So Ty Pennington and the Extreme Makeover crew have embarked on a new mission right here in Erie! With the help of Maleno Real Estate & Development one lucky family is getting a brand new home! Clara Ward is the lucky winner of this amazing gift, read about her inspiring story at the Maleno Extreme Makeover website!

What’s this have to do with HNP? I was honored to be recommended to help photograph the progress and document things for the builders [ the Maleno family ] along with Rachel at Puremotif photography and design. Rachel is shooting the first half before jetsetting to fabulous Italy with her hubby! I’ll pick up on Sunday afternoon and shoot through the rest of the week. So I won’t be spending too much time in the studio but if you email or call and leave a message I will try to get back to you as fast as possible!

Yesterday was so much fun seeing everything come together prior to the door knock, meeting the cast and crew and of course sitting in *the* bus I can’t post photographs here on my site but you can watch the progress by checking out the photos on the Maleno site. Go check out the great pictures Rachel has taken so far that were posted from Day 1 and the press conference and Pep Rally prior.

Want to help out? There are a ton of side projects going on to help the entire Erie area — blood drives, canned food drives and more. You can check out the Grace church’s website for details! I hope you will help in any way you can!

<3 Heather

Last week I was asked to photograph a couple of local business owners and a local businessman. I love working with other professionals in the area!

First up — the girls at Mary’s Select Foods and Fresh Picked located at 22 South Lake Street [ across the street from me! ].  They were looking for a professional portrait of their staff that they could use for their website and I was told Mary only agreed to do the portrait if I shot it and made them ‘look really good, like { I } always do’ Sweet, that’s a good reputation to have!

Mary’s Select Foods is a great little shop full of all natural foods and organic options. It is also the home of Katie Rowan’s restaurant Fresh Picked, a fantastic and tasty vegetarian option in North East.

Later that afternoon Jon Cullen came into the studio for some head shots for work. Jon is in the technology and education field and works for a company in Erie, PA. Here are a couple of his portraits:

I’ll end this with a little note to other local business owners — if you are in need of any type of photographs for your business give me a call, I can work with people, product or building photography!

On Saturday I got to second shoot a wedding for the first time with Rachel Lusky of Puremotif Photography and Design. It was also my first time shooting a Girard wedding - the church was beautiful and really easy to shoot in even for a no flash allowed ceremony. It was such a great experience; I got to see how Rachel worked, I got to photograph from Murl’s usual view point, and I got to do the job I love with a friend I love!

It was a pretty cool opportunity for Joe and Priscilla to have two amazing photographers capture their wedding! They commented on how much fun we were to work with but *they* were fun to work with! I mean, who breaks out M-16s [ I think that is the right name! ] for their formal portraits!? It was great! This couple is so in love and so full of humor - as was the whole wedding party. Thanks to everyone for such a wonderful time!

I’m not going to post too many shots, I’ll leave that for Rachel - so stay tuned to the Pure Interest - Puremotif blog for her upcoming post! Here are a few shots I created at the wedding:

 :: the wedding program ::

:: white and purple boutonnieres ::

:: the girl’s bouquets and dresses ::

:: the gorgeous couple ::

 :: the bridal party ::

Congrats to Priscilla & Joe! I hope you have as much joy in your life as you did on your wedding day!

Rachel, I had so much fun shooting opposite you! I think we should tag team weddings more often

 Its been a while since I’ve posted, I’ve been so busy working on my new wedding website — I don’t want to promote it much yet until I’m satisfied with it but it can easily be found for those who care to find it at this point.

I’ve been photographing a bunch of Vixen Sessions and even have a really exciting announcement to make about that later today!  So stay tuned — follow me on the Vixen Sessions Twitter or check the The Vixen Diaries blog later this afternoon.

I’ve also been working on some really cool products for seniors, photos to come of the books when they come in! Also been photographing preschoolers, reworking portrait packages, meeting with brides and grooms [ and booking a bunch! ] and just getting ready for the start of wedding season. Tomorrow I will be second shooting a wedding with my friend Rachel from Puremotif Photography and Design.

Also, I finally succumbed to the Twitter world after much thought about it. I plan to announce specials via Twitter just for my “tweeps” … I’ve still gotta get used to this lingo! Anyway, you can follow me @hnphoto and @vixensessions!

Be back soon with some new photos!!

Are you disappointed in your wedding portraits? Did you not have enough time to do a full blown portrait session on your wedding day? Maybe you just love your dress so much you are looking for any excuse to wear it again? If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions we’ve got a solution for you!

HNP is excited to offer you another opportunity to put your wedding dress back on! Introducing the Beyond Session — a portrait session for after your wedding! It can be the day after your wedding or even years later as an anniversary session. Whether you want a portrait session all to yourself or want to get your groom in on the fun we are prepared to have one fantastic photo shoot with you!

We have many locations available to have your session but we are also open to suggestions. Met at college? Lets head back to school for a walk down memory lane. Love to ski? Lets do an outdoor winter session. Just want some cool artwork of the two of you? We do that, too! We are open to anything and ready to go beyond the ordinary to capture some really great images for you.

Beyond Sessions can be fun for after Prom, too! Call or email us for more details on this exciting new offer!

Last week I was driving into Erie when I saw some amazing trees that had blossomed. I knew I had to shoot with these trees as a backdrop and I also knew that the rain and wind that was on its way was going to shake all the petals to the ground so there wasn’t much time. I rallied up a couple of my close photographer friends [ Amanda Kifer of Expy and Rachel Lusky of Puremotif ] and models were soon found via facebook and twitter. We had a great time and I came away with some super pretty images

First up — a couple of portraits of Amanda:

Here are a couple of Rachel:

 Here is one of my super cute niece that we tried really hard to surprise her mom for mother’s day with:

Here are some portraits of the different models that met up with us to play that day. Kat came and brought her children with her and Freeland and Brooke are newlyweds who should probably be professional models since they are so awesome in front of the camera! Thanks to you all for coming out and playing on such short notice!

And I’ll end with a shot of the photographers at work! It was such a unique and fun opportunity shooting with other professional photographers, I’m lucky to have such awesome friends <3

I recently got in a proofbook for one of my senior portrait clients and took a few snaps of the book so that I could show you all :)  I think they are pretty awesome and are a great way to get all of your images from a session or wedding and they also make a great gift, in this case he is giving this book away as a thank you gift after graduation to someone who made a huge impact on his life. Pretty cool!

These books come in a lot of different cover options and in several sizes, ask me about them next time you visit the studio, or send me an email and I’ll answer any questions you may have! These are the proofbooks that come with the wedding collections we offer that include the proofbook in them.

Amy and Joe came in last Monday for their maternity portrait session. I met Amy a couple of years ago [ already?! ] when Quincy Wine Cellar opened up in Ripley, NY. They have some of the best wine [ and food! ] in the area so she saw my face a lot My sister-in-law and I also had my parents surprise 50th birthday/30th anniversary party there, we all just love it there!

Anyway, I was so excited when Amy contacted me about maternity portraits — I always thought she was so beautiful so I was finally getting to photograph her! She and Joe are such a fun couple and were good sports about trying any of my suggestions and came with some ideas of their own, too. I think we captured some really great images for them to show their daughter when she is older!

Best wishes on the upcoming birth of your first child, guys! You guys will be wonderful parents

Happy mother’s day to all you wonderful ladies out there! I hope you all had a lovely day with your children and grandchildren. I went out with my mother, one of her sisters and my grandmother yesterday and had an awesome time! It was nice to see my grandmother doing so well for the first time in quite a while.

Thanks to my mother for playing such a huge role in my life — you are beyond amazing, mom!! Thanks for all the support, the behind the scenes secretary work, and being one of my biggest fans. I love you!

Note: The above photo is from a maternity session last week that I hope to get posted in the next few days, so come back and check it out soon!

So its time to reveal another super awesome prize!

Prize #3: The Entertaining Giveaway

The winning couple of the Entertaining Giveaway will receive one entertaining evening with four of their closest friends at a reserved table for a party of six to attend any regular show at Jr’s Last Laugh Comedy Club in Erie, PA! Jr’s is Erie’s funniest club and its a place we love to go to enjoy a good laugh and thought our brides and grooms would love it, too!

Stay tuned for one more big prize and another bonus offer for ANYONE who books Heather Neckers Photography for their wedding photographer!