217, many assume this number represents an address, birth date or anniversary, however 217 symbolizes so much more. Two-seventeen has long been in my wife, Dawn's, family history. Here is her story:
The sentiment behind 217 originated over 55 years ago, when my mother, Shirley Haughton was a little girl. Shirley was the youngest of eight children, who idolized her older sister Ella May. Whenever Shirley told Ella May how much she loved her, Ella May responded jokingly "How much?" As little sisters often do, Shirley tried to impress Ella May by telling her the largest number she could think of, "Two Hundred and Seventeen." This quickly became a game the two sisters played over and over again. Shirley would tell Ella May she loved her two hundred and seventeen meaning the largest amount known to her little heart. To this day, Shirley and Ella May who are in their sixties and seventies, respectfully, sign every card & letter and conclude every conversation with "I love you, 217".
As far back as I can remember my mom has told my sister, Gina, and I that she loves us 217. I don't think we ever questioned or asked what it meant. We knew intrinsically the weight 217 carried when our mom said it. 217 was the greatest amount of love possible and nothing could be more than that love she felt for us. We have continued 217 as a sentiment in our own lives and families. You will see 217 written on every birthday card, holiday card, and letter to family and close friends. Pete and I even have 217 engraved on our wedding bands. There is no better way for us to express respect, commitment and unconditional love than those three numbers.
The women of 217 are honored that it's meaning lives on through Pete's photography in capturing the images of unconditional love at it's most intimate and celebrated moments. We are excited to incorporate the meaning of 217 into our family's business. We hope to share our passion and love of photography with you and your family.
This past weekend I was invited over to the home of Rick & Christine to photograph their family and grandson William. Rick & Christine’s daughter Cara had contacted me to shoot this family portrait session as a gift for her parents’ 60th birthday. In fact on Saturday, the day of the shoot, it actually WAS Christine’s birthday! What better way to spend a birthday than with all of your family hanging out, relaxing, spending time together and in the case of the Roviellos….cooking and eating! Thank you to Cara for having me out for the day. And thank you so much to the Roviellos, the Richardsons and the Famas for making my job so easy and enjoyable. I had a lot of fun with you all. Thank you for inviting me into your home and making me feel so welcome. I hope you enjoy these photos!
The birthday girl.
I had the privileged to document the making of a Roviello family traditional recipe for “Veal Birds”. Surprisingly there was lots of veal but no bird involved in the dish. I can actually almost taste these delicious treats when I look at this photo. So good!
The next item on the menu was Oregenata. Here Cara and her sister Tina are rolling out the dough for the Oregenata.
6 month old William soon took over the focus of the afternoon with his antics.
Proud grandparents.
!!CAUTION!! If you make a funny face during our shoot, it WILL get blogged!
And from here on out, Will kinda stole the show with cuteness.
March 4, 2010 - 10:14 amBeth Kehr - The pictures are wonderful!! Everyone looks fantastic!!!
March 3, 2010 - 8:18 pmRick and Chris R - Pete--- Did you have to put the 60 year olds on the top?? Fantastic pictures of our family!! If you can make us look good,you truly are the MAN!!! Thanks!!!
March 3, 2010 - 7:27 pmKathy and George Lyle - These pictures are just wonderful. Everyone look like they are having so much fun. Pete you're the best!
March 3, 2010 - 3:53 pmLynnie - Great pictures! I love the casual atmosphere of the pictures. I can't believe how much Will has grown and changed. Great present for your parents Cara and Tina.
March 2, 2010 - 9:29 amCara - Wow! Pete, these are great! Thank you so much.
Avery is 1! And what better to celebrate the milestones of life than with a portrait session? After all, I was there when Avery was just 2 weeks old, so why not be a part of her 52nd week on the planet as well? Avery’s parents Jess & Andrew (good friends of ours as well) invited me over this past weekend for some portraits to celebrate Avery’s first birthday. The adults had a chance to catch up, Avery got a new dress from Dawn and I and best of all, nobody cried! Happy birthday Avery. Congratulations. Let’s do it again next year, shall we?
Today is my Mom’s birthday. Dawn, my dad and I took her out to Maggiano’s for dinner. I gave her this diptych of myself. She laughed. Happy birthday Mom. I love you very much!!
February 24, 2010 - 9:31 pmLyndsay & Mike - We had to comment because we're sitting here in uncontrollable fits of laughter! Hope your mom had a great birthday!
February 23, 2010 - 9:53 amRo - omg. pete, u r so crazy! toooo funny. i hope you got printed LARGE hehe
February 18, 2010 - 9:20 amMaria McNichols - Why can't I stop laughing?
February 17, 2010 - 9:13 pmblondie - OMG. lovelovelovelovelovelovelove. this just MADE my day.
February 17, 2010 - 4:03 pmJames DeAlto - Awesome! Can you come take pics of my kids someday?
February 17, 2010 - 9:50 amScott Baier - That is awesome. Down to the detail of the exposure.
February 17, 2010 - 8:53 amAndy - When a look works for you, you keep it.
February 16, 2010 - 11:26 pmDawn Martesi - Only my husband!
February 16, 2010 - 11:24 pmJennchildphoto@aol.com - Oh good lord!
With Dawn being a middle school teacher, she has been off for almost a full week now due to the feet upon feet of snow we’ve all experienced here. We had a fun couple of days together shoveling and then shoveling and then shoveling some more. We also managed to take a few cold walks in the snowy world outside. These are just a few of the shots that I took along the way.
This was the scene from our bedroom (taken with the hipstamatic app on my iphone). I’m not sure why the date says Feb of 80. But it works!
Another iphone photo. It was quite windy and cold as evidenced by our faces!
Marisa & Taylan’s wedding at Colonial Dames in Philadelphia was one of my favorites from 2009. Here is a clip of all their proof images in just about 2 minutes. Enjoy!
This past Saturday I was asked by my good friend and fellow Philadelphia wedding photographer, Jenn Childress to photograph her grandfather’s surprise 70th birthday party at Maggiano’s in King of Prussia. A few of our favorite wedding pro’s also provided some of their services for Bob’s party. Leslie at Whimsical Welcomes provided the beautiful center pieces for all of the tables. Erin Proud of Proud to Plan created the table numbers, place cards and seating chart while Synergetic Sounds not only provided the soundtrack for the day but they also hooked the party up with an LCD for Jenn to display a sideshow during the party. Finishing off the wedding professionals who helped out with the party, was Cakes by Suzy who created an INCREDIBLE telescope birthday cake! The party was a huge success, Bob was surprised and overwhelmed by the outpouring of love from family and friends. Everyone involved with this celebration put together a really special and wonderful event. It was a pleasure for me to be a part of it and to see such love shared between everyone all afternoon. Happy Birthday Bob!
Is it a telescope or is it a cake? Well for a telescope it sure was a delicious cake. Cakes by Suzy knocked it WAAAY outta the park on this one!.
Bob realizing that his best friend John had flown in from LA just for this party!
Jenn’s daughter Mya giving me a little sas look.
Jenn and her daughter Whitney.
Whitney and Mya (Bob’s great great-granddaughters) gave very heartfelt toasts.
This may be my favorite photo of the day. 6 year old Mya wrote and gave her very own own speech! “I love you so much that I feel like I am going to Ick Splode” is just priceless.
Everyone watching the sideshow that Jenn put together.
January 29, 2010 - 2:41 pmJean Niece - The pictures are fantastic!! I especially like the ones of the back of my head! :-) The day was just great.....perfect in fact. What a wonderful celebration!
January 29, 2010 - 1:21 pmBeth - I had such a wonderful time at the party and feel so lucky to be part of such a special family. It was a treat to connect with family members I see much too rarely. These beautiful photos capture beautifully the joy and warmth of the day. Thank you!
January 29, 2010 - 12:54 pmMarlena Richter - Pete:
LOVE the pictures. First chance I've had to sit down, relax and look at them closely. I'm sending your link to others now. The one of my niece with her handicapped child is priceless for the joy you captured.
January 28, 2010 - 6:10 pmBrenda - Thanks for capturing the day so well! It was definitely a day filled with love and laughter!
Thanks again to you and all who made the day possible!
January 26, 2010 - 11:13 amBob - Thank you, Pete, for these great photos that tell the story so well. It truly was a BIG surprise for me (wish I had not been working so late the night before and could have been better prepared -- had no makeup!).
The pictures will have a special place in my home and in my heart. They let me look back and see much that I did not see while in the middle of the celebration.
A special thanks to you and to your and Jenn's friends who contributed to the success of the party. Everything was superb!
Bob
This past Christmas Dawn and I got our parents tickets to the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall. So we all went up together a few days after Christmas to see the show, spend some time in Rockefeller Center and eat at Carnegie Deli. The show at Radio City Music Hall was very fun, and quite the spectacle. The crowds in and around Rockefeller Center however….not so much. It was PACKED in Mid-town Manhattan that day. We all had a good afternoon together despiste some crazy crowds. The show was great, the weather was slighlty warm and the cheesecake at Carnegie Deli was Fan-freakin-tastic! Below is a short video of our visit to Carnegie Deli and some photos from the day in NYC.
Just for fun, I threw this together this morning. Basically what it is, is all of the proof images from Allison & Joe’s wedding at Pen Ryn Mansion. I just set them to music and tried to show them all in only 2 minutes. Enjoy!
Lyndsay and Mike are getting married next December on the 11th. So, we met up at Peddler’s Village for their engagement photos, this December, on the 11th…..exactly one year to the day before their wedding. I think we are all in agreement that we hope the 11th of December, 2010 will not be nearly as cold as it was this year. Yes, I know it’s winter. And yes, I know that winter is cold. But Damn! It was absolutely frigid last week. Lyndsay, Mike and I had to shoot in bursts to get through the afternoon. As in burst of shots outside followed by ducking into the local shops of Peddler’s Village to warm up and then braving the cold again followed by more “shopping” to warm up. In the end we came away with some great cold weather, Christmassy feeling shots. Lyndsay and Mike, you guys were a lot of fun. Happy Holidays. Stay warm!
This was our first warming up stop. Much thanks to the friendly ladies of The Artisan’s Gallery for allowing us to shoot in their store. And a little Plug for this place…..It’s the perfect shop for gifts. I came back to this store after our shoot and got almost all of Dawn’s Christmas gifts in one stop. Definitely check this place out.
Getting even colder still.
Which then led to another shopping stop in The Nut Kettle. I think Lyndsay was showing Mike some BBQ sauce that he should purchase. Mike apparently is a HUGE fan of all kinds of BBQ sauce.
We affectionately named this location “The Christmas Tunnel”.
And our last indoor stop was the carousel in Giggleberry at Peddler’s Village. This is one the last and one of my favorite shots of the day.
Thanks again Lyndsay & Mike!
Erica, Tim and I met up in New Hope the other week for their engagement photo session. We had such a fun time together walking the canal and peaking into some “off limits” locations for quick photos. Erica almost got caught at one of these “off limits” locations and she found no help from Tim and I as we both bolted at the first sign of danger. Yeah, we’re total gentlemen! That led to more laughs, which led to even better photos. These two were definitely not afraid to let loose, laugh and kid around with each other for the camera. Thanks for having me out Erica & Tim. It was a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to the wedding in June!
by Pete Malone
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