Thank you Aaron and Julie for doing a family session with us! We had a great time with your love filled family.

~jess & brett

We had such a beautiful morning hanging out getting to know these guys, and being witness to their precious family bond.

Special thanks to Kelly at Cinci Makeup and Sam at High Five Salon for meeting so early in the morning! Also, big thanks to Finn Meadows Farm for the use of their farm.

Candice and Dan, you two are just awesome and your little girl is beyond precious. Thanks again for coming to visit!

Thanks Kelly and Brian for sharing your family for an evening! We loved getting to know you all. 

They are such a loving and cuddly family. We loved watching the way they all interact together.

Jaime and Corey, thank you so much for making the trip down to see us! We are honored to capture this truly beautiful time in your lives.

This spring we were cutting down the old dead grasses from last year and the boys were working on it with me.  I suggested they make a fort in the back woods with the grasses.  They asked me to help them out and I gladly accepted.  Our boys help us remember what it is like to be young, carefree spirits.  Deep inside of us all there is the little child we once were that has somehow been overshadowed by the man/woman we have become.  Having these children to cherish, hold, and watch grow up helps us remember what it was like to be young and to stay young in spirit ourselves.  It helps us to realize how fragile and dependent upon one another we all are.  We need to get inside their little world from time to time and learn from them.  We can learn to have a more humble and contrite spirit and lean on each other for support as they do.  Never lose touch with your inner child.  ~brett {baba}

The wall that matched their clothes happened by:

a.) I found out the color of their clothing and I broke out my inner graffiti artist.

or

b.) We walked around a corner and were interestingly SURPRISED!

Mya on the left is 4 going on 13, loves to chat, and is super sweet and loveable. Sadie on the right is nearly 2, quiet, super smiley, and is in love with her sister, Mommy, and Daddy. 

Mya was teaching us facts about flamingos. 

LOVE this snuggly family shot!

Mya shows her affection by grabbing hands and kissing them.  Brett and I even got one during the session. Lucky us!

“Cheers!!”

Reagan, Steve, Mya, and Sadie…..you guys were super fun to hang with!  Steve, we just adored getting to know your awesome family!

First up is this beautiful little family of four who chose to have their session in one of our favorite towns, Yellow Springs.  Brett went to High School with Sonya so it was fun hanging out and getting to know her family. She and David have two adorable boys, Addison (4), and Eli (1 and a half).

Addison said at this point, “I’m just a really happy kid.”

The photo below exemplifies that sentiment with his little feet off the ground. 

I’m a sucker for brother love.

Eli is such a chill, sweet, little dude.

I can’t help but imagine this photo below being something that his children will have hanging on their walls, as a look back in history.

Sonya and David, you have a wonderful little family.

Thanks so much for doing a session with us, and bookmarking your family at this point in your lives. 

]]> http://www.studio3z.com/blog/2011/05/sonya-david-addison-eli-family/feed/ 4 http://www.studio3z.com/blog/2011/04/film-experiment-in-light-2/ http://www.studio3z.com/blog/2011/04/film-experiment-in-light-2/#comments Wed, 27 Apr 2011 12:31:20 +0000 admin http://www.studio3z.com/blog/?p=8931 This is Brett, the other half of studio3z, writing my first, hopefully not last, blog entry.  Hello all!

So, we’ve decided to start shooting film again and I took my first roll of medium format film a couple of weeks ago.  I’m calling this my first “film experiment in light.”  There is something about film that draws us in to the images…something I can’t amply describe, but I like to call it “The Van Gogh Effect” because film grain and blur reminds me of his amazing textures and I love how it seems so much more pure, raw, and organic than digital.  And, I am an organic purist at heart.  There is  something deeply emotional about film in that it requires more time, effort, and patience.  Film also requires us to have a deeper connection with the subject that is elsewise absent.  This is what I love.

Well, I decided a few months back that I wanted to get back full circle to where this all began, but was dragging my heels on it.  When Jessica and I first started shooting together, I shot a lot of film.  Some of those photographs are still some of my favorites to date, but I could never get past the ease and convenience of digital.  This all met with a crescendo upon attending the WPPI conference this year.  This is where I became friends with a kindred spirit, Gabe McClintock, the incredibly talented man behind the camera of Perspectiveye Photography. Gabe was instrumental in my decision to start shooting film again and he was very helpful and graciously in lending me his ear on this venture.  If you haven’t checked out his work before, then indulge your senses and visit his blog here.  He shoots a lot of film these days and was one of my biggest inspirations for this endeavor…thank you Gabe!  I was also privileged to hear a couple of excellent and inspiring film artists speak at WPPI this year, Elizabeth Messina of Kiss The Groom Photography and Jose Villa.

Looking back, here is one of my 35mm film shots from the first wedding Jessica and I ever photographed:

Now, coming full circle, I’m shooting with my new (old) Contax 645 medium format camera.  This frame below is one of my favorites from the first roll I ever shot a couple weeks ago:

The water and light were so wondrous that I couldn’t stop shooting, so here are a few others…

That same day, the kids and I hung out with Grandma “Nanny” Beth, my mom, at Waffle House.  The vintage Waffle House feel and the beautiful light pouring through the windows all added up to what I felt was “film ready”…well, I’m actually getting addicted to it and now everything is seeming “film ready” these days:

We look forward to sharing more of our film experiments in light with you in the upcoming weeks.

brett & jess

As we’ve been cleaning up around here and moving into our regular season of shooting again (yay!!) I have gathered together our personal photos from 2010.  Yes, I realize it is April and that 1/3 of our year is already gone (HOW CRAZY IS THAT??!), but we had SUCH a fun year in 2010 that I just had to compile it into a slideshow. Our blog also serves as a “family journal” of sorts, so having this to look back on is really special to us.

Last year we traveled to California, New York, New Mexico…..we had family dance parties, rode bikes and read lots of books. We celebrated birthdays and dear friendships. I saw my baby sister marry her true love. We cooked new foods and explored fantastic restaurants. We feel wonderfully blessed to share our lives with so many beautiful people. Here is a (very tiny) sampling of our 2010 year. Thanks for taking the time to view it and share in our lives.