This past weekend I photographed Tom & Kelly’s wedding at The Woodland Place. They are both such wonderful people and it has been awesome to be a part of their lives and celebration! I shot their engagement session last September and it was a blast just hanging out in downtown Roanoke with these two.

I want to say something about the first image of this post. Kelly’s Dad made their cake from scratch the day before the wedding! She never gave him any instructions or ideas - she just wanted the design to come from his heart and love. Now THAT’S a wedding cake!

I received an e-mail this morning from the founder of the Wedding Photojournalists Association saying that I have been accepted for membership!

Their website states:

“WPJA Wedding Photographers are an Elite Group. The Wedding Photojournalist Association is a highly screened, critical organization. Less than 5% of wedding photographers out there qualify for membership.

Membership in the WPJA depends entirely on photographers meeting our high standards for inclusion. One CANNOT simply pay his/her way into the WPJA. ”

You can find out more about WPJA by visiting their website!

I had the pleasure of photographing Dave and Meredith’s wedding this past Saturday! The ceremony was at Blacksburg Presbyterian with the reception at the always beautiful Inn at Virginia Tech.

Thanks for making me a part of your celebration, and enjoy your honeymoon!

I have been thinking a LOT about marketing for the past few months and the thoughts are all finally coming together!

In April 2006 I will be releasing the new logo, blog, and website for Michael Escalera Photography. There has been so much thought and preperation for this and I am SO excited!

Along with the new releases I will also be revealing a new pricing structure which will incorporate several collections (aka “packages”) to choose from and an awesome new album company that I am working with.

Stay tuned over the next several weeks for the exciting new look of Michael Escalera Photography!

Someone close to us experienced the loss of their newborn baby late last year. We were not able to travel and be there for them but they were in our thoughts and prayers. A nurse at the hospital was kind enough to take some images for them.

I have been thinking about this possibility for quite a while for other parents facing the same situation and I was just introduced to a non-profit organization called Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep. From their website, this is their mission statement:

“Parents through out the world experience heartache and grief every day due to the death of a baby. This heartache can happen to anyone one of us. Through our experience, being able to introduce this art form of photography to parents suffering this grief will help them in their healing process. We want to bring awareness to parents and caregivers everywhere to this method of healing. We aim to bring parents together with professional photographers that are volunteering their time and services to helping parents create these heirloom memories of their time together as a family. Our goal is to ultimately be able to present Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep to families through out this nation.”

I joined Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep in memory of that baby and as a gift to give back to this community.

If you or someone you know is going through the difficult time of losing a baby, please let them know that I will be happy to provide coverage of the birth, and images of them with their baby for them to cherish. At first it may seem like a strange idea to have a photographer present, but I believe the images would be priceless. For more information please visit this page.

Everything is completely free of charge for those who are going through this difficult time. For more details please e-mail me.