June 30, 2009
I have a special place in my heart for intelligentsia.
Together Jeff and Livia hold ridiculous amounts of degrees from the following institutions: Caltech, MIT, Harvard… and she wanted to shoot at Harvard’s campus even though I did my best to convince them of MIT’s greatness.
So on a recent rainy day (sound familiar, Boston?) we found our way through the Harvard science building. I love the eccentric mix of industrial-academic that MIT does so well, and this Harvard location did not disappoint.
A classic moment was when I caught the two of them discussing the structure of the molecule that was hanging above the staircase. NERDS!
Finally, no smart-people engagement session would be complete without some faux-awkwardness. Presenting: the yawn-stretch!
[ more photos here ]
Posted in clients, engagements, ethnic wedding 
5 comments »
June 27, 2009
This weekend I am in Maine for Seth and Maggie’s wedding. They really wanted me to come for their rehearsal dinner, and now I know why. These two hired a live band and contra caller to treat their guests to a contra-dance (= “New England Folk Dance”)! I’ve always seen fliers up at MIT for contra-dance, and I even saw one happening after-hours in a classroom once, but I wasn’t sure about what to expect. I have to say, the event was AMAZING! Everyone in the room was laughing and participating; even the few who didn’t dance were having a great time. The caller was talented and talked everyone through every step, so even people who don’t dance could do this easily.
I recommend it! Why now throw a contra-dance for your rehearsal dinner?!
Also, does anyone know about contra-dance opportunities in Boston or north of Boston? I hope Lowell has something.
Posted in event, wedding 3 comments »
June 23, 2009
We spent the past few days in Phoenix, Arizona hanging out with Ali’s family as we celebrated his sister’s graduation from med school. Phoenix welcomed us beautifully at dusk/sunset and I photographed the images above at the car rental pickup area. Since I am extremely sensitive to heat, summer travels to hot places (Dallas, LA, Phoenix) are not always the most fun for me, but I fell in love with Arizona’s generous dusk during this visit. I loved flying in as the sun began to drop, but then enjoyed the soft light for the next hour and a half. (Sunday temps were up to 105!!)
One thing that disturbed me was USairways selling adspace on my tray table. Invasive!
To see a bunch of candid family photos, go to my portrait site decenturbanlifestyle.
Posted in personal, travel schedule respond with comment »
June 20, 2009
Here are some shots from a 2008 trip into New York City for a workshop.
The images were taken with a plastic toy camera, the Lomo fisheye. Unfortunately even though I rally against people using CVS photo counters for prints I got the film developed there, to unhappy color results.
I really like the low-quality look of these distorted images shot through plastic. Sometimes it’s a nice change!
Posted in destination, for photographers, inspiration, personal 1 comment »
June 20, 2009
I’ve always loved saguaro cactus (pronounced “suh-war-o”). They’re found only in the Sonoran Desert (s Arizona, se California, nw Mexico). According to the WHEREguestbook:
“The iconic plant starts out slowly, growing a mere inch or two in its first eight years, but eventually leaps skyward and, between 50 and 70 years, starts sprouting ‘arms’ — the things that look like they’re waving or saluting passerby.”
Cool, huh?
(x-posted at mergeweddings and decenturbanlifestyle)
Posted in destination, inspiration, personal, travel schedule respond with comment »
June 18, 2009
“A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.”
—Mignon McLaughlin
Posted in wedding, wisdom respond with comment »
June 16, 2009
I’ve got too many tabs held open in firefox, so I thought I’d share some of the interesting things I have found in the past week of browsing online, and also a little of what’s going on in my life.
- CT photographer Carla ten Eyck has some fabulous floral creations featured from a recent shoot on her blog… check these out! (scroll down 1/3)
- Lowell-based Ashley and Rich of Pizzuti Studios are brilliant. They have mapped out the time a wedding photographer invests into a typical wedding. It seems ridiculous when you put it on paper, but I’d agree with about 95% of their numbers. Here.
- Lifehacker, one of my favorite sites to read every morning, suggests you can be more photogenic by forgetting about the camera. Here.
- This is fantastic! Barry Obama, the freshman. Here.
- If you’re interested in seeing the behind-the-scenes action of a great photographer, I’d recommend the book about iconic fashion and celebrity portrait photographer Richard Avedon as he photographed regular people on-location in the American west. Avedon at Work: In the American West is a really interesting read. Check it out from your local public library system!
- Awhile ago I had the pleasure of meeting up with and photographing my friend Gitonga Mbaya, a photographer in Kenya currently shooting weddings for a living. My new travel dream is to get over to Africa this December to check out their crazy wedding season firsthand. Since Kenyans are on holiday from work and school all month in December, people apparently get married on every day of the week!
- I’ve been shooting a LOT of studio maternity lately… and I LOVE it. Wondering if that’s my next specialization? Womens’ bodies are amazing. More on my portrait blog, decent urban lifestyle.
- NYT: The Joy of Less. Here.
- We’re gearing up for some major travel in upcoming weeks. We’re headed to Phoenix, NYC, Chicago, Los Angeles, Maine, Dallas, and BULGARIA (!!) in the next two months.
PERSONAL, health-related.
- My carpal tunnel issues are flaring up again in both wrists
. This makes editing, writing, and doing anything with email even MORE time-consuming than it already is. I am headed back into Boston on Wednesday for some more acupuncture with my brilliant nonwestern practitioner - Rebecca Ong-Sutherland works her magic to balance out bodies for health (she not only helps my wrists, but also allergies! Boston Alternative Health.
- Also I am very convinced that everyone my age and younger WILL suffer wrist problems in their 30s. We are so computer-focused and treat ergonomic workstation solutions like they’re uncool. Check out these carpal tunnel stretches, here.
- Our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share starts this week! We’re sharing our weekly box of locally-grown produce with Anne and Alex Ruthmann who live down the street. They even have a pick-your-own flower patch I hope to utilize for some shoots this summer. WorldPEAS.
Posted in fearless bridals, for photographers, inspiration, personal, random links, travel schedule 4 comments »
June 15, 2009
- a photo from 2003 with my fujifilm finepixcamera
I am ridiculously inaccurate when I try to describe time in years off the cuff… but great at remembering things in relation to other influences in my life. Today, minus five years, is the time when a mommy-blogger-with-a-camera influenced a decision that would in turn influence the direction of my career.
I was talking with some other photographers recently about people who inspire us. I asked them to give me the name of one person who has influenced them the most lately, and Tomme mentioned that the work of Tanja Lippert is the reason she switched from Canon to Nikon equipment.
Her statement took me instantly back to the time when I was finishing up grad school in Pasadena, California and made a somewhat spontaneous decision to upgrade my camera. At the time I was shooting obsessively and acting like a professional with one of those fujifilm point and shoot cameras that makes you think you have a “real camera” but really isn’t that great (for laughs, see: my first “photo shoot” march 2002!). I was researching a good starter camera and had decided on the Canon Rebel. The day before I was going out to make my big purchase, I read a post by one of my favorite bloggers, dooce, who had just gotten her first DSLR. Dooce is hilarious and descriptive which, scarily, made me trust her judgment, so without reading much more than her blog post about the camera [link] and a quick price comparison, I decided on the Nikon D70. Dooce and I purchased our cameras within days of one another, and have both come a LONG way with photography and life since June 2004, and it makes me laugh to think that she had so much influence over the first major decision in what became my full-time photography career.
When friends and acquaintances are shopping for cameras, they often ask which cameras I’d recommend. I’m still a big fan of the Nikon D90 (the love child of the D70 and D80) but also appreciate the compact size and indie feel of my husband’s Ricoh point and shoot.
Thinking back to my Dooce-induced purchase exactly five years ago makes me nostalgic. I shot my first event with the camera about two weeks later… a July 4 wedding in Malibu. This past April I was back in LA for a real wedding booking, and Ali and I drove past the site from that first wedding, where Sunset Blvd hits the ocean, and I was thankful for all of the people who have come into my life since that time.
Posted in fearless bridals, for photographers, inspiration, personal, travel schedule 5 comments »
June 14, 2009
I have finally settled on session pricing for 2009. I decided to lower the session fee for my lifestyle portrait sessions, but bump up prices on prints. Check out the info over here [link]. Lots of hot mamas, cute kids, and families in all their quirkiness. Send your friends over there!
decenturbanlifestyle.com - my portrait site
Posted in clients, family session, portraits, promotions respond with comment »
June 12, 2009
Eileen, Wouter and I spent much of our time in the Frank Gehry-designed Stata Center on the campus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge MA. The building is very “community” designed with an open interface and crazy architecture. I think it’s a delightful building, but many of MIT’s engineers hate it because of its structural challenges (apparently, it leaks when it rains!).
We also spent time in Wouter’s Physics department offices with the colorful floor tiles. Finally, we stopped out at the MIT boathouse, a site of their first date, for a few charming, cuddly outside photos.
I’m really looking forward to photographing Wouter and Eileen’s wedding at Park Street Church next month.
What you won’t want to miss from the photo set — a series we themed “the hot T.A.”
[ more photos here ]
Posted in clients, engagements, ethnic wedding 12 comments »