DCPG Photography + Design

NEW BLOG

ciesther — Fri, 11 May 2012 20:29:15 +0000

All new blog posts can now be found on our brand new standalone blog:

http://www.dcpgblog.com

Please visit, bookmark and comment!

Jackson Five | Norfolk Family Portraits

ciesther — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 05:50:50 +0000

We rarely blog and/or shoot family portraits because it’s not our main thing and we’re actually limiting family sessions this year to the Fall season only, but I had to share this particular one we shot in 2011 because 1) it’s hilarious and 2) I love everyone in this family.

The Jacksons wanted to do family portraits, but not anything traditional or trendy. Their only request was that we shoot Cosby/Huxtable-esque, 1980′s family portraits in the studio. So we busted out our twilight painted canvas (which hadn’t seen the light of day until then), they all put on some awesome 80′s inspired gear, Rina gave Erin a glorious faux perm w/ high bangs and voila!

This is what Erin and Eric really look like:

Gannon aka G-man! We all thought he would give us the most trouble, but he ended up being a huge ham in front of the camera. Love him!

He posed himself like this, no lie:

Poor Tron was feeling sick the whole time, he was such a trooper!

Pretty big sis Kyree

Liliahn + Ibrahim | NYE | Mandarian Oriental | Washington DC Photobooth

ciesther — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 19:26:47 +0000

Liliahn contacted me over the summer about a Photobooth for her wedding and we had a lot of fun exchanging giddy emails about her glamorous NYE wedding bash over several months. We get to meet such interesting and fun people and this was definitely no exception. Liliahn works for the NBA as a Senior Director in the team marketing and business operations group, which sounds like an awesome job.

Side note: found their wedding on the NYT website! http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/fashion/weddings/liliahn-johnson-ibrahim-majeed-weddings.html?

The venue for both the ceremony and reception was the gorgeous Mandarin Oriental in Washington, D.C. I envy their wedding photographers; I’m sure the photos were beautiful and I really look forward to seeing them. We got a nice cushy space in the cocktail area to use for the Photobooth; lots of room for our setup! The text she chose to have on her photobooth graphics were: “I partied all night at Liliahn + Ibrahim’s wedding!” and that was SO true. Huge props to their DJ because they had the guests dancing literally all night long. Since the festivities started a little later and the guests were enjoying themselves on the dance floor, we kept the photobooth open for an additional hour just to make sure more people got a chance to take a photo or two. Rina and Zern were the attendants for the night and they reported that the guests loved the booth and one mentioned that ours was better than one he’d been in at a Grammy afterparty…whaat!

Mendell, Mia and I crashed the Photobooth after 12am so we could say Happy New Year to Rina and Zernan and also help them break everything down after the wedding was over. I was also hoping to meet Liliahn in person but she was running around having a great time, so I didn’t bother her This was really a fun job; traveling and having to work holidays isn’t so bad when you get to work with your family!

What I love about our Northern Virginia/DC clients in particular is that although there are comparable local photobooth services, they still choose to have DCPG travel from Norfolk. I’ve been told more than once that it’s because they love that we’re a family business, they see that we genuinely enjoy what we’re doing and can tell we’re fun, happy and easy to work with. We are very blessed for all the business that the DMV area brings us and to get to meet such wonderful people!

The photostrips are up on our DCPG Photobooth Facebook (feel free to download and tag) and below is a sampling of the original photos. Everyone was so beautiful and I loved seeing all the amazing dresses – enjoy looking through the fun photos!

Happy New Year,

Ciesther

E and Fiesty | Virginia Beach OpLove Photographer

ciesther — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 21:30:57 +0000

We recently joined Operation Love ReUnited (OpLove), a wonderful organization where volunteer photographers take free portraits of military families before a deployment or during, and/or at their homecoming. If you’re a photog, definitely consider applying, they are ALWAYS in need of more photographers – especially in Hampton Roads, since we are a military area!

Our very first OpLove shoot was a deployment session, shot yesterday afternoon. E wanted to cheer up her hubby, who has been underway for most of the year. Since she was bringing her dog, we agreed to meet at a local park with a lot of space to run around. She ran a little late due to the ubiquitous VA traffic but it was a beautiful day, so Mendell and I just let Mia run around scaring birds while we waited. When she arrived, I noticed a few things that I loved. First off, she is BEAUTIFUL! All the OpLove shoots have to be military-themed and I loved that instead of getting dolled up, she kept it casual in a Navy sweatshirt. But really, when you’re that pretty, you don’t need much adornment I also loved her crazy, hyper dog, who was appropriately named Feisty. We got as many posed shots as we could with Feisty’s energy level but also just let them interact. They are both friendly and sweet and we had a great time shooting their portraits.

OpLove disclaimer: The photos and other content of this publication do not imply any endorsement or recommendation by the Department of Defense.

Hampton Roads Wedding Pros | Virginia Beach Photobooth

ciesther — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 22:39:34 +0000

We mingled and had our Photobooth at a networking event held at the beautiful Church Point Manor (Hi, Nicole!!) for a brand new group, the Hampton Roads Wedding Pros, to celebrate the launch of a new magazine coming out this Spring called the Hampton Roads Wedding Planner Magazine. They brought samples from other regional markets and it looks gorgeous; DCPG is definitely going to submit some of our spring weddings for publication consideration. If you are a fellow vendor interested in advertising or submitting, please contact the lovely Kristine at kfrench@hamptonroadswedplan.com!

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/dcpgbooth

Twitter: @dcpgphotobooth

Here are the photos from the booth; lots of talent in there! You may recognize some of the areas best photographers, wedding planners and hair and makeup artists!

Little Twin Stars | Virginia Beach Newborn Photographer

ciesther — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 05:52:38 +0000

It’s no secret that babies are some of my favorite subjects to photograph. When I found out one of our former Photobooth clients Ed + Abby were having twin girls, I immediately made sure to get them on our Baby Steps plan. I haven’t photographed twins up to this point, so it was a really fun learning experience and having two babies to snuggle and play with was a bonus!

Here are Elyse & Eden at 13 days old:

Comforting two babies turned out to be a balancing act, so I took advantage and grabbed solo shots of each little one while her sister was getting some mama and papa time:

Elyse

Very alert Eden!

Elyse

Eden

Headbands made by their Auntie Jing

Limbs were everywhere!

This photo sums up how the whole shoot went. One twin would be calm, then the other one would start crying. Then vice versa. Or one twin would fall asleep and the other would be wide awake, arms flailing. It was hilarious

They managed to be in sync sometimes

I made these headbands; they did not enjoy them. haha!

As with my other newborn shoots, I always end with the babies wrapped up snuggly. I wrapped them individually, then took the extra fabric and wrapped it around them both. Swaddled up tight together finally made them sleepy:

I made these little Hello Kitty bows too

Sweet girls!

I can’t wait to see how these sweet little girls will grow!

Christine + Joseph | Virginia Beach Photobooth

mendell — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 05:36:00 +0000

Facebook: www.facebook.com/dcpgbooth

Twitter: @dcpgphotobooth

I’ve known Christine for many years, so we were super excited to be part of her gorgeous wedding. I really loved that she brought the vintage, rustic look to an indoor hotel venue. I wish I had taken photos of the decor, but she really lovely centerpieces that featured cotton plants and sparse leaves. Very pretty for a winter wedding! They also provided distressed frames in various sizes to use for the photobooth and I LOVED how they photographed, I definitely am going to add frames to our regular arsenal of props in the near future. When Christine told me she was providing a burlap backdrop, I secretly enlisted the help of my crafty friend and former Photobooth bride, Lovelyn to create a custom backdrop. Lovelyn made these beautiful paper pinwheels in various sizes to match the charcoal and burlap theme. We hung them in varying lengths to create a staggered effect and Christine loved it!

We knew a TON of people at this wedding, which made running the photobooth 100x more fun than usual Check the video below for some of our favorites and view the rest on Facebook!

Video Slideshow of Photobooth pics!

Weddings by DCPG | Portfolio Slideshow

ciesther — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 03:41:02 +0000

DCPG is now booking 2012 and 2013 weddings! Please enjoy a video slideshow of our favorite wedding images. Our style is a unique mix of creatively shot details, documented moments and, of course, a focus on beautiful, contemporary portraiture. I specifically chose images from every part of DCPG’s standard wedding coverage: getting ready, details, portraits and ceremony/reception moments.

If you can’t view the video, click here: Weddings by DCPG

We love doing wedding consultations, please email us at services(at)dc-pg.com or book an appointment online at http://dcpg.genbook.com – we look forward to meeting you!

Mia Alma | Fall Portraits

ciesther — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 08:30:12 +0000

My 7 1/2 year old daughter Mia (who many people have seen at meetings and/or photoshoots) was off from school today so Mendell and I took her out for a quick sunset portrait shoot. I felt bad because it’s been a while since we’ve done an “official” portrait shoot of her other than holidays or lighting test shots. I wanted to see how she worked in a real portrait/model situation where she was being directed and posed, as opposed to us letting her do whatever she wanted. She did great and I am definitely going to do a few more test shoots with her.

She’s growing up so fast! Here’s a christening portrait Lester took of her when she was about 10 months old. I need to find the original of this in our archives, so this is a not so great web version:

And here she is nowadays, looking crazy grown. Ahh time flies…

Hipster chick. She styled herself, btw!

Love her unorthodox headband style

I told her, "Let's get some action shots!" and her first thought? One handed pushups. Well played, Meems.

She brought those headphones to use as a prop. Thinking like a photographer!

To those who know her, this is classic Mia. Listening to music and daydreaming...

Love my beautiful girl

Hey, Neighbor! | Virginia Beach Family Portraits

ciesther — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 05:45:35 +0000

I’ve known Leslie for YEARS; we grew up about 2 blocks apart from each other . Thanks to the wonders of Facebook, we were able to stay in touch and she became a fan of DCPG after seeing all the baby photos. She initially wanted a photoshoot of her kids, but instead opted for a family portrait.

We were able to take advantage of some beautiful fall weather over this past weekend. She wanted a park-like setting, so we chose to do a sunset shoot at the lovely campus of Regent University with all of it’s trees and greenery.

Mendell and I had a fun time photographing them! Mendell, as usual, did a great job keeping a baby and an 8 year old focused and smiling. Thanks to the G family for letting us create their fall portraits! Here are a few teasers from their shoot. I love their blue and brown color palette and the fact that everyone is dressed in their own way. We’re big fans of letting people be themselves, so I love to see that translate into the photos.

Love the mismatched but color coordinated socks!

Cutie pie Owen

Logan did great! I know how boring photoshoots must be for active 8 year olds

She has beautiful eyes! She also talked to me about senior portraits; hopefully we'll get to do those for her.

I told them to pose naturally and they posed like pros! Good job, guys!

If you were thinking about doing a family portrait shoot, book soon as DCPG will only be offering family portraits in the fall so we can spend the rest of the year focusing on our different realms. Plus, we think fall is the nicest time for family portraits For more information, you can book your consultation or session online at http://dcpg.genbook.com