over the years..   The entire session will be published in a fine art book as surprise gift her husband on their wedding night.    He is one lucky guy!

I’d like to personally thank whoever decided to make the phones yellow in the otherwise vacant phone booths.

Many thanks to Wendy Weinstein for her hair styling and assistance. You rock!

I have no doubt in my mind that Michael is going to be wildly successful in both the American and European markets. He has a wonderfully versatile look that we just love capturing here.   Best wishes and good luck, Mike (although we don’t think you’ll need it!)

In the meantime, I just really liked this image and thought I’d post it up.  Believe it or not, those black feathers are actually a necklace.  A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

Necklace by K.Louise Designs

Hair and Makeup by Wendy Weinstein of Ground Zero Salon

Model, Robyn Welsh