After a good evening of blog reading last night, I kept thinking about this particular post from Grace Ormonde’s blog. “Don’t overlook the details” inspired me to look back at some of my favorite detail images from this past year. I agree that details can certainly tell specific parts of the wedding story and these images can also reflect the personality, character and style of an individual wedding.  Brides and grooms spend hours choosing the jewelery, the dress, the invititations, etc. and as wedding photographers we feel that these parts of the day should get their due attention in the wedding coverage.

This image below is a very standard and simple ring shot taken on a window sill at The Langham Hotel in Boston, MA. This is one of my favorite ring shots of the year, not because it is overly dramatic or stylized, but because it is simple, clean and elegant; and undoubtedly a reflection of the style and taste of the bride and groom. There are probably a few different ring shots from this year that would gain more attention but this is my favorite. That’s the beauty of photography; the subjective, instinctual and visceral feeling that comes over us when we fall in love with pictures.

-RP

Lowell, MA – The studio was merry and bright this year for holiday portraits. Check out some of our favorite sessions of the season.

Happy New Year!

Boston, MA – This October wedding was a small and intimate affair. Held on the Odyssey cruise ship in Boston Harbor, guests enjoyed the beautiful Autumn weather during the ceremony and also got a chance to witness a beautiful sunset as we cruised around the harbor. Kim and Sean were great, we couldn’t have asked for a more laid-back and fun bride and groom. More photos from there Rock the Dress Session coming soon!

Lowell, MA - I’m pretty sure this happens to everyone, or I should say I hope this happens to everyone. You know how there are those special people in your lives that you cannot  live without? Well these four ladies certainly fit that category and we miss them terribly. It’s been a busy year so we haven’t seen them as much as we’d like.

This was Rosslyn’s 3 month session from August (we’re so behind in blogging). The end of the Summer and Fall kind of flew by and with the Christmas and Holiday rush we really haven’t had time to hang out much. So we are very much looking forward to having a bit more time to spend with our friends and family. However, we are so excited for this weekend because we get to hang out with these wonderful ladies, take some pictures and make holiday cookies! Fun!

Andover, MA - Here’s one of our children’s portrait sessions from this past summer. We had photographed Jackson about a year before this particular session so it was great to see how much he had grown. This was definitely a high energy day as any child between 1 and 3 turns a portrait session into a track meet, but we wouldn’t have it any other way because it really fits our style of photography. For example, in order to get things going we had him just play with his favorite truck and the big red wagon. After all we have to make the session enjoyable for younger kids, so this usually means toys and lots of snack breaks.

The day was a bit cloudy and we did get some rain at the end of the shoot, but we pushed through it. Our sessions usually last between one and half to two hours, so by the time the rain really started to come down we had already got a ton of great stuff. With children’s portraits on location, we will encounter rain and uncooperative weather, but you just have to work with it when you live in New England.

Lowell, MA – A few months ago we had the Mauro family up to the studio for a combination family and maternity session.  We would ordinarily approach these two distinct types of sessions from different angles, but here we just simplified everything and focused on the family dynamic. Our goal heading in was to portray a young family growing together, both individually and as a unit. Looking back on the session we’re very happy with the results. Oh and the ‘thumbs up’ image was hilarious and was the direct result of asking a 4 yr. old how he feels about being a big brother.

Princeton, MA – So we, Ash, I and the Jones family, are all at the top of Wachusett Mountain on a beautiful summer day for a family portrait session. There had been a corporate event on the mountain that day so there were a lot of people around, who unfortunately were not cool enough to be in the backgrounds of our photos.  In order to get away we decided it would be a good idea to ignore the signs that read, “No One Allowed on Ski Trail,” and walk down the a little bit into the tall grass. The teenage kid running the ski lift disagreed with our plans. However, in the spirit of every “we’re with the band” scenario, Mike turns around and says, “it’s fine we cleared it with…” and proceded to name about 7 names, including the owners;  I wouldn’t be surprised if he named the kid’s dad, because he just looked at us and said “uh… ok.” Turns out that Mike and Kristina used to work there and the know everyone up there. This was a great moment because as photographers we are always trying to talk ourselves into restricted spots, so it was nice not to have to do it this time. And the images we made on that trail turned out to be some of the best out of the whole portrait session.

Thanks to the entire Jones family for a great family session, hope to see you all soon!

Dracut, MA – Kerry + Henry could not have asked for a more beautiful August wedding day. Of course in August, beautiful means hot and hot means “I hope the church is air conditioned.” Thankfully it was and the rest of the wedding was just as perfect. Their ceremony was held at St. Francis Church, a gorgeous church in Dracut, MA. It’s right on a hill, which means that on a sunny day the place just fills up with some pretty light. We weren’t allowed to use flash during the ceremony, so the combination of the weather and the availability of natural light turned a normally daunting task into an opportunity to grow and learn as photographers. Without that perfect August day,and its abundance of sunshine, we would have a hard time capturing some of these important images. So as it turns out, it was us as well as the bride and groom, that could not have asked for a better day, and we got it.

Congratulations to Kerry and Henry!!!

Seems like forever since we posted a First Birthday, cake destruction shoot. So at long last we present this session, which took place in Stockton, CA, with the Stryker family who are near and dear to our hearts. We had the opportunity to use some of that beautiful California light and got to shoot the cake on location and outdoors. Usually we have the high-key, white seamless but we had to improvise on this day and I think we did alright. Sometimes 50% of a photographers time is spent problem solving.  Salome didn’t mind the location at all as she tore into that cake pretty good!

Thank you to the Stryker family for the great evening, we hope to see you all soon!

Knights Ferry, CA – During our fabulous California adventure we had the pleasure of photographing Kari and Dean’s beautiful family at this really great location. Don’t get me wrong, we love living in New England and being outside of Boston we have the opportunity to shoot at some magnificent locations, but the power and quality of the California light is unparalleled. However, it didn’t take much to make these guys look good.

An old mining town  during the gold rush, Knights Ferry is now a museum and recreation area, and it is home to the longest covered bridge in California. Overall it was a perfect backdrop for these family portraits, and we hope to be back in the future.