Jami and Chris

This past Saturday I had the honor and pleasure of photographing the wedding of Jami and Chris. I'll just come out and say it--I love these two! They are so much fun to be around and are clearly one of those very lucky couples--totally cool, totally fun and totally in love.

















The ceremony was at the most beautiful location in Colebrook--Camp Jewell. There is a gorgeous spot built into a hillside overlooking the water. While the weather was less than perfect when we met up that morning, the clouds broke just in time for them to exchange vows.

























Jami and Chris's two dogs were the ringbearers, which made for some good laughs during the ceremony. This is a classic Jami face--her beautiful smile.

Here are a few shots from earlier in the morning:

The reception was at Chatterly's in New Hartford. I haven't had a chance to get through all of my pictures yet, but here's one that jumped out at me. And no--it's not because it's a bunch of shot glasses--I just liked the look of it!

Marblehead, Massachusetts

Well, Tim and I managed to get away for two nights and two days to Marblehead. Finn stayed with his Nana and Grandpa on the Cape and had a grand ol' time without us!

We stayed at a beautiful B&B called the Seagull Inn. I will post pics of the actual place next time--I haven't had a chance to go through all of my pictures yet.

What a neat town! Tim and I are both particularly fond of historic, seaside villages. We love the old houses, the history, the charm. Whenever we go places like this, we come back wishing we could move there! Here are a few shots from our first day walking around historic Marblehead:

This is the gate to a gigantic castle/mansion by the water. Some of the homes we saw there were crazy!























Another cool spot we spent some time at was this old cemetary. The oldest stone we found was dated 1690. There were likely older ones whose dates were simply too eroded to read anymore. It was amazing to note how much shorter peoples' lives were back then, too. Lots of children and young adults...
























How's this for a spooky, old tree in a 325 year old graveyard? Let's just say I was glad it was daytime.

When we arrived, our hosts asked us if we had visited the world's ugliest lighthouse yet! It's pretty small in this picture. (And actually kind of cool looking.)

Tim and I on the street. Dreaming of owning one of the beautiful, old homes. As long as it is not haunted. Seriously.







Red door at Fort Sewall, 1644.

When Nature Calls...

Well--we went away this past weekend. Drove to the Cape on Thursday after work. This is Finn in a church parking lot on the way. (I know, I know, a church? It was the best place to pull over, I swear! And look--we went all the way to the edge!)

Seriously, how long can a 3 year old hold it?!

Rediscovery Workshop, Part Three

Okay. No time to waste here, guys. I am supposed to be packing and going to bed early, but I really wanted to add a few more workshops pics. After shooting the lovely ladies featured in previous posts, we went a little "field trip" with the sexy model-couple/photographer-duo Justin and Mary Marantz. They were crazy good!

One of the hardest parts about shooting couples is how self-conscious most people feel posing for pictures--especially for these prolonged (and often very public) engagement shoots. It is hard to get people to act naturally and to forget you are there, which is often when you grab the most authentic shots. Not so with Justin and Mary! They were up for whatever anyone could think of to make them do!

Gotta love the socks.

Rediscovery Workshop, Part Two

Just a glimpse at what it is like to model for a photography workshop:

















I can't imagine how it feels to have so many cameras pointed at you all at once, but these girls held their own!

































Here I take advantage of a very cool, very creative pose set up by Kiva Sutton of Annandale Photography:





I usually change many more of my images to black and white in post-production, but these models had such fun and colorful "selves"--hair, tattoos, clothes, make-up--I felt much more attached to the images' color than I usually do!
























We were so spoiled at this workshop. Not only did we have Carla and Steve as our world-class instructors, but we had the most incredible models to work with. Here is Nicole Frechette, a local country singer:

I still have quite a few more I'd like to share. But it's about time I wrap this post up and get to bed! Stay tuned for Part Three...

Rediscovery Workshop, Part One

I had the pleasure of attending an amazing photography worksop last week hosted by the super talented Carla Ten Eyck and Steve Depino. What a day! Carla and Steve invited us all to re-examine why we got into photography in the first place. What is it about photography that first captured us? What can we do to feel inspired again?

They also pushed each of us to think about how we would like to learn and grow technically. We were encouraged to shoot in a way that was new to us--to use a lens we don't often use, to try an angle or a perspective we never shoot from. This was a great exercise. I grabbed my 85mm lens that I have only owned for a short time and have only used on a couple of occasions. I knew I liked this lens for close-up, intimate portrait shots, but I made myself use it almost exclusively that day--even when we shot our model couple, Justin and Mary Marantz. I have to admit--it frustrated me at times because I kept wanting to "go wide" and fall back on my usual lens, but I knew this was a perfect opportunity to play and to experiment.

This workshop was awesome. I feel like it absolutely inspired me and I just loved having an opportunity to work with and learn from the many other talented photographers who attended.

I must also give a shout out to my favorite hairdresser, Kerry, from Cahoots Salon in Avon. She did a superb job on our models' hair and make-up. Wait till you see these ladies! The models were such naturals--none of them are "real-life" models but they all rocked their shoots!

Here is Cara. Her expressions were perfect:

Her sister, Jamie, was also workin' it:

Okay--so this is my first blog post EVER and it has taken me way too long! My poor 3 year old has been entertaining himself behind me for just about the whole time and we are overdue for dinner! I have plenty more to add and until I post this am not sure my pictures are going to post as nicely as I hope--size and quality--so if they don't, I may re-post them later.

Anyway--this post is To Be Continued...