City of Nouns: Julie Walton Shaver Lifestyle Photography Blog | Child Photography and Family Lifestyle Portraits | New Jersey | New York

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Sarah’s Bat Mitzvah

Click the picture to jump to Sarah’s slide show. Be sure to turn up the sound! I love this one! (I love them all!) When the slide show is finished, it will jump back here where you can read about some of the pictures. Above, Sarah, with her proud parents.

Sarah was poised, articulate and beautiful on her big day.

Steve Kaplan provided the wonderful classical guitar music during the ceremony.

See those tiny things flying through the air? It’s a family tradition to shower the celebrant with candy! How fun!

I love this shot of the grandparents…

…and this one of Sarah with her friends.

Sarah’s brother somehow managed to get the first taste of wine. Gotcha!

It was difficult to get pictures of Sarah at her reception because her friends are all so close!

But I did manage to get a few cool shots. I love the light in this one.

Sweet!

Another sweet one!

This kid can dance!

See?

Sarah’s sister seemed to be having a great time!

The following week, we all went to Avon-by-the-Sea.

The family loves the beach and wanted to do their family shoot at a place that would bring back memories of beach days and family vacations.

Don’t know how I managed to make it look like we were the only people there that day because the beach was really crowded!

I love this one of Sarah.

And this is my favorite family shot — my signature “unportrait.” Love it!

I hope you all enjoyed your slide show! Congratulations, Sarah!

EDIT: Ooooh! Totally forgot to mention that prints from Sarah’s full gallery are available in my online store. The passcode is the family’s last name, all lowercase. Enjoy!

posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 1:39 pm

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Saturday, September 16, 2006

My First Mitzvah

Elizabeth was amazing. A wonderful singer with a beautiful voice, she knew exactly where to stand and what to do, spoke with authority and clarity, and delivered the entire service without skipping a beat. I was in awe. The shot above, however, is my favorite one from the day. Elizabeth is still a girl! Just after I took this picture during rehearsal, the rabbi reminded Elizabeth: “No dancing.” I thought to myself, Aw, let her dance! She’s beautiful!

The rabbi was warm and friendly, allowing me to take pictures during the service as long as I set up out of the way, didn’t use a flash, and didn’t move around. (This one is during rehearsal.)

LifeSavers do work when you’re nervous, you know. (But I’m speaking only for my own nervousness in hoping I would get a few good shots; it didn’t seem to me that Elizabeth was nervous at all!)

Elizabeth’s cousin is very photogenic!

Once I set up for the service, I realized I had a pretty good angle to capture the grandparents’ reactions.

I told Elizabeth early on that I was a photojournalist. “Don’t turn and smile at me unless I ask you to,” I said. But I did take a few “mug for the camera” shots.

Elizabeth was stunning in every sense of the word, making my first mitzvah a truly memorable event. In fact, I’d never even been to a Jewish service before that day. I was very impressed with the whole thing, mostly because Elizabeth was the most comfortable, assured, self-confident young woman I’ve ever met. And she sang in Hebrew! Wow!

Ed Goldberg and the Odessa Klezmer Band played at the party. They were great! I put a snippet of their music in the slide show.

Below, random shots from the party…

I could be wrong, but I think they almost dropped Elizabeth’s mom.

Elizabeth’s dog tags read, “You are tagged as a person of character.” Her speech was based on the story of how she came about owning such a treasure. The woman can WRITE too!

This is my “creative” shot.

Elizabeth’s dad wore this shirt the day she was born. So sweet.

Below, Elizabeth says goodbye.

Click here to see the slide show.
(The part where Elizabeth says goodbye makes me weep. She’s a good actress!)

As an event photojournalist, I’m supposed to be invisible. One of the lessons I learned from this event is to be careful where I leave my camera bag. So, a free 8×10 for the first person to comment, having found it in one of the slide show pictures. Just a little “Where’s Waldo” game for you! Have fun!