This is how we roll. (John A. Gessner Photography)

Starting a business on your own comes with lots of unknowns. After my first photo shoot, where I hired myself as the creative director, I learned to never do that again. Being the creative type does not mean that everything I do comes across well edited and clean for my customers, in fact it usually means the opposite. When preparing to launch my new website,  A friend of mine highly recommended John A Gessner to do my web product  and lifestyle photos.

Man was I intimidated to meet him when seeing these beautiful serene pictures in his portfolio.

When I talked to John the first time on the phone, he was extremely calm, soft spoken, articulate, and came with lots of ideas. I told him what we were looking for, he created a shot list of location ideas, and we met shortly thereafter.  I was still a bit nervous, but thought he sounded like a pro. For some reason, I pictured him to be older, and in a suit.

When this goofy dog loving guy showed up for the shoot in a hoodie, I was set completely at ease, as were the girls doing the lifestyle portion of the shoot.

I mean, these pictures, are you kidding me? You can imagine my glee when I got the shots back afterwards. Not to mention, we had a great time all getting to know each other, and it really didn't feel like work. It was also great to get to know John's wife Hilary who came along for the ride, and now I get to see the great shots John takes of his two greatest Muses. adorable Hilary, and their hilarious newfie, Murphy.

That shoot in Fishtown was just the beginning of our partnership. It's hard for me to say where John's strongest talent is photography wise. His interiors are quite strong as well. Check out a few of my favorite Leland gal interiors shot by John.

John has a natural eye for lighting, composition, and knows how to style products. Each picture is it's own work of art. On the other hand, his ability to capture the spirit behind a person in their picture is uncanny as well.  On the left is me most days trying to balance motherhood and business, and on the right is me behind Johns lens.

As much as I'd like to say I spend most days presenting cocktails like this to friends and entertaining, sometimes real life happens. However, when the opportunity presented itself for a reason to entertain AND get into a Magazine, John was the first person I called. We had a week to prep, and 24 hours to shoot, and edit for this. When I called John, knowing he'd have to stay up all night to get them ready after working his day job, he said he was game. Here are some other highlights from the amazing job done by John.

Whatever "it" is, John's got it.  You can imagine how excited we were about these pics as well...

Then we were really excited to see this commercial on T.V.. Apparently John's buddy does advertising on a local station and calls upon John to act in some local ads. This one is my personal favorite.

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This kind of sums up what works best to be a part of this small business family. You have to be professional, hard working, but it is also must not to take yourself too seriously, and have a great time along the way.

If you are in need of impeccable photography by this talented fun photographer, please contact John, who is also great with kids!