After some inspiration and education from world renowned photographer Jake Hicks, I got together with my amazing model, hair, and makeup artist Heather Vellner for a fun experimental photography shoot playing with lights and colored gels. We had such a good time, and I just love the images we ended up creating. I would be thrilled if I could get some commercial fashion work down this vein, or even incorporate it into my heirloom portrait sessions.
"I came to Aliza right before I officially launched my communications consultancy. I wanted a fresh photo to use for my business website and social media accounts. I was searching for a photographer who could capture the polished, but relaxed style of my personal brand.
When I came across Aliza’s portfolio, I was drawn to her flattering headshot poses and use of light. I was captivated by the warmth and energy that came through her photographs. Her point of view is right in the sweet spot of natural, but professional; a difficult aesthetic to achieve.
Aliza made the process enjoyable and convenient. Rather than coordinating hair and makeup on my own, Aliza scheduled services for me in her studio space. During the session, Aliza had a relaxed, but efficient approach. There was plenty of time during the session to change wardrobe, try different poses and swap out backdrops.
I’ve coordinated dozens of photoshoots over the course of my career and can say that my experience with Aliza was one of the best. The most difficult part of the process was narrowing down the proofs and selecting only a couple of photos.
When I launched my website, I received several compliments on my headshot. It was certainly a flattering experience; family, friends and colleagues went out of their way to tell me how much they liked the photo.
A few months later, I asked Aliza to take a family photo for our holiday card. Despite a rambunctious puppy and slightly stress out husband, Aliza captured a sweet, fun photo of us.
It’s been a blessing meeting Aliza and working with her. I look forward to our next session."
Rose Cuozzo is a public relations consultant, offering a holistic, personalized approach to communications. Visit her web site at rcuozzo.com
We have had the pleasure of working with Aliza for our family photos the last two years running. (We plan it around my son's Birthday in late August, so we combine the two and use them for our holiday cards to boot!) Many of you can relate to the challenges of taking quality photos with an active toddler in tow. It's stressful, to say the least! Aliza put our son at ease with her energy, props, and cheerful personality - and subsequently my husband and I were able to relax as well. She likes to work with natural light in a variety of settings, and captures beautiful candid moments as well as some posed shots as desired. We ran all around Appleford Estate, and despite the heat she was able to wrangle all of us, her equipment and everyone's sanity while taking wonderful photos! Her prices are reasonable, and her playful yet professional style brings out the best in her subjects. I'd recommend Aliza Schlabach the next time you're in need of a photographer - just leave late August open for us!
"When it comes to Aliza I couldn't of asked for a better person to photograph my wedding and my engagement photos. I was skeptical about doing engagement photos because I feel they tend to look cheesy. After seeing the work she had crated and how classic our photos looked I knew I wanted her to photograph my wedding. She is very professional, consistent and so easy to work with. She really captures beautiful moments! I can't wait to have her capture another important milestone in our lives."
"I’m a picture person. I love photos of family and friends, and I have tons of them displayed all over my house. My favorite photos by far, however, are the ones Aliza has taken of my family. Aliza’s photos beautifully capture the moment in time in which they were taken, but what I love most about them is that she is magically able to capture the personality of each person in the photo. In those photos I see not only what my family looked like in 2015 or 2016, but rather my son’s silliness and playful spirit, my daughter’s thoughtfulness and affectionate nature, and my family’s love for one another. In addition to beautiful photos, I love that working with Aliza is so much fun! She is patient and kind, takes my kids' antics in stride, and always leaves me feeling like I just spent time with an old friend."
"We worked with Aliza for a family shoot when our son was 9 months old. Our son is one of those babies that is always on the move. He has a heart-melting smile, but will not smile on command, and hates to sit still. I was very apprehensive going into the shoot, thinking we probably should have done this before he started crawling. But afterwards I was beyond impressed with how many wonderful shots Aliza managed to capture of him, and us. While we would be quickly frazzled by him crawling out of a "pose", her energy was focused the entire time. She had props prepared to captivate his attention and was quick with her camera to catch him every time. Aliza was patient and we never felt rushed throughout the shoot. When we received our gallery from Aliza, it was hard to choose which photos to print as there were so many striking shots. When we finally decided and printed several photos, they were the first ones (and still the only ones!) to be hung on our walls in the 5 years we had lived in our home."
"I was also able to use one of the photos as a professional headshot, which was a great bonus. Aliza has a talent for headshots and adding just the right amount of drama to elevate any person in front of her lens."
"I was just looking over the photographs in my portfolio that Aliza took for me. With all of my designs I am inspired by the words, "fresh," and, "comfortable." My biggest goal is for people to be happy in their spaces. I just love how Aliza captured that fresh clean look with her photographs. I think that it's a combination of her straight camera angles, use of lighting, ability to capture color in natural light, and combination of expansive shots with detailed shots.
Her approach is also fresh because she'll find interesting compositions that I would never have thought of, and they work so nicely. For example, this image with the limes and green leaves is such a unique approach, and I love how she focused on the colors and patterns.
I imagine that at as a photographer it would be difficult to collaborate with other artists because each person has her or his own unique vision. I've never found this challenge with Aliza because she has such a warm personality and because I respect her style so much. She also took my headshots and I felt like I could be myself and show my personality because she's so comfortable to be around. I also liked how she gave me direction and I could just relax and leave it to her since she had so much knowledge and was invested in making me look good!
Looking at the images Aliza took make me feel happy, and I really feel that Aliza was able to capture my style in design and personality in her interior design photographs. What do you think?"
Larina Kase is an award-winning interior designer serving Philadelphia and the western suburbs. Visit her web site at http://larinakaseinteriordesign.com
"It's been almost two years since Aliza first took photos of my family. We first met when my parents were bringing my 93 year old grandmother to Philadelphia for my daughter's kindergarten graduation, and with a new baby girl at the time, it was the perfect opportunity to capture some special photos of the four generations at our home. The pictures she took of the four generations, and of my two daughters together, are among some of my favorite photos.
Last year Aliza took studio portraits of me and my girls, and even my Westie dog Humphrey. We started with photos of my older daughter and I together, which was such a treat to have this special mommy daughter time. We brought a bunch of clothes and accessories, and Aliza made us both feel at ease as we were posing and changing outfits. When the baby joined the photo shoot, Millie kept us all on our toes as she did not stop moving! I adore the photos of the girls, and of Millie by herself. But I wish we had a video that could show what it took to get these photos. Ha! The baby kept moving back and forth between the stools, so Abby had to follow her, and the dog was probably barking and all the while Aliza stayed so calm and snapped away on her camera!
This past summer we moved to Pittsburgh and I'm trying to figure out a time to come back to Philly. I'd love to have Aliza to take some headshot photos that I can use for my freelance business. Aliza has always been fantastic to work with, she's so sweet and talented. I love following her photography journey on FaceBook.
Oh - and I just remembered another favorite photo - of Abby twirling in her dress with a big scarf in her hands. It perfectly captured Abby's spirit and was so fun for Abby too."
"We were traveling to Philadelphia from Austin, Texas and in an attempt to avoid the heat thought it would be a nice experience to get our family pictures (with our 6 month old baby) while in town. Found Aliza through some recommendations and we loved the pictures. She easily spent 3 hours with us, and was tireless. She even did a mini-couples shoot of us while our baby napped, and she waited for the baby to regroup for some more pictures after her nap in the middle of the shoot. She brought awesome props, and was skilled at getting the baby to look at the camera! The whole process from contract to obtaining the photos was seamless."
After a mild winter, my kids and I were all excited to finally get a good snow day to stay home from school and play together. After a morning of snowball fights, making short fat snowmen, sipping hot chocolate, and playing video games, my daughter Maya and I dug out my box of tulle and together made this skirt. Then she actually agreed to walk over to Haverford College with me for a 15 minute photo shoot -- she was such a trooper and her own ray of sunshine in the bitter cold! We made magic together; this top photo is definitely going up on our wall! #PrintYourPhotos
