Tis the Season

Holiday portrait season kicks off officially this weekend! I'm so excited to have so many families coming back for their holiday pictures. It's such a treat to see how much the little ones change and so quickly they grow up! If you don't have a session booked yet, be sure to contact the studio to schedule your slot. Happy Holidays!

Brian Jarvis Holiday Bash Concert!

It's official! Studio Blue is event partner for a fabulous charity event called the Brian Jarvis Holiday Bash this December. It's an awesome concert at the Bushnell featuring 3 live CT bands/performers and all proceeds go to the CT Children's Medical Center. To purchase tickets and view details, visit http://www.bushnell.org/index.cgi/45732.

2nd review this week.

Thanks Katharine & Jon! We had a blast photographing your wedding!

Kind Words...

It's always nice to receive a nice note :). Thanks Alexis & Shawn.

Halloween Wedding

Happy Wedding Day Kara & Charlie! More pics to come soon :)

HOLIDAY PHOTOS 2009

It's that time of year again. Time to start thinking about holiday portraits. November 8th kicks off our holiday season and if you book your session for that day, you will enjoy 25% off all of our portrait products including holiday cards, prints, and even photo gifts. Email tina@studiobluephoto.com to schedule your session today.

Favorites of 2009 Slideshow

Something BLUE to keep more GREEN in your wallet

In light of the economic situations we are all faced with right now, Studio Blue pooled together our ideas and tried to come up with a way that we could give back a little bit more to our community and specifically, to all of the engaged couples out there trying to fit wedding expenses into a depleting wedding budget. We were so pleased to come up with this offer that includes all of the basics for under $3000. Award winning photographers covering your event, full day coverage, even a flush mount wedding album to preserve those memories and an engagement session so you can get to know us before your big day. But this offer won't last forever so be sure to book it before Thanksgiving to guarantee these savings. It's always great to see a few extra greens in that wallet!

Reviews...for Studio Blue

So I look in my inbox and see a review from our beautiful bride Elissa whose wedding we had the honor of shooting in May. It always tickles me pink when our couples are so appreciative and it's such a good feeling to know we are helping to create memories. Here's the review and thank you so much Elissa for such kind words.

"Tina was an excellent photographer for my wedding this past May. She and her fellow photographers took photos of all the special moments that occured and perfectly captured the mood of the event. I could not have asked for anything more from a photographer. Thanks to her, I can relive that day so clearly and beautifully."

the bad blogger

Okay Okay, so I am terrible at keeping up with this blog thing! But that does mean that I have lots of happy clients who are getting all of their pictures on time! I am finding that with all of this modern technology and this array of options for keeping people informed (blogging, myspace, twitter, facebook, etc), I am so exhausted just from "expressing myself"! The fire is under my butt though since I am so far behind so stay tuned. On the flip side, if you aren't already my friend, be sure to friend me on facebook to keep up with my "to-do's". I am very diligent there and have been putting up a ton of new wedding and baby posts there so be sure to stop by and check it all out! Toodles!!!

Stephanie & Tim!

We kicked off our season with the sweet, loving, super duper cute couple; Stephanie and Tim. These two were just filled with vibrance and a contageous energy the entire day and we were so honored to be a part of it. The wedding ceremony and reception were held at Saint Clement's Castle in Portland, CT. A beautiful sunny day, a shining beautiful couple and love in the air. The perfect day for a perfect start! Congrats Stephanie and Tim!

Click HERE to view full event.

Simple Pleasures on Chilly days

Rainy days are a great excuse to enjoy all of the little things we never seem to take the time to do. Nap, light a fire, cuddle up under a blanket, knit, bake, all of the indoor things that force us to relax. Sometimes I think that rainy days might be sent to us to force us to take a little break. What better day for me to start whipping out the recipes and trying some new things. In my early efforts to stick to a vegetarian lifestyle, I've spent the last few weeks reading recipes and trying new things. This seemed like the perfect day to try something new. Vegetarian Split Pea Soup won out as it seemed like the perfect day for it. Easy: YES, Delicious: YES, Quick: YES. It was a homerun so I'll share my version of it here. Enjoy!

1 T. olive oil
2 Large onions chopped up
3-4 garlic cloves
1/2 t. sea salt
1 bag of dried split peas
6 cups of water
3 knorr extra large vegetarian vegetable bouillon cubes
2 carrots chopped up
2 bay leaves
2 T Lemon juice
paprika to taste

Ok, so you add the oil to a large pot and set the heat on medium high. Add onions and sea salt. Saute a few minutes and add garlic. I actually left them as full cloves (skin removed of course). Saute until onions are soft. Add peas, carrots, water, bay leaves, and bouillon cubes. Bring to boil. Lower heat and let simmer for about 20-30 minutes until peas are cooked. Remove Bay leaves. Puree 1/2 the soup. Stir in the lemon juice. Add water to reach the consistency you like. Served topped with a dash of paprika.

Washington D.C. ~ Lina and Robby's Engagment

We had the thrill and amazing opportunity to travel down for a long weekend to Washington D.C. to photograph Lina and Robby in their hometown. Lina, a graduate of George Washington University, and Robby, a studying lawyer also attending GWU, felt that nothing would tell Their story better than the big city itself. This is where they met, fell in love and are living their dreams. And what better time to display their blooming love than during the annual cherry blossom festival. We had such a great time with them and loved shooting in such a new setting. They were up for anything and we took advantage of that! Here are a few pieces from the session.

A snippet from DC

I'll post a ton of pictures soon from our engagement shoot in DC but here's a little something fun that we saw there! Talk about talented kids! I was in the band for 9 years and some of our drummers weren't even this good after 9 years of musical training. These kids are awesome, and what an innovative and dedicated Dad to teach them this skill.

Jessica & Will

Jessica and Will's wedding took place at the brand new Riverview in Simsbury. What a beautiful wedding and such well thought out details. The autumn theme clearly was carried through all of the decor, flowers, attire and ambiance. Congratulations Jessica and Will! It was truly an honor!

Ella Marie Turns 2 ~ Already!

My beautiful little princess turned 2 years old on Friday the 13th. All of the memories of her birth came racing back and as we heard the number 2, we just couldn't believe it. Two years ago we had no idea if our little one would be a boy or a girl. There was nothing we could think about except that endless question that seemed like everything in the world rested on. Boy or girl, boy or girl. What color clothes do we buy? How do we decorate the room? What will we name (it)? Nine months of wondering and wanting to know. Then the second she was born, it was amazing because the very last thing I was thinking about was whether it was a boy or a girl. The question had completely vanished from my mind and it was as if there were no such thing as gender, it was just my baby and I wanted nothing more than just to hold that baby. Suddenly, time had stopped, finally. Then out of nowhere, as if a reminder buzzer went off, Igor shouts out, "It's a girl!" And it was only then that I remembered we had been so eager to find out and after she was born, I had never even asked! Funny how the things that seem sooo very important, end up being just novelties and it's the real things in life; family, love, health, and happiness, that end up being the only things that really matter in the end. So, my little princess Ella Marie turns 2 and there is no doubt she is a girl. And the sweetest and prettiest princess I've ever seen. Happy Birthday Ella.

Introducing: Erin and Rob

Erin and Rob were one of the sweetest couples we worked with all year. Carefree and just totally in love. We had a rainy day which afforded us the opportunity to get some cute umbrella shots with the cute couple. Thank you Erin and Rob for sharing your special day with us!

Catching up on blogging.

With all of the craziness winter brings, I guess I just got busy and haven't blogged as much as I would have liked to about all of the amazing couples we've photographed this winter. It was surprising how busy this winter actually was! Well, starting today, in order, I'll start putting those posts up and give everyone the spotlight as they so very much deserve! Enjoy! Thanks to all of my couples who made this winter such a blast!!!

Awesome stuff!

This Sunday (February 22, 2009), Studio Blue will be at the Hartford Bridal Expo at the XL Center (the Civic Center). The show runs from 11am-4pm and there will be tons of great wedding vendors there and exciting things happening! Be sure to stop by at our booth #306. We'll be surprising couples with some super sweet perks!!! You'll be jumping for joy! See you there!

A sweet valentine's surprise...from Mom!

We all LOVE and remember the flowers, chocolates, maybe nice dinner date and sweet kisses we get for Valentine's Day. It's sort of the unspoken rule of tradition and one that all of us girls secretly like a lot, even if we tell you otherwise! This Valentine's Day I got a little extra surprise, from my Mom! For all of us 80's kids, we can appreciate the lost humor and purely innocent entertainment of our generation that has so quickly been replaced with annoying and bad behaving cartoons of today. Yes, I loved the old school fun...Pee Wee (yes he was annoying but super funny!) and Strawberry Shortcake and my all-time favorite...the Smurfs! So simple, so noble, so purely innocent Smurfs. Of course we can comment for hours about the subtle naughtiness that some people's twisted minds can conjure up, but for kids, it's just pure fun and adventure. So for this Valentine's Day, my best gift ever was a DVD of the Smurf episodes. And what a hit it has been for my whole family! Much to my surprise, over the highly animated Nemo, and the violent Star Wars, and even the loud and cheerful Elmo, the Smurfs came out on top as being the requested TV show for both my kids over these last 2 days! Apparently mothers only get wiser as they become grandmothers! Thanks Mom!

Disappearing Act

With the holiday rush and our insane family timing to have EVERYTHING at this time of year, it seems, even to myself, that we disappeared for a time. Well actually, we technically did disappear for some time this winter! For the last 2 years we have had the tremendous opportunity to do some traveling with a group of 8 friends. Last year was our first time and we loved it so much, we all decided to go again! Our vacation of choice? Cruising! It leaves little for us to think about and if any of us just needs space to get away from the rest of us, there is a whole ship to hide away on and just do sudoku puzzles. (yes, I had a few of those moments!) This year we took a monster trip of 12 nights sailing from New Jersey to 6 Caribbean Islands. Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, St. Maarteen, Dominica, Barbados and Antigua. It was truly off the hook!!! Here are a few pictures from the trip.


This is our ship, The Explorer of the Seas. Just awesome! Had everything from rock climbing to iceskating, mini golfing, a basketball court, roller blading, and everything in between.


Igor and I celebrated our 8th Anniversary while on the ship! The group pitched in and bought a bottle of champagne to celebrate. My parents also surprised us with room service delivering chocolate covered strawberries and champagne. Of course they came knocking on the door while I was naked and discombobulated!!! Figures!


Puerto Rico


St. Thomas - the best shopping EVER!!!

Pictures of St Maarteen to follow.


This is the rainforest in Dominica. This was a very natural island. So much to see but don't rent a car. Not only do they drive on the other side of the street, the driver also sits on the other side of the car!!!


Dominica's black sand beaches.


Mike, Jessica, Igor and I going snorkeling in Barbados. That was a really fun beach club! And just beautiful! We spotted a whole family of squid in the water while snorkeling.


This is Antigua. Just awesome! We actually went kayaking and snorkeling in Antigua. We saw tons of fish and had a blast. I took an underwater camera with me so I'll post those pictures at a later date.

So, now that we are back, after 2 weeks of sunshine, it just might be a little easier getting through the rest of winter! We already have our next trip planned! :)

Happy Birthday Zack!

I can't believe my little bugger is already 6 years old! It seems like yesterday that I became a mother for the first time not knowing what to do or when to do it. When he was just one he used to entertain himself for hours just looking at books and even fall asleep in them. His favorite foods were carrots and chocolate icecream and he smiled at every single person that passed him by. 6 years later, he still loves books but loves his DS and Star Wars more, his favorite food is still chocolate icecream and he still gives a warm greeting to everyone he meets. Zack brought, to our otherwise quiet lifestyle, a whole new meaning to life, energy and well, more energy. I can't imagine life without him. Happy Birthday Zack, with all our love.

Art Show THIS Friday!!!! Yippy!

Hi Friends! The opening of the show "Love Interpreted" is This Friday!!! Myself along with 8 other photographers will be showcasing some pieces. Here is the official press release and ad. I hope to see as many people there as possible so please, come check it out! Cocktails and treats will be served.
CONNECTICUT WOMEN'S PHOTOGRAPHY EVENT "LOVE: INTERPRETED" TO BE HELD AT THE MAC650 ARTISTS COOPERATIVE IN MIDDLETOWN DURING DECEMBER

A group of nine award-winning Connecticut female photographers will display their photographs on the theme "Love: Interpreted" at the MAC 650 Artists Cooperative at 50 Main Street in Middletown from December 5th to January 3rd, 2009. The opening reception on Friday, December 5 at 7:00pm is open to the public.

The "Love: Interpreted" theme was chosen because these women primarily photograph weddings, documenting the strong bonds they witness between couples and within families. "What we really do at weddings is interpret the moments of love, and with this show we wanted to get back to our art school roots, creating something creative and personal in the same theme," noted Nikki Rinaldi of Nikki Nicole Photography, who helped coordinate this event.

Artists exhibiting are: Tina Parsadanov, Jacklyn Greenberg, Jo Kaplan Lee, Mary Marantz, Val McCormick, Nikki Nicole Rinaldi, Krystal Prue, Jane Shauck, and Carla Ten Eyck.

For additional information, contact Nikki Nicole at phone 860.436.6937.

Part 2/3 of Torturing the children.

What a fun holiday season so far! We've had some great kids come in for some festive photos to celebrate fall and the upcoming holidays! Meet this weeks little models: Amanda, Brian, Kara, Payton, and Morgan.

The beauty queen

Yesterday was Igor's cousin's wedding day. More on that in a later post... As I lay out some clothes options and try different shoes in front of the full length mirror in our room I turn to see our little beauty queen Ella slipping on my shoes on her tiny toes and I almost melted as she scuffed through the room with them on. Does life get any better than this? I think that would be nearly impossible.