I was lucky enough to see Justin and Desiree at two different weddings leading up to their own big day.  I had gotten to know quite a bit of their family and their Grandma had gotten to know how sneaky I can be with candid shots I was told.  Although I still got a few good ones of her on this day as well.  I talk a lot about how amazing it is to work with couples that are just so in love and it is so apparent on their wedding day, well these two were truly amazing together.  Whether it was Justin choking up while reading his vows or the way that Desiree looked at Justin when he played her a song he had written, there was just something truly special about seeing the two of them together.

Even better than all of that though, is having the privilege to tell the story of such an amazing couples backyard south jersey wedding with a reception at Hidden Creek Golf Course.  And talk about epic parties, this was a truly epic reception party complete with a glow stick toss and a ton of fun images that resulted.

For the photographers out there, I also shot the majority of the day leading up to the ceremony with the Leica MP and a 50 Summilux.  There is something that is very comforting to me in the reliability of  manual focus, knowing that your focus is perfect and you don’t have to think twice about whether or not you got the shot.  That combo also allows me to be very discreet and almost blend into the background, the shutter is so quiet in a way that is different from DSLR’s and people just aren’t intimidated by the small camera body that is an M vs one of my Nikon DSLR’s.

Congrats again you two and thank you for allowing us to be there for your amazing wedding day!

Traveling down to Chattanooga, TN to photograph Monique and Josh’s rustic barn wedding was one of the highlights of this past year. I had already known them both from shooting their best friend’s Becca and Josh’s (both grooms named Josh) wedding the year before in Massachusetts. I flew down with only a carry-on, a couple cameras and a few lenses, and a handful of clothes. I ended up buying clothes down there at a local Target to wear to the wedding, and wore flip-flops, a first for me at a wedding 🙂

On the day of the wedding, it rained, from the time I woke up til the sun went down. I brought only a single flash, and not the normal gear I bring to weddings, so I was definitely a little worried on my drive over that I hadn’t been prepared for a stormy, windy, and rainy day. Throughout all of the prep and ceremony, it rained pretty hard, and when it came time for us to get some shots of just the two of them, we agreed to wait til the rain at least died down before venturing out. I walked out to take a look around and the rain completely stopped. We ran out and shot for about 45 minutes and the rain picked up again, but only after we had gotten all the shots we had wanted.

On a cold and rainy day, it was one my favorite weddings of the year. I had an amazing 3 days with good friends, photographing two amazing people that have such an incredible love for each other. It was a trip I won’t be forgetting anytime soon, and with the images and moments I captured for Monique and Josh, a day they will remember forever.

On January 3rd, of 2015, Lynne and Lance got married at the Smithville Inn on a frigid and rainy day. They hired Sandi and I to capture the day in an artistic and creative way, leaving everything in our hands as far as photography went. When the weather didn’t cooperate and the rain didn’t let up, they had complete trust in us still coming through with giving them the wedding photos they had hired us to capture. Long story short, we captured some of our all-time favorite images that day, and thanks to them both having complete trust in us, most of the images were taken out in the cold and windy rain.

One year later, Lance wanted to give Lynne an anniversary gift that he knew she would love, an anniversary shoot. Just like on his wedding day, he wanted to leave the creativity up to me and put full creative power in my hands. He chose a location that he felt would fit the look he wanted to go for and we went for it. I met the down at the end of the long Great Bay Blvd, which dead ends at the bay, a very desolated area at this time of year. Unlike their wedding day, the sun was shining bright and I was able to capture a completely different look and feel to their anniversary images, something they were excited to see. It was definitely cold again, but that is to be expected this time of year, and just like one year prior, it didn’t keep them from having full trust in my ideas. Here are a handful of images we got, not a bad little anniversary gift… well done Lance 🙂 Thank you for trusting in me again, it was a lot of fun and hope to make this a yearly shoot!

The saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is one you won’t hear very often in the creative world, but screamed from the rooftops from those who are afraid of change. When the words “merge” and “partner” were tossed around early in 2015 by JD and myself, the easy answer for us was to stick with the good thing we each had going for us. We had each built our own successful photography businesses, and no real reason to go messing around with what we had. We could have easily kept going our separate ways, but what fun would that be? When you dream big, you take risks to make them dreams come true.

JD, Sandi, and I sat decided to sit down together to just simply feel the idea out. The 3 of us left that discussion willing to take the risk and dream bigger and bolder then we had before… together, as one team. In March, we created Twisted Oaks Studio and began preparing ourselves for the end of our separate businesses, Cass Imaging and Two Fifteen Photography.

2016 is going to be a big year for us and our new team, made up of our new studio manager and boudoir photographer Justine McKone, and two associate photographers Laura Napoli and Cecilia Grace. As we say goodbye to Cass Imaging and Two Fifteen, here is a gallery looking back at some of our favorite images captured in 2015, a year we are extremely thankful for. Today starts a new chapter for us, and one that has even more exciting things in store as we venture into the first year as Twisted Oaks. As we continue to write our story, we will continue to use our photography to tell our client’s, only now in a much more fun, artistic, and twisted way!

Here is our best of 2015, enjoy!

Congratulations to Allison and Everitte on their recent engagement, and we celebrated their booking with Twisted Oaks Studio by doing a creative and artistic engagement shoot at the Historical Smithville Inn. We will be shooting their wedding before they know it, and we’ll be showing off their wedding blog. Spending the day with the two of these love birds gave us the chance to get to know each other even more, which will only help us tell their story even better on their wedding day. Really looking forward to this one!