I’m in the process of getting ready for our wedding - Erin and Dave. We’re really looking forward to their day.

It’s a little mantra that I go through, starting the day before - preparing all of our equipment - charging batteries, cleaning lenses, checking cards, listing some notes about all the important people, getting directions and loading the GPS - it’s a several hour process.

On wedding day, I really try clear my mind - hit the jacuzzi tub, do a little meditation (OK, a nap) - all preparation for “being in the moment” for 10 to 12 hours.

Before heading out, I thought I would do a quick photo tip for the week - many of you will take your cameras out this weekend, photograph the kids or maybe some of the beautiful spring colors.

So, my photo tip of the week is to get your images out of the camera or phone and into print. In the days of digital photography, so many priceless photographs are being lost.

There was something magical about getting a roll of film back from the lab. While you have the immediacy from digital images, some of the magic is gone and there’s a tendency to forget how treasured these images might be, years down the road.

We had to laugh;  just after our trip and blog post about our trip to Fallingwater, we came across this photograph of our trip 8 years ago with the kids to Fallingwater, a quick snap with an inexpensive point and shoot  - in retrospect, maybe not such a good place to take the kids and I think those expressions tell the story, which might have colored my impression of the house.

Here’s a photo of yours truly from, well, a few decades ago.

So the photo assignment for the weekend is to take your camera or media card to your local Ritz Camera or better yet, upload them to the consumer division of our professional lab - Mpix and make some prints of your photographs. I’ve found Mpix to be the highest quality online lab - they use professional papers and print to high standards.

With today’s papers and technologies, prints will last a generation or two before showing signs of fading, longer if you place them in an archival photo album. Unless you have a state of the art professional printer using pigment based, archival inks, I don’t suggest making prints on your home printer, unless just for fun - it’s much more expensive and consumer printed papers and inks will show signs of fading in less than a year.

Have fun!

It was such a beautiful day on Friday and needing to take a day off and refresh the batteries, we hit the highway and headed up to the mountains.

It had been a while since I had toured Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece - considered to be the best work of architecture in America, created for the Kaufmann family in 1935.

I remember that the last time I had toured Fallingwater, maybe 10 years ago; I had the feeling the house and furnishings were a bit austere. But, this time, everything felt fresh and contemporary, a tribute to Wright’s visionary genius and an example of organic architecture.

Frank Lloyd Wright designed Fallingwater at the age of 67, which began the most productive part of his career. He completed 400 commissions after the age of 70 - so there’s hope!

Ohiopyle is just down the road - a popular area for white water rafting, kayaking and biking. If you haven’t had a chance to visit, it’s a great getaway destination for a weekend with motel lodging or camping. There’ s a very cool bed and breakfast in Confluence, a 10 mile ride along the bike trail.

I grew up in Uniontown, so I spent a lot of time in the mountains and at Ohiopyle. One of my favorite spots was a part of the park which we called “the shoot”, an area of rapids that you can ride through on your rear. This time of year, the water is high and it’s too dangerous, even for the dedicated thrill seekers.

Cucumber Falls was the last visit of the day - it’s a beautiful and very rugged area of the park - you can walk behind the falls for some fun or just enjoy the area.

I had the chance to photograph an engagement session with Dina and DJ there a few years ago - it took a few bruises and hacks to get into position.

It was a fantastic day trip - for further information about Fallingwater and the tremendous work of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy along with the history of Ohiopyle, you can check out these sites. Falling Water Ohiopyle