Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it. 

— Maya Angelou

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We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open. 

— Jawaharlal Nehru

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I did in fact manage to meet up with Rob Sanderson (Curve Photography - Liverpool, UK) today and we had a fantastic little adventure wandering around a village and taking photos together and talking about all sorts of things - from past clients who say mean things in public forums, to future goals and current life. I knew for sure that I liked him when he suggested a shoot using our umbrellas and a bench for props. In the photo below he didn’t have his sunglasses, so he used his circular polarizer as a monacle. It may be noted that we spent… oh, an hour? with our cameras propped up on our camera bags running to set the 10 second delay on our cameras and then running back to pose. And yes, those are my heart sunglasses from TopShop.

You have to know something about photographers, and that is that when we get together, we take photos of each other. All the time. We spent an additional 30 minutes at the end of our meeting with the 10 second delay running to jump up into a stone arch and then strike ninja poses. Anyway, here’s a good one of Rob.

Thanks for the great conversation, Rob. I’m still thinking about that idea that we have lost the craft aspect of photography. And next time, seriously… I need to meet Lou!

Posted in destination, inspiration, personal, photos, travel schedule 2 Comments »

I thought I’d say a few words about England since I’ve been here for awhile now. First of all, I consider this my first real visit. I went to London briefly as a tourist when I was in university, and got scolded by some Brits for standing somewhere I wasn’t supposed to near Buckingham Palace. Also my traveling buddy was badly harassed by the passport people at the airport for no real reason, so I wasn’t too fond of that visit to begin with.

The major thing I have noticed on this trip is that I prefer to visit with locals rather than see the sights. Some version of a combination of these things - being taken to local sights by local friends - is ideal. I’ve been hosted by a fantastic family and feel right at home eating meals around the dinner table and learning about why the English so love their gardens. Holmfirth where I am staying is a totally beautiful small town with quirky local highlights like a daytime soap opera about eccentric old people being filmed in town. The hills are gorgeous and make a wonderful little walk just at dusk when you can see the cows, residents, and patches of heather starting to peek through. Cheryl, my host ‘mom’ cooks great food and I had the best meal I’ve ever experienced in the British Isles the other day when she served Yorkshire Pudding and potatoes, followed by a good pudding (dessert cake of sorts).

I’m told my fake British accent is horrible and I should just say things the way I would say them… but it’s inevitable to find myself repeating words and phrases as people say them in a way that seems peculiar or charming to me — like the way they emphasize the syllables in the word ‘garage’ or ’schedule.’ People here actually say fortnight in daily conversation (it means 2 weeks) and measure their weight by stones (14 lbs).

Today I took the train into Manchester to meet up with beautiful Zoe. She’s one of those people you know you love the second you see them for the first time. Full of life and passion and heartfelt enthusiasm, I would look forward to one day hopefully shooting a wedding with Zoe! She took me on a tour of some posh stores, and we went up in this giant wheel to see the city from a great vantage point. Tomorrow, I am hoping to meet up with another wedding photographer friend called Rob.

Now that the wedding is over, I have been able to relax a bit. I had hoped to be more productive in the evenings with processing sessions and keeping up with my email, but I have to admit I am so tired and out of ‘business’ mode that I am finding it difficult. Once I am back in Boston it will be nonstop sessions and processing for the next two months. Can’t I just stay here and photograph the cows for a bit?

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this has nothing to do with wedding photography. and everything to do with wedding photography.

I miss you, sir. I wish you were here faking a british accent with me.

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I made it to the UK and have had two cups of proper tea today in order to adjust to the time difference. There are lots of things about this place that I love already!

But for now I wanted to leave you with two links.

1. Awhile back, Tiffany gave the juxtaposition sessions some great press by blogging about her session over at weddingbee. More to come soon. [link] I love press on this project! I really want a gallery show in November or January.

2. Last week I did a workshop with groundbreaking Las Vegas based photographer John Michael Cooper of Alt-F. Let’s just say he’s the guy who invented the idea of ‘trash the dress’ or what has morphed into my fearless bridals — as in, not limiting the dress to sit in a box forever without being properly commemorated. At the end of the workshop, we watched him do an art bridal shoot…. recreating [in the rain] the image of little red riding hood (look carefully in the right side foreground for the wolf, which was actually his dog). We then watched as he made a composite of about 10 images to bring his final product to life. Intense and stunning. And too much work for me! Also of great note is my backside prominently featured as I was photographing jmc doing the zipline swing halfway through the video at the bottom. [ link to blog post ]

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I wanted to share some photos from a recent family session I did with the G family in Wisconsin. I only do family stuff by special commission — I have found that expectations from a family session vary wildly but usually end up centering upon finding the perfect, smiley ‘Christmas card shot.’ And that’s not really me - I do creative lifestyle portraiture, a day in the life of you, and intimate glimpses into the real deal. So when little Drew was checking out the light fixture in fascination while mom and dad snuggle… that’s what I love.

[ for an afternoon of imperfect, perfect portraits, go here ]

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So, I have had this idea for a long time, and only recently been able to execute it.

Heather, who is due on July 31, was an excellent model and didn’t flinch when I brought her to the area of crazy construction just outside Boston where I had scouted my signs — she even suggested that she’d be happy to sit on the curb near the traffic for this shot. Noted: it is surprisingly awkward to pose a very pregnant woman with a large orange sign next to a busy highway.

And the photo below is dedicated to Rima. It is one of the bizarre disembodied baby heads, a bronze installation (Antonio López García’s El dia y la noche) outside Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts near where we live. This makes me laugh a lot - both at the fact that Heather was all for traveling to get this shot after I told her it was just for a joke, and at the fact that these disembodied baby heads exist.

[ more of the hilarious attempts at getting the BUMP photo to work: here ]

On a serious note, my wedding clients all have the benefit of complimentary maternity and newborn sessions with me. I’ll be launching a more formal BUMP site eventually, but right now I’m just trying to get our Boston boudoir photography site off the ground.

Posted in clients, personal, portraits 2 Comments »