CATEGORY event

Rayna & Derek were married in style and fun at the gorgeous Red Berry Mansion in San Antonio. Their no-nonsense attitude and sense of humor combined with a great group of friends made for a beautiful wedding day in spite of the warmer than average Texas June heat. The reception had great music, food, and drinks, and featured a lovely balloon-release memorial to the bride’s late father. Her grandfather officiated, and she was given away by her uncle. Congratulations to a lifetime full of many years of wedded bliss! And ignore the best man’s advice of, “Why get married? Just find a girl you don’t really like and buy her a house!”

Emily and Alan were married earlier in April at a ceremony in Taiwan with Emily’s extended family, but as true Texans and die-hard UT alums, an Austin reception was required. This is the most fun I’ve ever had at a reception! From a photographer working the event, that’s quite a statement. With great senses of humor from the couple and the guests, hot pink Converse and UT burnt orange bow tie (that I tied and staged a photo to make it look like he knew what he was doing), party games, crazy photo booth, guests “crashing” the portrait session, and an amazing location on Lake Travis just off Mansfield Dam in Lakeway, everyone seemed like they were having a good time. The Texas barbecue and red velvet cupcakes were just the butter cream frosting on top.

I personally also really enjoyed looking at the gorgeous art board wedding album their fantastic photographer in Taiwan put together. They said everyone does a 12-hour bridal session there and that perhaps I should consider adding a day-long wedding photo extravaganza called the “Asian Package!”

Tiffany & Michael were married at the outdoor Chapel Dulcinea in Driftwood followed by a reception at the Iguana Grill in Lakeway. I provided reception-only coverage, and after I met this vivacious couple I wished I had been able to cover the wedding as well even though it was near freezing outside! I got to enjoy the warmth inside the grill. What a fun group and party. The lighting was really difficult to work with with black ceilings at the venue that sucked up the light from my flash like a hungry vacuum, but I was glad I was indoors, and the large windows gave an amazing view overlooking Lake Travis.

Congratulations to Johnny & Natalie on their wedding! They were wed at St. Helen’s Catholic Church with a reception following at the Williamson County Courthouse in Georgetown, Texas.

What a spunky and funny couple, it was almost hard to take photos because we were all laughing so hard! I think it was the first reception I’ve attended where cowboy hats and Texas accents were mandatory (yes, we had the DJ call them all out for a group photo!) Yet especially later in the evening, once the happy couple was ignoring us and we went into stealth photo ninja mode, there was such a lovely tender affection and sense of relief that it set my own heart to melting. My own 13th anniversary was the day after the wedding, and I thank you for giving me the perfect reminder of how wonderful it’s been! And thanks to Tyler Schmitt who is such an experienced and expensive wedding photographer for agreeing to come be my second: you were amazingly easy and fun to work with! Betcha didn’t know he was hiding back there!

View their full galleries for the wedding and the reception

http://palphotoart.com/tomasroppolowedding/

http://palphotoart.com/tomasroppoloreception/

Steve Wolf of the Wolf Stunt Ranch and Firelake Event Center put on a great show with his Science in the Movies presentation now performed at over 2,000 schools in North America. He demonstrates all the science concepts needs for the Texas TAKS in a fun educational way that really gets the kids excited and involved. Who wouldn’t appreciate all the guys putting themselves at risk by hoisting, dangling, falling, shooting, and the best of all, igniting and fire training? All for the kids, right? It looked pretty fun to me too, relaxing while all the child labor did the work!

Science Day 2010 was filled with demos for the kids to learn various scientific concepts. My kids were grateful for the invitation from Steve Wolf to come to the event, ditch a little of their own school, and enjoyed the Austin Nature and Science Center presentation allowing us to get up close to other little critters.

The top 20 Nike marketing execs from Portland and around the USA visited the idyllic Wolf Stunt Ranch and Firelake Event Center in west Austin for team building exercises. What do you get when you put 20 ultra-competitive Nike employees in an active outdoor games facility and ask them to work together? A lot of team destroying! By the end, bragging rights went to all as they had to figure out how to solve the last puzzle as a group. I’m not sure what happened to the guy holding the homemade bomb, I didn’t want to spend enough time near it to ask what that was all about!

A vintage style wedding photo montage, which goes perfectly with her netted veil and red roses, and the old world feel of the outdoor Chapel Dulcinea.

I love shooting at the outdoor Chapel Dulcinea in Driftwood, Texas because not only is it a beautiful location that is romantic and intimate, but it’s right down the street from my house. This north Austin couple was even more gorgeous than the location, and it’s too bad they didn’t go into modeling careers!

Five hours and Santa’s lap is worn out! It was a great party for Belterra homeowners at the Belterra Welcome Center, busy, busy, and my printer was humming away! No children or camera equipment were damaged for these shots, though my batteries are a different story.
Everyone who attended the party can waive the sitting fee with a free 8×10 on their first portrait session, over a $200 discount!

The Rise School of Austin is an early education center specializing in children with developmental disabilities or delays with an inclusive program with typically developing peers. The NISH non-profit organization is one of the major funders of the Rise program, and the board of directors met to participate in a fun art project with the children painting slipper shoes as gifts! No clothing was damaged by too much paint, though we really hope it’s water based!

The children were adorable, about the same age as my own. Crawling around on the floor with a camera trying to capture all of their abundant personalities was just like being at home! And to make it feel more like home, my neighbor was there as she’s the office manager: the NISH office in Washington DC hired me, but it’s a nice coincidence of working locally. I enjoyed meeting the administrators, the board and trustees, but mostly the kids!

Lesley Bowles of Texas Jumping Beans inflatable playground does in-house face painting and body art. Halloween is a great time for adults and children alike to get their faces on! Lesley does outstanding work, and the crowds gathering to watch as she created was fun for the guests and human canvases alike! The full devil face was the final piece of the day, and with head shaved to really carry it off, they had the largest crowd to ooh-and-ah over them. I provided an on-site printing event where the customers walked away with a lab-quality instant print as a keepsake of their costumes. On the last photo, you can see my blue beast printer cart working away in the background! Finally, some appreciation for all “his” hard work with some face time in my portfolio.

This might be my first double photo shoot in one day, and they couldn’t have been any different!
Michelle and I have a gig booked through Halloween at the Mansion of Terror haunted house in Round Rock to “victimize” and photograph the patrons after they survive the attack inflicted by the house staff. Those teenagers with plastic grim reaper sickles become quite cranky and dangerous on that minimum wage. Should be fun!

My friend Michelle Pulsifer is a face and body painter (www.onthespotbodyart.com), and it just goes to show that you never know the people you know! How could two art forms marry better than a face painter and a portrait photographer? Not only is she a joy as a friend, but wonderful to collaborate with. She does beautiful work, and has booked me with all sorts of event photo printing gigs as her camera-toting sidekick! Here are a few of her littler clients for her portfolio.

There’s a fantastic little outdoor chapel near my neighborhood I’ve been itching to shoot, Chapel Dulcinea in Driftwood, Texas, and this weekend I got a last-minute call to cover a wedding there. We didn’t do any posed shots, so this wedding was far more photo-journalistic than any others I’ve done. While I’m not ready to give up the posed romantic couple shots, the natural emotion expressed was great to capture, as long as my fingers were fast on the camera setting dials! A beautiful couple off to a beautiful start!

And speaking of a good start, I’ve been teaching my 10-year-old daughter, and she took this one with my D70 backup camera which I set up to AV mode, an 85mm prime lens, and my back up flash, which the bride ordered! Not bad!

Ho, ho, ho! Especially for this Santa event and Christmas party for Belterra homeowners at KC Memory Lane in Wimberley, TX, I designed 8 greeting card borders to be printed on site for our guests, which was a huge hit. Of course, my family had to test out the setup, lighting, and printer, who else? Merry Christmas!

What a great name for a wedding couple! I’m not sure how long my luck will hold out with such laid back wedding clients, but I enjoyed tremendously working with this bride and groom. Their humor made my sarcastic attitude feel right at home, and their unique sense of style was great fun to capture. And ironically, when Troy’s grandma asked whose wedding I was covering in San Antonio that weekend, said she’s known this family since the bride’s parents were dating! Although they had lost touch, with Facebook around now we have no excuse to repeat that. Thanks again for inviting me into such a special occasion, and I’ve enjoyed our new friendship.

The newest L family was a joy to capture in Bee Cave, Texas this weekend. I felt like a wedding ninja as we only did about 4 or 5 posed shots, and the rest they just let me stealth through, capturing them incognito. Their obvious love came through with all the candid smiles and laughter. I was lucky my 3-week-old newborn didn’t make a peep the entire time, going along for the ride strapped into her little black ninja sling! And I was lucky we were family friends, just in case anyone is wondering, because only the truly insane would cover a wedding with a 3-week-old infant, much less tote her along!

Ryan and Havilah were such a fun couple with a down to earth attitude that is a photographer’s dream. We met at the LDS temple in San Antonio for the wedding, with a reception near Dripping Springs, Texas the next day. Creative themselves, they used that to identify with me and were game to try anything. Their wonderful senses of humor and easygoing demeanor created a fantastic day, calming my nerves for my first wedding shoot. Thank you for asking me to be a part such a special occasion, and I wish you wedded bliss!

All weddings are photographed by me personally with at least one other secondary photographer

All packages include
print credits to order the products you really want
pre and post wedding consultations
1 hour travel each way
online proofs and gallery
all images individually edited and select images digitally enhanced
10% discount if paid in full at time of wedding, which also applies to all future orders from same photo session

With lab-quality prints in just a few seconds, I cover all types of events (such as weddings, family reunions, quincineras, bar/bat mitzvahs, holiday and birthday parties, sporting events, corporate gatherings,) and provide your guests with excellent, waterproof, smudge-proof prints they carry away right from the party!

Guests choose from a variety of custom-designed card borders and graphics to print directly on the photos.

Professional, fast reliability with a smile to add to your party atmosphere.

No travel fee to cities in Central Texas (surrounding Austin, San Antonio), and travel fees to other locations such as Dallas, Houston, or other cities are always competitive and reasonable. I speak fluent French, working Spanish, and have travel experience in North America, Hawaii, Asia, and Europe.

Parties by the Hour $100/hr, 2-hr minimum
For every hour booked, get 15 minutes free
$25 print credit per hour booked for on-site prints or print orders after the event

Backdrop and “portrait station” for guests included
Roaming candid photography
optional with second photographer or in lieu of portrait station
Unlimited digital photos
On-site prints $0.75 for 4×6, $1 for 5×7

Portraits and Candids Combo $175/hr
Two photographers
For every hour booked, get 15 minutes free

Combine the Portrait Party and a second roaming photographer for roaming candid shots while primary photographer attends portrait station

Commission Parties $500 minimum offset by commission
Guests pay $20 for 2 5×7 or $5 for 4×6 prints
If I sell more than $500 (50 photos), you pay nothing!
If I sell less than 50 photos, you pay only the difference

Free Portrait Parties
Host a portrait party for free photos! Suitable for family holiday cards sessions, reunions, springtime outdoor photos, or anytime: invite family, friends, and neighbors for an afternoon or evening of 15-30 minute sessions. Guests pay $50 for session and 1 8×10, and for every $50 order host receives a free 8×10.

Vendor recommendations available for catering, videography, design/staging, event planners, etc

Entertainers

Face Painter $80/hr
Santa Claus $170/hr, $250 per event for backdrop and chair
Clown $100/hr
Juggler $100/hr
other entertainers available by request