I recently accidentally found out that a couple of my Bar/Bat Mitzvah photos were featured in Pittsburgh Jewish Living magazine. I`m really excited about that. Hopefully tomorrow I`ll find out that my photos were published in the Bride magazine the National Geographic, Wired and Popular Photography:)

Yesterday I received an email from Moraine Preservation Fund asking me if they could use one of my photos as a banner for their website`s “activities” page. It was kind of flattering that they wanted one of my photos – plus I don`t mind seeing my daughter`s happy smiling mug on as many websites as possible:) Check it out at www.morainepreservationfund.org.

I am so freaking excited! I`m literally jumping up and down with excitement! See how many exclamation signs I`m using!!! Over the last 2 months I`ve been working with the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh to organize a series of workshops on photography and finally everything is ready to go. This workshop series will be targeted towards beginner photographers who just bought their first digital SLRs and would like to improve their skills. Some really amazing photographers and graphics designers agreed to volunteer their time and teach these workshops. If you are interested in photography in any way, shape, or form, hurry up and register for these awesome workshops at http://www.carnegielibrary.org/events/eventlist.cfm?mode=recur&event_id=58516. I will be teaching workshops on flash photography and advanced digital processing. Go ahead and register – all the cool kids are doing it!

I believe I mentioned this once or twice before – the first dance is my favorite part of any wedding. Up until that moment, the bride and the groom are too busy to be with each other – they have to worry about dresses, flowers, tuxedos, guests, ceremony and all the other stuff that makes up a wedding. The moment the first dance starts, the bride and the groom belong to each other; it`s just them on the dance floor and no one else exists. I love watching newlyweds` expressions when they dance their first dance.

Days like this are so rare, and because of my crazy work schedule they are even more precious. Spending a day with my wife and daughter at the Moraine State Park was by far one of the best days I`ve had in a long time.

Last weekend I had the honor of photographing a beautiful Russian Orthodox wedding. The ceremony took place at the St. Gregory`s Russian Orthodox Church in Homestead; I`ve never photographed there before, but as soon as I walked through the front doors, I fell in love with this tiny, off-the-main-beat church. I only had a few minutes to snap a couple of frames before the ceremony began. Hopefully I`ll have an opportunity to photograph there again so that I could capture all the amazing details.

When Jordyn`s mom hired me to photograph Jordyn`s Bat Mitzvah, she told me that Jordyn wants to be a photographer. So, I brought my old Polaroid Land Camera to the photoshoot…

Check out this beautiful bride… and the groom ain`t so bad either.