After a crazy busy summer I am committing myself to blogging on a more regular basis and I figured this was the best way to kick it off again!
So full disclosure here. I am not a sports fan. However, I married one, so I sometimes-kinda-sorta get some of it, but not much still. Late this summer my husband was looking at his phone and is like "DES! A guy I know from high school works for the Penguins and is coming back to Philly with the Stanley Cup and wants his family photos taken with it!! AND HE WANTS YOU TO TAKE THE PHOTOS! He said they heard you're a photographer and they love your portfolio!
Me: Aww that's so sweet. But I don't understand. What do you do with the cup? You'll be back at work, who is going to watch the kids?? (some background, my husband is a teacher and I took on a lot of photography work during weekdays this summer)
My husband: THIS IS REALLY COOL AND A HUGE DEAL, DES. LIKE YOU HAVE TO DO THIS. WE WILL FIGURE OUT SOMETHING WITH THE KIDS.
My brother in law (we were on vacation) looked at me like I was an alien that had just arrived to earth and walked into his living room. He's from Pittsburgh and he was slightly freaking out over this as well. Clearly, I was the weirdo here.
Well, I did some research and found out that having the Stanley Cup really IS a big deal! The Stanley Cup travels the world every summer and various players and employees of the team that wins the prior year get it for a day, to do really, whatever they want with it. Some people eat cereal from it, take it grocery shopping, and throw extravagant parties with it as the guest-of-honor. Well, this summer, the Stanley Cup made a trip to the City of Brotherly Love.
It arrived in this huge chest and the family had such a fun time checking it out, doing some posed and silly photos with it (baby in a Cup, anyone?) in the totally awesome Hotel Monaco in Old City. Then we walked across the street to Independence Hall for some photos where tourists from all over the lawn started to come up and ask about it and snap some pics with their phones. To step away from the forming crowd, we then brought it to the awesome marble steps and columns of the 2nd Bank of America to wrap up our session. Later that day, they brought it to Holy Ghost Prep (he's an alumnae) where they so kindly allowed staff and students to pose with it, including my super ecstatic husband and threw a party that evening downtown! Stanley had a big day in our city:-)
Being able to document this family's morning with the Cup allowed me to photograph something totally different than what I usually shoot, which was so refreshing and fun.
This family is the absolute best-- they were fun, hilarious, and so open to different ideas. Thank you so much for making this such a special and unique family session for me to capture!
