2011 Year in Review

Well, this was quite a daunting task… recapping all that happened in the last year. Hope I don’t leave anything out. To say the least, this was a banner year for me. I took on many new clients, both locally and out of state, many of whom have become friends. I launched a few new projects which is always exciting! We launched 2 successful Kickstarter campaigns, one of which took me to London, where I created wonderful imagery and made wonderful new friendships! I also became internationally published this year – 3 different countries outside of the US, actually! I did extensive traveling within the states, which is always exciting and fun. I am going to do a month by month recap. I had several guest postings on the Ballet Bag. I will do my best to be inclusive but I am going off the top of my head and some light tracking on FB, since this is a last minute idea.

January
January brought me some new clients and new work. I shot Jeanette who is now a trainee with San Francisco Ballet, for Tutu.Com. I also had a shoot with Pamela H who is a tap friend of mine. That same day, I shot the Harnett sisters, Genna and Alex. Genna is finishing up school and Alex is now an apprentice with Ballet Arizona. They were in for audition shots. January also took me down to Tampa to shoot Gaspar, the pirate ballet. This month also marked the birth and launch of Hope Dances, my dance outreach program for special needs kids. Last but not least, I worked with a new company. Well it was new to me, Delaware Contemporary Dance Theatre.

February
This month brought me back to South Jersey to work for Dance Factory. I have shot for them for the last few years. Always a fun day and I love Stacey, the director. She is the best! Hope Dances was involved in the first ever Tap Teaser on Tour, which was really exciting. I photographed, Tapas, for Ballet Fleming, of which I am now a steering committee member and their company photographer. In a very ironic twist of fate, I became the back up or plan b to Lois Greenfield who was supposed to do shots for Dance4Life dance school. Things fell through and Ms Chauntee called me and asked if I was available. Fortunately I was. What a fun night that was! That group is just plain ole CRAY CRAY!

March
This was a neat month. I had a few in studio for fun, personal things. I also shot Belfast Connection for their promo content. This was a blast. They are always a hoot and brought in a wee taste of whiskey to help jump start the shoot. I also had in, Isabelle Seiler, who is currently training at JKO school in NYC. I shot a bunch of live Irish bands including Blackthorn and Drop Kick Murphys. DKM was really fun as I went backstage and interviewed Tim Brennan who plays accordian and banjo for the band! I also went up to Boston to shoot Boston Ballet’s rehearsal for ELO Experience. Also, I worked on some personal projects with some of the dancers. I always love going up there!!

April
April brought me to Baltimore to photograph the rehearsals for Rasta Thomas’ Tap Stars as well as headshots for the cast. I also begun shooting for the Inspirational Irish Women nominees. This is a yearly event where a committee votes on and nominates xx number of women who they feel are exceptionally inspirational in the Irish community. Last year they had a painter create the portraits which were done in an abstract method. This year, I was fortunate enough to have been commissioned to create them! On Easter, I had the fun opportunity to travel to NYC to photograph Avi Scher and Dancers, which included Carla Korbes and Seth Orza of Pacfic Northwest Ballet. Barre Boys had their event, Happy Hour which featured an exhibit as well as an hour long performance of men in dance!

May
May is always busy for me. I work with 3 different local dance studios for photo day in May. In addition to that, I did a promo shoot for Too Darn Hot – an all female tap revue. Inspirational Irish Women had their event including the exhibit of my portraits. I photographed a performance on top of the Intrepid battleship. One of the biggest things for me this month was to shoot the first edition of the Boston IBC. What a wonderful opportunity this was! My images from this got some serious action in the press. One of them was in the May or June issue of Auditorium magazine from South Korea.

June
Ah June… mark of summer! This was a pretty active month for me. I had the opportunity to work with a young dancer from the Rock School, Alston MacGill. We had our first ever Dance for Dreams Gala for Hope Dances. Barre Boys celebrated its 1st birthday. I did a shoot with Allie Parsons who was wearing Margot Fonteyn’s original tutu from the birthday offering! I also had shoots with Holly Curran from Ballet Fleming, Kat Richter and Abi Kurdin. I traveled to DC to shoot with Sona from The Washington Ballet, her husband and father as well as with Septime Webre, Artist Director for TWB. I also flew to Tampa for the better part of a week to shoot a ballroom competition. Well, I was the personal photographer for one of the competitors. While there, I met with and shot a dancer from Orlando Ballet as well as Peter Stark.

July
Well, I must be honest. By now, I am deathly tired of planes and airports. I mean seriously. lol. July doesn’t seem to have been as busy. At least according to my calendars as I am going back. In July, I spent probably about 4-5 days in Savannah, George to shoot for DTI, dance competition. My first day down there, I drove to Hilton Head Island where I met and had the chance to work with Angie and Mollie Sansone. Angie dances with Kansas City Ballet and Mollie for Nashville. We did a shoot on a plantation down there. That was really really fun!! The day after I returned home, I had the chance to shoot a dear friend’s wedding. Lisa and I have been friends for a few years – I found her on craigslist. I love her to death. So, it was an emotional day for me. Also this month, I was published in UK’s Dancing Times and Philippines’ Town and Country magazine! I also had the pleasure of working with a set of ballerina twins who happened to have the same disorder my son was diagnosed with. The family and I are dear friends.

August
Now we are talking!! August, aside from being my birthday month, was epic!!! In August, I flew to London for a week. Wow oh wow was this an amazing trip!! I flew out of Philly Intl and into Heathrow. It was an overnight flight going in. I will include my blog which has a daily log for the trip. But, to summarize it, I spent a week in London that was fully funded by my generous supporters. While there, I met with the girls from the Ballet Bag, shot dancers from Royal Ballet, English National Ballet and Hamburg Ballet, saw Mariinsky do Don Q, SHOT Mariinsky’s dress of Robbins/Balanchine Triple Bill, shot Mariinsky principal dancer Igor Kolb on the rooftop of the ROH. Doesn’t get more epic than that!

That was the very beginning of the month. At the very end of it, I traveled to Salt Lake City to lend my services for a fundraiser to benefit a young lady with stage 4 terminal cancer. This trip left me a changed man as well as making some new life long friends! This trip also inspired my new series, empoweredME. What a great way to spend my birthday.

I think one of the headshots I did for the new director of the dance department at Boston Conservatory was in Dance Teacher this month.

September
September was unfortunately quiet for me. We had a Hope Dances-9/11 event which was wonderful. I also had an image from RHPM in the NYTimes Sunday calendar section as well as a 6 page spread in Dance Studio Life with my BIBC images AND a 2 page spread as an ad for DTI. That same RHPM image appeared in Connecticut Magazine either this month or October. I had the pleasure this month of photographing Allenda Witzel, a young ballerina who was studying at Kirov in DC. We had mutual friends at CPYB. Since then, I have remained in touch and friends with her mother.

October
I finally got my mojo back and the phone was ringing like crazy. One of my images was featured on the cover of SI Focus magazine, which is a magazine for those dealing with Sensory Processing Disorder. I had wrote an article for the magazine for this month. One of my images from the ASH Workshop was in Dance Teacher Magazine. I celebrated my second year at the studio (or was it 3?). I picked up a new client, United Dance Merchants of America and shot their Jersey show! We also launched the Portraits of a Disorder exhibit, featuring images of children diagnosed with SPD. At the beginning of the month we had a Barre Boys exhibit at the Performance Garage. I did work for a new client, Jovo Dance, which was great. I love them! Also did some family portraits for the Kurdins. In October, we did a SLEW of shoots for empoweredME! I also was in NY shooting for that and for Tutu.Com including a few shots at the Occupy Wall Street scene. In October I also did the new promo shots for Ballet Fleming. This is always fun as is the theme – FUN. No, that is the theme they go for… fun!

November
This was a great month!!! I started the month by shooting BalletX rehearsal for a piece for the Ballet Bag. I had a small exhibit at the Dance for Dimes event at Widener. I interviewed Pennsylvania Ballet’s Artistic Director, Roy Kaiser for Barre Boys and photographed him at their new property on the Avenue of the Arts. I did a promo shoot for Renaissance Academy’s Nutcracker. Some more empoweredME shoots. I did Chesco’s dance team shots again as well as a new client from the Rock School, Isabel Montague. Ursinus College and PDP brought me back to shoot shows then flew up to Boston to shoot for Boston Conservatory. Some of the dancers needed shots, so the director brought me up. While there, I made some new friends. I had a mini shoot with Amanda who is in Boston Ballet’s school. She wanted images for a Christmas card. I also did a shoot for Alex Heier who is also a student at Boston Ballet and her mom is on their board. What a wonderful family!!! My dear friends, the Ramsay family played host to me as well as chauffeur! This was one of the few times where I was actually sad to be leaving. What an amazing weekend!!!

In my studio, I had a male ballet dancer who is studying at Butler. This was a nice treat. Most of my commissioned work for audition shots are from ballerinas. He was a lot of fun and very open to things!

I also had two of the dancers from the NY Knicks in for headshots. I had shot one of the girls’ sisters a year ago for dance shots. This was a fun session. They were a blast to work with!

Black Friday, I made an impromptu trip to NYC to shoot THE Misty Copeland for empoweredME. What an AMAZING experience that was!!! She was a delight to work with (duh) and seemed to be really happy with the images. They were simple yet powerful! Although I had told my wife that I was free that day to do family things, I simply could not pass on this opportunity. We still got to go to the movies when I got back.

3 days later, I found myself back up in the big apple for a shoot with Jon & Abi Stafford of NYCB for a piece I was doing on brothers and sisters who dance in the same company, for the Ballet Bag. Before my shoot with them, I had lined up a mini shoot and interview with Oliver Swan-Jackson who dances for Suzanne Farrell Ballet, for Barre Boys. He was a lot of fun and a nice guy!

December
This December was much easier then last. I only shot 3 Nutcrackers and they were all within 30 mins of my house which is nice. I launched my very fist coffee table book which was for empoweredME. Artistically, I knocked off one of the things on my bucket list – maternity shoot en pointe! I actually did two! One was with Fang from Koresh Dance and her hubby Tommy Gant who is also a ballet dancer. The second was with Pennsylvania Ballet Soloist, Gabriella Yudenich. Some of my images from CPYB’s Nutcracker last year saw some life this month. One of my snow scenes were part of a 2 page spread in the local paper in Carlisle plus the cover of 717 mag.

DCDT company stopped by the studio for an off the wall shoot. They are always a hoot, esp Ms Chauntee! Project Moshen was in the studio for some new promo shots. That was a lot of fun! I have been friends with Kelli Moshen on FB for a few years now, so it was also nice to meet her!

The last few shoots I had, yielded some of the best images I have created all year. One of my favorites was with Sara Rodriguez from University of Utah. We grabbed 3 different looks in one shoot. So so so awesome! I love her!!! I also had a visit from Lisa Fitzgerald from Exit 12. She was a blast! I ended my work year with a shoot with Simon Hoke, a young budding cavalier who is studying at CPYB.

So, this is 2011 in a nutshell. There are a lot of shoots that took place that did not get mentioned and I enjoyed every one of them! This was a banner year to say the very least! The good thing about doing this is it gives me clear picture of what I did so I can set new goals for 2012! THAT is exciting!

I am taking holiday from Dec 23-Jan 3 to spend time with my family and decompress. When I come back, we will have a new website within days and exciting new content to release!!!

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to you all! Thank you so much for your support, I love you!!!

~Adrianna

Adrianna de Svatich currently dances for Ballet Fleming. I have known Adrianna for about 2 years now. We met when she was dancing with Pennsylvania Ballet. At the time, I was working on a project to raise awareness for the fallen police officers of Philadelphia. So, I had brought her in for that as well as a shoot for Tutu.com.

Here are some of those images:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=318632742824&set=a.318632362824.146012.201276982824&type=3&theater

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=305180722292&set=a.300751307292.145157.256421562292&type=3&theater

Months later, I created a series, Wallflowers, which is a play on words. The premise was that I would shoot these beautiful ballerinas (flowers) against my wall in the studio. For this, I had her and Molly Flippen, who at the time danced with her in PAB, shoot with me for it.

Here is a shot of her from that series:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=392029547292&set=a.385496922292.166923.256421562292&type=3&theater

Here is the behind the scenes video of that shoot:

Fast forward… This season, Adrianna went to dance for Ballet Fleming, which I am on the Board of as well as being company photographer. I was really happy when I heard this. I always loved her. She was always sweet and happy and a joy to work with.

So, after a company shoot with Ballet Fleming, I asked Adrianna to come back into my studio and work with me on a couple of projects.

Here is a shot of her from the Ballet Fleming shoot:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150354138257293&set=a.10150354028957293.350169.256421562292&type=3&theater

For our shoot, I wanted to include her on my EmpoweredME series plus my BalletsFemme series. So we did and grabbed a few fun, non project themed, shots.

Here is a teaser:

Ballet Fleming’s Jane Koorts

I met Jane when I first started to work with Ballet Fleming. She is one of their dancers and is involved with their affiliate school, Philadelphia Ballet School.

As is the case with most co-workers, you become closer and get to know each more over time. Jane and I really hit it off. I would hang around the office while she was doing admin stuff and we’d just shoot the bull. Jane was very helpful in my planning my trip to London as she lived there for years. This was just another topic that we’d get excited to chat about.

In June, we had our dance for dreams gala. With the gala, there was a silent auction table. Jane was the winner of the custom made Black Swan tutu from Tutu.com. With this, she also got a free photo shoot. I had shot Jane in class, rehearsal and on stage but never any studio work, so I was really excited to work with her. She was also the second Ballet Fleming dancer to win a shoot with me which was nice.

We finally set a date to shoot and both were very excited. It had been a long time since she had done a shoot so she was excited for that as well. As we were leading up to the shoot, I approached her about participating in my Empowered ME project, which she was excited about. I was excited to get her in the studio to help me get out of a funk. I needed to get in the studio and be me. I needed to create amazing content. I needed to be inspired.

The shoot was amazing as I expected it would be. We chatted, we danced. Ok, well she danced. I LOVE the connection I have with my dancers. I love just chatting as we work. During the course of the shoot, we did about 4 wardrobes or so plus the cancer series. We also took a mini break and I filled her in on my London trip.

I had so much fun with Jane. We created some amazing images. We talked. We laughed. We even did some cool new self portraits of me. What I did not anticipate was how impactful and powerful the Empowered ME images we created would be. They really set the tone for the project.

Here are some teasers from our shoot. Enjoy!

WERRRRRRRRRKKKK!!!!!!!!

Werrrrrk it Wednesday girls!!!!! This one is sponsored by Tutu.com!

This contest gives the winner the chance to model one of Tutu.com’s fierce, cool and uber hip leos in a professional shoot with… MOI! DUH!!!

That’s right!! You will have a full on professional photo shoot IN MY STUDIO, rocking one of tutu.com’s fun leos!! They are HAWWWWWWWWWWT! PLUS… You will be featured on Tutu.com’s FB page!!

For me, when I am shooting a ballerina, shooting them in a leo is where it is at. I enjoy the tutus,they are all pretty and what not, but that is kinda where they start and stop. Not a whole lot you can do with them. In a leo, they can DANCE! They can move. You can create so much more, so many more shapes. You can better see the lines they are able to create, in a leo. You can see their muscle definition in a leo. the shoot is guaranteed to garner way more variety and way more stunning images. It gets down to basics which is what I like about Balanchine’s leo ballets. You are stripped down to the purity of the movement. No costumes to deter from the athleticism.

please note… the above leos are NOT Tutu.Com but Eleve and were used for illustration purposes only

So, I think I have made my point there, huh? So for this contest, you will need to show us how you can WERRRRRRRRRK it!!! This is a chance to show off your skills and more so, your lines. This contest will judge more harshly or with greater scrutiny then the others. This is not a cutesy wootsy contest! You want to be on my blog, shot by me and be on Tutu.com’s FB, you betta be fierce!!!

For this one, we are looking for girls 18 and older.

You gotta come to my studio for the shoot and be willing to sign a release.

You need to be flexible with scheduling and the shoot needs to happen this month!

*** NO PRINTS ARE INCLUDED WITH THIS. THIS IS FOR MODELING ONLY!

If you have modeled for us before, you may not enter this contest.

Above all, you betta bring it and be fierce!!!

To enter, comment on the entry with what you bring. what makes you fierce? now is the time to sell yourself.

ALSO!!!!! YOU MUST EMAIL ME A PHOTO OF YOU IN A LEOTARD. WHILE WRITTEN WORD IS GREAT, WE ALSO NEED TO SEE *YOU* IN PRINT. YOU WILL BE REPRESENTING US, SO WE NEED TO MAKE SURE YOU WILL DO IT WELL!

SEND EMAILS TO BRIAN@BMENGINI.COM!!!

I am shooting tomorrow night so this will be a late notice thing.

Allie in Margot Fonteyn’s Birthday Offering Tutu

In June of this year, Allie Parsons came to Philly to perform two pieces in my Dance for Dreams Gala. I was so excited and honored to have her perform! Allie and I have become very close friends over the last year or so and our families have become close as well!

We were all staying in the same hotel, Loews Hotel, as they donated rooms for the event. YAY US!!!! Generally when Allie comes up to see me, its for a shoot and generally, Claudia Folts, owner of Tutu.Com sends her up with tons of tutus to model. Though we had not really had much time to do anything this weekend, they still brought an onslaught with them. It didn’t seem that we would have any time to do any shooting that weekend as it was full and they had to leave early on Sunday to make the long drive back to North Carolina. However, there was one tutu they had with them that just HAD to be worked in during their time… MARGOT FONTEYN’S ACTUAL TUTU FROM THE BIRTHDAY OFFERING!

Clearly, this was something that would drive me to wake up early for and git r done. After scouting some locations, we opted to just go down to Olde City, Philadelphia, to shoot. We found an old bank or post office or something. It was perfect though. There were HUGE old pillars and just the architecture was perfect for this costume.

I don’t think it really hit me until we actually started shooting in it, what I was actually shooting. I mean, how often does one get to shoot such a magnificent and historic piece of wardrobe? To say the very least, this was a definitive highlight in my career! I am so glad it is one that I shared with not only Allie, but Claudia, who supplied the garment!

Here are just a few images from the shoot!

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Here is Fonteyn with Nureyev:

TUTU TUESDAY!!!!

Every girl likes to dress up and feel pretty, right? Well, here is a chance for your little princess and 7 of her girlfriends to do just that!!!

That’s right!! We are giving away a FREE photo shoot for your little princess and her 7 closest girl friends AND… we are giving them each a tutu from Tutu.Com that they will get to keep once the shoot is over! As if that was not enough… ALL 8 PRINCESSES will be featured on not only my Facebook page and blog, but they will ALL be featured on Tutu.Com’s Facebook page, which has over 15,500 followers!

Tutu.com is a world renowned creator of tutus. Their work has been in countless magazines including Vogue. They are suppliers of major ballet companies all over!!!

Check out their FB page!!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/TutuCom/54783047781

Ok, so it is a contest, so you must DO something to win it and obviously, there are rules as always. I hate rules, don’t you? I think that is why I am an artist. Ah, but I digress. Or is it regress. No, no. I am sure, it’s digress. So, again, I digress. Sorry, this all may be alot to DIGEST. HA! I made a funny!!! Alright. make with the rules and shtuff, right? Right. Grand so.

Simply comment on this blog with WHY your princess should get this auspicious act of charity and good fortune. What would it mean to you? What would it mean to her? Please, save the Jane Austen & Mr Darcy fluff for your book of the month club. I have ALL of the dvd’s. I like the one with Colin Firth the best. Ok, rambling again. MY daughter would love this. Actually, I may actually enter this contest under the moniker, Mr Darcy. But seriously, tell me why you want this for your princess.

Rules. Yes, here are those blasted rules.

1) The girls must be under 10. NO ADULTS!
2) Parents must be present and willing to sign a model release for each girl at the photo shoot.
3) The shoot will take place at my studio in Phoenixville
4) You MUST take the girls back home with. For the love of god, dont leave them with me.
5) You MUST tell ALL of your friends how fun creative and handsome I am.
5 1/2) and funny too!!!

CONTEST ENDS AT 7PM WEDNESDAY NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok so… git them cinderella stories churnin and godspeed to ya!

Fine Print Disclaimer:

*** Prints, etc, will be sold separately.

This message will self destruct in 30 seconds

Angie & Mollie Sansone

Back in July, I traveled to Savannah to do mini sessions for some of the competitors for DTI’s nationals dance competition. I was very much looking forward to it! I had never been to Georgia and was very excited to see the area of Savannah!


A day or two before I was to leave, I received a Facebook message from a friend of mine, Suzette, who owns a dance studio on Hilton Head. She informed me that Mollie and Angie Sansone were going to be guest teaching for her. The two girls had been students of my good friend, Claudia Folts, who owns Tutu.Com. I was not familiar with them at first, but after seeing their photos, I was very eager to work with them. However, it would have to be very much thrown together and done so on the fly, as me and the ladies were both traveling from far distances. Both girls work for professional ballet companies, Mollie in Nashville and Angie in KC.

I established contact with them before leaving and wound up connecting with Angie via Facebook. Our communication was very scattered and did not become solid until I was actually on my way over to the island. While in transit, Angie and I confirmed that we would shoot that evening after class.

After class ended, we hung around and chatted some, getting to know each other a bit before we headed out. Since day light was quickly leaving us, we dashed over to the plantation where they were staying so they could freshen up. I was a little nervous about having enough “good” light to yield a successful shoot. As the girls were prepping, I was asked to pick out what color leos they were to wear, which I was happy to do. I must say, I am very pleased with my choices as they matched the girls tones and that of the sunlight perfectly. Had I missed my calling as a stylist??? Perhaps an overshoot of a thought…

The girls came down and we started shooting with Mollie first. Then some together, then Angie. The area we shot at was just gorgeous. It was a huge home that overlooked a marshy area. There was tall grass and all sorts of amazing things that lended themselves quite nicely to the ambiance of our session!

I also have to admit just how smitten I was with the golden tones of the sunset. The girls also played so well off the rays and the area in general. They were very adventurous and needed little direction. The shoot itself was quite quick but I am in love with the images. The girls were a true delight to work with. It was also very nice to be able to get these two girls together in one photograph given that they work in two different states.


I want to thank Suzette so much for making this happen and the girls and their mom, Janet, as well for their time and letting me in to their world. Aside from making great images with them, I made great friends.

Hope you enjoy the images!

Leos: ELEVE

Special Day for a Special Friend!

Believe it or not, I met Lisa through Craigslist. No, it wasn’t a personals ad. I was looking for some dance models to shoot for content for my book. I did not want to go through the main companies. I wanted to find a diamond in the rough. Boy did I find just that and more. It wasn’t that quick though. Lisa was one of two girls who responded. She forwarded me some pics she had but nothing ever came about from it.

About a year later (2008), Lisa reached back out to me on Facebook. She was asking if I still needed models. At that time, I was happy with my content and had no particular projects going on. But I recalled an experience I had on Model Mayhem where I was to be doing a TFP with a local model and by the time we got our schedules working, she was looking to charge me and no longer doing TFP. I remember feeling quite put off by this, especially since we had already been talking about doing it. Recalling that disappointment, I told Lisa that we would work together! Little did either of us foresee the friendship that would soon be forged.

Lisa and I chatted on Facebook at least once a day, every day, for I think months. She worked at a cyber school. We chatted about dance, ballet, technique, etc. It was almost routine – we would talk before and after lunch, as the internet there crashed due to usage. We did manage to set up a date to shoot.

The day of the shoot was the first day we actually met but since we talked so much and so often, it felt like old friends when she arrived. I guess for all intents, by that time, we were. We had chatted for a few months before we actually met. The shoot was very fun and very laid back. We joked. We laughed. We drank beer and ate pizza. We took amazing pictures and we took fun ones. She took pics of me. We took some partnering shots. This was the first of quite a few times we would shoot in my studio.

Lisa and I met when I was on the verge of a career explosion. I do credit her for part of it. Her lines are beautiful. Her grace and poise are pristine. Her legs and feet are strong yet elegant. Perfect form and great arches. Again, our meeting and subsequent shoot were at the doorstep of what would be a whirlwind ride for me in my craft, which has not stopped.

Shortly after our first shoot, I had Lisa back in studio a couple more times. One of them were for Tutu.Com run by my dear friend, Claudia. We were shooting along with Erin Royston, who is also now engaged. The very last shot of the night was one that was conceived by Lisa. It was a very simple shot, but was so effective and impactful, it wound up being in Pointe Magazine as an ad for Tutu.Com.

I don’t recall when, but Lisa left the charter school and we were both busy with work, so we werent talking as often. We would check in with each other to see what was what. I think it was that next year (2009) that Lisa got engaged to her HS sweetheart, Dave. I knew or at least hoped, that I would be the photographer for this event.

The following year was a big year for Lisa. Aside from planning her wedding, she auditioned for and got a dancing job with a professional company here in Philly! OMG!!! I was soooo thrilled for her. I got to see her dance onstage which was just such a treat for me! She also decided to go back to school for graduate studies in dance so she could teach on a collegiate level. I was excited for her and also helped her on her application thesis.

So, wrapping this longwinded ramble up… It is because of all of this, that this wedding was a very, very special day for me. It was an honor to be a part of this special day for a very special friend.

their wedding dance: