• 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: August 2009

ryan + steve {in love}

Ryan and Steve came in from Chicago for their engagement session a couple weekends back.  Cincinnati weather has been so bizarrely perfect this summer, but this evening we had picked out for the session was a scorcher.  These two had such a cheery disposition that they wiped the sweat from their brow and moved on. :)  We really loved having the chance to hang out and get to know these two before their wedding day.

We didn’t realize that the place we had chosen for the session had a lot of things going on and was PACKED….but we walked around, rolled with the punches, and I loved what we came up with.

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These two are so sweet and at ease with each other.  We really love that.

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This is one of my favorites from the session….so very them.

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Another sweet favorite.  Ryan, you are adorable. :)

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But my absolute favorite….

I LOVE this!

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Que romantico….

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A couple action shots of us….

while I laid on the ground to get shots (there were people walking by who thought I was nuts)…..

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Brett balances on a rail, with his camera and backpack.  He is so ridiculous, but I love him.

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Ryan and Steve, we are super excited for your wedding this October!  I know it is going to be a beautiful day and we so look forward to sharing it with you.

August 31, 2009 - 6:20 am

Barb - These are just lovely! I love how you make our local sites look so cool.

August 31, 2009 - 8:32 am

gina@kiwistreetstudios - love the textures and colours and people!
my favorite one is the silhouette too…
;) g

August 31, 2009 - 9:36 am

Emilie - Gorgeous colors!!! Love the shots of you and your hubby!

August 31, 2009 - 10:55 am

Ryan - Thanks guys! We love the pics and you two are so much fun and easy to work with. Looking forward to working with you at our wedding!

August 31, 2009 - 8:51 pm

Chad - Outstanding as always.

September 1, 2009 - 5:46 pm

mel - how ironic. our current post…we went to chicago a cpl weeks ago. instead your chicago cpl came to you. how crazy. kinda cool. i really like the silhouette. and the processing on your fav. is dope. :)

September 2, 2009 - 1:43 am

Lisa - These are so adorable, romantic, awesome and wonderful! Love the light and the interesting angles. Fantastic work ; )

November 11, 2009 - 4:17 pm

ryan + steve {are married!!} | Cincinnati Wedding Photographers - [...] had a hot Cincinnati day when Ryan and Steve came in from Chicago for their engagement session a few months back, but their gorgeous fall wedding was a little more on the chilly side.  The [...]

we’ve been busy.

Every late summer I find myself in a big giant MESS.  Just like spring cleaning, I go through the same process every fall, except the cleaning has to do with my thinking, my actions, our schedule for family, play, and work- as well as our home.

This summer was BUSY for us.  We had a lot going on for work, and although we normally home school year-round, we slowed down quite a bit over the past 3 months in order to accommodate our busy schedule.  Honestly, I felt a bit guilty…scratch that, VERY guilty for not having the time I would have liked with my kiddos.  If there is one thing I hear from my photographer colleagues with kiddos, it is “How do I find a balance to it all?”  And it is very, very easy to see how this could be an issue.  Trying to run a home based business, while taking care of the kids can be tricky…then adding their schooling on top, and a hubby who still works full time outside of the home, well, you have no choice but to run a pretty tight ship in order to get things done!  I have spent the last few months really thinking about it all, and about how to make our home run more efficiently.

This week has been the “kick my butt in gear” week.  I began with writing lists on things that I need to get done in my everyday week, and then a list of things I would like to get done in my week.  I am trying to manage my time, and see how many of the “wants” I can fit in there amongst the “musts.”

 
 
Here is a typical day in the Z household:

 
7:00- Everyone up.  Mama makes breakfast.

7:30-Brett to work.  Kids finish up and straighten up kitchen.

8:00- Kids do chores, Mama does Bible reading.

8:30- Kids get dressed, and have free time if everything is done.  Mom catches up on email, or posts blog (which has to be prepped day prior).

9:00-Kids at table with books.  School starts!

12:00- Snack time. Go for walk if nice out.

1:00- Nap or rest time for all kids.  Mama gets cracking on work-blog prep, emails, or editing.

3:30- More school

4:30- Dinner prep.  Kids can go play if work is done.

6:00- Dinner

8:00- Kids to bed

8:30- Hoping to take 2 nights off a week, but most nights will be editing and blog prep, mixed in with updating expenses and all that other super fun business stuff.

 

Here are some shots from schooling last year.  Riah kinda danced around, but this year he has to sit down with them and work. :)

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I had to empty out all the drawers and clean them this week…WOW what a mess from the past year.

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Ahhh…these photos are like “Pleasantville” compared to how this house actually sounds!!

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Monday is our official “start” of school in the Z home.  Wish me luck!!!! :)

P.S. Beautiful sessions will be on the blog next week too!

August 28, 2009 - 11:59 am

Gail - What a fun post Jess! Thanks for a peek into your home schoolin’ life! So much to admire in your mothering skills :)

August 28, 2009 - 12:01 pm

Abra Michelle - You know what the one of the most awesome things about your schedule is?

8:00- Kids do chores, Mama does Bible reading.

Priceless and will get you through many tough times. ;)

August 28, 2009 - 2:55 pm

Karen - I am truly inspired. I have 3 kids under 4 and am wondering how do other photographers manage this! it is so helpful to see other moms trying to balance family, work and life. Blessings to you in the new school year!

August 28, 2009 - 6:05 pm

nichole - wow, i wondered how you all did it…awesome, God bless you for your faithfulness in all things! #3 makes me wonder if this could be mistaken for an old photo of you and your hunsband as children if you know eachother back then. smile!

August 28, 2009 - 10:53 pm

Lisa McAfee - Jess,
Praying that you, Brett, and the kids have the VERY best year yet with home schooling. I have been home schooling for 16 years now and I always feel like I could have should have done better. No condemnation! you are the best teacher for your children because you love them, want the best for them and you know what they need. Blessings to you!

August 29, 2009 - 10:23 am

Maya Laurent - I love seeing your schedule! You are such a wonderful mom…have I said that before? :) And, can we talk about that cabinet in the background of your first photo? That is awesome!

August 30, 2009 - 9:19 am

holly - love you all to the moon and back.

September 9, 2009 - 12:25 am

-brittany- - this is awesome!

haha…I just sent you an email in regards to this and poof you made a blog post response and post dated it for last month :)

chelli + jeffrey {in love}

Chelli and Jeff drove down from Columbus to do a photo session with us.  We were so excited that they did!  They have been married for 16 years and had been talking about getting photos done of the two of them, but didn’t want the normal “cheesy” type shots.  Jeff is an old friend of Brett’s brother Jason from college.  When Jeff came across our work via Facebook, he decided to book with us.  We were honored to spend an evening with them in downtown Cincinnati.

We had the most PERFECT yummilicious light that night.  It couldn’t have been any better.

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Love their smiles! :)

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FAVORITE.

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So sweet.

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This whole series ROCKED.

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Then we went around and did some night shooting.

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I really love this one too. :)

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Chelli and Jeff, thanks for taking time out to come down and hang with us.  Be sure to let us know if you are ever back in the ‘Nati! :)

August 24, 2009 - 4:08 pm

Sara Green - Oh great photos. Yet again. I love that place down by longworth for photo shoots. Just was down there today. Gteat job!

August 24, 2009 - 8:33 pm

jaz - love them. so glad you guys got to spend some time together.

August 25, 2009 - 6:43 am

Alex - LOVE the second and the first of the night shots! Really great work!!!! Best, Alex

August 26, 2009 - 8:23 pm

Maya Laurent - I absolutely love the light in all of these shots!

November 12, 2010 - 1:24 pm

chelli + jeff | studio3z photography :: Cincinnati Wedding Photographers :: Destination Wedding Photographers - [...] Jeff an Chelli are getting ready to celebrate 18 years together this December.  They made the trip down to Cincy from Columbus for the shoot, and if they look familiar, it is because they did a session with us at the end of last summer as well! [...]

a quiet moment.

So rare and precious are these around here…and to actually capture them is nearly unheard of in a house of 6.

As I looked over our loft down to the living room, I saw Gabe resting next to his Baba who was out like a light.  In fact I showed Brett later and he remembered him crawling up by him, but he didn’t know he laid there for 10 minutes.  Then he went and found his favorite “instrument,” a guitar tuner, and brought that over to play by Brett. :)

babagabe

Happy Friday. :)

August 21, 2009 - 12:04 pm

Alyssa - LOVE THIS! It’s beautiful!

August 21, 2009 - 4:31 pm

shannon selim - precious!!!!!!

August 26, 2009 - 8:22 pm

Maya Laurent - Awwww I love moments like this!