Archive for October, 2009

Beautiful Girls

October 31, 2009

One of the best parts of my graduate school experience was the opportunity I had to meet great people.  Although I’ve only known Jen and Clarice for a little over a year, they feel like old friends.   I had such a great time modeling for my friend and photographer extraordinaire, shoothead, that I was inspired to host my own fashion shoot.  J & C were great sports and the three of us had a blast being goofy  and pretending to film our own episode of America’s Next Top Model :)

Jen captured this shot of me prepping, and has her take on the day on her blog

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I’m a lucky girl to have such wonderful people in my life.  Now, on to the hotness!

Clarice’s brightly colored outfit provided great contrast to the rusty and crusty shed that we shot in.

DSC_0045I love the intensity in Jen’s look here. It was hard to get the light straight when bouncing my flash into a corner, but I like the uneven-light that was the result
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And finally, what sort of photo shoot would this be without the obligatory jumping shots?
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Thank you again girls for a wonderful afternoon!

So, I’m not around children that much.  My cousins are all grown, and I’m just starting to enter the age where my friends are having babies – the ones that do have little ones live far away.  Therefore my most frequent interaction with children comes from riding public transportation, and let’s be honest, those kids are usually not the most well-behaved, and when you shove them in a small train or bus with lots of people…it can get ugly.

So when I was asked to do a child shoot I was initially a little nervous…after-all kids don’t take direction like my well-behaved adult clients.  Turns out I had nothing to worry about.  Jomei is the absolutely darling 9-year-old daughter of a co-worker of my mother’s.  Jomei and her Mom Kristen have such a wonderful relationship and that really shone through during our shoot.  We had so much fun running around in the Boston Public Garden; Jomei climbed pretty much every tree in the park, and spent the rest of the time evenly split between chasing squirrels and jumping in leaves.

I really can’t think of a better way to spend an autumn afternoon in Boston….

Cartwheels!! I won’t divulge the secret behind getting this shot…but suffice to say there was some luck involved :)

DSC_0015-1DSC_0042-1Lots of tree climbing!diptych2DSC_0052-1DSC_0083-1DSC_0191This girl knows how to make a serious leaf pile!DSC_0162DSC_0213DSC_0214DSC_0315DSC_0424Gathering nuts to give to the squirrels!DSC_0431DSC_0284DSC_0286

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I think I did alright when at the end of shoot Jomei didn’t want me to leave and asked when we could play together again…after how much fun we had, I’ll play again anytime!

Lorraine and Greg are both enthusiastic, friendly and fun.  I couldn’t ask for better personalities to shoot.  They happily laid on the ground, climbed on benches, and did whatever other silly things I asked them to do.  Their adorable (and well-behaved!) black pug Otis also added to the fun of the shoot.

Unfortunately the night fell quickly while we wandered around Fanueil Hall, and I was lamenting the low light….until….the magic happened.  We made our way down the Rose Kennedy Greenway and I decided to break out my small tripod and try some long-exposures.  The first few on the street came out so great that I suggested we walk down to the new big water fountain near the Aquarium…and the result?  Well…..you can see for yourself….

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**SQUEAL!!** Oh man, getting a photo like this is just so exciting for me.   We got tons of great shots from the day, but for this post I’m going to focus on the long exposure shots that I took…because when they look like this, I just have to :)

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I can’t wait to shoot their wedding next September, it’s going to be a big, beautiful and exciting affair!  Until then, I leave you with Mr. Otis the pug…how can you not love that face!?

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I loved this shoot!!  Melanie and Bikila met while studying together at Harvard University.  Their friendship and eventual love developed while living in Cambridge’s Harvard Square, and Melanie wanted to document their love story by photographing the places that are important to the couple.

Although a Nor’easter was expected, we received the gift of a beautiful, but COLD, New England autumn day and spent the afternoon touring Harvard Yard and the square.  So many thanks to the wonderful couple for allowing me to take a peek into their happy life together.

Melanie & Bikila: The Anatomy of a Love Story

M&B had many of their classes together at William James Hall on the Harvard campus.  Though they don’t like remembering all the work they had to do while in this building, it still holds a special place in their hearts.

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We took a stroll through Harvard Yard, where the trees were in perfect autumn form and the picturesque  old buildings also provided a great backdrop

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After the Yard, we walked into Harvard Square and had to make a quick stop at the T station

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Our next stop was the Harvard Coop bookstore, a very special place for the couple as it is the first place that they said “I love you.”  Since that is such an intimate memory, I used my longer lens and shot from across the store to give them some privacy

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Off to the Redline bar, where Melanie and Bikila shared their first kiss

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We spent some time on the patio of Au Bon Pain, a place where they spent many nights over coffee, talking well into the night and getting to know each other

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Finally, after some more strolling, our last stop was the Harvard Bookstore, the spot where they used to meet when each came from their respective apartments

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I really can’t gush enough about how much I enjoyed these two and I am so excited to have brought their love story to life.  This is a hard year for Melanie and Bikila as he is in law school in Philadelphia while Melanie remained at Harvard to finish her PhD.  I hope these photos will be a small way for them to feel closer together.

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Cara & Dan are an amazing couple that was up for anything.  Despite the chilly temperatures, we kept ourselves warm by running around Green Harbor Beach, and I think the energy was captured well in these photos.

I used two main color profiles for this session, the first my absolute favorite gold/green that captured the warmth of the sun, and a second that is sharp and bold with strong blue tones that helped to convey the chill in the air and brisk wind.

Over-all I am beyond pleased with this shoot.  A beautiful day and a beautiful couple.  Perfection.


Congrats to Cara & Dan as they  plan their wedding and start their lives together!

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