so brainstorming with the two of them, i suggested…give me a list of ten words that describe you and your relationship…so they did, and we used it as a springboard for awesomeness at their session.  and then…well, check out their super adorable guestbook…i don’t know if i’ve been prouder of a guestbook since i started photographing weddings.  i think it’s cute, quirky, unique, fun…and best of all…really captures sarah + zach.

(i traveled with them when they were living in canada…i can totally attest to the hungry!  :-D)

the book was a big hit at their wedding…which you’ll see here fairly soon!  it was AMAZING.

we started off at portland velocipede…i met josh & gillian…its charming owners…a few months back in my european-style-bicycle obsessed haze.  i knew they’d be up for helping me do something fantastical for sarah & zach’s session…they didn’t disappoint!  they are always SO helpful and do their utmost to make sure your riding experience is nothing short of amazing.  even knowing we were just borrowing the bikes for a jaunt around the block, josh filled tires and adjusted seat heights for zach & sarah.  (i took one out, too…that was a frame size too big and the seat was probably too high, but i didn’t really give him a chance to do any adjustments!  and even on the wrong size bike…they just ride better in europe.)

dunno if you can see it, but sarah’s cream and purple pashley sonnet bliss perfectly matches her outfit.  couldn’t have planned it better if we’d tried!

they also tried out some of the cargo bikes portland velocipede just got in…i believe this one’s a bakfiets.  when i was in copenhagen in may…i saw entire families in/on one of these babies!

while we were riding, josh even hopped on a pashley guv’nor and came to check how we were faring.

sarah hadn’t been on a bicycle in years…and was wearing a skirt and platform heels…and it took her all of 10 minutes before she was proclaiming that she wanted to take the sonnet bliss home with her!  (another brief plug for portland velocipede before i move on…go visit them.  ride a bike.  connect with them on facebook or twitter.  they’re awesome.  also, they have their first tweed ride coming up on nov. 7!  my new pashley britannia hasn’t been shipped from england (sad face), or i’d be there with tweed on!)

after a fun ride around old port…we set off on foot for another of my crazy ideas.  (some of this crazy will make a LOT more sense in part 2.  some will probably still just be crazy!)

sarah likes kissing zach better than kissing a silver stripe…

after a brief staring contest…zach proved to be more open-minded.

i think i’ll leave the others for part 2…

jessica insists she’s not photogenic, but…ladies and gentlemen of the jury, i will present sufficient evidence that you will see that claim is patently absurd.

aren’t they so cute?

there are so many apple images…well, yes…because we were in an orchard…but they also requested that we get a variety of images featuring apples so that they could be used for table numbers.  i know it’s a little dorky…but we had an isaac newton inspired moment.  :-D

seth & jessica, i had SO much fun hanging out with you two…it’s obvious how much you love each other and and how much fun you have together…i’m looking forward to your wedding in LESS THAN A MONTH!

i am an enormous sucker for cobblestone streets…if they were an option for home decor…i’d probably have really uneven and uncomfortable floors.

being able to see stuff like this is one of the reasons i adore living in new england so muc…just walkin’ around and, oh! there’s an old tall ship. sweet.

hello fierceness! (sorry, america’s next top model just started up again…)

finding this spot to shoot made me want to jump up and down and squeal and…all KINDS of other embarrassing things!

i’ll get their wedding blogged yet! by hook or by crook! (no? well…it was in salem…i guess i was feelin’ the piratey, witchy jargon. please forgive me.)

a couple weeks ago i went and hung out with alanna + bobby in newburyport.  they. are. so. FUN!  they’re getting married exactly ONE MONTH from today!  in key west!  yeah…it’s going to be sheer TORTURE going down to florida to photograph their fabulousness with their families.  please…wear black and pray for me and all those other things you do in solidarity and mourning.

we met at maudslay state park…i’ve photographed there before…it’s a big, sprawling nature reserve (word to the wise:  if you’ve gotta pee…do it at the facilities near the parking lot…rather than, y’know, setting off walking for miles without heeding nature’s call.) with LOTS of options…beautiful stone walls, waterfalls, views of the merrimac river, gardens, and there’s even archeological ruins!

this session, though, was all about the light.  you’ll see what i mean.  without further ado…

this may very well be my absolute favorite image from the entire session.  i love seeing alanna be herself…and bobby unable to get enough of it.

in case you haven’t seen from all the other photos…alanna’s eyes are UH-MAZE-ING.  amazing.  totally gorgeous.

a + b…see you in paradise in ONE MONTH!  can’t wait!

yesterday’s wedding was uh-mazing. no…that’s not extreme enough. it was AMAZING.

here’s one of my favorite shots from the day…but there are LOTS of other incredible photos.

today i met up with jess & matt who’re getting married in a couple months in maryland. we wandered around and enjoyed spring in NYC.

i’ve gotta give props to both these fantastic couples…jen hiked over some rather sizable boulders…in her wedding dress! (she agrees the photos are SO worth it, though) and jess & matt didn’t blink when i suggested we ignore fences…and hop up on a vintage truck that was waiting around to be on a movie set. YOU ALL ROCK.

and now. i think i will go to sleep.

they’re getting married in (less than 2 weeks! jen–3 more days till your wedding day is on the 10 day forecast!) in DUMBO, and i could not be more excited and inspired to capture their wedding day… the original plan was to do their engagement session the day before the wedding…revisiting the tulip garden in central park-where alex proposed! but they got to thinking and realized, “oh, hey, the day before our wedding might be just a LITTLE insane.”

so i made a whirlwind trip to the city that never sleeps and spent some time getting to know these two…and their delightful mountaineering cats, penny and portia.

i love both of these next two…the first one was shot with a long lens (100mm @ 2.8) and the second was shot closer with a wider angle, faster aperture lens (35 1.8). i love how different they are…when all i did was switch lenses and take a couple steps forward. i think the 2nd one is my favorite from the whole session…and that’s saying something! it is just MAGICAL to me.

it felt great to get out there and be shooting people in love…and to be blessed with such adorableness in such an inspiring city…it was well worth the whirlwind trip! see you again soon, guys!

(this one might be my favorite from our time at the museum…)
houston used to volunteer at the lone star flight museum, so the location was extra meaningful to him. unfortunately, “his” plane…WHICH HE HAS ACTUALLY FLOWN! was in an area which was off-limits to us, so we were unable to utilize it for any photos.

after the museum, we headed toward downtown galveston for a few more images. christy was SUCH a trouper…she was in intense pain and was scheduled for a root canal the next day, but she persisted and smiled through her agony!

aaaannnndd….roll credits.

they started day 1 of their “happily ever after” last saturday, so their wedding will be up here before too long! it was a glorious day full of love and joy and community.

naomi and paul are getting married down near boston, but they came up my way for their engagement session. we hit fort mcclary, which has become one of my favorite places to shoot…there is SO much variety.

you’ll see more of these two after their wedding in may! looking forward to seeing you guys, again!

jess & peter live in sunny-ish LA these days, but peter is from durham…so they are planning from afar for a fall nh wedding. they were in town for christmas, so i twisted their arms to come play in the snow with me.

doesn’t this make you want to PLAY?

ok, so…there are a few things to note about this picture.
1) they are adorable.
2) when i said, “um, will you maybe lay in the snow?” there was NO hesitation. love.
3) her ring is still on her finger.
4) snow makes fingers shrink.
5) her ring did not STAY on her finger.
6) i found it, though! in the snow! and it is a darn good thing, too…because otherwise i probably would have lived with eternal guilt.
7) did i already mention the cuteness?

jess and peter were champs on a really, really, really freaking COLD day…i’m looking forward to getting them in front of my camera again when it’s not a single digit temperature! can’t wait, guys! also…if i weren’t headed somewhere sunny and warm in less than a week, i’d be way more jealous of you guys living in sunny california right now.

look at the legs on that one!  whoooooohee!  she promised me she could do anything in those shoes that i could possibly ask her to do…(i tested her on that a little later in the evening.)

and now…my favourite from the session…

ashlee & jesse…you two are wonderful, and i can’t wait to laugh laugh laugh some more with you in just a couple months.  aah!  this year is flying by!

and then FAILED to remember. at all.

so. as a slightly belated birthday present, i stayed up way too late last night working on their photos…which wasn’t a chore. these two are SO CUTE!

also, how much do i love her? SO MUCH. she found me through jess & brian. she and jess are coworkers, so she’s known about me for a while! at one point they were pointing out a location that was used in the departed. so i told them about debra and mark’s session summer of 07 where i laid in the spot martin sheen landed when he fell off the building in south boston. and she knew exactly what i was talking about!

anyway. we met at christopher columbus park because it is one of their favourite areas of boston. we wandered around the harbour area, and then moved into the north end for a few shots. and then they bought me a delicious dinner at american joe’s…so…super cute and super nice. what’s not to love?

yeah, so i started to tell her what pose i wanted, and she said, “oh, like that couple in NYC in central park?” LOVE.

(isn’t he totally george clooney adorable?)

(hey beth…this fountain had a more comfortable side for her to lay on…i was excited to try it again! )

brittney & david, you two are fabulous, and i can’t wait for your wedding in less than a month!!

aren’t they adorable? i want to make ice cream in beth & josh flavour and eat it for every meal. is that weird to say?

(this one is probably my favourite from the whole session…i love everything about it!)

i love how iconically NY this is. how many movies have you seen this view of the city from central park from? also…they both look sooooo adorable. look at josh’s love crinkled eyes? and that smile he puts on beth’s face.

the bench right next to them said, “one day [someone's initials here] will ask [someone else's initials here] to marry him”…and on the bench they were sitting on…

we walked past that guitar man from central park, and i saw a couple sitting exactly like this…and loved it immediately.

this was right near strawberry fields and the imagine tiles and the hotel where john lennon was killed. strawberry fields is a much nicer thing to think about.

after central park, we were all ready for a break! we grabbed some tasty chicken and sweet potato fries (to die for) at the chirping chicken…then headed back to chill for a bit and change into “city clothes”.

we headed up to the roof of their building for a few images.

look at them. are you kidding me? HOT.

i can’t wait for beth & josh’s wedding in maine in september. they’re super fantastc fabulous awesome etc, etc…they took great care of me and made this visit to NYC a total pleasure…which is saying something for this totally-NOT-city-girl who generally professes nothing but distaste for the big apple. b & j…you guys rock my world.

we met out in front of the town general store…a super cute cafe/convenience store/deli with squashy couches and chairs and a fridge in the back with fresh eggs.

look at those gorgeous eyes of hers!

smokin’!

erin & tom, i can’t wait to hang with you guys up in the mountains this summer…and i especially can’t wait for the seersucker suits. woo!

i was down in providence after amy & ben’s (yes, the lickers) wedding, and since m&d live there and are getting married there next may, it was convenient to schedule their session for the next day.  i’m *semi* familiar with a few places in providence, so i was able to suggest a spot…and i even suggested where we could meet.  oh, yeah…that’s right.  i know the cool/hip/happening indie coffee shop in providence.  (the coffee exchange on wickenden street.)

so…we met, i showed them my sample albums real quick-like…then we piled into my car to drive to the nearby location i’d chosen.  we got out of the car, and i looked around…readying myself to give them directions.  walked around the back of the car to get my camera and shooting bag.  shooting bag & lenses…check.  camera…camera?  bueller?  bueller?  um, are you kidding me?  no.  no, i was not kidding.  i had LEFT MY CAMERA BEHIND!  lucky for me, meg and david are AWESOME and just laughed right along with me at how not-awesome i am.  and also lucky for all of us…the friends i was staying with lived pretty close by.  after an unplanned detour to collect my camera (during which i discovered that they know and love ellis paul–mmmm, blacktop train is such a freaking good song), we were back in business.  and oh, what business it was!

i’d found a sort of neglected construction site…quiet and sleepy on a sunday afternoon.  i asked them, “how do you feel about trespassing?”  they laughed and said, “clearly you JUST met us.”  oh it was ON!

these two didn’t blink when i asked them to climb on piles of broken concrete and rebar…bounded enthusiastically into the CAT tractor/machine/thingy for a makeout session, and helpfully pointed out the bloated dead fish floating by the water…in case i hadn’t eaten dinner.

i can’t wait for may 16, either, meg!

sometimes you need the “mom” shot, or the “newspaper” shot.

i looooove this first one.  and do you SEE the setting they tromped around in for me?  how can i not love them?

this was just them…being cute.  walking to the spot i told them to stand.  but c’mon…so cute!

(don’t you think they should use a version of this one for their save the dates?  i dooooo!)

about this time they found dinner for me.  such thoughtful clients, these…

how beautiful is she?  MAN!

the light was really, really beautiful.

the same scene from two different vantage points:

isn’t it incredible how different the colours are?
(speaking of colours…total tangent, but:  i am not on any of my own computers…i’m using this ancient desktop with a crappy dell monitor, and i’m actually sort of horrified by how my images look on it.  i am in no way one of those uber-geeks who is all, “your computer using experience is totally not valid unless your monitor is calibrated and renders colour correctly!”  BUT…it does make a pretty dramatic difference.)

we walked past the restaurant they ate at just before rob popped the question…i darted in, “do you mind if we just go use one of the tables on the balcony for a photo really quickly?”

(basically…if you tell people that someone is engaged or just got married, etc, etc…you can get some incredible permissions for photo ops!)

(that sign says, “no photo taking inside, please.”  well…we weren’t inside, were we?  nooooo.

sara really wanted a hand-kissing picture…and i loved this golden light and the green fence/wall…

these two already got married, so…stay tuned for their wedding post coming up sooooon.

we met this past monday to do some engagement photos in manchester, nh.

joshua & julia…i can’t wait for your portsmouth wedding in…omigosh…8 days! i love that you’re eloping in the catholic church…i love that you’re having a panera picnic in the park (not the least because it’s so alliterative)…see you soooooon!

(oh, and thanks for making out in the red phone box for me. )

shane recently came back from a deployment…and they had to move, like…immediately. they’re now stationed in “balmy” (haha!) corpus christi, tx…so they were THRILLED that they had a trip scheduled to new england to meet with all their vendors. portsmouth is right on the way up to maine where most of their appointments were, so we got together and had a BLAST (culminating with a delicious dinner at the friendly toast…)

there’s also the fact that…there are some couples that make my job so easy. i don’t even have to direct them…i’m still working out my settings, and then i look up and what i wanted them to do…they’re already doing. i remarked on their lovey-doveyness to nicki, and she said shane’s gone so much for work they don’t ever get sick of each other. one of the perks of military life…hey–there’ve gotta be SOME, right?

without further ado, the unbelievably photogenic, nicki & shane:

sharing the last dregs of shane’s mango smoothie at the toast…with picturesque portsmouth in the reflection.

this first photo…is one of my ALL TIME favourites. we saw the sax player playing at the end of the pier, and i remarked that we’d have to incorporate him somehow…as i said it, he packed up and started leaving. but nicki…bless her, piped up, “sir, if you stay and play for us, i will tip you greatly!” it was much better with him knowing he was in the shot…

see? no direction whatsoever…i just let them do their thing. (also, you can’t see it because the background is blurred out, but this angle looks onto the portsmouth naval shipyard. there’s a watertower with a big NAVY sign. i thought i would be SUPER FUNNY and have that in the frame…because marines LOOOOOVE to be reminded that they are ACTUALLY…just navy boys. (my dad was navy, so i take particular pleasure in reminding marines of this.)

by nicki’s request…this is the ring shot she wanted. heh.

that bridge goes right over to maine…she’d just told me how much she liked it, so i’m glad we got a few shots that incorporate it. it’s kind of iconic in portsmouth, even if it is awkward and green and rusty.

playing with texture a little bit (on the right…just in case that wasn’t clear. )

nicki and shane…i can’t wait for your wedding…and the SABER ARCH!!!

!!

!

anyway…strangely enough, they live about 40 minutes from where my parents live in upstate ny…which is a good 4-5 hours from where i live in nh. actually…i’m pretty sure i STILL don’t know how she found me. but we finally got together at panera and had a great chat over our sandwiches a few months ago when i was home visiting the parentals. i wrote about it here. (and i’m still really, really, really looking forward to shooting in the caymans. or, actually, just being IN the caymans…forget the fact that i’ll be working pretty much every day i’m there!)

i just went home to visit my parents again, and this time around i got to meet raegan & her fiance in downtown albany for an engagement session. they brought their two charming dogs, henry and jake…and they were also extremely gracious about choosing a new location when i explained about my stupid ankle.

first it was time to make sure the doggies were included in the fun. that handsome gentleman in the front is henry…raegan’s baby

check out that ink!

(went with a little more of a vintage look for this one…)

all of these feature smiling joe…but THIS is the face i saw through the lens for the majority of the session:

all i had to do was say, “oh! there’s his abercrombie model face again…yeah, that’s hott…hold that!”
you didn’t know there was reverse psychology involved in photography, did you? oh…i’d better shut up, or it won’t work on the next stoic groom-to-be.