I have always wanted to have a neighbor, just like Nicole and Garrett, always wanted to shoot engagement photos in Pittsburgh.

OK that was dumb, just playing off of Mister Roger’s jingle.  You know, Mister Roger’s neighborhood is in Pittsburgh.  Just read my most recent post.

Before we get to the photos, since this is my blog, a journal… I like to write too.  So my trip getting to Pittsburgh was the pits!  Flight delayed, missed connection, forced to get on another plane with ANOTHER layover and instead of getting in at 6PM to have some Italian food with Nicole and Garrett, I got to my hotel at 1AM.  The next morning was hilarious too; a very similar circus, but this time with taxi cabs to and from a crossfit gym I found.  You just have to laugh at a certain point.

But then I met Nicole and Garrett, my couple getting married at my favorite Arizona Biltmore next May, who live in Pittsburgh!  I liked them right away!  We took off and were out shooting in no time.  It was an awesome day, that included a sweet tour of Pittsburgh, a killer Italian lunch, and ended with a tour of Mediterra Bakehouse, which Nicole’s Dad started from like, nothing and is now being sold all over the country in Whole Foods, Trader Joes, incredible restaurants and coffee shops.  I love a good story of entrepreneurship, so that was SUPER fun.  OK pictures….

As you can see, my job is going to be pretty easy…

 

Let’s rewind.  Pittsburgh is the land of Steel and boasts over 450 bridges in the city that has three rivers flowing through.   Here they are on just one of them.

 

You’ll never believe where we are in this photo (and the photo above)… we are on the set of the opening scene from Jack Reacher which was a really violent movie but had me on the edge of my seat.  But now I have much more pleasant memories of Pittsburgh!

 

If you have seen Jack Reacher, you should recognize this parking garage!

 

Just hanging out with a giant rubber ducky.

 

It was early in our shoot and they probably wondered what kind of engagement shoot this was going to become when this photographer that they just met asked them to play along with my dumb photo trickery.  They were good sports.  🙂

 

Boom!  Great light!  Natural expression.  Love this one.

 

I love this one too, but wanted to point out the “Pittsburg” sign.  Allow me to hit you with some knowledge:  If you read my last post I talked about how Pittsburgh was originally spelled “Pittsbourgh”.  Then it was changed to Pittsburgh.  Then someone wanted to drop the silent h at the end.  So they did.  Then the Pittsburghans freaked out!  So they added it again.  In this rare piece of history, we see a landmark with the rare spelling of “Pittsburg”.

 

These two were both so natural all day and they genuinely seem to really love being with each other, which is such a cool thing.

 

Girls love shoes.  But Nicole is no ordinary girl and with no ordinary love of good shoes.  The red is all you need to know.

 

My stupid watermark is in the way.  Sorry guys.  No watermarks on your final images.  🙂

 

Here’s where we had lunch.  Oh, thank you so much for bringing me HERE!  Pizzaiolo!  I checked out the restaurants web site and they have some inspiring food photography too.  Some of you may know that I also moonlight as a food photographer.  🙂

 

I ordered my favorite:  Eggplant Parmasan.  Or as they call this by the actual Italian word for eggplant:  Melanzane!  It was as good as it looks.  mmmmm…

 

Back to business.  Even after a hearty lunch, they still look awesome.

 

Out at Nicole’s alma mater.

 

The shoes match!

 

Pittburgh’s make-out spot and cliche’ engagement proposal spot.  Awesome view!

 

Some more corny photo trickery.  Thanks for humoring me, guys.

 

BONUS:  After our shoot, I got a tour of Nicole’s family bakery!   Nicole is half Greek, half Italian.  Her father is Greek, and the bakery has plenty of signs of his Greek Orthodox faith.  He apparently has a lot to be thankful for!  I love it.

 

This is a giant oven that Nicole’s father imported from Italy and built piece-by-piece himself.  I was told stories of true entrepreneurship that illustrate a pretty accurate story of how most successful businesses are started:  of sacrifice, time, passion, belief, failures, successes, more sacrifice, but most of all, more belief.  I loved hearing the story of how this bakery came to success.  And it’s still growing fast!

 

Subway, you have NOTHING on the smells that fill this bakery.

 

So much bread, yet these bakers treat every single loaf with incredible care.  Wow.

 

I turned around and Nicole had this gigantic bag full of various breads and pastries.  I can’t believe I got it all home, but where there’s a will there’s a way.  I’ve been eating bread for the past two days nonstop.  haha  It’s incredible.  It is so fresh, and MOIST!

 

I hope I’ll get a few moments to meet Nicole’s dad.

 

…and that’s how the day ended.  I was back on a plane and home to my family that night.  What a great weekend.  Thanks again Nicole and Garrett.  Looking forward to seeing you in Sunny Arizona!!