ILLUMINATION
STUDIOS
About
GABE and MOLLY
11 years together has seemed like a lifetime of growth. We went from being kids to being wise adults who have it all together and are perfect parents, mates and entrepreneurs.
​
OH wait.
​
Our shit might not smell like roses, but we discovered along the way that we were both passionate about the same stuff. Through the challenges of life we realized our calling is to come along side couples and families and support them in their journey. To capture the ordinary and extraordinary moments of connection to look back on when times get tough or your most important relationships need a refresh.
About Illumination Studios
A Bit More About Us
We have never adhered to "normal". Met at military processing, got married six weeks later. Might have a joint collection of Star Wars stuff in our gym.
​
We live on a small homestead north of Pittsburgh. Growing our own food and being outdoors adventuring are significant parts of our lives. We want to raise our four children to value hard work and integrity. To be set apart from the "me" culture, consumerism and hamster wheel of average society.
​
Photography unlocked a huge piece of Molly's soul while Gabe was deployed six years ago. (Why are we going third person here? Are you going to stop us?)
Gabe, after enduring ridiculous 80 hour work-weeks with the Pittsburgh Police, decided it was time to cut back and help build the family business. Always in need of a creative outlet, videography quickly became a life-calling.
​
We are passionate about people. It's not just a job to pay the bills. But a worthwhile pursuit of building long-term relationships. If you just want a picture for your Christmas card or laptop background, we aren't your people. If you want fun and real souls to capture YOUR real, then we would definitely love to be your partners in crime. Life. Whatever.
Testimonials
"We first met Molly when she did an in-home session for us after our baby was born. She is my go-to recommendation if you need a photographer! My house is going to be just a gallery of her pictures soon. We had the pleasure to meet Gabe recently for another in-home session but for a video session. The two of them together is *chefs kiss! They work so seamlessly together and are so respectful of guidance from the other person. We literally had nothing planned for the video session yet they got the most incredible footage. I am beyond impressed to see how talented Gabe is and the natural eye he has! Molly and Gabe are such a good team. I cannot recommend them enough."
Molly and Gabe are both fantastic at what they do, and both work so hard to make a session with Illumination Studios easy, comfortable, and fun for their clients. You won’t find a more talented family business with the same care and passion for the quality of the experience they offer their clients anywhere else. Molly was the photographer for my senior pictures for high school, and for my brother’s as well. My parents wanted to find some way to make part of it into a family session and get some family pictures in as well, and we are so thankful that Molly was able to figure out a way to do that because the experience of taking the photos and the excitement and joy once we got them back was amazing. Both experiences I’ve had with Illumination were fun and focused on what the client wanted and felt most comfortable doing, and the results were breathtaking—many were immediately deemed worthy by my parents to frame and display around the house (which is a high honor here). If you want to support a family business with incredible talent, breathtakingly good results, and great value, I would highly recommend Illumination Studios.
Booking Gabe as our videographer was on of the best decisions we made when planning our wedding. He was extremely easy to work with and made us feel so comfortable in front of the camera. Throughout the day he was extremely professional, worked alongside our photographer, and went the extra mile to get some amazing shots. The final product left us speechless. He beautifully captured the sweetest moments of our day in a way that felt perfectly "us". Our video is an artifact we'll cherish for the rest of our lives and we can 't wait to one day watch it with our kids. I highly recommend hiring Gabe as your wedding videographer.
Lisa Driver, MI
We have used Molly twice now for family photos. On the business end she is direct and responsive. There is no hidden fee's with her service and she is very professional.
As for her artistic eye she is "Brilliant" and captures moments that you would not expect. She really does go the extra length to make you feel like your session was very important.
Side note she is great with Men who don't like to get family photos! My husband was more involved in our littles one photo shoot then I was and it melted my heart!
Let's Get
Social
