Photography By Shelly

So we love hockey! We are all huge Buffalo Sabres fans and of course this comes from living with Rick Jeanneret your whole life (that is of course until I was married). He is my step father and growing up in a broadcasters home was no different than any other I'm sure. Even though people imagined that he would "call the game" as our daily routine went on (and the toast pops up!! Shelly has her lunch in hand and is off to school!!).....really it was nothing like that. It was just a regular home with all the same responsibilities that every other home had. But I was well aware of what the Buffalo Sabres meant to our family. Of course, I had no idea how famous this person that I was living with was. It was nothing to be told by my mom when I walked through the door to "be quiet" because he was on a radio interview, or to wake up in the morning and there was a TV crew in our kitchen (why do they have to do these things so early!!) I really thought nothing of it. Of course I was made fun of at school for being a Sabres fan (imagine I was a kid in school this season!! Oh the humility!!) 

Over the years I have become attached to the team and certain players (even though most of them I have never even met). When Lindy Ruff was fired this season I cried for two days!! I take hockey personally, and I'm good with that.
I used to go up to the press box in the old Buffalo Memorial Auditorium and eat in the fancy restaurant (no wonder my mom was always a stickler for good table manners) and once again thought nothing of it. I don't think it was until the Internet came about and social media came into play that I realized how iconic this person that I grew up with was. It's nothing for me to see posts about Rick on Facebook pages and tweets about his calls or even more tweets about his absence from the game when he is sick or on vacation. If you google his name there are pages of articles and information (funny, none of that comes up when you google my name, haha!)

When I was pregnant with my daughter, Gillyan everyone said to me "what if she's not a Sabres fan!" What a crazy thing to say!! She is in fact a Sabres fan and has spent her 11 years of life being a faithful fan (you know however, Daniel Briere getting traded to Philly was really tough on her). My son Alexander Daniel(named after my favourite hockey player Alexander Mogilny and Gillyan's favourite Daniel Briere) too is a fan despite the fact that his two closest friends at school try to convert him to Boston and Toronto! Of course my husband Brett is a Sabres fan....I could never be married to someone who was not!

We try to get to the games when we can and we try to go as a family when we can. Every time we go my kids just assume that they will head up to the press box during one of the periods to see Papa and listen to him call the game. They know that as we leave the booth there will be cookies and ice cream and popcorn waiting for them. I try to tell them that this is a unique situation for them to get to go up to a press box. That it's not something most people get to do in their life let along on a regular basis! They think I'm crazy and over exaggerating I'm sure. To them the First Niagara Center is Papa's office and in his office they give out free cookies and ice cream.

Why I blogged this is beyond me....I think I'm trying to "keep up with the blogging times" and really, does it all have to be photography related. We have barely hit wedding season what am I going to talk about?  I believe the reason I get the business I do is because of my ability to get personal, and get close. I love keeping in touch with my couples after their big day. I want to hear all about their lives years after. It's just the way I am.....so I guess this blog is just that....getting personal.

The reason I choose this subject today is because of this photo.....it's an awesome picture I took at last Sunday's game (Buffalo won!! Wooo hoooo!!) For me it speaks to why I became a photographer in the first place. It's not technically perfect by any means....it's an Instagram photo....but it is everything I have ever loved about photography in one shot. When I look at this picture I can remember everything about the day.....I remember the weather, and what we ate and what we did and I remember walking into the press box greeted by silent waves and big smiles (gotta be quiet in those booths!!) I can feel the portable heater on the back of my legs, I can see my kids on their best behavior listening and watching....Alex creeping up on his tip toes now and again so he can see the ice below. I can hear the crowd and their reactions all simultaneous to every puck turnover, every near goal and every hit....and I can hear my step father calling the game ever so quiet his big voice being drowned out by the sold out crowd below. I can see the bond between Gillyan and her grandfather as she reaches around to hug him before we head back to our seats and I can hear Alex say "I love you Papa" not caring who was there or who would hear and I can hear Rick say back to him "well thank you Runt"...in this moment I am grateful to have an iPhone in my hand and for modern technology so I will never have to forget this day or this moment. For you it will mean something completely different I'm sure. But that's what photographs do right??? That's what they are supposed to do...evoke emotion whatever that emotion may be or where ever back in time that emotion takes you....