• studio3z photography {the blog}

    If you have landed here...bless your soul.  Welcome to our little tiny corner of the cyber world, based out of Cincinnati, Ohio. Below you will see favorites from our sessions we do professionally, and also loads of personal nonsense that we hope at least will entertain you.  If nothing less, you can keep up on our adorable children.  Really, they are worth the trip back here time and time again in and of itself.

    My name is Jess.  My hubby is Brett.  We are crazy about each other, our 4 babies, and our art.  Welcome to our world.

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Monthly Archives: May 2008

jess + tony {in love}

Jess is one of my GIRLS. I had mentioned in a post below about my girlfriends, that we were all there but “little Miss NY”….well this is her, the gal who left us, to go find herself in the big city. What she ended up finding was something unexpected-the love of her life, who just so happens to be from Cincinnati as well (cool huh?). And let me just tell you…we all approve:)He has passed all tests with flying colors, and although I have only had the chance to meet him a couple times, the love he has for my friend is just OOZING from him. That’s pretty awesome.

Tony had something really fun concocted for the night of our session. Jess and I had been planning the pictures for a few weeks, even before the official “proposal” had happened. They knew they were getting married and were already making plans. They were just missing the “formality” aspect. The ring was coming, but it was taking some time to be made. The week before our session, Tony contacted me and told me about his plans. He told Jess the ring wouldn’t be ready until sometime in June. Although she was worried about not having the ring for her engagement pictures, this was the only weekend they would be in town until the wedding, so we had to do the session. When she called me asking if that was stupid, I just said, “Ah, no problem! Who needs a ring for engagement photos…seriously.” I knew all along that Tony was planning to take her to a beautiful overlook of Cincinnati in Eden Park and propose to her minutes before we met them. Although they are both from Cincy, their memories together are in New York. So as part of his proposal he made a movie of himself in one of their special places, listing all the reasons he was so crazy about her and how special she is to him. Then he proposed to her. We arrived about 2 minutes afterwards with Jess still all teary eyed.

On cloud 9.


so so happy and in love….

She has such GORGEOUS eyes.

Tony’s only request: chucks shots.:)

Proving he would do anything for her…

So beautiful.:)

Then, another surprise!! A BIGGER surprise. While doing the barb wire shots above Tony says, “Hey lets go do some shots up in Mt. Adams!”  We knew that was the cue, so we headed up there.  Little did Jess know that Tony had ALLLLL of their family and many friends waiting to congratulate them inside of an awesome (yet tiny) pub called the Blind Lemon.  She was so surprised.  It made my heart happy that everything worked out so perfectly for them.

J + T, we can’t wait for your wedding in about 3 months!  It is going to be just beautiful, and Jess you are going to be one of the most gorgeous brides ever.  Tony, we are so glad Jess found someone who loves and appreciates her whole heartedly, and we can’t wait to get to know you more and more.:)Much love you guys!!!

~Jess & Brett

May 31, 2008 - 5:05 pm

rebecky - All of them are incredible, jt4 is my favorite. Cute Couple- So happy for my Jessica that she has found such a great guy to spend her life with because I think the world of her. Your right Jess Z, she is going to be a Beautiful bride. now we all have to wait for that HAPPY DAY.

May 31, 2008 - 5:18 pm

jessica & tony - jessica & brett,

these pictures are absolutely brilliant! you captured the essence of our relationship. the pictures really speak volumes. thank you, thank you, thank you for using your gifted talents in making this one of the most memorable moments of our lives.

much love,

jessica & tony

May 31, 2008 - 10:02 pm

lucy - awesome pics! jess is, as always, gorgeous! they are such an adorable, fun couple. i love the way tony looks at jess. they’re so in love. awwwww….

June 1, 2008 - 4:56 pm

jess w. - jess and tony, these really capture how much love you have for one another — what sweet, tender pictures. i am SO looking forward to september!! :)
once again- amazing job brett and jess!

June 18, 2008 - 10:49 pm

Mamaw Patty - OK … hope you’re all happy as I sit here crying my eyes out! Jessica – Congratulations! I pray that you and Tony have a wonderful life together. I can’t wait to see the wedding photos. My, time flies by way too fast.

You’ve always been such a dear friend to Becky and our whole family (I still love the photo of you and Nathan inside the old Camry – it highlights your eyes which 3Z captured here). We love you! Thanks for being a part of us!

Patty Downs

BTW – the photos are all GREAT!!!

July 10, 2008 - 10:54 pm

Annie - These are fantastic!!! You guys do such a great job!

September 4, 2009 - 6:11 pm

updates + a look back. » studio3z photography - [...] you want a refresher on these lovely people, here is their engagement session and here is their wedding blog post. If you can’t tell, I love them [...]

almost a year {my heart aches…i gulp}

I can hardly believe that almost a year has passed since the eventful birth of my baby boy, Gabriel. He is about the sweetest little thing you have ever seen, and so loving and cuddly. I have just about the best job in the world, because I happen to “own” the cutest model who is at my disposal 24/7.:)Lucky, lucky me.

It is actually a couple weeks until his birthday, but I had to do a little shoot of him for photos for his birthday invitations. Actually Brett did most of the shooting this day, which meant the world to me because I got to be in some pictures with my baby. Imagine that.:)These moments are so precious, and I know I will cherish them always.

I am so excited for what I have planned for his “actual” birthday when I have a personal project I hope to accomplish. I will be documenting his entire day. A “day in the life” of Gabriel. YIPEE! sooo fun.

This melts my heart to mush. I was shooting while he waved at his “Baba.”

Here he is with Brett….

then we switched and I don’t think I took the camera back.:)

My little cuddle bug.

Beautiful boy.

May 28, 2008 - 10:37 pm

lucy - he is so precious. i love that baby boy. i can’t believe he’s already one! i love you gabey!

May 29, 2008 - 9:03 am

jenny - So So So So cute. Love the Mr. Silly shirt :)

June 1, 2008 - 5:06 pm

kylee - i know all babies are “cute”, but your little boy here truly is adorable!! congrats! :)

June 4, 2008 - 6:48 am

Luvlee - Oh my.. he is WAY cute! such a lovely shoot and beatuiful photos to have of you 2 :)

June 11, 2008 - 4:47 pm

lauren c.-openField. - you guys are SO cute!! : )

annie + westin {in love}

Trying to nail down a time to do Annie and Westin’s engagement session was rather difficult because of their work schedules, but with less than a month before the wedding, we knew we needed to act fast. Annie chose the one night they had free, which happened to be her birthday. The day came and was beautiful!! Blue skies, 70 degrees, and lovely warm sunshine…that is until about 5:00 in the evening, when a hard downpour began. Annie began to worry and we prayed would let up, but it never did. We met, and decided that we HAD to shoot, and as completely against our norm as it was, we went indoors, at night, in the beautiful Hilton Cincinnati Netherlands Plaza. The images are much more moody than our normal work, but the look really exemplifies the personality of these two….they are fun, artsy, and eccentric.

Annie put on this beautiful black dress and turned it up a notch…

When we meet them later in the week to discuss wedding plans, we decided to snap a few photos as the sun was going down. We ended up loving them!:)

I have know these two for a long time. Wes is the little brother of one of my good friends from school and I have know him since he was around 6 or 7, and Annie is one of my sister’s best friends since Jr. High. I was so happy when they chose us to do their engagement and wedding photography because I know photography is really important to them. Annie and Westin, thanks for choosing us, and we can’t wait for the wedding in a few weeks!!

Last but not least, I had to put in a photo to really show their super fun personalities.:)As goofy as they are (or I should really say as goofy as Westin is), it is so evident how crazy they are about each other. That makes our job even more fun. Being able to capture the LOVE.:)

May 25, 2008 - 2:55 pm

Annie - I LOVE OUR PICTURES! I LOVE THEM SO MUCH! Jessica and Brett, you guys really outdid yourselves. I love your artistic veiw that shows through on each of these pics. All of your hard work really paid off. They are phenomenal. (Like the “verbage”?) I am SO PLEASED that we chose you guys to do our pictures. THANKS A MILLION! Love to you both, can’t wait to see more!

{Annie}

May 25, 2008 - 3:02 pm

jess@studio3z - Annie, I approve of the “verbage.” :) You guys are awesome!! ~jess

May 25, 2008 - 3:20 pm

hannah (MOH) - beautiful, i LOVE them!!!!

May 25, 2008 - 9:13 pm

lucy - great pics! adorable couple. venturing outside of the box is a nice change. versatile talent…gotta love it!

May 27, 2008 - 11:37 am

rebecky - I love the pictures-they all are so beautiful. The pictures at the hotel look like perfume ads in a magazine. Can’t wait to see the wedding pictures posted by our talented photo couple. other knock your socks off photo session by Brett and Jess.

my girl. {Priya}

One of the things that I love about my photography job is having the chance to get to know people. Or, in the case that I may already know them, having the opportunity to think about them more deeply as I review, edit, blog, and write about each person and their story. I tend to be a very introspective person and a visual (imagine that!), so staring at people’s photos brings many things to mind. Perhaps recalling how I met them, memories, things about them that I find interesting, or characteristics that make them special. I guess that is why I enjoy my blog so much and “spending time” with each person I have the pleasure of photographing. It allows me the opportunity to feel connected.

Today was no exception. This morning I decided to do a long awaited session with my daughter. The morning light shone brilliantly across the vibrant green grass, and my daughter looked absolutely adorable. If you have been a follower of my blog for some time, you may have noticed that I have more photographs of my boys, and very few of my girl. It certainly is not the case that I favor my boys, but more the case that my daughter is not crazy about her photo taken, and when she DOES allow it, she has a hard time not being totally goofy, or worse, a drama queen.

I love my girl. She is my oldest; my first. She is 8 going on 18, and looks like she is at least 11 because she is so tall. Because of this, people tend to expect she should act like she is 11 or 12, but she is 8, through and through. She wanted to have her photo taken with her caterpillar collection today. I declined.:)

As I sifted through the photos shot this morning, I wondered if I would have any with her making a “normal” face, or smile. But then I realized, this is her, this is my Priya. And as much as I may not want to admit it, (strictly for her sake, Lord help her) I see so much of myself in her, it’s scary.

Priya is: outgoing, amazingly creative, loud, a leader, abstract, honest, level headed, extremely generous, loving, mini-mama to her baby brothers, a bit bossy:), considerate, social, polite-with an occasional twist of sassy, tall, athletic, foodie, beautiful, an artist, and the first little person to teach me the meaning of “selflessness.”

May 21, 2008 - 11:04 pm

lucy - i love my priya! she’s so grown up now. i almost want to cry.

May 22, 2008 - 4:56 pm

Shannon Selim - Your daughter is so beautiful! The great thing about being a photographer must be the built-in way you can photograph your children as they grow up! How cool… you’re my photo hero Jesse, and I don’t say that lightly! :)

May 23, 2008 - 7:32 pm

Lisa A. - Priya’s eyes never change, and look just as beautiful as they did as a baby watching all the grown ups. When her face is serious, I can just imagine the depth of the person behind them. You keep our attention!