Portrait : Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro for Philadelphia Magazine

Philadelphia Magazine contacted us asking if we could photograph PA Governor Josh Shapiro sometime during the week before Christmas… sounded like a great pre-holiday assignment! A few days later we were in his office at the state capital in Harrisburg.

Our composition was always going to be stately and formal, but we wanted to capture a bit of the Gov’s kind and approachable demeanor, too.

We’d photographed the Governor in Philadelphia before he was elected in 2022 (image below) for an earlier Philly Mag feature, so it was nice to have the opportunity to congratulate him in person a year or so later.

Josh Shapiro, Democratic candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania, September 2022

My youngest son’s school was already on break for the holidays so we brought him along to the shoot. He’s 13 years old. I put him to work moving equipment around and standing in as a test model. After the shoot was over Governor Shapiro gave him a personal tour of his office. Young Ro seemed genuinely interested in the history lesson and even held his own while the Gov peppered him with civics questions! It was a really fun and heartwarming to experience. So many thanks to the Governor and his staff for making this photoshoot extra memorable!

Also tremendous thanks and gratitude to everyone at Philly Mag for assignment opportunities like this one!

Weavers Way Co-op Shoot

“Weavers Way is a member-owned cooperative grocery with locations in Northwest Philadelphia and Ambler. We offer a friendly shopping environment and reasonably priced, high-quality products that are local, sustainable, organic, fairly traded and healthful.”

I plucked the above quote off of the Weavers Way website - it’s a pretty accurate description.  We’ve been Co-op members for years now and frequent the Mount Airy and Chestnut Hill stores for groceries, a quick lunch (delicious soups, hot foods, prepared salads, etc.), and even chicken feed for our backyard flock!  Linette has had a longstanding relationship with the brass over there.  She’s worked off many a member required work hour photographing Co-op products and events - like the Grand Opening of their new location!

We were excited, then, when contacted by Strada, the firm responsible for designing the new space.  They needed exterior and interior shots of the building.  I find it really satisfying working on projects that I have a real personal connection to.  Believe me, aside from our Weavers Way store/community involvement, food and I have a long and storied love affair.

Take a look here at some of the images we captured that day.  Strada did a fantastic job transforming the former Bottom Dollar store into the latest and greatest Weavers Way market!