Shelby & Justin are getting married in just a few weeks up at a private residence on the water in Cape Neddick, Maine. I traveled up to York for their engagement session because this is where they live, can you imagine?! I got there a little early and sat there for a while listening to the waves, heaven.
Their dogs are so cute and well-behaved!
Baxter all sad about being tied up while mum and dad snuggle on the rocks!
Get a load of these cuties! Alaina and Tom are friends of mine (yay!) and I couldn’t have been happier for them when they anounced their engagement just minutes before Hell Night at East Coast Grill (Where I think we all bonded through the pain… :-p)! They will be married in Rhode Island in October which will be about peak folliage season over there. Can you say gorgeous? For their shoot they wanted to go to their favorite brunch spot (Scup’s in the Harbour) and when we arrived, we learned that they were not reopening for the summer due to medical problems. So. Sad. We got to walk around a little bit which I higly suggest doing if you haven’t before. It’s like an outdoor art exhibit. I’ve included some scenery photos below just so you can see how cool it is over there. Thank you Alaina and Tom for letting me document this exciting time in your life! 🙂
I love these two. They are like, cuter than baby bunnies piled on top of bulldog puppies with kittens crawling all over PLUS a cherry on top. I have nothing else to say other than their families are equally cute in every way (now I know where they get it from!). I felt like part of the family all day and night, and there’s nothing better than that. Did I mention how much I love my job? 🙂 Christina and Nick, thank you so much for having me document your wedding. To see Polaroids that I took during their day, check here.
Last weekend I shot Nick and Christina’s wedding at the Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation. I brought with me two film cameras, one instant and one 35mm. These photos were taken with my Polaroid Spectra.
I think I’ve written this post in my head at least 20 times. I daydreamed about what I would say on the way to work every morning, and thought about the perfect self-portrait to accompany it on the way home. As things go, I decided to make this short and sweet.
I have spent the last (almost) 10 years as a web developer. That title has had many meanings throughout that time, but whether I was doing flash development as a work-study student or writing standards-compliant code, “web developer” is what I have been. As I have mentioned many times, photography has always been my outlet. Since I was 10 and given my first camera, to having a darkroom in my basement as a teenager, to now…it has always been my creative world.
For the last 3 years, I have been working for a fantastic company. They have been insanely supportive of me and I would not be able to do this without them. I don’t think every company would allow their employee to take multiple days off to shoot weddings. When I decided that this is what I wanted to do over 2 years ago, me and my co-workers would go outside for practice shoots on lunch hour almost daily at one point. One of my co-workers rallied together all of her engaged friends for a day of shooting for me, because I wanted to practice on more *people*. My boss even took a Saturday to pose for my anti-valentine’s day shoot last year. Really amazing people if you ask me. I was able to build my business while having the security of a full-time, salaried, benefited job.
It came to a point in August last year where I was working 7am to 1 or 2 in the morning some nights. I was losing my friends, my health, my sanity. I was so tired all the time that I barely remember anything about it. I remember being on twitter one day during my day job and seeing Meg from A Practical Wedding (the best wedding, life blog in my opinion) say this and I just started crying. All I could think was “It’s time.”
I could not do what I am about to do without the people around me who have supported me the entire way. I am so fortunate to have an awesome circle of supportive photographer friends who were always cheering me on, my co-workers, my family.
And because no blog post is complete without a photograph, here is a photo taken last night while I was out partying like crazy with my co-workers (keep in mind this photo was taken during hour 7 at Think Tank). I love bars with photo booths.
Anne & Josh are expecting a baby very soon! It’s so flattering when a fellow photographer asks you to photograph them. I traveled up to Maine to photograph Anne, and her husband Josh met up with us during his lunch break for a few. I love how calm and relaxed Anne is during the first portion of our shoot, and once Josh showed up I got to see the hammy side of her! She and Josh are so silly and cute, I couldn’t help but laugh the entire time editing these! Congratulations to you two!
I’ve been in love with instant photography since I was little. I have had a little collection of Polaroid cameras that I have been adding to for about 15 years now! I currently have 11 different ones, and most of them take different types of film. I used my very last pack of SX-70 film a few months ago and I ordered some PX-70 film from the Impossible Project to try out in my SX-70. I’ve loved and supported the Impossible Project since well before they had a website with anything other than “this is what we want to do.” written on the homepage. Now they have created their own film for Polaroid cameras in an effort to not allow instant photography to die. It is the combination of nostalgia that I get with their old timey colors, the instant gratification, and the fact that I love seeing “Cambridge, Mass.” on everything is what I love about Polaroids. Driving on Edwin Land Bldv. everyday in Cambridge even makes me smile a little every time. 🙂
Here are a couple of images that came out using the Impossible Project’s PX-70 film. They say the colors will get brighter and richer after 24 hours, so I wanted to scan them in immediately, then do another scan tomorrow.
Update: Here is what the PX-70 shots look like 21 hours after printed, what a total difference!
Oleana was approached by an editor at the Robb Report and asked to create a menu with a “Mediterranean Yacht Party” theme and were asked to create all dishes that reflects several different ports of call. I had photographed Ana’s cooking class at Sofra the week before and as you all know, I cannot pass up a chance to hang out at either of those two places. Oleana is my most favorite restaurant. When my friend (and former bride!) took D and me there for the first time, I freaked out. Like, freaked. Not only because the food there is amazing, it really *really* is, but I felt like a little slice of home and the food I ate growing up. My family is Albanian and these are the types of flavors my mum/nana would incorporate into every dish. They even have Baked Alaska for dessert, which is totally random and not an eastern Mediterranean dessert. It was my nana’s favorite and Oleana serves it with passionfruit, so amazing. Any time someone special comes to town, I immediately call Oleana and I suggest you all do the same!
I am shooting a wedding here this summer and I am so excited for it! Oleana is the perfect setting for a small, intimate wedding where extraordinary food is a high priority on your list. A friend of mine who is a foodie asked me for some recommendations for a venue and I immediately told him to call Oleana, and he booked them straight away. Enjoy the images!
First up is Ricotta & bread dumpling with marmalade of greens:
I am happy to show you one of my adorable couples featured on one of my favorite wedding blogs, Inspired by This. Even though submitting my images to blogs wasn’t in the cards for me last year because of the time commitment, I just had to submit these two because I think we all have a “couple crush” on them. I really like Inspired by This for the images that they share and for their business tips! Plus they seem to have this adorable cloud shaped pillow that they toss around to each other (check their about page!). Besides trees, clouds are my other favorite things in nature *look around my site*. hehe.
Thank you for the feature ladies!
I feel so happy that I not only was able to photograph this event but indirectly attend and learn! Any of you who know me, know that the combo of Sofra & Oleana make up my most favorite restaurants around Boston. Any time someone new comes to town, I take them to one of the two. If you haven’t been, call and make reservations at Oleana now, or pop over to Sofra for lunch over in Cambridge immediately! Ana is an amazing chef. I feel super intimidated meeting chefs who I admire because I grew up in the restaurant business, but Ana is the nicest person! I love that she takes the time to answer all questions that people have. Like, “What on earth would you do with smoked cinnamon?” If you want to know where to get any of the ingredients, just ask and she’ll tell you! One of her classes coming up is “”What to do with your CSA box” Hello?! Must do! She and her husband also have a farm that is accepting CSA memberships right now called Siena Farms. Siena Farms is an organic farm that supplies top restaurants in Boston including Oleana and Sofra.
