We’re so excited to be bringing our very popular hotel boudoir sessions back to Boston, MA and Rhode Island.

Dates: September 22-October 9, 2010

Location: hotel, studio, or your own home (Boston, MA and Providence, RI)

COST: $300+

We have several spots available each day of the hotel promotion (September 30-October 3). To reserve your preferred date and time, email carol@mergeweddings.com and ask any questions you might have. Friends wanting to book out three slots in one day will each receive an additional $100 product credit (hotel or individual sessions).

Want to see a sample gallery? Check out this poolside session at a private residence in Phoenix, Arizona!! LINK (code: poolside)

Note: Images are never shared without full permission of the client.

Want to read more about our work and clients? Check out the boudoir archives.

Rachel specializes in elegant black and white images of women of all ages and all sizes. Her work is tasteful, natural, and brings out the best in the women she photographs. She has been recognized by Boston Magazine and Daily Candy as one of Boston’s premiere boudoir photographers.

Many women choose to give a boudoir folio to their husband as a gift on the wedding day or anniversary, though increasingly our clients schedule these sessions to celebrate milestones such as pregnancy, weight loss goals, career changes, or other celebrations of independence and life.

Posted in MA, boudoir, promotions, travel schedule No Comments »

Just wanted to pop in and share some fun scans from film I just got back. I had forgotten what was on the rolls — the left is my husband in Bulgaria, and the right is my friend and fellow photographer Maggie in Washington, DC.

Posted in destination, personal, travel schedule No Comments »

I’ve been traveling since Thursday for a wedding commission in Pennsylvania. Along the way, I have seen Hershey’s Chocolate World, laid on the ground on a grassy hill, had more apple cider and donuts, and photographed a fantastic wedding for Jenny and Matt. Today traveled through Gettysburg PA for lunch and Washington DC to play at the National Art Gallery (canoeing the Potomac was rained out). Tonight we even ate at an Egyptian restaurant in Alexandria! Tomorrow I’ll be headed out to meet a fellow photographer for lunch at an Afghan restaurant, and then off to the Bryn Mawr area to meet up with one of my 2006 wedding clients who has since started her own freelance florist company. It’s always tough for me to be away from home and away from Ali for more than a few days, but I have been surrounded by such interesting people and happy experiences I don’t regret a minute. Driving around in the glorious seasonal transition to autumn is nothing but a delight.

Posted in personal, travel schedule 1 Comment »

Ali and I are traveling in Bulgaria this week after shooting a wedding in a small mountain town called Ribaritsa (near Teteven, Bulgaria). We had a wonderful time getting to know the eclectic group of world travelers that Ali and Anni (who are fellow Bostonians) count among their friends; many of whom traveled long distances to get to the wedding.

The ceremony itself took place outside, in view of the mountain, on Saturday around 7:30pm (it gets dark around 8:30 here and it’s very hot, with temperatures similar to the summer I know in the midwest or northeast United States)…

It’s funny to me when getting to know new acquaintances, the subject of profession always comes up, and it seems like people are often surprised that photography is my full-time job (did you think I was an Uncle Bob at the wedding?!). The next statement inevitably has to do with how fun my job must be and how lucky I am to get to travel. While there is no doubt I LOVE what I do and feel lucky that clients love my work enough to fly us across the world to share their wedding, I have to postscript that idea with the fact that now my husband and I are walking around a notoriously crime-filled country with $8k worth of gear on our backs (we can’t leave it at a hostel unsecured while we sightsee!), we don’t speak the language and many Bulgarians know no English… I have three copies of the wedding photos in different places in case of corruption, theft, or other problems. Honestly, even travel within the US is a giant pain because it means going through security with heavy bags full of electronics that simply cannot be checked. So shooting weddings outside of a driving-distance seems glamorous and can provide amazing and interesting life experiences… but it is not easy or lucrative. I love to travel and learn about different cultures so I choose this life heartily… but believe how many times on this trip I have re-thanked my husband for being pack mule, body guard, and moral support all in one. He’s learning cyrillic for fun – it’s like a secret code for him. And I am incredibly thankful for our new Bulgarian speaking friends who translated so many menus, train schedules, and customs for us.

Indeed, I took many photos of the wonderful Bulgarian wedding, which will be available in about two weeks here at mergeweddings.com. In the meantime, here are a few miscellaneous photos from our point and shoot…. and Ali and I are off to eat our share of Shepherd’s Salad, hearty Bulgarian bread, and visit ancient Roman architecture. As the Bulgarians say, ciao ciao!

Posted in destination, ethnic wedding, personal, travel schedule, wedding 2 Comments »

The past month we have been traveling nonstop – every weekend a new location and a new event! I’ve done weddings in Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Maine, Massachusetts, and California recently. This weekend we’re headed out to Chicago to be guests at a wedding and then we’re off to eastern Europe!

I’ll be back in the office on Monday and Tuesday (July 27 and 28) doing minimal administrative work while packing for Europe, then from Wednesday, July 29 through Friday, August 7 I will be offline and having adventures abroad in Bulgaria. Any print orders placed during this time will have an inadvertent extra 7 day delay in fulfillment.

________________________________________________

Now for the really fun part…. a contest! I really enjoyed our “love shoot” promo from February, so I wanted to open up another contest for a new england couple.

{ DETAILS HERE!!! }

Posted in ethnic wedding, inspiration, promotions, travel schedule, wedding No Comments »

I don’t often show much from my boudoir sessions, as the privacy of my clients is of highest concern, and these intimate photos are meant for an audience of one: the beloved.

Images I do post are with the permission of the subject, and usually do not show identifiable face to further protect privacy.

I think human bodies are beautiful.

For booking information or to schedule a boudoir portrait session, email me at boudoir@mergeweddings.com.

Posted in boudoir, engagements, inspiration, portraits, travel schedule 1 Comment »

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 No Comments »

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 No Comments »

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 5 Comments »

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 »