Marsha, Alan & Family (Lancaster, PA)

While in Pennsylvania on a mini vacation I did a session with this great family. They are a sweet couple with great kids. We started in Downtown at the Lancaster Central Market, the country's oldest farmers' market. The market was closed but we had fun outside and at the fountain around the corner.









Then we headed out of town to a park that Marsh and Alan spent a lot of time at when they first stared dating. We were able to get some good shots before the rain started dumping on us. That's when we decided it was a good tome to get ice cream and sit on the covered porch.





Thanks for looking, if you are interested in setting up a session for your family please don't hesitate to email me.

Susan & her Scion

Susan was very excited about getting her picture taken with her Scion, it just rolled over 100K miles. She was a little nervous being in front of the camera, I have worked with her on many projects, she is my go to person for Hair & Makeup. She came over with her boyfriend Justin (he was a big help when I did pictures of Annabelle) and he helped keep my light from blowing over on the top level of the garage. The garage is in Old Town Portsmouth near the Elizabeth River and started on the top level. The Sun was almost down which gave us this moody sky. I setup a couple speedlights and we got going. Here is the post with the interview

After I felt good about the images from the top level we came down into the garage to shoot. This was a new environment for me, the first time to light a car in that dark of a space. I took my time and played with many different lighting setups. Here are my two favorite.

I decided to use this image for my Relationships project.

I am still looking for volunteers for this project. Please shoot me an email if you are interested, matt@matthartman.com

Derek Jr, 15 months

Jen brought Derek Jr. over for a quick session in my new home studio! More to come about the studio. He did really good, we were even able to get him to sit in the bucket I bought for his newborn pictures all it took were my keys to keep him happy.

Mini-Vacation Photos (8/11)

We took a little vacation to PA & Nova, it was a much needed getaway! We left late Friday to head to Lancaster, PA. Normally we skirt around DC, but this time we decided to cut through. It was around 12:30am Saturday when we hit DC. We went up Independence and then made out way back to the expressway. Jess was driving so I was able to take pictures, I just had fun with it.

Here, we stopped as we cut across the National Mall, it was really beautiful with the Capitol on my side and the Washington Monument on the other side of the car.





As we continued through the district we passed the Chinese gate, my first time seeing it. The bars & clubs were busy and there were a lot of people bar hopping. Here are some more pictures from the drive.







On our way form PA to Nova, we decided to take some side roads and crossed the Susquehanna River at the Conowingo Dam, my first time seeing a hydro electric dam that I can remember. There were a lot of people at the base fishing, you can see one of them who waded out into the river in this picture.



While staying in Reston, we took an afternoon and went to Great Falls National Park. The falls are beautiful. We checked out the main overlooks and then hit the trail. The trails at Great Falls are very well maintained and I recommend the river trail, there are a lot of places to stop and look out at the river. This picture is from the first overlook.



It went by to quick, but we were able to spend some time with friends and family that we don't see to often.

Patton Twins

Molly and Julie just came home from the hospital 8 and 4 days before their pictures were taken. They are very cute girls and are keeping their parents busy. I setup a little studio in the dining room and once the girls were ready I went to work, of course that sounds a lot easier than it really is. This was my first time working with twins and it takes patience to get the good shots, ans we weren't in a hurry. Here are some of my favorite shots from the session.







I wanted to do more pictures of the girls so I invited Robbie & Rachel to bring them over the following Sunday for more pictures in my Studio. My wife has decided to let me use the upstairs bedroom for my studio, and we hadn't even cleaned up there since we moved in. I woke up early Saturday morning excited and ready to get to work. I cleaned and setup my backdrop. Then made a little stage to get the girls up off of the ground. I took some time to dial in the lighting as well using my kickball.



Sunday they all came out and we had a really good time, no pressure, no rush, plenty of room to spread out and the results were great!











I can't wait to take more pictures of these girls as they grow up.

Thanks for looking.