Shell Bailey Photography » portraits

Portraits | Ashley

Shell — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 22:34:42 +0000

Ashley is a local realtor and wanted to update her headshots for her website and business cards. She and Wes will be getting married next month and I will be shooting their wedding, but I love it when I get a chance to get to know my clients a little better before their wedding dates. So we snuck out to the park one hot afternoon after work and got some great shots… and I think we spent almost as long hanging out at the park bench and just talking about photography and how cool their wedding is going to be. :)

But that’s still a month away! In the meantime, here are some of my favorite shots!

Doesn’t she have the prettiest eyes?

Preview: Ashley

Shell — Wed, 26 May 2010 02:55:01 +0000

Alright, I couldn’t resist, one preview from my shoot last week. I don’t do headshots too often, but Ashley needed some updated pictures for her website & business cards and I was happy to oblige. And seriously, I couldn’t have asked for a better day for it. The lighting was beautiful! We got so many good shots, I can’t wait to show you the rest.

More to come!

Steampunk Portraits

Shell — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 00:17:54 +0000

I seem to attract themed (read: costumed) weddings & receptions. I’m really not sure why- maybe people just intuitively guess that I’m easily persuaded to dress up myself? Anyway, I think it’s awesome! It’s all of those things that are wonderful about the childhood dress-up box or trick-or-treating. Minus the candy. Maybe it’s revealing my inner geekdom, but I think that everyone deserves a break from being a parent/full-time employee/tax-paying grownup and get to be someone else for awhile. If that means dressing up and eating creampuffs, then who am I to complain? :)

All of that to say: remember that masquerade ball I mentioned? There were a pretty good contingent of steampunk costumes present. Combine that with the Century Inn’s amazing old-time decor and bar, and I could have taken pictures all day. It made me so happy I thought I’d share a few of my favorite portraits.

And good times were had by all. :)

Pittsburgh Maternity Photography- Emily

Shell — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 19:57:40 +0000

Emily & Joel are friends of ours from Colorado. They are expecting their first baby in May (so exciting!!) We had talked for a while about setting up a maternity session whenever they would be in town a few weeks ago. We tenatively scheduled it for the weekend. And everyone from the east coast knows what came next… twenty+ inches of snow! What fun!

I don’t know if we’re brave or just plain crazy, but we decided to do it anyway. I let my husband drive- he’s the crazy one. :P We made it, though, and were able to have a fantastic, cozy portrait session, and even stole Joel before the start of the Super Bowl for a few minutes so that we could get some great sunset shots.

There are so many fantastic shots from this session that I had a really hard time picking which ones to feature. Emily is so beautiful and glowy and serene. Here are some of my favorites:

So gorgeous. Many thanks to Chelsea for assisting me (especially with the scarves, I couldn’t have done it without you!) And many thanks & the best of love to Emily & Joel. I can’t wait to meet your little one!

Lifestyle Family Portrait: Holly, Eric, & Family

Shell — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 02:44:00 +0000

I don’t do family & children photoshoots too often- it’s just something that hasn’t come up very much. (Although with all the kids that are running around lately, I’m sure that will soon change!) Kids always make an entertainig change of pace, and whenever an absolutely adorable family comes along, well, it’s hard to resist. Holly & Eric & the kids were kind enough to invite me into their home to do a lifestyle portrait shoot for them, so we took some time out from a snowy Saturday afternoon before to get a few shots.

We’ll start with Alana, the youngest:

Eyes to die for, seriously. Isn’t she a beauty? They’ll all grow up to be heartbreakers, though, and if you think I’m exaggerating-

Next, Colby, who always had the biggest grins for me:

And Logan, so serious. Or trying to be! He showed me his room and read me a book.

And then you can’t forget about the furry children:

Thanks, Holly & Eric! You have such a beautiful family. : )

Shell — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:30:40 +0000

You might remember that a few months ago, I posted some maternity photos that I took for my sister-in-law, expecting her first. Those were taken when she was seven months due, and everyone was waiting to see some baby belly! Well, we weren’t done there. We did another quick session in the park with her husband, Dan, when Anna was nine months due. Just a week before the baby was born! I’m obviously still catching up on my posting, but here are some of my favorites.

Aren’t they adorable?

And my favorite:

See the rest here. And coming soon, baby pictures!

Anna at Seven Months

Shell — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 01:06:04 +0000

My sister-in-law, Anna, is seven months pregnant with her first. :) It’s been exciting because this is one of the first babies in our generation & circle of friends- and they’re not finding out what it is! There’s been endless speculation and poking her belly for months. A few weeks ago, we finally realised that she’s starting to show enough for belly pictures. This is only the first set… I’ll definitely be taking more around 8-9 months, and in November you have some newborn portraits to look forward to. :)

Isn’t she beautiful and glowy? Don’t forget to check out the rest of the set here.

Shell — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:26:55 +0000

I’m creating quite the backlog of posts! I’m a bad blogger, I know. The winter has been dreary and stifling. It feels like nothing has exciting has been happening, but that’s not really true.

First on the list of backlogged posts:

Hakan is a fantastic professional bellydancer and a friend. To tell you the truth, he’s Pittsburgh’s finest male bellydancer and becoming quite well known for his sword performances. He’s a strong soloist and is also a member of the troupe Moquette Volante, which combines storytelling narrative with Middle Eastern bellydance. Awesome, huh? We actually started taking bellydancing classes at around the same time, way-back-when, and it’s inspiring to see what an involved, engaging performer he’s grown into.

There are really too many to show them all here- I have a hard time even picking my favorites. Check the rest out here.

Shell — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:51:51 +0000

I’m excited! So much so that I’m not going to bother writing an introduction. May I proudly present: Shell Bailey Photography! Hooray! Now you can see my galleries & buy prints & keep up with my new work all in the same place! I will continue to post here, but that site has RSS feeds for my recently updated & the whatnot if you’d like to get the scoop on things first.

With the new website finally comes Gettysburg pictures. I mentioned how much fun I had, right? And how lovely it was?

My good friend Stephanie, bundled against the wind.

Click on the photo below to see the rest of the set. :)

Shell — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:11:45 +0000

Recently one of my very best friends and dance partner was in town. Her schedule is understandably very whirlwind whenever she’s in the area, so we were both very excited when we managed to put aside some time just to hang out and take pictures. We’ve been meaning to get some promotional shots done for our bellydance troupe’s new website, and jumped at the chance.

Chelsea was probably the first person to let me shoot her all those years ago. By now, we have a long-standing tradition of invading her parent’s farmhouse, throwing all of our clothes into a big heap on the bed, agonizing over costuming and makeup decisions for at least an hour, and then running outside and shooting hundreds of pictures. Who doesn’t like to play dress-up? Plus, she’s naturally gorgeous, and at this point is quite used to me taking pictures of every move she makes, so it’s hard not to pick up the camera while she’s around.

Can you blame me?

Click on the picture for the rest of the set. :)