Full Speed

Nathaniel loves this.
Seriously loves it.
He asked me to post it on here so everyone could watch this video clip.

If you have ever doubted for one second how fast a greyhound runs, you won't after watching one outrun a sports car.
~ Rissa

Getting Out of the Virtual Casket

It seems now-a-days, you can do virtually anything...well - virtually! Pay your bills, buy anything you need, even find your soul mate, all online. So naturally, photographs evolved for our virtual world - making film cameras nearly obsolete. We've moved onto digital cameras which equal digital images - and usually not much else.

Before, when you would capture a great shot you couldn't wait to finish exposing your roll of film and get it developed. Remember how exciting it would be to pick up your pictures? You'd be lucky to make it to the car before tearing into them and feverishly flipping thru each one. Then you'd go home and repeat the process...at a calmer pace. Now - with our digital cameras - we snap a good shot and the first word(s) out of the "photographer's" mouth is "MYSPACE!" or "FACEBOOK!" ...Really!?! Is that really all our great shots are worthy of?? *sigh* Believe me - I do love the instant gratification of a digital capture, but what irks me is what follows....usually nothing! You upload the image to your computer and it lives out its life on your hard drive...forgotten about amongst the hundreds, maybe thousands, of other images.

The true beauty of a photograph is not always what has been captured - rather it's ability to become eternal. (my philosophical thought for the month ;-) )

Think about that shot of your parents at the altar, perhaps your grandparents. The paper may be tattered or yellowed - but it's tangible. You can hold it in your hands and feel its impact. Now think about showing YOUR grand kids your wedding pictures while posted up in front of a computer screen. Kind of takes away from the nostalgia...doesn't it?

So getting to my point (yes I do have one), Rissa and Nathaniel got me an adorable photo album a few weeks back. Turns out that DAY I got engaged! My fiance had arranged for my mom, brother and best friend to be at his proposal site to capture the moment - with tons of pictures of course! So my mom burned me a CD, I uploaded the pics to my computer and looked at them over and over on my 12" macbook screen. I finally decided the momentous pictures deserved more than just their own album in my iphoto. I dropped them onto my zip drive and set off on a mission - I was going to get prints made! My first stop (Walmart) was quite unsuccessful -- seeing as every machine was mysteriously "down" and the photo lady pointed me to a nearby Rite Aid. What a hassle this was turning out to be! 10 whole minute of driving!? Were these prints really worth it?? Rite Aid reassured me and lifted my spirits by having an incredibly easy to use machine and good prices too! I got 50 prints for about $5. Feeling quite satisfied with myself I immediately went home, sorted my picture chronologically, and inserted them into my adorable album!

Photo by Liza Hettherington (my best friend!)

Talk about being worth a few minutes and a few bucks! I absolutely LOVE my new album with my REAL prints in it! I look at it constantly and show it off to everyone i possibly can. The ooo's and awww's are so rewarding :-)

Don't let your pictures die in a virtual casket. Bring them to life - have prints made - whether they're 4x6's from your local Kodak machine or 24x36 metallic display prints that adorn your wall as a work of art. It's worth it...try it...you'll see ;-)
~Brittany

balance + carla

Collaborating with another artist is always cool. What you get is twice as good as having just one artist working for you. We love Carla at carla david design. Her graphic designs are clean, stylish and elegant, and she really "gets it" when it comes to showing off photographs as a design element. Carla does custom couture invitations & announcements, as well as corporate designs. We've been a fan of her work since the moment we first met her at a wedding show. She really is a couture designer and her work truly reflects the couple whose invites she creates.

Over time, brides & grooms have frequently asked us to "make something" with their engagement pictures, some kind of save-the-date. Okay... we can do that. Now.

Carla has created a custom line for balance photography. It includes a very cool guest book as well as three different save-the-date options. Each item is ordered thru balance to showcase your engagement photos and is personally customized and handcrafted by Carla. Incredible.

The carla david design Guestbook is printed on heavy card stock and features a full bleed photo on the back of each signing page. The book is bound in color-coordinated silk ribbon and for ease of signing, the pages come apart. Perfect to display pictures and guest comments at your wedding!


The carla david design Save-the-Date photo collection...

The first option Carla created to show off your engagement pictures is a strip magnet with three photos. It is inspired by classic "photo booth" pictures and has a sweet, lighthearted and fun vibe. The magnet is attached to color-coordinated card stock and comes with matching lined envelopes for mailing.


To announce a more formal wedding celebration, Carla created a second magnet option. It showcases one large engagement portrait and the colors on the envelope liner and on the magnet frame are sampled directly from the background of your photo. Also features an elegant floral edging and rounded corners. Perfect for a more traditional soiree or ballroom affair.

Carla's final offering to show off your engagement pictures in a Save-the-Date announcement is a beautiful custom 3-panel card. Pictures are printed on each panel as well as on a custom sticker seal. An elegant introduction to your guests for your special day.

We are proud to be working with Carla to bring you these beautiful options for your engagement photos. Stop by and see them in person. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!

Thanks Carla! We can't wait to see what beautiful custom creations you make from our pictures next!!
~ Rissa

Scope it Out

Recently the Perfect Wedding Guide had a luncheon for wedding vendors at the new Hilton in Baltimore. It's always fun for us to attend these events because we get to catch up with friends in the biz and the publisher, Karen Buck, gives a talk on different aspects of the wedding industry each time.

At these luncheons, Karen invites different vendors to show off their products & services. This time Wessel's did the centerpieces, Gala Cloths did the linens and Carla David did all the stationary. They all worked well with the modern look of the Hilton and really came together like clockwork to put together a gorgeous event.

So, anyhow ~ the favors on the table were photo scopes, which is what I found so exciting that I am still thinking about them a week later!!!

Years ago ~ like about 30 years ago, yikes ~ I remember going on a family vacation to Ocean City, MD and my folks getting a photo session done of me and my big brother on the beach. My parents bought various prints, which were long since replaced on the walls by other, more recent portraits. But the photo scopes they bought from the session have lasted all these years. I still have mine. My grandmother still has hers -- it lives in the china cabinet with her good crystal and dishes.

But mine sits out at my workstation in the studio. It reminds me of everything good about growing up, about being a kid playing on the beach, about my family then ~ three decades ago. I can still see myself as a little girl, posing on the sand in my favorite Snoopy bathing suit. It was very chic, for a toddler. It had Snoopy as "Joe Cool" and he was holding a surf board. Every time I see the scope, I remember how cool I felt in that swim suit (tho in reality the bum of my suit was full of sand), how exciting the trips to the beach always were ~ the exhilaration & simplicity of being that age. It also reminds me of all the silly stuff that went on in my family that we laugh about now. Like my brother getting sunburned only on the bottoms of his feet. Like when I accidentally locked myself in the hotel bathroom and my dad had to climb in through the window to get me out (toddlers and door locks aren't a good combo). Like when we would all combine our skeeball tickets to get a great big prize on the boardwalk, but fight about which prize to get. And of course, I can still taste the fresh salt water taffy. The orange flavor is still my favorite.

My Ocean City photo scope (left/front) and newer sample model from My-Scopes (right).

I haven't been to Ocean City in probably 20 years. My family switched to Rehoboth in Delaware somewhere along the line, which is now a favorite place for Nathaniel, Lochrima & I as well. I have no clue where the other photos my parents bought on the beach photo shoot are. But I still have and love the photo scope from our vacay on the beach. The picture itself has yellowed a little, but considering how many years old it is, I have to say, it still looks good.

(You know, until the Perfect Wedding Guide luncheon, I didn't know they were called "photo scopes" -- I usually described mine as "the keychain thingie from the beach that has a tube with a photo in the end and you hold it up to the light.")

Anyhow, you can get your own photo scopes now!! I am so excited to have found this and be able to share it!

We don't sell them, but the company from the luncheon is called My-Scopes and a girl named Melissa Carpenter handles them in the Maryland area. You can email her at melissa.carpenter@my-scopes.com or visit her website. Her scopes come in ten different colors, can have personalized imprinting and start at only $7.99 for one. The more you buy, the cheaper they get: 5 photo scopes are $19.95 and have free shipping. Which is so cool. I know I will get some for us and for gifts as well. You can do so many cute things with these: imagine your save-the-date for a wedding, baby or kids' pictures, party favors, thank-you presents or fun personalized ones as gift tags for the holidays. To make a scope, you go to her site and upload your photos and click, click, click you're done.

Though they are a little kitschy, a little touristy and slightly silly, I'm a huge fan of photo scopes. My experience with them has been great so far. Thirty years and counting.
~ Rissa

Dog of a Reunion

Weekends are always busy for us, it's when much of our actual photography happens. This past weekend though, we kept a day open for a special event. Special to us, but more special to our hound, Lochrima. It was the annual Greyhound Rescue Reunion picnic.

Greyhound events are one of those things almost like a secret society~ you only know about the events if you already own a greyhound or if you accidentally happen upon them. These sorts of things happen all over the country~ from picnics large and small to greyhound wine-tasting events and concerts to greyhound beach or hiking weekends. The mix of people is always incredible ~ all ages from all walks of life, everyone coming together only because they are "crazy greyhound people" and like the chillness of "greyhounding." (That means hanging out with larger numbers of greyhounds, of course!)

This year's GRI Reunion picnic was held at Downs Park in Pasadena, MD. If you are a dog-lover of any kind, you should definitely check out this park. Not only are dogs allowed into the park, they have a special dog beach where your canine can lounge off-lead in the sand or take a swim in the water. Most greyhounds are more prone to wading (or just sunbathing) but there were plenty of other dogs taking a dip in the drink. Some other fun features of the park included volleyball courts, playgrounds, basketball courts and loads of dog-friendly walking trails. A great spot, to say the least!

The GRI picnic was really packed with humans and hounds this year. Everywhere you looked was another family or couple on a blanket enjoying the perfect day with their greyhounds. Unlike many other breeds, greyhounds can congregate in large numbers in complete calm. No barking, fighting or other dogginess. They seem to truly enjoy the company of other greyhounds. And the serene vibe is contagious. Everyone is always relaxed, just as chilled out as the hounds.

To offer activities to all the people that accompany the greyhounds, GRI had various entertainment planned for the day. In addition to fund-raising raffles and a silent auction, they had a reiki master give demonstration about alternative healing therapies for dogs. There was also dog-related shopping, doggie pedicures, clay pawprints and of course ~ plenty of food for two and four legged guests. In past years there has been a DJ and live demonstrations by folks from the Renaissance Faire of greyhounds in history. Always something to do (as if the beauty of nature isn't enough, right??) and something to appeal to the diverse crowd of greyhound people.

For the past three years, Nathaniel & I have blocked out the date of the picnic on our calendar and always go to volunteer and help out in any way we can. The day flies by for us ~ we get there early to set up, help out all day long and close the place by packing cars and cleaning up. Sometimes we barely get a chance to have a break!

But this year we took a short walk to the water with Lochrima to check out the dog beach and the gorgeous views. It was totally worth it to step away for a few minutes and hound around with Lochrima because the park itself was wonderful! Behind the dog park there was a lagoon with tall white herons, which was a fun surprise.

Today it's back to business as usual for us: working on images, answering emails ~ day-to-day life. But the GRI picnic was a nice break from our work to enjoy each other, friends, and of course ~ the company of dogs.

~ Rissa

Last Night: City Paper's Best of Baltimore Party

So, last night we scored tickets to City Paper's Best of Baltimore Party at the Baltimore Museum of Industry. There isn't another party in town we've seen with a more ecclectic conglomeration of people. I think we tried a little too hard to look chic because apparently bed head, flip-flops and pj's are the new black. Seriously, tho ~ the people watching was the best we've seen in ages. And not everyone had bedhead. There were loads of Baltimore's glitterati on the scene and some really beautiful people.


There were multiple DJs spinning, go-go dancers, hula-hoopers, a guy on stilts and all the cheap liquor you could ask for. Open bar. Good food too, and much to our delight ~ plenty of vegetarian fare, including the most decadent ravioli in cream and herb sauce! One was enough for an entire meal.

In the huge crowd of hipsters, we found our friend Amy from Crimson and Clover interrogating an astronomer about the sun. He had a telescope for the party-goers showing Jupiter with all of its moons in a row. We also crossed paths with Alicia from the AVAM and we hung out for a while with Carole from A Garden of Earthly Delights (thanks for the tickets!!). Meeting some of the staff from City Paper was also cool ~ a different look into journalism for us both.

It was fun for us to see the BMI in a different way. We're very familiar with the museum from all the weddings we've photographed there, but we've never seen it as packed as it was last night. Besides Pier 5, it's one of few venues literally right on Inner Harbor. It is colorful and visual, which makes a great backdrop for pictures. And for huge gatherings of Baltimore's coolest cats under an orange harvest moon.


Thanks for inviting us Carole ~ and thanks Ashley for Rissa's awesome hairdo!


~ Nathaniel

Happy Birthday Mom!

I just wanted to say Happy Birthday to a very special lady. You always encouraged me to be who I wanted and to follow my dreams. Thanks for always standing behind us and believing in us.

I know the thing you want most on your birthday is more photos of your granddaughter!

and this guy too!

Happy Birthday!

~Nathaniel