DiMattia Photography

Sara and Brandt say I Do!/ Southern NH and destination wedding photographer

nikonianjoe — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 11:54:49 +0000

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)

Israel and Michaela Say I Do! Southern NH/Destination wedding photographer

nikonianjoe — Thu, 05 May 2011 17:11:16 +0000

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

Meet Becky-Supermodel in Training/Southern NH Portrait and Wedding Photographer

nikonianjoe — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 23:33:00 +0000

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

Sisters/Southern New Hampshire Portrait Photographer

nikonianjoe — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 17:43:30 +0000

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.

Kimber and Ian-Engagement Session/ Southern NH Wedding and Portrait photographer

nikonianjoe — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 16:49:46 +0000

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.

Lauren-model shoot/Southern NH portrait photographer

nikonianjoe — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 03:54:16 +0000

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.

Michelle-Senior Rep sneek peek/Southern NH Senior Photographer

nikonianjoe — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 03:50:02 +0000

Meet Michelle. I have chosen her to be one of my senior reps at her school. I think she will be great. I know she is a junior this year, but I wanted to get a jump on things for next year. This is just the first session of probably 2 or 3 we will do. Like her sister Andrea, Mimi is a natural in front of the camera. An absolute joy to photograph. She is a lot of fun, and knows how to move. I did this first session back in Dec, and it was actually a fairly warm day, nothing like what is happening weather wise outside right now! Mimi attends South Merrimack Christian Academy in Merrimack,NH, and comes from a very fine christian home. She is quite a talented young lady. I was treated to some of her beautiful cello playing while we set up the shots. Her mom Beth is a painter, her beautiful paintings hang thru out the house and Mimi has inherited some of that amazing talent also. Her house has lots of natural light coming in and it made for a beautiful setting for the cello portraits. Mimi also had a very cool vintage style bike that we used outside as it made for a great prop. I think we shall be revisiting that bike in the spring! We went off to a favorite location of theirs that was at a fairly high elevation, in Mont Vernon, the little town they live in. On a clear day I am told you can see Boston from it. I had a lot of fun doing this session, and am looking forward to our next one, once it gets a bit warmer. Enjoy a few of my favorites from this session. You can see more here.

Andrea

nikonianjoe — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 10:58:38 +0000

It seems my blogging has been way off the last few months. It’s not for lack of material to blog, but I became overwhelmed with the amount of editing I had in front of me and it seems that all I did for 8-10 hours a day for months was sit in front of my mac and thru wedding photos! That taught me a few things- one being that I need to definitely streamline my workflow more, and am working on that for this coming year! This winter has been rough-It seems all the snow we have in NH at this point is from the last month. As I write this we are in the middle of day 2 of a snowstorm, and its not supposed to stop til tomorrow morning! This of course gives me some time to put a few blog posts together, So I thought I would share a few photos of one of my favorite subjects, the very lovely Andrea. This girl is an absolute joy to photograph. It seems I cannot take a bad photo of her, and she is very natural in front of the camera. I believe her physical beauty comes from within. She is just a very beautiful person on the inside. Of course her great genes don’t hurt! Her mom and all her sisters are all beautiful. I tell her it’s her Italian genes. She really should model-she’s a tiny thing, so runway is definitely not in her future, but she would make a perfect print model. I am hoping someday to say I knew her when! It was a very cold day when we shot this, I think it was about 4 degrees outside, so outdoors was not even a possibility. It’s times like this when I wish I had a studio,(which will be the subject of another blog post in the very near future, so stay tuned) so I got creative and used the interior halls and stairs of an old mill building in Manchester,NH. There are great big windows that let in lots of natural light, and the whole interior is brick. I also tried out for the first time a lumiquest softbox III recommended by Joe McNally at a seminar I went to. I loved it, and I highly recommend it. I don’t think you can tell I even used fill flash on some of my photos. Now without further ado, here are some of my favorite shots from this fun session. You can see a bit larger gallery on my facebook

The Maguire Family/Southern NH portrait photographer

nikonianjoe — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 01:17:47 +0000

A few months back I had the delightful task of photographing the Mcguire family. The 6 brothers were all going to be gathered together for Thanksgiving weekend, and there was a small window but fortunately the weather held up for us. The brothers all have distinct personalities, and I laughed for almost the entire 2 hours of the session. I don’t know how their mom Amy survived in a house full of these guys! I always enjoy a family session, you get to photograph a variety of groupings-small children, couples, families, grandkids with grandparents etc. When a family is relaxed like this group, it makes my job so much easier as a photographer. I know I am behind in my blogging, I hope to catchup in the next few weeks with all the projects I have been busy editing. I am glad to say that I have finally cleared out all of 2010′s projects, and will be working on some branding and marketing materials the rest of the winter. Enjoy this lovely family, and as always you can see a larger gallery on my facebook.

2010 in review

nikonianjoe — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 11:28:05 +0000

This is a little bit different blog post than usual. I just recieved a year in review summary from WordPress of how the blog did in 2010, and wanted to share it with you all. I want to thank all of you for your interest in my work, and your support this year. Though compared to some of the rockstar photographers out there that do amazing work and get thousands of views a day, I am pretty happy with the fact that my little blog had 10,000 views this year! Since the fall, my blogging has fallen off a bit due to being so crazy busy. Its not because I don’t have anything to blog, believe me! So I will try to get a bit more consistent and blog at least once a week no matter what. 2-3 times would be more to my liking though. 2010 was my busiest year thus far. It seems every single weekend I was doing 1-2 weddings thru the spring and summer. I did a lot more family sessions this year, and I had a lot of new clients find my thru my website. I am thankful to say that I have a 100% satisfaction rate with my clients too. no complaints(except for maybe the fact that it takes me too long to get my work edited, but I think all good things come to those who wait). I just want to say thank you again to all my clients, and friends and blog followers. Working on some new things for 2011 and hope to unveil some new looks this coming winter. I hope you all have a terrific New Year in 2011! I also want to leave you with just a teaser from my next blog post-Meet my lovely senior rep this year-Michelle:

Joe

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 10,000 times in 2010. That’s about 24 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 70 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 150 posts. There were 915 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 539mb. That’s about 3 pictures per day.

The busiest day of the year was January 14th with 180 views. The most popular post that day was Allie Senior Session.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, dimattiaphotography.net, dimattiaphotography.smugmug.com, en.wordpress.com, and mail.yahoo.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for dimattia photography, senior pictures with horses, steve pettit evangelistic team, steve pettit, and andrea rocks.