Incredible Photographer

I had the opportunity to attend a meeting of the Society of Northern Ohio Professional Photographers (www.sonopp.com) last night. Herb Ascherman a giant on the Cleveland Photography scene was the featured speaker. http://www.ascherman.com/

copryright Herb Ascherman

In these days of lack of craftsmanship in the photography world herb was a breath of fresh air. The projects that he has chosen over the years, which are highlighted on his website have made the world a better place. I am inspired  by what he does. Check him out.

Haiti

My wife Jackie and I have been spending some time in Haiti. A number of the pictures I have taken have been used by Lutheran World Relief and Human care. and Lutheran Church Charities. . Both are awesome organizations and it is an honor to provide pictures for them.

Sarah and Keith

Check Out Sarah and Keith's Wedding

Sarah and Keith's Slide Show

Sarah and Keith's Website

Check out a slide show of Dan and Carly's Wedding, posted on our new on-line partner Pictage

Carly and Dan' Sildeshow

Scouting it out

Today I have a wedding at the City Club in Cleveland, but first we are going to do some formal pictures at the Cleveland Public Library, Main Branch. I have shot pictures at the library before but it has been awhile so I thought it would be prudent to check out the venue and find some neat places to shoot. Attached are some of the reference photos that I took yesterday. I envisioned the bride and groom, bride alone, and bridal party at these locations.

If We Could be Heroes!

These People Are! This week I had the opportunity to photograph a "Heroes Event" for the Red Cross". These people from Geauga and Lake Counties appeared to be your average citizen, but they were not. They were honored for there heroic measures, from doing surgery in Haiti within days after the earthquake to young men saving there fellow students and bus driver when a health issue occurred.
Congratulations and THANK YOU!

Key West Wedding

I just got home from photographing a wedding in Key West. David and Allison had an awesome beach wedding. I literally just walked in the door and was so excited I had to post. I am currently downloading all the images to my main computer and will begin processing the raw (digital negative) files in the morning. I can't wait to put together this album. Here is Allison's family on the beach at Fort Zachary Taylor Park, a beautiful venue for an awesome wedding.

Christian MissionaryImages.com

My wife Jackie has a tremendous interest in Christian Mission Work in Haiti. I have personally been to Haiti twice and have been trying to use my photography to help that effort. I have established www.ChristianMissionaryMedia.com so that people who need professional images can download the images for use in their presentations and brochures, Check it out. Currently I am
only featuring Haiti but will add other international and local galleries.

Brides Beware

A friend sent me this link. Thought it was interesting enough to post. Especially since I have heard a lot of feedback from bridesmaids lately about problems they have had with their photographers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js7RzcdDcMs

Gold Rush

Many of the events we photograph are once in a lifetime events. Weddings ( yes we view getting married as a once in a lifetime event), Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, first communions and many other events.

Our NEW PACKAGES feature many items on CD or DVD. So we checked into the lifespan of these types of media. We found this quote, from Kurt Gerecke, a physicist and storage expert at IBM Deutschland GmbH, "Unlike pressed original CDs, burned CDs have a relatively short life span of between two to five years, depending on the quality of the CD,"

That sure scared us andwe went searching for the longest lasting CD's and DVD's we could find. We settled on MAM-A Gold DVDs and CDs. Here is what MAM-A claims about their media .
"MAM-A estimates their Gold label CD-R's have a life-span of 300 years . Other discs that they have tested look like they'll fail in 2 years or less."
THE POINT IS, MAKE SURE THAT IF YOU ARE GETTING YOUR IMAGES ON DISC, MAKE SURE THAT THEY WILL LAST.
We use the best media available to preserve your memories,

NEW !!!! New!!! New!!!

We have NEW wedding Pricing, NEW Digital Wedding Packages and a NEW BROCHURE.

Click here to download your copy in Adobe PDF format. We have found that Today's Brides and Grooms are looking for more and different. How about a package that includes your wedding on YOUTUBE. How about a DIGITAL PICTURE FRAME INSTEAD OF A TRADITIONAL ALBUM (Yes you can have an album if you want one) How about your wedding pictures on an IPOD TOUCH as part of your wedding package. It is all right here in our new "Your Wedding" brochure

SONOPP on YOUTUBE!

The Society of Northern Ohio Professional Photographers (SONOPP) has been making a full court press (I know, I'm looking forward to the Cav's season) to show the value of professional photography. Recently they posted an awesome slide show on YOUTUBE highlighting the work of SONOPP members in the genre of highschool senior photography. Check it out here.
Special thanks to Dale Kincaid of Somewhere in Time Photography who assembled the images from member photographers and published the slide show to YOUTUBE.

I was privileged to have some of my portraits from Mark Rychel Photographers included.
Thanks Again Dale!!

A Most Important Portrait

It's Senior Portrait time at Rychels Designer Portraits and Shaker Photo Studio ! We consider a young man's or young lady's high school portrait to be the most significant picture taken of an individual. Why ? Because, it is probably the only time in most peoples lives that they are the center of attention in a quality professional portrait environment.

The picture that our moms have on their mantel for years, the picture that defines who you are in high school and the one that every class reunion for the next 50 years will remember you by.

This portrait is yours alone, it is not shared with a bride or groom, on a wedding day. It speaks to who you are alone.

That is why we take such care to capture each and every student on personal level. One mother after looking at our website stated, "Each senior picture looks so different" a compliment we were proud to accept. No cookie cutter factory type portraits here.

We felt sorry for the North Royalton student that could not even view her yearbook picture because the school forced her to go to a contract photographer and his policy was to only let students that bought a multiple pose sitting view their yearbook picture in advance.

She came to us for special portraits, portraits that were her choice for her family and friends.

Choose a professional photographer. One that will take the time to make your most significant portrait one that you can be proud of for a lifetime

New Addition

June first is a big day for Rychel's Designer Portraits !!
We have a new addition, called Shaker Photo Studio. Located in the historic Larchmere district of the city of Cleveland, and specializing in people photography, just as we do at Rychel's Designer Portraits, this awesome location will allow us to serve the needs of more people all across Greater Cleveland

Check out our new website! www.shakerphotostudio.com Stop in and say "Hey" at 12806 Larchmere, Cleveland, OH 44120
or give us a call at 216-795-4529. We open Monday thru Saturday at 11:00 AM.

Recycling Saves Lives

Last Saturday I had the privilege of photographing an event for MedWish International an awsome non-profit organization. Here is their mission statement. "MedWish International is a non-profit organization committed to the recovery and recycling of donated medical supplies area healthcare providers must discard. These life-saving supplies are made available to those providing medical care in developing countries throughout the world. Globally, the MedWish International program improves the quality of medical care available to the underserved around the world; locally, we are effectively reducing the amount of solid waste deposited in landfills. MedWish International also serves as a resource for local health-care professionals and charitable organizations interested in global health."

The event "A Sumner of 1000 Dinners" was a kickoff event for a series of fund raisers for this worthy organization. check them out at www.medwish.org