Lots of weddings, and lots of races this summer! The 2009 Canal Run is complete, and we’d like to thank Arnie and the race organization for letting Brockit be the official photog. of this event. The full gallery is here, and we’ve added a nice trick. You can enter your THREE DIGIT bib number in the search tab as you are looking at the gallery to filter your results to just your bib – or just photos were you bib is not obstructed by your arms, another racer, your sweatshirt tied around your waist, or… Try it out – its pretty slick, but remember to enter 3 digits (bib #3 = 003) Some quick highlights below, and thanks to our excellent shooters Emily and Rebecca. Nice job racers!
I had the great pleasure of shooting all weekend with Rebecca Kiger at a beautiful wedding in West Virginia recently. The below is Rebecca’s blog entry in entirety, and in twitter speak, I’ve RT’d it to share the story. I echo much of the below; our hosts were amazing, the atmosphere, service, and events were all beyond top-notch. Just look at the photos! You should visit both Rebecca’s blog and website, and if you are ever in West Virginia, stay at the Blennerhassett! A special thanks to Rebecca’s assistant, Amanda, my assistant Megan Kahoa, and my chauffer brother, Aaron Poot.
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Melissa McCormick and Tres Ross were married on Saturday, May 30, 2009 in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Guests flew in from all over the country and were warmly welcomed at the Blennerhassett Hotel, which provided accommodations and award-winning wining and dining. The Ross Family owns the historic hotel in downtown Parkersburg.
The wedding day began with a morning sternwheeler boat cruise along the river. Guests were entertained with live music and more wining and dining, as the family and hotel are renowned for their hospitality. Below, photographs from the voyage, including one of Tres sampling an oyster shooter.
Below, Sasha, one of the chefs at The Blennerhassett, begins early preparing for an elaborate dinner. In the following image, wine from the Bremer Family Winery in St. Helena, one of the featured wines of the weekend. The winery customized wine boxes with Tres and Melissa’s names and their wedding date. Next to the wine, orchids that were found throughout the wedding floral design at the hotel. Pam Shirley of Aletha’s in Marietta, Ohio created the magnificent arrangements.
Connie Miller, who is out of Cincinnati, Ohio, custom-designed Melissa’s dress. Below, a look at some of the detailed beading on the bodice. On the heel of her Manolo Blahniks, which were inspired from an episode of Sex in the City (the one where Carrie loses her shoes at a party), are two of Melissa’s beautiful rings, her something blue and her engagement ring.
Emotions ran high on the wedding day for both Melissa and Tres. Joy was expressed through laughter, smiles, and tears. Above, Melissa twirls in delight as she begins to dress for the wedding and then tries to hold back tears when she sees how her wedding dreams have been realized. ”I really feel like a princess,” she said. Below, Melissa and her bridal party depart The Blennerhassett for the church by horse and carriage.
The ceremony was held at undoubtedly one of the most beautiful churches in Parkersburg, Trinity Episcopal, located just blocks from the hotel. Below, Melissa arrives to the church courtyard. Alongside that photo, a detail of her bouquet.
The wedding was officiated by Father Jackson of Trinity Episcopal and Bishop Price from Columbus, Ohio. When Tres was hit by a car at the age of six and endured months of hospitalization and recovery, Bishop Price, who at that time was at Trinity, walked alongside the family in prayer and support. While the family was honored that he returned to deliver the ceremonial vows, Bishop Price indicated in his blessing later that night, what an honor and blessing it was for him and and all those present to witness Tres and Melissa’s wedding, for thirty years earlier, prayers had been focused on just keeping him alive.
In the second, and fourth photos below, images from the beginning and the end of the ceremony at Trinity. In the fifth image below, Tres and his mother embrace following the wedding.
The couple returned to The Blennerhassett by horse and carriage and sat down for an elaborate dinner in the Charleston Ballroom. Below, enormous urns of orchids and roses donned the tables, which were topped with red and platinum table clothes. The tables were set with a myriad of wine glasses and fleur de lis wine stopper favors, symbolic of the couples love of wine and their quickly approaching honeymoon through the champagne vineyards in France. In the image below the table setting, champagne is poured for a toast. Alongside that photo, the waitstaff wait ready to serve wine to the guests. In front is Cindy, who after working hours cheerfully preparing for the reception, still had time to sincerely ask me how I was doing. She exemplified the spirit of hospitality at the hotel.
The toasts were both humorous and heartfelt. Below, Brandi delivers her roast/toast, while Melissa, Tres, and his brother Spencer laugh along.
Following dinner, Melissa and Tres moved from the ballroom to Spat’s Lounge to cut their seven-tiered cake prepared by Tere Clegg. Below, a shot of the cake in Spat’s Lounge and below that, Melissa and Tres finish licking their finger tips of one of the several flavored cakes prepared by Tere.
Even though rain dances had been performed at the beginning of the day, right before dinner concluded an unbelievable storm passed through Parkersburg. This wouldn’t have dampened the evening had the dancing had not been planned outside in the courtyard of the hotel. After days of celebrating, Melissa expressed some relief that instead of dancing the night away she could kick off her shoes and rest before departing the next morning for France. Before the couple slipped away for the night, the ten piece band moved inside and played two songs so the night could conclude with dance. Melissa and Tres danced to “Could It Be Magic” by Barry Manilow. Tres couldn’t help but sing his heart out to Melissa as they danced (third photo below), and this is where the tears filled up in my heart as well. In the final photo below, a shot of the dance floor and a view from the Blennerhassett courtyard prior to the rain.
When Melissa and Tres return from their honeymoon, besides continuing their phenomenal work at the hotel, Tres will carry forward the work of the Ross Foundation, a family foundation based in Parkersburg with a primary focus on supporting causes within local communities throughout West Virginia. The couple will reside in Parkersburg. Congratulations to a couple who inspires through their love, strength, and unbelievable graciousness.
Thanks go to Adam Johnson for serving as my second photographer the day of the wedding!
A final congrats to all racers this year. Awesome job on the trails – thanks for being colorful & photogenic. The weather was great and hopefully you all had as much fun as we did – of course I was covered with a lot less sweat and mud than y’all were… In total with 5 folks shooting for Brockit, we ended up with very complete coverage. I love clicking through the beginning of the race which was shot from 3 different angles, in chronological order. Fun! 2860 images in total with the addition late last night of 723 images from intern Rebecca who covered the bridge crossing and the finish line with her D300. Nice job!
— UPDATE (again) —
Finally wrestled Greg’s disk away from Christine at the KBC and shots are uploading as I drift off to sleep. This will bring the total to 2137 images online, with intern Rebecca’s bridge and finish line shots to upload this weekend. Phew…
— UPDATE —
Photos are uploading to the storefront as I type. There is a single gallery with a chronological order to the photos and each you will notice has a tag in the filename indicating the photographer with credit for the shot.
AB = Allison, AJ = Adam, CS = Chris, EA = Emily, GM = Greg, RF = Rebecca
Images are free for medium resolution download (please thank your race organization & Christine Young!) and high-res as well as any physical prints are available for purchase through the site. Enjoy, and thank you!
A quick congratulations to all the racers in this year’s chain drive race in the Keweenaw! Always inspiring, and always a little dusty & buggy… This year Brockit Inc. had no less than 5 photographers covering the event, and in two shifts. A huge thank you to our team: Greg from Juskuz who was shooting on the North end of the course, Chris from XMATIC who was chasing the leaders on the trail and also on the North, our own Emily hit the fields, woods, and blackflies a mile from the finish, as well as Rebecca who camped out at the finish line. We had a couple unique angles for the start as well, so a big thanks also to my buddy Todd from Brassard Media who hooked me up with a boat ride to parallel racers along the canal. While I was breathing boat exhaust, Emily was on the roof of the condos next to the bridge, and Rebecca was standing on the bridge itself. Fun, fun! Give us a little time to compile everyone’s content, but in the meantime, some sneaks from Greg and Chris below.
The wonderful thing about a small town is that people help each other out.
Word got around that there were some empty walls at the 5th & Elm Street Coffee House, in Calumet, and Brockit was asked if we had any extra prints to throw up for a couple of weeks. From our collection of mounted prints in the studio intern Rebecca, and myself, picked out a broad range of images that we thought would represent Brockit well. The nice, dark wood, paneling makes a perfect canvas for Adam’s bright shots.
Stop by to take a glance and also check out 5th & Elm’s second location in Hancock (the old Spice of Life). You can’t go wrong with good coffee.
All, thanks so much for the emails, phone calls, txts, tweets, and facebook hits with praise for the 2009 Houghton Spring Art & Music Festival. The response has been overwhelming to say the least. Thanks to all the musicians, vendors, downtown businesses, the Scott MacInnes & the City of Houghton, Carlton Crothers & the SmartZone, Todd & Jessie from Brassard Media, Bonnie & Cynthia & the Arts Ctr, PJ Olsson, Good Times Music… I could go on and on. Thanks to Todd & Meghan for cameraphone shots in the middle of the action below. Again – my personal and sincere thanks to everyone! We’ll do this again next year!!!
Check it out, everyone. This year’s downtown festival is a little bit different from the previous 7. We’ll be setup in the middle of downtown, right in the middle of the road actually – taking up two full blocks of road. Check out the musical lineup as well. Everyone has been working especially hard on this one. Please distribute the link, the word, and the poster around.
Take a peek at the commercial that is going live today. (nice job Brassard Media! and way to get my little girl in it!
The Copper Country Community Arts Center and the City of Houghton present the 8th annual Houghton Spring Art and Music Festival on Saturday, June 13 -Shelden Avenue from noon-8pm.
The festival’s outstanding features include ~30 artist booths & demos, free family art activities, CCCAC Extreme Bake Sale, prizes from downtown businesses, and an awesome music line up. Food will be on site with T’s Taste of Chicago.
Music Line Up
Noon The Outlaws 1:20 Uncle Pete’s All-Star BBQ Blues Band 2:50 Orphans Torch 4:10 Joshua Davis and Joe Wilson from Steppin’ In It 5:30 Squeaky Clean Cretins 7:00 P.J. Olsson & Rock Camp
This year also features a “Frog Hop” activity. We’ve received generous prizes and support from The Library, Down Wind Sports, Wicker & Willow, The Edge, The Lunch Bag, Good Times Music, The Blue Iris, and Silver Rae Bead Studio. Stop by the Arts Center booth during the festival to pick up a Frog Hop card to take to our supporting businesses and receive a frog stamp. Fill up your card with all eight stamps and return it to the Arts Center booth to be placed in a drawing for prizes. Participants must be 18+ and present to win and will be announced before the final performance…
Speaking of the final performance, this year our headlining act will be P.J. Olsson who will be performing with over twelve young musicians ages fifteen and under as well as a hip-hop dance team. Participants are in P.J.’s “Rock Camp 2009″. Check out their website at www.pjsrockcamp.com.
Pam is a fashion designer with a very distinct style, so we provided some green marble from the old hospital stairwell and a dark studio to offset pink, black & white. We shot Pam’s fashion show a while back, and while this is the same modeling crew, the look and location are new. Kept some high saturation on the colors with a bit of added contrast, and synced a spot removal to fix an annoying speck on the D3′s sensor. Thanks to the random voulenteer from the drawing studio who was able to throw some feathers on the scene. Pam – as always – great work!
