Melissa Hassey » Northern Liberties

Beautiful Newborn Baby Girl!

melissa — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 16:24:24 +0000

Very luckily for me, this family was the recipient of a thoughtful (baby shower) gift certificate. I always love to photograph newborns and was really excited to finally meet newborn, Marilena, and her proud new parents, Kim & Anthony. I arrived with all of my flowers and props and practically moved into their home. They were so accommodating with this!

Once I got settled in, we moved Marilena all around inside and outside of the house. I loved their house! I think I may just offer Kim a job as a stylist for my upcoming photo shoots!

Anyway, Marilena did SO great!! A natural model indeed! Oh, I have to say that Rocky & Spunky (their dog & cat) did excellent as well…. as you will see! They were so cute and just wanted to be near all of the photography action and, of course, be close to Marilena

Well, I hope you enjoy these as much as I enjoyed creating them!

A little side note about some of the props: I recently purchased the pink tutu, the white tutu (that Marilena is lying on) and fairy wings here: http://www.fionasfairys.com/. This is a great new shop at The Piazza in Northern Liberties. The owner, Karen, is extremely nice and they have an array of beautiful outfits and accessories for babies and older kids (including boys!). Oh, and the designer of the white tutu is: Kaiya Eve. Very cool stuff!!

This next shot really did just happen all by itself! Eventually, we did re-position Rocky just a little bit. Even still, seriously, HOW CUTE!?

Sleeping fairy….. sigh…. (ps. she is sleeping on top of the 12 month tutu skirt)

Here is Rocky making sure not to be excluded from this family portrait.

Another Artist Portrait

melissa — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:34:37 +0000

I feel very privileged to have so many wonderful artist friends. They continue to amaze me. From visual arts, to music to poems and literature…. these are the people that continue to inspire and motivate me.

That said, I graduated from Tyler School of Art with a great artist and friend, Mike Munter. Among other talents, he is a print maker and designer. You can check out lots of samples of his work on his website:: IARTMIKEMUNTER.COM. Mike is being interviewed for a magazine and needed some portraits to go along with it. Since I recently photographed his brother, Jason, (see blog HERE) in return for some art work, this was just another great barter session. I have a beautiful poster he made of a girl blowing what looks like bubbles… but then turns into jelly fish. I love it. Now, I just need some great framer friends to custom frame it for me. : )

So…. I had been anxious for the opportunity to photograph at the Higher Grounds Cafe in Northern Liberties (the one that I mentioned in the blog just before this one: here). We met there and then wandered aimlessly around Northern Liberties. It was a beautiful day outside (so rare these days!) and we took advantage of that.

Wow, this short blog post sure has a lot of web links…….. Anyway, here are some pics!

Mike sitting in “the grand chair”:

shot through one of the chairs….

Another great thing about coffee shops….. if you forget a book or magazine there are always board games or…. Simpsons trivia…… It turns out that I am not nearly as good as I thought I was. I am sticking with Seinfeld trivia next time…… I am the master of that domain.

yes, this is one of the locations of my wedding photos….. okay, another link…. see them HERE.

A beautiful Chair…

melissa — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:24:42 +0000

So…. I love coffee shops. I mean, who doesn’t? Living in the city, there are so many unique ones to choose from. As an admitted thrift store junky…. the old furniture and eclectic feel of many cafes very much appeal to me. In my opinion, things that are old and worn in are more comfortable than something brand new. This is partly because your body molds to the countless other body impressions that have slowly indented themselves into the cushions. Furniture like this…. it just seems like it has some stories to tell. And, that, I suppose, gets my interest.

A coffee shop that I particularly enjoy is The Higher Grounds Cafe in Northern Liberties. The whole vibe there is great. It normally isn’t too crowded, there is always beautiful artwork on the walls and they boast quite a wide variety of fine teas….. the way to my heart!

In preparation for a portrait session, I took a few photos of some of this chair that I really love. I guess it seems silly to post a whole blog about a chair….. but, come on, don’t you just love this chair? It has a such a grand but worn look to it and it almost appears as if it is smirking…. with the one side down and the other up….

A fun snow video!

melissa — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:40:39 +0000

I wanted to share with you all my awesome husband’s (the famed designer of this very website) video of us playing in the snow after the December snow storm. It is fun! : )

Check out the rest of his blog and website too! Enjoy!!

http://www.philadesigns.com/myblog/

Frolicking through Fishtown…

melissa — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 20:42:45 +0000

After the big snow storm, Carl & I shoveled ourselves out of our Fishtown home and headed through the neighborhoods to Northern Liberties. Accompanying us, of course, were my camera and his video camera. Here are some photos from the day. My favorite, of course, being the rat that I chased down the street in Kensington. Thankfully it didn’t turn around and attack me! I think he was just so happy to be frolicking through the snow! : )

let’s not forget the winged rats….. I have always loved photographing pigeons!

hey, that’s me!

melissa — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 18:04:31 +0000

okay…. so Carl & i did get married on july 25th…. i should have posted these long ago but was overwhelmed with all sorts of stuff… i guess.

below are just a few pics that Todd Laffler, our fabulously amazing photographer, took for us!

FOR MORE, CHECK OUT HIS WEDDING BLOG ABOUT US:
WEDDING BLOG!

us jumping into this marriage thing (buddum-ching):

we actually do this one more often that you would think…

Carl is always making me laugh! gosh… i love him!