These awesome kids were not only SUPER fun to shoot, but they also had some of the most amazing “wise beyond their years” expressions. Even though the beach was closing and we only had a few minutes to run around – they had an adventurous spirit and ran from spot to spot and settling quickly into whatever “look” they felt fit the scene. Wow! I can definitely say that was a first for us – I wish we could take their photos every day. :) Check ‘em out!
We first worked with Adam & Taryn, the founders of the Urban Charrette, when we photographed their 1st ECO.lution festival, focusing on sustainability in Tampa. (Photos are here: www.stehlikphotography.wordpress.com/2008/04/22/happy-earth-day-tooooo-yooooou) Two years and a whole bunch of lattes later, and they are now some of my most favorite friends. :)
Since the objective of the Urban Charrette is making Tampa as green as possible, it only makes sense that they decided to make their wedding as green as possible as well. Assisting them with that goal was Mise en Place (www.miseonline.com), which is not only a beautiful restaurant, but also a wonderful catering & event planning company. Adam & Taryn decided to put the entire wedding in their hands, with simple the instruction: ”Surprise me.” (Talk about a laid back couple!!)
Mise definitely did not disappoint, and put together a beautiful wedding, working along with some of the area’s finest vendors, including Concept Bait (www.conceptbait.com) for the linens and stretch design and Botanica (www.botanicaflorist.com) for the floral design. To see what exactly what made it a green wedding, check out this article about the wedding: www.review.net/section/detail/nice-day-for-a-green-wedding.
The entire affair, including the rehearsal dinner, took place in Ybor City, within walking distance from the out-of-town guests hotel. The ceremony & reception took place in Ybor City’s Italian Club, which I pass by all the time but have never actually gone inside – it was beautiful! Down to the photos- let’s go!
We start with the pre-ceremony, where they got ready a the hotel:
After shooting the girls at the hotel, we walked with the guys from where they were getting ready to the ceremony location:
The ceremony was beautiful – it was held on the second floor of the Italian Club in the theater:
After the ceremony, we ran across into Seventh Avenue for a few quick shots in the street. :
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For their couples portraits, we took them after the wedding to the old Tampa Armature Works building in Tampa Heights – an amazing historic building which is slated for renovation and is just *loaded* with photo ops. Huge thanks to the folks over there for letting us in!
After we were done running through the streets of Ybor, we went back to the Italian Club where the reception room was looking lovely and so….*green*! Check it out:
The party was great fun, and the food was out of this world!!
It was such a pleasure to be a part of such a wonderful event, and to watch two people that I adore so much start the rest of their lives together. Bellissimo!!
Every so often I meet someone that is so special and has such a powerful, positive presence, that I feel like everyone should meet them… just to have their lives enriched by knowing them. This wedding gave me the opportunity to meet two such people… the bride & the groom! I can honestly say I’ve never cried at a rehearsal dinner before, but listening to the toasts and seeing the way they touched everyone around them made me so grateful for “auto-focus”… I could still shoot through my tears. 
When I woke up the day of the wedding, I realized that I was sick. eek! (no…it wasn’t swine flu…stop it!!) So, obviously, I was more than a little apprehensive about shooting a 10 hour wedding. But the minute we got to the wedding and were surrounded by what felt like a hundred smiles and Edith’s beautiful attitude, any fear I had about feeling bad that day completely vanished – how could you feel bad with such awesome people around?
The day was a whirlwind! We started out at the Omni Championsgate Villas where Edith got ready:
From there, we headed over to the church for the ceremony. After the ceremony, we squeezed as many family shots in as we could before the next mass started, and finished the rest back at the hotel. By this point I had really started to lose my voice, so one of the wonderful family members with a beautifully resonant voice was my vocal backup – calling family members up for the very large groupings! Check out some shots from the church & some shots of Edith & Jovel at the hotel:
Back at the Omni Championsgate we settled in for an evening full of beautiful details, lots of laughter and dancing, and… costumes? Yep! Everyone had quite a blast with that. They had a photo booth there for guests to document themselves wearing boas or rabbit-eared top hats. Because, really, what’s a party without rabbit-eared top hats?
And, no, we don’t really hire 8 assistants to shoot with us…but the wedding guests certainly had our back should we miss a shot!! Eric, the videographer from Collab-Creation, did a great job dressing to match Paul. Or…the other way around…
Let the dancing begin!!! They most certainly knew how to party, and their excitement was contagious!!
What an absolutely perfect day. Thank you so much to Edith & Jovel, and all of their family and friends for your amazing kindness and hospitality, and making us feel like a part of the family. It was such a pleasure meeting you all!
Okay, well, perhaps that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but we ARE quite passionate about doing our part to help protect the environment. As I mentioned in my “Postcard from Europe” blog post, Stehlik Photography has been preparing to make some big changes, and I’m so pleased to announce the first one, which is that we are working on becoming as absolutely “green” as possible.
The places we visited during our last trip to Europe absolutely amazed us with their environmental advancements – and left us feeling so far behind! Be we were motivated by it, and determined that we would do whatever we could to promote green products.
Little did we know at the time, that the catalyst of that change would be brought to us by the most awesome boutique album company ever: Wild Magnolia Design! (www.wildmagnoliadesign.com)
WMD (wild magnolia design…not weapons of mass destruction…) is a specialty book maker based out of Santa Monica, California, that is on a mission to green-ify wedding albums! They currently produce the only environmentally friendly flushmount album in the world, and their designs are simply perfect. They are only taking on a limited number of clients, and we are so thrilled to be one of them!
We just received our very first sample album from them, and we are amazed by the quality and feel of the product. The Old World Leather Bag was made from reclaimed leather, and the organic vintage cover was made with 100% hemp canvas – a look that was stylish & impressive! We took some quick snaps for you all to see!
HUGE thanks to Becca of WMD for all of her hard work in getting the album to us so quickly, and for being the most incredibly talented and enjoyable “vendor” we have ever had the pleasure of working with!!
Okay! Part two of this announcement is just as exciting!! We are partnering up once more with the Urban Charrette, (a design collaborative dedicated to research, education, and advocacy that assists communities to build more livable cities) for their 2nd Annual ECO.lution festival, a festival celebrating local, green businesses!! (You can see highlights from last year’s festival at: www.stehlikphotography.wordpress.com/2008/04/22/happy-earth-day-tooooo-yooooou)
We absolutely adore the Urban Charrette, and are so proud of everything they’ve done for the Tampa Bay area. This year, we’re working with them on a very special project called “Faces of the Community.” During the week of April 13th, we will be taking headshots of people who sign up for the project, and donating the entire session fee to the Urban Charrette! So everyone wins – the participants get an awesome headshot, the Urban Charrette gets much needed financial support, and we get to bask in the happy high that doing something good for the community always brings. So join up and be a part of the project!! Check the info:
So, that’s our current happiness. We hope you can join us in our efforts! To misquote Miracle Max…badly…. “Have fun savin’ da world!”
A wedding at the Florida Aquarium + a red wedding gown + a bride & groom with amazing personalities = one extremely fun wedding. Becky & David had such an incredible ease about them that made every part of the wedding so enjoyable. We started the day at the Westin Harbor Island with some shots of the groomsmen & Becky getting ready:
From there, we moved on to the Florida Aquarium, where Natalie, the coordinator was making sure everything was set up and ready to go…including the penguins they brought out after the ceremony for a “Penguin Release”, which we learned was quite different than a dove release… :)
The aquarium presented us with some beautiful, if not challenging, locations to soot. Lots of glass, lots of reflections, but it was worth it!
The rest of the night was just as fun, with lots of dancing & laughter. Thank you to Becky & David for allowing us to be a part of your wedding day – it really was an honor!!
It’s winter in Florida, as evidenced by the 39° currently outside! (Yes…that’s cold to us…) ML & Matt’s wedding was a beautiful winter wedding, complete with ice blues and frosted whites. But with warm personalities and lots of love, the atmosphere was anything but frosty. Take a look!
We couldn’t have asked for a better subject for our First Photos of 2009 than this. Mary Katherine & Ben, a wedding couple of ours from several years ago, welcomed their *beautiful* baby girl “McLaurin” into the world over the holidays and we had the incredible honor of taking her first photos. SHE. IS. GORGEOUS.
Congratulations, MK & Ben!!!
We had the pleasure of shooting Ryan’s sister’s wedding a few years back, and it was SUCH a joy seeing everyone again and meeting new friends at Amy & Ryan’s wedding. We were looking forward to this wedding for so long, not only because they are such awesome people, but also because the location of their wedding looked so much different than the scenes we’re used to shooting. Their wedding included a stop in Paynes Prairie a beautiful area just south of Gainesville. We were a little worried the morning of the wedding because a cold front was moving through and, with it, rain…but the skies cleared up right in time and the wedding was perfect.
They got ready in a hotel in Gainesville before traveling south to their church for the ceremony:
The guys met us at an old post office right down the street from the church. It was an amazing location with so much history!
And then it was time for the ceremony!
And then it was off to the reception!
We had such a wonderful time at the wedding, and it was *so* wonderful seeing everyone again. Thank you for a beautiful day, guys!!
When I left after my initial consultation with Lainey, I knew I had just met someone special. Getting to work with her and her fabulous husband, Wes, on their wedding day simply confirmed that for me. There is a muse-like quality to them, and the fluidity they allowed for during the day made the day feel relaxed and slightly surreal.
The day began at their ceremony location of Chapel by the Sea in St. Petersburg:
Then we moved on to the beach across the street, where we *literally* let them run wild and do their own thing. There was a champagne/beer toast, group shots dictated by the group, and spontaneous outbursts of laughter and picking each other up. We had no control, which made it the most liberating and enjoyable “formals” photo session we’ve ever done. If anyone would like to do a post-ceremony family/bridal party photo session like this, just tell us you want to do a Lainey/Wes. We’ll know what you mean. And we’ll probably smile a whole lot…
From there we moved on to the Nova 535 art lounge for their reception. It was such an awesome atmosphere with their images up on the gallery walls along with the rest of the art! Kudos to Michael for such a great place. The party took over in full force, and everyone had a wonderful time:
Thank you so much to Lainey & Wes for allowing us to be a part of this incredible wedding, and to Sandy Rule () for putting everything together so beautifully. It was such a pleasure to work with everyone!
Greetings, friends! It amazes me that we are already half-way through our 3 week long trip abroad, but am happy to say that we have been enjoying every second of it! I’ve been relieved to be able to respond to our clients, friends and family just as easily as I can from the States – with our trusty MacBook Pro joining us on the trip and the proliferation of free WiFi hotspots, I’m as happy as a…lark? Is that the expression? It sounds weird. I’ll look it up. Later.
For now, though, I thought I’d kill several hundred requests to see photos of our trip so far with one swift blog post. So I’m going to share some images and insights I’ve gained on this, my 3rd trip to Europe and Paul’s return to his native continent. It’s a cool place, this little world over here.
Below is a look at the terrain, a photo which was a feat in and of itself, being that we shot it from a top of an ancient castle that was decidedly *not* a tourist attraction. The only people that know about it are locals. Which had it’s good and bad points. Good: no fighting through seas of tourists clicking away on their little point’n’shoot cameras which are so small you don’t even realize they’re taking a photo until the last second when you’ve walked in front of them and happen to look over in terror as they *click* the shutter. There you are, immortalized forever in some strangers photo that they will forever look at and curse your face, the face that has the frozen look of terror, as the reason they’ll never the remember the beauty of… (insert name of chosen tourist trap here). So, not having to deal with that was pretty grand. The bad point is, however, that there’s minimal upkeep and no safety precautions, and, though its historical elements are still very much intact, the wooden staircase leading up the tower was very much…not. Hence the pride in being able to shoot the below shot while balancing camera bag, camera, hiking bag, and self, while teetering on a rotted out step tentatively braced 200 feet above, well, the torture chamber in the dungeon. What better than a blunt object with spiky appendages from the Dark Ages to brake your fall? Anyway, I digress. Now that you fully grasp my fear of the moment, enjoy the photos we took *just* for *you*:
So now that the scenery of the place is out of the way, here are a couple little glimpses into some of the things that have made me happy over the last week and half. First, and most importantly, THIS place:
The nights here are cold, but the days can get pretty warm, and you walk *everywhere* over here, so you can get pretty hot pretty quick. But this place has the best ice cream around. And *everyone* walking around has a cone in their hands. That’s my kind of country. It really is kind of crazy/wonderful to walk everywhere. At around $10 a GALLON for gas, the public transportation over here is fantastic for a *reason*. It has to be. But, regardless, people are just enjoying the weather too much to bother with the bus or subway. So they walk. My feet were screaming at me after the first 2 days we were here, but now I’m a walking NINJA. I love it. Here are some shots Paul got while walking to some of our destinations:
Next, they have these little egg shaped chocolates over here called “Kinder” that have a hollow center with a toy in it. It’s for kids, but, darn it, it looked like fun to eat. So I got one. What was my toy? A small, plastic, yellow “Smart Car”… a sign reaffirming my desire to make my next car an environmentally friendly one. This little car is now a resident of my travel bag. His name is Bob, and he is my secret weapon I pull out when trying to play with kids that I can’t communicate with but find myself needing to entertain over here.
And, speaking of kids, there’s something about a big camera that makes them come running. Here’s an example. I was trying to take a photo of a map of the area when these three Romany kids darted out and begged me to take their picture, while their older sister, both bemused and slightly sorry for my situation, looked on. The moment for me was a really fun one, so it’s become one of my favorite shots of the trip: 
. “Romany”, for those of you not in the know, is the PC word for “Gypsy”. I still prefer “Gypsy”, though, because it makes me think of Johnny Depp in “Chocolat”. Speaking of Johnny Depp, everyone over here seems to be *infatuated* with “Pirates of the Caribbean.” There are posters for the movie in every house, and it’s referenced frequently. It’s a little comical… but, hey, it’s Johnny Depp. So I’m not complaining.
While here, we haven’t been able to escape work altogether, and we haven’t *wanted* to, either. Here’s a shot from a band that we did a group shot for just the other day: 
After the shoot, we stuck around for their concert, and the after-party that ensued. Causing my first injury over here: a stiff neck. It was a self-inflicted injury caused, apparently, by too much head-banging. Today is the first day I can finally turn my head instead of relying on peripheral vision for the past 3 days. But, MAN. What a great night. Walked back home while watching the sunrise. Haven’t done that in about a million years…
There’s been a great deal of humor that we’ve enjoyed, too. It’s SO great traveling with Paul. After being married to him for 10 years, we end up finding the same weird things very, very funny…and the inside jokes make us practically choke with constrained laughter. For instance, Eddie Murphy is MUCH funnier here – because the voiceover dubbing attempts at mimicking his laugh are just the *best*. And by “the best”… I *do* mean “the worst.”
Also, each trip to the bathroom is an experience, because the manner in which one “flushes” the toilet is different in each new place. You end up doing some sort of strange “Flush Button Treasure Hunt”, poking and pulling anything that halfway looks like a way to flush. The “prize” at the end of finding out how to flush, is the ability to walk out of the stall undefeated. The knowledge that, in some small way, you are a better man than your cold, soulless, ceramic nemesis whose attempts at hiding the flush handle were thwarted by your brilliance. It’s small victories like that that make life just worth living, you know?
I guess I’ll conclude by saying that it’s funny how a few days in this other world brings your life reeling back in to perspective. We’ve talked a lot while we’ve been over here about the direction we’re going and where we want to see ourselves and our business in the future. There are going to be a lot of great, solid, positive changes coming up. And it’s simultaneously exhilarating and terrifying. But it’s all positive, and will impact our lives and our clients in great ways. So, that’s it! Take care, everyone! We’ll be back soon! In the meantime, just remember we’re completely reachable while we’re here. Drop us an e-mail any time!
xo,
Us
