This gallery contains 19 photos.
It’s been quite some time since I’ve blogged, much too long I must admit. I’ve been extremely busy with my photography business, so its not due to a lack of things to blog. I’m hoping to start blogging again on … Continue reading
This past Memorial Day weekend, I had the absolute delight and honor of documenting Sara and Brandt’s big day. I have been looking forward to this day for many,many months as we did engagement photos back in the Fall in Boston. This was such a wonderful couple, and Sara made a most stunning bride-but I knew she would-I joked with her that I choose my brides very carefully. To add to the specialness of the day it was also Sara’s birthday-What a great way to celebrate! Her grandmother Irene was also the Justice of the Peace performing the ceremony. The wedding was held at the beautiful Mountain Top Inn in Chittenden, VT, near Mt. Killington. Though thunderstorms were forecast, and at times seemed to threaten, the weather remained perfect for the outdoor ceremony. The fabulous Dannielle from Vella Photography was my second shooter, and her work was outstanding. I have loved her photography for quite some time, so it was a real treat to work with her. I gleaned a lot of new ideas from her and will be incorporating a lot of them in my upcoming weddings this year. I must give kudos to Sara too for choosing such a beautiful bridal party! The girls were so much fun and definitely made my job as a photographer easy. I am looking forward to working with a few of them for future photo sessions too! It was a joy to see such a close knit group of friends gather together to be a part of this very special day and to help Sara and Brandt celebrate it in such a big way.A very big thank you to Sara and Brandt for choosing me to document their very special day, and I wish you much happiness in your new lives together! Without further ado here is a sneek of this wonderful wedding. You can see a larger gallery here
Vella Photography’s photos can be seen here
Vendors:
Venue: The Mountain Top Inn and Resort
Wedding co-ordinator: Chelsea Howe @ the Mountain Top Inn and Resort
Flowers: Elegant Flowers and Treasures-Fairhaven,VT
Justice of the Peace: Irene O’Mara renie@aas-world.org
DJ-Starlight Entertainment DJ (Neil)
Caterer-The Mountain Top Inn
Cake Maker- Slice of Life (Julie Lane)
Last weekend Month- I had the absolute delight of being flown out to Milford,OH to document the wedding day of Israel and Michaela Cruz. You may ask how did I end up in OH to shoot a wedding since I live in Concord,NH which is quite a distance? Almost 3 years ago I had been flown to Fla to document the wedding of Robbie and Beth Kohnen. Michaela’s sister Shelley was a bridesmaid in the wedding and we became friends. About 2 years ago, I went out to visit Shelley and her family for a week, and while I was out there, I did a portrait session with Shelley and her sisters, and also one for her boss Eric for his website-and thru the magic of Facebook, we have all maintained a long distance friendship. So when KK started dating Israel, she really wanted me to do her wedding pictures. I was honored to say the least, but she wasn’t sure it would happen as I was a much larger investment than the photographer both her sisters had used for their weddings. And this brings me to a little side note- good photography usually doesn’t come cheap. Its an investment. If you want your special day to be documented in a way that is unobtrusive, and beautiful, and that captures the real moments, and real emotions of the day, you need to hire a professional, and not have your uncle bob do it because he bought a really nice camera. It takes much more than a really nice camera to create beautiful images. Notice I said CREATE not TAKE. There is a difference. Anyone can TAKE a photo. It takes someone that understands light, and posing, and yes their camera gear to create -an image. You don’t necessarily need to go to school-I didn’t-but you need to have an eye for it. Sometimes that creative eye can be taught in a school, but I have seen photographers that went to some pretty well known colleges for photography, and honestly, they should find another line of work. Michaela did a few things to help defray the cost of the wedding -like making her own wedding cake. That saved a lot of money. I am saying this as a photographer, but I truly believe it-that sometimes you may need to cut the costs somewhere else in your wedding to afford a good photographer. After the wedding day is over, all you will have left are your memories and your photos. Wouldn’t you want to have beautiful images you can view for years to come?
Now without further ado here are a few of my favorite images. you can see a larger gallery here
I recently joined a SOPHA in Manchester,NH which provides affordable studio space for photographers like me that don’t own a studio. They have a beautiful facility, and I highly recommend them if you are a photographer that doesn’t own a studio and finds themselves needing space every so often. I much prefer the outdoors and working with the natural environment and light. Studio lighting is very foreign to me and I am definitely out of my element in using it. To become a better photographer, and also to set myself apart from the Uncle Bob’s of the world that are at every wedding and have nice equipment, but don’t know how to use it, I think its important to become an AVAILABLE light photographer. Did you get that? Not NATURAL light, but AVAILABLE light. This means that whether I am outside or inside, I need to learn to master the light whether it’s artificial or natural. Being able to see the light and what its doing is crucial to creating beautiful photos. Photography is all about light. Most people with a camera don’t really understand this. They see beautiful photos and think that the photographer must have a really good camera. The camera doesn’t make photos. The person behind the camera does. A good photographer MAKES a picture. They don’t take it. It involves an eye for composition, and a knowledge of light and shadows. The equipment is secondary. I tell you this to lay the groundwork for the following photos. This was my second studio session, and I was feeling a little braver this time out. Becky was a natural in front of the camera. I wanted to shoot her, as she looks like the all American girl next door. She is even in the Air Force Reserves! It was her first time in front of the camera as a model. It really only took her a few minutes to relax and start channelling her inner supermodel. She has a very sweet personality, and has the longest legs I have ever seen-from some of her photos you would think she was 6 ft. tall-when in reality she is only 5’7. We had been talking about what we were going to do for a few weeks leading up to our studio time. It originally was going to have a military theme-but we couldn’t get together the various props-other than the gun-in time. She raided her sister’s closet for some items, and as we started shooting the themes started evolving. SOPHA has 2 studios-Studio A is huge and has a variety of backdrops and backgrounds. I loved the metal rolling door they nailed to one of the walls and I think it became my favorite sets. Our 2 hour shoot turned into a 4 hour shoot we were having so much fun. That is the heart of photography-having fun.It is how you capture those real moments and emotions of your subject. Its how you capture the essence of who they are. If you can’t have fun doing photography, you should probably sell your camera. It is the most fun job on the planet I think. You get to document people’s very special,intimate moments, meet all kinds of amazing people, if you are fortunate you get to also travel to far away destinations, and you get paid for it! What could be better than that? Here are a few of my favorite shots. You can see a larger gallery here
Meet Lindsay and Tracy. I did these 2 lovely sister’s portrait session in beautiful Alton,NH way back in November! I know its been a few months, but I still wanted to share this. Lindsay may look familiar to some of you-that’s because she is one of my fabulous second shooters, and also one of my favorite subjects to photograph. She is a very talented photographer, and I think she also is a real natural in front of the camera. Tracy is an artist-a painter to be specific, and is also very talented,she works at a local art gallery in Wolfboro. Both girls just ooze talent. They also maintain a blog. I think you will enjoy reading it. They share their art and their lives in it. The girls were a lot of fun to photograph. We had talked about doing this for sometime, but it was months before we were actually able to make it a reality. I think it was well worth the wait. It was a crisp fall day, and I really enjoyed just capturing these 2 sisters just being themselves and interacting with each other. For me photography is all about capturing the essence of a person. I think if you can capture the real emotion of a subject, you have created a great portrait. For me its not about a photo being technically perfect all the time. Its about capturing real life, and real moments. Those are the photos that touch people. I strive to accomplish that whether I am documenting a wedding day, or doing a portrait session. It takes awhile sometimes. Your subject has to let their guard down, and that means they must become comfortable with you, and sometimes that can take a bit of time. I don’t rush my portrait sessions, for that very reason. I also like to capture my subjects in a natural environment as I think it helps them to relax more and be themselves. So many favorite photos out of this session. Here are a few. you can find more here.
I had the pleasure of photographing one of my upcoming brides for June this past December. It had to be the coldest day I have ever done an engagement shoot. It had snowed a few days earlier, which actually added to the outdoor atmosphere, but I think the temperature was in single digits. We had a small window for doing the session since Kimber and Ian had to head back to college a week early. Kimber’s parents are dear friends of mine from many years back, and I am really looking forward to documenting her big day. I loved where we shot these photos-right at her home in Londonderry NH. The property used to be a farm, so we had the old barn as a backdrop, fields and fences. I love textures in my backgrounds, so am quite partial to barns and rust. This couple is going to be very easy to photograph on their wedding day, and I can’t wait to document their big day! Here are a few of my favorites. You can see a larger gallery on my facebook.
A few months back,Lauren contacted me and wanted to do a model shoot with some fun makeup. She has a friend Shaunna that likes to experiment with it and also does some makeup on the side. Lauren had some very definite ideas about what she wanted to do and the setting she wanted to do it in. At the time that called for snow, and we had NONE! Not so true now as I sit here blogging in the middle of a blizzard. Fortunately for us, we got what I think was our first major snow storm of the year a few days before our shoot. Problem solved. I brought along the fabulous Jenn Bakos who was home from San Francisco on a visit. Check out her photos on her blog. We started off our session in Livingston Park in Manchester, New Hampshire. I figured with all the snow we would have the place pretty much to ourselves, but New Englanders can be crazy people, and there were quite a few walking the trails in the woods. We spent most of our time in the park, but I wanted to get a more urban feel also, so we headed to downtown Manchester, to a few spots I like to shoot at-doorways, alleys and such. I am always up for shooting great subjects. I have fun during all my shoots whether it is a wedding, a model shoot, a highschool senior or a family session. If you are interested in doing a similar shoot, or need some new photos for your modeling portfolio, feel free to call me at 603-540-4828 and ask for my rates. Here are some of my favorites from this session, and as always you can find a larger gallery here.
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