First day of December!

 December 1st!

It's the first day of December! Christmas is just around the corner and the decorations are quickly going up around my house!

With the holidays right around the corner now is a great time to document the process! I put my Christmas tree last night and I made sure I documented the play by play. I will put up the slide show later this week when the whole process is complete. 

This is a great time to get some holiday photographs around the city as well. Everyone and everywhere has some kind of holiday decorations up, so get out and explore the city for various photographs.


Here are a couple of places I know get a little crazy for the holidays. Check out there websites for more information on cost and location.

• Hartwood Acres has a lighting celebration that is going on until January 9th.
• Oglebay  is another place with a world filled with lights. 
• Overly's Country Christmas 

So get out there and check out a few places that are taking Christmas to a new level. Feel free to post what you come up with or comment about some of your favorite Christmas places in Pittsburgh. 

Recap of the Weekend

Light Up Night Recap

Awesome turn out at Light Up Night. I really enjoyed every aspect of the night. The night had so many photographic moments it was almost overwhelming. The night had gingerbread houses, reindeer, and ice skaters. I couldn't have asked for a more fun filled and packed night.


Feel free to post your thoughts on the night and add photos!!

Photo Spotlight

Winter Garden










I love PPG's Winter Garden. I honestly can't get enough of it. Even when its not in season I am in there having lunch with my friends. But for the Holidays they out do themselves. Here are a couple of gingerbread houses that were built for the holidays.

Feel free to post your gingerbread houses on here!

Santa's of the World

Highlights from the Winter Garden.

Like I have mentioned a couple of times before I love the PPG winter garden. During the Christmas holiday they display figures of the Santa's from around the world. This is awesome because its a filled with facts about each Santa and gives a depiction of what they look like. For people that live here and see this every year this might be old news, but for some reason I love it each and every Christmas season.  For these photographs I tried to mess around with things. I used the light to dramatically depict each Santa in a different way. I also tried to get different angles for each one. Try out some of these options and let me know what you come up with. So get over to the winter garden and let me know what you think.

Feel free to post your own photographs or comment on the ones above.

photography

Special Event

Light Up Night

 Light up night is almost here! Not being from the Pittsburgh area I had no idea what this night would consist of. It is a great family oriented evening that includes fun activities all over the downtown area to celebrate the Holidays.  Here is a list of some of the special events that will be going on during the light up night weekend. 


 Friday, November 19, 2010


Northwest Savings Bank Market Square Stage

• CAPA Choir Ensemble – 4 p.m.
• Al Dowe and Etta Cox Trio – 4:30 p.m.
• No Bad JuJu – 6 p.m.
• The Stickers – 7:45 p.m.

Bridge Party Stage (Clemente Bridge)
The following groups will rock this unique party over the Allegheny River

• The Granati Brothers – 4 p.m.
• Johnny Angel and the Halos – 6 p.m.
• Donny Iris and the Cruisers – 8 p.m.

Celebrate the Sights from Mount Washington; 5 - 10 p.m. 
Shiloh Street, Visit http://www.vuplus.org

• Enjoy Santa Claus at Shiloh Street Parking Plaza
• Rich Patrick Celtic Duo at the First Niagra Stage
• Dan and Jason Krivanek Holiday CD launch at the Grandview Stage
• Costumed characters, balloon artists, cariactures, business holiday specials and activities

One Oxford Centre; 5:45 – 9 p.m.
Fourth and Grant Street, (412) 391-5300
For more information, visit http://www.shopoxford.com

• Annual Tree Lighting by Mayor Luke Ravenstahl
• Rick Gallagher Trio performing holiday musical selections at 6 p.m.  in the Main Atrium
• Santa Claus arrives to hear children’s holiday wishes
• Free Horse-drawn carriage rides around Downtown by Mike Wertz of Caustelot Farms. Pick-up and drop-off on Fourth Avenue
• Live reindeer will be on display in the outside plaza
• Children’s activities, including face painting, balloon art, sand art and caricatures
• Gingerbread Lane—see this magnificent display of handmade gingerbread houses made by a local chef in the Main Lobby
• Live musical entertainment following Rick Gallagher Trio
• Have your picture taken with Santa Claus made into a magnet

Saturday, November 20, 2010

PPG Place Holiday Cheer; Noon - 5 p.m.
For details, visit www.ppgplace.com

• The Rink at PPG Place celebrates its 10^th Anniversary with a MASCOT SKATE and a variety of holiday fun; Noon - 2 p.m.
• Enjoy the delightful musical “HOLIDAY SPECTACULAR” show by Karen Prunzik’s Broadway Performing Arts; PPG Place Plaza, 2 - 3 p.m.
• A variety of musical favorites by THE GOOD GUYS; Food Court, Two PPG Plaza, 1 - 5 p.m.
• The Food Court at Two PPG Place will be open from Noon - 9 p.m.  
    

Festive Fun at Fifth Avenue Place; 1 – 5 p.m.
For details, visit www.fifthavenueplacepa.com
Continue the festivities with an afternoon of live music, shopping and fun! 
Got gifts?  Get started on your holiday shopping and earn a FREE Fifth Avenue Place Gift Certificate with qualifying retail purchases.  Redeem receipts from 12 p.m. – close in the Center Court.
Games, Prizes, Live Music & Fun!  Get in the holiday spirit with face painting and play cornhole to win a light-up necklace. Enjoy the sounds of the season with live music as you help Toon Brian create a huge comic of the North Pole.

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These are just a few of the events that will be taking place on Light Up Night. This is a great opportunity to take some fantastic photographs. So make sure you take advantage of this opportunity.
Also don't be afraid to take pictures of all the people who will be there, document the moment.

Feel free to post your photographs or anything you have about Light Up Night on here.

Photo Spotlight

FOOD!

With Thanksgiving coming up I thought it would fun to photograph some food! I love food with the deepest passion! So photographing it always seems like the best idea to me. I will most likely be posting a lot of photographs that involve food in the next couple of weeks.

The best way to photograph food I think is to get close. Get as close as you can to whatever it is and show the details of everything.

Also photograph people eating the food, especially kids. This will make the food look even better and show the fun side of the food. 

Also photograph the whoever made the food if you can. Especially if they are in the kitchen this will make an interesting portrait.

Embrace the color of different foods. This will draw the viewer into the photograph.

Here are a few people taking some really great food photographs.


http://www.christinapeters.com/

http://www.mattphotographs.com/


http://www.smithphoto.com/



Feel free to post your food pictures on here!