I Just Can't Live Without You

Joanna & Charles have waited so long for their blog post! I have been so busy editing and shooting and then editing again that blogging has been low man on the totem pole. But I'm back!

Joanna & Charles got married this past September on a gorgeous fall day. It was such a fun wedding - everyone was awesome. There was even a groom's cake disguised as a pepperoni pizza. In a pizza box & everything! To make the night more interesting, the groom made a wager with his sister that he would eat ALL his food, since that tends to be something most brides & grooms miss out on. We were charged with collecting the photographic evidence - making sure we got every full plate and every empty plate. Needless to say, Charles emerged victorious! So, here are some fun photos from their wedding day...

The groomsmen made a side trip to Sonic for some burgers before the wedding. They had one rule to follow - no condiments!


The bride getting ready.


I love this photo! There was no full-length mirror in the room where Joanna was getting ready, so her sister brought her one. So, there's the bride, flanked by her sisters, her sister-in-law, and her mom.


Awesome colors!


The happy couple.


Bubbles during the last dance.




To view their slideshow, all you have to do is click here.

Joanna & Charles, thank you so much for your patience and congratulations!

I'm Living For Givin' the Devil His Due

You're probably wondering where I've been the past few weeks. Well, I've either been in front of my computer or out photographing. There was a minor head injury that had me laid up for a week, but other than that, I swear I haven't been lounging around watching television! I finally feel like I have a handle on my editing (thank you, patient clients) and I can make a (triumphant?) return to blogging.

As you know from previous food posts, I've been working on a book entitled Boston Homegrown. It profiles Boston-area restaurants/chefs who rely on locally-sourced foods - produce, meats, and fish. I am not in charge of the text, but I am in charge of the photographs. It has been an awesome inspiring experience. I have loved every minute of getting to know the chefs and the farmers. I thought photographers were a passionate bunch! The dedication and love that these men & women infuse into their days astounds me. I can't wait to share other food posts with you, and eventually the book, of course!

This summer, I visited a chef at his house and was greeted with an enthusiastic, "I hope you're hungry!" It was amazing! Now, I should preface this by saying, I'm no fish eater. My general rule is that if it swims/breathes underwater, I'm avoiding it. So what do I do when I am faced with a multi-course fish meal? Smile and eat it! For the purposes of this post, I'm just highlighting the clams!

These clams came straight from Pat Woodbury's and were super-fresh!


So fresh, in fact, that when I squeezed a little lemon juice on to this guy, he recoiled (in my head, it screamed, too, like a cartoon yelp). Yup. That's right. Still alive. And my lovely cheffing companion said, "Did it move? It's still alive! That's how fresh they are!" What a treat! Well, live clam, down the hatch you go!


Clams in a pan. Sort of like snakes on a plane, but less dangerous.


Cooked clams. These guys went on to garnish the main dish, but that's for another post.


It was a pretty amazing day! This is only a fraction of the photos I took. I imagine that you weren't expecting clams as my first post back, but rest assured there will be people pictures coming up, too!

(Re: post title - the song is by Blue Oyster Cult - both clams and oysters are a class of mollusks called bivalves, so that's pretty close. Plus, I have to save "Pulling Mussels" in case I get an actual mussel dish.)

And The Painted Ponies Go Up and Down

There is a lot of kissing in this post! That's what happens when you photograph people in love. I knew Michelle & Matt were going to be fun when I suggested meeting up in the city at 8a and they were totally game. Since the Boston Common teems with people on fall weekends, shooting in the early morning was the perfect solution!

Michelle & Matt climbed trees, broke into carousels, danced, and pretty much did everything I asked. I'd like to think the end result was totally worth it!













Thanks, Michelle & Matt, for being so awesome! I can't wait to photograph your wedding next spring! Hooray!

Close Your Eyes and Trust It

I'm trying something new today - a blog collage! Woo hoo! I learn something new every day. Doug and I traveled out to San Diego in September to photograph Adriane & Dave's awesome wedding. They got married at the beach on Coronado, with the Hotel del Coronado (and, of course, the Southern California landscape) in the background. The hotel holds a special place in my heart because they filmed Some Like It Hot there. If you haven't seen it, get to it.

Our base of operations in SD was the W Hotel and Adriane & Dave found themselves occupying the "Extreme Wow" suite, which was pretty amazing. Rumor has it that Tiger Woods shacked up there for a few weeks and the ladies just went in and out. Thank goodness for talkative hotel staff, huh?

This collage represents just a small fraction of the hotness that was their wedding. These two people are so much in love - it was an honor to be there to photograph their wedding day.



To see more, and set to music, you can always watch the slideshow! I highly recommend it.

Stay tuned for some of the photos from their non-traditional Day After Session!

Turn On Your Heartlight

Rochelle & Jim were my wedding clients way back in 2008. I guess that's only two years ago, but so much has happened since then, for all of us. Of course, one of the biggest things is that Rochelle & Jim recently became parents to this gorgeous little guy! How cute is he? They happened to time the birth perfectly since I was going to be out in Los Angeles only about a month later. Bicoastal baby photography. I'm all about it. I got to spend a wonderful afternoon hanging out with the new mother and her new son. Just look at how adorable this baby is! Wouldn't it be great if I could time trips to the west coast to coincide with the more milestone months? Like I'll go out when he's 6 months and then again when he's a year? That might be my plan!











I couldn't resist. This photo reminds me of the scene in E.T. (hence the title of this blog post).

Made My Decision That It's You Alright

Earlier this fall, I met up with Dave & Amanda for their engagement session. Doug & I road-tripped it down to Newport, RI to meet them on the Cliff Walk. It was a gorgeous sunny morning and we managed to beat most of the crowds. It's always a fun challenge to photograph people in busy places and try to make them look not so busy. Dave and Amanda are now married (that's how behind I am in blogging), so I figured it was time to finally post these!





We ducked into these little openings in the hedges and these narrow paths existed. I couldn't resist using them. It felt like we were in Wonderland.






Not only did we have a great engagement session, but Dave & Amanda's wedding was totally awesome! I can't wait to share those with you.

Things have been busy around here with weddings and family shoots. Just about all my weekends are booked for holiday sessions. Being a photographer means I start thinking about Christmas way earlier than the average person. In fact, just the other day I listened to my Christmas playlist on my iPod. Fun. I've also been spending a lot of time at restaurants and farms for the Boston Homegrown project I'm working on. I have a new appreciation for locally sourced foods and I can't wait to go back to all the places I've visited. I will try to profile them all here eventually.

In the meantime, I hope you all are enjoying this beautiful fall weather! After such a hot & humid summer, I think we deserve it!

I Like the Groove of Your Walk

This past summer, I got to hang with my friend, photographer Kristin Chalmers and second shoot for her at an awesome wedding. The bride and groom were great and so was working with Kristin. There are a ton of photos in this post, so bear with me.

The city of Boston, as seen from the Cambridge Hyatt.


One of the bride's little babies!


The rings!


As the second shooter, I got some quality time with the groom and the groomsmen. Be prepared for some awesomeness!




I wish I could collage all these, but alas, that's a skill (or software) I haven't acquired yet! I'll need to look around and see what I can find. These photos would look great all together.








All the men.


Some portraits during portrait time.






DJ Equipment.