Sunday Reading :: Week 8

And.....I'm back with Sunday Reading. For your reading pleasure this week we have a truly brilliant epithalamium by Taylor Mali, go and check out his site NOW. That's an order. And if you own a dog I dare you to read this and not smile and think "how true" at least once.

Falling in love is like owning a dog
an epithalamion by Taylor Mali www.taylormali.com

First of all, it's a big responsibility,
especially in a city like New York.
So think long and hard before deciding on love.
On the other hand, love gives you a sense of security:
when you're walking down the street late at night
and you have a leash on love
ain't no one going to mess with you.
Because crooks and muggers think love is unpredictable.
Who knows what love could do in its own defense?

On cold winter nights, love is warm.
It lies between you and lives and breathes
and makes funny noises.
Love wakes you up all hours of the night with its needs.
It needs to be fed so it will grow and stay healthy.

Love doesn't like being left alone for long.
But come home and love is always happy to see you.
It may break a few things accidentally in its passion for life,
but you can never be mad at love for long.

Is love good all the time? No! No!
Love can be bad. Bad, love, bad! Very bad love.

Love makes messes.
Love leaves you little surprises here and there.
Love needs lots of cleaning up after.
Sometimes you just want to get love fixed.
Sometimes you want to roll up a piece of newspaper
and swat love on the nose,
not so much to cause pain,
just to let love know Don't you ever do that again!

Sometimes love just wants to go for a nice long walk.
Because love loves exercise.
It runs you around the block and leaves you panting.
It pulls you in several different directions at once,
or winds around and around you
until you're all wound up and can't move.

But love makes you meet people wherever you go.
People who have nothing in common but love
stop and talk to each other on the street.

Throw things away and love will bring them back,
again, and again, and again.
But most of all, love needs love, lots of it.
And in return, love loves you and never stops.

Is this not the most brilliant poem you have ever read?

As we all know, blog posts are always better with pictures and so it only seemed appropriate to have some dog photos to accompany this post. Paul and I were headed out for an afternoon of Maine, shopping, winery visiting etc but I had 3 minutes outside with the dogs and my macro lens. For those new to the blog, Coco Chanel (black dog) is slightly deranged, extremely skittish and nervous but beyond loyal once you have her trust. Tiger Woods (brown dog) is flirtatious, contrary, eternally happy and insanely cute. I think I'll continue with the above theme to describe each picture (apologies to Taylor Mali, if you read this you'll understand why I'm a photographer and not a poet):

Sometimes love comes barreling towards you at full speed and you have no choice but to return it:

At other times love brings with it suspicions; there are those who want to hurt love or steal love away, and so love must remain on guard.

Sometimes love is staring you in the face.

Note: shot this at 1/400 f/3.2 to get just her eyes in focus

Occasionally love makes you let down your guard and roll around on your back :)

And finally, love can sneak up on you and hit you with a surprise kiss when you're least expecting it:

Engagement Photographs in Jamaica Plain and Pond :: Kate + Chris

It was Friday the 13th - lucky for some - on a cold night in March last year when Kate and Chris first saw each other. The location? Lucky's in Boston, MA. Chris was wearing a rather dashing gray coat ("Oh, the way it cut across his neck!" says Kate) and the British accent helped when he started to chat to Kate. For some reason I seem to be immune to the charms of a British accent :)

Chris remembers that Kate was wearing something "dark" but that she looked generally fabulous. They stuck up a conversation about books and the movie "Watchmen", which turned into a conversation about hockey which led to some more drinks at The Living Room which progressed to a second date which culminated in a third date where Chris met Kate's roommate Tati who gave her approval.

I think I'll let you see some pictures now as I continue with the story, I wonder if they looked at each other like this on that cold night in Lucky's?


Nine months later (no they didn't have a baby, it's not that kind of story), on Friday the 13th - lucky for some - Kate & Chris flew to the UK where Chris is originally from. They landed in Heathrow and made their way to their hotel in County Hall, all the better to see Big Ben which was #1 on Kate's list of things to see.




It was Kate's first visit to London and she was a little worried that Chris wouldn't want to do all the tourist things with her. As they walked across London Bridge Chris seemed kind of edgy and rushed and Kate was concerned that he was already bored of sightseeing. Little did she know that the engagement ring he was carrying was burning a hole in his pocket. Kate was so consumed with taking in the sights and getting photographs of everything that it took her a while to notice that Chris had dropped to one knee and was waiting for her to turn around so he could ask her to be his wife.

Kate said yes.

I think Kate is looking rather fabulous in the next shot:


We met up earlier this week for engagement pictures in Jamaica Plain where Kate & Chris live. I had a lot of fun hanging out with them as we hared around the area trying to get in a couple of different locations.



Very cute:


And as they kissed it was like God smiling down on them with a little rainbow, or maybe I took off my lens hood for a little sun flare magic:



Lots of these pictures were taken at the Arnold Arboretum which is just lovely:


Then we pootled over to Jamaica Pond which Kate explained was part of Boston's "Emerald Necklace" of parks.


Check out Chris's Christian Louboutin-style sneakers with the red soles ;)


Chris was originally living in an apartment in the North End, Kate wanted to convince him that Jamaica Plain was a better place to live so she used to bring him to Jamaica Pond - I think this might have been her secret move:


Kate & Chris met in "Lucky's" on Friday the 13th and flew to the UK on Friday the 13th to get engaged and they'll have their rehearsal dinner back in Lucky's - I sense a certain theme here. So to all the Triskaidekaphobics out there, you may want to reconsider your fear...


The End. Happy Memorial Day weekend! Remember that comments are always gratefully received (click on "view comments for this post" and and choose name/url - you can leave the url blank).

Engagement Pictures :: Erin & Jeffrey

Last week I photographed Erin & Jeffrey in Manchester, MA. When Erin sent me the link to the location I was pretty intrigued by the description "Hike past a scenic pond and through a small forest of pine and oak to reach a spectacular seaside lawn offering memorable views of Massachusetts Bay and the North Shore." Usually the word "hike" sends a shiver of fear down my spine but this was a rather lovely little walk as evidenced by Erin managing it in heels:


Geek photographer moment (feel free to skip this part): I recently added the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 lens to my arsenal and I've been figuring out how to best use it for sweeping wide shots for the 2010 wedding season. I've been super impressed with how fast and sharp it is and I'm envisioning some spectacular wide-angle ceremony shots and other fun with this lens. I was playing around with it for the next shot and I love how it came out.

As we came out of the forest we were met by a huge expanse of rolling green lawn overlooking the water, I feel like this picture has somewhat of an Alice In Wonderland feel to it.


And much as I love the new lens it's just for the occasional picture. Erin & Jeffrey, it's time for your close-ups:




Sorry blog reader, what's that you say? You'd like to see more of Erin's fabulous dress and accessories? Why of course! I love love love it when there's a pop of color in pictures - super cute dresses with amazing necklaces on engagement shoots, bright wedding bouquets, bridesmaids dresses in fushia pinks, kelly greens, sorbet oranges (can you tell I've been reading the jcrew catalog again?). Oh and pockets - how good are pockets in dresses? I'm waiting for a bride to have pockets in her wedding dress. Stylin' not to mention handy for a kleenex.


Here we are on the rocks, overlooking the sea:


And we had to take advantage of these interesting trees forming a natural arch:


We were the only people here for much of the shoot but that didn't mean we were alone. Nope, the reservation is also home to geese. Lots of geese. I won't get into the details but you have to watch your step a little.


And after all the hiking, walking and rock climbing, I figured it was time for a good old-fashioned goose-chasing session. I particularly like the leg positions of Jeffrey and the goose, gives the picture a strange sort of symmetry:


If you're new to the blog (and new or old feel free to hit the "view comments for this post" then select "name/url" and leave a little note, comments always improve my day!) then you might like to check out the mini- shoot I did with Erin & Jeffrey in the Boston Public Library over the holidays so they'd have engagement pictures for their save the date cards. Erin told me that she used the picture of her giving Jeffrey a piggy-back in the newspaper announcement - much better than the usual traditional engagement shot! In that first blog post I explained how their relationship started with a wink. And they were very good sports when I suggested they try to recreate the wink moment in these shots:


Then we noticed the lilac bushes so I crawled into them for a kind of paparazzi-style shot. I also smelt very lilac-y for the rest of the day:


We started to head back as the property closes at sunset and stopped for Jeffrey to demonstrate his stone-skimming skills. We counted at least 9 bounces I think:


The End:


I am super excited for Erin & Jeffrey's wedding at the Griffin Photography Museum in October, I have a feeling it's going to be a little bit different (in a very good way) and I can't wait to document the day. Erin & Jeffrey - thank you for being so easy to photograph, thank you for entering into the goose-chasing shenanigans and thank you for being so cool to work with!

Boston Engagement Pictures :: Battery Wharf + The North End :: Alison + Matt

On Sunday evening I met up with Alison & Matt in the Sensing bar of the Fairmont Battery Wharf hotel in Boston to take their engagement pictures. I'd met Alison before but not Matt so we ordered a drink before we went out to the balmy 70 degree late afternoon.

The Celtics game was on in the background as we chatted about their October wedding, the wedding party made up of family members, Alison's dress and other plans. As the game approached the end we figured it wouldn't be fair to drag Matt away and it was a wise decision - those four free throws by Paul Pierce and Ray Allen in the final seconds were the only points the Boston Celtics managed in the final 5 1/2 minutes - and the only points they needed [I totally got this from NBA.com, I don't have a clue about this stuff but I bet I had you fooled for a minute]. I'm mentioning this as during the last few minutes of play Matt would bounce out of his seat to see the TV better and then come back over to play with Alison's hair, squeeze her shoulder and grin at her. They're really cute together.



Anyway, I'm sure you're here for more pretty pictures and not my inept ramblings on the topic of basketball. Alison suggested Battery Wharf for a shooting location and it was an excellent choice, we wandered along the waterfront and took photographs in the North End parks. I asked Matt how he was coping with the whole picture-taking thing. He said the experience was"about the same" which I took to be positive, at least it wasn't worse than he was expecting.



Alison and Matt both went to school at Bates College, Lewiston, ME. They had mutual friends and even had some classes together. Matt said that he totally noticed Alison in class. Alison said that she didn't notice Matt. Matt replied that was because he sat in the back.


I asked Alison & Matt where their first date was and they looked at each other, smiled and blurted out Applebees explaining that they were poor students at the time. There was obviously something good in the neighborhood that night as seven years later they're engaged to be married in just a few more months.


I usually keep the month of May pretty free as it's a popular time for engagement sessions, the weather is warming up, the trees are blooming and couples need pictures for their guest signature books or for next year's save the date cards. I've done 11 engagement shoots already this year and so I LOVE it when I get to shoot somewhere new. The North End might just be my new favorite location with all of the interesting little parks:


I have no idea where we were for these pictures, I apologize if this is your house but I saw the lovely twinkly lamps and was like a moth to the flame. I think these two are my favorites images:


I cannot wait to photograph Alison as a bride. She has amazing green eyes - no photoshop tomfoolery happening here:


As the sun started to set and we headed back, I asked them what they were most looking forward to about being married. Alison immediately replied, "Just seeing each other every day." to which Matt emphatically responded, "Most definitely." And that ladies and gentlemen is what it's all about right? Spending time together and just being happy.


Matt and Alison's wedding is going to be brilliant for a number of reasons:
1. They are both very lovely people (much better than mean people whom as a general rule I decline to work with)
2. They are very much in love and photogenic to boot. See evidence above.
3. Matt is confident in his abilities to avoid goldfish kissing syndrome
4. Their reception is at the awesome Colonnade hotel. Can you say "Pictures on the Rooftop Pool" with me?
5. The timeline is well thought out so that guests can relax, freshen up and enjoy Boston between the ceremony and cocktail hour and they'll have time to spend together and get some amazing pictures.
6. Although they're obviously looking forward to the wedding, I sense that it's just as much if not more about the actual marriage for these two. Most definitely.

And that's all for today. Happy Tuesday to you. Happy Birthday to me.

Newburyport Engagement Pictures :: Kristin + Zach

I met up with Kristin & Zach and their beautiful little mini-me daughter Autumn in Newburyport for engagement pictures.

And before I introduce you to Autumn, perhaps you'd like to know how her parents met one another. According to Zach:
She said "hey"
I said "y'hello"
Zach is a joker but pretty funny with it.

Kristin explained that she had a really good friend called Eric and one night about seven years ago she went out with him and he introduced her to his friend Zach. Kristin was home on Winter Break so they talked a little but once back at school she found herself thinking of Zach. Zach interjected at this point and mentioned that he may have thought about Kristin too.

So the next time Kristin was home, Zach invited her out to see a movie, Bruce Almighty. He was having some transportation issues so their mutual good friend Eric kindly drove them to the movie theatre and picked them up. Kristin laughed and said "it was like being teenagers again!" They've been together ever since, Zach explained that they spend so much time together that their seven years is actually more like fourteen.

Oh and Eric? He'll be the best man at their wedding in less than 5 weeks! How cute are these two:


Autumn discovers a caterpillar:


Quiet moment with her Daddy:


Zach was a little skeptical about the whole picture taking thing but I think he secretly had fun:


Kristin is going to make a stunning bride:


See?


And Zach will no doubt look like a groom from the pages of GQ


The sun was nice and low in the blue sky for the next two pictures:


And Zach got into the whole kissing lark:


And Autumn discovered the joys of blowing on the dandelion seeds. Well, actually shaking, because each time she blew she'd accidentally end up taking a bite:

Zach's aunt Joanne came with us and played with Autumn on the playground...


....whilst I shot these pictures of Kristin & Zach:


Outside the purple onion:


I suggested we stop for icecream - I know all the tricks to get the little ones to like me - and Autumn was beside herself with glee at the thought of some strawberry gelato. Unfortunately the glass got in her way:


I knew the strawberry ice cream was the key to her heart, I even got a hug when I said goodbye:


Loving the proud and amused looks of Kristin & Zach:


After we finished shooting, we stopped at Not Your Average Joes for a drink and I shot this little triptych. We were chatting about the wedding and when I asked about honeymoon plans Zach joked "every day is a honeymoon with Kristin". We all laughed but then he quietly said "seriously, she's the best thing that's ever happened to me"


I'll leave you with this last family picture on the Newburyport boardwalk on the harbor:

Kristin, Zach & Autumn - I had so much fun taking pictures of the three of you! And huge thanks to Auntie Joanne for purse holding/Autumn distracting skills! Looking forward to your wedding at the Essex Room on June 19th!