I’ve finished my second day of seminars here at the weddingMBA convention in Phoenix, Arizona. I finally met some people today, despite the fact that I’ve been pretty introspective and not as social as usual the past two days with all of these back-to-back seminar topics.

Today I enjoyed eating at Thai Elephant near the Phoenix Convention Center with Jason and Roz from Screaming Light Studios, wedding photographers based out of Las Cruces, NM. I found it really interesting to discuss regional differences in our client base.

Phoenix is… so, so hot! I don’t think I could ever live out here.

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Just a quick note to let you all know that I will be away from my office next week - I’ll be in Phoenix, Arizona for a conference. I will be carrying a light office hour schedule, telecommuting from across the country, but want to let you know that things like print orders and accessing image files will be delayed by one week.

I’ll take a picture with cacti for you!
mwah*

Posted in travel schedule 2 Comments »

So… Ali and I came here to San Jose to attend his cousin’s big fancy Persian wedding - of all the weddings I have been to this year, this is only the SECOND I have been able to attend as a guest. Although it was really difficult for me to stay in my seat, we enjoyed dancing (and eating!) at Niloufar and Amir’s wedding. I found it really interesting to see a Persian wedding from the ‘other side’ since so much of our own day in February was somewhat distracted by being at the center of everyone’s attention.

I decided to go get my hair styled since all the Persian women get so fancy for weddings, and when I took it down it was this amazing mess of curls and pins and hairspray. I had her add a few braids to funkify the updo a bit, which you can actually see in the photo below even after I took it down. Also, it’s really nice to see my husband after being away for the UK wedding for 10 days.

I’m here in San Jose for two more days. This morning I happened to get sucked into MTv (we don’t have it at home) and spent the first couple of hours watching ‘my super sweet sixteen’ — and omg those two Persian girls they featured were just as out of control as the other party throwers. What in the world are we coming to if this kind of thing is normalized for sixteen year olds? Lavish parties ($30k-200k), live entertainment that costs more than a wedding itself, being carried in on chaises carried by buff, oiled hott guys, brand new sports cars as gifts, and the ‘I need to be the hottest girl at the party by having the most expensive custom-made dress’ mentality. The funny part is that now they’re doing this feature where two years after their OOC 16th party the kids are profiled (apparently all still living off their parents and living lives of extreme leisure) and the parents surprise them by exiling them off to remote locations for hard labor to teach them a lesson. It’s pretty hilarious and disturbing. Ludicrous really is the word here.

Well, with that notable start to the day, I’m off for some crazy processing of some of the thousands and thousands of images that have built up over the past few weeks.

Posted in destination, ethnic wedding, personal, photos, travel schedule, wedding 7 Comments »

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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What an honor to be here with Beth and Dave as they prepare for their married life. Everyone is stressed out and excited and yesterday about 25 people spent 5 hours decorating the art gallery where the reception is to be held. I don’t usually see the back end of weddings, so the amount of detail work and small tasks actually astounded me. Luckily these English folk stop for a tea and cookie break… or else I might have fainted!

Anyway, I got a chance to spend awhile with Beth and Dave in the park the other day. We took some fun photos together. Here are some of Dave’s favorites.

[ my favorite 20 photos here ]

[ many more photos here ]

Posted in destination, engagements, photos, portraits, travel schedule, wedding 3 Comments »

So, life has been crazy busy as I prepare to leave for England for Beth and Dave’s wedding near Manchester, England. I just realized yesterday that I am leaving on MONDAY which equals way less than a week to prepare. I still need to find UK adapters for my electric gadgetry. And I’ve been accumulating rush fees galore as I order last minute batches of prints from my lab to fulfill the last print orders.

note: Print orders received from this point through August 25 will experience at least a two week delay in processing. (Don’t let that stop you from ordering though!!! Your print orders keep us in business.)

Scheduling things has been absolutely insane. I’m glad so many people want to do shoots, but when I look at my calendar for the next two months and have every single week planned out for me, I get just a little bit sad. When I first started working out of my home office, I imagined that I would have blissful and carefree afternoons eating ice cream in-between international wedding travels. Instead… lately it seems like all I have been doing is scurrying to photo shoots trying to make it to the post office, and spending copious amounts of time attached to my macbook pro. Where’s my ice cream?

I went to the post office to finally get a PO box (P.O. Box? po box? PO BOX?) today, and it was quite the ordeal. You need two forms of photo id, proof of residency, and I am convinced my Post Office Worker Nemesis created a rule about needing government-issued EIN documentation (which I don’t have because it is not required documentation for a sole proprietor) to prove your business. My POWN (I just found out his name is Jim) certainly likes his rules and regulations.

Who is going to be the first to send something lovely to my new box?

PO box 200567
Boston MA 02120-1677

(outtake from a session with two year old twin boys from last summer)

In the meantime, as I clean up all the post-its all over my desk, I wanted to leave you with some delightful discoveries I have made in the last few weeks.

• Elizabeth Park in West Hartford CT. Nate and Marilee (whose Newport Rhode Island wedding I photographed almost exactly two years ago) took me there for their complimentary baby session. (They’re the ones who chose the name Natalie for their daughter because it is a combination of their names… and if they went with a family name would have ended up with something like ‘Laetitia.’) Anyway, Elizabeth Park is the most wonderful, maintained and FREE public park I have ever seen. It’s huge and clean and has rose gardens and beautiful little woods… and I actually LIKED the gazebo there because it was covered in ivy and landscaped in with these beautiful flowering hedges. (I have developed this aversion to gazebos… from seeing too many bad wedding venues through the years.) If you’re looking for a place for photos in mid-Connecticut, or just someplace to hang out with your family — this is a great option!
• Bangs. This is random but I had a boudoir session with a woman the other day, and both she and my boudoir stylist were rocking the funky bangs. And my recent meeting with Cambridge illustrator Julia convinced me that I might be up for updating my look sometime soon. Can I pull it off in a slightly punk rock manner?
• Lasermonks.com. Real Savings, Real Monks. Supporting Real People. You guys know you can purchase your printer cartridges from monks, right? I love them! I used to occasionally order our office supplies from my MIT desk job through them and felt real subversive for avoiding the usual Office Depot generic supply order. And I just placed my most recent toner cartridge order this morning. The hilarious add-on gift items when you’re ready to check out completes the experience. Holy Hot Chocolate, here I come!
• Singer-songwriter Amy Lou Hettinger. I heard Amy Lou sing at a recent coffeehouse kind of thing and I love her sound and charming Kentucky personality. She’s a Kentucky transplant who wrote this great song (not currently available on myspace) called love song to the people in the city when she was living in cambridge that I want to use as background music for slideshows. She rocks. Amy is also available to sing at your wedding! Except she just infomed me that she is moving to Alaska (amyhettinger@gmail.com)

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Yesterday I shot a wedding in Springfield MA with Marie Cox of Phreckles Photography. I got to hang out in Northampton MA last night with some of my favorite people, and it just so happens I found a cat in the bathtub this morning. I have recently realized that a disturbingly large percentage of my favorite people come with cats.

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Thank you SO MUCH to those who I’ve been working with to schedule bridal sessions for the juxtaposition project. I’ve only released two edits out of the four we’ve shot so far, and already everyone seems to love the work. And those of you who have helped on the session, pointed people in my direction, and sent words of feedback and encouragement (you know who you are)… I LOVE YOU.

I have been making the first girls wait a bit while I get things in order, but now I am pleased to announce that the final design is in. I hired James Kershaw to design a graphic to work as a standalone and to layer over the juxtaposition photos… for display and for the BOOK PROJECT… and he did a fantastic job. I look forward to using this beautiful graphic.

Between weddings, travel, bridal shoots, and Boston boudoir photography, I am now completely booked solid until late September. I won’t be taking any new commissions until after I am back in the states and settled back after two weeks in Manchester, England for a wedding in August. September is a month of constant travel (Phoenix, Minneapolis, Rhode Island, Maine, Connecticut, Long Island). Of note: it will be my first time in Minnesota.

I’d like to get together a few Phoenix boudoir sessions when I am there (September 21-26). Anyone know anyone out there?

As for the future, let’s just say Hawaii is on the books for December, and I’m already thinking about a very special boudoir project involving naughty santa goods in November. Candy canes and Santa hats, anyone?

And… I’d love to do a gallery installation with images from the juxtaposition project. I am working on a proposal right now.

Posted in boudoir, clients, fearless bridals, travel schedule, wedding 4 Comments »

I have been so lucky recently to meet and hang out with inspiring individuals. When I was passing through Connecticut a couple of weeks ago I stopped by to meet photographer Seshu Badrinath and his adorable big-eyed wunderchild Ketan… Seshu is also pursuing multi-ethnic wedding photography so it is a delight to know and talk with him. This weekend I was honored to have kickass Long Island photographer Laura Moakley, recently back from Ireland, come out all the way from NY to shoot with me in Lowell, MA for Christina and Phil’s Old Hollywood glam wedding set in a converted mill. And yesterday, delight of delights, I picked up Anne Ruthmann from her new diggs in Lowell and we went out to Amesbury to spend the afternoon with photographer Eric Laurits, who is just recently back from visiting a nudist camp (!!!). And I can say this about Anne and Eric: I kicked their booties at Set.

I feel blessed to know such wonderful individuals.

Posted in destination, inspiration, travel schedule 1 Comment »