As many of you know, I'm a new mom.

It's strange to think that this person entered my life a mere 4 months ago (give or take a few days now). It's cliche to say it, but it's true: they grow up so fast.

Ruth's latest trick is not only to hold herself up on her tummy, but to fold herself in half (contortionist-style) and suck on her toes (photos of this feat are forthcoming).

I'm learning so much about her as each day passes, but more than that, I'm learning so much about myself. Parenthood seems as though it was built to tell us hard truths and give us beautiful moments. It tests our limits (and our tempers). It teaches us self-sacrifice.

And I hope I'm passing its tests.

At the Hilton in Linthicum, Maryland, Melanie and Brad tied the knot!

It was a short ceremony and an intimate reception of maybe 30 people. On record, the smallest wedding I've ever photographed, and for the shortest amount of time--only two hours.

An interesting sidenote: Melanie's dress is one of the first strapped dresses I've seen in recent years! She also mentioned that she bought the coverup separate from the dress. When photographing Melody's wedding just a few weeks ago, she too was noting how difficult it was to find something with sleeves, and had to get her long sleeves specially made. Could this be a new trend in bridal fashion?

Since I've been photographing smaller weddings lately, I've found that I really enjoy these smaller affairs. They tend to be low-key, but highly demanding and exciting for a photographer. With no down time, there's always something to photograph and do, and it's a neat challenge to remain unobtrusive when you're one out of thirty, versus one out of a hundred.

The new baby that one family member brought along, of course, barely noticed me.

I love photographing children.

They keep you on your toes by having another agenda.

And sometimes capturing people at just the right moment...

...can be the most fun thing in the world.

Lately the weather here in Baltimore has fluctuated between Extremely Awesome and Very Blah. Today, unfortunately, it is the latter.

But cloudy days have a quiet mystery about them. I feel less energetic when the sun's not out, but sometimes an overcast sky can remind me to slow down, to be more observant of my surroundings; with no dramatic shadows to create high-contrast imagery, one has to find other ways to make a photograph interesting.

This particular image was taken while wandering around with a friend on a cloudy day. I noticed the newspaper, shredded and clinging to the fence. As I passed by, the bike lock, grill, and newspaper aligned like an astrological event.

I like it when things like that happen; incidental objects creating an interesting pattern.

The other day, while running through my stacks of old prints and negatives, I found these self-portraits I took during the heat of the Baltimore summer.

The idea I was working with was that I would take self-portraits in clothing and surroundings of matching colors, and strike poses that evoked emotions that I associated with each color.

So far, of course, I only got to red and blue. Perhaps more colors are in order this summer.