Join me…if you will, for a ride in my DeLorean (I got a great deal on it through Craigslist).  We buckle up, I rev the engine, put it in gear, then I smash the gas pedal to the floor because I live my life a quarter mile at a time (Vin Diesel taught me everything I know), the flux capacitor glows red hot as we hit 88mph, the time space continuum bends and in a flash of lighting and some Hollywood magic…we arrive, 13 years ago at a little hotel & restaurant called Haag’s Hotel in the tiny town of Shartlesville, PA (GREAT SCOTT!!).  This is where our story begins…

We walk into the kitchen to find 18 year old Steel slaving away diligently over the grill, making some delicious cheesesteaks and burgers to feed the hungry restaurant goers.  After kindly mentioning to him how ridiculous his chinstrap facial hair looks, we head over to the dishwashing area where 50 Cent’s “In Da Club” is playing on the radio.  Around the corner we hear the clanging of metal pots together, so we peek into the ‘pots and pans’ room to find a high school kid with long flowing hair named Wade scrubbing pots and being an exemplary employ-- wait, nope…he’s literally scrubbing inappropriate messages on the outside of the chicken pans, ughhhh.  Steel catches Wade in the act of scrubbing the aforementioned messages, asks him when will he ever act his age, and walks away shaking his head in disbelief.

Wade spends the remainder of our visit doing other things that leave us “face-palming” and rolling our eyes, he's like a one man circus…we’ve seen enough, there’s no possible way Steel and Wade will get along in the future…right?!  We're talking oil and water here...Steel takes things very seriously and Wade is well…the complete opposite, to say the least.  We need to go back…to the future.  “GET IN THE CHOPPA!” I yell, (OK, there’s no helicopter, just the DeLorean, right where we left it in the parking lot…I just wanted to yell it and get your attention, but also to do my Arnold impression) as we hop back in our time machine and blast back to present day, leaving 2 flaming tire tracks behind us.

Present day brings a twist in our story….did we somehow cause a chain of events which resulted in an alternate reality?...Is this the real life, is this just fantasy (caught in a landslide, no escape from realityyyyyy).  Whatever the case, something unbelievable, unfathomable has happened, my phone buzzes in my pocket and it’s Wade texting me saying he can’t wait to get wild and crazy with me and the rest of the Front Alley Guys.  Did I join a boy band?  Am I a member of a gang that beats up other hooligans who support football clubs (the round ball, Pele!) other than my own?  Am I part of a folk singing group from Salt Lake City?  The answer to all these burning questions is NO…quite in fact, as fate would have it, Wade has become one of my best friends and we collectively named ourselves the Front Alley Guys for absolutely no reason.  And I’ll tell you what, I wouldn’t want it any other way :-)  Did we just become best friends?  YUP!  Wanna do karate in the garage?!  YUP!!

So here we are, 13 years later and Wade and I have been friends ever since!  Let me tell you a little bit about Wade…he’s the type of person I would trust with my life, literally.  When the zombie apocalypse happens, I’m heading to whatever bunker he’s defending and spraying bullets alongside him.  He’s extremely kind and would give someone the shirt off his back or drop what he’s doing to help someone in need. ..and he’ll do all these things while still being the same goofball he’s always been and making everyone around him laugh endlessly, what a combo!  Wade needed someone in his life to keep him focused, motivate him to chase his dreams, and to have thick enough skin to handle his shenanigans.  Man oh man did he find the perfect match when he met the beautiful and intelligent Hayley.

Hayley is the yin to Wade’s yang, the Jane to his Tarzan, the Adrian to his Rocky (YO Adriannnn!, shout out to Philly!) but she can let loose with the best of them, which is why she and Wade are so great together.  Wade and Hayley had been dating for what seemed like forever until Wade finally popped the question last year at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  The following is a play by play recap, all read by our special guest from Eagles Radio, Merrill Reese:

“It’s a beautiful evening here in the City of Brotherly love.  Hayley is spending a 'girls day' with her sister Mekena (the accomplice) and they head to the museum.  Ascending to the top of the “Rocky Steps”, Mekena asks Hayley to have a seat, put on a blindfold and listen to a very special recording…to Hayley's disbelief, she hears Wade’s voice, recorded over their special song!  Wade talks about how much he loves Hayley and how she is the one he wants to spend his life with, he describes how lyrics in the song are so fitting for the love they share and at the end of the song, Wade’s recorded voice asks Hayley to take off the blindfold, where she is met by Wade.  He’s down on one knee, ring in hand, he’s gonna do it, he’s gonna pop the question while both of their closest friends [that’s right, I was lucky enough to be there for this glorious moment!!] and family are standing behind him cheering.  This is it, this is the moment we’ve all been waiting for!!  He’s at the 30, the 20, the 10!!...Anticipation mounts in the air, we all hold our breath as Hayley shouts “no, I will not marry you!” THE END.  Hahaha just kidding, of course she said yes!!  TOUCHDOWN EAGLES!!!!”  [Cue the crowd pandemonium and fireworks!]

Everything is just that much more exciting when Merrill is reading it!  Fast forward about a year later and we return to the Philadelphia Museum of Art where Wade and Hayley’s journey to marriage began.  This time, we’re here to take engagement photos!  We scheduled the date well in advance knowing we all have busy schedules and then wouldn’t ya know it, the day the session rolls around, a cold front sweeps in and with it come some crazy winds.  I was wearing a warm jacket and pants but I was still cold...imagine how Hayley felt in that dress!  I’ll tell you what, for how cold and windy it was that day, these two were troopers.  I’m super thrilled with how the photos came out and that no one died of hypothermia.  I’m so blessed to have you two amazing people in my life and I can’t wait for your wedding!!

I love you two <3

-Steel Thunder

It’s so cliché but SO true when people say you can do anything you set your mind to.  Seriously, there is no way if you asked me a few years ago that I would think I’d ever be able to start my own photography business and even have a clue what I’m doing!  It always seemed so daunting, all the technical jargon…aperture, shutter speed, ISO, focal length, exposure, bokeh, the list goes on…how the heck can anyone learn all the technical aspects of photography without years and years of formal training?!

My head used to spin thinking about all these things so I would take my point-and-shoot camera, set it to the trusty AUTO setting and just take simple snapshots of family events and vacations.  That was great and all but I felt like I had no creative control, no ability to create an image the way I WANTED it to look.  I tried messing around with the settings on the little point-and-shoot camera (even the once-dreaded Manual setting, <DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS> lol) but that wasn’t enough, I needed something more, I needed that beautiful buttery bokehlicious background (alliteration much?!) to make my subjects jump off the screen.  It was time to invest in a DSLR camera.

I’m a self-described “gear guy”, I love gadgets, just ask my friends…they find it comical how I have random accessories for everything.  Ariel said it best: “I’ve got gadgets and gizmos aplenty, I’ve got who’s-its and what’s-its galore…you want thingamabobs?...I’ve got twenty!  But who cares, no big deal, I want MOREEEEEEE!” (props to anyone who just sang that line along with me, where are my Disney fans at?).  But seriously, when it comes to digital photography, there is a plethora of options available from so many different manufacturers, it was daunting!  I spent months researching and comparing before I finally made the decision to purchase my first entry-level Nikon DSLR camera with 50mm and 35mm prime lenses (and of course all kinds of fun gadgets to go along with the camera).  This is where the magic happened.

FINALLY, I was able to take photos and get that blurred out background with my subject in sharp focus, my rejoicing cheers resonated throughout the mountains and valleys across the great state of Pennsylvania (OK, maybe I just looked at the images and thought “WOW these look awesome!”…same thing!).  I spent the next year learning the craft, attending workshops, purchasing classes/learning materials from some of the best in the business, and reading anything I could get my hands on to help me grow as a photographer…which brings me to where I am today.

I breathed in deeply…then took the plunge by upgrading all of my gear to professional level equipment (the gadget lover in me did a heel click with glee!) and OOOOOH how I love my Nikon D750 as well as all of my pro lenses.  The image quality and the features are everything I’ve always dreamed of having.  Armed with high-end gear and a wealth of knowledge, I started my own photography business (cue the confetti!) and now I have great opportunities ahead!  It’s so exciting to be able to start this new journey and meet such incredible people along the way.  I really hope I’m able to impact people both in the way I treat them and with those special captured memories I provide to them.  Seeing the joy people have when they’re looking at an image I captured just plasters a big smile on my face…that’s all I could ever ask for! Like Buddy the Elf said: “I just like to smile, smiling’s my favorite!" :-)

Keep on smiling, everyone!
-Steel Thunder