marissa and michael pratt winter engagement shoot

Yesterday Mike and I braved the cold with our awesome October 2009 clients Marissa and Mr. Michael Pratt- them more so than us- we were bundled up like the kid in a Christmas Story! We had the brilliant idea of having a fire pit to go back to and warm up in between shots...thanks for setting that up!!

There is a waterfall on the property we were shooting at and it made for quite the cool back drop.

Then provided a nice little set up for my ring shot with all of the ice ice baby

Michael Pratt grew up hauling bales of hay and stuff and was showing me their cool barn with all of the twine for baling the hay- and man, what an incredible back ground this made too with this light?

They put the OOOTT in Boot! Love this shot of them on the stairs leading up to the loft

Up in the hay loft was just........ yeah

Marissa is so beautiful and has the most intense blue eyes!

It's like they just jumped out of an old movie here

Did a little interior tractor shooting here

Mike thought it would be a good idea to see if this HUGE great dane would try to stick Mike's head in his mouth as a show of dominance... so of course I was on standby... but no dice! He just wanted our bagel!

Love the contrast here with the snow....extra special shout out to Miss Tammy Swales for her photoshop skillz...and I'll leave it at that

How cute are they? ?



Thanks so much Marissa & Michael Pratt for such a fun day and for being such troopers on this super cold day!!! We are totally looking forward to your wedding in October!

xxoo

Make sure you check out Mike's blog, for some more super cool shots

Are We Married Yet??

There is a brand spanking new site out there dedicated entirely to excellent engagement photography called, appropriately... Are We Married Yet?

There's a ton of wonderful work on it and I am honored to be the featured photographer for today!!! YAY!!


Stop by and show some CT love! I have to say, we are causing quite the stir in the industry by how consistently supportive we all are of each other...this is not the norm everywhere.. so we should be proud of what a sincere, tight knit photo community we have here in New England!

Hope Everyone had a great holiday!

xxoo

chelsea + chris boston engagement shoot

On Friday Mike and I took a trip to Boston with our June 12 couple, Chelsea and Chris for their chilly but FUN engagement shoot. They were so easy to be with, fun, and talkative- that the day just flew by! We walked all over Boston even back to places that I had shot BM (before Mike) and PM (post Mike). All you health care professionals like the BM reference, admit it. So I clumsily tripped all over myself down my own memory lane- it was awesome!

Back on Earth: Chelsea and Chris planned out some great spots for us to check out- Boston's own Old City Hall was our first. So. OK, we're in this grand, beautiful courtyard, right? Old tyme New England prettiness abounds. And where do Mike and I end up? Across the street in a smoke filled alley! With trash hurtling down and narrowly missing us...! Yes! But look what we got!



On the way out of the alley this was the view- and this reflective building was like the COOLEST. The only downside was that it was a freaking wind tunnel that reminded me of my blustery old Rochester winter days at RIT... something that I do NOT miss! :)


This fire escape was a neat little nook in the back of one of the old grave yards- the building in the back is the Old City Hall.

Right after I took that above shot I looked down and was like 'ooooOOOOHHH!' Chris was DIGGING my oohing, and I was like- Just you wait until Mike starts doing it! We love making our weird little noises when we shoot, OK, I do mostly and it can get kind of embarrassing when I really stop and think about it I guess! And so I don't think about it too much. But look at those pointy little red boots!!! OOOOOOOO!!!!!

After a Starbucks break (where I got my new favorite hot beverage!!! White chocolate peppermint mocha (with only 1/2 the mocha) with peppermint whipped cream) HELL YES!! We stopped and cuddled overlooking the common.

This gold dome with the blue sky was n-i-c-e... ! And since every other important time for them it rains I just had to show that there was some blue sky and NO RAIN!!

Wrought iron as far as the eye could see..... I was in a carla ten eyck type of heaven... old tyme new england heaven... old house lovin' heaven...

Seriously. Look at the detail on this door. The windows! So pretty. And these two were just all catalog photo shoot about it and fit right in!

I was really excited for Beacon Hill- it's my favorite part of Boston. So we hit this one block, and I couldn't. Move. On. I kept coming back and was like- WAIT! Look at this cute store! Check out the Christmas trees! Oh! Oh! This lamp post! Etc. Etc. Etc! My mocha clearly kicked in... I was kind of a spaz!




Exhibit A: I was so amped up about this spot that I physically could not verbalize what I wanted them to do! I was making my crazy noises and Chelsea busted me out so bad! I was like 'Do you get it?' And she was like...'ummm. NO!' And then busted out laughing at me! Moral of the story? USE YOUR WORDS! But keep shooting while they rank on you, because I love this shot!

This is what I was going for... :)

And no this random guy did NOT photo bomb them!! I was DYING because Mike and I think this is one of the funniest things when people do this (not to us, of course :P)

I like this one, sans random man

It got a little HNH aka hot n heavy!

The walls in beacon Hill are just covered with ivy and vines

This wrought iron wall piece has always appealed to me- but I wanted to shoot it differently, and so this came to me...

I had remembered my client Charisse bringing me to this awesome cobble stone street and I turned a corner and was like BAM! Here it is!! I was so glad to find it because I. love.it!

For some reason we got on the topic of where we would buy a house if any of us won the lottery- I said I would buy one right in Beacon Hill- and Mike says 'Way to dream big!' But honestly, most people dream of tropical islands and I have to be honest, I do too- but- this place is one of my most favorite in the world- and it's so close to me!!

Mike pointed his toes just for you all, and to give my logo a place to rest

One of my favorite things is when my clients start to see what I am seeing- at first it's fun to watch them look at me like 'really?' you want us to go where? Which luckily for me doesn't happen much since they pretty much know what I get amped for before they hire me! So when we were walking by this little scene Chelsea was like 'hmmm.... Carla you are gonna want to take a look at this!' And she was right!

Seriously? What is UP with this mini me door? Mike is only in the shot for scale- it is TINY! Who the heck uses this door?? I'M even too tall for it, clearly a first! Maybe my sister Saca could use it.

Dusk + Christmas lights = pure prettiness. OK, throw a little Kubota Fashion Passion love in there? YEAH! (that's nerd talk for you non photogs, sorry!)

Yes I DID put in a completely out of focus picture in here. On Purpose! With a capital P! I just love lights when they are super out of focus, and to me, you can see them in the frame, your brain fills in the blanks and focuses for you, and viola! There they are.

And we called it a night as we dropped them off back at the Omni Parker House!! What a fabulous time!!


Chelsea and Chris- I can't tell you how easy you made it for us and how much fun we had! Thanks again for that awesome dinner and for showing us all of your Boston spots!

I truly cannot wait for your wedding!

xxoo

Check out Mike's shots HERE

ashley + jordan, hartford engagement shoot

I feel like I am FREAKING OUT over here! For so many reasons! First, I love Christmas. I do. I love giving and planning surprises and decorating and Yankee Candles and Christmas Trees (I love them enough to capitalize them!!) And Holiday music! So I have ALL of them going right now in my studio! My Christmas Wreath Yankee candle is ablaze; Nat King Cole is singing away, I have my fuzzy orange slippers on and I just brewed a giant pot of Coconut Macaroon coffee! Yes, I will drink the whole pot- call me in 2 1/2 hours- if I can peel myself off the ceiling I will answer the phone.
I just went shopping for my family and have some awesome tricks up my sleeve for my people... I could just about implode all over my pretty keyboard trays with excitement!

And then there's this whole ENGAGEMENT SHOOT that I just shot with Mr. Mike Romano on Saturday. In my most favorite place, Hartford.

The thing I am the most pumped about is that it is totally new to me- I shot in places that I have never done an engagement shoot in before! It was like I was seeing my city in a whole new light- around every turn I was like - WHAT???!!! You can see the Travelers building from HERE? Like THIS???? Or the Colt Building? Or the hoo ha crazy metal shipping sculpture thing by the riverfront?? Yes, that is the official name.

Ashley & Jordan are so easy to be around- even though they kept telling me they were nervous, I was like, really? Are you sure? Mike and I both agreed that the normal beginning part of a shoot where we all kind of feel each other out lasted like, 2 seconds with them!

And without further ado... I bring you....

We started off heading towards the riverfront. But anyone who has been photographed by me knows that I am prone to stopping- something will inevitably catch my eye and I just have to give it a go! These stairs were no exception :)


And then I just had to get a little bit closer...and go all dark and mysterious about it! It's one of my favorites!


There was something about this view that really drew me in- the highway signs, the stairs... I have a thing for shots that kind of look like I am spying, but I of course am totally not! But I just like that 'unaware' look that these have...like I caught them just snuggling on stairs in public by the highway!





There were a fair amount of stairways involved in our shoot, now that I stop and think about it! They got quite the workout... I was like 'OK, go down the stairs! Now walk back up...slowly... OK now sit down! OK now go back down! Now drop and give me 20!'
Ashley is catching her breath here.... ;)


This view required them to scale an awkward little hillish thing- and was very weird for them to stand in as it was so off kilter- but- I LOVE IT!!! The background is SO Hartford! And so super pretty and architectural, and I have not yet seen anyone get this particular view of Hartford yet...!


YIKES! Jordan is looking pretty smokin' here.... I love this shot of him (and the Traveler's building ;)

Then by the riverfront there was this textured cement wall where I just asked them to cuddle and stuff...I love how Ashley was laughing here!

But then could rock the serious look just as well

On the walkway thing to the riverfront I knew I wanted to work this sculpture in somehow but not the same way that everyone else does... so I whipped out the 14-24...and froze! And then handed it over to Mike and was like 'Here you go! Rock it- this is SO your shot!' I know I am not wrong. Mike loves to gank my lens and rock the wide shots, it is something that he is really good at! So I took his 85 and I gave him the 14-24 and I am SO glad I did- this was a challenge for me to get something that SCREAMED 'SHOOT ME WIDE!' and I was like, Nope, it's an 85 1.4 for you, or nothing!
OK, enough nerd talk :)

love. love. love. They look so incredible in this shot, so happy, so pretty, so in love!

Oh it was cold out too! So what better way to spend a brisk cold day than by the water? Here I broke out my 105 2.8 MACRO lens- I really wanted to see what the compression did for this scene and I have to say I am digging it.


This next set up reminded me of the overpass shoot I did with my October Ten Eyck Tuesday class- it just screamed for a wide angle lens- or so I thought! But, I kept that macro on for this shot and similarly to the 70-200 we used in our workshop- The compression just looks so super pretty here. The moral of the story here? change it UP!!

An underpass can look pretty nice! Who knew!




Dusk is a great time to shoot in Hartford.... check out the Colt Building under their hands!

The blue sky played off the lights nicely...

And we're back to the Traveler's building again!! But different. This is one of my favorites!!!!

Now, how do you shoot the lights at Constitution Plaza in a new way? At dusk for one- what a great time to get the sky color in the shot




We stopped in to Spris, this really great restaurant right on Constitution Plaza to warm up, have some drinks and then dinner! (I would strongly advise making reservations, this place gets PACKED!) We had the best seat in the house (I asked ahead of time when I made the reservation) so that Mike and I could shoot for a bit outside


One of my most favorite shots of myself is one that Mike took last year, right in front of this wreath...so we had to revisit it and rock a shot for old times sake!!

So then I turn around? And see this super cool metal wall...and even though it has absolutely nothing to do with the lights, and the fact that you can't see them at ALL...I had to just shoot there. And OUT comes the trusty video light!!!

It was fun playing around with stuff and trying new ways of lighting them!


The lights are just great, really! What more can I say?? Here we used the video light to add a nice rim light along their faces for all of these shots







Ashley & Jordan I had SUCH a great time with you guys and am beyond happy with how these came out! Thanks for letting us play and try some new things...we are stoked for your BEACH wedding when it will be much, much warmer out...!

xxoo

Make sure you check out Mike's shots too!