DePaul Community Resources Christmas Party 2010

One of the things that fellow photographers and I do is try to give back, especially around the holiday season, to those organizations that dedicate themselves to working year round to bring joy and happiness to the faces of people every single day. On December 11th, we had fantastic time photographing families and foster kids with Santa Claus. The event was held at the Charlottesville Church of the Brethren, on Rio Rd, put on by the DePaul Community Resources that helped place each of these kids with a loving foster family. DePaul had the reception hall all decorated and a fabulous holiday meal prepared for everyone. We started the day off, with the help of my friend Christian DeBaun, setting up a black background to take semi casual family portraits, while me and my other good friend Lisa Cloutier setup a white background photo booth for the kids to goof off and make silly faces. Boy, were they hilarious! Around 1 o'clock the big man himself showed up with stuffed teddy bears for all the kids. Even some of the adults sat on Santa's lap! I guess we're all big kids at heart. I'm always amazed by the innate optimism, and joy of kids around Christmas.
Here are some images from the day.

The Glengarry Bhoys

Recently I had the wonderful opportunity to do some photographic and video work for some friends of mine, The Glengarry Bhoys. In 1998, two members of a police department in Ontario Canada, Graham Wright and Ziggy Leroux formed the band. Currently they are joined by Ewen Brown, on bagpipes, and D'Arcy Furniss on the fiddle. From their humble beginnings of a love of music has lead to over 250,000 albums sold, concerts from Newfoundland to New Mexico, Ireland and Scotland, Florida to Maine, multiple plays on radio stations around the world, appearances on BBC, PBS, Canadian TV, and Radio specials all over the US. Also out of 51,000 members the Bhoys have received awards for best song and best album from the Music Organization for Folk Artists and the 2009 "Celtic Instrumental Songwriters Award" Apart from all their accolades, their good humour, terrific personalities, and tremendous energy they bring to every concert they play. Their music spans genres from traditional ballads, celtic rock and folk, and appeals a large demographic. Liked by children and grandparents alike, no one is allowed to sit down at their concerts and above all else everyone is encouraged to SCREAM!!!

Sarisand Tile Company

In the last month, I have had the pleasure of working with Sarisand Tile company in Charlottesville taking photographs of bathroom and kitchen tile work. With every bathroom or tile entry way I am continously amazed at the talent of Pete Sandfort and his design team. They have got to be about the best Tile company that I have seen in Charlottesville. Below is some samples of images that I took. Some cannot do the work justice. Most images included have been taken in personal house holds.

First up is of amazing bathrooms. Totally exquisite rooms. One room was a guest room turned into a bathroom, master bath and small bath.

Next set of images, is a multi million dollar home, located outside the Charlottesville area. If I remember correctly, the home had 7 bathrooms, 5 bedrooms, a rec room, large dining room, 2 living rooms, a pool, a wine cellar and tasting room, even a bungalow separate from the house.

The last images are just a sample of some of the other amazing work that Sarisand produces.